2023 Miami Heat Regular Season Thread - To play in, or not to play in

[AirP.]

So Miami is 2 wins out of the next 5 games of making the ECF 3 of the last 4 seasons. Whatever happens these playoffs, GO ALL IN THIS SUMMER!!!

[3ballbomber]

Read on Twitter

Most are talking about our offense....our defense is underappreciated. It is Championship Caliber Level since the Bucks series. We can score all we want but we won't be as successful if we're also giving away points. Out defense has been sharp, detailed, suffocating, disciplined & consistent for 48minutes. Everybody has bought in & doing their job. Everybody's flying around, committed in the frontcourt & is keeping us competitive in each and every single game. It has really impressed me and love watching it.

Fortunate to have a defensive minded coach & an oragnisation run by Riles who understands the importance of defense & focusing on acquiring & developing players defensively.

Let's continue to suffocate this wack Knicks team & get to the ECF already. These cats are small fries.

[DayofMourning]

I tell you what. If Jimmy carries us to this chip, Im getting a 22 jersey that says Him on the back.

[3ballbomber]

I tell you what. If Jimmy carries us to this chip, Im getting a 22 jersey that says Him on the back.

f*ck it, get it anyway

[DayofMourning]

I tell you what. If Jimmy carries us to this chip, Im getting a 22 jersey that says Him on the back.

f*ck it, get it anyway

I know. However, I havent bought a jersey in 20 years. I dont invest in that anymore. Me getting that jersey would be pretty significant.

[3ballbomber]

There's a big difference between being the #1 seed or top 2 seed & being the 8th. We're playing w/ house money. It just so happens that we're also good enough to win it all lol. We have the culture & dogs w/ experience to do so. So we're chill. But make no mistakes about it....we're going for the kill each game at a shot at not only ECF but the NBA Finals.

Read on Twitter

[3ballbomber]

Read on Twitter

For those who say the teams have changed, the top 2 players on all 4 teams are the same:

Jimmy/Bam
Tatum/Brown
Jokic/Murray
LeBron/AD

Next season 6 of the top 8 guys missed a lot of time… and the COVID testing wreaked havoc with lineups

This leads to the narrative bubble finals 2.0 which i believe wld bring in big ratings. It's always about revenue. The concern then wld be do they want to validate Lebron & prove it wasn't a Mickey Mouse title. What i do know from history is NBA gain more ratings when Lebron loses. This LA unit also isn't as good as the bubble roster. Has less experience. I think we can beat it esp if we can get Herro back.

Anyway, we still have Boston to focus on soon. Just something to think about...

[3ballbomber]

Read on Twitter

For those who say the teams have changed, the top 2 players on all 4 teams are the same:

Jimmy/Bam
Tatum/Brown
Jokic/Murray
LeBron/AD

Next season 6 of the top 8 guys missed a lot of time… and the COVID testing wreaked havoc with lineups

This leads to the narrative bubble finals 2.0 which i believe wld bring in big ratings. It's always about revenue. The concern then wld be do they want to validate Lebron & prove it wasn't a Mickey Mouse title. What i do know from history is NBA gain more ratings when Lebron loses. This LA unit also isn't as good as the bubble roster. Has less experience. I think we can beat it esp if we can get Herro back.

Anyway, we still have Boston to focus on soon. Just something to think about...

Read on Twitter

League wants LeFlop in the finals

[AirP.]

For those who care, here are the calculated ORTG-DRTG of the 20+ ppg guys in the playoffs this year. Giannis was dead last and he's not getting nearly the amount of talk of why the Bucks lost all 3 of the games he played in. It was odd to see someone who may have in injury still taking shots he's bad at (outside shots) vs letting his teammates take those shots.

