LeBron James came out to play on Wednesday in his usual, deadly self. The rest of the Miami Heat looked like they lost their shoes somewhere during the welcome party for South Beach’s Big Three. (Photo courtesy of the LA Times)

MANILA, Philippines — LeBron James came out to play on Wednesday in his usual, deadly self. The rest of the Miami Heat looked like they lost their shoes somewhere during the welcome party for South Beach’s Big Three.

James fired 31 points on against the Boston Celtics in the NBA’s opening match for the 2010-2011 season, but the Heat just didn’t have enough firepower to sustain a late game run and succumbed to the Eastern Conference champions, 88-80.

James was obviously in terrific shape, despite shooting 10-of-21 (47%) overall from the field. He was the lone bright spot for the Erik Spoelstra-mentored squad and was mainly responsible for the team’s late run when they threatened to close the gap in the game’s final minute.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — who form the Heat’s own version of a Big Three with James — were nowhere to be found. Against a Celtics squad that was firing on all cylinders all throughout the game, Wade and Bosh appeared to have shied away from the spotlight, letting James do all the work. They shot very poorly from the field, combining for 7-of-27 in more than 35 minutes of separate playing time — that’s 20 missed shots that could have broken the game wide open to their favor.

"It's one of 82," said Wade in an interview with Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times. “I'm not sure anyone thought we'd go 82-0. It's not going to happen."

"It's a feel-out process," James explained, quoted by the Associated Press. "When you have so many options, it's something I'm not accustomed to, having that many threats out on the court at the same time."

The rest of the crew were there to make their share. James Jones dropped two three's late in the game, off separate assists from James. Unfortunately, he missed his five previous tries and finished 2-of-7 from downtown. Co-captain Udonis Haslem was there to do what he has to do and that is to take care of the boards. He finished with 11, but James and Wade wasted some of what he worked hard, combining for 14 of the team's 15 turnovers.

Browsing through what other sportswriters have to say on the Heat’s sore debut, I came across a pretty witty post by Matt Moore on the CBS Sports website.

Moore had actually labeled the “retooled” Miami Heat as the “Cavaliers II,” with LeBron James taking over the team right from the get-go.

“It was supposed to be different, right from the start. Even with the newness, it wasn't supposed to look or feel like last year. But with his team down to a superior defensive team on the road, and struggling offensively, it was just as it's always been,” Moore says. “LeBron James had to take over, had to run point, had to do everything, leading to a defensive adjustment to shut him down and another struggling result. Part of the reason? Too often poor spacing on the part of the Heat, a hallmark for his Cleveland teams on offense, lead to James taking ridiculous contested shots.”

Looking closely into the stats, a glaring difference that could have cost the game would be the way Miami shared the ball in every possession.

With LeBron playing the point (as Spoelstra decided not to field his usual playmaker Mario Chalmers in favor of James and Wade), the ball almost exclusively stayed on James through long periods of time. In the end, Miami only managed to come up with 15 assists.

Care to ask how the Celtics faired in this department?

Boston had 25 assists —17 of which came from Rajon Rondo.

As they say, you can never really judge a team in just one game. “Rome wasn’t built in a single day,” James said, before justifying how badly the Heat played in their opening match.

LeBron really needs a hand; the guy needs some serious help. Period.