2025 Playoffs: Round 1, Game 1: Heat @ Cavs - 7pm EST on 4/20

[unowen85]

To be fair it's probably gonna be the same. If Herro, Bam, Highsmith, Wiggins and Mitchell on the floor who are you going to attack the most? Def Herro. I won't be surprised if it happens again. It players keep going against you and you're already not a strong defender it's gonna wear you down more as well.

Then he just flat out has to be better. We can’t have him struggling to score/make plays AND giving up a ridiculous amount of points defensively.

Need Bam to be better too. Can't have him struggling to score (24 points on 22 FGA) while all of the defensive attention is on Herro

I’m normally hard on Bam, but I think last night was step in right direction for him after he wasn’t involved during play in. We need him to keep taking shots.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Easy to single out Herro but i saw Haywood Highsmith get absolutely roasted last night plenty.

As did Ware and Davion. They’ve all got to be better and hopefully they will. This is a common trend with Tyler though and at some point somethings gotta give. He can’t struggle to score every time we get into the playoffs and also be a traffic cone, we just can’t afford it and he’s held to a higher standing than guys making $5M a year, especially when he’s got a $50M a year extension looming.

He has to take pride in his defense, he should be livid and embarrassed by his performance on that end last night and I think he is and I think he will bounce back for game 2.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Did anyone end up asking Spo why he took Bam out when he heated up in the 4th to pull within 7 and then put him back in 1 minute later down 12 or 14? I’m completely fine with our top guys playing 42 minutes a night at this rate, we’ll get the rest and recovery around the clock with 2 days off in between these games. We may only have 3 left, push them to the brink.

[Daffy]

Looks like it was actually at 1.03ppp with Jrue guarding Jimmy; I figured it would’ve been worse like you said. We’ll see how Tyler adjusts for next game and if he takes it personally, he should. Sometimes teams will focus too hard on that matchup though and trying to expose it and it’ll backfire. Hopefully that happens next time

To be fair it's probably gonna be the same. If Herro, Bam, Highsmith, Wiggins and Mitchell on the floor who are you going to attack the most? Def Herro. I won't be surprised if it happens again. It players keep going against you and you're already not a strong defender it's gonna wear you down more as well.

Then he just flat out has to be better. We can’t have him struggling to score/make plays AND giving up a ridiculous amount of points defensively.

Not saying he shouldn't be better but to expect much more out of Herro defensively isn't something I'm personally looking for to be honest.

[dolphinatik]

Herro played good decisions but dude was on fire. Any of the other defenders could have picked him up same result. Help d at the rim was bad but not much you can do against those 3s. The ball literally bounced right to the cavs on everything. Heat could have done a better job with attacking Jerome Mitchell Allen and Mobley to try to get them in foul trouble early. We got a terrible whistle but they we the better team. Only Davion seemed to play with urgency.

[Voltron914]

Herro played good decisions but dude was on fire. Any of the other defenders could have picked him up same result. Help d at the rim was bad but not much you can do against those 3s. The ball literally bounced right to the cavs on everything. Heat could have done a better job with attacking Jerome Mitchell Allen and Mobley to try to get them in foul trouble early. We got a terrible whistle but they we the better team. Only Davion seemed to play with urgency.

Davion's drives to the basket looked like an effective play during the 4th. our past playoff runs were fueled by role players getting hot and drawing attention so we need others to step up. Pelle and Jovic should get some burn if they are ready especially Nico's 2 man game with Ware

[Rapaz]

I think we had a good game overall considering we just had to play two games on the road to even make it into this position. We still have the better coach on our side, too.

People in this thread really have no clue who Kenny Atkinson is? He’s literally a coach of the year finalist and has a shot to win it.

Gotta leave your bubbles if you think his coaching is some fluke.

Kenny is a very good coach and is super locked in with this squad that has been building consistently and in lock step (virtually without distraction) for almost a year now.

The statement you responded to remains true, tho.

