MIAMI — For the most part, Miami Heat forward LeBron James has answered every question since training camp in September.
James has been open to discuss everything from his decision to come to Miami to his Twitter posts, but dropped a rare "no comment" Thursday when asked about Sunday’s game against the Boston Celtics [team stats]. It was the local media’s final chance to speak with the team before it left on its four-game road trip, so questions about the matchup between the Eastern Conference’s top two teams were expected.
"I’m not talking about the Celtics," James said.
The Heat are prepared for that big game, but would rather keep focus on Friday’s game against the Detroit Pistons. That’s the mentality they are taking into this road trip.
"I’m not going to put the whole season on (the Boston) game," guard Dwyane Wade said. "First of all, we’ve got to play Detroit, a team that has won a couple games in a row and is playing well. We’ve got to go in there and get a win."
Although the Heat are aware of the Celtics game could determine first-place in the conference standings, there are other issues at hand. They want to enter the All-Star break on a positive and a sweep of the road trip would put them on an 11-game winning streak heading into the second half of the season.
"We know how important it is to go into the All-Star break happy, excited about the next part of the season," James said. "It’s going to be a good ride for us and we look forward to the challenge of winning them all."
The Heat also hope they can work out a few kinks that have been problematic despite the recent success. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra continues to harp on the team reaching "another level" before the postseason begins.
He listed three factors, with consistent defense being the chief concern. Trust in teammates and a decrease in turnovers were the others, both areas he’s seen more consistent improvement. He said the last few weeks have been geared toward helping the Heat reach their defensive peak, with the playoffs approaching rapidly. After the road trip concludes, just 26 games remain.
In that time, the Heat will have to break free from their bad habits. After playing nearly flawless defense in December, they have had lulls in that play. The Heat still rank first in opponent field goal percentage (42 percent), but are now fifth in scoring defense (94.1).
"The last two weeks, our focus has been on our half-court playoff-type (offensive) execution and our trust," Spoelstra said. "That’s getting better. Defensively, we’re not the best team in the league anymore ... The other night we weren’t very good defensively. Obviously we gave up too many points. We put ourselves in a lot of danger by allowing (Indiana) to get into such a great rhythm."
The Heat allowed nearly 100 points in three quarters against the Pacers Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter when they finally played like one of the league’s elite defensive teams.
"We have shown that we can be great on that end of the court, i.e., the fourth quarter against Indiana the other night, to finally hold them down to 15 points," Spoelstra said. "In December, for the majority of the month we were the best defensive team in the league. Those habits we have to bring those to every single possession. When we make the lapses, teams will go on runs."
0 Comments
