Miami Heat (29-9) @ Portland Trail Blazers (20-17), 9 PM EST

[radikalBaller]

What scares me about the habit of playing Joel so much is that Spo might play him alot against Boston, Orlando and LA in the playoffs which will cause us to loose.

[FlashTheKilla]

What scares me about the habit of playing Joel so much is that Spo might play him alot against Boston, Orlando and LA in the playoffs which will cause us to loose.

What makes you think that? Spoelstra has been playing our three centers based mostly on matchups lately. That is why we see a ton of Dampier in some games and a ton of Joel in others.

Surely he understands that Dampier is a better matchup on Perkins/Shaq than is Joel, and I have faith in Spo that he will adjust accordingly.

I mean, we have to put someone at the 5, and our options aren't the greatest. Some of you guys have to learn to live with what we've got.

[Pimpwerx]

For all his lack of height, Joel fared better last night than Z. I assume the reason Spo didn't go with Damp was because Aldridge would have left him in the dust too. Notice it was Bosh that worked the best on him, which is just bizarre.

I don't see what the Joel hate is for. We're stuck with him. A big Deal With It gif needs to appear when I say that. He's also very much an intangibles player. You can't like the guy when he's the only thing stopping Amare from dropping 50 on us, and then hate him when he faces a bad matchup.

Given all the minutes he has played, Joel has done far more good than bad for us. Looking at +/- alone isn't cutting it when you consider the lineups Joel is often working with. I like his energy, as he's honestly the only one that can put in starter minutes (something we need to consider for the playoffs) and the only one who can keep up with the league's new crop of athletic centers.

For situations where length is just too much of a disadvantage (last night being a prime example), then we have Z and Damp for those scenarios.

Instead of getting mad at Joel, we should ask wtf Spo isn't bringing Pittman along faster. He has the size, strength and speed to cope. Considering we still keep House active and he gets no minutes, we can activate Pitt and let him get some burn at key moments in games. PEACE.

[HeatFan87]

u know, I like it when LeBron performs at his best whenever he's in a hostile environment. LA, Denver and Chicago, watch out.

[GetMoney]

We shut that arena up good.

Such an annoying fanbase for a team so irrelevant that our roleplayers couldn't be bothered to show up.

The smugness (at times, outright delusions) some of the fans have here is what's annoying. Portland has a great fanbase and has been so for years.

they do but you cant deny the fact that the heat bring our the very worst in opposing fanbases
even from fanbases that have no history with the heat
it's like every team in the league is a rival of the heat all of a sudden

[jmbflame21]

For all his lack of height, Joel fared better last night than Z. I assume the reason Spo didn't go with Damp was because Aldridge would have left him in the dust too. Notice it was Bosh that worked the best on him, which is just bizarre.

I don't see what the Joel hate is for. We're stuck with him. A big Deal With It gif needs to appear when I say that. He's also very much an intangibles player. You can't like the guy when he's the only thing stopping Amare from dropping 50 on us, and then hate him when he faces a bad matchup.

Given all the minutes he has played, Joel has done far more good than bad for us. Looking at +/- alone isn't cutting it when you consider the lineups Joel is often working with. I like his energy, as he's honestly the only one that can put in starter minutes (something we need to consider for the playoffs) and the only one who can keep up with the league's new crop of athletic centers.

For situations where length is just too much of a disadvantage (last night being a prime example), then we have Z and Damp for those scenarios.

Instead of getting mad at Joel, we should ask wtf Spo isn't bringing Pittman along faster. He has the size, strength and speed to cope. Considering we still keep House active and he gets no minutes, we can activate Pitt and let him get some burn at key moments in games. PEACE.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the Joel part. He is atrocious in every aspect. It was only when he went to the bench with 2 min left that we were able to score 7 straight points to tie the game and force OT. Joel just brings this team down. HE SUCKS.

[AllBall]

For all his lack of height, Joel fared better last night than Z. I assume the reason Spo didn't go with Damp was because Aldridge would have left him in the dust too. Notice it was Bosh that worked the best on him, which is just bizarre.

I don't see what the Joel hate is for. We're stuck with him. A big Deal With It gif needs to appear when I say that.

Seriously people, get over it already.

[GameTime_3]

For all his lack of height, Joel fared better last night than Z. I assume the reason Spo didn't go with Damp was because Aldridge would have left him in the dust too. Notice it was Bosh that worked the best on him, which is just bizarre.

I don't see what the Joel hate is for. We're stuck with him. A big Deal With It gif needs to appear when I say that. He's also very much an intangibles player. You can't like the guy when he's the only thing stopping Amare from dropping 50 on us, and then hate him when he faces a bad matchup.

