Lakers @ Miami - Sun 10/11/2020 @ 7:30pm - Fight or Die for the Prophecy.

[3ballbomber]

Had a little peek-a-boo @ Lakers land. This describes best their collective thought right now.

A few things I gotta get off of my chest:

We should be concerned, really concerned for one reason. Our defense, which has carried us the entire playoff, is absolutely horrendous right now. Jimmy Butler is a good player, I have no doubt about that. But this guy is out there standing 6'7 and shooting the ball like prime time Shaq. We simply have no answer to him since game 2. If we think we are just going to magically figure it out and shut him down in the next two games, well, good luck with that;


We have gotten away from our interior game the last couple of games, and it is not a good strategy for us. We dominated these guys in game 1 and 2 with our size. Since then, we can barely get inside the paint. AD is playing like he is Nowitzki, shooting jumpers all over the place but we cannot get the same layups close to the basket that we did early in this series. If we want to win, we need to establish our dominance inside again.

Hope AD is ok. If he is out, well, we are basically going to pull a Clippers. We also better hope Dragic doesn't somehow make a comeback in the next two games. We, as a team, are not very good at adjusting on the fly. If Dragic changes the dynamic of the games, we are royally screwed.

I raised this question here on this board before this game 5 started. PLEASE TELL ME GUYS, what are the smart adjustments and designed set-plays that Vogel and his staff since GAME 2.
Would this team even be in the game if not for Lebron's abnormal % from the 3pt area? Would they even win game 4 if the 7ft defensive freak AD highhandedly neutralized Butler?
Lakers is up against a 5th SEED Eastern team relying on 2 undrafted inexperienced players to help out Butler WITHOUT Dragic who averaged 20.5pts/game vs Boston! After they lost game 3, Vogel had a simple plan early, ask AD to position inside and get some buckets...Spoelstra and his team was ready, fronted AD which resulted to James' and Rondo's numerous turnovers. James eventually cut down on his passing miscues, hit a couple of 3's while AD exerted so much energy to guard Butler, add KCP's 5 pt bursts, and everything was A-OK.
For everyone who kept saying that the Lakers just need use the same strategy they used in games 1 &2, please be aware that Miami has ADJUSTED and have abandoned the zone. Vogel on the other hand is simply RELYING HEAVILY on the greatness of his 2 superstars and pray 2 or 3 of his shooters find their shot, well, game 5, the team shot 36.8% which is HIGHER than their season average of UNDER 35%.
So again, what kind of offensive sets are they using? If the Lakers didn't have AD at all, would Vogel's defensive schemes really work against Miami?

[3ballbomber]

Something interesting about this game. For those familiar w/ betting lines. Here are the lines for the last 5 gm's.

Gm1: -4.5
Gm2: -10.5
Gm3: -9.5
Gm4: -7.5
Gm5: -7.5

For those not familiar, these are points La were favored by for each game. You can see, after Dragic & Bam's injuries, they adjusted the line accordingly going up 6pts for gm2. Line then dropped by 3pts w/ the return of Bam for gm4, which makes sense. Here's the interesting thing, the line for this game is:

Gm6: -5.5

That's just 1pt higher than gm1 when we had a full team!! Why so low? We know Dragic isn't playing so we can count that out. The other explanation is Davis injury may be more of an issue as we're lead to believe. The other reasoning would be they expect a Heat win here.

Keep in mind Miami have covered the spread 4 out of 5 games. Miami have been monsters, betting wise, these playoffs.


Officiating wise here's my prediction.

Miami win: Capers + Guthrie
Lakers win: Foster + Brothers

I doubt Zarba + Goble will ref as hey just ref'd 2 game's ago but if they do it's a Miami win.

[ZUDAMAGIC]

Heat in 7

[Bad Orange Man]

I wonder if Vogel is getting PTSD from all those playoff series losses against the Heat when he was coaching Indiana.

[3ballbomber]

Something interesting about this game. For those familiar w/ betting lines. Here are the lines for the last 5 gm's.

Gm1: -4.5
Gm2: -10.5
Gm3: -9.5
Gm4: -7.5
Gm5: -7.5

For those not familiar, these are points La were favored by for each game. You can see, after Dragic & Bam's injuries, they adjusted the line accordingly going up 6pts for gm2. Line then dropped by 3pts w/ the return of Bam for gm4, which makes sense. Here's the interesting thing, the line for this game is:

Gm6: -5.5

That's just 1pt higher than gm1 when we had a full team!! Why so low? We know Dragic isn't playing so we can count that out. The other explanation is Davis injury may be more of an issue as we're lead to believe. The other reasoning would be they expect a Heat win here.

Keep in mind Miami have covered the spread 4 out of 5 games. Miami have been monsters, betting wise, these playoffs.


Officiating wise here's my prediction.

Miami win: Capers + Guthrie
Lakers win: Foster + Brothers

I doubt Zarba + Goble will ref as hey just ref'd 2 game's ago but if they do it's a Miami win.

