Boston shuts down Dwyane Wade, Heat in Game 1

Both teams were showing off the defensive skill early on, with field goals coming at a premium.  Beasley and Arroyo both hit their first outside shots while Q missed a pair of treys, but the Heat weren't even attempting to get any kind of low post game going.  The 2 times Jermaine touched the ball, he tried to get down low on Kendrick Perkins but ended up taking (and missing) long J's. 

A 10-2 Miami run put them ahead by 4, but Boston quickly countered and tied the game.  I was surprised that the Celtics weren't going more to Rajon Rondo, because his first two drives were successful and looked easy.  The Heat still escaped the 1^st quarter with a 1-point lead, mainly because they were able to score consistently.

A good example why I'm not a big Mario Chalmers fan anymore happened early in the 2^nd.  He started it off by turning the ball over on a horrible pass attempt, then right after that the ball came loose and Rio could have gotten it had he dove, but instead just reached out.  My first thought was ‘Udonis would have been all over that ball', and it shows why Chalmers just doesn't personify what the Heat are all about.  

The Heat held Boston without a field goal for almost 6 minutes and played most of the 2^nd quarter with the lead.  Miami actually had an 8 point lead with under 90 seconds left, but 5 straight from the Celtics shrunk the Heat lead to 3 heading into the half.  Perkins made it a 7-0 run when he opened scoring for the 2^nd half, but then Miami responded with a 10-0 run to go up by 11. 

Dwyane Wade was putting on a show, scoring 9 points in less then 6 minutes since halftime.  In what was looking like a game of runs, Boston scored 8 straight and started picking up the D, eventually getting back within 3.  They closed the quarter outscoring Miami 17-5, but the Heat still had a 2-point lead after 3.  The Celtics defense in that 3^rd quarter was awesome, keeping Miami from getting any good looks. 

Wade's usual rest of 4-5 minutes was cut short as he was summoned into the 4^th quarter just over 2 minutes in.  It took him over three minutes to get a point, but the entire Heat team was having serious issues scoring over the past 12 minutes.  How does a stretch of 4-for-24 sound?  That's right...DIS-GUS-TING.  The missing element was Jermaine O'Neal, all Miami was doing was moving the ball around the outside until the shot clock was low. 

Boston found Miami's weakness and once that happened the Heat couldn't make the proper adjustments to get anything going offensively.  After his nice run in the 3^rd, D-Wade was rendered useless by smothering Celtics defense.  Erik Spoelstra now has 2 days to figure out how to not look so inept on offense against Boston.  With that scuffle from the end of the game, this series has the signs of a very good one.

GAME NOTES

• D-Wade looked downright dominant at times.  He looked invisible at times.  The more they get him involved moving without the ball, the better. 
•  Udonis had one of his least productive games in a while with 6 points (on 3-of-8) and just 4 rebounds in 21 minutes.  Michael Beasley played 10 more minutes, had the exact same scoring and shooting but grabbed 4 more rebounds.
• J-O had 8 points and 7 rebounds in 14 1^st half minutes, but shot 0-for-4 after halftime and finished with those same 8 points.
• Dorell Wright and Mario Chalmers combined to shoot 3-of-14.  Our bench needs to play much better if we're going to win some games.
• Miami turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times, leading to 38 Celtics points. 
• The Heat lost on the road for the first time in 9 games.

Game 2 coming up on Tuesday night.  Will Kevin Garnett be attending?  Can the Heat get their offense going?  We shall see...