Game Preview #30: Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs

Point Guard

Miami's PG battle is quite an interesting situation. Most observers thought Mario Chalmers would be the starter throughout the season, and he actually has a better stat line for the season than Arroyo, so what gives? The reality of the matter is that Spoelstra is playing mad scientist in using a two-headed point guard lineup. For the last couple of weeks since Arroyo began starting, the minutes have been split almost evenly between he and Chalmers. I'll admit to not having watched any Heat games this year, but my previous observations of Arroyo give me the impression that he starts for his defense, with Chalmers being the havoc-creator off the bench(sound familiar?).

Meanwhile, the Spurs' point guard situation is decidedly less fluid. Tony starts for his offense, and should also be given props for his defense in the last 3 games. That's right, Tony, I noticed. With that in mind, George Hill is still an excellent option off the bench, combining good man defense with his disgusting athleticism and length to a similar havoc-creating effect off the bench, but to a far lesser degree than a certain Argentine we all know and love.

Advantage: Spurs

Shooting Guard

I get the feeling Keith is facing a do-or-die game tonight in terms of his spot in the starting lineup. His effectiveness has dropped off slightly with more teams game-planning for him, but he still does a pretty great job of hounding his man. Tonight, he faces the greatest test he's had to deal with this season. Surprisingly, the formula for limiting Wade is fairly simple - keep him on the perimeter. Wade only shoots 25% from 3-point range, but that hasn't stopped him from jacking up over 3 attempts per game. What you can't do with Wade is touch him foul him on the way to the rim. Wade is third in the league in free-throw attempts per game for a reason. Keith needs to trust his teammates if Wade gets a step on him, because fouling him doesn't usually stop him from making the shot.

On our end, while don't expect Keith to do much on offense, he may have the opportunity to get some easy scores. Wade likes to play the passing lanes, to the point where he sometimes loses his man. Expect Doom to be hanging out in the corners on offense, waiting for the kickout pass. It would be oh so nice if you could bury a few of those tonight, Keith.

Advantage: Heat

Small Forward

Q-Rich had quite the interesting summer this year. By my count, he got traded 4 times. I hope he got lots of frequent flyer miles out of it, but he probably won't complain about ending up in Miami instead of Minnesota. He's a decent to good player, but doesn't really do anything spectacular. He can definitely hold his own if he's allowed the opportunity, though.

RJ's been on a pretty good run of games lately, and seems to be getting much more comfortable about his place on this team. The most encouraging thing I've noticed is that he's playing his man closer on defense, and in the last game, he even seemed comfortable enough with that to provide excellent help defense, and blocked a couple of shots in the process. Oh, and his explosiveness near the rim is a sight to behold. Against a smaller opponent, I expect some big-time aggressiveness out of RJ, and think that the Spurs will be looking to get him the ball on offense.

Advantage: Spurs

Power Forward

Beasley is one of these guys that doesn't really fit the prototype of a SF, and lacks the size to be a traditional PF. He's a very good scorer and decent rebounder, but has a tendency to be a "black hole" on offense - once the ball makes it in to him, it doesn't usually come back out. In fact, he has an assist/turnover ratio of 0.68. If you can keep him from getting a good look at the basket once he has the ball, you've pretty much stopped Miami's offense in its tracks. An easy concept, but it's a mush more difficult strategy to execute than it sounds like.

The Beast has been taking some of the pressure off of Timmy to produce points in recent games, and his improvement on the defensive end since the beginning of the season has been nothing short of amazing. This kid gets it, he really does. And he's making good on his promise to make all the other GM's regret not drafting him. You might remember that DeJuan's best game of the preseason came when he dominated the Heat, and led the Spurs to a comeback victory in Miami. If logic is to be followed, I would give Beasley the advantage, but I get the feeling DeJuan is going to do big things for us tonight.

Advantage: Tied

Center

JO has been having somewhat of a renaissance this season, and even though his per game stats are nowhere near the level they were at during his best seasons in Indiana, his efficiency is way up. He's shooting a career high(by FAR) percentage from the field, and his turnover rate is the lowest it's ever been. Watch out for this guy, he's definitely not done.

Speaking of not being done, Duncan is quite simply the best big man playing in the NBA. Silverandblack_davis dared to call Timmy's last matchup a tie. I will not be so foolish.

Advantage: Spurs

Bench & Role Players

Look, I'm going to come clean about something - I grew up in central Florida, and adopted Florida State as one of my favorite college programs during that time. Therefore, I absolutely despise the University of Florida, and that extends to its alumni as well. I've grudgingly come to terms with the Red Rocket, but I still hate that he went to school there. So, it should come as no surprise that I strongly dislike Haslem. That's not to say he's a bad player... in fact, he's one of the best bench frontcourt players in the league, right up there with Lamar Odom. Beyond Haslem, Miami's bench isn't all that impressive, although Mario Chalmers could give us fits.

Meanwhile, our bench is still the best in the league, and I don't expect that to change tonight.

Advantage: Spurs

Coach

Did anyone watch Graydon from 48MoH get Pop'd the other night? Hilarious. I don't doubt Spoelstra as a coach, but the rings speak for themselves.

Advantage: Spurs