Read a few pages back and you’ll get it.

[SA37]

Then he just flat out has to be better. We can’t have him struggling to score/make plays AND giving up a ridiculous amount of points defensively.

Need Bam to be better too. Can't have him struggling to score (24 points on 22 FGA) while all of the defensive attention is on Herro

I’m normally hard on Bam, but I think last night was step in right direction for him after he wasn’t involved during play in. We need him to keep taking shots.

100% I thought he had a good game and was aggressive offensively.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Read on Twitter

1.78 points per possession is WILD.

Need to clean it up

Yea thats just flat out unacceptable for anyone wearing a Heat jersey. They were dogging him and I was legit feeling bad for him when Jerome was torching him in the 4th and flexing on him. He has to dig deep here, this is a chance for him to grow and he needs to show some pride on that end to do it because if he’s not scoring and playmaking at a high rate on top of that level of defense he is unplayable.

You can scheme for bad defender with the right personnel. Teams don't hunt as much in the regular season, but they will be relentless in the playoffs.

But it's hard to hide a guy who gambles AND gives up on plays, especially against a high powered team.

He's a bad defender. It is what it is. It's the giving up on plays that drove me nuts. He wasn't even close enough to foul on most plays.

They can't afford to bench herro, so he'll need to man up. I'm just surprised the coaching staff wasn't prepared for this.

Might just need to play alot of zone or just not give up on switches, but that might be hard to do.

On playback. Then I rewarched some of the bulls and hawks game.

The offense got altered (im guessing this is where they spent the off day tweaking). If was more outside oriented with little to no pressure in the paint. (Opposite of the 2 play in games) Looked like it was by design. A few times bam or wiggins had the mismatch in the post, but just got looked off for the ball to swing. Can't complain much because the offense was still pretty good against an excellent defense. This was designed as the bam and herro show and others played their roles. Again, can't complain much about the offense.

The first Duncan minutes were a BIG problem. It just deflated the team (he's got such negative body language) and gave the cavs a whole lot of energy to start cooking everyone.

The defense was exactly the same. The heat gave up all switches. The bulls and hawks didn't have the personnel to punish it. The cavs did, and spo hung herro out to dry by not making any adjustments.

[Crazy-Canuck]

To add:

With Tyler as primary defender of the action:

Cavs scored 64 pts on 36 possessions for a 177.8 ortg.

On everyone else, it was 57 pts on 51 possessions for a 111.8 ortg.

It's 1 adjustment that needs to be fixed, just one. Regardless of how anyone feels everyone played, the heat are in this with 1 correction.

I thought the game was alot more competitive than people make it out to be. If spo/herro can figure out the counter to the hero hunting, it's game on.

[Kobewade11]

Why don't we go hunting too. I never heard of Garland being a defensive stalwart

[marson]

Easy to single out Herro but i saw Haywood Highsmith get absolutely roasted last night plenty.

Wiggs also got torched a lot. We'll see better effort on both ends in Game 2.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Easy to single out Herro but i saw Haywood Highsmith get absolutely roasted last night plenty.

Wiggs also got torched a lot. We'll see better effort on both ends in Game 2.

I dont have access to tracking data, but this is as good as us pubs can get.

Herro 16 dfg 75% dfg% +26.6 diff
Highsmith 16 50% +0.3
Wiggins 15 46.7% -0.5
Ware 13 61.5% +2.4
Mitchell 13 53.8% +8
Bam 12 41.7% -10

Bam was pretty frigging good this game. Only he and wiggins kept the cavs from shooting above their averages.

