Lately the Miami Heat has lost some games, the way they have lost games have been rather erratic since they start with the Heat playing good ball and getting on top quite fast. There are some elements of the Heat basketball that have been lacking lately.
Most of their losses have started from Miami domating 1/2Qtr to a 10pt deep on the 4th.
I wonder if the energy level slums after halftime. After winning a bunch of games by +10 pts seems that the team has been overburned. Defense have collapse and eventually the offensive strategy has been holding out of attacking the basket.
From a team that used to 'live' on the foul line, they have settle for bunch of long range shots that has not come through during the Chicago and Orlando game and even the Nets game when they went from 28 to a mere >5 pts diferential vs Philly.
The bench has been inexistent and even some odd moves like sticking to a rotation regardless if the player is having a good game. Although some players have actually seen some action like ex-3pt champ Jones, is only because Mike Miller keeps geting injured. Rio is also very erratic and just been on a down spiral on 3pt shooting % and even Free Throws.
So my hope is for the coach to get the rotation more involved on these weak games and get the starts more time out, and work on getting the third team up for the playoff. I think a Bosh driven 3rd team could do a good game.
After a 2 lost games, and somehow cool down on the way Heat energy level, they had survived the battle against Hawks, and they need to go back at it in Indiana.
Heat was playing a gigantic defense, but ever since, they had slow down on their attack. They did show up a bit on the third quarter against the Hawks on their comeback, but in reality I think they are going for clos games rather than take over games.
Bosh is being much better recognized now that he is back for a 2-0 mini run with the big 3 in their place. The thought of "Heat are small" and very low firepower in the middle. Bosh had some issues on offense and the Heat struggle, he was gone and the Heat struggle. So we can basically come to the conclusion Bosh is being the X-factor here.
In reality is really about defense, if more defense is injected, then the better the Heat will perform.
On a side note, the MVP race is a bit odd, they are having some MVP people stucked with a pin on that ladder as opposed to a week by week basis.
LeBron James and Dwight is one example, even with loosing and poor games on the week, they still have them on the upper echelon. While other relative good stars like Derrick Rose which only lost one game, was on the 6th. That sad, of course it seems the approach doesn't work like that.
I will still wish this organization was smoother.
On the Dunk ladder, was the WTF when LBJ 360 dunk, the first 360 this season was not included on the Top dunk of the week. Instead it was a Griffin somewhat average dunk.
Ok so this is my team to win it all, but is hard to be so optimistic when you are hanging with the 5th place (granted 3 teams are tied). But the Heat, the team that was No 1 in the NBA went down quite fast and hasn't bounced back.
Not just that but their game has gone down as they start to play more games every night. Not just that, but there is also some injuries affecting the team hard and I think that Miami will not win the best record already.
So what is the problem? I think they started the season with blazing energy, swapping the teams away and making huge leads. Sometimes even blowing out huge leads, but still coming out with the W.
The issue is that as injuries strike and games accumulate they seem to be dominated quite easily by weak teams like the Milwakee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even a tripple over time with Atlanta was pretty under the Heat expectations.
So now the number two team, the Chicago Bulls are actually quite the opposite, they have been consistant on their game, and keep awarding themselves with W.
The funny thing is that the Chicago Bull doesn't look that different from last year while the Heat actually looks better on paper yet have been through such drama.
So not just the Heat big 3 have an impact, but also the bench has been healthier than last season with Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and the rookie revelation Cole, have make the Heat depth grow exponentially.
So what happened?
For once their game is off, LeBron and Dwayne are shooting quite poorly, and I think that consistency from the free throw line has been one of the biggest issues.
Poor shooting, poor decision making on shots.. LeBron has been hugging the basketball way too much making poor choices on a team that is not used to mid-court game. Lots of last second shots with bad angles has been a constant on these games.
There is also the factor that Dwayne hasn't really been healthy, a foot injury followed by a sprain ankle left the Heat without their 2nd man to give those fastbreaks a deadly combination.
Turnover's galore, too careless of the ball, too much bad decisions on dribbles to the basket and just ugly rortation or no rotation by the team.
I hope that the team can get it back together by the time they play the Bulls cuz is going to be ugly loosing to the team you are trying to catch up. Fortunately enough, Heat has step up with strong teams. So, I hope they can recover and finally get back to play Miami Heat Basketball.
