Q: Ira, stop tweeting about Heat first-half leads or even the score at halftime. Get back to me when this team can position themselves for victory at the start of the fourth quarter. Every team now will have confidence that they can storm back. What do the Heat lack? – Greg.
A: To me what the Heat lack is that singular scorer to seize moments when the offense as a whole is lacking. Boston had that with Jaylen Brown in Friday night’s comeback. The Heat this season have not had that type of player. Norman Powell scores more as a complementary component. Sometimes, when a lead is cut from 20 to 15 and then to 10, what you need is a player who wants the ball and is able to take over. On this roster, the closest thing is Tyler Herro, and he’s appeared in all of 11 games. While some might think that is overstated, Tyler at his best can singularly take over a game, as he has during his best of times. Otherwise, it’s almost as if each player on the court is looking for someone else to bail them out. Granted, Norman was not on the court as the Celtics staged their third-quarter comeback, back in the locker room dealing with his hand issue.
Q: Ira, when a team consistently wins the coach gets a lot of credit. When a team has a losing or mediocre season over several seasons shouldn’t the coach take some of the blame. Injuries cannot be an excuse when a number of teams continue to win in spite of injuries. Some, if not a lot of this has to fall on Spoelstra. – Joel, Plantation.
A: And how many times has Erik Spoelstra said just that? Numerous times he has accepted the blame that he has to be better so his team has to be better. But his way has been and continues to be to inspire rather than admonish. So the negativity with Erik always will have its limits. But to see him in the hallways after a loss, and after those media sessions, makes it clear he is taking this hard, even if the front-facing view is not such.
Q: What the heck has happened to the dunk contest. People are paying money to see Keshad Johnson? – Anderson.
A: What’s interesting is the NBA has moved away from some events that either have become stale or manipulated, such as the skills competition giving way at next week’s All-Star Weekend. And there certainly have been moments when an unknown has made name for himself in the dunk contest, as has been the case with Matt McClung. But All-Star Saturday included the word “star,” something the dunk event has mostly lacked for years.