Defending champions struggling in early season

MIAMI (AP) -- The Miami Heat's arena has become a shrine to last season, with their NBA championship celebrated on rafter banners, in hallway photos, in a larger-than-Shaq portrait by the entrance and even on the locker-room carpet.
Five months ago seems like the good ol' days. The Heat have quickly gone from basking in the past to struggling with the present, and they take a 6-8 record into tonight's game against Detroit.
Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Williams and James Posey have been hurt. Antoine Walker has been benched, while Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton have often looked their age, which means old. Even with Dwyane Wade flashing new moves every night, the Heat have combined a sputtering offense with a leaky defense.
Other than that, it's hard to explain their losing record.
As team president, Pat Riley approved the abundance of arena regalia. As coach, he's reluctant to blame it for the slow start.
But if the reigning champions were fat and happy when the season started, they're fat and unhappy now. And in the wake of a 20-point loss last week -- Miami's fourth by that margin or more -- Riley threatened to cut players despite their guaranteed contracts.
"You show a team like this a lot of respect, and you give them a lot of rope, and sometimes it backfires," Riley said.
"You think that because they're veterans, they understand certain privileges. Then you're getting beat by 20 and 30 and 40, and you say, 'Hey, maybe this isn't the way to go with it.'
"It has its benefits -- don't wear them out in practice, and save it for the games. But I wasn't wearing them out in practice, and we weren't saving anything for the games."
Shuffled rotation
As part of his crackdown, Riley shuffled his rotation last week. A shooting slump sent Walker to the bench, and with Williams coming back from offseason knee surgery, Wade moved to point guard.
The changes helped. Wade has totaled at least 30 points and 10 assists in three consecutive games -- becoming the first player to do so since 1989 -- and the Heat have won two in a row.
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