Coack K takes a shot? Opinions now that the dust has settled

[MartyCONLONNN]

could beating a dead horse here but I think coach K took a subtle shot at Spoelstra today on first take when they brought him on to talk about Lebron being ranked number 1... he obviously gave a level-headed answer and implied that he feels Lebron deserves to be up around there. But he then went on to talk about how he thinks Lebron was more of a beast defensively than his is offensively and stated that the reason for that is because the way Lebron is used makes him easier to guard, and that there should be a variety of places he should be placed to attack from to keep the D guessing.

Now here is where the dissension on the matter begins... is this lack of mixing up points of attack specifically on Lebron? Or is just as much on a coach, or even mores so? IMO in order to "use" Lebron a certain way you'd think you must have a coach that will engage in enforcing a role, which in my opinion is not the kind of coach we have seeing that our offense time and time again reverted back to a "stand around" offense in the Finals. Any thoughts?

[Cloud765]

I don't think it's a shot as much as it is Coach K just stating his plain opinion. He had these guys in the olympics, he knows how they work together. Coach K is the man, if only he could be our coach, I think we'd start our own super dynasty coach.

[Pimpwerx]

Pfft. I like Coach K, but I don't know if I'd trade him for Spo. The NBA is not the NCAA. It's also not the Olympics. Success in the NBA with his style is far from guaranteed, otherwise he'd have snatched up those big money offers decades ago.

Spo is successful now. If anything, he coaches a better defense than Coach K could hope to. With his limitations, he still coached a Top5 offense last season. Warts and all, we were still Top5. What that tells me is that Spo only needs an assistant who can come up with a good scheme like the triangle, that can get the Big3 working in unison better. If we had a center that could control the boards or work in the low-post, we wouldn't even have this conversation. PEACE.

[Heej]

I don't necessary agree with the people that seem to think that implementing the triangle offense is going to be our secret formula to winning. Our double post offense as it stands and the various freeze dried sets of the triangle that we run is more than good enough as an offense and creates very good shots in my opinion when ran correctly. Hell, so many of these triangle type principles that posters on the Heat board keep talking about are already a huge component of our offense.

The real problem is that a good majority of the time Lebron and Wade break off plays at any moment they please and let it stagnate into a basic pnr with people spotting up at the corners, and every now and then a Phoenix Suns type pnr where a weakside shooter steps out to the wings and fills in the gap that was just created. Running a good offense is every bit as tiring as running a good defense, and our over-rotating defense (which compensates for our lack of a true paint protector) saps our guys energies so much that a lot of the time they'd just rather take the easy way out on the offensive end. These guys don't want to run full sets a lot of the time because so many of our misdirection plays and off-ball movements are set up for one or 2 people to get good shots and the other 3-4 players get tired of moving that much without any payoff for themselves.

Our double post offense as it stands is more than adequate, if not downright spectacular when ran right. Players just don't want to do it all the time, simple as that. Spo's great at getting them to buy into his defensive schemes and our guys put a **** ton of effort into that end of the floor. But he just can't get them to buy into his offense. He's not Mike Brown, he has a solid plan. It's just that he's also not Mike D'Antoni whose biggest talent as an offensive coach is that he's really able to sell his gameplan to his players and get everyone from the bottom up to buy into it. Once Spo gets over that hurdle we're good money.

[DWadeno3]

I don't necessary agree with the people that seem to think that implementing the triangle offense is going to be our secret formula to winning. Our double post offense as it stands and the various freeze dried sets of the triangle that we run is more than good enough as an offense and creates very good shots in my opinion when ran correctly. Hell, so many of these triangle type principles that posters on the Heat board keep talking about are already a huge component of our offense.

The real problem is that a good majority of the time Lebron and Wade break off plays at any moment they please and let it stagnate into a basic pnr with people spotting up at the corners, and every now and then a Phoenix Suns type pnr where a weakside shooter steps out to the wings and fills in the gap that was just created. Running a good offense is every bit as tiring as running a good defense, and our over-rotating defense (which compensates for our lack of a true paint protector) saps our guys energies so much that a lot of the time they'd just rather take the easy way out on the offensive end. These guys don't want to run full sets a lot of the time because so many of our misdirection plays and off-ball movements are set up for one or 2 people to get good shots and the other 3-4 players get tired of moving that much without any payoff for themselves.

Our double post offense as it stands is more than adequate, if not downright spectacular when ran right. Players just don't want to do it all the time, simple as that. Spo's great at getting them to buy into his defensive schemes and our guys put a **** ton of effort into that end of the floor. But he just can't get them to buy into his offense. He's not Mike Brown, he has a solid plan. It's just that he's also not Mike D'Antoni whose biggest talent as an offensive coach is that he's really able to sell his gameplan to his players and get everyone from the bottom up to buy into it. Once Spo gets over that hurdle we're good money.

I couldn't agree more with this post. I'd just like to add that a true center will not only help us defensively, but also offensively. Other teams were able to sag off of Joel and help against D-Wade or LeBron because he was such an offensive liability. As good as his screens are, pick and rolls with him could simply not be punished the way you can normally punish them because he has trouble catching most passes and even if he catches them, struggles to finish around the basket.

[Heej]

I don't necessary agree with the people that seem to think that implementing the triangle offense is going to be our secret formula to winning. Our double post offense as it stands and the various freeze dried sets of the triangle that we run is more than good enough as an offense and creates very good shots in my opinion when ran correctly. Hell, so many of these triangle type principles that posters on the Heat board keep talking about are already a huge component of our offense.

The real problem is that a good majority of the time Lebron and Wade break off plays at any moment they please and let it stagnate into a basic pnr with people spotting up at the corners, and every now and then a Phoenix Suns type pnr where a weakside shooter steps out to the wings and fills in the gap that was just created. Running a good offense is every bit as tiring as running a good defense, and our over-rotating defense (which compensates for our lack of a true paint protector) saps our guys energies so much that a lot of the time they'd just rather take the easy way out on the offensive end. These guys don't want to run full sets a lot of the time because so many of our misdirection plays and off-ball movements are set up for one or 2 people to get good shots and the other 3-4 players get tired of moving that much without any payoff for themselves.

Our double post offense as it stands is more than adequate, if not downright spectacular when ran right. Players just don't want to do it all the time, simple as that. Spo's great at getting them to buy into his defensive schemes and our guys put a **** ton of effort into that end of the floor. But he just can't get them to buy into his offense. He's not Mike Brown, he has a solid plan. It's just that he's also not Mike D'Antoni whose biggest talent as an offensive coach is that he's really able to sell his gameplan to his players and get everyone from the bottom up to buy into it. Once Spo gets over that hurdle we're good money.

