Chris Bosh missed the Heat’s first shot, Dwyane Wade missed their second, and Udonis Haslem missed their third. Of those three players, one attempted more shots than each of the other two and also didn’t miss again. Who was it?
LeBron James has led the Heat in scoring in all five games of the Eastern Conference Finals, which Miami leads 3-2, and Bosh and Wade ranked second and third in Game 1 and Game 2. Wade ranked second in Game 3 and third in Game 4, though Bosh slipped further down the list.
Finally, in Game 5, all heck broke loose for the Heat behind LeBron.
Haslem shot 8-for-8 after missing his first shot for 16 points, and Mario Chalmers scored 12 points.
Wade scored a pedestrian 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, and Bosh produced even less, scoring seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
For a team with a Big Three, Miami has seen only LeBron rank among its top three scorers in each game of the series:
Game 1
- LeBron (30)
- Wade (19)
- Bosh (17)
Game 2
- LeBron (36)
- Bosh (17)
- Wade (14)
Game 3
- LeBron (22)
- Wade (18)
- Haslem (17)
Game 4
- LeBron (24)
- Chalmers (20)
- Wade (16)
Game 5
- LeBron (30)
- Haslem (16)
- Chalmers (12)
In Game 5, it was Haslem, not Bosh, spacing the floor by making mid-range jumpers. It was Chalmers, not Wade, keeping his dribble alive and finding shots as he drove toward the rim.
Wade (10, 16 and 18) and Bosh (7, 7 and 15) have combined to score 73 points in the Heat’s last three games. That’s the least those two have scored in three consecutive Miami games when both played in all three.
On the other hand, Chalmers (12, 20 and 14) and Haslem (16, 6 and 17) have combined to score 85 points in their last three games. That’s the most those two have scored in a three-game set in the Heat’s Big Three era.
Chalmers and Haslem deserve plenty of credit for stepping up next to LeBron when Miami needed them.
But Wade/Bosh scored 73 points in three games at their worse. Chalmers/Haslem scored 85 points in three games at their best. The 12 points separating them just isn’t that many.
Wade and Bosh have the potential to score so much more, and at some point, the Heat will probably need them to do that.
