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Chalmers mostly reduced to spectator against Celtics

February 13, 2011|By Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel

BOSTON — With 9:46 to play in the third quarter, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra apparently had seen enough. Mario Chalmers' day was over.

Despite starting at point guard, Chalmers played just 12 minutes, 55 seconds in Sunday's 85-82 loss to the Boston Celtics, as the Heat went mostly with three wing players, with Mike Miller entering for Chalmers.

"Just tried to change something," Spoelstra said. "But, as you know, things will change game to game. So that's not necessarily how we'll go on Tuesday."

Spoelstra was referring to Chalmers' limited minutes, but, just to be clear, he was asked about a possible lineup change in advance of Tuesday's game against the Indiana Pacers, the third stop of this four-game trip.

"No," he said.

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Chalmers finished with three points and two assists. Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo finished with 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

Two hours after the game, Chalmers posted on his Twitter account, "Frustrated."

Chalmers regained the starting job from Carlos Arroyo on Jan. 22, when Spoelstra said he wanted to limit his rotation to one point guard. Sunday, the Heat played most of the game without a point guard. That allowed Rondo to utilize his defensive agility against LeBron James.

"It was working there for a while," Spoelstra said of moving to James and Dwyane Wade as the team's de facto ballhandlers. "In the second half, we were getting cleaner looks. This is part of the process."

Wade's flagrant

Spoelstra said he had no issue with Wade's third-quarter bump of Kevin Garnett that was ruled a flagrant foul, Wade's first flagrant foul of the season.

"To go through them, we're going to have to be physical and tough," Spoelstra said of the Celtics. "That's both physically tough, but mentally tough, which we are capable of.

"Nobody in this locker room is afraid. While we have respect, the best way to show respect is by giving none."

Wade said he did not view the contact as rising to the level of a flagrant foul.

"I'll take a foul on that," he said. "In my career, I don't get a lot of flagrants called for me when I go to the basket, so I don't think that was what it was."

Off the mark

Sunday's 6-of-17 shooting dropped Wade to 12 of 45 against the Celtics for the season.

"I got some good shots," he said. "One of 'em, I had a layup right over the basket. Honestly, I've proven I can score the basketball against this team. I did it all last year."

Indeed, Wade averaged 33.2 points on 56.4-percent shooting against the Celtics in last season's opening-round playoff series.

"I have another crack at 'em and I'll try to master it," he said of the April 10 season-series finale at AmericanAirlines Arena. "And then, hopefully, we'll have another seven games in the playoffs and I'll try to master it. So that's the least of my worries."

Pierce goes 0 for 10

Paul Pierce's 0-for-10 shooting tied for the most field-goal attempts against the Heat by an opponent without a conversion. The Celtics said after the game he plans to get an MRI on his sore left foot . . . Until his missed free throw with 12.5 seconds to play and the Heat down 83-81, James had been 20 of 20 from the line this season in the final minute with the score within five points. That, according to ESPN, had been best in the league.

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat.

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