Miami Heat defensive efficiency

[CelticsPoetry]

Maybe this does not deserve its own thread but here we go. I have a question for people who have followed the Heat closer this season. How good is their defense actually? They were 8th in def. efficieny in the regular season, but that doesnt say much. How good do we match up against them? I believe after playing the Raps, who have a very good defense, it should be easier playing against the Heat. The only thing that worries me is that they pounced us in every  regular season game this year. To my recollection they just played with amazing energy and jumped out to 20 point leads a few times and that is what scares me.

[keevsnick]

I would say the heat have some individually pretty great defenders. Bam, Butler, Iggy, Crowder are all above average to near elite options. They also mix in some no so great defenders however. Guys like Hero, Robinson, Olynyk, Dragic all try on that end but can be taken advantage of either by bigger, or quicker players. And those guys kind of have to play because they bring a lot of offense.

Against the bucks who don't have a ton of individual great shot creators (Middleton is really the only one) it can be hard to truly take advantage of those weaker defenders, the C's I think can. Even without Hayward (i imagine he misses the start of the series, maybe returns by the end?) the C's will likely have a miss match somewhere on he floor they can exploit. One of Tatum/Brown/Kemba will likely be covered by one weaker defender they can attack.

And while BAM is a great defender his value is really more in versatility then straight up rim protection, MIA probably has less overall rim protection than either PHI (embiid) or TOR (Serge, Gasol).

On the plus side (for MIA) they have about as good a Tatum match up in Butler as you can get. So he will have to work at the very least.

[tstorey_97]

I think I recall writing about this recently...I was assuming the Celtics would beat the Raptors and to avoid the jinx, I will state they have a lot of work to do.

In general, a comparison of the two teams is permitted.

The Celtic's defense is #2 (107.3) in the NBA behind the Raptors
The Heat is at #10 at (109.1)

In a three point shooting league:

Celtics allow opponents 34% from three
Heat allow opponents 34.7% from three

The benches at first look like the Heat clearly have an edge offensively, the Celtics bench, however, is very good defensively as...that is what they are supposed to do when on the court.

Wanamaker
Semi
the Williams brothers have not lost any games for the team while being dependable at both ends allowing the team's three all star scorers to win the games and earn their gigantic salaries.

Spoelstra is a very good coach and has used his offensive minded bench really well. They have beat up the Bucks again and again and represent, obviously, a dreadful matchup for Milwaukee.

The Heat starters and the Celtics starters are "even" on offense. I feel that the Heat will not respond terribly well to the Celtic's defense if they end up playing.

The Celtics, when "full on" out rebound opponents through scheme more than anything else.

Tough matchup with the better defense winning as "good offensive teams" often suffer under playoff pressure.

[tstorey_97]

I would say the heat have some individually pretty great defenders. Bam, Butler, Iggy, Crowder are all above average to near elite options. They also mix in some no so great defenders however. Guys like Hero, Robinson, Olynyk, Dragic all try on that end but can be taken advantage of either by bigger, or quicker players. And those guys kind of have to play because they bring a lot of offense.

Against the bucks who don't have a ton of individual great shot creators (Middleton is really the only one) it can be hard to truly take advantage of those weaker defenders, the C's I think can. Even without Hayward (i imagine he misses the start of the series, maybe returns by the end?) the C's will likely have a miss match somewhere on he floor they can exploit. One of Tatum/Brown/Kemba will likely be covered by one weaker defender they can attack.

And while BAM is a great defender his value is really more in versatility then straight up rim protection, MIA probably has less overall rim protection than either PHI (embiid) or TOR (Serge, Gasol).

On the plus side (for MIA) they have about as good a Tatum match up in Butler as you can get. So he will have to work at the very least.

TP..this

[apc]

Maybe this does not deserve its own thread but here we go. I have a question for people who have followed the Heat closer this season. How good is their defense actually? They were 8th in def. efficieny in the regular season, but that doesnt say much. How good do we match up against them? I believe after playing the Raps, who have a very good defense, it should be easier playing against the Heat. The only thing that worries me is that they pounced us in every  regular season game this year. To my recollection they just played with amazing energy and jumped out to 20 point leads a few times and that is what scares me.

What do you mean 'They pounced us'? we beat them twice in regular season.

[CelticsPoetry]

Maybe this does not deserve its own thread but here we go. I have a question for people who have followed the Heat closer this season. How good is their defense actually? They were 8th in def. efficieny in the regular season, but that doesnt say much. How good do we match up against them? I believe after playing the Raps, who have a very good defense, it should be easier playing against the Heat. The only thing that worries me is that they pounced us in every  regular season game this year. To my recollection they just played with amazing energy and jumped out to 20 point leads a few times and that is what scares me.

What do you mean 'They pounced us'? we beat them twice in regular season.

Yeah I checked it now, you're right. Maybe my memory decieved me and it was last season.

[footey]

Maybe this does not deserve its own thread but here we go. I have a question for people who have followed the Heat closer this season. How good is their defense actually? They were 8th in def. efficieny in the regular season, but that doesnt say much. How good do we match up against them? I believe after playing the Raps, who have a very good defense, it should be easier playing against the Heat. The only thing that worries me is that they pounced us in every  regular season game this year. To my recollection they just played with amazing energy and jumped out to 20 point leads a few times and that is what scares me.

What do you mean 'They pounced us'? we beat them twice in regular season.

Yeah I checked it now, you're right. Maybe my memory decieved me and it was last season.

I attended game in Miami.  Hayward was awesome.