It's a ludicrous position, but most of those who are making that claim are doing it in jest. They were up like four or five when LBJ went out the first time, I think it's safe to say they were ~50% to win with a healthy LBJ. Perhaps more that we see how evenly matched these teams are.

i thought kiwi gave a decent effort on labron today, but when he's hitting jumpers like he was (8/13 outside the paint) there's really nothing you can do. kiwi got a hand up well on most of the ones labron hit over him imo. if anything i think kiwi has been shook offensively more than on d, i'd like to see him a little more aggressive

That's the issue imo Mcbeef. The effort was there, but Lebron got by him like it was nothing imo. I think I saw LBJ have to pass out 2 times all game after cutting off his drive, and only once in game 1. That was happening 4-5 times last year. Maybe it's selective memory.

One thing's for sure, Tony Parker is a major bitch. He's either a great actor or has the lowest pain tolerance in the league. Come on Frenchie you've used that trick up.

pretty confident that the heat would be worse swapping bosh for demarcus cousins

edit: or rather, w/e realistic construction one wants to create where they have cousins at c instead of bosh at pf. the heat don't benefit much from what cousins offers offensively. they already have superior post up option(s) and don't need anyone to soak up volume. bosh is a better shooter and pnr player; generally plays better w/o the ball(not that cousins has had to a ton of that at any juncture). bosh also better defensively, esp w/n the heat's system where they often defend pnrs aggressively. miami is a weak rebounding team and cousins would certainly help there, but it's likely a net loss on the margins

what a terrible game from the spurs, now lost home court, RIP, god I hate miami heat

id snap BROW over bosh

My first original thought in years, and I'm already scooped. FML.

hopefully you're right, but when we split the first two last year it was in Miami

Saw this on another board

yeah brow is the only one i snap over bosh

rest is debatable, bosh is a massive, massive centerpiece to what the heat do on D. he gets no rebounds because he's out there on high PnRs and contesting jumpers + his sick spacing via 3s and long 2s as well decent creation in a pinch

its a argument that he's now lost that alpha-dog quality he had in toronto tho where he put up 25 PER and .600 ts working from the low post. vale fauxalphabosh. all hail rangzbosh

Kiwi was in foul trouble though. It just wasn't his best game imo.

I'm the biggest Cuz slappy there is and this is ldo to me. DMC just doesn't have the basketball smarts or temperament at this point to hang with the heat.

and then they lost game 4, giving home court away again, and still did everything but win the 'ship in game 6.

I will be fairly surprised if SA leaves MIA down 3-1.

Joakim Noah? Or would they miss Bosh's offense too much?

It helps when you get a foul call whenever someone breathes on you, while Tim Duncan is getting mugged and not getting many calls.

Is Dirk too bad at defense to be a good swap for Bosh? Is Durant just too small to fit with the lineup they'd have to trot out to fit him in? Pretty sure Durant's talent level makes him a snap trade for Bosh coming from the heat's POV. Duncan just doesn't have the outside shot and too slow on defense now? Is Blake's defense just so bad? Does Dwight give them no spacing?

Yep, 10 FTA on 39 FGA really screams favoritism from the refs.

The Spurs had a pretty bad shooting night inside the arc. Missed a bunch of rim attempts, took some weird midrangers (Manu and especially Kawhi). In the 4th quarter, they were 0-5 from 12+ foot 2s -- though the Spurs have been excellent from midrange on the year, these weren't even, for the most part, uncontested shots. Kawhi's skillset gives them something diverse, but he's still learning instincts for when to attack and when to reset. (Have posted this before, but this is also something Duncan can improve on: having him with his back to the basket 10 feet out is not the type of situation that warrants him spending 10 seconds trying to exploit it, and it often ends in extremely difficult, contested shots.)

In general, I think the Spurs should be a shade more prone towards shooting 3s rather than pump-faking and driving, although it's easy to say from my keyboard and without the Heat's athletes flying at me. Diaw, in particular, often ends up with a huge, huge amount of space at the top of the key, and imo in those situations the pump-fake-and-drive should be a countermove, and the actual open shot the first priority. Belinelli will pump-fake and then find himself stranded inside the arc and surrounded by bodies with no real plan. The Spurs have been so good at generating open 3s by simply whipping it around the perimeter that these possessions where someone ends up trapped in the lane are all the more flagrant.

bosh is doing pretty similar stuff slightly worse on d and is a much better spacer and irl big shot hitter since everyone still converges to labron. he's not really asked to guard big ass 5s since they can use birdman and also becos 2 big line-ups tend to get pozzed by the smallball heat

lesson is lolkobe and lolcasualfans. players still instinctive maul the ballcarrier in late-game situations. labron a genius ahead of his time and should be doing state farm ads. would love to see him in argyle. also he's in physical decline so get him while he's GOAT

Main things that stood out to me about the Heat last night were how spry Allen still looked and how un-spry Birdman looked. Not sure what was up with his hands, which have usually been a major strength for him. Wade was really bad in the first half but decent in the second, is still very frustrating and unlikable to watch.

edit: and, yeah, how bad Chalmers continues to look

A+

Am I only one who think Heat probably lucky to get away with a win last night?

Their offense didn't look good to me at all. 16 assists, 13 turnovers and Lebron basically had to godmode a pretty large amount of contested jumpers that you have to think Pop is happy giving him.

The 4th quarter was mostly Wade or Lebron iso'ing contested looks

This team needs some MILLER imo. Chalmers has been awful this series. I think Norris is probably better

This is what you want to get out of Lebron as a defense, right?

Lebron took 1353 shots this year, and 39% of them came from 16ft+ and well over half were within 9 feet

well lebron has shot 1 less ft than duncan despite 5 more minutes played and 15 more fga. but yea story of this series is def how lebron is getting paraded to the ft line.

oh my pony is slow

this has been a heat problem for years now. they really don't run plays down the stretch of close games. they switch up who sets the screen on lebron handling the ball (mostly theyve tried to attack whoever parker is guarding as the screener), space the floor, and assume lebron will create a good look.

as norris' biggest "hater" i think i should eat some crow. he's become a fine role player in a way i never thought was possible. he's a good, maybe even great, on the ball defender, and almost never has lapses off the ball the way chalmers does (example- when he just stopped paying attention to parker in the first half who cut to the corner and got a wide open corner 3). he also has become a decent 3 pt shooter and makes less dumb mistakes with the ball in his hands. if chalmers is going to be as inconsistent as he's been lately, norris is absolutely preferable imo- although the heat's best lineup will not involve either.

Spurs have also done a really good job keeping Wade out of his offensive game, which is in the circle where he really excels



I'm obviously a Wade apologist, but the Spurs do a great job against him and he can be a pretty big hindrance with Lebron on the floor on offense, since the ball ends up sticking more often

His shot creation value when Lebron is resting is really important though and he's definitely a big part of the defense.

I think Cole/Wade/Lebron is a near perfect perimeter defense against Los Spurs. Chalmers really struggles, and they struggle a lot in general when both Lebron and Wade aren't there to provide help on the motion (Lebron more so obviously, but you see it with Wade off a ton too)

well obv the best player in the world is gonna do that to you, but i think i'd rather have that than about any other labron shot