While nobody realistically thought that the Miami Heat would go undefeated this season, nobody also thought they would be 8-6 after 14 games either and that's where they stand after losing two straight this week to what many would say are sub-par teams. The latest loss, to the then 5-6 Indiana Pacers, was their worst yet as they fell 93-77 on their home court.
The Heat's lackluster start this season was summed up nicely by Dwayne Wade's stat line Monday. He was a dismal 1-13 for the worst shooting performance of his NBA career. Granted, he was coming off a one game absence with a sprained wrist but it was still a horrible performance by the former Champion.
"A tough night for Dwyane," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But we've been around him long enough. He always finds a way to bounce back. Getting his health is the priority, first of all. But secondly, we know that he's very introspective as a professional athlete. That's the way I want all of our guys in the locker room to be."
Miami is a team struggling to find any rhythm and having put itself into the position where every team is gunning for them, the supposed 'best in the league', they really can't afford these early signs of vulnerability. Signs that nobody thought would be so apparent, especially the Heat themselves, though they make no excuses for them.
“I told them I'm not going to feel sorry for them,” Spoelstra said. “I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. We need to look at ourselves individually, get to work and get better. We need to dig ourselves back. Trust each other. Trust the system. (Monday) was nothing I recognized.”
Indiana, for their part, was in prime form Monday. They out hustled and outplayed the Heat in a full game effort that showed in the final score.
"We came into their building knowing how good they're supposed to be," Brandon Rush said. "And they just had a bad night."
The Pacers used an uptempo offense and a bench that outperformed Miami's 40-4 to simply run ramshod over what many called the best team in the league.
"Make or miss, we wanted to run," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "We wanted to push it and move them. They were having a difficult time guarding our passing game. When they scored we just wanted to get it in quickly and put it at them."
Granted, this is just one game in a long, long season for Miami but it goes a long way to showing that their lack of depth is their Achilles heal and that they will need the best their big three can offer every night if they expect to win.
