Spo takes a lot of unfair criticism, but he’s not great. Most of their offensive plays consist of only one action (off-ball screen one guy, a pick-and-roll attempt, something like that) and if it doesn’t work they iso-ball with LBJ or Wade. Very bland offense and it explains why they can have 2 of the best offensive players in the league (and a very good scoring threat on PnR’s with Bosh) and still have a mediocre halfcourt offense.
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What else could they possibly be doing? I think everyone knew from the beginning we’d see a ton of iso’s with Wade, Lebron and Bosh.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
^^^ Can’t be too obvious, and it’s not like the Knicks haven’t made crazy moves. They just keep falling flat. Did anyone read the link I posted?[/quote]
Too Obviuos? They’ve had some of the worst records in the last 10 years, the league could’ve easily given them Wade/Lebron/Melo/(from the start)/durant, and countless other players with draft potential as good as theres. If I’m abusing my power so much that I put OKC in the finals. There’s no way the Knicks would be that bad over a 12 year stretch. Media hype has made it look like they fall flat, truth is they’ve overachieved with some horrible players and teams. [/quote]
Overachieved? You and Scj are a trip. I’ll leave y’all to it. Good guys in 6.[/quote]
Their starting 5 was Jamal Crawford, David Lee, Stephon Marbury, Quentin Richardson, and second year Zach Randolph. The fact they won a game was overachieving.
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
How does Spo suck? He is one of the youngest coaches in the league. He is dealing with a sports team in Miami, which has the most fair weather fans. He has also brought his team to the finals two years in a row…
Do you even watch basketball? :)[/quote]
He does however have to manage the egos/personalities of 3 stars despite barely being older than them, which is no small task, and he’s built a great defense. When they’re engaged, the Heat D has lightning quick rotations that make it really hard to beat them unless you deliver 3, 4, 5 consecutive pinpoint passes which is hard to do.[/quote]
I suspect it’s Pat Riley handling those egos, more than Spo.
Haha, “he’s taken them to the Finals two years in a row” is an argument for him being a good coach, on a team with two of the best players in the game (one of them being the best)? And with a weak Eastern Conference?
Spo sucks and I disagree with you scj that he’s been unfairly criticized. The Miami players, LeBron being the predominant person I’m talking about, have received unfair criticism the majority of the time. Spo had been put on notice for not being able to gel the team together and control egos, which is totally fair and was painfully evidenced when him and Wade had that little ‘moment’ a couple of weeks ago. I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again, Spo, for all the abilities he may have as a basketball coach should not be the guy managing three superstars and one megastar who has been lambasted non-stop for being ego-maniacal. And it’s precisely for the reason you mentioned scj, the fact he’s too young and inexperienced and has barely any leverage in that locker room besides his job title.
Airtruth brought up something interesting here, where is Pat Riley in all of this? I suspect he has some kind of behind the scenes role we don’t know about.
I mean I haven’t even seen that much Spo criticism in the first place TBH. I actually think he’s been under-criticized. They (the sports pundits) were talking about how Spo MAY be fired if the Heat lost to the Pacers in the 2nd round. If the Heat had lost to the Pacers Spo would be future endeavoured within minutes of the final buzzer (because he would rightfully have been fired 100%).
Spo takes a lot of unfair criticism, but he’s not great. Most of their offensive plays consist of only one action (off-ball screen one guy, a pick-and-roll attempt, something like that) and if it doesn’t work they iso-ball with LBJ or Wade. Very bland offense and it explains why they can have 2 of the best offensive players in the league (and a very good scoring threat on PnR’s with Bosh) and still have a mediocre halfcourt offense.
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What else could they possibly be doing? I think everyone knew from the beginning we’d see a ton of iso’s with Wade, Lebron and Bosh.[/quote]
More stuff with off ball action for LBJ/Wade. LBJ has actually done a lot more off the ball in the playoffs (compared to when I’ve watched them in the past, and in this regular season) and it has been crazy effective when they run it. He demands a lot of attention even off the ball, so it throws the D off.