I am very interested in this year Heat team. Although in part is because of all that commentary about this "new gameplan" by the Heat. From LBJ, Wade new 3pt attempt diet to a more fast and flashy way to attack the basketball.
What really surprised me was the rotation that Miami seems to have when they are playing. Sometimes is great like this one, where Cole really settle and drill some crticial shots to keep the Heat affloat till the game is over. But my greatest question is what happend to the other shooters. James Jones, and even Chris Bosh on the midrange. They were completely MIA from the rotation on the last quarter which was meant to be their time as Celtics changed to a zone position and gave the issues that Heat had on the last quarter.
I wonder what Eric Spolstra have in mind and why he hide their shooters when the game is on the line.
Tonight game was great with the Miami Heat playing just great defense thanks to an old soldier. Udonis Haslem got back to the lineup to wow everyone in Chitown and in the whole league. Wow Haslem was the missing piece on this new Heat.
He is the Kendrick Perkins for the Miami Heat and I think he is what they need to get the frontline at pace with the rest of the Heat offense. Just imagine LeBron and Wade driving the offence while Anthony and Hasslem the defense.
Regardless of that I think that this effort was a great one by Miami and they are looking much better and controlling the series back into Miami. Rose has been under control and also Korver hasn't been hot lately.
Miami most have their bench answer back, get some 3's from James Jones, and some efforts by the frontline to boxout the Boozer-Noah combination.
However the best weapon from the Heat is the runaway dunks generated from great D annd I think that LeBron and Wade got that shit on-lock. Just by counting how many dunks this past game, let see, there was two by LeBron then Haslem, then Wade, then there was the alley-oop and the dunk on Rose face from Haslem. Ouch..
Great post-game conference, LeBron James giving Dwayne Wade the props and the vision to come together along with Chris Bosh. The Miami HEAT is going to face the Bulls and then probably the Mavs. So still quite a few more highlights to do before the championship. But a bit lump has been passed. Dallas seems like the top dog in the west and the Heat has struggle quite a bit with them including that that huge beat down at the beginning of the season. But this is a different Miami Heat team and it is ON NOW!!!
LeBron couldn't said it better when you have your best friend right next to you to have your back. There were many +30 plus games in my career and I lost those games. But now is the vision that comes around and the desire for winning.
With Lakers out, the season is somewhat strange and even if the Boston Celtics are not going anywhere or the LA Lakers aren't going anywhere next season. The Heat will also keep maturing their squads and playing even better.
It was a great series and is a thrill I haven't look forward since the Bulls vs the Knicks.
Wow great games by the Miami Heat, I havent been able to blog about them since the first round but Miami is really getting hot now and even Boston can't match the Heat's heat.
With LeBron and Dwayne being spectacular and surprises from the bench like James Jones I think that Miami can now really win it all. Chitown isn't looking so hot after Hawks beat them on the first and even Lakers are also falling 2-0 behind the Mavs.
So having the Heat going 3-0 against the Celtics look more closer than none.
Now that said I dont think the Heat has completely dominate them by far. Their defense has been great, but not excellent. Dwayne wade has made a great job on Ray Allen but at least in my view hasn't dominate the defensive game. Dwayne had 3 steals and 2 block shots which is good but not the greatest. Even Joel Anthony had also only 2 block shots.
Compared to the Dwayne from a month ago, this is nothing. When he was averaging a wooping 5 blocks a game and around 4-6 steals as well. Granted this wasn't the Boston Celtics but it was the Spurs, which is by no means any easier to defend.
So if they could improve the defense in Boston I think they have a shot to win it. If they keep playing like this, it will be tough to secure the win there.
At the same time you hear comentators talk a lot about the ammount of energy that guarding Ray takes and Dwayne even he hasn't slow down on this first two games. Doing it every 2 nights could be tiresome.
Next game is saturday and I hope to see a rejuvenated Dwayne, he stays away from migranes and keep playing the Celts like he had been doing so far.
Two big blogposts about the matchups by Shawn Powell and John Schuhman praise Heat superiority and Celtics lack of focus. Schuman takes it on the Celtics carless handled of the 3pt shooters from the Heat. From guarding LeBron to guarding James Jones who scored all he wanted from the 3pt land. Personally I think that the Heat is being hurt by not giving any play to Eddie House which could give at least a couple of good shots. Eddie is the kind of player that gets hot when the playoff comes. But I guess Rondo has him well tamed to keep him away from playing well. Same with Joan Howard versus Kevin Garnett, or Dampier vs O'Neal.
