Shaq's Back; Heat Lose Again

Our impressive losing streak is now at 11. The Heat got annihilated at home by the Chicago Bulls 126-96 tonight. This is really getting out of hand. Any talk by Pat Riley about turning this thing around and making the playoffs is beyond a pipe dream. It would be delusions of grandeur at this point.

O'Neal was surprisingly effective at the start of his return, scoring 18 points in the first half before fouling out mid-way through the 4th. Unfortunately, Dwyane Wade was not as productive, starting 2 of 9 from the field. Another 4 turnovers as well. Something is wrong with him.

A reporter from a paper mentioned the idea of shutting down the duo for road games. I think that would be an acceptable way to give them time off. Otherwise you have hard-working fans who paid a boatload for tickets going to the AAA and watching the legendary Earl Barron start at center.

Right now though, this team's biggest problem is their lack of defense. Four guys on Chicago scored over 20 points. That's entirely unacceptable. I still don't know where the defensive team that opened the year has gone. At this point, I'm close to suggesting it's all because of Wade.

Aside from his own defensive tendencies to get beat by just about anyone, I think having him on the floor relaxes our guys too much. Wade's defense has fallen a lot recently, which is a concern because you want your superstar to be good on both ends. However, the security blanket he represents on offense when healthy is screwing up this team's defensive chemistry.