High Expectations Leading To Playoff Disappointment For Miami Heat

+Read full article

Disappointment is probably the most common, if not realistic, theme in the sports world today. Players get disappointed at a myriad of things, ranging from bad games to snubs. Fans feel it when their teams drop games and 29 franchises experience it at the end of the year when team No. 30 is hoisting the NBA‘s Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Tonight has the potential to encompass all three for the Miami Heat, as a missed call in favor of Dwyane Wade has the franchise on the verge of missing their chance at holding that golden ball — 
no matter how unrealistic it really was with or without Chris Bosh to helm the offense.

Getting the benefit of a foul call would have done nothing but put Miami in position to tie the game at most, so using that as an excuse for being down 3-2 to the Charlotte Hornets is a poor one.

A simple look in the mirror would tell them that.

After shooting 58 percent from the field and 53 percent from three in the first two games, the Heat regressed to lower than the mean by averaging 39 and 33 percent, respectively, over the last three contests. Sure, it is possible that the way the series started set expectations too high, however, all of the confidence changed once they took a figurative punch to the face.

All of their poise turned into bad shots and attempting to stop the dribble penetration of point guards Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lin became a bothersome chore. Things often looked like certain Miami players were so over being in the playoffs that they could not even muster up enough effort to be considered fake hustle.

Sounds like all of the same complaints Heat fans have been hearing all year. Only this time their seesaw season has transformed into an up and down postseason that looks poised to end way earlier than it was supposed to.

Share On FacebookShare StumbleUpon