Last night, the Miami Heat blew a third-quarter, 24-point advantage before losing a nationally-televised matchup to the visiting Orlando Magic.

While watching LeBron James and Dwyane Wade going through the motions of attempting to show genuine concern at the post-game press conference, I started to think to myself – this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this with this team.

My mind started to think back less than a week ago.  The Heat welcomed the most recent version of the Big Three – Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups of the New York Knicks – into Miami for a highly anticipated showdown.  The Heat held a double-digit lead in that game before folding in the end game.

Back on November 9, the Heat – once again at home – stormed out to another 20+ point edge only to see forward Paul Milsap have a career night and propel the Utah Jazz to an unbelievable triumph in overtime.

In between, there have been games in which the Heat have jumped out to sizeable leads and have done enough to manage to hold on. 

And, of course, there’s the stat that has begun to rear its ugly head during almost every competitive Miami Heat game.  The players who took their talents to South Beach are now 14-16 against teams with a record of .500 of better.  That sounds very mediocre, doesn’t it?  How could that be with a group as talented as this?

Very easily.

With two megastars on the roster, the Heat would seem to have an unyielding advantage against its opponents.  But some significant truths have begun to surface about the most hyped team in decades:

The starting lineup is unbalanced.  Sure, the Miami Heat have two of the best four individual players in the NBA.  However, in essence, their skill set is duplicated.  Miami is lacking an interior presence that would allow for a more natural spacing of the floor.  A limited amount of production is coming from the point guard position, as well.  But the defining attributes of centers and point guards is altogether missing from the Heat.  A high skill level wouldn’t be expected with Wade and James on board, but serviceable characteristics should be.  A center that can make his presence known in the paint, or a point guard with blazing quickness would make all the difference for this team’s ability to keep defenses honest. 

Miami desperately needs Anthony to provide them with some solid defense and rebounding.

The Heat’s best players aren’t skilled, reliable shooters.  For all of the abilities that LBJ and D-Wade possess, knockdown shooting is not one of them.  And it shows up the most during clutch, end-of-game possessions.  How many times has LeBron penetrated the defense, and then pitched it out to Wade – only to have him penetrate again?  Or vice versa?  It’s an unfortunate fact that these guys are out of their comfort zone when they are forced to simply catch and shoot.  Contrast that with Boston’s best players, for example.  Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will absolutely destroy Boston’s opponents if they are given the slightest bit of daylight on the perimeter.  Whether they truly believe in their abilities to be successful, Wade and James need to confidently shoot the basketball – and hope for the best.

Miami’s role players need to have bigger roles.  It must be good to be Mike Miller.  Or James Jones.  Or Erick Dampier.  Or Joel Anthony.  Absolutely nothing is expected from those guys, and they get to play alongside the Big Three and receive nice-sized paychecks.  But if the Heat truly have any aspirations of making serious noise in the postseason, Miami’s ‘other players’ have to be consistently incorporated into the flow of the offense.  Yes, that would require Erik Spoelstra to do something other than let his two stars play pitch and catch.  There have only been a select few players who could be counted on to nail clutch shots without having shot the ball all game – John Paxson, Steve Kerr and Robert Horry all come to mind.  But that ability to the exception rather than the rule.  Most players need to have a feeling of involvement in the game to have a chance to come up big at the end.  Remember sharpshooter Mike Miller’s game-tying three-point attempt against the Celtics a few weeks back?  Didn’t look so sharp, did he? 

Erik Spoelstra’s team has no money plays within its offensive repertoire.  This is huge.  The Heat have had its share of nail-biters this season and, when challenging the league’s best, they have generally failed to produce points in game-defining situations.  Due to their inability to effectively shoot the rock, defenses have been sagging down and limiting Wade’s and James’ scoring prowess.  Opponents are forcing the All-Stars to beat them from the outside, which they have yet to do.  Spoelstra is going to have to figure out what will work for this team, and implement it immediately.  The young coach is in an unfortunate situation in South Beach.  If the Heat come up big in the playoffs, the Big Three will get all of the credit for bringing Miami back from the ashes.  But if Miami fails, then Spoelstra will be the one who is canned.  So, it’s certainly in his best interest to devise a plan to increase his team’s productivity in the end game.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author