If Rivers coached the Heat and Spoelstra coached the Celtics

[Fafnir]

I think Spoelstra is a poor coach.   He was three talents and can rarely get more than two to have a good game.   He doesn't make good adjustments or push his guys.   All you hear from Mike Breen is "Heat Small Ball'.   His bench has some pop but he rarely gets them to perform.

Doc is the better coach but even so, I think we should have tossed in Daniels last night.   He played well in Boston.   I get we won but Daniels was great on James.

I think that is really unfair.  Spoelstra is actually a very good coach.  However, chemistry and roles are an issue.  How players execute is not always the result of coaching.  I think Spoelstra has made some good adjustments throughout the playoffs.  The margin of error in this series has been so very narrow.....

I agree on some of those points.  Spoelstra has made some defensive adjustments, like putting LeBron (their best defender) on wherever he was needed, like on Rondo or Garnett.

I also agree Spoelstra is a good coach yeah just OK, just not a great one like Rivers.

Doc did a brave thing and rested KG in the fourth quarter when the C's were still down.

Spolestra should have done the same with LeBron, he looked completely gassed in the later part of the fourth quarter. (he played the entire second half)

I know Doc has done that with Rondo in the past, but they need his energy level defensively more than the C's do from Rondo.

[Who]

I think Spoelstra is a really solid coach with very good potential. A chance to grow into one of the finest coaches in the league. I also liked Pat Riley giving him a chance to grow with his team and to see if he improve quickly enough to be a long term fixture there.

However, it's been abundantly clear at this point that while Spoelstra is good coach, he is not yet a Championship caliber coach and that he has struggled with Miami's unorthodox roster.

Miami should strongly consider making a coaching change this summer.

It won't be the last from Spoelstra though; he'll be in the league a long time and has a bright future.

[Q_FBE]

Miami 75 and 7 and comparisons to the 1996 Bulls, 1987 Lakers, and 1986 Celtics

Boston 38 and 44, and in the lottery. 

[antapolar]

the heat's big three is just very different from C's big three when they got together. C's got 3 very unique player (yeah yeah not unique) but as in they all played very different roles and excel at their Specific role. James and Wade players way to similar style to compliment each other. They both love to muscle their way to the basket and draw fouls.

but even my wife who only watches basket sparsely have pointed out. Spo is just not a 'great' coach if he doesn't know how to use 3 huge players like bron/wade/and bosh. 

[2short]

No matter if Spoelstra is good or not.  If Boston wins, Miami will have to change coaches unless they are trading bosh, james or wade.  I'm surprised a riley led team doesn't show more

[mctyson]

I think this is unfair to Spoelstra too.  There are maybe a handful of coaches still alive that could handle the crew he has in Miami (Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Popovich, Doc, Carlisle, etc..).

[BballTim]

I think Spoelstra is a poor coach.   He was three talents and can rarely get more than two to have a good game.   He doesn't make good adjustments or push his guys.   All you hear from Mike Breen is "Heat Small Ball'.   His bench has some pop but he rarely gets them to perform.

Doc is the better coach but even so, I think we should have tossed in Daniels last night.   He played well in Boston.   I get we won but Daniels was great on James.

As I've said in other threads, the Heat are a deeply flawed team.  Besides coaching, the Heat don't have players that complement each other.  James and Wade both need the ball in their hands to be effective.  They don't havbe mcuh of a frontcourt, even with Bosh.  Beyond that though, THEY DON'T RUN OFFENSIVE SETS.  Spoelstra doesn't coach, he just let's them go out and play schoolyard pickup.  Oh, and their defense relies completeyl on their athleticism, the coach has nothing to do with it. 

Switch coaches and this series would have been over a long time ago. 

 I also think we'd be at about the same spot. The Heat are a poorly constructed team and the fact that their two best players aren't great at outside shooting or free throws hurts them down the stretch.

[Prof. Clutch]

I'll tell you one thing, when I watch Rivers and Spo talking to their teams during timeouts I can tell that they're two different classes of coach, and I think confidence has a lot to do with it.

Doc consistently has the right words to inspire/motivate his team, he knows what to say and how to say it to get his guys to buy in.  He believes they can do it and so he makes his team believe as well.  It's the opposite with Spo.  I get the sense that he's always a tad bit nervous and even I would have trouble trying to get riled up by his timeout talks.  I just think in general he doesn't have what it takes to be looked up to by his star players and Doc definitely has the admiration of his.

