Whose fault?

[Erick Blasco]

Since everyone is jumping solely on Spoelstra, here's some video of Zydrunas Ilgauskas' non-existent help defense, and Dwyane Wade continuing his horrendous season.

 

Wade hasn't played hard or smart in a single game this year. Not one. He's blown assignments on both ends of the court and it's ruined Miami's chances of executing. The fact that he isn't being called out is astonishing. He's pulling a Baron Davis right before our eyes...

 

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/11/23/why-was-miamis-interior-defense-so-bad-against-indiana/

[Erick Blasco]

And even though this isn't the right forum, I'd like to see the Pacers if they actually get some talent. Jim O'Brien is one of the best offensive coaches in the game. Lots of smart, coordinated action on both sides of the ball...maybe the Heat should sign O' Brien!

[Erick Blasco]

And of course...Coach Nick is already on last night's game

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/heatbreakdown#p/a/u/0/h7EsQGjpxf4

[NomarFachix]

Just an FYI, it's "whose".

[Purple&Gold]

Everyone suffers......

[Erick Blasco]

Just an FYI, it's "whose".

 

Dude, I've been lugging camera and lighting equipment around all day...cut me some slack!

Edited November 24, 2010 by Erick Blasco

[Nitro]

Interesting stuff. I don't know what the hell is going on with the defense, it's like they've just lost motivation to dominate on that side of the ball, which wasn't the case earlier in the season. Defense has got to be how this team will win a championship, and right now they are just dogging it.

[Flash]

Wade isn't having a terrible season. That's definitely an overreaction. He has been sick the past 3 games and you could tell something was not right with him last night. He'll be fine.

[Erick Blasco]

Good, here's two weeks ago...

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/heatbreakdown#p/u/4/wtGZ-dsD9PA

[Erick Blasco]

Interesting stuff. I don't know what the hell is going on with the defense, it's like they've just lost motivation to dominate on that side of the ball, which wasn't the case earlier in the season. Defense has got to be how this team will win a championship, and right now they are just dogging it.

 

It's almost exclusively Wade now too. LeBron is picking it up and playing at LeBron levels, while Bosh is improving his screen defense. But when you have a player like Wade who is taking 90% of defensive possessions off, it just puts the Heat in impossible situations.

 

Plus everything I feared about Ilgauskas is coming true. He's falling apart and he just can't move at all.

 

The team isn't playing hard for Spoelstra, and for better or worse, these next few weeks are crucial for him. If he can't rally the team around him, the Heat are in trouble. If he wants to make a ballsy move, he'd bench Wade to take back control and hopefully light a fire under him. LeBosh should be good enough to keep Miami rolling.

 

One other aspect about the Heat I read on basketballprospectus earlier today...they have no youth anywhere in their rotation. Because of that, they don't play with any youthful energy. Of course they shouldn't need some random second-year player to supply a pick-me-up, but it's almost as if the Heat (Wade) realize they've already made names for themselves, what do they have to play for? Because LeBron and Bosh have improved.

 

It's almost the exact opposite scenario of what happened in Boston. Boston's Big Three were all used to playing in systems that went beyond iso ball. They had no adjustment because they simply knew how to play five-man basketball. Miami's big three still has no idea how to play five man basketball, and whereas Bosh and LeBron are making mistakes but trying to learn, Wade is the one who is simply blowing things off to isolate. And of all the potential disaster scenarios I envisioned of the Heat, this is one I did not see coming. at. all.

[Poe]

The game against Indiana was awful. I didn't even want to keep watching past halftime. There was simply no effort or intensity, causing the Heat to make a lot of silly mistakes offensively, and more importantly, giving the Pacers a lot of easy looks in their offense due to the simplest things like getting back on [expletive]ing defense.

 

 

I want to see Joel back in the starting line up. I know he struggles offensively, but I would prefer if Spo allowed him to play through his offensive mistakes, mostly due to the outstanding effort Joel gives. His energy and willingness to do the "little things" like showing on screens, taking away passing lanes inside, blocking and altering shots inside, overall making his match up work hard for everything, and offensively being a quick screener and making hustle plays like rebounding and diving for loose balls.

 

Unfortunately, most of this goes unnoticed because almost none of it shows up on the stat sheet, except for shot blocking. The only thing the common fan will notice is once the ball does actually get in his hands and all eyes are on him, he is notorious for [expletive]ing up.