I couldn't agree more with this post. I'd just like to add that a true center will not only help us defensively, but also offensively. Other teams were able to sag off of Joel and help against D-Wade or LeBron because he was such an offensive liability. As good as his screens are, pick and rolls with him could simply not be punished the way you can normally punish them because he has trouble catching most passes and even if he catches them, struggles to finish around the basket.

Very true. Having a true threat at the C spot would do wonders for our spacing. Even a decent pnr finisher like Dalembert would be enough. This is why I love running Bosh and Lebron at the 4 and 5.

[Joao Saraiva]

Pfft. I like Coach K, but I don't know if I'd trade him for Spo. The NBA is not the NCAA. It's also not the Olympics. Success in the NBA with his style is far from guaranteed, otherwise he'd have snatched up those big money offers decades ago.

Spo is successful now. If anything, he coaches a better defense than Coach K could hope to. With his limitations, he still coached a Top5 offense last season. Warts and all, we were still Top5. What that tells me is that Spo only needs an assistant who can come up with a good scheme like the triangle, that can get the Big3 working in unison better. If we had a center that could control the boards or work in the low-post, we wouldn't even have this conversation. PEACE.

Coaching a top5 offense with LeBron, Bosh and Wade doesn't seem that difficult to me. Spo is not a great coach. I'm not even going to discuss tactics... come on. Just listening to him talking is disgusting. We need a more spirited coach.

[Heej]

Meh, it doesn't change the fact that Spo is an incredibly intelligent basketball mind. He was consistently one of the better after timeout coaches in the league. The dude is honestly just an X's and O's wizard. His problem is that he can't get the team to buy into his offense fully the way a Rick Adelman, Mike D'Antoni, Jerry Sloan, or Phil Jackson can/could. I'll never criticize Spo's tactics and sets, just his ability to get our guys to follow his gameplan. He flat out just doesn't have enough control over this team on the offensive end. He has done a spectacular job getting people to commit to defense though, and all without a true paint protector.

[Pimpwerx]

Pfft. I like Coach K, but I don't know if I'd trade him for Spo. The NBA is not the NCAA. It's also not the Olympics. Success in the NBA with his style is far from guaranteed, otherwise he'd have snatched up those big money offers decades ago.

Spo is successful now. If anything, he coaches a better defense than Coach K could hope to. With his limitations, he still coached a Top5 offense last season. Warts and all, we were still Top5. What that tells me is that Spo only needs an assistant who can come up with a good scheme like the triangle, that can get the Big3 working in unison better. If we had a center that could control the boards or work in the low-post, we wouldn't even have this conversation. PEACE.

Coaching a top5 offense with LeBron, Bosh and Wade doesn't seem that difficult to me. Spo is not a great coach. I'm not even going to discuss tactics... come on. Just listening to him talking is disgusting. We need a more spirited coach.

Sounds like you might want style over substance. We don't get the window-dressing with Spo that we get with other coaches. Hell, Spo is pretty transparent. But he's incredibly effective. For one, he is a great defensive coach. If you can't see that, then I'm surprised. He got Bron and Bosh to play defense at a level no one thought they could. Prior to last season, Bosh was considered a swinging gate, and Bron was considered a primadonna. Bosh became pivotal in our pnr defense, and Bron became our best all-around defender guarding PGs to Cs.

On offense, it wasn't that easy given how many people consider the Big3 to be a poor fit. He had to come up with an offense that not only incorporates 2 wings with overlapping skillsets, but also doing so while ensuring they get enough touches. Plus he had to get Bosh comfortable in a new role with significantly-reduced touches. And all that with a supporting cast of scrubs, because the two best support players were injured most of the season. Spo's job was anything but simple for someone of his age and experience. After 9-8, he got 3 superstars to buy-in. I wouldn't ditch Spo for anyone other than Phil Jackson. That's the honest truth.

We're winning it all next season, and we're winning it with Spo at the helm. PEACE.

[CablexDeadpool]

I don't necessary agree with the people that seem to think that implementing the triangle offense is going to be our secret formula to winning. Our double post offense as it stands and the various freeze dried sets of the triangle that we run is more than good enough as an offense and creates very good shots in my opinion when ran correctly. Hell, so many of these triangle type principles that posters on the Heat board keep talking about are already a huge component of our offense.

The real problem is that a good majority of the time Lebron and Wade break off plays at any moment they please and let it stagnate into a basic pnr with people spotting up at the corners, and every now and then a Phoenix Suns type pnr where a weakside shooter steps out to the wings and fills in the gap that was just created. Running a good offense is every bit as tiring as running a good defense, and our over-rotating defense (which compensates for our lack of a true paint protector) saps our guys energies so much that a lot of the time they'd just rather take the easy way out on the offensive end. These guys don't want to run full sets a lot of the time because so many of our misdirection plays and off-ball movements are set up for one or 2 people to get good shots and the other 3-4 players get tired of moving that much without any payoff for themselves.

Our double post offense as it stands is more than adequate, if not downright spectacular when ran right. Players just don't want to do it all the time, simple as that. Spo's great at getting them to buy into his defensive schemes and our guys put a **** ton of effort into that end of the floor. But he just can't get them to buy into his offense. He's not Mike Brown, he has a solid plan. It's just that he's also not Mike D'Antoni whose biggest talent as an offensive coach is that he's really able to sell his gameplan to his players and get everyone from the bottom up to buy into it. Once Spo gets over that hurdle we're good money.

The real problem is that the HEAT had a crappy gameplan. It was fastbreak or bust. Shut down the perimeter or bust. Heat played 3 on 5 most of the time because, Mike Bibby couldn't shoot and Joel couldn't catch. Also Mike Bibby couldn't guard anybody to save his life.

Lebron was the best playmaker on the team
Chris Bosh was the best midrange shooter
DWade was the best attacker off the pick and roll


That is easy to stop.

Spo offense was predictable as hell.

Pick and roll lebron and bosh

Pick and roll dwade and joel

Pick and pick pop for bosh

Bosh comes off a screen for the baseline jumper

Ridiculous Lebron James and D Wade heroball

Ridiculous Lebron James and D Wade fastbreaks

Mike Miller, Bibby, James Jones and Mario just wait on the wing for the kickout...Mike Miller miss...Mike Bibby miss

That was the standard offense we will see out of the Heat. It was obvious that Spo was just winging it out there and hoping to God the Heat could be up by double digits by the end of the third due to their fastbreaking and just hope they could hang on.

