Without Dragic, Heat missing firepower to stay with Lakers
The most exasperating numbers to emerge for the Miami Heat from Game 4 of the NBA Finals, besides the final score?
Three of 14.
Per ESPN, the Heat had 14 open three-pointers in Game 4 and made just three of them. That was a big factor in Tuesday’s 102-96 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and was an immense disappointment for a group that was the NBA’s second-best threepoint shooting team during the regular season at 37.9 percent.
With Miami missing injured guard Goran Dragic, that’s not something the Heat can survive. Miami is down 3-1 in the best-of-7 series, with Game 5 on Friday (9 p.m., ABC).
“When you watch the tape, you’re going to feel sick,” ESPN’s Tim Legler said of Miami’s missed open threes in Game 4, mostly by Kendrick
Nunn, Tyler Herro and
Jae Crowder.
“When you work hard to get a clean look against a great defense, you’ve got to make a higher percentage than you did. It’s so difficult to get to the rim because of the length of
Anthony Davis. Ultimately, in a seven-game series against a team like the Lakers, you need all of your playmakers and you can’t really put a price tag on what Goran Dragic means to this team and his ability to control the basketball, make shots and make plays off ball screens.
“It has put too much pressure on Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, who I think is going to be an All-Star in this league, but it’s an awful lot to ask [of Herro] on this stage to be efficient .... I don’t think it’s quite their time yet even if you had everyone at their full disposal. But certainly short-handed, against a team this good defensively, it’s a tall order.”
ESPN’s Jay Williams said the Heat simply “doesn’t have enough firepower. Who on Miami reminds me of [Denver’s]
Jamal Murray, guys that can score in a hurry?”
Hall of Famer and NBA TV analyst Kevin McHale said the Heat lacks a key ingredient to championship teams:
“When you watch Miami play, they don’t have a guy you can give it to and say ‘Here, this is the ball. You’re at your spot and go get us a hoop’ [where] the defense knows that’s his spot and they have to double-team him there,” McHale said after Game 4.
“They sometimes have to have five or six different actions to get a decent shot in this series in one possession. All good championships teams have that guy you can give it to on his spot on the floor… Everybody had a player you can go to. Miami doesn’t have that. They’ve got to generate offense with so much motion. It’s hard to generate good shots against good playoff defense especially after three or four games in a row. They don’t have that guy. Jimmy Butler can’t do this against AD.”
But this is also true: The Heat is one of the bestshooting teams in the league in the clutch in these playoffs, making 35 of 69 shots (50.7 percent) — best of any team that has played more than four playoff games.
What’s more, Miami has outscored teams by 41 points in 45 clutch minutes, defined by the NBA as the final five minutes of games with a margin of five points or fewer.
Game 4, though, was a struggle offensively, with the Heat closing at 42.7 percent from the field and shooting 34.4 percent (11 for 32) on threes. And this was notable: Miami shot 1 for 8 after the first quarter with Davis as the primary defender.
“They’re contesting every shot,” said Butler, who was often defended by Davis on Tuesday. “Davis is an incredible defender. I got to be better at getting my guys involved, more dribble handoffs, more screens, maybe playing a little bit without the ball.”
The Heat has had two of its three worst offensive performances of the playoffs during these Finals. Miami’s offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) was its worst of the playoffs in Game 1, while Game 4 was third worst. The Heat was seventh in the league in offensive rating during the season.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said: “I’m sure on Friday night it will be LeBron James and Davis on him quite a bit and Jimmy’s not running from that. We have to try to help him a little bit more, create a little bit more space for him.”
Hours before Game 4, James sent a text message to teammates that Game 4 was a must win:
“When I woke up from my nap [Tuesday] morning after our team meeting, I just felt that,” James said. “I felt that vibe. I felt that pressure. I felt like for me personally, this was one of the biggest games of my career. I just wanted to relay that message to my teammates, the type of zone I was in, the type of moment it was, and the kind of team we were playing against.
“After the Game 3 win, that confidence they had, the confidence they still have even after [the Game 4] loss. They are just a gritty, so damn wellcoached team.”