Potential Sixers vs Heat Round 2 match-up
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 3:04 am
Yes, we’re still one game away from a series with the Heat.
Yes, Doc and the team may lose the first round despite being up 3-0.
But let me talk about the Heat after having watched them play in regular season and in G3 of the Hawks
Heat Defense.
Heat likes to blitz screens, that allows their bigs to step up while giving then some time to rotate on defense that when the pass is made their defense will be in position.
I expect Heat to put Tucker on Harden, Bam on Embiid. This allows them to simple switch it on defense. Sixers should counter this by letting
Also expect Heat to zone us on defense if Embiid gets hot on offense.
It would be interesting how the refs would call it against Embiid, Embiid is not facing Birch or Achiuwa that Refs maybe less willing to have Heat play Bam on limited minutes due to foul trouble.
Heat Offense
Heat plays Butler with the same role we saw Siakam did. He will attack the middle, and if we send help he will kick it out. The key here is Tobi, who i expect to be Jimmy’s primary defender, to be able to defend him on single coverage.
Heat will have Bam involve into a lot of dribble handoff with Duncan Robinson and force Embiid to step out and leave our interior defense naked
Down the stretch, I expect Heat will hunt Maxey and have him defend Jimmy.
Heat Rotation
Heat’s starting unit will be just as strong as how Raps started game 3. They’ll play scrappy defense to make up for the talent difference. If we dont turn the ball over, we’d be fine. If we turn the ball over, we’d be down by +10pts.
The killer in the Heat’s rotation is the bench units. With Robinson and Herro giving them a big mismatch on offense compared to ours. But currently their 5 man unit is not giving too much separation against the Hawks, so that is some good news.
Down the stretch expect Bam-Robinson two man game, forcing Embiid to step out then have a lot of Jimmy iso against Tobi or Maxey and Harden iso against Herro battle.
Herro pull up over a Bam screening him with an Embiid not stepping out is also a good offensive action for the heat.
for the sixers
The only edge Heat has over the Raps in their match-up against us is having Bam, instead of Achiuwa on Embiid.
Jimmy’s edge over Siakam’s scoring is Jimmy can drop 40pts if you dont respect him on defense like what the Hawks did in game 2. But overall, I expect Jimmy to have the same level of offensive power over Siakam and get his 20-24ppg average in this series.
Heat is not as lengthy as the Raps. Their length is comparable with ours, making them an easier match-up against other contenders who has a double big or double 7’ at the 4&5 positions like the Celts, Nets and Bucks. That’s probably one of the reason why we preferred (imo) to be at either 1 or 4 spot and be in this bracket than be royal rumbling mode on the other bracket.
Since Heat is not as lengthy as the Raps, its just gonna be a matter of effort in not getting outrebounded. Heat attacking the middle and dropping it to a cutter around the rim, won’t be as tough to defend whereas guys like James and Tobi can challenge the shots of guys like Tucker and Jimmy around the rim.
People expect Harden to struggle this game. I dont think that would be the case because like the Raps series I expect our team to hunt Struss or Herro and force them to switch unto Harden. Whereas the Heat can’t afford not to have Struss or Herro because of their shooting issue.
Heat is a formidable team. But Heat is more like the Raptors than the Bucks or Celtics. Whereas the latter two possess match-up advantage in size that has hunt us the entire reg season.
Yes, Doc and the team may lose the first round despite being up 3-0.
But let me talk about the Heat after having watched them play in regular season and in G3 of the Hawks
Heat Defense.
Heat likes to blitz screens, that allows their bigs to step up while giving then some time to rotate on defense that when the pass is made their defense will be in position.
I expect Heat to put Tucker on Harden, Bam on Embiid. This allows them to simple switch it on defense. Sixers should counter this by letting
Also expect Heat to zone us on defense if Embiid gets hot on offense.
It would be interesting how the refs would call it against Embiid, Embiid is not facing Birch or Achiuwa that Refs maybe less willing to have Heat play Bam on limited minutes due to foul trouble.
Heat Offense
Heat plays Butler with the same role we saw Siakam did. He will attack the middle, and if we send help he will kick it out. The key here is Tobi, who i expect to be Jimmy’s primary defender, to be able to defend him on single coverage.
Heat will have Bam involve into a lot of dribble handoff with Duncan Robinson and force Embiid to step out and leave our interior defense naked
Down the stretch, I expect Heat will hunt Maxey and have him defend Jimmy.
Heat Rotation
Heat’s starting unit will be just as strong as how Raps started game 3. They’ll play scrappy defense to make up for the talent difference. If we dont turn the ball over, we’d be fine. If we turn the ball over, we’d be down by +10pts.
The killer in the Heat’s rotation is the bench units. With Robinson and Herro giving them a big mismatch on offense compared to ours. But currently their 5 man unit is not giving too much separation against the Hawks, so that is some good news.
Down the stretch expect Bam-Robinson two man game, forcing Embiid to step out then have a lot of Jimmy iso against Tobi or Maxey and Harden iso against Herro battle.
Herro pull up over a Bam screening him with an Embiid not stepping out is also a good offensive action for the heat.
for the sixers
The only edge Heat has over the Raps in their match-up against us is having Bam, instead of Achiuwa on Embiid.
Jimmy’s edge over Siakam’s scoring is Jimmy can drop 40pts if you dont respect him on defense like what the Hawks did in game 2. But overall, I expect Jimmy to have the same level of offensive power over Siakam and get his 20-24ppg average in this series.
Heat is not as lengthy as the Raps. Their length is comparable with ours, making them an easier match-up against other contenders who has a double big or double 7’ at the 4&5 positions like the Celts, Nets and Bucks. That’s probably one of the reason why we preferred (imo) to be at either 1 or 4 spot and be in this bracket than be royal rumbling mode on the other bracket.
Since Heat is not as lengthy as the Raps, its just gonna be a matter of effort in not getting outrebounded. Heat attacking the middle and dropping it to a cutter around the rim, won’t be as tough to defend whereas guys like James and Tobi can challenge the shots of guys like Tucker and Jimmy around the rim.
People expect Harden to struggle this game. I dont think that would be the case because like the Raps series I expect our team to hunt Struss or Herro and force them to switch unto Harden. Whereas the Heat can’t afford not to have Struss or Herro because of their shooting issue.
Heat is a formidable team. But Heat is more like the Raptors than the Bucks or Celtics. Whereas the latter two possess match-up advantage in size that has hunt us the entire reg season.
