Heat loses another tight game against Celtics; 107-102

The Miami Heat are now under .500 for the first time in more than a year and it was inevitable. “One step forward and two steps back” ball throughout the season is not going to cut it this late in the season. While the Bobcats, Raptors, Thunder and the Bulls all are slowly improving over the course of the season, the Heat are fading fast and don’t appear capable of sustaining any kind of winning streak to catch up in the standings. The schedule is not going to get easier anytime soon so the situation is looking very bleak.

The Celtics played a decent, efficient game with balanced scoring from the starting lineup and a great contribution off the bench from former Heat player Eddie House. The Heat also had a balanced scoring effort with the starting five all reaching double figures along with sixth-man Udonis Haslem chipping in with 15 points. But the Celtics grabbed nine more offensive rebounds than the Heat according to the box score and it seemed like twice that number over the course of the game. The Heat also shot themselves in the foot with unforced turnovers and mental mistakes (the foul Daequan Cook committed against Rondo before the half was unbelievable).

As has been the case recently, the Heat came apart eventually late in the second half as the offense wilted and the porous defense allowed the Celtics to take quality shots and grab offensive boards for second chance points. Rafer Alston came through with some much needed offense but Dorell Wright did little and whoever has possessed Daequan Cook’s body still hasn’t figured out how to shoot 3’s consistently yet this season. As has been the case all season, Spoelstra continues to bench Beasley down the stretch even when the team is starving for points in favor of Haslem. I can’t for the life of me imagine any other NBA team employing a similar sort of strategy and coach has his reasons but it’s frustrating to see Wade killing himself on every single play at the end of games with no help. Too often the Heat offense eventually settles on Wade playing 1-on-5 ball and hoisting difficult jumpers while his teammates just watch when they could be moving without the ball and creating space.

For the most part the Heat actually played the Celtics pretty even as they did the last time these two teams met in Miami in a heartbreaking OT loss last month. The Heat too often look overmatched and slow against younger, athletic teams such as the Thunder and Bobcats but seem to hold their own for better parts of games against the upper echelon of NBA franchises. The Heat are capable of raising their overall game, whether it’s surprising wins over Orlando, Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix or close losses against the Lakers, Celtics and Cavs. It would be nice if the Heat were to have a series of games of consistent focus and energy but this seems to be a lost cause no matter how many times coach Erik Spoelstra implores his team to do it.