PG Heat: Strong 4th Quarter Leads to 4th Straight

[JimmyTheKid]

Sims worst game as a Buck so far and he still contributed to the win. Kuz and KPJ already cemented in the rotation. Another fun comeback. Dame, Giannis, Brook, and Trent, Jr. with nice games. Key to the last five minutes was the insistence of forcing someone other than Herro to beat us. Fantastic defensive group effort and execution when the game was on the line.

[Ron Swanson]

Jon Horst won the trade deadline.

Athletes and shooters around Dame/Giannis was always the way. Let's just hope this doesn't end up being "too little too late" with us having to run those guys 36-minutes a night just to eek out 48-wins.

[CharityStripe34]

GTJ should be starting.

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[skbucks1985]

It was nuts that the Heat didn't foul near the end. Just gave up.

You think that's nuts, they did the same thing a couple years ago to get closed out in the NBA Finals. They were down by 5 and Lowry missed a 3 with 10 seconds left and they let Denver dribble out those last 10 seconds.

[tedbrogen]

It was nuts that the Heat didn't foul near the end. Just gave up.

You think that's nuts, they did the same thing a couple years ago to get closed out in the NBA Finals. They were down by 5 and Lowry missed a 3 with 10 seconds left and they let Denver dribble out those last 10 seconds.

If they had no timeouts and the ball was in the hands of a good FT shooter, I guess that makes sense. Still odd to not take one foul and see what happens.

Last night they were down five when Giannis got the rebound with over 42 seconds left AND they had a timeout. Truly bizarre.

And the “stealth tank” argument makes no sense. If they keep their lottery protected pick this year, it’s unprotected next year. With their current roster, they’d be a Herro injury from giving away a top five pick.

[Bernman]

GTJ should be starting.

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121.8 pts allowed per 100 w/ the starters. That can't be the 1st thing tried. You can't get much separation if any. So far they're -4.9 net. It gets somewhat better w/ Trent's offensive improvement, but is a Bease situation. We eventually went Bev.

Green & Rollins are the closest Bev analogs. Younger, better offensive versions. Green w/ the starters is allowing 98.1 pts per 100, +23.3. Don't know why that just wouldn't be tried, before moving onto Rollins, then Trent or KPJ.

[skbucks1985]

It was nuts that the Heat didn't foul near the end. Just gave up.

You think that's nuts, they did the same thing a couple years ago to get closed out in the NBA Finals. They were down by 5 and Lowry missed a 3 with 10 seconds left and they let Denver dribble out those last 10 seconds.

If they had no timeouts and the ball was in the hands of a good FT shooter, I guess that makes sense. Still odd to not take one foul and see what happens.

Last night they were down five when Giannis got the rebound with over 42 seconds left AND they had a timeout. Truly bizarre.

And the “stealth tank” argument makes no sense. If they keep their lottery protected pick this year, it’s unprotected next year. With their current roster, they’d be a Herro injury from giving away a top five pick.

The reason it doesn't make any sense because it wasn't some random game, there was no live to fight another day. Their season was literally over and in that scenario it doesn't make sense to not foul even if the chances are 1/1000000.

The possession I thought we were talking about was after Wiggins missed the 3 with ~15 seconds left down 7. The decision to not foul down 5 with 42 seconds left is one that I think most teams in the league would make, although you can definitely make the argument that they should've fouled given that Giannis had the ball.

[Daver]

Yup, when KPJ has a bad game, and he will have more than one, the board will turn on him. Temporarily anyway.

The good and bad of KPJ. Which will prevail:

Bad:

1) Very inefficient offensively.
2) Relies on the shot that is the least efficient in today's era
3) Bad 3 point shooter
4) Given away by his last team, not because of personal issues, but because he wasn't productive/efficient.

Good

1) Very athletic
2) Skilled ballhandler, many other bball skills lacking on team
3) Good defender/not clear but early returns are good
4) Still young and maturing. Room for his game to mature

He needs to get more playing time. I trust that Doc and staff will harness his ego.