Code: Select all

+---------------------+----+--+---+-----+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----------+
|Player               |year|g |age|ts%  |pts |ast |reb |stl|blk|to |ortg|drtg|Net Rating|
+---------------------+----+--+---+-----+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----------+
|Nikola Jokić         |2023|8 |27 |0.585|28  |9   |14.3|1  |0.5|3.3|126 |107 |19        |
|Anthony Davis        |2023|9 |29 |0.59 |21.2|2.7 |13.9|1.3|4.1|2.4|115 |96  |19        |
|Devin Booker         |2023|8 |26 |0.695|36.9|6.9 |5   |2.1|1  |2.9|134 |116 |18        |
|Jimmy Butler         |2023|7 |33 |0.645|34.4|4.4 |6.4 |1.6|0.6|2.3|128 |111 |17        |
|Kawhi Leonard        |2023|2 |31 |0.67 |34.5|6   |6.5 |2  |0.5|3  |132 |122 |10        |
|LeBron James         |2023|9 |38 |0.556|22.1|5.1 |10.3|0.8|1.3|2.4|113 |105 |8         |
|Jalen Brunson        |2023|8 |26 |0.539|24.4|5.1 |4.6 |1.8|0.1|2.3|116 |108 |8         |
|Jayson Tatum         |2023|9 |24 |0.588|26.2|5   |9.8 |0.8|1.1|2.4|118 |112 |6         |
|Anthony Edwards      |2023|5 |21 |0.602|31.6|5.2 |5   |1.8|2  |1.6|122 |116 |6         |
|Jamal Murray         |2023|8 |25 |0.567|26.5|6.8 |5.4 |1  |0.4|2.6|117 |111 |6         |
|Kevin Durant         |2023|8 |34 |0.611|29.3|5.4 |8.6 |0.9|1.5|3.1|120 |115 |5         |
|Joel Embiid          |2023|5 |28 |0.608|21  |3   |10  |0.8|3.2|4.2|110 |106 |4         |
|Stephen Curry        |2023|10|34 |0.612|30.6|5.2 |4.8 |0.9|0.4|3.4|115 |114 |1         |
|Jaylen Brown         |2023|9 |26 |0.635|25.7|3.4 |5.3 |1.2|0.4|3.3|115 |115 |0         |
|DeAaron Fox          |2023|7 |25 |0.524|27.4|7.7 |5.4 |2.1|0.6|4  |109 |112 |-3        |
|Dejounte Murray      |2023|5 |26 |0.538|23  |6.8 |7.2 |2  |0.2|2  |116 |119 |-3        |
|Ja Morant            |2023|5 |23 |0.524|24.6|7   |6.8 |1.8|0.2|3.4|106 |110 |-4        |
|Khris Middleton      |2023|5 |31 |0.6  |23.8|6.2 |6.4 |0.6|0  |3.4|117 |121 |-4        |
|Norman Powell        |2023|5 |29 |0.608|21.8|2.2 |3   |0.8|0.4|1.6|122 |126 |-4        |
|James Harden         |2023|7 |33 |0.507|20.3|8   |5.6 |1.3|0.1|3.1|108 |114 |-6        |
|Donovan Mitchell     |2023|5 |26 |0.518|23.2|7.2 |5   |2  |0.6|3.8|102 |108 |-6        |
|Darius Garland       |2023|5 |23 |0.566|20.6|5   |1.8 |1.6|0.2|3.6|104 |112 |-8        |
|Desmond Bane         |2023|6 |24 |0.548|23.5|3.2 |6   |0.5|0  |2.8|106 |114 |-8        |
|Trae Young           |2023|6 |24 |0.521|29.2|10.2|3.7 |1.7|0.7|4  |110 |121 |-11       |
|Klay Thompson        |2023|10|32 |0.573|21.4|2   |4   |0.5|0.2|2.3|105 |116 |-11       |
|Mikal Bridges        |2023|4 |26 |0.539|23.5|4   |5.3 |0.5|0.5|2  |104 |118 |-14       |
|Russell Westbrook    |2023|5 |34 |0.509|23.6|7.4 |7.6 |1.2|1.4|4  |106 |122 |-16       |
|Giannis Antetokounmpo|2023|3 |28 |0.525|23.3|5.3 |11  |0.3|0.7|4.7|99  |118 |-19       |
+---------------------+----+--+---+-----+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----------+

[AirP.]

