Status: San Antonio leads series 1-0
Date: Sunday, June 9th
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: AmericanAirlines Arena (Miami, FL)
TV: ABC
After a series opening defeat at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat suddenly find themselves in a precarious situation in the NBA Finals. A 1-0 deficit isn’t the end of the world, but Game 2 is a virtual must win for the home team. Should the Heat lose the second game, facing three straight road games in San Antonio would be a daunting task.
Looking back at Game 1, the key was the fourth quarter. After a back and forth game for three quarters, the Spurs took control in that final period. The Heat started that quarter 3-13 and never recovered, shooting 28%. Their errant shots weren’t the only problem, though – Miami had five of their eight turnovers in the game in the fourth quarter and that contributed to the loss. Meanwhile, the Spurs used a 12-3 run to grab the lead and they never relinquished it after that.
Typically, it’s the Heat closing out games – not their opponents. But that wasn’t the case in Game 1 and now the Heat are playing catch up.
For Miami, it all starts on defense in Game 2. They did an admirable job, holding the Spurs to only 42% shooting in the opening contest and keeping them to nine points below their season average. But the Heat could force only four turnovers in the entire game. Miami has to find a way to not only get more turnovers, but convert those into some easy buckets at the other end.
On offense, the Heat have gotten more out of a struggling Dwyane Wade lately. Over the team’s last two games, Wade is back to his old self, averaging 19 points a game – significantly better than the 14 per contest that he’s averaged this postseason. But the other member of Miami’s Big Three is still finding it difficult to contribute offensively.
Chris Bosh averaged nearly 17 points per game in the regular season, but is scoring just over 12 in the playoffs. Things have been even worse over the team’s past five games. Over that span, Bosh is scoring only eight per contest, and his accuracy has been just as bad. The center is shooting a paltry 28% from the field, including a 4-21 stretch in the Heat’s final two games against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. He scored 13 points in Game 1 of the Finals, but did it on only 6-16 shooting.
There’s also the oft-mentioned rebounding … or in the case, the lack thereof. Bosh’s work on the boards hasn’t been very good over that stretch, either. He hasn’t been a great rebounder this season in general, but his per game average has dropped from seven in the regular season to only five in those past five games. Lebron James picked up the slack pulling in 18 boards in the first game, but the Heat still need more from Bosh.
The Spurs are riding high after their Game 1 win and did a lot of things right in that initial contest. But one area that San Antonio can certainly improve is in their bench production. The reserves are playing limited minutes, but still need to shoot a bit better than they did in the first game. Manu Ginobili had 13 points, but other than that, there wasn’t much to celebrate from the perspective of the reserves. The bench shot only 8-23 from the field and didn’t add much else with only six rebounds and five assists. It’s difficult to argue with Gregg Popovich’s use of the bench since the team won, but the guess here is that the Spurs will need a bit more from them this series.
After the dust clears in Game 2, we should know a lot more. If the Spurs win, the rout could be on and San Antonio will be heavy favorites to grab a fifth NBA title. But if the Heat can pull out a victory, we’ve got ourselves a series.