That's why the Big 3 didn't follow Spo's offensive gameplan. They knew the best chance they had to actually to win, was to play lockdown perimeter D and get turnovers. That's why they played that brand of aggressive perimeter D. The defense was the gameplan lol.

If times got tough the best play for the Heat was to play heroball. Heroball was what got the Heat to the Championship, but everything reverts back to the norm.

The norm was to get a double digit lead at the end of the third and hold on for dear life in 4th.

When it came to offensive execution in the halfcourt in the 4th, with 5 minutes to go, the Heat crumbled because the gameplan sucked and the rest of the team sucked. The opposing team just had to slow it down and take their time and the Heat leads would evaporate. That's when we will see our players suck in the clutch because they didn't know what to do and obviously didn't trust anybody but themselves.


If a team play zone, rebound effectively and make their shots, the Heat are gonna lose 7 times out of 10

Play man against the Heat, an opposing team is gonna get out talented and ran out of the gym 3 times out of 10

It is easy to gameplan for the Heat because the team is crappy outside of Lebron, D Wade and Bosh

-They either had a center that can't catch or a center that can't run the floor
-A shooters that couldn't shoot
-A point guard that couldn't pass
-D Wade for some reason can't play man D but could erase every blown assignment mike bibby and Mike Miller made
-Lebron was the best perimeter defender and playmaker and Spo ran him into the ground because Spo couldn't think of anything else and didn't have anything else
-Bosh didn't play in post at all and was left to shoot 20 ft jump shots because Spo thought he would space the floor (it didn't work). But when Bosh played closer to the basket, the Heat actually had some sort of half court offense that didn't involve a pick and roll and an iso.


The Heat talented and offense themselves to a top 5 offense.

Spo's offensive gameplan had nothing to do with it. It was with Spo's aggressive perimeter defensive scheme that got them to fastbreak near about every offensive miscue the opposing team had.

Other than that, Spo lacks the offensive creativity to make the Heat a dangerous offensive team.

[DWadeno3]

The real problem is that the HEAT had a crappy gameplan. It was fastbreak or bust. Shut down the perimeter or bust. Heat played 3 on 5 most of the time because, Mike Bibby couldn't shoot and Joel couldn't catch. Also Mike Bibby couldn't guard anybody to save his life.

Lebron was the best playmaker on the team
Chris Bosh was the best midrange shooter
DWade was the best attacker off the pick and roll


That is easy to stop.

Spo offense was predictable as hell.

Pick and roll lebron and bosh

Pick and roll dwade and joel

Pick and pick pop for bosh

Bosh comes off a screen for the baseline jumper

Ridiculous Lebron James and D Wade heroball

Ridiculous Lebron James and D Wade fastbreaks

Mike Miller, Bibby, James Jones and Mario just wait on the wing for the kickout...Mike Miller miss...Mike Bibby miss

That was the standard offense we will see out of the Heat. It was obvious that Spo was just winging it out there and hoping to God the Heat could be up by double digits by the end of the third due to their fastbreaking and just hope they could hang on.

That's why the Big 3 didn't follow Spo's offensive gameplan. They knew the best chance they had to actually to win, was to play lockdown perimeter D and get turnovers. That's why they played that brand of aggressive perimeter D. The defense was the gameplan lol.

If times got tough the best play for the Heat was to play heroball. Heroball was what got the Heat to the Championship, but everything reverts back to the norm.

The norm was to get a double digit lead at the end of the third and hold on for dear life in 4th.

When it came to offensive execution in the halfcourt in the 4th, with 5 minutes to go, the Heat crumbled because the gameplan sucked and the rest of the team sucked. The opposing team just had to slow it down and take their time and the Heat leads would evaporate. That's when we will see our players suck in the clutch because they didn't know what to do and obviously didn't trust anybody but themselves.


If a team play zone, rebound effectively and make their shots, the Heat are gonna lose 7 times out of 10

Play man against the Heat, an opposing team is gonna get out talented and ran out of the gym 3 times out of 10

It is easy to gameplan for the Heat because the team is crappy outside of Lebron, D Wade and Bosh

-They either had a center that can't catch or a center that can't run the floor
-A shooters that couldn't shoot
-A point guard that couldn't pass
-D Wade for some reason can't play man D but could erase every blown assignment mike bibby and Mike Miller made
-Lebron was the best perimeter defender and playmaker and Spo ran him into the ground because Spo couldn't think of anything else and didn't have anything else
-Bosh didn't play in post at all and was left to shoot 20 ft jump shots because Spo thought he would space the floor (it didn't work). But when Bosh played closer to the basket, the Heat actually had some sort of half court offense that didn't involve a pick and roll and an iso.


The Heat talented and offense themselves to a top 5 offense.

Spo's offensive gameplan had nothing to do with it. It was with Spo's aggressive perimeter defensive scheme that got them to fastbreak near about every offensive miscue the opposing team had.

Other than that, Spo lacks the offensive creativity to make the Heat a dangerous offensive team.

You just said it yourself, we had open looks for our shooters Jones, Miller, Bibby and Chalmers, they just didn't knock most of their shots down. It's hard to run an efficient offense when two players on the court are practically useless on that end, believe me, this is a harsh reality you're faced with when coaching youth teams. The other team will just dare those players to score and focus on locking down the other three.
Sure, Spo could've been more creative in most situations, but we had a lot of good shots, we just didn't make them in most cases. Other than game 1 against Boston, when JJ scored 25, when did one of our shooters actually have a good day just hitting outside shots? Players like D-Wade and LeBron automatically start isolating when the offense is not working and the offense wasn't working because we lacked two crucial ingredients to a successful offense: A post-scorer and a shooter to space the floor. If one of the two would've been there consistenly, we could've looked that much better as a team overall.

The only thing I really criticize Spo for is his lack of creativity within games. Carlisle raped him in the 4th quarter of game two. When everybody was praising the Mavs' players, it was actually their coach who stopped us. But you usually learn on the job. Spo has a great work ethic, I'm sure he looked at those games again and evaluates the team's and his own mistakes.
I'm not defending everything Spo has done over the season, he sure forced me into a ton of facepalms. But solely blaming our offensive struggles on him when we actually had good looks, but certain players just struggled to convert those, is wrong.

[CablexDeadpool]

"You just said it yourself, we had open looks for our shooters Jones, Miller, Bibby and Chalmers, they just didn't knock most of their shots down. It's hard to run an efficient offense when two players on the court are practically useless on that end, believe me, this is a harsh reality you're faced with when coaching youth teams. The other team will just dare those players to score and focus on locking down the other three.
Sure, Spo could've been more creative in most situations, but we had a lot of good shots, we just didn't make them in most cases. Other than game 1 against Boston, when JJ scored 25, when did one of our shooters actually have a good day just hitting outside shots? Players like D-Wade and LeBron automatically start isolating when the offense is not working and the offense wasn't working because we lacked two crucial ingredients to a successful offense: A post-scorer and a shooter to space the floor. If one of the two would've been there consistenly, we could've looked that much better as a team overall.

