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Wednesday, December 6, 2000
Heat: Injuries really taking a toll



For every NBA team that is on a roll, there is a team that isn't. That's why we need the doctor -- Dr. Jack Ramsay. Each week in Dr. Jack's Prescription, the Hall of Fame coach will analyze a team in distress, and offer a cure to what ails them.

This week: Miami Heat
Tim Hardaway
Hardaway is putting up numbers, but his knees may not hold up much longer.

The Symptoms
The Miami Heat added Brian Grant, Anthony Mason, Eddie Jones, Don MacLean and Ricky Davis to the roster and was a preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference. Some gave the Heat an outside chance to win it all against whichever opponent represented the intimidating Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Instead, it finds itself with a 5-9 record, has dropped four in a row, and will finish the month of November under .500 -- a first for a Pat Riley-coached team. Hit with a rash of crushing injuries, the Heat has struggled in all phases of the game -- but especially on offense. Only lowly Chicago averages fewer points than the 84.9 the Heat puts on the board each game. Only the Bulls shoot a lower percentage from the field than the Heat's .406.

Heat games are usually defensive struggles, and although Miami has hung in many games by keeping opponents to low point totals, it has lost several in the final seconds. It has also been blown away by unanswered double-digit point runs by the opposition.

Coach Riley has even resorted to what he calls "gimmick" trapping defenses -- a tactic he rarely used in the past, so that his Heat can stay close in games that appear to be slipping away. Riley admitted after Miami's recent 91-78 home loss to Houston, "We're not at all a good team."

The next loss, a numbing 102-101 defeat by Milwaukee on Sam Cassell's last-second 3-pointer, epitomized the Heat's struggles this season. Leading by 20 points after the third period, Miami yielded a 21-0 run by the Bucks, was outscored 41-20 in the fourth period, and lost a game that appeared to be tucked away in the win column.

The Diagnosis
There's no secret why the Heat is struggling. Begin with the loss of center Alonzo Mourning due to a kidney malfunction. The NBA's leading shot-blocker for the past two seasons and the 1999-2000 Defensive Player of the Year, Zo's 22 ppg and 9.5 rpg, his intensity on the court and in the locker room, and his overall leadership simply cannot be replaced. Riley is forced to use journeyman Duane Causwell at center.

Causwell
Causwell

Mourning
Mourning

Add to that loss, the continued absence of veteran swingman Dan Majerle (torn hamstring), MacLean (broken small toe on his right foot) and Davis (broken right foot); the 4-game loss of Jones due to a strained calf muscle, and the recurring knee problems of Tim Hardaway -- all have combined to leave Riley with a game-to-game, patch-work lineup.

Grant (17 ppg, 11 rpg), Jones (18 ppg, 3 steals), and Mason (13 ppg, 8 rpg) have played well, and Hardaway (17 ppg, 6 apg) has been good, but a tad inconsistent. Everyone else that Riley has called on has been unpredictable. The record speaks for itself.

I wasn't convinced of the Heat's vaunted superiority before the personnel losses occurred. I felt that, even with its full roster, it would have trouble scoring in the open court and would be reduced to grind-it-out, half-court offense. It's hard for a team to dominate under those circumstances, but Riley has a great knack of meshing talent and I was anxious to see how he would put this team together. The coach himself anticipated that it might take a third of the season before Miami reached its best level of play.

It appears now that it will take longer than that.

The Cure
The obvious cure -- the return of all the injured players -- won't happen. It's most unlikely that Mourning will play before next season -- if then. His medical condition is serious enough for him to focus completely on recovery from his illness. Playing basketball again -- as much as Zo wants it -- must be considered a bonus. Majerle may be back on the court by mid-December; MacLean and Davis some time in January. Then the gelling process begins, something the Heat expected to take place in training camp.

In the meantime, the addition of Cedric Ceballos, allowed by league rules to help compensate for the loss of Mourning, gives the Heat a scorer that it needs desperately. Cedric is a 15 ppg career scorer with 50 percent field goal accuracy who can shoot from the edges, run the floor well and finish on the break. And his defense, generally considered a weakness, will improve under Riley. Adding a double-digit scorer like Ceballos might do wonders for the Heat's won-loss record.

Jones
Jones

Grant
Grant

The Heat needs every player's best game -- and a potion of Riley's magical coaching elixir -- just to make the playoffs. It needs Grant and Mason to dominate the boards and provide inside scoring; Hardaway to generate quick breaks and to create scores with penetrations, to go along with his perimeter shooting; and Jones to score on the break with steals, with drives to the hoop, and from the perimeter in half-court offense. It needs the role players -- Bruce Bowen, Anthony Carter, rookie Eddie House, Todd Fuller, Causwell and now Ceballos -- to maximize their contributions on a game-to-game basis. And then Majerle, MacLean and Davis must get their games together quickly when they return to action. An effective team offense -- which include fast break scores -- is critical. If the Heat gets its scoring up to 90 points a game, it will make the playoffs.

Team defense, once a given on a Riley-coached team, must also improve. There are too many straight-line penetrations by opposing perimeter drivers; too many second chance points permitted. Field goal defense, second in the league at .422 last season with Mourning, has risen to .442 (17th) without him. The Heat allows three rebounds more than it gets. I expect those conditions to improve and that Riley will get the defense back to near last year's standard.

This is a season that will try the souls of all Heat personnel, management, coaching staff and players. Fate has dealt the team a series of cruel blows. It will be interesting to observe how they handle this challenge.



ALSO SEE
Lawrence: Heat sans Zo worse than thought

Dr. Jack's Prescription: Sonics

Dr. Jack's Prescription: Bucks

Dr. Jack's Prescription: Raptors




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