Mateo’s Hoop Diary: “We didn’t have enough,” says LeBron James about 2011 Heat

LeBron James and JJ Redick continue to do the public service of teaching schematics in episode 3 of Mind the Game. They went over the intricacies of the deadly Steph Curry and Draymond Green pick & roll, coach Erik Spoelstra’s improvement methods, sets that James has thrived in at different spots in his career and more noteworthy dialogue.
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Then, the criteria for super teams came up about 85% through the episode. Redick correctly stated that a big three alone doesn’t fill the requirements. But the surprising revelation is that the 2011 Heatles didn’t make the cut. James said, “We didn’t have enough,” referring to the role players.

Such a misconstruction of history reduces the accomplishment of the Dallas Mavericks.

That first year Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and James teamed up, the squad didn’t break 60 wins as many expected. In fact, they were mediocre through 18 outings. Yet, that group figured it out, finishing the regular season third in overall offense and fifth in defense on a 49-16 tear.

The group included 2011 3-point contest champion James Jones, who also converted 45.9% of his triples during the Playoffs. Who could forget 25 marks in Game 1 against the Celtics, but specifically, his 14-point second-quarter eruption?

Udonis Haslem, who had missed 69 games with a torn Lisfranc ligament, juiced the Heat up with 13 points on five of 10 attempts, with five rebounds, two dimes, one steal and a block in Game 2 in Chicago to help the club tie the series it eventually won in five.

And Mario Chalmers was on that team. He finished nine Playoff games logging 50% of his 3-point tries, and the squad was 6-3 in those matches. To boot, he came out blasting in the closeout Game 5 against Philadelphia with 11 first-quarter points. And his four trifectas off the bench in Game 3 in Dallas helped give the Heat its last lead in the series.

This crew was not as deep as the eventual back-to-back champs, but James, Wade and Bosh’s take-over potency, especially this early in their union, was so incomparable in the NBA that they sawed through East with a 12-3 record en route to the championship round.

LeRevisionist can’t get away with this one. The team had plenty when it won the East. They lost because Dallas’ defensive schemes caused him to play scared- not attacking openings in the lane, settling for jumpers and atypically making wrong reads.

There is no excuse for one of top five most dominating players in history getting outplayed by Jason Terry.

Anyways, their program has the potential for greatness. Maybe there needs to be a credible reporter- someone who was around for both of their careers, in the corner that draws a red card whenever the facts are misconstrued and demands clarification or fact check.

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