Boston solid, Miami Heat still a work in progress

It isn’t fair to say that the 88-80 loss to the Boston Celtics was an opening day flop for the Miami Heat, but it is abundantly clear that this team is still a work in progress. Never has anyone seen an opening day like yesterday, when the Heat took on the Celtics in Boston, it had a playoff atmosphere and there more cameras than the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The Heat fell flat on their face. They set a record low for points in the first quarter with 9, and shot just 27% at the half and turned the ball over at a dizzying pace. Wade was rusty as expected after only having played 3 minutes all preseason while nursing a hamstring injury and facing a child custody battle. Lebron seemed a little out of sync with his new team and turned the ball over early and often trying to force passes that just weren’t there. But Lebron later found his stride and nearly took over the game.

Chris Bosh was, well Chris Bosh, soft and settling for jumpers. People want to paint this team as the Big 3, but if there is one player that is overrated it’s Chris Bosh. Don’t get me wrong, Bosh is a great player, but putting up numbers in Toronto doesn’t give you superstar status in the NBA. I couldn’t help but notice that Bosh looks a lot leaner this year, guess he felt he could get rid of all that bulk that helped him so much last year, no coincidence that last year was a contract year.

I’m don’t want to start hating on the Heat after the first game, but there some glaring issues. It doesn’t appear that this team has a true low post threat where they can throw the ball into the block and know they are getting a bucket. Bosh is an unbelievable third option, but he too prefers to score with the jumpshot.

That said, Boston played solid defense for the first game of the season and they look like they’re poised to make another run a the championship. Shaq was great, as was Rondo with his 17 assists, they might have the Big 5 out there in Boston.

One thing is for sure, with the Heat flop on opening day, the pressure just went up for this team to perform and so did the excitement, because we all know there’s more haters out there hoping this team will fail and they’re always watching. I wonder if that Heat bandwagon has some empty seats on it now and if the Celtics bandwagon is filling up, senior citizens first of course.