This season has been a mess so far for the Miami Heat.  It started to go south real soon as Shaquille O’Neal went down with a knee injury that required surgery.  He has only played in 6 games this season and the Heat will have a hard time making the playoffs if Shaq doesn’t stay healthy in the second half of the season.  The Heat are sitting at 19-25 on the season which is 7.5 games behind the Wizards in the Southeast Division of the NBA.  But, they are only 2 games behind the Nets for the #8 seed in the playoffs.  Dwyane Wade is doing his best to keep his team in the playoff hunt by averaging 28.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game this season.  But he can’t do it all.  Udonis Haslem has played very well this season for the Heat as he’s averaging 11.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game this season.  He should be able to keep that up in the second half.  Alonzo Mourning has been great in the middle as he’s averaging 10.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in about 24 minutes per night.  He likely will see a small decrease in playing time with Shaq’s return to action. 

The Heat really need Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, James Posey and Gary Payton to get motivated in the second half or the Heat will be watching the playoffs on TV this summer.  Williams is averaging 10.2 points and 5.1 assists but the Heat need more from him.  Antoine Walker has played much better since the league switched back to the leather ball and they need him to keep that up, because he’s only averaging 8.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and that won’t get it done.  Gary Payton and James Posey have the look of a couple of washed up basketball players.