The Miami Heat are about to start their third week of the regular season and have gotten off to a mediocre 4-3 start. Because of that, doubts have been fueled about whether the Heat can win a third consecutive NBA championship. The important thing to remember regardless of your sentiment is that it's November.
Temperature this past week: Warm. While the Heat did go 3-1 and finally got a road win at Toronto, they had another game full of defensive lapses to close out the week at home against Boston. Miami is ranked fourth to last in field goal percentage against and are have allowed a total of 706 points in seven games, fifth-worst in the NBA.
Hot Player: Ray Allen. Despite his age, he has established himself as Miami's sixth man in the early part of this season. Allen is averaging just under 28 minutes and 11 points per game. Allen shot nearly 52% from the field in the Heat's three games this past week.
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Forecast for this week: Favorable. Two home games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks followed by a trip to Charlotte to take on the Bobcats. The combined records of these three teams is 9-9 and none of them are shooting over 46% from the field. If Miami can continue to shoot a league-best 51.6% from the field themselves, they will have a good chance to win all three of these games.
Cold Player: Udonis Haslem. Haslem is averaging just 2.5 rebounds and three points per game. He has been limited in his minutes because of his ineffectiveness and last game was not in the starting lineup. Whether this is just a funk or if Haslem will eventually fade into a bench role with this team will remain to be seen.
As mentioned earlier, it's not time to panic about the Heat defense just yet. Last season the Heat were plagued by defensive struggles and they still ended up hoisting the trophy at the end of the season. Seven games of difficulty shouldn't be enough to convince anyone that Miami has a legitimate problem containing opponents.
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