Although Michael Beasley has emerged as the Heat's day-to-day starting power forward, he has yet to emerge as the team's closing power forward. For now, former starter Udonis Haslem continues to handle closing time, often while Beasley watches from the bench during the latter stages. "He's going to get his opportunity. We need him," coach Erik Spoelstra insists. "We're going to need him to play an important role and. I just went a different direction with the guys that were in the game."
Granted, there certainly is more to the game than scoring. Beasley did not have a single rebound in his second-half minutes Wednesday against the Wizards, and had just one in the second half a night earlier against the Suns. The Heat next faces those same Wizards on Tuesday night, this time at AmericanAirlines Arena.
But what about offense-defense substitutions, where Beasley's scoring can contribute and then Haslem can return to handle matters on the other end?
"It depends on how long a guy's been sitting," Spoelstra said. "It depends on what he did when he was in the game. On occasion, I've certainly done it, maybe not as frequently as some other coaches. But, again, it just depends.
"I don't have a steadfast rule about not doing it. I would say defensively I've done it a lot."
That, of course, is not Beasley's most efficient side of the ball, which is why he has turned into a late-game spectator.
Even in Friday's 96-88 victory over Denver, Beasley only played 2:18 in the fourth quarter.
HEAT 96, NUGGETS 88: This time the Heat didn't need Dwyane Wade to follow up his 40-point performance in Washington. Instead, a balanced attack that featured 18 points from center Jermaine O'Neal and 16 from point guard Mario Chalmers was more than enough to complement Wade's 22. It was the Heat's first victory against the Nuggets in the past nine meetings.
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