Pistons Host Bruised Heat
By J.M. Poulard
Essentials
- Teams: Miami Heat (34-41) at Detroit Pistons (29-47)
- Date: April 4
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Television: FSD
Get in the Game
After stumbling on the road against the Chicago Bulls last night, the Detroit Pistons will try to bounce back at home against a Miami Heat team that’s struggling.
This late in the season, every player is typically nicked up with something, which makes the final few games of the regular season slightly challenging. Pistons big man Greg Monroe, who’s missed the last nine games, illustrates this perfectly.
In the case of Miami, though, the health ship is sinking. The season has completely gone off the rails in terms of injuries.
Josh McRoberts (knee) and Chris Bosh (blood clot) are out for the year, which is practically a death wish in a league that relies so heavily on skilled big men. What’s more, the Heat previously had the worst point guard combination in basketball prior to bringing in Goran Dragic via trade from the Phoenix Suns.
Dragic’s finishing ability coupled with his ball-handling makes him a difficult cover, but even he’s experiencing some issues. Over the last four contests, he’s averaging 11.5 points and 4.5 assists on 35.6 percent shooting.
“The body doesn’t feel right,” Dragic recently said about his play, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman. “But everyone is feeling like that. So it’s not only me.”
He isn’t wrong.
First-year player Shabazz Napier is out for the remainder of campaign (sports hernia) and the only other experienced point guard on the roster (Mario Chalmers) seems lost.
“I don’t even really know what my role is on this team anymore,” Chalmers shared with the Miami Herald’s Joseph Goodman. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”
It’s not by accident that Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra has been giving minutes to Tyler Johnson. The latter has spent parts of this year in the D-League, but the Heat have needed his energy and inconsistent shooting off the bench as a result of injuries and poor guard play.
Truthfully, backcourt production has been a problem throughout the season.
Even 2-guard has been a source of frustration because Dwyane Wade has missed numerous contests. When he’s available, the Heat have a strong scorer and playmaker, but his health is always going to be a question mark.
Wade missed the second half of the contest on Thursday against the Cleveland Cavaliers because of a knee bruise, and his status for tonight’s game is kind of up in the air at press time.
Keep in mind, Spolestra has been starting Dragic, Wade, Henry Walker, Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside as of late in an effort to get some spacing and scoring on the floor. The coaching staff has sacrificed size for shooting because their big lineups provide very little in terms of point production.
However, if Wade is gimpy tonight, where does Miami go?
This means more Michael Beasley at power forward, which has its benefits and its shortcomings. Beasley is a good scorer but he consistently gets lost defensively. He loses track of rotations and assignments, and fails to score more than he gives up.
Make no mistake, though, an absent Wade means Beasley gets heavy minutes. The same is true for the lost at sea Chalmers and the up and down Johnson.
What’s fascinating about it all is that Miami is in the midst of a playoff push. Ultimately, I think the Heat will make the postseason with a poor record and bad stretch of games to end the year because their competitors have brutal schedules.
But it’s probably safe to say this iteration of Miami isn’t very good.
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