THEE OFFICIAL MIAMI HEAT PLAYOFFS THREAD (4-3 THE FINALS Vs SAS) / NEXT: BACK2BACK HEATPEAT!!!!!!!!

Nothing in Kenyon Martin's history shows that he would be a good fit for the Miami Heat, especially coming in mid-season. The Miami Heat have enough, they just got beat by an opponent who played out of their minds. The Heat are proven and are built to win Championships. This game will be all but forgotten when the playoffs come.
With that said, Wade needs to really step it up. As a guard who has the ball in his hands, he has to do a better job at getting to his spots and finding open teammates. In a game when you are behind the Heat can not afford a lackadaisical approach to the game. The last 2 games everyone BUT LeBron have been terrible. I hope these past 2 games have humbled the Heat and inspired them to play with passion and a sense of urgency all the time.
Its a LONG season, and the Heat have a long way to go to prove they are worthy of defending their Championship.
P.S.
Do you guys think the chemestry fell off becasue Battier fell out of the rotation due to injury. He was having a great season up until that point. 8o
It's quite easy to see that we have been taking a beating on the blocks with our small ball. Small works in the playoffs, but not in an 82 game season. We caused all types of matchup problems because we could exploit whomever tried to man Bron at the 4. Battier, Bosh, and Bron going to hold up for 82 games playing the 4 or 5?With the rash of injuries early and the slow starts offensively, our defense has been getting gashed early in games at the rim.

It isn't a knee jerk action, we've been getting blasted on the boards all season, which is why we currently sit 2nd to last in the NBA. Kenyon Martin at the least could get boards, problem would be could he jive within the locker room. Most have been questioning the full season small ball approach and Riley said he'd take a wait and see approach as far as signing another big. The lack of size is not one that the Heat will solve overnight.
 
Battier provides a wealth of great positive play for us from a Defensive perspective. Definitely a poor game without question but absolutely no need for this, "Yet Again" panic lol! We've been through this time and time again! Do I like it? Absolutely not, but nonetheless very fixable issues as I've stated prior. Great win by the Knicks. We move forward to NOH with a better mindframe and defensive intensity!
 
hahaha can't use a hurricane as an excuse now

The Heat definitely don't have an excuse for tonight's awful performance, but I still feel that this victory shows more about the Knicks weaknesses than the Heats. Sure the Knicks are great when they are making shots, but they are a very average team if they are not shooting well. Offensively the Heat are fine, they just need to figure out how to stop these perimeter oriented teams. It just comes down to effort, IMO

The Knicks have shot the ball really well and Miami just ran into a hot team at a time in the season when they were struggling to find a defensive identity. Time will tell where these 2 teams will end up around playoff time.

Nevertheless, the Knicks played their ***** off tonight and deserved to win.
 
The Heat definitely don't have an excuse for tonight's awful performance, but I still feel that this victory shows more about the Knicks weaknesses than the Heats. Sure the Knicks are great when they are making shots, but they are a very average team if they are not shooting well. Offensively the Heat are fine, they just need to figure out how to stop these perimeter oriented teams. It just comes down to effort, IMO
The Knicks have shot the ball really well and Miami just ran into a hot team at a time in the season when they were struggling to find a defensive identity. Time will tell where these 2 teams will end up around playoff time.
Nevertheless, the Knicks played their ***** off tonight and deserved to win.

Repped. Can't wait
 
The Heat definitely don't have an excuse for tonight's awful performance, but I still feel that this victory shows more about the Knicks weaknesses than the Heats. Sure the Knicks are great when they are making shots, but they are a very average team if they are not shooting well.

Considering the Knicks have shown the capabilities of winning a game when they have not shot the ball well with their defensive efforts and grit, you could not be any more wrong.
 
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It's quite easy to see that we have been taking a beating on the blocks with our small ball. Small works in the playoffs, but not in an 82 game season. We caused all types of matchup problems because we could exploit whomever tried to man Bron at the 4. Battier, Bosh, and Bron going to hold up for 82 games playing the 4 or 5?With the rash of injuries early and the slow starts offensively, our defense has been getting gashed early in games at the rim.
It isn't a knee jerk action, we've been getting blasted on the boards all season, which is why we currently sit 2nd to last in the NBA. Kenyon Martin at the least could get boards, problem would be could he jive within the locker room. Most have been questioning the full season small ball approach and Riley said he'd take a wait and see approach as far as signing another big. The lack of size is not one that the Heat will solve overnight.

