Miami Heat Thread

[Andrew]

But is heavily shorthanded and tried playing Danny Granger at 4 you kidding me?

Hey, it worked with LeBron!

I still think they'll be decent when it's all said and done. Any Heat fan who still feels that they're a top team or a legitimate contender is vastly underrating LeBron's contributions, but I think they'll sort things out and be a bit more competitive once the season's underway.

[Martti.]

James Ennis has been a pleasant surprise. Napier has been all right, but can't find his shot.

[Kevin]

But is heavily shorthanded and tried playing Danny Granger at 4 you kidding me?

Hey, it worked with LeBron!

Granger is not as athletic as LeBron and not as much of a facilitator either.

[shadowgrin]

Granger played PF in small ball lineups back when he was still good in Indiana, played much like a stretch four with his shooting and when he still had some athleticism back then, was like a less strong Thad Young but with better shooting.

[Andrew]

But is heavily shorthanded and tried playing Danny Granger at 4 you kidding me?

Hey, it worked with LeBron!

Granger is not as athletic as LeBron and not as much of a facilitator either.

Well, obviously. I was being facetious.

[NovU]

http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/b ... at-preview

Conference Rank: 6th

I will take it!

[NovU]

Solid win against up and comer Wizards. They were missing key pieces like Beal and Nene but this win is meaningful as it's first game of the season.

Cole was a great surprise, starting the game and finishing with 23 pts effort. Wade isn't dead yet, pouring in 21. Bosh lived up to the contract for one night, 26 pts & 15(DAMN!) rebounds. Only deadweight was Shawn Williams but we will have McRoberts back soon so his position will be less of concern then.

And there was this...

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King James Ennis

[Kevin]

HOLY SHIT. That cole face though

[NovU]

A win is a win but wasn't impressive because this one was against lowly 76ers. They had the lead heading into fourth.

Old Wade showed up tonight. It will be interesting to see how he will respond in next three games since this was the start of 4 games in 5 nights marathon. It's worth noting that he usually sucked in back to backs last year and played great mostly when he was coming off a long rest.

[NovU]

3-0! Solid, 2 wins against slightly above average teams, and 1 win against the crappiest team in league history.

Next up is a true challenge though. Dwight and Harden pretty much squelches Heat's strength in Bosh and Wade. A tough match up. Then followed by Hornets very next night, Lance seems to play well against Wade, and there's Al Jeff vs Bosh, that will also be a fun match up.

[shadowgrin]

Dwight Howard has no post moves confirmed.

[Kevin]

WTH did Howard do to get blocked by Wade?

[NovU]

Wow. Deng's shot selections were awesome tonight. Thanks to great ball movement and screens. For most of shots, he had clear looks and set feet.

Wade and Bosh ofc looked good. McBob also looked great. His passing skill helped and his hustle was a nice bonus tonight.

This team looking well balanced and plays on collective effort. Something that they didn't do when LBJ was there. Coach Spo has done a nice job.

[air gordon]

lol show dick some respect. guess spo was doing bad job when james was still there

[NovU]

It's different. Spo was a-ok when he had LBJ. Now he's surpassing lotta pplz expectations.

[air gordon]

Who people? Must have balance, Daniel san! No balance but still a ok!
They've had a few surprise wins and even wade a good game on the 2nd leg of a back to back

[shadowgrin]

What expectations?
If anything this team is guessed to reach the 2nd round of the playoffs at best.
Wins against a depleted Wizards, relatively noob Raptors, lottery expert Sixers, and Western Conference heavyweights Mavericks and Wolves?

HEAT N FINALS!

[NovU]

There were obviously idiots that were saying Spo and Heat were going to completely falter off now that LBJ is gone, who was a player gm and coach.



5-2 start is nice nonetheless, especially those wins against Mavs, Wiz, and especially Raps were sweet. Raps are btw 7-1 now, best in league with only loss against the Heat. Was worried about schedule, 4 games in 5 nights but Wade still sustained which is nice. Chalmers off the bench was a surprising move. But it's working out good. He provides a great spark off the thin bench due to injuries. New pieces actually are fitting in nicely. Shawne's been solid, but based on last game, you know McRoberts will eat up all of his minutes soon. Deng obviously started out slow but looked better in last one. Was able to get freed using screens and chose his spots smartly, not taking bad shots most of nights. Wade still is the key man on offense but you can tell he's looking to pass more. Media and stupid people argued whose team this was between Bosh and Wade, but Wade allegedly has been encouraging Bosh to take on as much load as possible. This is nice, no ego problem on co-existence whatsoever after LBJ era. What Spo's done nicely is simple. He has the balanced offense running smooth. It's not much of two man game but you see there's actually good amount of ball movement that actually works. It could be anyone that can be left open and have it going. Rotation was in questions before the season began, but somehow the one Spo came up with worked so far. Chalmers off the bench and Cole as a starter? It brought some criticism and questions but NoCole's hot start kinda silenced those crowd. He's been sucking ever since then but Chalmers off the bench has been a great spark off the injury riddled bench so it's hard to argue against the result. His vision of NoCole as a starting PG, and Chalmers a SG is for the long term and it's off to a decent start. On top, there are so many new pieces and young guys that Spo had to utilize. The learning curve can be substantial for both coach and those players so you gotta appreciate this early success.

Defense still relies on double teams. But that's expected with no sizable rim protector. Close in speed isn't quite there for now with bit of confusion at times, but it also means there's a good room to improve. To be fair, it is what it is, isn't anything close to seriously bad defense by any means, neither will there be a significant improvement. Great 3pt team(especially with size and spacing) can probably harass Heat's defense consistently though.

[shadowgrin]

If only Spoelstra started coaching like this then the 2nd best player in the NBA wouldn't have moved back to Cleveland.

[NovU]

Shut this thread down. You dicks were right, Heat are done.

[NovU]

Wade is to miss for 5th consecutive games.

This one against the Magic is a must win game. You can't go under .500 and lose for 5th time in 6 games. It'll put much pressure on Wade for the season.

[Kevin]

Oh, Wade.

[NovU]

So the Heat acquires Hassan Whiteside. He was first drafted by the Kings in 2nd round(first round was Cousins). He's moved around quite a bit and even played in China. I'd say he's a D-leaguer caliber player with little else. But he's a seven footer with wide frame, a type of body which the Heat are in need. I just don't know if he has lateral quickness and reaction speed to compete against NBA bigs. His offense also looks like strictly dunking guy.

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[NovU]

So the Heat lose to a D-league team. Bunch of grandpas got molested by amateur college ballers.

Well, hoping having Bosh back will fix things a bit.

[koberulz]

How's Ennis doing? I've not really heard anything since he left Perth back in April.