Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[TheReaLPuba]

Wow.  That last three seconds was called "winning in spite of Joe", haha.

First he challenges a clear foul that was called a 2PT shot.  Under review, the Heat get three FTs.

Then, the ATO call to Smart was terrible, and predictably he missed.

Thank God for White.  Holy holy.

Wouldn't the refs have reviewed it anyways to see if it was a 2 or 3?  The challenge was just used because he had it, and was going to call a timeout anyways.

I would guess Tatum was option A, but Struss went to double him (though didn't look like a particularly good play to set up Tatum.).

The “challenge”/review actually was a blessing in disguise.

It gave the C’s more time by putting 3.0 sec on the clock.

Had the floor call stood to would be 2 free throws for Butler and all likelihood OT and with the way the Cs were playing offensively against their zone defense I had no confidence with an OT win lol

[SHAQATTACK]

Joe got one more game left to save his sorry butt. 

Good Luck 

[GreenEnvy]

There were a lot of ticky-tack fouls that Joe COULD have challenged, but the refs can always find some contact to justify the call.

Joe didn’t cause them to shoot 7-35. I did not like up 10 with ball and 4:10 to go, we don’t get a good shot and that leads to that wild and miraculous ending.

I give him a pass on that final ATO because let’s face it, nobody is probably following any play under those circumstance. Even ATO-master Brad’s best play would’ve gotten spoiled with no time outs and their lives on the line.

Derrick White is our hero tonight, but we still have work to do. Bring the intensity. Bring the energy. Make history.

[makaveli]

5 more has to be the mentality

Honestly it comes down to who recover faster emotionaly and gets ready for game 7

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

There were a lot of ticky-tack fouls that Joe COULD have challenged, but the refs can always find some contact to justify the call.

Joe didn’t cause them to shoot 7-35. I did not like up 10 with ball and 4:10 to go, we don’t get a good shot and that leads to that wild and miraculous ending.

I give him a pass on that final ATO because let’s face it, nobody is probably following any play under those circumstance. Even ATO-master Brad’s best play would’ve gotten spoiled with no time outs and their lives on the line.

Derrick White is our hero tonight, but we still have work to do. Bring the intensity. Bring the energy. Make history.

in our defense jimmy was running into our guys and they called fouls on us. garbage reffing

[gouki88]

There were a lot of ticky-tack fouls that Joe COULD have challenged, but the refs can always find some contact to justify the call.

Joe didn’t cause them to shoot 7-35. I did not like up 10 with ball and 4:10 to go, we don’t get a good shot and that leads to that wild and miraculous ending.

I give him a pass on that final ATO because let’s face it, nobody is probably following any play under those circumstance. Even ATO-master Brad’s best play would’ve gotten spoiled with no time outs and their lives on the line.

Derrick White is our hero tonight, but we still have work to do. Bring the intensity. Bring the energy. Make history.

in our defense jimmy was running into our guys and they called fouls on us. garbage reffing

I think the reffing was garbage both ways. Both teams got a lot of soft fouls called. Just a nervous whistle

[Indocelts]

Wow.  That last three seconds was called "winning in spite of Joe", haha.

First he challenges a clear foul that was called a 2PT shot.  Under review, the Heat get three FTs.

Then, the ATO call to Smart was terrible, and predictably he missed.

Thank God for White.  Holy holy.

Wouldn't the refs have reviewed it anyways to see if it was a 2 or 3?  The challenge was just used because he had it, and was going to call a timeout anyways.

I would guess Tatum was option A, but Struss went to double him (though didn't look like a particularly good play to set up Tatum.).

The “challenge”/review actually was a blessing in disguise.

It gave the C’s more time by putting 3.0 sec on the clock.

Had the floor call stood to would be 2 free throws for Butler and all likelihood OT and with the way the Cs were playing offensively against their zone defense I had no confidence with an OT win lol

Without White's heroic play the Cs would have lost the game and we would scrutinize the failed ATO and question why Smart took the last shot. (Again, i dont recall that Smart has ever made any last second shot, so why he was in the lineup on that last play really baffles me)

I am also disappointed that Joe let the team resorts back to the slow tempo and jacking up 3s in Q4 where clearly JB, JT and Al couldnt buy the bucket.

One particular thing that I like is that in this game (until Q3) Joe was quick to substitue players who made questionable shot rather than letting him continue doing so.

Overall, I give him a C+ for this game as we almost lost this game.

[Neurotic Guy]

Wow.  That last three seconds was called "winning in spite of Joe", haha.

First he challenges a clear foul that was called a 2PT shot.  Under review, the Heat get three FTs.

Then, the ATO call to Smart was terrible, and predictably he missed.

Thank God for White.  Holy holy.

Wouldn't the refs have reviewed it anyways to see if it was a 2 or 3?  The challenge was just used because he had it, and was going to call a timeout anyways.

I would guess Tatum was option A, but Struss went to double him (though didn't look like a particularly good play to set up Tatum.).

The “challenge”/review actually was a blessing in disguise.

It gave the C’s more time by putting 3.0 sec on the clock.

Had the floor call stood to would be 2 free throws for Butler and all likelihood OT and with the way the Cs were playing offensively against their zone defense I had no confidence with an OT win lol

Without White's heroic play the Cs would have lost the game and we would scrutinize the failed ATO and question why Smart took the last shot. (Again, i dont recall that Smart has ever made any last second shot, so why he was in the lineup on that last play really baffles me)

I am also disappointed that Joe let the team resorts back to the slow tempo and jacking up 3s in Q4 where clearly JB, JT and Al couldnt buy the buy the bucket.