Read on Twitter

[Heat3]

I think it was after game 2, in the post game interviews, that Lebron brought up on his own how sent his teammates a text. Telling them how important the game was. This dude is working storylines to enhance his legacy. How come we didn’t hear about that before the game? Only hear about after a win. Contrast that to game 5. First thing out his mouth in the post game interview was complaining about calls. No stories about his pregame leadership? Meanwhile a Jimmy just comes out and says we’re gonna win game 6.

[Enso]

I think it was after game 2, in the post game interviews, that Lebron brought up on his own how sent his teammates a text. Telling them how important the game was. This dude is working storylines to enhance his legacy. How come we didn’t hear about that before the game? Only hear about after a win. Contrast that to game 5. First thing out his mouth in the post game interview was complaining about calls. No stories about his pregame leadership? Meanwhile a Jimmy just comes out and says we’re gonna win game 6.

Lebron is a whore thats why lol

[kyphi]

That whore helped Miami win two rings. Everyone knows how King James acts, and he's getting older by the minute. I am amazed by his abilities; never cared for him personally.

[dr3am]

That whore helped Miami win two rings. Everyone knows how King James acts, and he's getting older by the minute. I am amazed by his abilities; never cared for him personally.

When he was here I was fighting myself, I wanted to like him a lot but the other side of me kept saying he was a bounty hunter & turned out I was right. I wasn’t a fan of how he did Riley in his exit back to Cleveland, it was very disrespectful towards a guy that helped him while Cleveland turned their backs on him. I respect his game a lot & he’s still the best player in the game whether you like him or not but he’s one of the biggest prima donna’s I’ve ever seen in NBA history.

[dolphinatik]

I think Miami staff had their biggest growth because Lebron left. We started buying into the draft and recommitted to developing youth. Gave us a chance to get real solid players and now we are poised to handle any situation or player young or old. We turned into the Spurs of the NBA and I love it.

[SA37]

Meh, a lot of the narratives about LeBron are entirely media driven. How long have we had to hear about LeBron and his legacy? I give him props for standing up and talking about political issues and what seems to be a real dedication to Cleveland's community.

The team jumping isn't something I particularly like, but he gets a lot more criticism for it than, say, Durant or Kawhi. If I were running a team, I would not want to put up with all the opt-out clauses and one-year contract nonsense he pulled. I don't blame the players for doing it or trying to do it; I just don't love it.

I did not enjoy the Miami teams LeBron was a part of; he's a fantastic player and what he has accomplished in the league is just unreal. I just didn't find "buying" a championship contender appealing as a fan and I found Miami quite boring to watch then. I'd much rather develop young guys and then add a free agent or trade for someone. The whole backroom wheeling and dealing to sign for the same team is not in the spirit of sportsmanship for me, I guess.

[al bondiga]

Come on guys ...forget about the rest we have fight night tonight !! let's focus maybe we can get another one

[dr3am]

Idk about the Miami teams with LeBron on them being boring, that’s a reach IMO... it was fun watching that team go into arenas being hated & winning back to back championships. It was the ultimate **** you to the rest of the league

[IggieCC]

al bondiga: They call me Spanish Meatball

[Kobewade11]

[IggieCC]

LeBron is definitely a polarizing figure. He's a GOAT level basketball player while being the most corny drama queen baby please. He's been put on the spotlight since he's like 15 year old though.. probably never had a chance to go through normal people's maturity process. It is what it is.

With that said, let's go get it O'Prophecy. we're soooo close!

[carnageta]

Apparently Danny Green’s fiancé has been receiving death threats. Just goes to show you how scummy that LA fan base actually is. The same thing happened back in 2012 when Steve Blake missed a game winner three pointer in the playoffs against the Thunder.


That being said, DG is a shooter and he’s bound to have a big night tonight, so we need to be ready for him and make sure he doesn’t get any open looks. Morris also had a horrible performance in game 5, and he’ll come out swinging in game 6. We need to contain him as well and make sure he doesn’t go off.

KCP already has his rhythm. Gotta make sure the ‘others’ don’t get going.

[twix2500]

All this focus on Lebron lol. Dont forgot to enjoy the Heat roster if you are a Heat fan.

[carnageta]

That’s gonna be Jimmy Butler in game 7 while Lebron is walking off the floor early yet again.

[IggieCC]

Apparently Danny Green’s fiancé has been receiving death threats. Just goes to show you how scummy that LA fan base actually is. The same thing happened back in 2012 when Steve Blake missed a game winner three pointer in the playoffs against the Thunder.


That being said, DG is a shooter and he’s bound to have a big night tonight, so we need to be ready for him and make sure he doesn’t get any open looks. Morris also had a horrible performance in game 5, and he’ll come out swinging in game 6. We need to contain him as well and make sure he doesn’t go off.

KCP already has his rhythm. Gotta make sure the ‘others’ don’t get going.

Wow scum fans if true. Thanks for bringing Steve Blake back to existence.

As somewhat expected, we're in a good shape if Laker scrubs play like a doo doo.. no 3 pointer was made by Morris, Kuz, and Rondo last game for example. Rondo hasn't hit a 3 since game 2. When Rondo is hitting 3s they are virtually unstoppable.

Not feeling too great in terms of law of averages, but we have better shooters all around, so I'm okay with the shootout. What we must not do is put them on the free throw line.