The only thing I really criticize Spo for is his lack of creativity within games. Carlisle raped him in the 4th quarter of game two. When everybody was praising the Mavs' players, it was actually their coach who stopped us. But you usually learn on the job. Spo has a great work ethic, I'm sure he looked at those games again and evaluates the team's and his own mistakes.
I'm not defending everything Spo has done over the season, he sure forced me into a ton of facepalms. But solely blaming our offensive struggles on him when we actually had good looks, but certain players just struggled to convert those, is wrong."

All the blame goes on Spo.

It was his offense and his gameplan and his vets.

Mike Bibby sucked the entire time he was in a Heat uniform, did he automatically think he was gonna shoot 42 percent?

Mike Bibby was a waste on the court. He couldn't defend, he couldn't shoot, he couldn't rebound. He was trash.

Joel should've been used as a defensive specialist and not as the starting center because Spo's offense was based entirely on the same predictable pick and rolls...how you gonna pick and roll when your center can't catch the freaking ball or convert a layup or a dunk?

Lucky the Heat have the one of the best pick and roll specialists in D Wade.

Mike Miller was sporadic and he couldn't defend anybody to save his life.

Mario Chalmers and Eddie House would have been better than freaking Mike Bibby and Mike Miller. But they didn't fit his gameplan of slow walk it up pick and roll, pick and pop ball.

When a team has 2 mvps and an all star who scored 25 plus a game, and your offense can not score at will, there is something wrong.

The Heat crashed and burn in the 4th because of the offense. His entire gameplan was flawed because the Heat needed to score in order for his aggressive perimeter D to work.

If the Heat isn't getting points in the halfcourt and breaking shots, a smart team is gonna fastbreak, then once that happens, it is game over for the Heat. We saw this when against the Mavs. They just picked up the tempo and hit shots. Since the Heat don't have the offensive firepower nor a gameplan to actually run with the Mavs, we saw the Heat get exposed. Heat can't score in the halfcourt, play some zone and hit your shots and you can win easily. If you run and push the tempo the Heat can't put pressure on you.

If Dirk wasn't sick and the Mavs was not bricking his shots early in the series, I believe the series would've ended in 5. The Heat was not in the Mavs league because everybody on that team could run the floor, handle the ball and hit a 3.

Spo deserves the blame because when he did try something different other than his pick and roll and pick and pop offense, the Heat had it a little easier.

Putting Chris Bosh in the post
Starting Mario Chalmers instead of Bibby and playing more uptempo as a result
Using Lebron as a post player


You know, if Spo was truly a student of the game like everybody say he is, like he sits around a study basketball all day. He should've locked himself in a room and watched the 80s Showtime Lakers before last season. That's what this Heat team should've been like last season. Fastbreak after a rebound, push the tempo, full court pressure to hide the fact that you don't have a center.


Why is the Heat walking the ball up without a true center and a true point guard, wtf sense do that make. Seriously, why is that happening. That defies basketball logic, you have nobody in the middle to post up, why you gonna walk it up so the opposing defense can pack the paint and wait . Why are you spacing out the floor when you play 2 shooters that are not hitting their shots. Why are you even playing 2 shooters that are not making shots? Why are you choosing to pick and roll without the threat of the roll being viable?

The offense was atrocious. It was hard to watch. I put full blame on Spo and he is lucky LBJ and Wade respect Riley so much because I honestly believe that if that was anybody else besides Riley, they would've thrown Spo under the bus. That's how frustrated I believe they were.

I applaud LBJ and Wade for not blowing up the entire locker room because IDK how you can tolerate the ineptness of that entire offensive gameplan.

Spo drew up about four plays tailored to their strengths. The rest was Spo ball. Only reason Bibby was on the court was because he could bring it up the court so the Heat can play Spo ball.

The Big 3 put Spo in position to win, it should be the other way around.

I give Spo tremendous credit for installing a top 5 defense without a center. I give him credit for that. I would like him as defensive coordinator, but I don't want him running the offense or him choosing personnel. I don't want him offensive gameplanning. Let somebody else do that. I can't tolerate that offense anymore. I don't even wanna look at it, it makes me sick to my stomach seeing a freaking pick and roll now. That offense was revolting, that how bad it was, simply revolting.

I don't wanna see another season with this atrocious offense or this atrocious roster of players. It is time to stop discriminating against young players. Hopefully Norris Cole can be the Rondo for this Heat time and inspire this organization to stop getting washed up vets who can't play.

[DWadeno3]

All the blame goes on Spo.

It was his offense and his gameplan and his vets.

Mike Bibby sucked the entire time he was in a Heat uniform, did he automatically think he was gonna shoot 42 percent?

Mike Bibby was a waste on the court. He couldn't defend, he couldn't shoot, he couldn't rebound. He was trash.

Joel should've been used as a defensive specialist and not as the starting center because Spo's offense was based entirely on the same predictable pick and rolls...how you gonna pick and roll when your center can't catch the freaking ball or convert a layup or a dunk?

Lucky the Heat have the one of the best pick and roll specialists in D Wade.

Mike Miller was sporadic and he couldn't defend anybody to save his life.

Mario Chalmers and Eddie House would have been better than freaking Mike Bibby and Mike Miller. But they didn't fit his gameplan of slow walk it up pick and roll, pick and pop ball.

When a team has 2 mvps and an all star who scored 25 plus a game, and your offense can not score at will, there is something wrong.

The Heat crashed and burn in the 4th because of the offense. His entire gameplan was flawed because the Heat needed to score in order for his aggressive perimeter D to work.

If the Heat isn't getting points in the halfcourt and breaking shots, a smart team is gonna fastbreak, then once that happens, it is game over for the Heat. We saw this when against the Mavs. They just picked up the tempo and hit shots. Since the Heat don't have the offensive firepower nor a gameplan to actually run with the Mavs, we saw the Heat get exposed. Heat can't score in the halfcourt, play some zone and hit your shots and you can win easily. If you run and push the tempo the Heat can't put pressure on you.

If Dirk wasn't sick and the Mavs was not bricking his shots early in the series, I believe the series would've ended in 5. The Heat was not in the Mavs league because everybody on that team could run the floor, handle the ball and hit a 3.

Spo deserves the blame because when he did try something different other than his pick and roll and pick and pop offense, the Heat had it a little easier.