Compared to their regular season norms, only herro really stood out. Others except Bam were marginally worse.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-overall?SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612748

[Shewasfly]

I think the stats validate the eye test that this was an anomaly for Tyler. Still not a good defender, but not nearly as horrendous as game 1 portrayed. It also shows that stats without context can be very deceiving, since Duncan somehow had a 33% defensive rating

I also don't think Garland is as good as he showed in game 1 either. I think Spo needs to spot Wiggins up on offense, or get him in the post against Garland and Mitchell as much as possible but especially after they shoot. Force them to run back immediately and try to go guard when we get the matchup. A similar thing can be done with Bam, but Bam needs to have the mentality to attack and score. It throws everything off when he is hesitant. And they should keep Tyler on the opposite side so the defense will tilt away from them while they go to work.

2 almost 3 days off will be huge for not only preparation but to rest those tired legs. I expect a much better game from everyone but especially Tyler off that alone. We'll need it.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I mean if they don’t get 30 off the bench from one guy that game might look alot different, we’ll see if they can better contain him next game and maybe garland. I know you can do what ifs for literally anything but still. Mitchell is a true playoff riser so he’s likely going to get his, Bam can shut down Mobley again (changes to our defense may actually open Mobley up more though). Ware may have a better game and come close to cancelling out Allen. The guys gotta be locked in, have pride in your defense and play smart and confidence in offense.

[al bondiga]

And guys we are talking about a far superior Opponent team... We have been to a very emotional season and we barely made the playoffs

I am surprised that we don't have more injuries... We don't have the Best medical, Rehab or physical ed crew in The League, to say the least.

As far as I can tell we have had a Pretty good season...especially from our main contributors.

Everybody...LAY OFF !!

[NightWatch]

Heat needs a better defense collectively efforts to make Cavs uncomfortable. No more cheating on defense. Just play actual defense. Heat offense was fine. Few guys need to set up a bit on offense for example Highlander keeps missing multiple open corner 3s’. Heat was capable of beating Cavs in game 1 if Heat clean up few things that’s the way I see it.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Why don't we go hunting too. I never heard of Garland being a defensive stalwart

I assumed that was going to be the plan, but spo saw something different. A few times wiggins, bam, and even ware had a mismatch in the paint. It was looked off.

[marson]

Heat needs a better defense collectively efforts to make Cavs uncomfortable. No more cheating on defense. Just play actual defense. Heat offense was fine. Few guys need to set up a bit on offense for example Highlander keeps missing multiple open corner 3s’. Heat was capable of beating Cavs in game 1 if Heat clean up few things that’s the way I see it.

The strategy will stay the same, they’ll take turns targeting Herro. When Tyler gets hunted, Spo will likely respond with zones, late blitz, which could leave Cavs shooters open. We just have to hope they don't capitalize on those looks.

I agree with 3ammy, at some point, no schemes will save you, and you’ve got to take pride in your defense. I expect Tyler to step it up next game.

[Crazy-Canuck]

I think the stats validate the eye test that this was an anomaly for Tyler. Still not a good defender, but not nearly as horrendous as game 1 portrayed. It also shows that stats without context can be very deceiving, since Duncan somehow had a 33% defensive rating

I also don't think Garland is as good as he showed in game 1 either. I think Spo needs to spot Wiggins up on offense, or get him in the post against Garland and Mitchell as much as possible but especially after they shoot. Force them to run back immediately and try to go guard when we get the matchup. A similar thing can be done with Bam, but Bam needs to have the mentality to attack and score. It throws everything off when he is hesitant. And they should keep Tyler on the opposite side so the defense will tilt away from them while they go to work.

2 almost 3 days off will be huge for not only preparation but to rest those tired legs. I expect a much better game from everyone but especially Tyler off that alone. We'll need it.

Duncan's is easy to explain. He wasnt hunted as much/limited minutes and he was so poor he wasn't even in range of a player to be registered for a dfg.

The stats for herro paint him better than he actually was. Because indirectly, it caused players to over help and allowed cracks in the defense. It was a tough spot to put the teammates in.

I agree that I don't think itll be this bad again. If it is, it's 100% on spo. Herro is a bottom tier defender, everyone knows it. It's the coaches job to put them in a better situation. Herro just need to fight on defense and not give up on plays.