 

Honestly, though, I think the latter part of his game won't be so prominent if he relaxed a bit. Though he needs to play with the same intensity, he needs to play without the jitters. Spo should take pressure off of him and allow him to play through mistakes as long as he's giving full effort. His offense isn't completely bad. He CAN finish, and he has been working very hard on adding a hook shot, and he can knock down his free throws well. He's just too damn nervous out there.

 

 

As for Z, he's just too slow. I am tired of seeing how much offenses take advantage of him. All you have to do is drag him out of the paint for one second and he's utterly useless. Yes, he can rebound and block shots.. when he's already standing there. As for the rest of the time, he's too slow to even get close to the right position to affect anything positively on that end. I much prefer if Z gets limited minutes off the bench.

 

 

As the season progresses, it's becoming more and more clear why Arroyo starts. It turns out Wade and LeBron aren't reliable to run an offense effectively, as odd as that sounds. Those two are best meant to bring the ball up looking to score rather than set things up, so Carlos is there for security.

 

That doesn't mean he's the ideal player for the job. He's hardly average defensively, and his lack of range hurts (at least he's developed a corner three). For now though, he's the best Miami's got. I think the Heat can live with him at point and still win a championship this year.

 

 

 

 

 

But anyway, who is really to blame? Well it's a mix of a few things.

 

First and foremost, the schedule. The Heat are ranked #1 in SRS in the East despite their record, so automatically we can expect the overall record to increase as the schedule rounds out.

 

 

Second, the defensive complacency of the Big Three, particularly in Wade and Bosh. Wade has hardly given effort with his help defense, other than raw steals and blocks. He is simply caught out of position too often, and he doesn't hustle to make up for it. As for Bosh, it's not as much his defense as much as his rebounding. He has bad habits in trying to simply use his length to grab boards rather than putting a body on a man.

 

I think that is partially Spoelstra's fault. He is giving the big three too many minutes, causing them to feel the need to preserve energy, which are leading too these problems. Instead, Spo needs to cut down their minutes so they can play at 100% for more of their minutes.

 

 

Third, a lack of fluidity in the offense, and a lack of an "attack, attack, attack" mindset especially from Wade and LeBron. They have a tendency to settle for jumpers even when they aren't open, which isn't as big of a problem when they are the only star on their team. Problem here is that you have two players like this now and there is no need to attempt these shots.

 

Wade and LeBron both shoot below 30% from three, yet for some odd reason are taking 3-5 three pointers each per game. At times they will take a combined 10 three pointers, and by average they are only likely to make 3. That's 9 points in 10 shots. Not good efficiency.

 

Instead they need to attack the basket, where a high percentage of the time they will either score, get fouled, or both, and those two are the best in the league at it. So why aren't they doing it more?

 

If I was Spoelstra, I would man up and tell these guys they no longer have permission to take more than 2 three pointers per game each until they increase their ability to make three pointers. They are simply hurting the team taking these shots.

 

As for the fluidity, I'm not going to bother discussing it since it's something that largely comes from most of the players being knew to the team. It's something that will improve over time.

 

 

Fourth, the center position. Big Z is too slow, and Joel Anthony can't do [expletive] with the ball in his hands. As much as I'd like the team to put more faith into Joel, it seems like they have now turned over to Dampier. Hopefully he's the answer, though I really doubt it.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Poe

[Erick Blasco]

Poe, I agree with everything you're saying.

 

With the attack the hoop mindset, teams really clog the lane against the Heat. They aren't taking advantage because Arroyo isn't hitting his jumpers, Miller is out, and Wade and LeBron aren't catch-and-shoot guys. Ilgauskas is scoring a bit, but he gives it up on the other end. Jones has been streaky, and House doesn't have the handles to start.

 

This is the problem with niche players who aren't well-rounded. If you have too many of them playing critical roles, eventually their weaknesses will be exposed if the stars aren't playing well.

 

Plus people assume that simply walking the ball up is being a point guard, when being a point guard also involves understanding the action, calling out plays, and making the right trigger passes. LeBron and Wade aren't point guards.

[NomarFachix]

Dude, I've been lugging camera and lighting equipment around all day...cut me some slack!

 

No worries, just thought you'd like to know so you can edit the thread title and so on the facebook/twitter feeds there isn't a spelling error.

[Erick Blasco]

No worries, just thought you'd like to know so you can edit the thread title and so on the facebook/twitter feeds there isn't a spelling error.

 

I didn't even know I could edit thread titles until this very second....