Putting Chris Bosh in the post
Starting Mario Chalmers instead of Bibby and playing more uptempo as a result
Using Lebron as a post player


You know, if Spo was truly a student of the game like everybody say he is, like he sits around a study basketball all day. He should've locked himself in a room and watched the 80s Showtime Lakers before last season. That's what this Heat team should've been like last season. Fastbreak after a rebound, push the tempo, full court pressure to hide the fact that you don't have a center.


Why is the Heat walking the ball up without a true center and a true point guard, wtf sense do that make. Seriously, why is that happening. That defies basketball logic, you have nobody in the middle to post up, why you gonna walk it up so the opposing defense can pack the paint and wait . Why are you spacing out the floor when you play 2 shooters that are not hitting their shots. Why are you even playing 2 shooters that are not making shots? Why are you choosing to pick and roll without the threat of the roll being viable?

The offense was atrocious. It was hard to watch. I put full blame on Spo and he is lucky LBJ and Wade respect Riley so much because I honestly believe that if that was anybody else besides Riley, they would've thrown Spo under the bus. That's how frustrated I believe they were.

I applaud LBJ and Wade for not blowing up the entire locker room because IDK how you can tolerate the ineptness of that entire offensive gameplan.

Spo drew up about four plays tailored to their strengths. The rest was Spo ball. Only reason Bibby was on the court was because he could bring it up the court so the Heat can play Spo ball.

The Big 3 put Spo in position to win, it should be the other way around.

I give Spo tremendous credit for installing a top 5 defense without a center. I give him credit for that. I would like him as defensive coordinator, but I don't want him running the offense or him choosing personnel. I don't want him offensive gameplanning. Let somebody else do that. I can't tolerate that offense anymore. I don't even wanna look at it, it makes me sick to my stomach seeing a freaking pick and roll now. That offense was revolting, that how bad it was, simply revolting.

I don't wanna see another season with this atrocious offense or this atrocious roster of players. It is time to stop discriminating against young players. Hopefully Norris Cole can be the Rondo for this Heat time and inspire this organization to stop getting washed up vets who can't play.

So in the beginning, all you do is point out certain players' shortcomings, which only further proves my point of Spo not solely deserving the blame. You say you can't run a proper pick and roll with Joel? I agree, but who else could've been on the floor? Z was good in spurts but both him and Dampier were too slow on their feet to actually defend properly. Thus, you basically had to pick your poison. Do I want better floor spacing and thus a smooth half-court offense, I pick Z or, depending on the situation and the team you play, Dampier. Do I want my defense to be tight, I need Joel.
As you said yourself, our defense was a key ingredient to our success because it did not only keep the other team from scoring, it also put us in the open court, which was our big strength. We actually ran a ton more for Heat standards last season. So you had to start Joel.
Our next problem were our so-called shooters. If you don't have a post-presence, it is essential to have good outside shooting in order to provide proper spacing for drives to the basket, or else you won't get any layup opportunities. Remember how good our offense looked when we were hitting threes? I sure did.
Now, speaking of a lack of a post presence, here's the point I agree with you where Spo deserves blame. Not putting LeBron and especially Bosh in the post a lot more and a lot earlier was a major mistake on his part.
This doesn't eliminate my point of us simply lacking significant ingredients to a successful offense. You can't rely on three guys doing all the work and that was basically the case for us. No championship team has had such little production from their role players as we did and our role players sucking is not Spo's fault.

Look, I'm not here to defend Spo, as I said before, he committed his fair share of mistakes, but as Heej said, his basic offensive principles are more than good enough for us to be a good halfcourt team. It's just hard to be efficient when all your role players can't even play their role.

Regarding the Finals: Dallas killed us big time with their zone defense because if you don't have shooters and no post presence against a zone, you're screwed because they're gonna pack the paint and dare you to shoot outside shots. Since we were forced into an unusual high amount of long-range shots, Dallas got a lot of long rebounds off of it, which then would allow them to get out in the open court and run and basically beat us with their game.
Their offense was really more brilliant than ours though. They just had more threats out there which eventually would open someone up, let it be Dirk popping out for a 20-footer, Chandler rolling to the basket for a layup or Stevenson spotting up for a three.
As I also said before, Carlisle schooled Spoelstra multiple times in the Finals though, which leads me to my main issue with Spoelstra: Ingame adjustments. Carlisle came up with great ideas which hurt us and Spo was not capable of stopping them. But then again, this is the kinda stuff you usually learn on the job. Thus, I'm curious to see what Spoelstra is gonna do next season. What's he going to do with an improved roster? Did he learn from his first real playoff run? If he's not making any progress, then just like any other part of the team, he should be cut. But with a roster basically consisting of three consistent forces, I'm not willing to throw him under the bust just yet, especially when the basic principles of his offense were decent.

[CablexDeadpool]

All the blame goes on Spo.

It was his offense and his gameplan and his vets.

Mike Bibby sucked the entire time he was in a Heat uniform, did he automatically think he was gonna shoot 42 percent?

Mike Bibby was a waste on the court. He couldn't defend, he couldn't shoot, he couldn't rebound. He was trash.

Joel should've been used as a defensive specialist and not as the starting center because Spo's offense was based entirely on the same predictable pick and rolls...how you gonna pick and roll when your center can't catch the freaking ball or convert a layup or a dunk?

Lucky the Heat have the one of the best pick and roll specialists in D Wade.

Mike Miller was sporadic and he couldn't defend anybody to save his life.

Mario Chalmers and Eddie House would have been better than freaking Mike Bibby and Mike Miller. But they didn't fit his gameplan of slow walk it up pick and roll, pick and pop ball.

When a team has 2 mvps and an all star who scored 25 plus a game, and your offense can not score at will, there is something wrong.

The Heat crashed and burn in the 4th because of the offense. His entire gameplan was flawed because the Heat needed to score in order for his aggressive perimeter D to work.

If the Heat isn't getting points in the halfcourt and breaking shots, a smart team is gonna fastbreak, then once that happens, it is game over for the Heat. We saw this when against the Mavs. They just picked up the tempo and hit shots. Since the Heat don't have the offensive firepower nor a gameplan to actually run with the Mavs, we saw the Heat get exposed. Heat can't score in the halfcourt, play some zone and hit your shots and you can win easily. If you run and push the tempo the Heat can't put pressure on you.

If Dirk wasn't sick and the Mavs was not bricking his shots early in the series, I believe the series would've ended in 5. The Heat was not in the Mavs league because everybody on that team could run the floor, handle the ball and hit a 3.

Spo deserves the blame because when he did try something different other than his pick and roll and pick and pop offense, the Heat had it a little easier.

