Would we have won with Ime?

[jbpats]

Debate my friends and I had today.

All things being the same 2 seed, same path - do we win this series or it all if we still had Ime?

We all agreed that we do, we likely come out of the East with 3-5 less losses and easily beat Denver.

I however reversed the sands of time if we had Ime. I assumed we finished first, played Miami first round and Giannis never gets hurt, and in that scenario I said even with Ime we wouldnt have come out of the East.

Interesting to think about to say the least..

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

yes. ime beat  them last year clinching game 7 on the road.  miami was not embarrassed in their game 7 last year. if we were to lose game 7 it shoulda been close. like miamis last year. this was a travesty what we witnessed. plus ime would not have had us down 3-0 either. ime woulda had us ready for game 7 at home. absolutely disgusting what we watched joe do or not do.

yes this teams player core would still have the same issues. ime however always demanded defense and would get in their grills. that alone would have won us the series. same as last year.

not sure we beat denver. who knows. but yes we beat the heat just on coaching alone with IME. he would have made the small difference to get past them like last year with even more talent this year. or so they say.

[Kernewek]

Obviously this is one of those butterfly effect questions that opens up a million possibilities, but my first inclination is no, because I think the prioritisation of offense happens regardless, based on the Finals, and I don't think the roster (assuming it stays the same) or the coaching staff could do much about the defensive drop-off. I think we're still living and dying by the three.

But what do I know.

[Roy H.]

I think we're definitely in the Finals.  There's no reason we should have lost against Miami.

I'm not as sure about Denver.  Probably.

[angryguy77]

Yes, no question. Ime doesn't banish grant. I don't think he plays brogdon.


I'd not bet my life on this, but I think another year under Ime and some of the issues that have plagued the team might have been exercised as well.

[Donoghus]

I think so.  Ime isn't clueless.  He also seemed to have that locker room while I don't think Joe does at all.

[aefgogreen]

I think we win - but it's far from a sure thing.

[GreenEnvy]

Maybe the Heat are just on one of those runs. Martin and Vincent are probably playing the best ball of their careers. Spoelstra is a good coach and the core have played together for awhile now.

Besides beating us, let’s not forget they trounced the Bucks. Should we have won? Yes. If we hadn’t lost 3 games at home in the series, we win. But the best team doesn’t win the title every year. I think Denver is the best team in the west and would be a worthy champion, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Heat’s magical and unlikely run continued another couple weeks.

[Roy H.]

Maybe the Heat are just on one of those runs. Martin and Vincent are probably playing the best ball of their careers. Spoelstra is a good coach and the core have played together for awhile now.

Besides beating us, let’s not forget they trounced the Bucks. Should we have won? Yes. If we hadn’t lost 3 games at home in the series, we win. But the best team doesn’t win the title every year. I think Denver is the best team in the west and would be a worthy champion, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Heat’s magical and unlikely run continued another couple weeks.

While that's all true, I think that better coaching and a better defensive system probably wins us, at minimum, one of Game 1 and Game 2.

[BringToughnessBack]

Slightly better D with Ime and we win. I believe it could have resulted in at least one more home win per series too.

[scaryjerry]

Nope

Players choked in the same way they did last season with or without ime. This also had to do with the Heat and Caleb Martin. They were the 1 seed last season and currently playing better then that.

[jpotter33]

Obviously this is one of those butterfly effect questions that opens up a million possibilities, but my first inclination is no, because I think the prioritisation of offense happens regardless, based on the Finals, and I don't think the roster (assuming it stays the same) or the coaching staff could do much about the defensive drop-off. I think we're still living and dying by the three.

But what do I know.

I don’t buy this logic at all.

It’s not a coincidence that we went from an elite defensive-minded team under a defensive-minded coach to an offensive-minded team under an offensive-minded coach.

No way Ime let’s the defense drop as much as it did. That’s completely out of step with his priorities.

[86MaxwellSmart]

We would have won if Tatum hadn't turned his ankle on the first play of the game...Miami wasn't doing so hot to begin the game..but it started to go wrong, then Brogdon came in and started throwing up Airballs....Pretty much everything went wrong at the wrong time.

[keevsnick]

Who cares? We don't have him, he's not coming back.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Maybe the Heat are just on one of those runs. Martin and Vincent are probably playing the best ball of their careers. Spoelstra is a good coach and the core have played together for awhile now.

Besides beating us, let’s not forget they trounced the Bucks. Should we have won? Yes. If we hadn’t lost 3 games at home in the series, we win. But the best team doesn’t win the title every year. I think Denver is the best team in the west and would be a worthy champion, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Heat’s magical and unlikely run continued another couple weeks.

While that's all true, I think that better coaching and a better defensive system probably wins us, at minimum, one of Game 1 and Game 2.

agreed