Miami Heat Thread

[Andrew]

Far better than waiting on Eddy Curry possibly being cut by the Knicks.

[atlwarrior]

Jazz defeat the Heat 116-114. Paul Millsap 46 pts on 19/28 shooting. Not to mention he shot 3/3 in threes.
And Deron Williams had 21 pts and 14 asts despite fouling out. Heat let go a 22 pt lead. I like all the assists but im really not likin this new LeBron. Not aggressive enough.

[shadowgrin]

phpBB [video]

[J@3]

Weren't they supposed to be going 82-0

[Lamrock]

Guess the Defeat will have to settle for 79-3. Chris Bosh fucking blows.

[NovU]

Emeka Okafor just raped the Heat frontline. Heat will be regretting they didn't sign The Damp.

And tonight Paul Milksap singlehandedly raped the Heat frontline.

[shadowgrin]

Erik Spoelstra is an idiot for not playing the greatness that is Joel Anthony more. Seriously.
The offense is already accounted for with the presence of their 'Big 3'.
The Heat need Anthony to prevent the other teams from raping them up front. He barely played 18 minutes and all his fouls aren't even used yet for him to be playing less minutes.
Arroyo played for about 30 long minutes. That's too much, it's not like the Heat need his PG skills. Have Wade or LeBron be the point.
Haslem will still get his minutes, have him sub for Bosh and Anthony when necessary. Their primary shooter (for now) James Jones will also get his minutes if Wade/LeBron is put in the point.

The only reason I'm bitching about Spo's moves is because I don't want Pat Riley to step in again.

[Martti.]

Joel should have definitely played in the end, covering Millsap.

[Jackal]

Millsap is a fucking beast, whenever Utah played LA I was more than happy to see Boozer get all flabbergasted by the length of LA and shoot fadeaways and cringed whenever Millsap went right at them, got the bucket AND the foul.

That's how a big man plays. Then again Utah having a big man shooting jumpers when he should be taking it inside isn't something new...

[atlwarrior]

Perhaps Dan Gilbert set a real curse on LeBron. Millsap going three for three beyond the ark? Francisco Elson being the closer of the game?

[Hedonist]

That's what they have Elson for, and put him in the game. Security back up who can knock down free throws. Unlike Fes.

[Bruce]

A while back I was thinking they should invest on giving some playing time to Magloire since they were suffering so much in the paint. Maybe he can still help, of course it has been years since he was lucky enough to be chosen as an all-star. I think they need more help in rebounding more than shot blocking, and Joel Anthony is not the guy for the job. But then from today's game vs the celtics, it was the permiter guys doing the damage. I think Erik Spoelstra will be out of a coaching job soon.

[Jeffx]

I lol'd at this;

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_d ... nba-284898

[shadowgrin]

I think they need more help in rebounding more than shot blocking, and Joel Anthony is not the guy for the job.

You can't rebound the ball if your opponents are sinking their shots. Just ask Ray Allen, KG's jumper, or Bosh's defense.

[atlwarrior]

Bosh is really not to blame or the defense. Its the offense. We all know the Celtics are going to have those nights when they cant miss with the depth they have. The Heat just need to improve offensively. They walk the ball up the court when they should be playing at a more uptempo style. They have LeBron , Wade, Arroyo, Bosh, James Jones, Eddie House, Chalmers, Haslem, Mike Miller (when he returns). Every single one of these guys can run the floor. Theyre trying to play a style thats not made for them.

[Andrew]

Two Woj columns of note in the past couple of days: Bench duty doesn’t suit Riley – for now and Heat folding under weight of season

I think it'll take a few more losses before there's enough pressure to move Riley back to the sideline but it does sound like LeBron is souring on him already. The point about him not accepting responsibility is well-made as well and while Riley's style might not mesh well with him, it might be for the best. If nothing else, Riley has a handful of rings that he can produce and challenge LeBron with, along the lines of "You want one of these? Well, shut up and listen to me". Spoelstra obviously can't wield that kind of clout.

[rise]

The Heat weren't supposed to come right in and win their first ten games together right from the start. They need time together, whether that takes a few more weeks, or several months, saying that Bosh is sucking is just wrong. He may be (relatively) sucking at the moment: he just needs time to adjust to playing with good players. Poor guy was stuck for seven years with the Crap-turds.

I don't expect them to play too great in the first part of the season and it just sucks for them that they had to play the best team in the league (currently) twice in the first three weeks of the season. Come January, expect Bosh to return to his 20/10 self instead of his 15/5 or whatever he's putting up right now and look for some big wins.

