How can the Heat beat the Warriors?

[HeatGuyInChicago]

Never started a topic on the board before. What the Warriors are accomplishing is historic. What can the Heat do to beat them in a seven game series this year? Going forward Pat Riley needs a game plan for LeBron and Stephan Curry.

The Warriors throw out the small ball lineup below and they are destroying opponents:

Green
Barnes
Igoudala
Thompson
Curry

Which Heat lineup would give that lineup trouble.
Two are set
Bosh
Wade

Take your pick
Dragic, Whiteside, Green, Deng, Winslow, Johnson, Richardson

[goodboy]

Dragic
Wade
Winslow
Bosh
Whiteside

[Bishop45]

I think it's interesting that some of the more competitive wins from GS have been from slow pace teams/defensive teams (Raptors X2, Nets X2, Utah and Minnesota), which could be a coincidence but I gave it some consideration considering how terrible the Nets are/and the in-between nature of the other teams

The two teams below them in the standings currently are also two slow paced/grind out teams who are #1 and#2 in defensive rating and identical in offensive ratings and also play more traditional with two-near 7-footers and so-so three point shooting. Respectively I would think that if Cle was healthy that Warriors-Spurs-Heat-Cavs would be top 2 right now in each conference. Warriors/Cavs the three point shooting space and pace team versus Heat/Spurs, the grind out, versatile veteran playoff team in the Finals would be crazy

GS seems damn near unstoppable right now, just as Cle did at a point last year. Would be epic for the slow paced, defensive, veteran coaches to come through and stomp on these rookie coaches and their small balls... as for the OP question tho, who knows really

[Rapaz]

How do you kill a blue elephant?
You shoot it with a blue elephant gun.

How do you kill a red elephant?
You strangle it until it turns blue, and then you shoot it with a blue elephant gun.

How do you beat an average basketball team?
You pound them inside with Whiteside.

How do you beat the ultimate small ball team?
You feed them until they grow into an average basketball team, and then you pound them inside with Whiteside.

Simple.

[QUIZ]

It's tough, if you watch Curry play you see how deadly he is shooting out of the PnR. Versus us he'd probably spam a 1/5 PnR to force Goran and Whiteside to guard him. In that scenario we'd get killed because Whiteside isn't comfortable going out to the 3pt line and Goran would basically be left on an island.

So our best lineup would probably feature Bosh/McBob as the front court.

From there slow the game down as much as possible, GS has a tendency to get loose with the ball exploit that. We can't beat them in a shootout but the Cavs basically showed you the blueprint last year.

Make the game slow and ugly and trap Curry on every PnR to get the ball out of his hands. The Cavs chose to dare Barnes and or Iggy(depending on who was in) to beat them. This strategy worked until the Cavs got more and more tired as the series progressed, after that Curry started to loosen up and Iggy started hitting his open shots.

[walk with me]

If deng is healthy by the time the warriors come around we have a very good chance.

The key to being competitive with the warriors is being able to make steph work on defense. Most teams 1-3 aren't that strong so steph usually just hides on one of them while klay and draymond/barnes do the dirty work on defnese.

if goran can attack him and get him into early foul trouble we will definitely have a good game with them.

[IggieCC]

This needs to happen
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO2TRXdKLlc[/youtube]

We are almost forgetting how good Dragic is/can be.. GG also played well in this game.

[HEAT_ME_UP]

Defending the 3. Spo has done a good job by committing to defend the 3 point line. San Antonio and Miami are the best defensive team in the league, they have figured out that everybody wants to shoot 3's so defending the 3 is the way to go. In our case Whiteside's presence allows us to defend the 3 point line much better than previous years.

[RexBoyWonder]

We score more points then them.

We can do it.

[Heat_Fan_87]

whiteside would be unplayable in a small ball lineup vs the warriors.

tj
dragic
wade
winslow
bosh

and bsh might not even be playable because green is so mobile out to the 3pt line. if winslow could guard green which i dont think he can that could be our answer.

both teams at full health, golden state would be a 10+ point favorite in the game lol. some here are underestimating how good they are. they are on pace to have the best season ever

[RexBoyWonder]

whiteside would be unplayable in a small ball lineup vs the warriors.

tj
dragic
wade
winslow
bosh

and bsh might not even be playable because green is so mobile out to the 3pt line. if winslow could guard green which i dont think he can that could be our answer.

both teams at full health, golden state would be a 10+ point favorite in the game lol. some here are underestimating how good they are. they are on pace to have the best season ever

Is Green prime Doctor J now..

We don't have to match up to them from the get go, Green shot 26% from 3 in last years playoffs, I would make him prove he can punish Whiteside and Watch Hassan get offensive rebounds and block everything inside until he does.

That's part of our strength, we're versatile and can go small If needed, but we don't have to. Mcbob/Winslow/Deng can defend Green/Iggy/Baren if we try to match up, TJ's shooting looks for real, Dragic can abuse Curry when he drives aggressively.

We Also have 2 big athletic PG's that could bother Curry, We have the 2 best bigs in that series, We can make them stutter. We need to reach our own potential and not worry about them, they're hot right now, we've seen teams peak too soon before.

[Heat_Fan_87]

whiteside would be unplayable in a small ball lineup vs the warriors.

tj
dragic
wade
winslow
bosh

and bsh might not even be playable because green is so mobile out to the 3pt line. if winslow could guard green which i dont think he can that could be our answer.

both teams at full health, golden state would be a 10+ point favorite in the game lol. some here are underestimating how good they are. they are on pace to have the best season ever

Is Green prime Doctor J now..

We don't have to match up to them from the get go, Green shot 26% from 3 in last years playoffs, I would make him prove he can punish Whiteside and Watch Hassan get offensive rebounds and block everything inside until he does.

