Miami Heat Thread

[rise]

I hope LeBron can keep up the pace he's had in this first quarter. 9-9 FG, 5-6 FT, 23 points.

Amazing.

[atlwarrior]

Is it just me or has LeBron been playing like he's pissed at the world as of lately? He's even knocking down jumpers.

[Martti.]

This was one of his 'personal' games. Otis Smith said 'I thought LeBron was a competitor' when left Cleveland. James obviously took it personally.

The HEAT allowed 30 points in the final 6 minutes, luckily they were able to hang on.

[rise]

Barely. When J-Rich knocked the ball out of LeBron's hand, the ball hit LeBron's knee and bounced out, I though J-Rich or Hedo was going to stick another 3 right after that.

[Andrew]

The final score was much closer than it had any business being, but what a game by LeBron!

[NovU]

The Heat is finally tied for the first place in East. This came with little bit of help from Boston(5-5 in last 10) and Heat's 7 game winning streak. Mostly, from here and now on till the end of season, I am guessing the Heat will remain atop in the East.

[NovU]

The Heat waives Arroyo whom I thought was more valuable than Juan Howard and Magloire. In fact, he was a better player than Chalmers in many occasions. Chalmers being Lebron's pet boy, I am guessing he'll be a Heat for a long time to come.

At least Bibby should be an upgrade. A definite upgrade. I can't wait to see him on the court with the big 3.

[Andrew]

I guess they want to have plenty of size available on the roster, but I would've thought they'd let someone like Pittman go rather than Arroyo.

[rise]

They don't even expect Pittmann to play this season, that's why he's stuck in the D-League and Magloire hasn't played at all either. They should have let both go instead of Arroyo. I'd like to see Bibby play with Miami's Big 3. Atlanta's Big 3 is quite different (Smith, Johnson, Horford).

[Martti.]

Pittman will be out for about 2-3 weeks more, Magloire doesn't play a minute, nor does Howard. Especially when Haslem's back, both of them won't play and will probably be in suits. Don't like it.

Although as Spoelstra likes to change the line-up as soon as it starts playing good, having 5 centers is perfect for him.

[Martti.]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... ning_Curry

Oh great, maybe release James Jones to make it happen.

[rise]

Eddy Curry?!?!

[Murat]

Eddy Curry. Wow, same role for him behind the greatness, Zydrunas and Dampier.

[Cartar]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/211699/Heat_May_Consider_Signing_Curry

Oh great, maybe release James Jones to make it happen.

I think it was already talked about couple months ago, actually not that surprised.

[rise]

He's played 10 games in the last three years. What makes the Heat think he's useful? Pittmann would be more useful come playoff time if they are that desperate for size.

[Andrew]

No question. I'd rather have Magloire than Curry, if they that desperate to get him though then cut Pittman to make room.

[NovU]

It's official now!

Huge props to Bibby for his sacrifice to play with the Heat. 6.2 million at his point of career should have been a tempting figure. I remember Vancouver drafting him second overall just behind Olowokandi and playing with Grizzlies big 3, Dickerson, Reef, and Reeves. Now he's with an inferior big 3 but let's see how things work out in Miami.

True point guard with great shooting ball handling ability. I can't wait to see him on the court with big 3.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu ... ards-bibby

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miam ... 4607.story

[NovU]

To think about it, I found bit stupid for Lebron to bring the ball down while rest were watching him. I mean isn't that why we brought Bibby for? Secondly, tonight's game made me even more realize that Chalmers is truly the weakest link and it shouldn't have been Arroyo who was let go. Chalmers throws bricks every time and has zero baketball IQ, a complete idiot who only sucks up to Lebron. Good thing Bibby will replace his spot in a near future but still Arroyo will be greatly missed. Juan or Magloire, they don't even get any minutes at all, why keep them while we let better PG of two go? Lastly, Spo's coaching seems to be the biggest issue here. The Heat has the best player in the league, 2 of the best 5 and 3 of the best 10. Each of them were truly awesome when leading their own team all their career long. Now, they aren't. Regardless of chemistry issues, coach's the one that's gotta figure out the way to make everything work and DISCIPLINE the players if there's any need(like if Lebron's calling the shot).

I still believe things will be much different once the playoffs begin, but tonight's game was a real frustrating one to just pass by.

[buzzy]

Just fire his sorry ass already. I can't watch this anymore.