Here's Miami's calculated ORTG-DRTG numbers for the players so far in the playoffs. Bam's been playing below his norm in the playoffs but game 3 was very encouraging with how he was battling the Knicks on the inside and if he gets back to his norm, Miami should have a chance of not only getting to the ECF for the 3rd time in 4 years, but possibly make a 2nd Finals experience in that same span, but Miami needs Bam back to his normal efficiency.

Highsmith being utilized for his defense and him staying within his role on offense has been a huge help stabilizing some of the lineups that weren't too stable.

Code: Select all

+-----------------+----+-+---+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----------+
|Player           |year|g|age|ts%  |pts |ast|reb|stl|blk|to |ortg|drtg|Net Rating|
+-----------------+----+-+---+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----------+
|Haywood Highsmith|2023|7|26 |0.628|3.3 |0.4|2.1|0.7|0.1|0.1|135 |106 |29        |
|Caleb Martin     |2023|8|27 |0.681|11.3|1.5|5.6|0.9|0.1|1  |130 |111 |19        |
|Jimmy Butler     |2023|7|33 |0.645|34.4|4.4|6.4|1.6|0.6|2.3|128 |111 |17        |
|Max Strus        |2023|8|26 |0.648|9.5 |0.9|3  |0.6|0.4|0.4|128 |114 |14        |
|Kevin Love       |2023|8|34 |0.568|8.8 |2  |7.1|0.4|0.6|0.6|120 |107 |13        |
|Tyler Herro      |2023|1|23 |0.667|12  |2  |2  |0  |1  |1  |121 |114 |7         |
|Duncan Robinson  |2023|8|28 |0.661|7.8 |1.4|2  |0.1|0  |0.9|117 |116 |1         |
|Kyle Lowry       |2023|8|36 |0.553|9.5 |4  |2.9|0.8|1  |1.6|109 |110 |-1        |
|Bam Adebayo      |2023|8|25 |0.52 |16.9|4.1|8.9|1  |0.6|2.6|106 |109 |-3        |
|Victor Oladipo   |2023|2|30 |0.566|11.5|1  |3.5|1  |0.5|1  |105 |109 |-4        |
|Cody Zeller      |2023|7|30 |0.644|2.7 |0.6|2.9|0.3|0  |0.7|102 |108 |-6        |
|Gabe Vincent     |2023|8|26 |0.527|13.9|4.9|1.1|0.8|0  |1.9|107 |116 |-9        |
|Omer Yurtseven   |2023|2|24 |0    |0   |0.5|0.5|0  |0  |0.5|49  |112 |-63       |
|Udonis Haslem    |2023|1|42 |0    |0   |0  |1  |0  |0  |0  |0   |105 |-105      |
+-----------------+----+-+---+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----------+

[RexBoyWonder]

IF we make it past the Knicks, would you rather play Boston or Phili in the next round?

I'm in no way overlooking the Knicks as i think they are a good team and can potentially beat us, but watching this Boston/ Phili game got me wondering

GIve me Boston to complete the Jimmy Butler revenge tour en route to a championship.

Sixers are a much better matchup for us.

sadly i give the Sixers zero chance to get passed the Celtics, but i'm rooting for them.

Never thought Id say that..

[AirP.]

Fortunate to have a defensive minded coach & an oragnisation run by Riles who understands the importance of defense & focusing on acquiring & developing players defensively.

Isn't it odd then that they handed out large contracts in back to back off seasons to bad defensive players?

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I’m sure the league wants Celtics/Lakers but the Nuggets easily look like the best and deepest team in the west imo. We’ll see what happens tonight

[Lennyzinho]

IF we make it past the Knicks, would you rather play Boston or Phili in the next round?

I'm in no way overlooking the Knicks as i think they are a good team and can potentially beat us, but watching this Boston/ Phili game got me wondering

GIve me Boston to complete the Jimmy Butler revenge tour en route to a championship.

Sixers are a much better matchup for us.

sadly i give the Sixers zero chance to get passed the Celtics, but i'm rooting for them.

Never thought Id say that..