In 15 mins a game with tbe clips he was averging 9/3/3 over 36 thats 18/6/6 thats good seems pretty productive to me

[Siefer]

Prince is the classic replacement level vet that the coach is enamored with. It's getting particularly silly with him jammed into the starting SG spot, though.

[Neuromancer56]

Has anyone seen Giannis slashing to the basket and powerfully dunking and then realize it was Kuzma?

[Iheartfootball]

I was wrong about Horst at the deadline so far. Hopefully, this isn't just a honeymoon-type phase with KPJ and Kuzma and the real shot in the arm the team needed. It's obvious that his getting anything for Khris is a huge win. It appears he won't play any significant minutes for the remainder of his career.

Also, as others have said about KPJ, there are lots of influencing factors that can be made of how he's changed (therapy, life experience, supportive teammates). I wouldn't discount MKE being a good place for him as well, fewer distractions/pressures that a major city can give a young person. Sometimes the small market thing can seem like an anchor to attracting young talent but in some cases it can be a real strength.

Let's go Bucks.

[Sigra]

It doesnt matter who starts at SG if other players get most minutes at SG. And they do.

[blazza18]

Ooof let’s see how we go without more than two reliable ball handlers in the playoffs before we start taking Horst victory laps. What Kuzma brings is different but I am skeptical putting that player prototype next to Giannis will work and not just make his life even harder. I’d also not want to rely on big playoff contributions from either of Prince or Green but here we are.

[BigO]

It doesnt matter who starts at SG if other players get most minutes at SG. And they do.

It matters getting behind a dozen to start with and having to spend the rest of the game catching up.

[BigO]

Yup, when KPJ has a bad game, and he will have more than one, the board will turn on him. Temporarily anyway.

The good and bad of KPJ. Which will prevail:

Bad:

1) Very inefficient offensively.
2) Relies on the shot that is the least efficient in today's era
3) Bad 3 point shooter
4) Given away by his last team, not because of personal issues, but because he wasn't productive/efficient.

Good

1) Very athletic
2) Skilled ballhandler, many other bball skills lacking on team
3) Good defender/not clear but early returns are good
4) Still young and maturing. Room for his game to mature

He needs to get more playing time. I trust that Doc and staff will harness his ego.

In 15 mins a game with tbe clips he was averging 9/3/3 over 36 thats 18/6/6 thats good seems pretty productive to me

He shot 42% overall (bad) and 24% on threes (really bad) on 19 minutes a game. Now you know the rest of the story.

[RiotPunch]

It doesnt matter who starts at SG if other players get most minutes at SG. And they do.

It does if you don't want to have to dig yourself out of a hole early every night.

[Balls2TheWalls]

Read on Twitter

Trading for an elite defender has made us play ourselves into games. I didn't think that Kuzma would bounce back so strongly from playing for NBA Siberia. For a guy who picked up Harden and Kawhi and also picked up Herro while he was scorching hot, this stat speaks volumes about why a guy who is inefficient offensively has made such a massive impact on our ability to win games.

[Sigra]

It doesnt matter who starts at SG if other players get most minutes at SG. And they do.

It matters getting behind a dozen to start with and having to spend the rest of the game catching up.

And we have bad starts because TP starts at SG?

Cmon guys

[Bernman]

And we have bad starts because TP starts at SG?

Cmon guys

C'mon guy, that is the main reason, in conjunction w/ Ajax having started there previously. You'll unequivocally have a better chance at the beginning of the 1st and 3rd if you have a shooting guard that can shoot & defend guards.

[AussieBuck]

Watching Motivated Wiggins physically dominate Kuzma and Dame and then seeing KPJ toy with him was **** wild. 20 years and this team hasn't drafted a guard anywhere near this dude and we got him for Marjon's expiring contract