GAME 1 OF THE NBA FINALS!!! HEATS V. MCCHICKENS, JUNE 1ST, 2023, 8:30PM

[Michael Doleac]

I like Strus, but he has been awful for several games in a row. He has to be treated the same way Robinson was (finally) treated much of this season. Miss 3's, play less. I don't think you bench him outright, but his minutes need to be cut. He's not a good enough play maker or defender to be playing heavy minutes if he isn't making shots. 9 three point attempts (all misses) in 21 minutes!

Zeller getting minutes over Love is not a good move, unless Love has some injury I'm not aware of. Kevin has his weaknesses but Zeller doesn't really have any real strengths (besides being able to foul and occasionally rebound). At least Love can make open shots, rebound and catch the ball. His defense can't be much worse either. And I'd take Love's championship experience in these big games for a few minutes at a time.

More minutes for Highsmith - self explanatory. He was our 2nd best player, right after Bam.

This game isn't on Spo for me though. He can't put the ball in the basket for Strus, Martin, Robinson, etc. I give him credit for putting Highsmith in. But these are a few adjustments I'd like to see, and feel fairly confident (especially more minutes for Highsmith) that we will see in Game 2.

[RRR3]

So I wasn’t able to watch it? . They crashed us or we had a chance????

Our shooters couldn’t make open shots, Zeller played 7-8 minutes, Jimmy was a no show and we only lost by 11. I don’t think any of those things carry over to next game. Guys simply have to be better, this was very winnable

Zeller has to play in this series. Unforunate but it is what it is. Jokic would eat Love alive. I guess try Love, but I feel like it will end up back to Zeller having to play 7ish minutes.

[Rapaz]

The Heat are now 0-4 wearing their red jerseys in Game 1 of the Finals (2006, 2012, 2014, 2023).

White jerseys next game.

https://lockervision.nba.com/

[Bishop45]

This is the least concerned I've been of any of the series so far after watching this game.

I think that this will still be a competitive series, but I am concerned about the possibility of that happening with Jimmy's health status in the air.

If not Jimmy, Spo's the only Heat player left that I can have faith in, which isn't an awful spot-- just not a secure one

[marson]

The Heat are now 0-4 wearing their red jerseys in Game 1 of the Finals (2006, 2012, 2014, 2023).

White jerseys next game.

https://lockervision.nba.com/

This is so cool, did not know they have the jerseys scheduled in advance.

[Wiltside]

We played about as bad as we could. Defense was poor, couldn’t make a bucket and put no pressure at the rim to draw fouls and get easy points.

I think we’ll be a lot better in game 2.

[3ballbomber]

No offense to anyone in particular, but all this "I'm not scared of them" and "that wasn't that bad, we only lost by 12" talk sounds just as stupid as it did when the Lakers were doing it.

If you're not scared, you should be scared. That is a great team with an engine for an offense, and we struggled to stop them. We also couldn't get our offense going, and its not like they had nothing to do with that, even if we also missed a lot of open ones.

We need to tighten up in A LOT of areas or this will be a sweep. None of that moral victory crap.

My reply to this is right above your post

Why in the f*ck should we be scared?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? What have they proven so far these finals? that they can beat a team coming in w/ just 2 days rest & having history for gm1 on their side? A better team wld have won by more. They couldn't even blow us out in the end. Now watch what happens in game 2.

I AIN'T SCARED OF THESE CHICKEN NUGGETS BRO!!

Yeah...I also have a caps lock button.

Anyways, we didn't show anything tonight to be overconfident. The exact same thing happened with the Lakers. They 'thought they found something' and 'weren't scared', and got slapped up and embarrassed in four games.

Underestimating them as an opponent and taking weak ass moral victories from "not getting blown out" (what a joke btw, an L is an L) and "beating us after 2 days rest" is weaker than anything I've said about having a respectful fear of what they can do. They scored whenever they wanted against us. We absolutely cannot go into next game with the same play and expect to win just bc tonight wasn't a blowout

Mate, We're not the Lakers - that's all i have to say about that. I'm not underestimating them i think WE'RE THE BETTER TEAM in this playoff situation. And in time we will show that. I'm confident in our team. I'm not sure why even our own fan base is not after what we've accomplished to get this far.

It's not about moral victories, not at this stage of the season. A better team simply should have won by much more considering we couldn't put the ball in the ocean - i mean if they were scary as claimed shouldn't that have been a 25pt blowout? Furthermore we shot just 2FTs! This 11pt loss then bodes well for us in gm2.

