Norris Cole is the Final Piece to the Miami Heat Championship Puzzle

Published: 27^th Dec 11 11:58 pm

by Riley Schmitt
Big 10 Editor, NBA Featured Columnist

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Norris Cole is the Final Piece to the Miami Heat Championship Puzzle

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Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics traveled to Miami to take on the Heat. Without star forward Paul Pierce for Boston, it seemed Miami would roll to a win. That was not the case as Boston kept in it until the very end. However, Boston was foiled by big time plays down the stretch. Normally you would think that LeBron, D-Wade, or the Boshtrich would be the leader of the Miami final push. On this day, it was rookie Norris Cole, an electric scorer from Cleveland State who will be the key piece in determining whether or not the Heat can win a title.

Time and time again, people have said the Heat can’t win without an interior presence. Normal logic suggests an interior presence gets you easy baskets when things tighten up in the playoffs. Miami went the other way and added another outside scorer in the form of Cole. Cole, in just his second game, dropped 20 points on Boston with most of them coming in the 4th quarter. By adding another threat to drive, Miami is able to stretch the defense even further.

This could be just a flash in the pan, but I doubt that. Some well-tuned fans across the league shuddered when Cole fell to the Heat. Cole made a name for himself at Cleveland State for his big time scoring, which is like adding a Howlitzer to the tank known as the Miami Heat offense.

Cole’s ability to get by defenders off the dribble brings something that Mario Chalmers and the corpse of Mike Bibby couldn’t bring last year. Too often defenders would sag off the point guard to clog the lane and foil James and Wade’s drive to the baskets. That can’t happen now. Cole is too good off the bounce to give any room.

Cole won’t light it up like this all year. Scouting reports will come out on him and his play will slow down. The threat of him taking over a quarter is his main impact. Teams have to prepare for him, which may cause their Big Three prep to wane.

Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio have all of the rookie point guard hype. Don’t forget about Cole, who will play a bigger role in a title hunt this year than Irving and Rubio could ever dream about.

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