Steve Mitchell – USA Today Sports Images
The Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs are just one game into the 2013 NBA Finals and there is already some relatively high drama. After game 1, the Heat have already squandered home-court advantage by dropping the contest by a score of 92-88. Though there are several takeaways from game 1, one of which is how great of a series this is going to be, one of the simplest is that Miami has to be better.
One of the things that many people are pointing to as an area that needs improving is the play and shot selection of Chris Bosh. That’s a fair criticism considering that Bosh seemed content to stand outside of the post and jack up long range shots, resulting in a 6-16 shooting performance on the night. There’s no doubt that Miami would like to see that improve going forward.
However, one of the biggest issues that few people seem to be talking about is the fact that Miami didn’t attack the rim as much as they often do. Not only did that limit their easy and efficient attempts at the rim, but it also limited their free throw attempts in game 1, which is a big part of their success.
In game 1 against San Antonio, the Heat took just 17 free throw attempts, making 12 of them. In the playoffs, though, they have averaged 25.5 attempts from the charity stripe and have averaged 19.4 makes per game. During the regular season the Heat averaged 23 free throw attempts per game and 17.4 makes per game. Give or take, that means that the Heat left six-to-seven points on the table in the game by not getting to the foul line as often.
Though getting Bosh into the post more would likely result in more free throw attempts from him, LeBron James is the player that really needs to attack the rim more and get to the line more often as this series progresses. In the playoffs LeBron is averaging 8.2 free throw attempts per game and 6.4 makes per game. He got to the line just four times.
A lot of Miami’s issue with getting to the rim is the fact that the Spurs defense does a nice job of funneling things out of the paint, but with the elite athletes and crisp playmakers that the Heat have, they should be able to find ways to still get to the rim. There are other areas that Miami can improve in, but if they don’t get to the line more often in this series, that plays to the Spurs’ advantage.
Cody Williams is an NBA Blogger with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