A simple PnR of Wade/Bosh, with LBJ starting in a corner and crashing towards the hoop, is damn hard to defend because you are trying to help onto 3 guys at once.
Another thing they can do (they did it a lot in game 6 when LBJ went off) is get LBJ post touches. He doesn’t necessarily have to have any back-to-the-basket moves, but simply receiving the ball 12-15ft from the hoop is much harder to defend than dribbling it up the court or receiving it 35 feet out.
Good writeups of MIA and OKC’s go-to plays this postseason. OKC’s in particular is nearly impossible to stop, and they ran it over and over again against SAS, might’ve won them the series.
Random thought: I wonder if Kendrick Perkins will have foul trouble this series. He gets away with more moving screens than anyone I’ve ever seen - but refs will give more calls to James/Wade, who will presumably be receiving a lot of Perk’s screens. Wonder if Perk will get called more than he’s used to.
Perk on the bench isn’t a huge issue for OKC, but MIA getting into the bonus early could be.
Have people already forgot about Wade telling spo “get the fuck out of my face” on the sideline during the pacers series? and That’s just what the cameras picked up, god knows what else was said.
Those players dont have an ounce of respect for spo, and he couldnt coach his way out of a brown bag.
I hope and think the heat are going to get thumped by the sonics, eeerrrr thunder. Brooks showed he is a hell of a coach, KD is the man, and the heat just can match up.
[quote]Aggv wrote:
Brooks showed he is a hell of a coach[/quote]
He had one great series against Pop after years of bland offensive schemes (nothing but iso-ball in last few minutes of close games, repeatedly came up short). Let’s give it more than 6 games of his newfound cleverness before we call him the next COTY.
Predictions:
Thunder Smash in games 1-3.
Spo gets canned after the game 3 blowout.
LeBrons already shaky mental state is finally shattered by Durants 40 point first half explosion and LBJ doesn’t come out of the locker room after halftime of game 4.
Thunder sweep
After the media backlash LeBron quits basketball for good.
Wade demands a trade and goes to NYK and they make the finals next year… Only to lose to the Lakers!!! Who made some big offseason moves by trading Pau Gasol for Derron Williams and Bynum for Dwight Howard.
Lakers go on to win 4-5 titles in a row and all balance had been restored to the world.
The end.
Ok well the Heat will have a big advantage whenver the Thunder insist on having Ibaka/Perkins on the floor at the same time. They will not be playing much time with 2 legit big men. LBJ can rest on D by taking Perk (as I predicted, and he started out guarding Perk this game) while on the other end, either Perkins or Ibaka has to guard Battier which prevents them from contesting shots near the rim. Not a good matchup for OKC.
I’d bench Perk most of the game, no true centers will be playing for MIA so his presence is not needed defensively
[quote]scj119 wrote:
I’d bench Perk most of the game, no true centers will be playing for MIA so his presence is not needed defensively[/quote]
I agree with this, the heatles are one of the smallest teams in the league. Ibaka is hella athletic for a big and i would have no problem leaving him out there. I actually liked seeing Fish on battier since they both just stand in the corners, kinda evens things out and allows an okc shot blocker in the paint.
The difference between LeBron and KD is becoming evident in this game (and series) already. KD can’t guard LeBron but LeBron can do a relatively better job guarding KD (taking into account KD’s impressive offensive game).
Why isn’t LeBron on KD in the 4th? It doesn’t necessarily mean 'Bron will get more tired, 'Bron’s presence alone may alter what KD actually wants to do.
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
Why isn’t LeBron on KD in the 4th? It doesn’t necessarily mean 'Bron will get more tired, 'Bron’s presence alone may alter what KD actually wants to do.[/quote]
An excellent question. He’s a much better defender than Battier at this point in their careers.