[CelticsFanNC]

  Doc has such a great feel for this particular team.  He is pushing all the right buttons.   Rondo is his QB on offense and is a perfect extension of his coach on the floor.  KG is the same on the defensive end.   He has a group of players who have totally bought in from the best player down to the last guy off the bench.  They know they are better as a group then they will ever be individually. They are tenacious.  They have pride and toughness to spare.  They are winners.  

 I don't know if he'd find that in Miami.  I'm pretty convinced he wouldn't to be perfectly honest.

  Spoelstra is a good coach who should have a job in the NBA for years to come but he is too green to coach that team IMO.  He's no Doc Rivers at this point.

[CelticG1]

I heard it on weei this morning apparently heat training staff told coaches bosh would be able to go 25. Spo played him 14.

Then Ray coming off injury and Doc plays him like 45 min.

Fair or no fair your best players need to be on the court if they are activated.

One if the worst excuses I've heard out of a coach ever. Game 5 at home close game in the 4th and you are thinking about what's fair for your 7 time all-star? It wasn't fair that he kept him out of the game

He put him into the game in the late third and the C's went on a 11-0 run (part of the overall 15-1 run).

If he thought Bosh wasn't moving well on defense as the only big man then I understand why he didn't want him in the game.

Bosh went out and the Heat went on a 16-4 run and he stay with LBJ/Haslem as his 5/4 combo the rest of the game but the C's fought back and won.

You really think that was a good coaching move? Runs happen in basketball. The Heat are just as likely to rip off a run right after that.

His reasoning for not playing Bosh was that it wasn't "fair" to him. I 100% would have preferred Haslem or James freaking Jones in over Bosh. KG was literally ignoring whatever guy he was matched up on defense to help

[Fafnir]

I heard it on weei this morning apparently heat training staff told coaches bosh would be able to go 25. Spo played him 14.

Then Ray coming off injury and Doc plays him like 45 min.

Fair or no fair your best players need to be on the court if they are activated.

One if the worst excuses I've heard out of a coach ever. Game 5 at home close game in the 4th and you are thinking about what's fair for your 7 time all-star? It wasn't fair that he kept him out of the game

He put him into the game in the late third and the C's went on a 11-0 run (part of the overall 15-1 run).

If he thought Bosh wasn't moving well on defense as the only big man then I understand why he didn't want him in the game.

Bosh went out and the Heat went on a 16-4 run and he stay with LBJ/Haslem as his 5/4 combo the rest of the game but the C's fought back and won.

You really think that was a good coaching move? Runs happen in basketball. The Heat are just as likely to rip off a run right after that.

His reasoning for not playing Bosh was that it wasn't "fair" to him. I 100% would have preferred Haslem or James freaking Jones in over Bosh. KG was literally ignoring whatever guy he was matched up on defense to help

The fair thing was just a BS answer to avoid calling out Bosh for questionable defensive quickness and energy.

I think it was a good coaching move to pull Bosh/Miller and get Haslem/Jones in the game for better defensive mobility. After that the Haslem/LBJ PF/C combo got it to a 6 point lead and then kept it a 1 possession game until Pierce's three. I can see why he stayed with his best C/PF combo over the course of this entire series.

For all the talk about how Bosh would draw Kg's attention more when he was in the game they played him the same as Udonis Haslem. The one time he did something different is when he posted up and scored on Greg on a turn around jump shot. Bosh also gave up two easy lay ups to KG when fronting him.

[Mencius]

He put him into the game in the late third and the C's went on a 11-0 run (part of the overall 15-1 run).

If he thought Bosh wasn't moving well on defense as the only big man then I understand why he didn't want him in the game.

Bosh went out and the Heat went on a 16-4 run and he stay with LBJ/Haslem as his 5/4 combo the rest of the game but the C's fought back and won.

Really good points.  I think Spo is not up to the task.  Not in the same universe as Doc, or Carlisle, or Pop, etc, but on the matter of Bosh being in or not towards the end of the game, I can't fault him in light of what you've noted above.

If they don't win the championship, Spo should be fired.  They might not want to break up their 'Big 3' until they are given a year with a much better coach, which seems way smarter than trading Wade or Bosh AND keeping Spo, although if it were my team, I'd both fire Spo, and trade either Wade or Bosh, for say, Darren Williams.  I think a top flight PG would be much better fit for that team, than say, Wade is.  Wade is too much like James, only James is better.

[RAcker]

This whole thread is blaspheme!