LeBron James Actually Needs To Shoot More Tonight For Miami Heat Victory [Video & Gif]

With LeBron James taking over the majority of the offensive touches against Indiana, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have said they need more "opportunities" to get past their series-long slump against Indiana.

The Big Three are more like the the Big One, right now.

After Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were a combined 4-for-19 in game 6 on Saturday night, Wade told the assembled media in the post game press conference that he and Chris Bosh needed more opportunities to get over their shooting woes.

"We have to do a good job of getting opportunities for me and Chris to succeed. It's something we're going to have to look at as a team...We've got to figure it out in this locker room, and not leave it to an individual to self-will it."

The Eastern Conference Finals were supposed to be easy for reigning regular season MVP, LeBron James, and his fellow "Big Three" stars, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

But with Bosh and Wade struggling in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, LeBron James has had to pick up the scoring slack while both find their rhythem.

James is leading the team in scoring (28.5), rebounding (7.2) and assists (5.5) in this series, and he'll have to do just as much--if not more--if the Heat are going to get past Indiana to advance their third consecutive NBA Finals tonight.

Chris Bosh shot 53.5% from the floor this regular season on 12.3 field goal attempts per game. Dwyane Wade shot 52.1% from the floor on 15.8 attempts this season.

In the six games of the Eastern Conference Final against Indiana so far, Bosh is shooting 41.1% on just 9.3 field goal attempts per game. Wade is shooting just 44.2% on 12.8 shots per game.

The numbers get even worse in Miami's three losses to the Pacers: Bosh shoots just 28.6% from the floor on 9.3 field goal attempts per game. Wade attempts 13.3 shots and only hits a dreadful 35.0% from the floor.

But the two players don't shoot any more or less when the Heat win vs when they've lost, at least against this Pacers team.

In fact, LeBron James has shot almost three more times per game in Miami's wins during this Eastern Conference Finals series, than he does in their losses: for wins, he averages 22.3 attempts per game, and in losses he attempts just 19.7 (via NBA.com/stats).

So while Bosh and Wade say they need more "opportunities" to get offensive looks, the statistics support LeBron taking games over.

Maybe it's not the brand of basketball that helped them win the second most games in-a-row this regular season when they tore off 27-straight, but in the playoffs against a tough Indiana Pacers team, the Heat need James to shoot as much as he can if they're going to have success tonight in game 7.

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