..... The Miami Heat have played two games so far on this young 2013-14 season, and we've seen both positive and negative results on the court in the early going.
The Heat opened up their season at home against the Bulls and were able to hold Chicago to 95 points to earn a 107-95 victory. Miami forced 18 Bulls turnovers and the rebounding was about even. Both of those areas, defense and rebounding, were concerns carried over from the 2012 regular season.
While the offense seemed smooth for Miami on Tuesday night, with four of the five starters in double figures and the bench contributing 42 points, there were shadows of Wednesday night visible in the Heat's performance. Chicago's Carlos Boozer poured 31 points on Miami as he went 13-18 from the field and was perfect in five shots at the free throw line. That scoring efficiency allowed by the Heat would come back in fuller force last night in Philadelphia.
The 76ers' Evan Turner made the Heat pay for their inability to win the matchup against him, scoring 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting and also being perfect from the charity stripe in six tries. As a team Philadelphia shot nearly 54% from the field and scored 114 points to give the Heat their first loss of the season, 114-110.
The good is that through two games the Heat are averaging 108.5 points per game and have out-rebounded their opponents 80-72. Miami is averaging forcing 18 turnovers per game and the Big Three are averaging 46.5 points per game. The bench has contributed a total of 42 points in both games.
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The bad is that Boozer and Turner have combined for a Heat-smothering 57 points on 23-of-37 (62%) shooting. Inconsistency in getting to the line made a difference in winning and losing for Miami. In their win over Chicago, the Heat attempted 29 free throws. In the loss in Philadelphia, the Heat attempted only 13.
A notable difference from game one to game two is the fact that Dwayne Wade sat out the game in Philadelphia. Roger Mason Jr. started in his place against the 76ers and played a tad under 15 minutes, giving way to a much more effective combination of Ray Allen and Norris Cole.
The season is still very young and it's too early to make any real judgments about this Miami squad. So far the encouraging signs are that this roster seems to be better at forcing turnovers and grabbing rebounds than the 2012-13 team was. Unfortunately, this team has struggled in defending the power forward position and getting to the free throw line consistently on this young season as well.
If the Heat are to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, they must continue to execute well in their game plan and make improvements on those areas which need work. If Miami becomes a team characterized by being the good Heat one night and the bad Heat the next, even getting into the bracket may prove to be a challenge.
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