One particular thing that I like is that in this game (until Q3) Joe was quick to substitue players who made questionable shot rather than letting him continue doing so.

Overall, I give him a C+ for this game as we almost lost this game.

Would have been a brutal loss the way they, once again, allowed a team to storm back and take a lead in the final seconds.

Regarding the final play - I hated the shot but on the plus side it was shot early enough for a chance for a put-back and DW had the left side and JT would have thrown it down had it come off the middle or right.  That was the design.

[Kernewek]

Let’s be honest if the team is going to play well enough to save his job they might as well win the series.

Edit: speaking of impactful coaching decisions - catching up on the game now, just saw that during the presser afterwards Spolestra said he didn't want Strus boxing out, he wanted him denying Tatum. The right call, 99% of the time, but unfortunately for Miami this was the 1% possibility that came back to bite them.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Let’s be honest if the team is going to play well enough to save his job they might as well win the series.

Edit: speaking of impactful coaching decisions - catching up on the game now, just saw that during the presser afterwards Spolestra said he didn't want Strus boxing out, he wanted him denying Tatum. The right call, 99% of the time, but unfortunately for Miami this was the 1% possibility that came back to bite them.

This was not a boxing out vs denying Tatum situation. It was about pressuring the inbound passer or denying Tatum, what follows is Strus playing catch up to return to the inbound passer after successfully denying Tatum.

[ozgod]

Wow.  That last three seconds was called "winning in spite of Joe", haha.

First he challenges a clear foul that was called a 2PT shot.  Under review, the Heat get three FTs.

Then, the ATO call to Smart was terrible, and predictably he missed.

Thank God for White.  Holy holy.

Wouldn't the refs have reviewed it anyways to see if it was a 2 or 3?  The challenge was just used because he had it, and was going to call a timeout anyways.

I would guess Tatum was option A, but Struss went to double him (though didn't look like a particularly good play to set up Tatum.).

The “challenge”/review actually was a blessing in disguise.

It gave the C’s more time by putting 3.0 sec on the clock.

Had the floor call stood to would be 2 free throws for Butler and all likelihood OT and with the way the Cs were playing offensively against their zone defense I had no confidence with an OT win lol

Without White's heroic play the Cs would have lost the game and we would scrutinize the failed ATO and question why Smart took the last shot. (Again, i dont recall that Smart has ever made any last second shot, so why he was in the lineup on that last play really baffles me)

I am also disappointed that Joe let the team resorts back to the slow tempo and jacking up 3s in Q4 where clearly JB, JT and Al couldnt buy the buy the bucket.

One particular thing that I like is that in this game (until Q3) Joe was quick to substitue players who made questionable shot rather than letting him continue doing so.

Overall, I give him a C+ for this game as we almost lost this game.

Would have been a brutal loss the way they, once again, allowed a team to storm back and take a lead in the final seconds.

Regarding the final play - I hated the shot but on the plus side it was shot early enough for a chance for a put-back and DW had the left side and JT would have thrown it down had it come off the middle or right.  That was the design.

That's the thing about that play - the Heat were never going to let Tatum or Brown get the ball which Joe said was the initial intent of the play. Strus wasn't even defending the inbounds he was watching if the ball was going to go to Tatum or Brown so they could double. When Tatum ran towards the logo Strus ran to double. Brown was posted up against Bam so he would have had to shot a difficult turnaround fadeaway 20 feet from the basket. Marcus was the only one who got open and he shot it immediately because with 3 seconds if you pass the ball whoever catches it is going to have a really tough shot. He could possibly have passed it to White who was closing to the corner but it was a judgment call with Strus closing on him. We needed some luck to go our way, the rebound fell to Derrick who put himself in a position to get it by crashing the rim since nobody was boxing him out and he shot the rebound with 0.1 second to go. Strus's hand was inches from blocking the ball but he wasn't able to. These last second plays can always go either way and thankfully it went our way and our season continues 

Here's a replay of the play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASsKgkBsQs4

[Donoghus]

Last Two Minute Report is gonna be something.

[cman88]

I thought Joe should've called a timeout when the Celtics offense got stagnant and the Heat were getting close. I guess it would've prevented the last second win BUT maybe we don't need it if we settle the offense down and get something going to the hoop

[Kernewek]

Let’s be honest if the team is going to play well enough to save his job they might as well win the series.

Edit: speaking of impactful coaching decisions - catching up on the game now, just saw that during the presser afterwards Spolestra said he didn't want Strus boxing out, he wanted him denying Tatum. The right call, 99% of the time, but unfortunately for Miami this was the 1% possibility that came back to bite them.

This was not a boxing out vs denying Tatum situation. It was about pressuring the inbound passer or denying Tatum, what follows is Strus playing catch up to return to the inbound passer after successfully denying Tatum.

No real reason to quibble about a fundamental agreement (I probably should have typed "focused on White" or something the first time), as it's six in the one hand half a dozen in the other, but you can see Strus gets caught ball watching twice for a fraction of a second - once on the inbounds pass and once on the shot - so he's not able to get between White and the basket for the box out. Still a better effort than Butler, who just gives up as soon as the shot is in the air... imagine if Tatum had put the shot back for the win because 'Playoff Jimmy' just lost his man entirely?

[Indocelts]

But why did Joe set up a play for a 3pt shot knowing that we were down by 1 and we were shooting like 20% from 3? It's like all ATO that he set up in crunch time were always for a 3 pt shot.

Joe needs to improve on this part.