Heat need to get defensive

You can hear it. It is a faint whisper, but a growing noise nonetheless. With every roar of the crowd and every squeak of sneaker rubbing hardwood floor, it gets louder. That is the sound of the Heat's championship dreams becoming a reality.

But the dream has been taking a hit over these past 4 games. A blowout loss to Dallas. A close loss to San Antonio. A miracle win over Milwaukee. Another loss to Minnesota.

Each of the losses had featured some great individual performances - Nowitzki's 41 point outburst. KG's 25pts, 21 boards, and 8 assists tonight. Damn near "messed around and got a triple-double".

The losses are not that troubling though, as the Heat sports a 5-3 record and is among one of the top 5 scoring teams in the league up to tonight's game. But it is the defense that is noticeable - or lack thereof.

Defense is effort based. It is coachable. The Heat have the players with the desire and ability to play great team defense. Riley preaches it. Van Gundy will shout it from the pulpit. But it will not be until Shaq gets the hang of defending the pick and roll that this team will start to make strides. Not until the Heat stop double-teaming the forward on the perimeter and leaving the 3 point assasin time to get his feet square and leave him wide open. Not until the Heat find an answer to stop perimeter scorers from slashing to the basket and drawing fouls.

The finger has to be pointed somewhere. It just cant be fixed off in the distance towards the championship path. And if you focus on the finger, you lose seeing the way. So the Heat have to look a little closer to home, and focus on what it takes to march down that path. Triumphantly. That will begin with better defense.

And it will really begin with great defense.