Putting Chris Bosh in the post
Starting Mario Chalmers instead of Bibby and playing more uptempo as a result
Using Lebron as a post player


You know, if Spo was truly a student of the game like everybody say he is, like he sits around a study basketball all day. He should've locked himself in a room and watched the 80s Showtime Lakers before last season. That's what this Heat team should've been like last season. Fastbreak after a rebound, push the tempo, full court pressure to hide the fact that you don't have a center.


Why is the Heat walking the ball up without a true center and a true point guard, wtf sense do that make. Seriously, why is that happening. That defies basketball logic, you have nobody in the middle to post up, why you gonna walk it up so the opposing defense can pack the paint and wait . Why are you spacing out the floor when you play 2 shooters that are not hitting their shots. Why are you even playing 2 shooters that are not making shots? Why are you choosing to pick and roll without the threat of the roll being viable?

The offense was atrocious. It was hard to watch. I put full blame on Spo and he is lucky LBJ and Wade respect Riley so much because I honestly believe that if that was anybody else besides Riley, they would've thrown Spo under the bus. That's how frustrated I believe they were.

I applaud LBJ and Wade for not blowing up the entire locker room because IDK how you can tolerate the ineptness of that entire offensive gameplan.

Spo drew up about four plays tailored to their strengths. The rest was Spo ball. Only reason Bibby was on the court was because he could bring it up the court so the Heat can play Spo ball.

The Big 3 put Spo in position to win, it should be the other way around.

I give Spo tremendous credit for installing a top 5 defense without a center. I give him credit for that. I would like him as defensive coordinator, but I don't want him running the offense or him choosing personnel. I don't want him offensive gameplanning. Let somebody else do that. I can't tolerate that offense anymore. I don't even wanna look at it, it makes me sick to my stomach seeing a freaking pick and roll now. That offense was revolting, that how bad it was, simply revolting.

I don't wanna see another season with this atrocious offense or this atrocious roster of players. It is time to stop discriminating against young players. Hopefully Norris Cole can be the Rondo for this Heat time and inspire this organization to stop getting washed up vets who can't play.

So in the beginning, all you do is point out certain players' shortcomings, which only further proves my point of Spo not solely deserving the blame. You say you can't run a proper pick and roll with Joel? I agree, but who else could've been on the floor? Z was good in spurts but both him and Dampier were too slow on their feet to actually defend properly. Thus, you basically had to pick your poison. Do I want better floor spacing and thus a smooth half-court offense, I pick Z or, depending on the situation and the team you play, Dampier. Do I want my defense to be tight, I need Joel.
As you said yourself, our defense was a key ingredient to our success because it did not only keep the other team from scoring, it also put us in the open court, which was our big strength. We actually ran a ton more for Heat standards last season. So you had to start Joel.
Our next problem were our so-called shooters. If you don't have a post-presence, it is essential to have good outside shooting in order to provide proper spacing for drives to the basket, or else you won't get any layup opportunities. Remember how good our offense looked when we were hitting threes? I sure did.
Now, speaking of a lack of a post presence, here's the point I agree with you where Spo deserves blame. Not putting LeBron and especially Bosh in the post a lot more and a lot earlier was a major mistake on his part.
This doesn't eliminate my point of us simply lacking significant ingredients to a successful offense. You can't rely on three guys doing all the work and that was basically the case for us. No championship team has had such little production from their role players as we did and our role players sucking is not Spo's fault.

Look, I'm not here to defend Spo, as I said before, he committed his fair share of mistakes, but as Heej said, his basic offensive principles are more than good enough for us to be a good halfcourt team. It's just hard to be efficient when all your role players can't even play their role.

Regarding the Finals: Dallas killed us big time with their zone defense because if you don't have shooters and no post presence against a zone, you're screwed because they're gonna pack the paint and dare you to shoot outside shots. Since we were forced into an unusual high amount of long-range shots, Dallas got a lot of long rebounds off of it, which then would allow them to get out in the open court and run and basically beat us with their game.
Their offense was really more brilliant than ours though. They just had more threats out there which eventually would open someone up, let it be Dirk popping out for a 20-footer, Chandler rolling to the basket for a layup or Stevenson spotting up for a three.
As I also said before, Carlisle schooled Spoelstra multiple times in the Finals though, which leads me to my main issue with Spoelstra: Ingame adjustments. Carlisle came up with great ideas which hurt us and Spo was not capable of stopping them. But then again, this is the kinda stuff you usually learn on the job. Thus, I'm curious to see what Spoelstra is gonna do next season. What's he going to do with an improved roster? Did he learn from his first real playoff run? If he's not making any progress, then just like any other part of the team, he should be cut. But with a roster basically consisting of three consistent forces, I'm not willing to throw him under the bust just yet, especially when the basic principles of his offense were decent.

Let me just say again, I give Spo respect for that defense that really did hide the fact, the Heat were trash offensively.

The reason I give Spo blame was not because he attempted to run his Spo ball, it was because he wouldn't try to change from Spo ball.

He gets rid of Arroyo because he wanted somebody to play D and hit 3s and he gets Bibby who I guess tricked us into thinking we will have a viable 3 point shooter.

And America watched the Heat suffer offensively and Spo just said, " hang on, don't let go of the rope, it's not that bad, we can do it."

And we just suffered so bad offensively.

He should've adjusted his scheme, at least for the playoffs

[DWadeno3]

All the blame goes on Spo.

It was his offense and his gameplan and his vets.

Mike Bibby sucked the entire time he was in a Heat uniform, did he automatically think he was gonna shoot 42 percent?

Mike Bibby was a waste on the court. He couldn't defend, he couldn't shoot, he couldn't rebound. He was trash.

Joel should've been used as a defensive specialist and not as the starting center because Spo's offense was based entirely on the same predictable pick and rolls...how you gonna pick and roll when your center can't catch the freaking ball or convert a layup or a dunk?

Lucky the Heat have the one of the best pick and roll specialists in D Wade.

Mike Miller was sporadic and he couldn't defend anybody to save his life.

Mario Chalmers and Eddie House would have been better than freaking Mike Bibby and Mike Miller. But they didn't fit his gameplan of slow walk it up pick and roll, pick and pop ball.

When a team has 2 mvps and an all star who scored 25 plus a game, and your offense can not score at will, there is something wrong.

The Heat crashed and burn in the 4th because of the offense. His entire gameplan was flawed because the Heat needed to score in order for his aggressive perimeter D to work.