[Andrew]

Chalmers is the quicker player though which provides a few advantages defensively. If anything, they should've released Pittman to keep Arroyo; it doesn't seem like they're in any rush to recall him from the D-League and I don't think it would've been much of a gamble to let him go so they could keep Arroyo and have three point guards on the roster, or four depending on what you want to call Eddie House. I expect Bibby will take the starting spot in time though, as well as finishing games. I'd say in this case, Spoelstra wanted Chalmers on the floor due to his familiarity with the rest of the team.

[Martti.]

Since Dampier has started, the HEAT are 2-3. When the HEAT started Big Z and Chalmers together, they were 8-0 and it worked great. Now that Spo has cut James Jones and Joel Anthony/Nig Z from the rotation, the HEAT are back to their 9-8 ways. Dampier commits very stupid fouls.

[NovU]

And Spo still has never been able to figure out starting line this season.

Everybody keeps saying Chalmers is a good defensive player but this guy goes for the steal all the time but rarely is successful. This guy just makes too many mistakes to be trusted on both ends. The guy seems to have zero IQ and to make the matter worse, can't hit open jumpers. His inexperience and dumbness will be real costy in playoffs and I can see that coming. Also now that he has a reputation of being a Lebron's pet boy, no wonder Chalmers is being has been kept around as a core talent despite of ugliness shown so far. Lastly, I am with Wade on this, being upset about Arroyo being released.

The other reason the Heat is struggling is because there is no inside presence to clog the lane effectively when penetrated by quicker opponent. Bosh is a fake tough big who can't jump high enough to challenge a shot, big Z is too slow, Dempier is also too slow, and Anthony is too damn small and to make the matter worse no bigs can rebound well enough. Lebron seems to be the only guy who can actually D. So the team D has been obviously failing too easily against quicker guards and above average offensive skilled bigs. And the worst thing is that we wouldn't even be needing Chalmers's quick feet if our bigs were able to clog the lane better. Nobody could keep players like Rose or Rondo in front anyways no matter who guards them. If inside D weren't so mediocre, at least backcourt wouldn't have to help the bigs as much and would allow perimeter defenders to stay on their men, not allowing so many open 3s.

[Mel_Fox_76]

Hi guys!
Usually I am only using my energy for patching NBA live 2004, but in this case of a broken heart, I need to write something down. The Heat have been defeated by an amazing 30 points against the Spurs...are u kidding me?

The Heat definitely have to change one thing:

LBJ, even if he is my fav player with D-Wade, really has to change his game to help the Heat being a contender for a title!

Stats are saying the Heat are the second worst (!!!) team in the whole league in assists per game. Only better than Milwaukee which is probably the biggest disappointment refering to their potential this year. In my eyes, a team that has very good players in passing abilities like Wade, Miller or Bosh should involve them more when it's about the last pass. Another thing are the turnovers. Stats are saying the Heat are one of the best teams in the league, but I see something else. Maybe somebody knows a good website for stats. I'd really like to know the turnover rate when the Heat are losing and to compare that to the turnover rate of other top teams when they are losing. I expect them to be the worst of the top 10 teams. I attach this observation to game type without a true point guard. If LeBron would change his role, he could also concentrate more on DEFENSE (0.6 Blks are the worst since he was a rookie). Plus the Heat weren't that easy to anticipate for their opponents...

The only question is, of course, if a young coach like Spoelstra can be dominant in convincing LeBron to change his role from point forward to just forward and share the passing job in the whole team. I’ve got only one simple idea which is not very innovative:

HIRE A NEW COACH

This person has to be somebody who can handle the superstars. May be somebody who will be leaving his team with his 12th ring…

Continuing what’s been so far is wasting the talents of two of the best ballers of all time …

[puttincomputers]

The heat have a losing record against team over 500 if i understand right!

[Andrew]

They've also managed just one win against all the other Division leaders. For the most part they're beating teams they should be beating and creaming some sub .500 teams, but they haven't been up to the task against the other top teams in the league.

Admittedly the Spurs were shooting the lights out from the start of the game but the defensive effort wasn't there and they didn't look that much better offensively. No team is immune from a poor stretch or at least a couple of bad wins here or there though - San Antonio themselves had a tough loss to Memphis just this week - so perhaps these past few games will be the catalyst for them showing their mettle and stepping it up. Personally I'm hoping the next game won't be the one where they take out their frustrations and dominate, but I am a little biased about the outcome of that one.