Two Observations From Last Night's Heat Game

[Greenbean]

One observation I will make is this. Miami missed a LOT of wide open jumpers. This might be like a version of the Magic where istead of a post presence allowing a dramatic inside out game, you have two dominant slashers who will be kicking out to open shooters. They might have to live and die with those shooters. Given the final score, Miami could have easily won that game last night if they converted those easy looks.

At the same time, the Celtics can also  play alot better so I am NOT saying that Miami has the better team. I am merely commenting on the style of play you can expect out of the Heat this year.

[2short]

No low post game on offense at all for miami.  Bosh is a jump shooter.  You could put juwan howard in there for passing off the block but the rest of his game is closer to retirement.  How can Miami guard our bigs? Orlandos bigs?  Its great they have 3 all stars on their team but I don't see how it meshes into good team basketball or playoff basketball at the least.  Attack the rim on Miami

[GreenEnvy]

No low post game on offense at all for miami.  Bosh is a jump shooter.  You could put juwan howard in there for passing off the block but the rest of his game is closer to retirement.  How can Miami guard our bigs? Orlandos bigs?  Its great they have 3 all stars on their team but I don't see how it meshes into good team basketball or playoff basketball at the least.  Attack the rim on Miami

It's hard to attack with those perimeter defenders.

But I really don't see how they can stop players like Howard, Shaq, Duncan, or Gasol AND Bynum.

[2short]

No low post game on offense at all for miami.  Bosh is a jump shooter.  You could put juwan howard in there for passing off the block but the rest of his game is closer to retirement.  How can Miami guard our bigs? Orlandos bigs?  Its great they have 3 all stars on their team but I don't see how it meshes into good team basketball or playoff basketball at the least.  Attack the rim on Miami

It's hard to attack with those perimeter defenders.

But I really don't see how they can stop players like Howard, Shaq, Duncan, or Gasol AND Bynum.

I meant attack the rim with passes into low posts, sorry
keep lebron & wade on the perimeter where they can do less damage, let our bigs go against them for offense and rebounds

[Assassin70]

I thought Bosh looked bored. Which was awesome. If the Heat are going to play alternating one-on-one isos with Wade and Lebron, Bosh is useless; he's not a defender/dirty man like KG and not the same passer either. KG's personality is one reason Pierce/Allen/KG worked so well. Bosh is used to (and most effective as) being a go-to guy on offense; with Wade and Lebron, at least playing the way they did last night (we'll see if that continues or it was due to Celtics' defense), Bosh's best talents are rendered ineffective. Love it. If this is the way they are going to play, it looks like they would have been better off paying 14.5 million spread around 2-3 solid players to surround Wade/Lebron than adding Bosh, whose talents (High scoring via very good ball-dominating one-on-one play) overlap Wade's and Lebron's too much.

I think they should have gone after Boozer instead of Bosh.  He's had more injuries and he's older, but he's a legit low-post player (a department they are very much lacking in), he's a hard-nosed rebounder, he's a better defender.  

Plus, THEN how much would Cleveland hate those guys!

Couldn't agree more with you.

[BballTim]

One observation I will make is this. Miami missed a LOT of wide open jumpers. This might be like a version of the Magic where istead of a post presence allowing a dramatic inside out game, you have two dominant slashers who will be kicking out to open shooters. They might have to live and die with those shooters. Given the final score, Miami could have easily won that game last night if they converted those easy looks.

At the same time, the Celtics can also  play alot better so I am NOT saying that Miami has the better team. I am merely commenting on the style of play you can expect out of the Heat this year.

  Orlando tries to have Howard and 4 shooters on the floor. Miami will have LBJ, Wade, a center and hopefully 2 shooters on the floor.

[Schintzius]

Witness:  Goaltending.

[cman88]

The media/Heat can say all they want how the loss was due to "jitters" and how they need time to get better...which im sure contributed to the loss(but lets be fair, the celts had alot of missed opportunities as well. the score shouldve been higher, the celts will be better with time also)

the problem I noticed is that lebron/Wade have too much similar skill sets. Both are "streaky" jump shooters and their games rely on them driving to the hoop. so when they face a team like the celtis whom have a big frontline and play good defense to keep them out of the paint they have to rely on shooting jumpers, and on a night when one of them is off, thats going to be devastating.