If the Heat isn't getting points in the halfcourt and breaking shots, a smart team is gonna fastbreak, then once that happens, it is game over for the Heat. We saw this when against the Mavs. They just picked up the tempo and hit shots. Since the Heat don't have the offensive firepower nor a gameplan to actually run with the Mavs, we saw the Heat get exposed. Heat can't score in the halfcourt, play some zone and hit your shots and you can win easily. If you run and push the tempo the Heat can't put pressure on you.

If Dirk wasn't sick and the Mavs was not bricking his shots early in the series, I believe the series would've ended in 5. The Heat was not in the Mavs league because everybody on that team could run the floor, handle the ball and hit a 3.

Spo deserves the blame because when he did try something different other than his pick and roll and pick and pop offense, the Heat had it a little easier.

Putting Chris Bosh in the post
Starting Mario Chalmers instead of Bibby and playing more uptempo as a result
Using Lebron as a post player


You know, if Spo was truly a student of the game like everybody say he is, like he sits around a study basketball all day. He should've locked himself in a room and watched the 80s Showtime Lakers before last season. That's what this Heat team should've been like last season. Fastbreak after a rebound, push the tempo, full court pressure to hide the fact that you don't have a center.


Why is the Heat walking the ball up without a true center and a true point guard, wtf sense do that make. Seriously, why is that happening. That defies basketball logic, you have nobody in the middle to post up, why you gonna walk it up so the opposing defense can pack the paint and wait . Why are you spacing out the floor when you play 2 shooters that are not hitting their shots. Why are you even playing 2 shooters that are not making shots? Why are you choosing to pick and roll without the threat of the roll being viable?

The offense was atrocious. It was hard to watch. I put full blame on Spo and he is lucky LBJ and Wade respect Riley so much because I honestly believe that if that was anybody else besides Riley, they would've thrown Spo under the bus. That's how frustrated I believe they were.

I applaud LBJ and Wade for not blowing up the entire locker room because IDK how you can tolerate the ineptness of that entire offensive gameplan.

Spo drew up about four plays tailored to their strengths. The rest was Spo ball. Only reason Bibby was on the court was because he could bring it up the court so the Heat can play Spo ball.

The Big 3 put Spo in position to win, it should be the other way around.

I give Spo tremendous credit for installing a top 5 defense without a center. I give him credit for that. I would like him as defensive coordinator, but I don't want him running the offense or him choosing personnel. I don't want him offensive gameplanning. Let somebody else do that. I can't tolerate that offense anymore. I don't even wanna look at it, it makes me sick to my stomach seeing a freaking pick and roll now. That offense was revolting, that how bad it was, simply revolting.

I don't wanna see another season with this atrocious offense or this atrocious roster of players. It is time to stop discriminating against young players. Hopefully Norris Cole can be the Rondo for this Heat time and inspire this organization to stop getting washed up vets who can't play.

So in the beginning, all you do is point out certain players' shortcomings, which only further proves my point of Spo not solely deserving the blame. You say you can't run a proper pick and roll with Joel? I agree, but who else could've been on the floor? Z was good in spurts but both him and Dampier were too slow on their feet to actually defend properly. Thus, you basically had to pick your poison. Do I want better floor spacing and thus a smooth half-court offense, I pick Z or, depending on the situation and the team you play, Dampier. Do I want my defense to be tight, I need Joel.
As you said yourself, our defense was a key ingredient to our success because it did not only keep the other team from scoring, it also put us in the open court, which was our big strength. We actually ran a ton more for Heat standards last season. So you had to start Joel.
Our next problem were our so-called shooters. If you don't have a post-presence, it is essential to have good outside shooting in order to provide proper spacing for drives to the basket, or else you won't get any layup opportunities. Remember how good our offense looked when we were hitting threes? I sure did.
Now, speaking of a lack of a post presence, here's the point I agree with you where Spo deserves blame. Not putting LeBron and especially Bosh in the post a lot more and a lot earlier was a major mistake on his part.
This doesn't eliminate my point of us simply lacking significant ingredients to a successful offense. You can't rely on three guys doing all the work and that was basically the case for us. No championship team has had such little production from their role players as we did and our role players sucking is not Spo's fault.

Look, I'm not here to defend Spo, as I said before, he committed his fair share of mistakes, but as Heej said, his basic offensive principles are more than good enough for us to be a good halfcourt team. It's just hard to be efficient when all your role players can't even play their role.

Regarding the Finals: Dallas killed us big time with their zone defense because if you don't have shooters and no post presence against a zone, you're screwed because they're gonna pack the paint and dare you to shoot outside shots. Since we were forced into an unusual high amount of long-range shots, Dallas got a lot of long rebounds off of it, which then would allow them to get out in the open court and run and basically beat us with their game.
Their offense was really more brilliant than ours though. They just had more threats out there which eventually would open someone up, let it be Dirk popping out for a 20-footer, Chandler rolling to the basket for a layup or Stevenson spotting up for a three.
As I also said before, Carlisle schooled Spoelstra multiple times in the Finals though, which leads me to my main issue with Spoelstra: Ingame adjustments. Carlisle came up with great ideas which hurt us and Spo was not capable of stopping them. But then again, this is the kinda stuff you usually learn on the job. Thus, I'm curious to see what Spoelstra is gonna do next season. What's he going to do with an improved roster? Did he learn from his first real playoff run? If he's not making any progress, then just like any other part of the team, he should be cut. But with a roster basically consisting of three consistent forces, I'm not willing to throw him under the bust just yet, especially when the basic principles of his offense were decent.

Let me just say again, I give Spo respect for that defense that really did hide the fact, the Heat were trash offensively.

The reason I give Spo blame was not because he attempted to run his Spo ball, it was because he wouldn't try to change from Spo ball.

He gets rid of Arroyo because he wanted somebody to play D and hit 3s and he gets Bibby who I guess tricked us into thinking we will have a viable 3 point shooter.

And America watched the Heat suffer offensively and Spo just said, " hang on, don't let go of the rope, it's not that bad, we can do it."

And we just suffered so bad offensively.

He should've adjusted his scheme, at least for the playoffs

The question is, how many adjustments can you really make when you only have three players who were consistent offensive forces? As Heej and I have both said before, our offense isn't pretty or the best in the league, but with a halfway decent supporting cast, it's more good enough. We got good shots out of it, our shooters just didn't nail a lot of them which lead to Wade and James isolating a lot. There's only so much you can do when everybody outside of the Big Three is not capable of consistently producing offensively.

[Heej]

Literally every post Deadpool has made can be summed up with our team being flawed offensively, and then becoming exposed when our shooters don't hit shots. Do you not realize how easily we would have crushed Carlisle's zone if our guys were actually hitting their shots? It would have been child's play if we could have had even decent shooting nights from MM, Chalmers, and Bibby. We pretty much rely on them to be our zone busters, it's what we signed them for. And when they don't come through we get the ****-show we saw in the Finals.