This game is no different to a 3 games in 4 nights situation, or the tail end of a Back-2-Back. If anything worse after only having 2 days off after a 7 gm series. Don't under-estimate how draining physically & mentally that series was vs Boston.

As i said earlier in this thread this gm1 will be a let down game and it went exactly as i saw it. We're not the 1st team in this situation, you just have to look at history to see this coming. I've already posted the stats/record behind gm1's several times already to remind our fans what to expect & what we're fighting against so we don't lose our minds or start to doubt our team.

We always overreact after 1 gm. & of all games, considering our circumstance, it's prob the worse game to judge the rest of the series on.

It just shouldn't take a win to have our fan base to remember how tough & good we are. But i guess winning 3 tough series hasn't proven that yet. I guess beating the 1st & 2nd seeded teams, who hold the top 2 NBA record hasn't proven that. I guess Heat have to continue to prove themselves, even to our own fanbase. So be it!

[ShulaDon92]

Spo knows these brehz are ignitable
It is what it is

Keep focused
Put ball in basket at the most efficient rate

Joker knows how to play.

-SHULA

[powerball1373]

Unfortunately, I don't think its quite as simple as 'if we made a few more shots'... there's a reason why guys were shooting poorly - Denver is super physical and required much more energy being spent on the defensive end. There's a huge talent/size disparity, and we're gonna need Jimmy, Bam, and one of the other guys to go nutso every game.

[Heat3]

The Heat are now 0-4 wearing their red jerseys in Game 1 of the Finals (2006, 2012, 2014, 2023).

White jerseys next game.

https://lockervision.nba.com/

As superstitious as they are, you would think they would stop wearing it for game 1?

[Wiltside]

We gotta have a much greater sense of urgency next game, that’s for sure.

[Pokuokic]

The Heat need to do to the Nuggets what the Nuggets are doing to the Heat they were letting Bam score (giving him the shot which he's making) mid-rangers while kind of freezing every else out. The Heat need to make Jokic score 40+ while freezing out everyone else. if he's allowed to play-make with the size advantages Denver has everyone on the Nuggets will get going and it's downhill.

If Love is healthy he needs to play to stretch the floor, Zeller won't give anything other than and1's vs Joker.

[BaffLer]

Also, this was a pretty low energy GT for a Finals game. Feels like we were all dead set on eliminating the Celtics and calling it a season.

[Wiltside]

Also, this was a pretty low energy GT for a Finals game. Feels like we were all dead set on eliminating the Celtics and calling it a season.

Finals schedule is not kind to us Australians. Games 1-3 are all during work hours on work days, so it’s hard for me to contribute to GT’s much.

Game 4 is on a Saturday here, so it’ll be nice to be able to watch it uninterrupted…eventually…

[HEATVols865]

So our guys can’t get motivated to play a Finals game. Jimmy can’t be bothered to show up and give his all…at this rate, we’re gonna get stuck on 4 more…..


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[Wiltside]

So our guys can’t get motivated to play a Finals game. Jimmy can’t be bothered to show up and give his all…at this rate, we’re gonna get stuck on 4 more…..


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Can’t win em all Vols. Denver played well, we didn’t.

Need to be better in game 2 and try steal one on the road.

[Spacely]

Unfortunately, I don't think its quite as simple as 'if we made a few more shots'... there's a reason why guys were shooting poorly - Denver is super physical and required much more energy being spent on the defensive end. There's a huge talent/size disparity, and we're gonna need Jimmy, Bam, and one of the other guys to go nutso every game.

So you are telling me Caleb and Strus was already cooked from their physicality in the first half that’s why they shot 0-12? Highly doubt that

[Spacely]

So our guys can’t get motivated to play a Finals game. Jimmy can’t be bothered to show up and give his all…at this rate, we’re gonna get stuck on 4 more…..


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Can’t win em all Vols. Denver played well, we didn’t.

Need to be better in game 2 and try steal one on the road.

The sad part is Denver played below their standard, we really gotta be on our toes because they shot terrible from 3 this game. Until this goes down 0-3 I won’t be worried.

[DayofMourning]

Highsmith one game closer to that Finals MVP. Carry us buddy!

[Vertical Limit]

This whole postseason has been about match ups.. and the Nuggets have the biggest mismatch player in the NBA. No team has an answer for him.

But what we can do is put more size back in the line up

Vincent
Butler
Caleb
Bam
Love

Shelf Strus.. play herro, lowry, duncan and highsmith off the bench