For every NBA team that is on a roll, there is a team that isn't. That's why we need the doctor -- Dr. Jack Ramsay. Each week in Dr. Jack's Prescription, the Hall of Fame coach will analyze a team in distress, and offer a cure to what ails them.
This week: Miami Heat
|  | | Hardaway is putting up numbers, but his knees may not hold up much longer. |
The Symptoms
The Miami Heat added Brian Grant, Anthony Mason, Eddie Jones, Don MacLean and
Ricky Davis to the roster and was a preseason favorite to win the Eastern
Conference. Some gave the Heat an outside chance to win it all against
whichever opponent represented the intimidating Western Conference in the NBA
Finals. Instead, it finds itself with a 5-9 record, has dropped four in a
row, and will finish the month of November under .500 -- a first for a Pat
Riley-coached team. Hit with a rash of crushing injuries, the Heat has
struggled in all phases of the game -- but especially on offense. Only lowly
Chicago averages fewer points than the 84.9 the Heat puts on the board
each game. Only the Bulls shoot a lower percentage from the field than the
Heat's .406.
Heat games are usually defensive struggles, and although Miami has hung in
many games by keeping opponents to low point totals, it has lost several in
the final seconds. It has also been blown away by unanswered double-digit
point runs by the opposition.
Coach Riley has even resorted to what he calls "gimmick" trapping defenses -- a tactic he rarely used in the past, so that his Heat can stay close in
games that appear to be slipping away. Riley admitted after Miami's recent
91-78 home loss to Houston, "We're not at all a good team."
The next loss, a numbing 102-101 defeat by Milwaukee on Sam Cassell's
last-second 3-pointer, epitomized the Heat's struggles this season. Leading
by 20 points after the third period, Miami yielded a 21-0 run by the Bucks,
was outscored 41-20 in the fourth period, and lost a game that appeared to be
tucked away in the win column.
The Diagnosis
There's no secret why the Heat is struggling. Begin with the loss of
center Alonzo Mourning due to a kidney malfunction. The NBA's leading
shot-blocker for the past two seasons and the 1999-2000 Defensive Player of
the Year, Zo's 22 ppg and 9.5 rpg, his intensity on the court and in the
locker room, and his overall leadership simply cannot be replaced. Riley is
forced to use journeyman Duane Causwell at center.
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| Causwell |
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| Mourning |
Add to that loss, the continued absence of veteran swingman Dan Majerle (torn
hamstring), MacLean (broken small toe on his right foot) and Davis (broken
right foot); the 4-game loss of Jones due to a strained calf muscle, and the
recurring knee problems of Tim Hardaway -- all have combined to leave Riley
with a game-to-game, patch-work lineup.
Grant (17 ppg, 11 rpg), Jones (18 ppg, 3 steals), and Mason (13 ppg, 8 rpg) have
played well, and Hardaway (17 ppg, 6 apg) has been good, but a tad
inconsistent. Everyone else that Riley has called on has been unpredictable.
The record speaks for itself.
I wasn't convinced of the Heat's vaunted superiority before the personnel
losses occurred. I felt that, even with its full roster, it would have
trouble scoring in the open court and would be reduced to grind-it-out,
half-court offense. It's hard for a team to dominate under those
circumstances, but Riley has a great knack of meshing talent and I was
anxious to see how he would put this team together. The coach himself
anticipated that it might take a third of the season before Miami reached its
best level of play.
It appears now that it will take longer than that.
The Cure
The obvious cure -- the return of all the injured players -- won't happen.
It's most unlikely that Mourning will play before next season -- if then. His
medical condition is serious enough for him to focus completely on recovery
from his illness. Playing basketball again -- as much as Zo wants it -- must be
considered a bonus. Majerle may be back on the court by mid-December;
MacLean and Davis some time in January. Then the gelling process begins, something the Heat expected to take place in training camp.
In the meantime, the addition of Cedric Ceballos, allowed by league rules to
help compensate for the loss of Mourning, gives the Heat a scorer that it
needs desperately. Cedric is a 15 ppg career scorer with 50 percent field goal accuracy who
can shoot from the edges, run the floor well and finish on the break. And
his defense, generally considered a weakness, will improve under Riley.
Adding a double-digit scorer like Ceballos might do wonders for the Heat's
won-loss record.
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| Jones |
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| Grant |
The Heat needs every player's best game -- and a potion of Riley's magical
coaching elixir -- just to make the playoffs. It needs Grant and Mason to
dominate the boards and provide inside scoring; Hardaway to generate quick
breaks and to create scores with penetrations, to go along with his perimeter
shooting; and Jones to score on the break with steals, with drives to the
hoop, and from the perimeter in half-court offense. It needs the role players
-- Bruce Bowen, Anthony Carter, rookie Eddie House, Todd Fuller, Causwell and
now Ceballos -- to maximize their contributions on a game-to-game basis. And
then Majerle, MacLean and Davis must get their games together quickly when
they return to action. An effective team offense -- which include fast break
scores -- is critical. If the Heat gets its scoring up to 90 points a game, it
will make the playoffs.
Team defense, once a given on a Riley-coached team, must also improve. There
are too many straight-line penetrations by opposing perimeter drivers; too
many second chance points permitted. Field goal defense, second in the league
at .422 last season with Mourning, has risen to .442 (17th) without him. The
Heat allows three rebounds more than it gets. I expect those conditions to
improve and that Riley will get the defense back to near last year's standard.
This is a season that will try the souls of all Heat personnel, management, coaching staff and players. Fate has dealt the team a series of
cruel blows. It will be interesting to observe how they handle this challenge.
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ALSO SEE
Lawrence: Heat sans Zo worse than thought
Dr. Jack's Prescription: Sonics
Dr. Jack's Prescription: Bucks
Dr. Jack's Prescription: Raptors
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