They look dominant at home, which is nice. But they just finished a stretch of seven straight home games which has helped them reach the 9-4 record. They're gonna play two on the road and then another four straight at home. You figure after that next six game stretch they might be 13-6, something like that. But from there, sh-t gets real because then they play 21 road games to only 11 home games. After that stretch, figure something like 31-20. Then for the final stretch of the season you end up with something like 50-32.
Winslow's defense on KP and Melo was pretty impressive. The guy has been taking on All Stars all season defensively. That's pretty stunning. Wade on Melo was pretty interesting too.
LMFAO at Tom Haberstroh's "GSW Death Lineup". Harrison Barnes, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson have an offensive rating of 160.9 and a defensive rating of 90.0 for an absurd net rating of 70.8. By the way the Heat lineup of Luol Deng, Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Hassan Whiteside and Justise Winslow is second in the NBA with a 35.4 net rating (114.4 offense, 79.1 defense). Gotta love that.
Seems like there are a good few teams this year which have back-loaded schedules. That's been a bit beneficial for my Spurs, giving them a chance to gel. Still, I think the Best are doing well for good reason and not just schedule or fluke. That reason, for me, is balance. Quality talent? Check. Offence? Check. Defence? Check, check. Coaching? Check. Inside game? Check. Energy and speed? When needed, check Experience? Check. Team mentality? Check. Depth? Check. Healthy? ... For now. Fingers crossed. The only area I think the Heat are a little weak is a lack of 3-pt shooters.
I swear everything I read that comes out of Ethan Skolnick on basketball is insightful. Latest is his talking about how one of the reasons the Heat are doing so well is Chris Bosh and Justise Winslow are so versatile they make nearly any lineup in which one or the other is involved work.
Something I found interesting last night was the matchup between Whiteside and Lopez. Lopez was being real physical with Whiteside, boxing him out and being strong under the rim. There were a few times he decided he can just go man to man with him and beat him offensively, and he actually did on a few occasions. But he started to get TOO physical, started taking some cheap shots. You could see them happening. You could also pick out the exact moment Whiteside had enough of that and decided to say something about it to D-Wade and the rest of the team, and to take the gloves off in his dealing with Lopez. What was awesome is there seemed to be an immediate backlash from everyone and not just Whiteside. Multiple players started taking jabs at Lopez and being annoying to him. From that point on Robin Lopez was not really effective at either end.
My estimate would be 3 as well. It's interesting because they're in the 2 seed and have yet to really figure things out offensively. If they find their rhythm on offense and stay healthy, the 2 seed could very much be realistic.
Curious to see where Justise's career takes him. http://blogs.herald.com/miami_heat/...nley-johnson-renew-acquaintances-tonight.html
Winslows career arc is going to follow Kawhi or Scottie Pippen. I said that pre draft and I believe it. A lot of the same physical attributes and similar questions about offense coming in to the league. He's a gem.
Hassan Whiteside still #2 among centers in Estimated Wins Added. Drummond #1 of course. Chris Bosh is #7 among power forwards. Luol Deng is #21 among small forwards. Dwyane Wade is #5 among shooting guards. Tyler Johnson would rank #26 among point guards, Goran Dragic somewhere around #39. Can be a squirrelly stat because Justise Winslow is second to last among rookies even though he's got the highest plus-minus.
i still feel the same about this heat team they have no offense. I cant see them realistically beating any good team in the playoffs.
And despite the risk of hurting Sects feelings....the defense seems to be inconsistent?? Or just happen to suck every time I bet them. 60 points in the first half vs Det cost me a first half Under. Good thing the East is pretty meh..
I'll take Shane Battier with more athleticism as the floor.. Still think he's more Kawhi Leonard though. And I would advise staying away from betting any pre/post thanksgiving basketball to you Fin-O... hard to predict how the players respond before/after holidays.
That seems to be the Heats big issue. They definitely have nights they check out. Could use more three point shooting, and the offense feels stilted to me as well.
It's the NBA. There are off nights. Our defense is good enough to roll Gerald Green off the bench and have him shut down Melo. Bet better.
You know better. If you want to applaud Gerald Green being your best offensive player tonight then go ahead...but the only person who shuts down Melo is Melo. Whoever just happens to be in front of him when he is hot or cold is merely incidental. Knicks need that 3rd go to guy for scoring before I can too excited.
There are FEW players that you can say that about. Melo is no longer one of them. Not a coincidence they have a knack for limiting him.
Let's have a 2nd option also. Right now we have 1 player who can be counted on for offense every night. Afflalo has his moments as does Kristaps but Afflalo has always been more role player then star and KP6 is still a rookie so he's going to have his ups and downs
Not so sure that's true. What is true is that the heat are a much better team right now and the knicks don't have the supporting cast to help Melo right now defeat a good team defense like Miami.
I think you are agreeing with Section here a bit, no? Fin-O was trying to make the point that the Heat's defense was irrelevant. If Melo is scoring, it doesn't matter what they do, onlyMelo can stop himself. What you seem to be suggesting, and if so I agree, is that the Heat can stop Melo by making him the sole focus, but that he's still a great enough scorer that if they had to truly account for another consistent scorer, Melo would get his even with a big portion of the focus.
Section gave credit to Gerald Green not the Heat defense. And sure, I'm sure you can throw some looks at Melo that make him uncomfortable especially with the lack of other scoring options in NY. But Gerald Green wasn't the reason Melo went cold, its what he does from time to time.
Melo has gone against one of the League's best defenses twice and struggled both times. And it has nothing to do with the players guarding him? That's an interesting angle, Cotton. And another nice night for Justise... 19 years old.
Pretty much agree with everything you wrote. He made a more blanket statement that Melo basically wasn't the same player anymore and couldn't score the same. I disagreed on the premise that as the knicks are constructed right now no one else consistently draws the defense away from him. Afflalo Galloway and KP have their moments but ones a bench player, ones a rookie and one has never had the consistency of a #2 scorer. Make sense?
Are you skipping the part where he said then I said GERALD GREEN?? You are turning into the entire Heat defense somehow. Again, my point is Melo didn't begin to struggle because GERALD GREEN came off the bench to guard him. Green certainly did his part to aid his team, pretty sure he led the team in scoring?? If not he was close.
You completely misunderstood the tenor of what he was saying. He wasn't giving a compliment to Gerald Green. Quite the opposite. Team defense was so good that Gerald Green was able to shut down Melo. Sort of like how a 19 year old rookie was able to do the same.
Melo is still a great player, and he can go off against great defense sometimes. Fin-O isn't wrong about that. However I'd have to say that great defense decreases his chances to go off on a particular night, he is human after all. Also agree with you that it would be easier for him constructed differently, but still great defense is great defense. Even the best get shut down by great defense sometimes.\ Unrelated but slightly related: Can't tell what a guy is really thinking, but Gerald Green talks like he is on a mission to prove he can be an all around basketball player for this team. His individual defense has gotten a lot better and from interviews it seems this is his goal.