Given all the minutes he has played, Joel has done far more good than bad for us. Looking at +/- alone isn't cutting it when you consider the lineups Joel is often working with. I like his energy, as he's honestly the only one that can put in starter minutes (something we need to consider for the playoffs) and the only one who can keep up with the league's new crop of athletic centers.

For situations where length is just too much of a disadvantage (last night being a prime example), then we have Z and Damp for those scenarios.

Instead of getting mad at Joel, we should ask wtf Spo isn't bringing Pittman along faster. He has the size, strength and speed to cope. Considering we still keep House active and he gets no minutes, we can activate Pitt and let him get some burn at key moments in games. PEACE.

Here is the Issue, if we used Joel as a situational type, most of the fan base would like him. But Spo thinks of Joel as a rotation player. Joel is by far the worst offensive player in the NBA! By a mile! Joel has had 3 or 4 moments this season but his also had about 20-25 games where I wanted to break the TV because of how bad he is. Joel was getting killed last night. And worst of all, he was KILLING the heat on the boards. Joel got out jumped about 4 times for offensive rebounds and another few times he didn't box out which lead to easy points. The box score lies alittle from time to time but going 0pt-0rb-0asst in 29 minutes does not lie. That could be the worst statline in the history of the NBA. Most of us on this board could play 29 minutes and by mistake grab a rebound or maybe pass the ball to someone who's about to shoot. Lets just hope that Spo isn't a compete (Please Use More Appropriate Word) and stops playing Joel in the playoffs. I can guarantee something, If Joel plays more than 20 minutes in the playoffs, WE WILL NOT WIN A TITLE!

[GameTime_3]

Let me add one more thing; The only time this team looked good on the boards and we felt like we were in control was when Dampier first got here and Joel started to play less. Damp started to box out and do those little things that you can actual see on the court. Then we played NYK and Joel had his breakout game and we've been forced to watch him since then.

6 Games before the NYK game; 9.3 minutes per game
10 Games after the NYK game; 23 minutes per game

[CoolD]

Let me add one more thing; The only time this team looked good on the boards and we felt like we were in control was when Dampier first got here and Joel started to play less. Damp started to box out and do those little things that you can actual see on the court. Then we played NYK and Joel had his breakout game and we've been forced to watch him since then.

6 Games before the NYK game; 9.3 minutes per game
10 Games after the NYK game; 23 minutes per game

So vs Milwaukee, Damp and Z played only, they gave a record amount of rebounds to Bogut 27 rebounds. what about last night, big Z had zero freaking points, on last nights game between Big Z, Joel, Chalmers, Arroyo, Juwan, their was a total of 6 points. But Joel took zero shots, thus not even making a real negative impact by shooting us out the game. Your selective zeroing in one player, just shows you always have clear bias.

In the Milwaukee game we got out rebounded by 5, vs Portland we got out rebounded by 2.

Now am going to go and show your previous realgm History of this board. You were the one that always keyed on Quinn even when the guy didn't play, but the funny thing, your scapegoat shtick is so repetitive, every year. You always scapegoat a player or two ever year. The year of Shawn Marion you choose him. Funny thing, you had this belief that J.O was going to take us farther in the playoffs. When in reality JO overall impact was the same(we got eliminated twice in two first round exits with JO) Which basically you made the assertion that with Marion we wouldn't get pass the first round( With JO two consecutive years we didn't get the pass first round.)

Joel played bad last night, his impact was minimal at best, but their was also Big Z, Juwan, if you go and count that between 5 players, only 6 points, why do you always key on, on just one, when is a complete team game. Let me repeat between 5 players, there was a total of 6 points, but you always choose one player. How come you don't say that Bogut got a record high 27 points vs Z and Damp, I wouldn't really take beef, if you were fair across the board, but every year, I see your pattern. You choose a scapegoat or two, never throw anyone under the bus you like(Beasley, Shaq, even that sorrry player Shavlik Randolph that was so nice to you, and for some odd reason you never said one negative thing about him. That I can remember. Reality both Joel and Damp sometimes get outplayed, even Big Z, but you only get keyed in on one, if we lose, is because us a team don't deliver, not just about one player, which happens to probably be one of our best team defenders.

[fishfuego.]

CoolD, I'm on the fence here. While Joel brings the presence on help defense verses a selective type of player(s), mainly verses small penetrating guards and small forwards, and not really much else vs bigger players (with the exception on the game against Amare, go figure), it is his overall IQ, stone hands and play on the offensive side that's a giant killer of momentum.

In the game vs Portland, there was an incident where Lebron got on Joel's case and screamed at him telling him to pass the ball around, that was when a timeout was called during the final minutes. Clearly Joel seemed clueless on how to react to the rotating player. Bosh went on to play center.

Honestly, overall, Dampier is the better C than Joel and should be given a chunk of those minutes that otherwise Joel is playing, and Joel IMO should only see limited minutes in sudden situations only. After all, he is extremely limited and nothing but a somewhat specialist, maybe.

