Miami's Sad Game of Jenga Toppling Over

ORLANDO, Fla. -- With North Korea threatening to start World War III, unemployment almost 10 percent and TSA agents groping millions of Americans, the president weighed in on a matter of real national security Wednesday.

The Miami Heat. If they continue to fizzle worse than the Greek economy, will America die of laughter?

The Greatest Team Ever Assembled lost its third straight game Wednesday night on ESPN. Over on ABC, Barack Obama tried to explain it all to Barbara Walters.

"It takes some time for a team to come together. There's no 'I' in team," he said. "So no matter how good a player is, no matter how good a group of players are, if they haven't played together before they are not going to be as good as a team that has played together a long time."

The analysis was a bit obvious, but the No. 1 Fan probably didn't have his teleprompter handy. He should have said he relates to what LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are going through.

They are the Obama Administration of the NBA. Long on promise, short on delivery. Let's just hope the similarities end there or we may all be speaking Korean soon.

The 104-95 loss left Miami with an 8-7 record. The Heat weren't supposed to lose that many games until the 2012 election, were they?

Erik Spoelstra's job approval ratings are lower than Obama's. Everybody from Joe the Plumber to Phil the Zen Master are predicting the Heat's coach will soon bolster the unemployment rate, and that Pat Riley will again ride into the rescue.

That would be a half-travesty. Spoelstra doesn't deserve the axe, but Riley should come out of his president's box and be forced to coach this team.

It's not that the players aren't trying, at least according to James. It's not that there's a lack of talent.

So, LeBron, what is it?

"If I had the answer right now," he said, "we wouldn't be hovering around .500."

Part of it is injuries. Much of it is having the worst bench this side of the Washington Generals. But most of it is having too many high-priced chefs in the kitchen.

James, Wade and Bosh have spent their careers running the show. Now nobody knows who should be running what when. Whoever brings the ball up waits to call a play, it's out of sync, guys stand around and someone forces a shot.

Riley would have been much better off signing a real point guard instead of spending $110 million on Bosh. But then, James probably wouldn't have signed if he couldn't play with both his buddies.

Oh, for those heady days of summer, when the Big Three was introduced to Pink Floyd-type lasers and sent chills down Heat fans' legs. Now the thrills belong to the rest of the country, which has turned into one big Cleveland.

Everywhere LeBron goes he is greeted like the Christmas Underwear Bomber. That's what he gets for "The Decision" and presumably taking the easy way to a title. But the Heat have looked like a title team approximately once, in a 26-point blowout over the Magic.

That was the third game of the season. The best the Heat looked Wednesday was when Wade rallied them from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Interestingly enough, James was on the bench.

That allowed Wade to do what Wade does, create his own offense. The Heat took an 88-87 lead, then James came back in.

Miami missed its next six shots. Three Go-To Guys is about 1.8 too many.

"I kept attacking and got a couple of things to go my way," Wade said. "It helped my confidence out and I just need to keep going."

Panic not, Heat believers. Things have to get better. But it's obvious that the shakedown cruise is going to last a lot longer than anyone expected.

The 72-win season predicted by Jeff Van Gundy is more laughable than Nancy Pelosi's prediction that the Democrats would hold the House of Representatives. ESPN might even have to lay off a half-dozen of the producers currently following the LeBron Over America Tour.

"Everybody in the media is so interested in the Heat," Stan Van Gundy said. "But I just think it's another team."

It's not just the media, Stan. The man who took his talents to the White House also cares.

"We still have 10-and-a-half percent unemployment," Van Gundy said. "I don't think he should worry about turning the Heat around. Let Erik worry about that because Erik sure isn't going to turn the economy around."

At this point, that might be easier.