To open its six-game home-stand, the Miami Heat continued its home woes, dropping to 6-6 in the AmericanAirlines Arena this season. The Heat came out completely flat, falling behind 1-13 when the game was just five minutes old. Miami could never muster a full-fledged surge to take the lead, losing 93-106.
The Heat missed its first 10 shots, but did mount a run in the second quarter after falling behind 30-18 at the end of 12 minutes of action. Mario Chalmers found Joel Anthony for a nice alley-oop dunk at the midway point of the second period to pull within 35-38. Udonis Haslem made a jumper with three minutes left to go in the quarter to trim the lead to 43-46. But by the nine minute, 39 second mark of the third period, Dallas found itself with a double-digit lead again.
Dwyane Wade shot poorly from the field, going just 8-of-24. On the flip side, Wade did make to the free throw line 15 times, connecting on 12 of his trips. The 6-foot-4 guard out of Marquette did collect a career-high 11 rebounds and five rebounds, but was not anything close to the same Wade who murdered the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals. He turned the ball over four times and could never get into a rhythm offensively, despite his numerous trips to the foul line.
Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images
A big reason why the Heat lost was its shooting percentage. It connected on just 40 percent of its field goal attempts. Dallas, by contrast, shot 49 percent from the field. Dirk Nowitzki shot 10-of-18 from the field for 25 points. Udonis Haslem was the silver lining in the dark cloud, however. He made his first eight shots and closed 9-of-10 from the field for a 22-point night. Haslem also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Michael Beasley added 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting. I’m glad that Beasley tried to exert himself more because Wade was struggling. He did not shoot that well from the field, and there are sometimes nights when you just can’t buy a bucket. Beasley did lead Miami’s second-quarter surges, though, and did grab 11 rebounds.
Miami simply did not have enough offensive weapons to keep up with the hot-shooting Mavs. Jermaine O’Neal missed his second consecutive game, tending to his family in South Carolina following his uncle’s recent passing. Quentin Richardson started, but did not even last seven minutes of action. He left the game in the first quarter, still bothered by the hamstring strain he suffered in Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
Mario Chalmers’ 11-point performance was a mirage. He shot just 3-of-11 from the field. Moreover, Chalmers was very ineffective on defense, especially defending the three-point line. Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and J.J. Barea combined for eight of Dallas’ 10 three-pointers. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra even scrambled for Carlos Arroyo in search of some offensive help, who had not played since Dec. 3 entering Friday night’s game. Arroyo didn’t inspire much confidence; neither did Dorell Wright, who shot one-for-six from the field.
Miami’s .500 record at home is unacceptable. The top four teams in the East — Boston, Orlando, Atlanta and Cleveland — are all starting to pull away from the rest of the pack. If the Heat wants to have home-court advantage in the first round, it needs to do well the rest of this home-stand. Miami’s next two games are against sub-.500 teams. There is no excuse for not winning these next two games.
Tags: Miami Heat, NBA