Sixers have lot less horses. I'd take them over Celtics all day. If harden and embiid aren't getting you 65-70+ the sixers aren't winning. Maxey kinda hot and cold and the rest of the team is meh af. Celtics far more dangerous. Also horford rob Williams worse matchup for Bam than embiid imo. Boston just has alot more dudes to throw at us.

[Lennyzinho]

Read on Twitter

For those who say the teams have changed, the top 2 players on all 4 teams are the same:

Jimmy/Bam
Tatum/Brown
Jokic/Murray
LeBron/AD

Next season 6 of the top 8 guys missed a lot of time… and the COVID testing wreaked havoc with lineups

This leads to the narrative bubble finals 2.0 which i believe wld bring in big ratings. It's always about revenue. The concern then wld be do they want to validate Lebron & prove it wasn't a Mickey Mouse title. What i do know from history is NBA gain more ratings when Lebron loses. This LA unit also isn't as good as the bubble roster. Has less experience. I think we can beat it esp if we can get Herro back.

Anyway, we still have Boston to focus on soon. Just something to think about...

Read on Twitter

League wants LeFlop in the finals

I know it looks bad but this was expected to happen. Warriors are the worst team in league at going to FT line. Makes sense since they shoot tons of 3s and draymond isn't exactly a finisher inside. Lakers on the other hand are one of the top teams in the league led by lebron and AD. And to make matters worse, warriors are also one of the worst teams at sending teams to the line. It's a terrible matchup in the FT battle for GSW. Sorry it's not the refs. Nba would v much love this series to go 7.

[Lennyzinho]

The bam hate and lack of appreciation in here is borderline insanity. I know we all want him to turn into a healthy smaller version of AD or be prime KG, but those dudes are HOF. Everyone whines about bam not being lebron or KD or AD or KG lmao. I mean. Jeez. Bam is young, does it all for us on both ends. He's making just over 30M. Tobias Harris is making 38M. And you guys are here whining about Bam. Knicks fans are erupting over Julius Randle and his awful play in playoffs over the years.

Playoff bball is hard. Game slows down. Buckets harder to come by. Pretty sure the Knicks made Mobley look pretty bad. V bad. OMG GET RID OF HIM! Said no cavs fan I'm sure... there's so many good or great players having rough games. Sabonis was awful for the kings. Awful. He was a ghost of his regular season form. Looney sucked his soul out. Already touched on randle. Jarrett allen was a joke. Please tell me or identify a young blue chip player available for trade that has been playing great in the playoffs this year or that has a good playoff track record. It's all whine whine whine and no solution or appreciation.

Do I wish he finished better? Yes. Do I wish he was more consistent? Yes. More aggressive? Yes. Finally showed some of that. It's ok to talk about his shortcomings as long as you appreciate the good and look around the nba at all the other players and be objective. Ignoring how bam single handedly won us a game vs Boston in ecf last year and how vital he was when we didn't have him in bubble vs lakers is just silly to me. Bammybuckets is a Homer but yall some serious underappreciating haters with a complete lack of knowledge of the nba landscape.
Just asking for some balance.

And last of all, bam is an amazing third banana. Like draymond. They have stpeh and klay. We need a klay. Don't think herro is that guy. I would say blame Riley and the heat for not building s better roster around Jimmy and him but they keep winning... so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut for now and hope for the best.

Xoxo

[3ammy3uck3ts]

The bam hate and lack of appreciation in here is borderline insanity. I know we all want him to turn into a healthy smaller version of AD or be prime KG, but those dudes are HOF. Everyone whines about bam not being lebron or KD or AD or KG lmao. I mean. Jeez. Bam is young, does it all for us on both ends. He's making just over 30M. Tobias Harris is making 38M. And you guys are here whining about Bam. Knicks fans are erupting over Julius Randle and his awful play in playoffs over the years.

Playoff bball is hard. Game slows down. Buckets harder to come by. Pretty sure the Knicks made Mobley look pretty bad. V bad. OMG GET RID OF HIM! Said no cavs fan I'm sure... there's so many good or great players having rough games. Sabonis was awful for the kings. Awful. He was a ghost of his regular season form. Looney sucked his soul out. Already touched on randle. Jarrett allen was a joke. Please tell me or identify a young blue chip player available for trade that has been playing great in the playoffs this year or that has a good playoff track record. It's all whine whine whine and no solution or appreciation.

