For LeBron James And Dwyane Wade, A Heat Check In Chicago

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade came into their series with the Chicago Bulls on the heels of the Miami Heat’s most impressive two weeks to date, finally looking like the juggernaut we’d expected all year long. Sunday night, Miami looked a lot more like the team we’ve gotten instead.

The problems on the glass (which Tom Ziller explores in-depth), the lack of a great point guard, the breakdowns in the halfcourt offense... All of it came rushing back on Sunday, and just like that, the Heat crashed back to earth. It was a textbook heat check, right? Just when it looked like Miami might be invincible, the Chicago Bulls reminded everyone otherwise.

A “heat check” in basketball is what happens when a guy’s playing out of his mind. Everything he puts up is all net, and it looks too easy. Then, just because he’s feeling it, he takes a shot that tests his luck. Say, a 30-foot three. If it misses, we call it a heat check. It’s not just in hoops, though.

This happens in life, too. For instance, hit on enough women successfully, and it starts to seem unfair. Success inspires irrational confidence which only creates more success. Suddenly you’ve got the guts to walk up to the hottest girl sitting at the bar and try your luck.

You smile at her. “Hey there.”

She doesn’t smile back. “Uh... Hi.”

You laugh. “Can I buy you a drink?”

She doesn’t laugh. “Do I know you?”

You blush. “No, I just thought you looked like you needed a drink.”

She checks her phone. “Actually... I’ve gotta go. Thanks though.”

That’s a heat check.

You can have everything rolling in life, and it all seems so easy that you may wonder why everyone else seems to have so much trouble. Then... BOOM! Something happens that makes you feel two feet tall and sends you crashing back to the earth with the rest of us. That’s a heat check.

For LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, that was Sunday’s game in Chicago. Everything was going well, and the media was eating up this “new” Miami Heat team exactly the way LeBron James and Maverick Carter had always dreamed. “The Heat are different because of real on-court adjustments,” wrote one ESPN expert. “James and Dwyane Wade have gradually refined their games over the course of the season. They don’t have to be the guy who scores 30 points a night on isolations and one-on-one maneuvers. They’re too talented and multidimensional for that to define their careers.”

In the series-clinching victory over the Celtics last week, they shared star responsibilities and combined for 34 second-half points, as LeBron scored the final 10 of the fourth quarter to close out Boston. Everything was clicking, and it all looked too easy. But Sunday night, James finished with 15 points on 5-15 shooting, and Wade added 18 on 7-17. neither of them was “the guy who scores 30.”

They managed just 11 points between them in the second half, and instead of LeBron’s 10 points to close out Boston last week, both stars went scoreless over the final 10 minutes of the fourth.

As for Chicago’s role in all this... Joakim Noah is quick where Kevin Garnett was slow, Derrick Rose is healthy where Rajon Rondo was hurt, Taj Gibson and Kyle Korver can come off the bench to do everything Boston’s reserves couldn’t, and all together, Miami’s facing a tougher, younger, version of the obstacle they overcame last week. This week’s mountain is a lot tougher to climb.

All of which is to say, Miami may still beat Chicago, but it won’t be easy, and now we get to see how LeBron and Wade respond after crashing back to earth in these playoffs. There was never anything “new” about this Heat team. All year long, when the Heat have had success, it’s compounded itself. A few made jumpers from either Wade or James turns into a cascade of fast breaks and lay-ups that leaves opponents drowning in athleticism, media frothing at the mouth, and LeBron and Wade looking like basketball geniuses. It’s when the Heat start to struggle that things get interesting.

When it stops coming easy for them, it stops coming altogether. Just look at the second half Sunday night. The same way that a little bit of success can turn the Heat into a juggernaut that conjures images of the Showtime Lakers, the Jordan/Pippen Bulls, and every other great team in NBA history, a little failure can paralyze Miami’s stars and leave them looking like every other overrated roster that’s come to close to winning it all but hasn’t quite finished the job.

Game 1 wasn’t a referendum either way. Just proof that to inherit the reputation of past dynasties, Miami still has to subvert the stereotypes that dogged all the dynasties that never came to fruition.

What’s the difference between Games 4 and 5 vs. the Celtics and Game 1 vs. the Bulls? In the last two Celtics games, LeBron nailed a couple of ridiculous threes late in the game that left the Celtics looking helpless and the Heat looking unbeatable. In Game 1, those shots stopped falling. Because he’s human, after all, and life (or basketball) always has heat checks along the way.

You’re not defined by how you look when it’s all clicking, but how you respond when it’s not. By what happens when the world’s not impressed and sends you back down the bar feeling two feet tall. On that front, the next few days should tell us a lot about LeBron and the Heat.

Who’s ready for Game 2?