KG pretty much made bosh useless. My only thing is, i wish rondo would drive more into the paint. while he was amazing getting 17 assists, I feel during that stretch when Lebron was going all out on the Celts and they just couldnt score, a few drives to get to the free throw line couldve stopped that especially if Rondo can shoot like he did in the pre-season. but maybe he didnt want to risk it in the home opener in a highly publicized game. hopefully we see him drive more tonight

Fridays game against the magic should be interesting, and im thinking will end up in a similar result...Howard is goign to be devastating on their front line considering the damage baby and shaq were able to do to it and i dont see Wade/lebron being able to make it into the paint either

[Atzar]

A lot of hate on Bosh in this thread.

Keep in mind that he's going from first banana to third banana on offense.  He's basically expected to be a defender/garbage man for this team, which is radically different from any role he's played before.  He was also matched up against KG, who has destroyed him ever since he came into this league.

Give him some time.  He'll be substantially better than this, especially when he's not guarded by a wild man.

[BballTim]

Give him some time.  He'll be substantially better than this, especially when he's not guarded by a wild man.

  Speaking of which, wow. I'm sometimes fairly optimistic about the Celts, but I wouldn't have bet the farm on KG looking so spry when he jumped.

[MBunge]

Give him some time.  He'll be substantially better than this, especially when he's not guarded by a wild man.

The Heat as a whole will look a lot better than last night.  What that game did prove, though, is that the Heat really aren't some super-team that's just going to rampage through the league like no one's ever seen.  As good as they're going to get, Miami has some structural flaws other good teams will be able to attack.

Mike

[Fafnir]

One observation I will make is this. Miami missed a LOT of wide open jumpers. This might be like a version of the Magic where istead of a post presence allowing a dramatic inside out game, you have two dominant slashers who will be kicking out to open shooters. They might have to live and die with those shooters. Given the final score, Miami could have easily won that game last night if they converted those easy looks.

At the same time, the Celtics can also  play alot better so I am NOT saying that Miami has the better team. I am merely commenting on the style of play you can expect out of the Heat this year.

  Orlando tries to have Howard and 4 shooters on the floor. Miami will have LBJ, Wade, a center and hopefully 2 shooters on the floor.

Miami is going use Bosh, Haslem, LBJ, Wade, insert shooter as their closing line up.

I think it'll work just fine.

[2short]

 
three observations from last night's heat game
lebron james had 3 offensive fouls called the other way, I don't think they were even close
2 fouls called on pierce and one on davis which was the worst of the bunch
give "the king" those fouls and see how different the game would have been never mind silly technicals

[BballTim]

One observation I will make is this. Miami missed a LOT of wide open jumpers. This might be like a version of the Magic where istead of a post presence allowing a dramatic inside out game, you have two dominant slashers who will be kicking out to open shooters. They might have to live and die with those shooters. Given the final score, Miami could have easily won that game last night if they converted those easy looks.

At the same time, the Celtics can also  play alot better so I am NOT saying that Miami has the better team. I am merely commenting on the style of play you can expect out of the Heat this year.

  Orlando tries to have Howard and 4 shooters on the floor. Miami will have LBJ, Wade, a center and hopefully 2 shooters on the floor.

Miami is going use Bosh, Haslem, LBJ, Wade, insert shooter as their closing line up.

I think it'll work just fine.

  But that's not really going to give the kind of spacing that 3-4 three point threats will.

[Fafnir]

One observation I will make is this. Miami missed a LOT of wide open jumpers. This might be like a version of the Magic where istead of a post presence allowing a dramatic inside out game, you have two dominant slashers who will be kicking out to open shooters. They might have to live and die with those shooters. Given the final score, Miami could have easily won that game last night if they converted those easy looks.

At the same time, the Celtics can also  play alot better so I am NOT saying that Miami has the better team. I am merely commenting on the style of play you can expect out of the Heat this year.

  Orlando tries to have Howard and 4 shooters on the floor. Miami will have LBJ, Wade, a center and hopefully 2 shooters on the floor.

Miami is going use Bosh, Haslem, LBJ, Wade, insert shooter as their closing line up.

I think it'll work just fine.

  But that's not really going to give the kind of spacing that 3-4 three point threats will.

No it won't but Wade/James aren't awful 3 point shooters. They're not bad at all if you throw out the stupid pull up 3s they both jack up way too much.

Plus Bosh/Haslem both can hit the 18 foot shot from their spots, I think they'll have plenty of spacing on offense.