The Heat had a 12 point lead late in the third quarter, but they blew it and lost the game.  The Bulls outscored the Heat 32-20 in the 4th quarter on their way to victory.  The Heat were outrebounded 44-33 by the Bulls but the big reason the Heat lost was because of poor free throw shooting.  The Heat only shot 16 for 35 (47.1%) from the free throw line and that doomed them last night.  Dwyane Wade led the way for the Heat with 28 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.  But, D-Wade didn’t shoot well from the floor (12 of 27) or the free throw line (4 of 10) and that hurt the Heat.  Shaq also had a solid game with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots last night.  But, Shaq was only 3 for 12 from the free throw line and that hurt the Heat’s cause.  Antoine Walker had a decent game off of the bench with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.  James Posey wound up fouling out but he played 36 active minutes.  Posey finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.  Udonis Haslem had a night to forget.  He played in only 24 minutes due to foul trouble and he finished the game with only 5 points and 1 rebound.  The Heat are now down 3-0 to the Bulls in this series.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270427014

The Miami Heat had big problems tonight with the athletic ability of the Chicago Bulls.  The Heat prefer to play a slow placed game but the Bulls would have none of that today.  The Bulls shot an amazing 55.1% from the floor in this game as the Heat didn’t play any defense at all.  Luol Deng and Ben Gordon scored 53 points between them against the Heat tonight.  Dwyane Wade led the way for the Heat with 21 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists.  Shaq wound up scoring 17 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.  Both Shaq and D-Wade each turned the ball over 7 times and that didn’t help the Heat’s cause.  James Posey had a good game off of the bench with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals.  Jason Kapono and Antoine Walker each pitched in with 11 points off the bench.  The Heat now trail the Bulls 2-0 in this series.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270424004

The Miami Heat stayed close with Bulls despite Shaq fouling out after 27 minutes and the Bulls outrebounding them 46-33 yesterday.  Dwyane Wade looked a little off yesterday as he led the team in scoring with 21 points but he had 5 turnovers and only 3 assists.  Antoine Walker played 30 minutes off of the bench and he scored 20 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and dished out 3 assists.  Walker also shot well as he hit 4 of 7 from 3-point range.  Shaq fouled out after only 27 minutes but he was 9 of 14 from the floor and wound up with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.  The Heat made a huge mistake when they quit getting Shaq the basketball because he was dominant while he was on the floor.  The Heat should run the offense through him with D-Wade not near 100%.  The Bulls lead the series 1-0.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270421004

Quinn played in 42 games for the Miami Heat this season and he averaged 9.7 minutes, 3.4 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  He only shot 36.6% from the floor and 35.1% from three-point range.  It will be interesting to see if the Heat move Quinn up on the depth chart to replace Gary Payton or if the Heat will sign a free-agent or draft a player to back up Jason Williams next season.

The Miami Heat won the Southeast Division with a 44-38 record, 3 games ahead of the Washington Wizards.  The Heat were a solid 27-14 at home, but only 17-24 on the road.  The Heat were only 27-25 against the Eastern Conference and 9-7 against Division foes.  They averaged only 94.6 points per game and allowed 95.5 per game.  The Heat finished their season winning 5 of their last 10 games and won the Division because of the Wizards’ collapse due to major injuries.

The Miami Heat will likely limit Shaq and D-Wade’s minutes if he even lets them play at all.  It would be better if he just let the dynamic duo watch the last regular season game from the bench.  Look for guys like Dorell Wright, Michael Doleac, Eddie Jones and Chris Quinn to get a lot of playing time in the last game of the season.  The Heat are locked in as the #4 seed and they will play either the Chicago Bulls or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, so they will need all of their players healthy as both the Bulls and Cavs are really good basketball teams.  Plus, the Heat will not have the home court advantage which will make things even tougher in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Backup point guard Gary Payton will miss the remainder of the regular season with a torn left calf muscle.  Payton is hopeful that he will be able to return on April 21 or 22 for the beginning of the NBA Playoffs.  This year’s playoffs will likely be the swan song of Payton’s career as he has played in 67 games this season and averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists.  He also only shot 39.6% from the floor and his once great defensive skills are eroding. 

Dwyane Wade has returned from his dislocated left shoulder and he’s played in the last three games for the Heat.  They are trying to bring him along slowly as he’s only averaged 27.3 minutes per game.  In those games, Wade has averaged 14.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  Wade is a hero in the Miami area already and this seems to be totally his own call in coming back, but, if he gets re-injured this was a really bad decision for the young man.  Playoff basketball is often very physical and you know whoever plays him in the first round is going to knock him down and crack him in his bad shoulder.  Unless the Miami Heat repeat as World Champs, D-Wade should have just took the time off to get healthy.

James Posey has been pretty awful so far in April for the Heat.  He’s played in 7 games and he’s averaged 6.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  Posey is only shooting 33.3% from the floor and he’s only hit 4 of 15 (26.7%) from three point range.  The Heat really will need Posey’s shooting to return if they are to make a deep run into the playoffs this season.