Post#4 » by Pimpwerx » Wed May 16, 2012 5:33 am
Spo needs a new gameplan for next game. I'm keeping the faith that he'll right the wrongs of Game2. No other choice. What I'd like to see:
More Haslem - He didn't play poorly enough for me to understand his lack of minutes. His limited minutes suggest Spo sees something wrong with his defensive effort, but I didn't see it. I didn't see West eating him up or anything, but I'd like to see more of him so Bron has to see less of the PF position.
Fewer minutes for Wade and Bron - Self-explanatory. Better management is a must.
Pittman needs minutes - If Turiaf is gonna keep getting fouls, and Joel is gonna be ineffective on offense, we should at least give Pittman a test run against this Indiana defense. We've seen him come up surprisingly big against some other centers, so we should at least give it a test run. That's not the best idea playing in Indiana with fouls going their way, but we can't have a repeat of tonight.
No more 2-man ball - I'm fine with Wade and Bron trying to take over the game late, if they have the legs to be aggressive. They can't if they're tired. Since Bosh is out, this might be the norm. With limited play-calling, it's important that Spo doesn't let them lose confidence in their supporting cast. That means also fielding a good supporting cast with them.
The bench needs to resurface - Shane and Joel were not getting it done on offense, but spent a lot of minutes out there. Miller had one of his worst games of the year, and didn't contribute much tonight. Rio spent a second game in foul trouble after a bunch of idiotic fouls. None of them did any scoring. Cole looked like our best bench player tonight...Cole. I love the kid, but that's just not right.
Wade needs to hit his jumpshot or stop shooting it - 2 3-pointers today was 2 too-many. Wade went 8-22. That makes him 16-45 for the series. That is dreadful. He's taking long jumpshots too. He's taken some, frankly, stupid shots early in the shot clock. He's trying to jumpstart his game, but to the detriment of the offensive flow.
Lebron needs help - Someone...somewhere needs to step the **** up and contribute. Spo's leaning on Lebron because he has no confidence in the support cast either, but it's not just his fault. The bench needs to contribute. If we can't get more than 26 points in 2 games from our bench, then...well...this is season is gonna end in tears. Lebron will get stick from the media, but he is the only person who has showed up to this series. Well...Bosh did too before he got injured. He is playing like an MVP with a bunch of scrubs. I'm disappointed in the effort from the team given his passionate MVP speech.
Push the pace - We are still walking the ball up. Tired legs on Wade and Lebron are no excuse. They're not tired in the opening minutes. We're forsaking our athleticism. We're giving a physical defense a chance to get back and setup...and matchup. We have Cole, we have Rio. We have two PGs that can help push the pace when Wade and Lebron can't. We have Harris who can run with them. If Miller, Shane and UD are incapable of keeping the pace up, then we need to inject some youth and speed. Cole got in there and was looking to push the pace early, but no one was running with him. If he tries to go it alone, we know he'll just end up getting blocked or something, so why is our rookie the only one taking the initiative in this regard? I'd like to see a Cole-Harris backcourt if when Wade sits, so we can inject speed. Lebron doesn't have to run with that pair, he can trail the play. But those two are tenacious enough that they can at least keep the tempo up while relieving our wings of basic ball-handling duties.
Make a damn 3 - Self-explanatory.
Defense wasn't a big deal in Game2, it was all down to impotent offense. If Indy's defensive schemes are too complicated for Bron and Wade to read effectively, then let's get back to calling plays. We're walking the ball slow enough that we can easily do this. Give Cole and Rio back their wristbands and let's get serious about creating good looks on offense.
Keep the faith, boys. We shot 34.6%, went 1-16 from 3, had our 3rd wheel and other main ballhandler in foul trouble most of the game...and we only lost by 3. We outrebounded them again, held them to 37.8% shooting, fouled-out Granger and forced 17 turnovers. 38 points in the paint, same as them.
Take the positives, forget the negatives. Game3 is a new game. 1-1 means it's a new series. **** stealing homecourt, we're taking both in Indiana. Believe, bros. PEACE.