Ray Allen's ankles still sore, surgery hasn't helped

[Roy H.]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

[guava_wrench]

poor Ray   

Let Bron and Wade start questioning the signing when Ray has those 'off' nights and especially if he has those FT problems again this season.

Considering I never heard them complain about Miller who was always injured, I don't see them questioning the Ray signing.

[guava_wrench]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

Yeah, the transition opportunities are key.

Instead of crashing the boards, having a post player on offense would be nice, forcing Anthony into the game. I wonder if they would just stick Lebron on Sully in important moments if Lebron isn't in foul trouble.

Forcing them to play Anthony at the ends of games is always a big help.

[SHAQATTACK]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

Yeah, the transition opportunities are key.

Instead of crashing the boards, having a post player on offense would be nice, forcing Anthony into the game. I wonder if they would just stick Lebron on Sully in important moments if Lebron isn't in foul trouble.

Forcing them to play Anthony at the ends of games is always a big help.

To me best the best d on Bron is to totally clog the paint and pray his shooting stroke is off .  His dunks are 99.9% going down.

Lebron is not subject to fouling out... on the other hand fouling LeBron requires only being in his general direction .

Calling fouls on LeBron is called NOT being a good ref.

[alley oop]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

Yet the Celtics whupped their butts twice last year, when the Heat were healthy.  What remains to be seen is who is more improved with their additions.

[CelticG1]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

Yeah, the transition opportunities are key.

Instead of crashing the boards, having a post player on offense would be nice, forcing Anthony into the game. I wonder if they would just stick Lebron on Sully in important moments if Lebron isn't in foul trouble.

Forcing them to play Anthony at the ends of games is always a big help.

I don't necessarily want to crash the O glass as much but I think with our new personnel we can gamble a bit more. We have some of the fastest guys in the league who should be able to get back in transition D a little better.

[alley oop]

...
To me best the best d on Bron is to totally clog the paint and pray his shooting stroke is off .  His dunks are 99.9% going down.
...

Indeed. In the Finals against Oklahoma, Lebron made only .294 of his jump shots. Unless he's having a hot night shooting, his jump shot shouldn't be respected too much. It's his weakness. In the 7th game against the Celtics, Doc had Bass guard Lebron too tight, allowing him to go around to the basket. Jeff Van Gundy kept saying that was a mistake because Lebron wasn't a good perimeter shooter, and he was right. 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shooting.cgi?player_id=jamesle01&year_id=2012&is_playoffs=1&opp_id=OKC
   

Also, against Boston in the Playoffs:
 "16 ft to 3-pt    11    31    .355"
And this is being guarded by an injured Pierce most of the time.   

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shooting.cgi?player_id=jamesle01&year_id=2012&is_playoffs=1&opp_id=BOS

[perks-a-beast]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo 
 

lollerskates!

[kp4000]

Takes a while to recover from ankle surgery. The Heat had to of known.

[MBunge]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

The NBA is the ultimate front-running league.  Derrick Rose goes down.  Amar'e goes down.  Boston is without 4 of their top 9 rotation players from the start of the season.  Scott Brooks basically refuses to change his lineup to match up with Miami.  But none of that matters.  LeBron winning a title, you see, is different than when Dirk did it by beating LeBron or when KG, Pierce and Ray won it.  LeBron winning proves that he and his team are the bestest, bestest, bestest of all time and we really shouldn't even bother to play the season because only LA could possibly keep LeBron from winning another ring.  The Heat have no weaknesses.

Mike

[indeedproceed]

Yup, I don't see Ray being a night after night scorer of 20+ points especially on the heat.  His role will be to appear with less than minute left and win a game with a THREE shot. SO If you cover him man to man, then that leaves Bron single coverage to drive and hurl himself at the basket and per STERN the ref must give him the call. Brilliant basketball.

I think what makes the Heat scary is that they really only need one of their shooters to get hot in any given game to be practically unbeatable.

If you have Lebron + Wade + Bosh, you really only need one of Ray, Chalmers, Miller, Battier, or Lewis to have a good offensive game in order for the Heat to be very difficult to beat.

The counter to that is to attack the Heat on the offensive boards and exploit the mismatches they offer up with their one-size-fits-all lineups. 

Mike

A frontline of Bosh / Lebron is probably better than any lineup we can put out there in terms of rebounding.  Attacking the offensive boards isn't a strong point of this team, and at least in Doc's eyes, going after offensive rebounds will result in Miami getting even more easy transition baskets.

The NBA is the ultimate front-running league.  Derrick Rose goes down.  Amar'e goes down.  Boston is without 4 of their top 9 rotation players from the start of the season.  Scott Brooks basically refuses to change his lineup to match up with Miami.  But none of that matters.  LeBron winning a title, you see, is different than when Dirk did it by beating LeBron or when KG, Pierce and Ray won it.  LeBron winning proves that he and his team are the bestest, bestest, bestest of all time and we really shouldn't even bother to play the season because only LA could possibly keep LeBron from winning another ring.  The Heat have no weaknesses.

Mike

1) The NBA is a front-running league. They tend to get overly excited about teams' new acquisitions, and they reward the title winners with 'the benefit of the doubt'.

SINCE LeBron James was likely the best power forward in the NBA's playoffs.

SINCE Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were both suffering from pretty damaging injuries, and it didn't stop LeBron James from getting them a title

SINCE The Heat acquired Ray Allen, plus kept the rest of their core rotation players,

THEN they are likely again going to be the best team in the league

[SHAQATTACK]

...
To me best the best d on Bron is to totally clog the paint and pray his shooting stroke is off .  His dunks are 99.9% going down.
...

Indeed. In the Finals against Oklahoma, Lebron made only .294 of his jump shots. Unless he's having a hot night shooting, his jump shot shouldn't be respected too much. It's his weakness. In the 7th game against the Celtics, Doc had Bass guard Lebron too tight, allowing him to go around to the basket. Jeff Van Gundy kept saying that was a mistake because Lebron wasn't a good perimeter shooter, and he was right. 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shooting.cgi?player_id=jamesle01&year_id=2012&is_playoffs=1&opp_id=OKC
   

Also, against Boston in the Playoffs:
 "16 ft to 3-pt    11    31    .355"
And this is being guarded by an injured Pierce most of the time.   

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shooting.cgi?player_id=jamesle01&year_id=2012&is_playoffs=1&opp_id=BOS

Again the refs will decide who prevails in the championship 2013 series.  When LBJ and WAde hurl their bodies at the basket , will the calls go to WADE and LBJ or to Dwight Howard and Gasol for playing defense.  Stern needs to decide which team is his darling and get the refs minds right.