The way the Heat have played as of late, especially on the road, LeBron James’ MVP candidacy may be in jeopardy when it seemed to be his to lose after the All-Star break.
Lucky for him, his team plays the next five games at home to try to make amends for their sudden road struggles, including an embarrassing 91-72 blowout loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday before a national television audience.
They are 21-2, the best home record in the league, and have won a league-best 15 straight games at the AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat (37-14) look to extend their dominant streak to 16 games and sweep the series against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers in Tuesday night’s best game.
The Heat have become bullies of late when facing the Sixers: They have won 10 consecutive regular-season games, including all three this season.
They won by an average of 20 points in the first two games, and the third meeting looked to be much of the same until they nearly blew a 29-point lead and held on to win 84-78 March 16.
After losing just five road games in the first two-plus months of the season, Miami has managed to drop seven games after the All-Star break. Though James’ season averages are remarkable at 26.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists, he has shot below 47% — well below his season average of 53.5% — in five of the last seven road losses.
The play of Mario Chalmers has also significantly dropped since the All-Star break, with the guard averaging just 7.5 points on 35.8% shooting in 17 contests. In contrast, he averaged 11.1 points on 51.2% shooting in his first 33 games.
Philadelphia (29-23) has its own problems on the road, dropping five of the last six. Things won’t get any easier as 10 of its final 14 games will be away from home, including five straight to close out the season.
After holding the Atlantic Division lead for much of the first three months, they are currently one game behind the Celtics and hold the tie-breaker after winning two of the three games in that series.
Can Philadelphia get to the foul line? That’ll be a key question tonight. The Sixers continue to be on pace to crush the record for fewest fouls committed by a team’s opponent with 16.2 per game. The record is 17.5 held by the 2007-2008 Minnesota team.