That's part of our strength, we're versatile and can go small If needed, but we don't have to. Mcbob/Winslow/Deng can defend Green/Iggy/Baren if we try to match up, TJ's shooting looks for real, Dragic can abuse Curry when he drives aggressively.

We Also have 2 big athletic PG's that could bother Curry, We have the 2 best bigs in that series, We can make them stutter. We need to reach our own potential and not worry about them, they're hot right now, we've seen teams peak too soon before.

green would stand at the 3pt line and whiteside would either let a 38% from 3 shooter wide open or leave the lane wide open. Both dont sound like very good options to me. Banking on guys to go cold doesn't sound like a very good plan to me either.

golden state passes like spurs. i think we would need to switch a lot on defense.

when golden state goes small, all of their guys are above avg 3pt shooters.

[Rock Hardy]

Try to punish them inside with Whiteside in the post and offensive glass. If that doesn't work, put Bosh at the 5 and hope we can defend well enough and shoot well enough to outscore them. Right now, that team will beat anyone in 7 games. A certain amount of luck would be required. That said, it's a long season, and their shooting probably won't sustain itself.

[SlowPaced]

Spo's trap/switch defense is actually the best way to deal with the Warriors. Can't play a strict man-to-man against them, they'll always find a way to exploit it through pick'n rolls. Can't play zone, obviously, daring the Warriors to shoot is white flag before the game has even started. Defensively, I think we're one of the few teams that actually has a shot at containing the Warriors.

- This one goes without saying really, but play very VERY slow. Disgustingly, annoyingly slow. Slow pace kept Cavaliers in the finals for 6 games despite being undermanned. This is Spo's forte anyway
- Trap Curry at all times. I think Winslow is our best defender for him, I feel like putting a bigger guy who can stay in front of him is the best way to defend Curry. Winslow's offense would be negative value but you can't beat the Warriors in a matchup of offenses, his defensive value is more important.
- Hassan is crucial for cutting Curry's drives to the rim. Curry's jumper will always be there but taking some of his penetration away is a big plus.
- Both Bosh and Deng have great defensive awareness, can help quite well and have size advantages. I'd put Bosh on Draymond and Deng on Klay. I'd slip Deng to Draymond at times, depending on the rotations of the Warriors. That'd leave Wade on Barnes, resulting in a size disparity against our favor but Barnes can't post Wade up and will be a jump shooter anyway so I think Wade can deal with that fine.

Offensively? Our only hope is that our defense throws them off of their game and their defense suffers as a result. They have the defenders to match up with every offensive weapon we have. They have a rim protector that can handle Dragic's and Wade's drives, they have a versatile defender at 4 that can stretch out to Bosh with ease, they have a good wing defender to put on Wade (Klay) and an elite wing defender they can bring in any time Wade goes off (Iggy). Our players with the ability to drive might force them to stick to the big lineup instead of small ball, that's one positive of our offensive weapons right there.

I think the fact that Dragic/Wade are so crucial to get our offense going against them could be our demise because the trap Curry strategy is essential and Dragic/Wade isn't the greatest defensive combo. Dragic is looking way better on defense than he ever has before but I don't think that's enough. We'd need Wade to be elite defensively, which is a long shot.

I don't even consider the small ball strategy against them, you can't beat the Warriors playing small ball. It's impossible for every team except for maybe the Cavaliers but they have an anomaly called LeBron James. You need to have advantages of your own to beat such a dominant team, you can't adapt to them. This is the reason why Spurs are the biggest threat to the Warriors, they have a big lineup, an offense that can threaten the Warriors defense AND the defense to contain them without adapting to them.

[HIF]

not worried

[dontcalltimeout]

What the Warriors are accomplishing is historic. What can the Heat do to beat them in a seven game series this year?

nothing.



Sorry to be the Debbie Downer but... Seriously, what the Warriors are doing is far out of reach of our potential. Even the 2015 GSW would sweep Miami easily, and they are better this year.

[BoshtimusPrime]

Lol.

ECF championship is our Larry O'Brien trophy this year and I'm okay with that. Ousting the Cavaliers would feel almost as good as winning a championship.

[Wolfy1983]

The MonStars steal Curry's talent.

[RexBoyWonder]

You can say we'll be underdogs if we face them in the finals, that's fair.

But if you look at our team now, at our talent level, our experience, our young growing players, our depth, our POETNTIAL - and you say we have no chance - you need to grow a pair. It's basketball, upsets happen. You always believe in yourself. If you ever played a sport, you know the mentality you need to embrace.

You look at Spurs and hear that they have a chance Vs GSW.

But why? they're not a more talented team then us, look at the rosters, compare player to player. The reason that's a common saying is because the Spurs possess great chemistry, maturity and balance. They're smart and experienced. If we can build and improve in those areas, we can play with ANYONE in this league. We're not a talent deprived team. And we have serious room for growth.

[QUIZ]

You can say we'll be underdogs if we face them in the finals, that's fair.

But if you look at our team now, at our talent level, our experience, our young growing players, our depth, our POETNTIAL - and you say we have no chance - you need to grow a pair. It's basketball, upsets happen. You always believe in yourself. If you ever played a sport, you know the mentality you need to embrace.

You look at Spurs and hear that they have a chance Vs GSW.

But why? they're not a more talented team then us, look at the rosters, compare player to player. The reason that's a common saying is because the Spurs possess great chemistry, maturity and balance. They're smart and experienced. If we can build and improve in those areas, we can play with ANYONE in this league. We're not a talent deprived team. And we have serious room for growth.

People need superstars to feel comfortable or confident. If we had prime Wade people wouldn't act so afraid. Not having a superstar that can will you games makes people sweat.