Game 77 / Heat @ Celtics - The Final Showdown // 3/30 / 7:30pm

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Also got to give Lowry credit. I’ve been hard on him all season but he’s really locked it in while we’re gearing up for the playoffs. I’m not longer worried about what he will be able to give, it’s clear he’s been coasting all season basically and at 35 or whatever it’s to be expected. Hell we saw it from Wade and LeBron in the middle of their primes basically

[somerandomdude]

I see some of you just can’t be happy

Kinda guilty as charged, here.

There are some positives, like how we closed out the game, Bam having a real good game, Herro grabbing 10reb, Lowry playing up to his contract, Jimmy having a good game, a win on the road against a team who's destroyed us.

The negatives, for me, are the turnovers, regression to switching that lead to easy baskets for the Cs, the Cs exploiting our small lineups, Herro poor shooting in the 2nd half, Bam only taking 10 shots (9 FTAs tho), our offense looking bad at times and taking too long to execute.

In the end, I don't know if this will be enough to win a series against the Celtics.

My complaint would be that we consistently make it harder on ourselves than we need to. Like in the 3rd we jumped up by 11 and in the matter of minutes they erased it completely and led by 5 after a 16-0 run or something. This is with our best players in other than Herro I think, like that just can’t happen. I realize the Celtics are a great team but so are we, no one should ever be able to do that to us. Use the pistons game for example when they went on a 19-0 run (or was that the warriors?) that should never happen, even moreso on our home court. The end of the game yesterday is a lot less stressful if we cut their run in half or something but then again I think winning a game like that in the clutch with elite 2 way play was good for this team and their confidence.

Yeah, I'm also concerned with shooting ourselves in the foot so much.

I also find it a bit concerning that we have so much to work on with the season winding down.

One positive I forgot to mention was dealing with blatantly horrible officiating. I could see us winning by 10 more if the game was officiated properly.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Kinda guilty as charged, here.

There are some positives, like how we closed out the game, Bam having a real good game, Herro grabbing 10reb, Lowry playing up to his contract, Jimmy having a good game, a win on the road against a team who's destroyed us.

The negatives, for me, are the turnovers, regression to switching that lead to easy baskets for the Cs, the Cs exploiting our small lineups, Herro poor shooting in the 2nd half, Bam only taking 10 shots (9 FTAs tho), our offense looking bad at times and taking too long to execute.

In the end, I don't know if this will be enough to win a series against the Celtics.

My complaint would be that we consistently make it harder on ourselves than we need to. Like in the 3rd we jumped up by 11 and in the matter of minutes they erased it completely and led by 5 after a 16-0 run or something. This is with our best players in other than Herro I think, like that just can’t happen. I realize the Celtics are a great team but so are we, no one should ever be able to do that to us. Use the pistons game for example when they went on a 19-0 run (or was that the warriors?) that should never happen, even moreso on our home court. The end of the game yesterday is a lot less stressful if we cut their run in half or something but then again I think winning a game like that in the clutch with elite 2 way play was good for this team and their confidence.

Yeah, I'm also concerned with shooting ourselves in the foot so much.

I also find it a bit concerning that we have so much to work on with the season winding down.

One positive I forgot to mention was dealing with blatantly horrible officiating. I could see us winning by 10 more if the game was officiated properly.

Yea I actually forgot to mention that too. I remember watching them go on that run in the 3rd and seeing that we were just playing dumb but also how the officiating was bailing them out at the same time. It’s tough when both of those things are coupled together. They were going to the line every play

[KingDavid]

Heat came out with more focus and poise and deserved to win. Celtics still adjusting to life without Robert Williams. It is what it is.

Hope to see your team again in the playoffs. That would be one hell of a series.

If we can get past the Nets, sure.

Yeah you guys lost one of your defensive anchors and vertical spacer in timelord. I got the news late that he was out with a meniscus tear. Was really looking forward to seeing how we'd measure up against you guys with him now with the adjustments spo made.

Big part of us trapping JT successfully last night is that he didn't have a lob threat. Was kind of drunk though so I couldn't really tell. Why the hell was he covering Lowry so much?

[MHeat0279]

I haven't checked how Jimmy did defensively, but defensive stats are a pretty bad indicator of how good a defense someone played.

Just recently, Knicks fans were bragging about RJ Barrett holding Herro to a low FG% and when I looked back, Herro was wide open on all the shots he missed with Barrett being really late to contest. That's not good defense, but the stats will tell you he did great.

Never look at Stats, glue your butt to the sofa and watch how the game develops, you will have a pretty good idea about the ups and down of every player.

I played ball so trust me I was all about not looking at the stats/analytics for awhile but to dismiss them or even worse ignore them all together is just straight up ignorant. They definitely have a major place in determining how good or valuable a player is. I mean if you watch the game you see guys like Jimmy and Bam are elite defenders almost on a nightly basis (guys can have off nights defensively just like they can offensively) and if you look at the numbers that’s backed by the numbers. You’ve got to open your mind to the full picture, not just dismiss a part of it completely.

i dont consider it Ignorant per say. Some people are more statistically inclined than others, but no single stat and sometimes even a bunch of them will give you what really happened in the game.

[MHeat0279]

Also got to give Lowry credit. I’ve been hard on him all season but he’s really locked it in while we’re gearing up for the playoffs. I’m not longer worried about what he will be able to give, it’s clear he’s been coasting all season basically and at 35 or whatever it’s to be expected. Hell we saw it from Wade and LeBron in the middle of their primes basically

Kyle's play yesterday was one of the main reasons we won.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Big part of us trapping JT successfully last night is that he didn't have a lob threat. Was kind of drunk though so I couldn't really tell. Why the hell was he covering Lowry so much?

