Game 1: An Opportunity Missed

First of all, I hate I missed this game. We scheduled a family outing because I thought the game was on Sunday. I’m going to start with the positive:

1. We did exactly what I wanted for 3 quarters: we hit them in the mouth and had them looking like they were at our mercy because of it.

2. We beat or matched them in a lot of important stats: matched them in made FG (31-31), made more 3s than them at a better percentage (4-1, 24%-17%), outrebounded them (40-37), outrebounded them offensively (12-5), and matched them in assists (18).

3. Q and several other Heat players didn’t back down from KG the "Big Bad Wolf."

4. Beasley was active on the boards and Rio didn’t turn the ball over much (unlike the rest of his teammates).

5 Most importantly, the effort looked good from everybody all game long.

What made me unhappy:

1. 10 points in the 4th quarter. I remember that happening one other time this season, and it got us beat then too. You just can’t waste an effort like that against a team that you have to strike first against in order to make them REALLY uncomfortable.

2. The week side help against that Rondo-KG lob has got to be there. We’re in a zone for crying out loud!

3. Beasley MUST be more aggressive with the ball in his hands. KG is not the one-on-one defender he used to be. Beasley can take the old dude off the dribble.

4. 19 turnovers. It’d be tough to beat Boston College turning the ball over 19 times.

5. 13 Heat free throw attempts to Boston’s 28. Beasley being more aggressive driving the ball could help fix that disparity.

6. Jermaine O’Neal will have to bring it for us to be successful. We’ve been saying it for over a month and especially since he tweaked the knee. 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks is a decent line from him, but the 3-14 shooting has to go! At least a couple of those misses were bunnies right at the rim. We need a strong rebound performance from him in Game 2.

Last point: SOMEBODY other than Dwyane Wade has got to bring it offensively. Q was good in this game, but it will take at least one other guy to put points on the board for us to win. D-Wade’s numbers were great when you consider the defense the Celtics played on him, and we will need more of the same (only with far fewer than the 7 turnovers he had in Game 1), but Beasley, O’Neal, Arroyo, or even Rio or DW is going to have to help out as well. Let’s go get Game 2!