Miami's greatest strength

Beasley · Post #1 » by **Beasley** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 3:50 pm

It appears that Miami's greatest strength going into this season is their ability to cause problems for teams who try to match up on them when they play "small-ball". Technically Lebron and Bosh are both tall enough and strong enough to play the 4 or 5, so they aren't really sufferering defensively, but others teams will struggle immensively to defend them on the offensive end!

The key to this is RAY ALLEN.

With Bosh bulking up and playing center full-time, and Lebron playing power forward, this leaves the small forward position. Previously we used Battier here, and the bigs who couldn't defend Lebron would defend our weakest offensive player in Battier at the 3. For example, Kendrick Perkins would defend Battier.

Now if we go with a linup of Chalmers-Wade-Allen-Lebron-Bosh, that "weak-link" will be Ray Allen, and that's where Miami is going to be dangerous.

Perkins and Gasol wil NOT be able able to defend Ray Allen who will run off screens all-day. Their inability to defend him (if they tried) would result in wide-open 3s. This forces players like Gasol to try and defend Lebron and Howard will defend Bosh. If Howard tried to defend Lebron, Lebron would just pull him right out from his strength as a defensive shot-blocker in the lane.

Ray Allen is the key here as Shane Battier and the injured Mike Miller were not potent enough, nor quick enough, to prevent the opponents 4 or 5 from guarding them instead of Lebron.

I can't wait to see this lineup take the court. It's going to cause nightmares!

How is Pau Gasol going to defend Lebron James?

Floydnd24 · Post #2 » by **Floydnd24** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 4:49 pm

Beasley wrote:It appears that Miami's greatest strength going into this season is their ability to cause problems for teams who try to match up on them when they play "small-ball". Technically Lebron and Bosh are both tall enough and strong enough to play the 4 or 5, so they aren't really sufferering defensively, but others teams will struggle immensively to defend them on the offensive end!

The key to this is RAY ALLEN.

With Bosh bulking up and playing center full-time, and Lebron playing power forward, this leaves the small forward position. Previously we used Battier here, and the bigs who couldn't defend Lebron would defend our weakest offensive player in Battier at the 3. For example, Kendrick Perkins would defend Battier.

Now if we go with a linup of Chalmers-Wade-Allen-Lebron-Bosh, that "weak-link" will be Ray Allen, and that's where Miami is going to be dangerous.

Perkins and Gasol wil NOT be able able to defend Ray Allen who will run off screens all-day. Their inability to defend him (if they tried) would result in wide-open 3s. This forces players like Gasol to try and defend Lebron and Howard will defend Bosh. If Howard tried to defend Lebron, Lebron would just pull him right out from his strength as a defensive shot-blocker in the lane.

Ray Allen is the key here as Shane Battier and the injured Mike Miller were not potent enough, nor quick enough, to prevent the opponents 4 or 5 from guarding them instead of Lebron.

I can't wait to see this lineup take the court. It's going to cause nightmares!

How is Pau Gasol going to defend Lebron James?

How are you going to defend Kobe,D-12,Pau, & Nash? Nightmare!

krikor · Post #3 » by **krikor** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 5:39 pm

What bench lakers have? How are you going to defend lebron, wade or bosh?

Pimpwerx · Post #4 » by **Pimpwerx** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 7:17 pm

Floydnd24 wrote:How are you going to defend Kobe,D-12,Pau, & Nash? Nightmare!

The way we defend other teams. Are we somehow not going to be one of the best defenses in the league, having only improved? We defend as a unit, and do so extremely well. Stop acting like moving the furniture around on the deck of the Titanic isn't gonna keep it from sinking. Lakers still have far more issues matching up with our 5 shooters lineup than we do theirs. PEACE.

EscapoTHB · Post #5 » by **EscapoTHB** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 7:32 pm

I can't see how the Lakers are going to do well against our defense, which generally speaking has always done very well at protecting the paint and rebounding. Our big weakness defensively is 3 point shooting--and Nash is the only consistent 3 point shooter in their rotation.

As for the original post-- I think most nights Battier/Lewis will be our PF rotation. We just won a title with Battier playing PF, so I think it works pretty well. There's obviously a degree to which our forwards are always going to be interchangeable defensively--but that's an advantage not a weakness.