The Heat need to sign Erick Dampier. He can rebound well and scores well in the paint. Since he's old and will probably only contribute for another few months, he would fit perfectly with the Heat since they need a few months to get their act together. Now that a few weeks of the season has gone by, I don't expect a 72 win season from them- more like a 55-65 win season depending on how long it takes to gel. Once they do gel, they WILL be the best team in the league. 72-win season should come in a couple years.

[Jackal]

With no front court & no depth, I wouldn't be holding my breath for a 72 win season. Not to mention wonky defense.

James never takes responsibility, never says, “I’m the MVP and I need to do more.”

Did anyone else think of Kevin Durant? For some reason he came to my mind.

In a good way, my mind went straight to..."here's a kid who shuts the fuck up, plays like a God & would step up & say okay, I didn't do enough."

The season is young & the post season is what matters most is what I always say, for some teams it's just about getting through the season to turn it on come playoff time (Spurs. Boston? <You old fags.) instead of tearing it up during the season only to fizzle out in the post season (sorry Mavs fans) but I must say, all the flak I've been getting from my best friends who reside in Miami about Miami or Orlando being a lock to kick LA's ass this year sure seems stupid at the moment. I was born in Miami and lived there for the first few years and visit every other year, but you don't see me suddenly claiming Miami is a sure fire thing to win. (I should have done that this off season just to fuck with you guys. )

Then again, these are guys who know LeBron James, Wade, Bosh, Kobe & Michael Jordan as basketball players. That's the NBA for them. No one else. Tim Duncan? "Dude! That guy is boring!!"..

[shadowgrin]

Tim Duncan? Who dat?

[benji]

Who sane thought the Heat would win more than say 60-65 games? Especially after Miller went down. Is it really fun to be knocking down straw men and the mentally ill all the time?

It should also be noted that the record is misleading, their pythag, point diff and SRS are all second in the league. Those are much better indicators of future success than wins and losses if it maintains.

They've lost by 8, 3, 2 and 5. And won by 10, 26, 23, 32, and 12. And they more than convincingly dismantled Orlando's outside game, which I thought should be held as the "scary potential" game so far. Newly assembled low depth team loses to deep veteran team that's been together for three years by slim margins. Not really shocking or reasons to proclaim anything.

Of course the best comment is:

The season is, like me, young and awkward

The sample size is remarkably small. Oddly nobody seems concerned about the team half of them picked to win 55+ games and finish second in the West is looking terrible despite having the MVP and another guy who appears to have made the leap into stardom.

Also fair to note:
The 1998 Bulls didn't just start 5-4, but 8-7, before going 54-13 the rest of the way and winning the title. The 1991 Bulls started 0-3, were also 5-4, and cratered at 5-6, before they too went 56-15 the rest of the way and coasted to a title. And both of those were teams significantly better than the Defeat who run about four and a half deep when healthy.

I mean, let's not even get into multiple Spurs title teams, the 2003 Spurs were 5-4 and and 19-13 at the end of the calender year before going 41-9 to hit 60 and later winning the title. The first Spurs title was famously 6-8 before finishing on a 43-7 tear including the playoffs.

[koberulz]

They have patches where the game is flowing, the ball moves, the players move, and they look unstoppable. And then for no apparent reason everything slows down and they're running isolations, and failing miserably.

[benji]

When your team is hastily patched together, you have a coach who thinks you need to slow things to a crawl and run full sets, and three players who never actually played in a legit team situation outside of one trip to Beijing and one of them who somewhat did one spring in 2006 but won a title on free throws, things take more time to figure out.

I can't imagine anyone seriously thought they could win more than 65 games THIS season, any of the 70+ predictions had to mean down the road when they build a team around this. (The stats stuff was even saying 64 wins as best, 68-69 as peak...my own unreleased stuff was suggesting around low-60s was likely.) On the flipside, all the people saying they'd struggle to win 40 games and would miss the playoffs, let alone those who guaranteed this team would never win a title. Those are the real nutjobs but a slow start buys them credibility which nobody will talk about in April.

The Celtics had this doubt, hell, even the 1996 Bulls went in with it, people thought nobody could beat Shaq, Penny and the Magic. Rodman? Who had killed the Spurs two years in a row? Pippen who pouted over Kukoc? Jordan just back off baseball? Like Longley is going to stop Shaq? Really?

[NovU]

Some good read up there, benjo. Hoping to see the Heat live up to their pythag.

[Martti.]

Didn't like the benching of Joel, but a line-up change was inevitable. But I do hope Dampier signs with the Heat, he'd be a great starting center.

[HeatStooge]

It's been a rough season to watch, that's for sure, but there's always a chance things can turn around. It's still so early in the season. Or.. a guy can hope anyway. Sigh.