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

[German Athens]

I really didn’t expect KPJ’s defense to be this good.

He’s our best point of attack defender. He moves better laterally than Green, and he doesn’t get juked out of position as much as Dre. He then stays attached nicely and uses his length to contest.

Hopefully, he keeps up the energy on that end.


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[bucksfansince88]

Start kpj, stagger dame/kpj min other that.. but let them finish halves together. KPJ being the 2nd ball handler lets Giannis post up and Kuz slash/shoot corner 3s.

such a no brainer, but Doc is dense and stubborn

[drew881]

There is plenty of time to work in Porter more as the season progresses. I’d rather it be done incrementally than all at once. He is shooting 55% with us. His career avg is 42. We’ll see some ugly games, but let’s hope the other stuff is still there in those games. We won a championship with Jrue shooting awfully, but he provided everything else.

[MickeyDavis]

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

[tedbrogen]

Jon Horst won the trade deadline.

While most here were convinced he was the worst GM in a league that employs Nico.

[drew881]

Jon Horst won the trade deadline.

While most here were convinced he was the worst GM in a league that employs Nico.

More importantly, he won back RealGM’s icy hearts, temporarily, at least.

[tedbrogen]

Jon Horst won the trade deadline.

I still think he is guilty of some pretty garbage asset management. But reeling in two distressed assets in Kuz/KPJ undeniably producing very promising early returns.

The team is so much more fun to watch right now.

Finding distressed assets has always been one of his best abilities (Brook, Pat, Bobby, Kuz, KPJ). He’s as good at that as he is bad at drafting. He’s also been good at making trades with little to no real assets, although his drafting is some of the reason he has so few assets.

He’s definitely not from the Ted Thompson school of thought that it’s better to let a guy go one year early than one year late.

[tedbrogen]

This team is much more fun now that when they are having a rough shooting game and not getting favorable calls that they can just roll some athletic dudes out there to change things up.

[GoldenAntlers]

Feeling much better about their chances.

Super curious to see how Bobby returns.

[MickeyDavis]

Active just means that haven't flipped the manilla folder shut yet. There's no new evidence. It's basically their form of probation.

You trust that Silver will do the right thing. I don't.

After the gentle scolding Miles Bridges got, KPJ might get an award named after him.

Sure there's some precedent. There was also precedent when it came to awarding all-star games. Until the Bucks applied. Then Silver changed the requirements.

[drew881]

Feeling much better about their chances.

Super curious to see how Bobby returns.

Portis obviously isn’t Mirotic Portis, but does he get along with Porter? They played two games together, GS and Minn?

[ReasonablySober]

I really didn’t expect KPJ’s defense to be this good.

He’s our best point of attack defender. He moves better laterally than Green, and he doesn’t get juked out of position as much as Dre. He then stays attached nicely and uses his length to contest.

Hopefully, he keeps up the energy on that end.


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Didn't expect the defense either. I expect that's on Doc, tbh.

[tedbrogen]

I know Doc does some dumb things (stubborn with the starting lineup, lets guys take inefficient shots) but he also deserves credit for him keeping the team calm and engaged when things aren’t working. The last two games are a great example. In the Bud era, those turn into blowouts and Bud has the garbage lineup out there midway through the third.

And for stubborn as Doc has been with the starting lineup, he’s been inversely flexible with the closing lineups and willingness to switch up defensive assignments and strategies.

And while the actions they run on offense are not super advanced, they are at least running actions using dribble handoffs to make the defense decide whether they want to allow angles or to switch. They’ve been using that to punish teams when they switch someone smaller into Giannis or Brook. Again, as much as I loved Bud, he did none of that and just made Giannis drive from the top of the key most of the time. (Outside of the Midds/Giannis PnR but I’m fairly confident Midds and Giannis were calling that play on the floor themselves)

[MickeyDavis]

Doc 3-0 vs. Spo this season. In 2 of the games the Heat had double digit leads.

[chonestown]

When Benjamin Taylor Thomas is serving as the lead ref in an NBA game that is when I say it must be Tool Time because I think Benjamin Taylor Thomas is a tool There i said it feel free to use no big deal

[GrandAdmiralDan]

They have all the power to torpedo us & they want to. Tonight was a demonstration of not getting the calls most other teams do. A KPJ suspension after he moved to the Bucks, but not when he was on the Clips, would fit into that bucket.

There's nothing to suspend him for.

Hopefully. But there is still an active league investigation.

There should be no action from the league if KPJ makes it through what he agreed to.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5639963/2024/07/15/la-clippers-nba-kevin-porter-jr/



"As part of the deal, according to the Associated Press, Porter must complete a 26-week Abusive Partner Intervention Program, abide by a limited order of protection, attend all court dates and have no further arrests. After a year, if Porter complies, he will be allowed to withdraw the plea, effectively clearing his criminal record."

So if/when he surpasses that year threshold, I don't see the NBA taking further action. What I have yet to do is figure out the date of when that year threshold is. Thanks in advance to anyone who does that for us. I just haven't gotten around to it.

Operationally, it behooves the NBA to keep their investigation open until he clears his criminal record. This way, if he doesn't follow through with his obligations, and/or incurs additional legal entanglements, the NBA has broad latitude to discipline/suspend KPJ. My assessment is that this is prudence, nothing more.

[MickeyDavis]

Thanks GAD

[AussieBuck]

So KPJ is capable of turning into SGA for a quarter. That's cool if we see more of it. Super entertaining game, Giannis still has it.

[ShootingtheJ]

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