Heat Showing They Can Shoot the Three Ball

If you can point out an area in which the Miami Heat have improved over last season, besides the win column and D. Wade's coming back party, you need to look at the three-point department. Last season's miserable 15-win disaster was partly due to our lack luster offense. Yes, I know that Mark Blount as center was another big reason, but for the most part we could not score the damn ball.

If you look at our squad this year, we have a decent talent pool when it comes to three-point shooting ability. For one thing Daequan Cook was the All-Star Three Point Champion this season. Enough said on that note (despite his post-all-star drop off). James Jones and Luther Head can arguably be labeled as three-point specialists. Last off, if we needed to dig a little deeper, you could say that Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, Jamario Moon, and Chris Quinn could hit a three-pointer from time to time. In particular, Wade has improved his "behind the arch" shooting considerably this season.

Let me give you some stats to back up all this talk. Daequan Cook has averaged a 38.9 three-point % this season. Luther Head has averaged a 38.5 three-point % as well. Even Chris Quinn, Jamario Moon, Michael Beasley, and Mario Chalmers have averaged over 35% from three-point land. The only reason why I have not mentioned James Jones' stats is because of his slump throughout most of the year and the fact that he has been recovering from wrist surgery.

The irony in this all is that as of March 29th, 2009, the Heat have made 491 three-pointers for the season. That is the same exact amount of three-pointers that the Heat had in all of the 07-08 season. There is no doubt that the team will surpass that mark in the remaining regular season games.

I think the March 29th game versus the Milwaukee Bucks sums this all up pretty well. James Jones hit three 3-pters, Daequan Cook hit two 3-pters, and Chalmers, Moon, Beasley, and Head all hit one 3-pter. That's nine shots from downtown from six different players. Can I get an Amen?

Let's hope the shooting stays up and continues to progress as the playoffs near. We will need every weapon in the arsenal if we hope to keep the 5th seed and especially if we even want to ponder the thought of 4th seed. I say to Coach Spo, "Let the threes rain." At the same time, emphasize on rebounding and making that extra pass. Let's see some real Heat basketball in action.