11 a.m. Saturday:
The Heat plays its second and final ABC-televised game of the regular season on Sunday and Miami arrives in Chicago with the ignominious distinction of being the league’s worst second half team, based on point differential.
On Friday, the Heat squandered nearly all of a 21-point lead but escaped against Indiana, marking only the second time in the past 15 seasons that the Heat was outscored by at least 15 points after halftime in a home game and still managed to win. (The other, according to Elias, was against Detroit in 2007).
What’s puzzling to the players is the jarring contrast between the Heat’s first- and second-half play this season. Consider:
The Heat has outscored teams by 57 points in the first half (which is the NBA’s 12th-best differential). But Miami has been outscored by 212 points after halftime, with that -4.9 differential ranking last in the league.
The Heat averages 49.8 points in the first half, good for 14th in the league, but just 43.0 in the second half, which ranks last. The Heat’s points differential has been worse in the third quarter than the fourth, but no team averages fewer points in the fourth quarter than Miami’s 22.2.
So what’s going on here?
“Our execution in the first and second half is different,” Chris Bosh said. “As the game tightens up, we get tight a little bit for some reason. We stop running plays that work. As an IQ level as a team, we’re not really reading and reacting correctly to the defense. Sometimes guys are going to sit on our plays and you have to be ahead of the curve and throw wrinkles in there to throw them off a little bit. It’s reading and reacting during the game. We’re still working on that.”
Bosh said Erik Spoelstra has been calling more plays late in games than he would otherwise. “He can call all the plays he wants; that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to score,” Bosh said. “It’s on the players. It’s on us to make sure we’re setting screens, posting up when it’s time to post up. If a guy has a shot, he has to knock it down. That’s what it comes down to.”
Several Heat regulars have seen their shooting percentage plummet in the fourth quarter. Mario Chalmers is shooting 42.6 percent in the first three quarters, 33.9 in the fourth. Luol Deng has gone from 51.4 to 41.9, Norris Cole from 39.8 to 32.5, Shawne Williams from 47.4 to 32.1.
Bosh is shooting 48.4 percent in the first three quarters, 42.2 in the fourth. Dwyane Wade fourth-quarter shooting has been fine (48 percent) but he’s shooting 43.5 in the third.
“We have to come out with more energy, more motor to our offense, especially in the second half,” Spoelstra said. “We’re getting caught at the end of the clock quite a bit in those situations.”
Wade said the Heat’s offense was “a little stagnant” early in the fourth quarter against Indiana, but generally “we ran the offense we needed to run.”
Wade, meantime, remains in a rare extended shooting slump. Wade, who shot a remarkable 54.5 percent last season, ranks fourth in the league among shooting guards at 48.4 percent but has made less than 50 percent of his shots in his last nine games and is shooting 58 for 144 (40.3 percent) over that stretch.
Wade, who had headaches and dehydration earlier Friday, said: “I was trying to get my legs under me [against Indiana]. They haven’t come with me yet. Hopefully, they come back soon.”
### Unless the Heat somehow gets a playoff game on ABC, this will be Miami's final ABC appearance this season, with Dave Pasch and Hubie Brown working Heat-Bulls at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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A six pack of notes on a Friday night:
### For the first time since 2005, Dwyane Wade won’t be starting in an All-Star Game, but he’s not sweating it.
Wade indicated he’s not bothered by the fact Kyle Lowry surpassed him in fan voting, thanks in part to a social media campaign orchestrated by the Toronto Raptors, one that enabled Lowry to earn the Eastern Conference starting backcourt spot alongside John Wall.
“My wife told me [about Lowry getting the starting nod],” Wade said. “I was just like, ‘OK.’ I wasn’t vote watching. [The Raptors] did a good job. They had an unbelievable campaign. Kudos to them. It’s more important for him than it would have been to me.”
Lowry trailed Wade by 115,803 votes two weeks ago but ended up 15,541 votes ahead of Wade.
The Heat also had a social media push for Wade, but the Raptors’ campaign ultimately prevailed, thanks partly to Canadian politicians tweeting votes for Lowry. Every reweet of those pro-Lowry tweets, with the #NBAballot hashtag, counted as a vote for Lowry.
Wade made a point to praise Lowry for his outstanding play this season, noting he has "had an unbelievable season."
Asked if he expects to a named an Eastern Conference reserve, he said: “I don’t care about that stuff. It’s not really a concern for me.”
Wade said he still has to go to New York for business obligations during All-Star weekend regardless of whether he plays in the game, which is scheduled for Feb. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
Chris Bosh also indicated Friday that it won’t be a big deal to him if he’s not voted an All-Star reserve. "I mean, you get a week vacation" if you don't make the All-Star team, he said.
It's difficult to envision the sub .500-Heat getting two players in the All-Star game. Eastern Conference coaches vote for the reserves, with the announcement scheduled for Thursday evening.
The Heat has more than a week between its last game before the All-Star break (Feb. 11 at Cleveland) and first game after (Feb. 20 at New York).
### You have to admire Luol Deng for pushing through chills, a sore throat and a headache to score 23 points in the Heat’s 89-87 win against Indiana tonight.
On Sunday, Deng will play in Chicago for the first time since the Bulls traded him to Cleveland last January.
“I was there a long time [9 ½ seasons]; there definitely will be emotions,” he said. “I never thought I would be anywhere else.”
He said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau “would have liked me back” this season but “I felt it wasn’t time.”
### The Heat was outscored 50-35 in the second half tonight, squandering all but one point of a 20-point third quarter lead. We’ve seen this too often this season.
The Heat entered averaging 43.2 points in the second half, worst in the league, and with a league worst -4.7 point differential in the second half.
### With 10 days left before National Signing Day, UM --- oddly enough --- is waiting for decisions from more uncommitted California-based prospects than South Florida-based prospects.
At least four Southern California defensive players are considering UM: five-star defensive end Rasheem Green, five-star linebacker John Houston, three-star defensive end Simi Moala and three-star defensive tackle Kevin Scott, who is visiting this weekend.
### According to Fox’s Alex Marvez, former UM quarterback Steve Walsh – head coach at Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach – will interview for the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback coaching job. Another former UM quarterback, Ken Dorsey, is quarterback coach of the Carolina Panthers.
### Though some national reports continue to link the Marlins to free agent James Shields, the feeling internally is that he would be way too costly (unless Jeffrey Loria has a surprising change of heart).
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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