Miami Heat Have Much Work To Do If They Hope To Beat Cleveland Cavaliers In 2014-15

By chriscruz on October 12, 2014

The question must be asked: “Will the Miami Heat big men play defense this season?”

Against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat played terrible defense against Kevin Love. Now, I know that this is only the preseason, but it is worth noting that players who will eventually be in the starting lineup, like Udonis Haslem and Chris Bosh, covered Love and allowed him to shoot from the perimeter alone like a tourist walking through Brooklyn at five in the morning.

Love went 4-of-5 from 3-point range, stretching the floor for players like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. This game doesn’t mean a whole lot, but I still would like to see more rotation from the Heat in a game that means more than a random preseason game.

Even the fact that it went into overtime didn’t really matter to me, although it was nice to see Shabazz Napier and James Ennis out there. It was more important to see the way that the Heat were able to get into their offense, and also how they would play defense against James and Love. It is obvious that they need to make some adjustments.

Maybe playing a big man on Love is not the right answer. Maybe they should think about letting a nimble forward like Luol Deng or Ennis cover Love, just so that they can get rid of Love’s 3-point game. Think about it — if Love gets his long-ball game disrupted, then he would have barely scores. He had 12 points off of 3-pointers, which gave the Cavaliers the ability to stretch the floor, a strategy very similar to that of Miami last season.

The Heat now needs to respond, and they have a bit of work to do.