I think I understand your point of Joel is here and it is what it is, and I hope he proves me wrong, but I just don't see any upward potential.

[laloo]

Fact - Heat haven't lost a single game where Dampier has even played a minute.

[radikalBaller]

Let me add one more thing; The only time this team looked good on the boards and we felt like we were in control was when Dampier first got here and Joel started to play less. Damp started to box out and do those little things that you can actual see on the court. Then we played NYK and Joel had his breakout game and we've been forced to watch him since then.

6 Games before the NYK game; 9.3 minutes per game
10 Games after the NYK game; 23 minutes per game

So vs Milwaukee, Damp and Z played only, they gave a record amount of rebounds to Bogut 27 rebounds. what about last night, big Z had zero freaking points, on last nights game between Big Z, Joel, Chalmers, Arroyo, Juwan, their was a total of 6 points. But Joel took zero shots, thus not even making a real negative impact by shooting us out the game. Your selective zeroing in one player, just shows you always have clear bias.

In the Milwaukee game we got out rebounded by 5, vs Portland we got out rebounded by 2.

Now am going to go and show your previous realgm History of this board. You were the one that always keyed on Quinn even when the guy didn't play, but the funny thing, your scapegoat shtick is so repetitive, every year. You always scapegoat a player or two ever year. The year of Shawn Marion you choose him. Funny thing, you had this belief that J.O was going to take us farther in the playoffs. When in reality JO overall impact was the same(we got eliminated twice in two first round exits with JO) Which basically you made the assertion that with Marion we wouldn't get pass the first round( With JO two consecutive years we didn't get the pass first round.)

Joel played bad last night, his impact was minimal at best, but their was also Big Z, Juwan, if you go and count that between 5 players, only 6 points, why do you always key on, on just one, when is a complete team game. Let me repeat between 5 players, there was a total of 6 points, but you always choose one player. How come you don't say that Bogut got a record high 27 points vs Z and Damp, I wouldn't really take beef, if you were fair across the board, but every year, I see your pattern. You choose a scapegoat or two, never throw anyone under the bus you like(Beasley, Shaq, even that sorrry player Shavlik Randolph that was so nice to you, and for some odd reason you never said one negative thing about him. That I can remember. Reality both Joel and Damp sometimes get outplayed, even Big Z, but you only get keyed in on one, if we lose, is because us a team don't deliver, not just about one player, which happens to probably be one of our best team defenders.

The difference is that Big Z and Dampier are proven good rebounders. Rebounding is a very key factor and Joel is a proven atrocious rebounder. I love Joel's game when he enters for us against specific matchups, contest everything and rotate like guard, that's when we play stiffling D. Unfortunately once we face a good big aside from Amare, Joel gets molested on offense and on rebounding. I can never blame Joel as he is all heart out there, it is just a matter of Spo learning when not to overplay him, and when to trust the other Cs like Dampier more. We were lucky that Spo finally took Joel out in the final minutes of the game, and i aplaud him for the move, but it was too obvious that this should have happened way earlier.


Given his stone hands, maybe Joel should be asked to forget about grabing the rebounds and to better try to tap them to his teamates using his shot blocking abilities.


Also there got to be at least one offensive play ore move that the staff should be able to develop with Joel when opposing defenses leave him open. At the NBA level 4 on 5 basketball is not acceptable.

[FlashTheKilla]

Fact - Heat haven't lost a single game where Dampier has even played a minute.

You're lying to yourself if you think Dampier has made the difference here.

Correlation =/= Causation

[StrawberryShake]

he played in the last dallas game.
we lost
you fail

[Akshan]

LOL why do people keep going and bashing Joel Anthony and we do lack a center but we got two of the best players in the NBA and strawberryshake Dampier didn't play in that game don't just talk out ur a** and say fail if you had watched the game Dampier was on the bench due to coach decision

[StrawberryShake]

LOL why do people keep going and bashing Joel Anthony and we do lack a center but we got two of the best players in the NBA and strawberryshake Dampier didn't play in that game don't just talk out ur a** and say fail if you had watched the game Dampier was on the bench due to coach decision

i was actually at that game, i could've sworn he played, your right im wrong. i thought i remembered him playing a couple of minutes and missing a wide open layup, mustve been joel anthony then.

[Akshan]

LOLL go google the box score my dude I watched the whole game and how you gonna get mixed up between Joel Anthony and Eric Dampier esp if you were at the game cmon son loll

[StrawberryShake]

your right dude it was against cleveland that i saw dampier play a little bit. ive been to a couple of games already so its easy to get confused lol. being at the game is alot differently than watching it on tv, more distractions

[kobebryant]

Blazers win!!!

troller alert