I agree that the Heat need to do a better job rebounding and may eventually need a change the look of the front court. I just don't see Kenyon Martin as the solution. I expect an expanded role from Haslem and Anthony as the season progresses. Haslem is already a great rebounder and knows his role on this team, no need to bring in an unproven player known to have character issues.

But the blaring problem after this game is the Heat's inability to defend the perimeter. Felton had free reign to do whatever he wanted and the Knicks found open shooters all night. If the Heat go back to their old ways of preventing penetration and hustling out to shooters the Knicks lose this game. Its that simple. Chalmers and Wade were absolutely terrible guarding Felton and out of desperation Spolestra had to put LeBron on him. When LeBron left the game in the 4th quarter it was a wrap.

After these last 3 games, we've come to see just how important Battier is. He allows James to be a help defender while not having to worry about guarding the best perimeter players throughout the game.
 
Even if the Knicks' shot aren't falling they can still win games with their defense.

Mike Woodson has had these dudes balling on the defensive end since he became their head coach.
 
But the blaring problem after this game is the Heat's inability to defend the perimeter.
I can agree with that. Every loss has had that as a glaring issue. Our rotations aren't crisp until the 3rd and 4th quarters, lots of lazy closeouts. Personally, I would like to see Wade either sit out a while or a reduction in his minutes. At the very least, he could reveal what's going on, which is out of the ordinary for him.

He had a great game just last week, but who knows what's going on there. Bosh is usually automatic, but he's had trouble catching pocket passes and hitting his jumper. I think he'll be fine. I'd like to see Lewis when he has weakside help in because his shot hasn't been awful, still can't put it on the floor much though.

It's early and still some kinks to work out, which I think will be done come playoffs, but Spoelstra has to have his team ready to play nightly.
 
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Considering the Knicks have shown the capabilities of winning a game when they have not shot the ball well with their defensive efforts and grit, you could not be any more wrong.

They have yet to prove this fact for a full season. 17 games is not an adequate sample size to make any statements about a team's grit and defensive ability. All we can measure is this team's POTENTIAL. My statements are based on what this team has shown me in the past. They are a perimeter oriented team with an average defense. The Knicks win games by playing unselfish basketball, penetrating, and finding open shooters. Outside of Chandler and Brewer, the Knicks have shown they are average at best on defense.

Over these same 17 games the Heat have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league. But is that really an accurate statement... Don't let a couple of games fool you. Its an 82 game season and time will tell who the Knicks and Heat really are defensively.



But whats a NBA season with some good ol' Miami Heat drama.
 
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The Heat are too small seriously. Their lack of size is seriously detrimental to them defending their title. Lebron needs to work like a horse every game
 
But the blaring problem after this game is the Heat's inability to defend the perimeter. Felton had free reign to do whatever he wanted and the Knicks found open shooters all night. If the Heat go back to their old ways of preventing penetration and hustling out to shooters the Knicks lose this game. Its that simple. Chalmers and Wade were absolutely terrible guarding Felton and out of desperation Spolestra had to put LeBron on him. When LeBron left the game in the 4th quarter it was a wrap.
After these last 3 games, we've come to see just how important Battier is. He allows James to be a help defender while not having to worry about guarding the best perimeter players throughout the game.

Nice post. Spot on.

But I don't think this is a an easy or quick fix for Miami. Knicks are not a good match up for them at all. And as noted here, it's not a size issue. It's a perimeter defense issue, because the Knicks played just as small - Novak played the 4 for stretches tonight.
 
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Considering the Knicks have shown the capabilities of winning a game when they have not shot the ball well with their defensive efforts and grit, you could not be any more wrong.

They have yet to prove this fact for a full season. 17 games is not an adequate sample size to make any statements about a team's grit and defensive ability. All we can measure is this team's POTENTIAL. My statements are based on what this team has shown me in the past. They are a perimeter oriented team with an average defense. The Knicks win games by playing unselfish basketball, penetrating, and finding open shooters. Outside of Chandler and Brewer, the Knicks have shown they are average at best on defense.

Over these same 17 games the Heat have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league. But is that really an accurate statement... Don't let a couple of games fool you. Its an 82 game season and time will tell who the Knicks and Heat really are defensively.



But whats a NBA season with some good ol' Miami Heat drama.

Again, you can't be anymore wrong. An average defense? Really? Look at our PA and PF this season and last season when Woodson became the coach. Even their assist to turnover ratio is ridiculous this season. Knicks force the most turnovers and commit the least in the league. How are they a bad defensive team? Shooting can always be argued that it's a momentary thing, but defense is all about effort. Knicks have shown last season and this season that they're a defensive minded team.

