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Heat's Bench Proving Itself Early

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Last year, the biggest flaw for the Miami Heat was the lack of depth behind the Big Three. After Thursday night's domination of the Los Angeles Lakers, it looks like the Heat has taken a flame-thrower to that flaw.

Throughout the Lakers game Thursday night, the Heat rotated through lineups and players at will and exposed just how bad the Lakers bench truly had become.

The Heat sent wave after wave towards the Lakers of combinations including LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, James Jones, and even Eddy Curry.

Shane Battier, who started for the Heat, completely shut down Kobe Bryant with some help from the Heat's big men making his job easier.

Curry came in for the first time in four years and played about six minutes and contributed six points and three rebounds to the Heat's cause.

Plus, the Heat did all of this without Dwyane Wade on the court. He missed another game and is still listed as day-to-day.

When Wade returns, he will step into a lineup that can finally ease the minutes the Big Three have to play and it will allow Wade plenty of time to recover from any injuries he has to deal with in the short-term.

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