The Lakers are going to try and implement more pick and roll to take advantage of Dwight and Nash--but our biggest strength is our pick and roll defense. I would imagine we'll force passes to the corners for MWP to shoot 3s.

I think a smarter playing Thunder is a larger concern because of how good of jump shooters they are. If they ever implement ball movement and play defense, they will be a handful. Kevin Durant is a guy for whom there is no defensive scheme.

Chosen01 · Post #6 » by **Chosen01** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 8:23 pm

I don't think LeBron is playing PF full time is he?

EscapoTHB · Post #7 » by **EscapoTHB** » Sun Sep 9, 2012 9:17 pm

Yeah I doubt that he will. When we played OKC, Shane played Ibaka and Lebron stayed at the 3 on Durant for the most part. Even against the Celtics, defensively Lebron wasn't guarding their 4, Shane was.

I think against the Lakers though, you'll see Lebron check Gasol or Howard, because he does well against both of them, and it's not like we play them a ton of times during the year. In a 7 game series, I think it's something you can get away with if it's used strategically.

I would think Spo will want to use mainly Shane and Wade on Kobe, because they both guard him well, and that would leave Lebron open to either roam off of Artest to help on Howard and Gasol--or guard Gasol or Howard straight up.

If Lebron can use his strength to push Dwight far enough away from the rim, it will limit his effectiveness. We'll also see Haslem on Dwight I think as well, with the same notion.

I think the series would come down to Gasol vs. Bosh and who can help more--and Bosh typically wins that matchup.

Not super worried about Nash, because he never really burned us in the past, and our point guard defense is actually pretty good, especially since we know we can help off of shooters.

I think the Lakers would be tougher to play against if they had Ray and Battier instead of Kobe and World Peace. Not that they are better players--but it would help their spacing and ball movement, and make Nash/Gasol/Howard the emphasis.

Still wondering if Kobe is going to share the ball next year. That series could come down to whether we can protect our glass after Kobe's bricks.

This IsMy House · Post #8 » by **This IsMy House** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:31 am

Floydnd24 wrote: How are you going to defend Kobe,D-12,Pau, & Nash? Nightmare!

How are you going to defend LeBron, Bosh, Wade, Allen, Chalmers, Battier, Lewis, Miller, Cole?

Kobe System · Post #9 » by **Kobe System** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:12 am

Heat playing small ball against Lakers will be as simple as inside versus outside game. We will have a hard time playing defense against a line up of Wade/Allen/Battier/LeBron/Bosh (which I think will be the closer for you guys). But on the flip side, I also think Heat will have a hard time playing defense against a Nash/Bryant/Metta/Pau/Dwight line up. The key for the Heat will be their outside shooting. If Allen/Miller/Battier are shooting the lights out, it's gonna be a long night for us. The key for the Lakers will be inside scoring and rebounding. I think the team who control the pace of the game will end up winning the game.

Mundo · Post #10 » by **Mundo** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:00 pm

How are the Lakers going to get past the Spurs? They man handled them last year except for one game.

How are they going to get past the thunder?

If they make it to Miami? How will they match up against our bench? Literally our bench is going to be stacked next year. Ray, Cole, Rashard, Haslem, Shane, MM, and JJ. That bench can provide an easy 30-40 points every game.

Kobe System · Post #11 » by **Kobe System** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:32 pm

Mundo wrote:How are the Lakers going to get past the Spurs? They man handled them last year except for one game.

How are they going to get past the thunder?

If they make it to Miami? How will they match up against our bench? Literally our bench is going to be stacked next year. Ray, Cole, Rashard, Haslem, Shane, MM, and JJ. That bench can provide an easy 30-40 points every game.

1. Don't worry about the Spurs, we will handle them nicely.
2. Thunder will be a challenge for us. Kinda like how we will match up with your team, I think it will be perimeter versus inside game. Up tempo versus slow tempo. But Ibaka, Collison and Perkins will play better paint defense against us compare to Miami's front court. I think they are our biggest obstacle this year.
3. Miami has a great bench. But I think our bench is getting a bit underrated. We have Blake/Meeks/Ebanks/Clark/Jamison/Hill.