Do I wish he finished better? Yes. Do I wish he was more consistent? Yes. More aggressive? Yes. Finally showed some of that. It's ok to talk about his shortcomings as long as you appreciate the good and look around the nba at all the other players and be objective. Ignoring how bam single handedly won us a game vs Boston in ecf last year and how vital he was when we didn't have him in bubble vs lakers is just silly to me. Bammybuckets is a Homer but yall some serious underappreciating haters with a complete lack of knowledge of the nba landscape.
Just asking for some balance.

And last of all, bam is an amazing third banana. Like draymond. They have stpeh and klay. We need a klay. Don't think herro is that guy. I would say blame Riley and the heat for not building s better roster around Jimmy and him but they keep winning... so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut for now and hope for the best.

Xoxo

Preach, all the ones that ridicule him are quiet as church mice when he’s playing good or completely dominating to end a series like we saw in game 5.

I may be a homer but I’m a Heat fan over everything and you better believe I’m going to defend our young franchise cornerstone when people non stop spam ignorant ****.

[marson]

The bam hate and lack of appreciation in here is borderline insanity. I know we all want him to turn into a healthy smaller version of AD or be prime KG, but those dudes are HOF. Everyone whines about bam not being lebron or KD or AD or KG lmao. I mean. Jeez. Bam is young, does it all for us on both ends. He's making just over 30M. Tobias Harris is making 38M. And you guys are here whining about Bam. Knicks fans are erupting over Julius Randle and his awful play in playoffs over the years.

Playoff bball is hard. Game slows down. Buckets harder to come by. Pretty sure the Knicks made Mobley look pretty bad. V bad. OMG GET RID OF HIM! Said no cavs fan I'm sure... there's so many good or great players having rough games. Sabonis was awful for the kings. Awful. He was a ghost of his regular season form. Looney sucked his soul out. Already touched on randle. Jarrett allen was a joke. Please tell me or identify a young blue chip player available for trade that has been playing great in the playoffs this year or that has a good playoff track record. It's all whine whine whine and no solution or appreciation.

Do I wish he finished better? Yes. Do I wish he was more consistent? Yes. More aggressive? Yes. Finally showed some of that. It's ok to talk about his shortcomings as long as you appreciate the good and look around the nba at all the other players and be objective. Ignoring how bam single handedly won us a game vs Boston in ecf last year and how vital he was when we didn't have him in bubble vs lakers is just silly to me. Bammybuckets is a Homer but yall some serious underappreciating haters with a complete lack of knowledge of the nba landscape.
Just asking for some balance.

And last of all, bam is an amazing third banana. Like draymond. They have stpeh and klay. We need a klay. Don't think herro is that guy. I would say blame Riley and the heat for not building s better roster around Jimmy and him but they keep winning... so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut for now and hope for the best.

Xoxo

Preach, all the ones that ridicule him are quiet as church mice when he’s playing good or completely dominating to end a series like we saw in game 5.

I may be a homer but I’m a Heat fan over everything and you better believe I’m going to defend our young franchise cornerstone when people non stop spam ignorant ****.

Damn Bammy didn't know you have a burner account lol

[ShulaDon92]

We're up 2-1. Two games from the eastern conference finals again.

The whiners still whining at obscene levels but what can you do.

It's a ChatGPT life

-SHULA

[3ballbomber]

Fortunate to have a defensive minded coach & an oragnisation run by Riles who understands the importance of defense & focusing on acquiring & developing players defensively.

Isn't it odd then that they handed out large contracts in back to back off seasons to bad defensive players?

I can understand why they did, i won't justify it as many get paid too much too early in todays league. But that's 2 out of how many defensive players we've acquired & developed. Herro is young & can still be developed - he's in the right organization to do so & we've seen that he's defense has already improved. Hell we acquired Love, we're all well aware of his defense but currently has been sound defensively holding Randle 1 for 3, Barrett 2 for 6 & Brunson 0 for 1 - combined 3 for 10.