The fact that Heat hasn't lost in the series gives them a bit of slowness of the bench rotation - If it's not broken why fix it mentality.
For game two Schuhman was criticisizing Glen Davis for taking the two critical possesions on the 4th quarter after the Celtics tied the game. And call it a decisive moment for the series.
The Heat have won just two games, and they're still a long way from a championship. But the fourth quarter of Game 2 may have been the moment that got them over the hump
Something I rather not believe, the series is too early to be defined. I would consider this on a game 3 in Boston though. And yes, this series won't go to 7 games I think.
So saturday is the big day and I hope that the Heat is well prepared, they need to dominate better with their defense and break any runs late in the game to be able to have a chance.
With the series about to finish, the Heatless are about to finish their first tour through Philly. I think this games were pretty tough for what the Heat has done through the regular season. Besides games 2, where they won by 30 really, the trip to Philly was been well fought. Game 3 was a whole night with Philly leading the game until the 4th where Wayde and LBJ took over and won realtively confortable.
Game 4 so far seems like the sweep opportunity but with the Bulls loosing on the last game against the Pacers, Heat needed to remind us all the season is not over. Philly start very strong in Game 4 and Heat fell on a 20 pt deficit, fortunately they proved they could come back and finish the halftime ahead. This was a good wake up call but the whole 3rd Heat really couldn't control the game yet. By the 4th Heat finally start taking over with still half of the quarter being fought.
Even after the largest lead by 7, Philly came back put it back to 3. Then Heat make a good push and Philly tie them up. This is where the killer instict should be up and instead of increasing the defense, the small drives are perforating the Heat defense. I think if Heat needs to learn something is how to guard the point guard, I know they want to steal and block the shots, that's why they are more caring about doing that, than making a stop and most times it works. But when they fell, they fell misserably.
Anyway I think that the game was pretty good, fought to the last minute and the opportunities where there to put them to rest. Maybe next game like that they will be able to do just that. Right now Heat will shut down this one with a sweep and wait on Celtics for the super matchup.
So far the playoff had been awesome and is good to see the outcomes coming up. They actually started pretty exciting from the get go, Spurs and Lakers were victim of first game upsets. Chicago, the No 1 team in the NBA didn't had an upset but was just too close to be one, as well with the Celtics. The only confortable team so far has been the Heat which have had a relatively easy game against the sixers. But let me get back tot he series.
So this is how the East and West matchups where at:
Bulls - Pacers
Miami - Sixers
Celitcs - Knicks
Magic - Hawks
and on the West:
Spurs - Grizzlies
Lakers - Hornets
Maverics - Blazers
Thunder - Nuggets
The upsets were a bit shocking for the NBA although really not that much fuzz was done at least on the blogsphere. But it was the first time that a Conference 1 and 2 loose the first game of the playoff.
Spurs
Lakers
Magic
On the flip side, the teams that barely make it were also plenty as well:
Bulls
Celtics
Thunder
In the end the series now likes up like this, and I think some series will go to 7, but we'll see on a similar post next week.
Is finally that playoff time where the Heat really has the time to show and prove and they are doing just great. even without the expectations of the team having the second best number in the east is as good as it can get. well no 1 would be the best but then again is not really about seen Chitown's threat but about beating Boston.
With LeBron James and Dwayne Wade going playoff mode, we can see a new face of the game that Miami hasn't shown in the regular season. However the overanlization of the team has overshadow their greatness, and their huge runs.
Hope to see what the other teams will do, beside Boston, Spurs and Lakers, everyone seems to be good.
On a related note, I havent really read the NBA blogs that much, dunno why, but they seem interesting. I should quote some of them for the Heat and Sixers matchup.
The margin for error is small, but the Sixers have found success by limiting their mistakes. They don't shoot the ball particularly well, but they did have the league's lowest turnover percentage in the league and 11th-highest assist rate. On the other end of the floor, they had a top-10 defense.
The defense is the key, because stops allow them to run. That's when the Sixers are most effective and most entertaining. And in making the most of what they've got, the Sixers have made Collins a Coach of the Year candidate.
This is no suprise, defense and avoid mistakes, however is much easier said than done. Avoid mistakes when you are playing against the best defense in the NBA is really just a dream. You will make mistakes and what is worth, they will capitalize on that.