Slot Machine · Post #12 » by **Slot Machine** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:11 pm

Kobe System wrote:3. Miami has a great bench. But I think our bench is getting a bit underrated. We have Blake/Meeks/Ebanks/Clark/Jamison/Hill.

How is that bench in any way impressive? Clark and Ebanks are scrubs, Blake is a decent 3 point shooter, Meeks is an okay shooter. Jamison will be more efficient without being one of the first options but he's still an aging, inefficient, sieve on defense. I like Hill a lot though, everything you could ask for out of an energy big off the bench. Not a good bench at all.

The bench is rated exactly where it should be, below average.

LeChosen1 · Post #13 » by **LeChosen1** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:21 am

Lebron cannot guard howard or Gasol he can try to front but thats it, Howard would over power him and gasol would shoot right over him like KG did

EscapoTHB · Post #14 » by **EscapoTHB** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:52 am

LeChosen1 wrote:Lebron cannot guard howard or Gasol he can try to front but thats it, Howard would over power him and gasol would shoot right over him like KG did

He guards them pretty well actually. Nobody on the lakers can guard lebron or wade

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LeChosen1 · Post #15 » by **LeChosen1** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:24 pm

EscapoTHB wrote:
LeChosen1 wrote:Lebron cannot guard howard or Gasol he can try to front but thats it, Howard would over power him and gasol would shoot right over him like KG did

He guards them pretty well actually. Nobody on the lakers can guard lebron or wade

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When has lebron ever guarded Howard?

Floydnd24 · Post #16 » by **Floydnd24** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:10 am

Chalm Down Bro wrote:
Kobe System wrote:3. Miami has a great bench. But I think our bench is getting a bit underrated. We have Blake/Meeks/Ebanks/Clark/Jamison/Hill.

How is that bench in any way impressive? Clark and Ebanks are scrubs, Blake is a decent 3 point shooter, Meeks is an okay shooter. Jamison will be more efficient without being one of the first options but he's still an aging, inefficient, sieve on defense. I like Hill a lot though, everything you could ask for out of an energy big off the bench. Not a good bench at all.

The bench is rated exactly where it should be, below average.

I would take our bench over the Miami heats bench all day everyday. + We are getting Barbosa says he in talks with the Lakers <3

Pimpwerx · Post #17 » by **Pimpwerx** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:15 am

LeChosen1 wrote:Lebron cannot guard howard or Gasol he can try to front but thats it, Howard would over power him and gasol would shoot right over him like KG did

Bron has guarded Pau a decent number of times. Most recently in the Olympics. Pau can't just shoot over him. Lebron isn't a midget. PEACE.

Pimpwerx · Post #18 » by **Pimpwerx** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:15 am

Floydnd24 wrote:I would take our bench over the Miami heats bench all day everyday. + We are getting Barbosa says he in talks with the Lakers <3

You don't have much of a choice. Good luck with that. PEACE.

Floydnd24 · Post #19 » by **Floydnd24** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:09 am

Pimpwerx wrote:
Floydnd24 wrote:I would take our bench over the Miami heats bench all day everyday. + We are getting Barbosa says he in talks with the Lakers <3

You don't have much of a choice. Good luck with that. PEACE.

Why would I have a choice? The only person who has a say so in our bench is Kobe, Mitch, and Buss. Am just expressing my opinion that the Lakers bench is better than Miamis.
Can't wait till our first game, will be fun discussing it on these forums.

Slot Machine · Post #20 » by **Slot Machine** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:43 am

Floydnd24 wrote:
Chalm Down Bro wrote:
Kobe System wrote:3. Miami has a great bench. But I think our bench is getting a bit underrated. We have Blake/Meeks/Ebanks/Clark/Jamison/Hill.

How is that bench in any way impressive? Clark and Ebanks are scrubs, Blake is a decent 3 point shooter, Meeks is an okay shooter. Jamison will be more efficient without being one of the first options but he's still an aging, inefficient, sieve on defense. I like Hill a lot though, everything you could ask for out of an energy big off the bench. Not a good bench at all.

The bench is rated exactly where it should be, below average.

I would take our bench over the Miami heats bench all day everyday. + We are getting Barbosa says he in talks with the Lakers <3