Ok, first of all even if Miami does lose the game tonight the series if far from over (even though ESPN has created a huge story about this being it for the Heat if they lose tonight). It would be a huge win for Miami though if they can win tonight and there are five things the Heat need to do if they want to win Game Two this evening.
1) LeBron James CAN NOT be outplayed by Luol Deng. Sure Deng is a great player, but you can not have the second or maybe even third best player on the Bulls outplaying Miami's best player (sorry to anyone who thinks Wade is Miami's best player, but he is not). Deng had 21 points and seven boards in Sunday night's game while Lebron only had 15 points, six boards, and six assists. LeBron does not need to be amazing and put 40 or 50 points (although I won't complain if he does), but he needs to outplay Deng and try to score in the 20 point range while holding Deng to under 20 points.
2) You will not beat any team in the NBA if you give up 19 offensive rebounds. Chicago had 19 offensive boards in Game One, Miami only had six. This was the main key to the Bulls winning Game One because at the end of the day Miami shot 47.1% from the field while Chicago shot 43.7% from the field. How did Chicago get so many more points than Miami? Because of the offensive boards and turning the ball over less than the Heat, the Bulls were able to take nineteen more shots in Game One than Miami did.
3) Get to the line. Miami was 15-15 shooting free throws in Game One. This is great! The only problem is fifteen shots at the line is not enough. I have seen games where LeBron alone gets to the line more than twenty times. Miami needs to exploit this and get to the line more.
4) DEFENSE!!! Dwayne Wade -22, Chris Bosh -15, LeBron James -14. There is no chance that you will win if your three best players all have a negative +/- rating (unless some other guy shows up and drops in 50). Play some hard defense against Chicago, don't give up 103 points to them. Do what you have done to teams all season and win by keeping teams around 80-89 points and shut down the Bulls offense.
5) Play your game. Whatever Erik Spoelstra tried with playing small against the Bulls, trying to outrun them, and all this crap, DID NOT WORK AT ALL, don't try it again. Put the ball in the hands of the Big Three and let them win the game by playing hard defense and by doing what they have done all season long.
If Miami can do these five things, or even some of them, it will go a long way in determining whether or not they win Game Two against the Chicago Bulls.
Ryan Bothmann
No comments:
Post a Comment