Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat rein in the 3s
Team selective about long shots as part of offense
MIAMI— This time the Miami Heat were a bit more selective, attempting fewer than 203-point shots for the first time in four games and only the second time in the last 10. How selective? For only the ninth time in his 1,159 career games, Ray Allen did not even attempt one, the first time that’s happened since April 10, 2010.
But not so selective that the long ball didn’t make a difference, with Shane Battier 4 of 8 from distance and Mario Chalmers helping put away Saturday’s 97-88 victory over the Phoenix Suns with a critical late 3-pointer.
To coach Erik Spoelstra, it gets back to taking the right 3-point shots, not launching a volley of random attempts.
“It’s got to be consistent with our identity,” he said after the Heat completed a 4-2 trip, now off until Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena. “It has to be with an insideoutside attack or via great ball movement, where it’s finding the open shooter.
“We don’t like to take contested 3s. We have enough great shooters in that locker room that if you are able to execute and move the ball freely to the open man, and if they’re wide open beyond the 3, they’re very accurate.”
That certainly has been the case lately with Battier, whose 10 3-pointers the past two games mark his highest total in consecutive regular-season games since he hit five on Jan. 10, 2007 and five more on Jan. 12, 2007, while playing for the Houston Rockets.
Battier, in fact, has hit at least one 3-pointer in each of the last five games, marking his longest streak since a five-game stretch midway through last season.
“He’s a confident shooter,” Spoelstra said. “The thing that’s important about Shane is he’s there for space, and regardless of whether he’s making them or not, he’s taken them. He’s not afraid of the moment.”
Battier has now scored in double figures in consecutive regular-season games for the first time since joining the Heat last season, when counting his season-high 18 points Thursday against the Denver Nuggets and12 at Phoenix on Saturday, with all of those points on 3-poiners.
Bosh again
Lost in LeBron James fighting through the flu in Saturday’s victory was center Chris Bosh leading the Heat in scoring for the fourth time in the season’s first 11 games. By contrast, he led the Heat in scoring 16 total times in his first two seasons with the team.
Bosh’s next double-figure scoring game will be the 600th of his 10-year career. “He’s such an impact to our team, and so efficient,” James said. “He gets his points so quietly, makes jumpshots, gets to the freethrow line. He makes things happen for our team.”
Bosh said he appreciated the need for more offense with guard Dwyane
Wade missing three of the six games on the trip, one with a virus and the final two with a sprained left foot.
“I know that my role has changed a bit and I have to be a lot more aggressive,” Bosh said, “so it’s just a matter of making shots when I’m open.”
Haslem vs. Zo
With his six rebounds in Saturday’s victory, all in the second half, reserve power forward Udonis Haslem will enter Wednesday’s game two rebounds from breaking Alonzo Mourning’s all-time franchise record.
“I guess it was meant to be,” Haslem said of going for the milestone at home.
The 10-year veteran said the opportunity to do it in front of Mourning, now a Heat executive, would be particularly meaningful.
“Obviously, I’ll always look up to Zo,” he said. “He’s been a tremendous mentor to me, ultimate professional. So, regardless, he’s going to always be somebody that I look up to.”
Haslem moved into sole possession of first place on the Heat’s all-time gamesplayed list Saturday, appearing in his 605th regular-season career game, one more than Wade.
“I just go out there and perform every night and just try to help the team get wins,” he said.