If this game and other games don't show you that, then IDK what's a good defense in your book. I'm guessing the reason why you think the Knicks are a bad defensive team is because the Heat score 98? IDK, dude. You gotta explain this to me with FACTS rather than what you see. Because obviously you're seeing something the whole world isn't.

I'm not even saying all this as a Knicks fan. You can look at all the posts i've made in this thread. I'm not one of those "Crazy, delusional" Knicks fans. I call it like I see it.
 
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Again, you can't be anymore wrong. An average defense? Really? Look at our PA and PF this season and last season when Woodson became the coach. Even their assist to turnover ratio is ridiculous this season. Knicks force the most turnovers and commit the least in the league. How are they a bad defensive team? Shooting can always be argued that it's a momentary thing, but defense is all about effort. Knicks have shown last season and this season that they're a defensive minded team.
If this game and other games don't show you that, then IDK what's a good defense in your book. I'm guessing the reason why you think the Knicks are a bad defensive team is because the Heat score 98? IDK, dude. You gotta explain this to me with FACTS rather than what you see. Because obviously you're seeing something the whole world isn't.
I'm not even saying all this as a Knicks fan. You can look at all the posts i've made in this thread. I'm not one of those "Crazy, delusional" Knicks fans. I call it like I see it.

Every season is different and this season is only 17 games in. Again not a big enough sample size to really judge. I never said the Knicks had a BAD defense.

Based off of last season the Knicks ranked 11th in Points Allowed and tied for 7th for Field Goals Allowed. If that's not average I don't know what is. Not bad, not great.... just average. Again, I never said the Knicks had a garbage defense.

The Miami Heat were tied for 3rd for Points Allowed and tied for 4th for Field Goals Allowed.

Not bashing the Knicks, they are playing great thus far. But to consider them an elite or great defensive team at this point is jumping the gun. Do they have the potential after 17 games to have a very good defensive team? That is yet to be seen.
 
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We need loses like this

I completely agree. These types of games have to become teachable moments for the team to come together and figure out how to win. Every season has been different in the big 3 era. This season the problem has been defense and inconsistent back court play from Chalmers and Wade. LeBron and Bosh have been to 2 most consistent players so far this season. Luckily the Miami Heat have some character guys and smart veterans that will figure it out.

Bring on the Hornets.... Let's Go Heat!!
 
700


What is wrong with Wade? Is it the knee? Does he have some cartilage problem or something?
 
Heat next game headline (hornets come to town no Anthony Davis ).......These boys will bounce back Legooo Heat
 
remember when the bulls and celtics beat us all season? and everyone was yelling we cant see them in the playoffs because of what happened in the regular season? rememer when novak was hitting shots all season long and choked in the playoffs against us? i could really give 2 ***** about the season anymore... bron needs to go back to playing the 3 to save his body and wade is just trying to coast til the playoffs... .knicks and ny hype will always build not matter what... they have the fans to build hype so let it be... but when have the ever been relevent in basketball besides their history, msg and winning 1 playoff game in like 10 years?.. i mean when was the last time they won a playoff series?.. we are a proven team... potential dont mean ****.. rookies have potential and look at how many of them fall off? im good... catch me on twitter, to busy at work lately to post on NT...
 
Last night was one of many moments that will define the character of this Miami Heat team this season. Looking back on the "Big 3" era in Miami one can't help but to reminisce about those moments when the team has struggled and fought back to show their greatness. Sure it was only the New Orleans Pelicans... Hornets, but this was a small step in the RIGHT direction.


  • LeBron was great as usual. MVP of the league, IMO.
  • Wade is clearly pacing himself, but was still great. He was very smart when attacking the basket. He had his mid range jumper going and was pretty much unstoppable
  • Bosh's defense on the pick and roll was great. Bosh's offense... not so much. 3 MISSED DUNKS!!! :rollin
  • Norris Cole has shown the ability to be a shut down defender when facing smaller and quicker guards. He played with great energy
  • Chalmers is still ailing from his finger injury, but seems to be getting better. He needs to be smarter on offense and take his open shots.

What a difference a day makes. Its gonna be a good one on Monday against the Hawks. If you're able to, make sure you tune into Sun Sports for a special telecast with G Money (Glenn Rice) and Smiitty (Steve Smith) :hat

LETS GO HEAT!
 
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