The Heat Is Gone

After each Heat win this season, the local Miami papers run rampant with stories of this years team turning the corner or how the squad is finally gelling, but I am still not buying it. I watched last nights game, a game in which Riley finally made some lineup changes, with pride as the Heat ended up on the better side of a blowout for the first time all year, but lets be reminded that it was still against the Charlotte Bobcats. Yes, the Bobcats had beaten the Heat twice already this season, but both of those games were without Dwayne Wade, and we know that Dwayne by himself accounts for 20+ wins. Now this is not to say that there were not some major positives from this game to build on, but not enough to say that this ship has found its course.

POSITIVES: Bringing Ricky Davis and Jason Williams off of the bench really gives the second unit a burst of scoring and energy. If Williams plays the way he did last night continually, then we have by far the best backup point guard in the league. He was in control, while still pushing the tempo, and looked for his shot a lot more. With Davis as the main scoring option for the second unit, he gives Wade a needed rest. Davis can really score on anyone, and that is really what a sixth man is primarily looked at to do. He was 2nd in sixth man of the year voting a few years back, so he is comfortable in the position. Add in Alonzo Mourning and rookie Daquan Cook and the Heat have a really strong bench. Cook really showed me something last night, by hitting outside shots and taking it to the hoop strong. One of the announcers put it best; 'He reminds you of a young Byron Scott'. It looks like the Heat got a gem in the draft.

NEGATIVES: You can't have the positives without the negatives and nowhere is this clearer than this new starting lineup. So inserting Penny and Chris Quinn worked for one game, but lets look a bit closer. Quinn is 0-7 from the 3 point line on the year, so unless he starts getting comfortable and hitting shots where does he help us? He can handle the ball, but he is not a great defender, and does not appear to be a great shooter, so I can't see him staying in the game long. Good point guards will eat him alive night in and night out. The dearth at point guard is not a surprise though, as it has been mentioned all year. Heat fans better keep praying that a team like the Kings just want to unload Mike Bibby for some expiring contracts, so they can fast pace their youth movement. So while Quinn has struggled to make a jump shot, Penny has surprisingly been hitting his. He is shooting the best he ever has for his career, which is nice to see for a guy who has been fighting a battle with mother nature since the early 90's. As time took away his body, it could not take his mind, which is his biggest strength by far. He still knows when guys are open and how to get them the ball, and he has been good on defense up to this point. I don't think you can count on him to slow a guy like Lebron James, but that is when we go to Davis. There is always room for a savvy veteran on any team of mine, but to have him in the starting lineup each night is pushing it a bit, when that is all they have to rely on.

OVERALL: Pat Riley knows that this team is nowhere close to perfect so he is trying to tinker with the lineup and rotations in hope of catching lightning in a bottle, and I have to give him credit for that. After all this is a team that he put together so he has to find a way to make it work. I just don't think he can make it work unless he finds another point guard and small forward that can start. It is one thing to have a good bench to complement your starting lineup, but to have a good bench at the expense of your starting lineup is going to bite you in the rear at some point.