Tatum gets no respect for his defense but he is elite on that end of the floor. Him and Smart are the two best perimeter stoppers on the team. Smart was in foul trouble most of the game I think so Tatum was the best option left to slow down Lowry.

[greg4012]

Also got to give Lowry credit. I’ve been hard on him all season but he’s really locked it in while we’re gearing up for the playoffs. I’m not longer worried about what he will be able to give, it’s clear he’s been coasting all season basically and at 35 or whatever it’s to be expected. Hell we saw it from Wade and LeBron in the middle of their primes basically

This was the forecast for Lowry (and the team as a whole) since the start of the season. I just didn't expect us to be holding the 1 seed entering post season.

IMO Jimmy has been coasting pretty hard for a while now and that has led to a lot of disjointed efforts from the team as a whole. As long as everyone is ready to lock in for playoffs (and has their legs), the team should be looking to kick it into a new gear for postseason.

[somerandomdude]

Read on Twitter

Since there's a debate on def. stats, I did the research on at least Tatum.

Here's what I found.

Spoiler:

My thoughts:
* This is not what I'd imagine if someone told me Jimmy had held Tatum to 0-4 FG.
* There's only one 1-on-1 matchup where Tatum got a shot off, and it was a transition 3 (good open look by Tatum).
* Since I couldn't find the remaining 3, I accounted for plays where Jimmy came to help on Tatum (no matter how weak the help was).
* Not included in the video, there was one play where Jimmy was going 1-on-1 with Tatum, but Tatum switched off to Robinson and put up a 3 (missed). I didn't include this one because it would make Tatum 0-5 vs Jimmy and it's a stretch to say that Jimmy had any role in defending Tatum on that sequence.

This is not to diminish anything Jimmy did, it's just a critique of def. stats and how people can misrepresent them. In many cases, Jimmy was the help defender and the looks Tatum got were good looks.

Side note: judging by how they lump in help defense as part of Def FG%, if a player went to help on a drive, and the shooter scored, the help defender would be penalized, which seems unfair to them.

Link for you guys to fact check: https://go.nba.com/n4759

[MHeat0279]

Read on Twitter

Since there's a debate on def. stats, I did the research on at least Tatum.

Here's what I found.

Spoiler:

My thoughts:
* This is not what I'd imagine if someone told me Jimmy had held Tatum to 0-4 FG.
* There's only one 1-on-1 matchup where Tatum got a shot off, and it was a transition 3 (good open look by Tatum).
* Since I couldn't find the remaining 3, I accounted for plays where Jimmy came to help on Tatum (no matter how weak the help was).
* Not included in the video, there was one play where Jimmy was going 1-on-1 with Tatum, but Tatum switched off to Robinson and put up a 3 (missed). I didn't include this one because it would make Jimmy 0-5 vs Tatum and it's a stretch to say that Jimmy had any role in defending Tatum on that sequence.

This is not to diminish anything Jimmy did, it's just a critique of def. stats and how people can misrepresent them. In many cases, Jimmy was the help defender and the looks Tatum got were good looks.

Side note: judging by how they lump in help defense as part of Def FG%, if a player went to help on a drive, and the shooter scored, the help defender would be penalized, which seems unfair to them.

Link for you guys to fact check: https://go.nba.com/n4759

Very coherent analysis.
thank you.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Read on Twitter

Since there's a debate on def. stats, I did the research on at least Tatum.

Here's what I found.

Spoiler:

My thoughts:
* This is not what I'd imagine if someone told me Jimmy had held Tatum to 0-4 FG.
* There's only one 1-on-1 matchup where Tatum got a shot off, and it was a transition 3 (good open look by Tatum).
* Since I couldn't find the remaining 3, I accounted for plays where Jimmy came to help on Tatum (no matter how weak the help was).
* Not included in the video, there was one play where Jimmy was going 1-on-1 with Tatum, but Tatum switched off to Robinson and put up a 3 (missed). I didn't include this one because it would make Tatum 0-5 vs Jimmy and it's a stretch to say that Jimmy had any role in defending Tatum on that sequence.

This is not to diminish anything Jimmy did, it's just a critique of def. stats and how people can misrepresent them. In many cases, Jimmy was the help defender and the looks Tatum got were good looks.

Side note: judging by how they lump in help defense as part of Def FG%, if a player went to help on a drive, and the shooter scored, the help defender would be penalized, which seems unfair to them.

Link for you guys to fact check: https://go.nba.com/n4759

Good work, I’d like to see specifically what plays they’re referencing and not just what we think they’re referencing.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Read on Twitter

Since there's a debate on def. stats, I did the research on at least Tatum.

Here's what I found.

Spoiler:

My thoughts:
* This is not what I'd imagine if someone told me Jimmy had held Tatum to 0-4 FG.
* There's only one 1-on-1 matchup where Tatum got a shot off, and it was a transition 3 (good open look by Tatum).
* Since I couldn't find the remaining 3, I accounted for plays where Jimmy came to help on Tatum (no matter how weak the help was).
* Not included in the video, there was one play where Jimmy was going 1-on-1 with Tatum, but Tatum switched off to Robinson and put up a 3 (missed). I didn't include this one because it would make Jimmy 0-5 vs Tatum and it's a stretch to say that Jimmy had any role in defending Tatum on that sequence.

This is not to diminish anything Jimmy did, it's just a critique of def. stats and how people can misrepresent them. In many cases, Jimmy was the help defender and the looks Tatum got were good looks.

Side note: judging by how they lump in help defense as part of Def FG%, if a player went to help on a drive, and the shooter scored, the help defender would be penalized, which seems unfair to them.

Link for you guys to fact check: https://go.nba.com/n4759

Very coherent analysis.
thank you.

So what is your argument you’re trying to get at? Against the stat or against Jimmy being a good defender?

[harlem_ball]

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