[Pimpwerx]

A question I'd ask is, "does a team on the cusp need such significant changes?" I'd have to say no. We only need fine-tuning. PEACE.

[CablexDeadpool]

Literally every post Deadpool has made can be summed up with our team being flawed offensively, and then becoming exposed when our shooters don't hit shots. Do you not realize how easily we would have crushed Carlisle's zone if our guys were actually hitting their shots? It would have been child's play if we could have had even decent shooting nights from MM, Chalmers, and Bibby. We pretty much rely on them to be our zone busters, it's what we signed them for. And when they don't come through we get the ****-show we saw in the Finals.

And my issue isn't with the shooters not hitting shots, because they rarely hit shots, you can count on yours hands, how many times we actually saw our shooters hit shots if u ignore James Jones' production.

The problem is we relied on unreliable players and an unreliable gameplan. The Mavs knew our shooters couldn't hit a 3. They probably counted on Spo's stubbornness to keep going with the same players and they capitalized on it for 6 games. Spo had the same damn gameplan for 6 games.

Mavs lineup and subsitutions changed over the course of 6 games. Heat's was the same.


The solution to beat the Mavs without relying on our non shooting shooters, was to run the floor after every miss to try to get a layup or a foul on the other end and play lockdown D on the perimeter.

A question I'd ask is, "does a team on the cusp need such significant changes?" I'd have to say no. We only need fine-tuning. PEACE.

Yes they do, the entire gameplan from the start was a flawed gameplan in the first 17 games we saw them go 9-8. The Heat team we saw in the beginning season is the Heat team we saw in the Finals.

There was no evolution of the team, they still had the same issues, they still followed the same plan.

I am of course ignoring their record, because it's basketball, records don't matter if u are in the playoffs anyway and a team with Lebron and D Wade, records don't really matter. I am ignoring their offensive statistical rankings because every team with LBJ ends up one of the best offensive teams in the league.

I care about what I saw on the floor, what I saw on the floor wasn't good basketball, it just wasn't. The only plus we can put out over the course of that entire season was Lebron James has proven to be the best all around defensive player in the league. Lebron is one of the best midrange players in the game. Lebron is the most efficient post player. Other than that, I didn't see a positive overall in that team.

Of course I think they can get back into the playoffs and the ECF just based on the fact, it's LBJ and D Wade, but that gameplanning and that coaching, I am not positive on it based on the season.

Nothing was fixed, everything was pretty much just ignored and dismissed because we saw the Heroball play of LBJ and D Wade. We saw the aggressive perimeter defense and the spectacular fastbreaks, but I still didn't see an improvement in them.

Lebron and DWade bonded as players and they had great chemistry and I think that carried this team more than anything.

We saw that Spo pretty much relied on the talent and the defense to carry that team in the playoffs. It was like he gave up and said "okay you guys go play, D Wade and LBJ can bail us out of any offensive slump and we will grind it out."

It was hard to see the Heat play that way, you not gonna consistently and smoothly win that way with that style of play. It was pure dysfunction, it was just a total mental breakdown every game. It made our star player, Lebron look bad. He was at least trying to get others involved and trying to be the team player and take the back seat to Wade so Wade can get going. Bosh was all ineffective. It was a trainwreck.

I can understand if the Heat took it to game 7 and loss by a Dirk game winner off his back foot with Lebron guarding him. Then I would say we were close.

A change needs to happen because they need to realize that they can not play that slow grind it out ball with that team. You can't rely on 3 point shooters with that team. It's not gonna work because you gonna sacrifice a post player, you gonna sacrifice a ballhandler. Unless LBJ or Wade becomes a 42 percent 3 point shooter or we get a dominant post player like Zach Randolph, not gonna win playing that way.

They need to take this time to take a step back and realize what they need to become. Not just let's get some shooters or lets get a post player. That team is at it's best running and attacking and not setting up and trying to run sets because the court is smaller with Lebron and D Wade in the halfcourt. This team needs to use the entire court, this is not the 2005 Detriot Pistons.

Lebron needs to be used everywhere, can't just use him as a pick and roll guy and a point guard because then the court shrinks even more because he's so big and D Wade being on the court is just gonna make it worst.

The team needs to be younger so the Heat can run and defend. Heat can't have just a shooter or just a defender because they start 2 guys that need to have viable options on both offense and defense. No more weak links (Mike Miller, Mike Bibby, Joel Anthony etc.)

[DWadeno3]

And my issue isn't with the shooters not hitting shots, because they rarely hit shots, you can count on yours hands, how many times we actually saw our shooters hit shots if u ignore James Jones' production.

The problem is we relied on unreliable players and an unreliable gameplan. The Mavs knew our shooters couldn't hit a 3. They probably counted on Spo's stubbornness to keep going with the same players and they capitalized on it for 6 games. Spo had the same damn gameplan for 6 games.

Mavs lineup and subsitutions changed over the course of 6 games. Heat's was the same.


The solution to beat the Mavs without relying on our non shooting shooters, was to run the floor after every miss to try to get a layup or a foul on the other end and play lockdown D on the perimeter.

Don't you think we attempted to play lockdown defense and run every chance we get? It's not as easy as it seems when the other team is so freaking consistent from the outside and thus barely gives you long rebounds which allow you to run the break. Carlisle came up with a lot of great plays to expose our defense and Spoelstra was not capable of responding, which is my main issue with him: His lack of in-game adjustments. This has little to do with our plays as they are though.

Also, we had to rely on our shooters spacing the floor because we don't have a reliable post-scorer, which leads me to Spo's biggest fault in the playoffs and season: He didn't establish LeBron and especially Bosh in the post enough. During the season, he should've noticed that solely relying on our shooters is not a solution. But then again, I still question LeBron's and Bosh's willingness to constantly operate in the post and our point guards' ability to feed them properly. Sure, we could've tried to run more plays for Bosh and LeBron in the post, but no matter how you spin it, if our shooters can't punish double-teams and if our centers are offensive liabilities, we will struggle to score no matter what, as it allows the other team to constantly help out against our Big Three.

Defensively, Carlisle did the right thing. He knew Wade and LeBron would destroy every single one of his players in a 1-on-1 situation. Thus, he forced other guys to beat them and the only one who really stepped up was Chalmers. With LeBron playing the worst playoff series in his career, it made it all that much easier for Dallas to stop us. The only change Spoelstra should've made was to let James Jones play more, as he was our most consistent shooter. All this falls under the category of in-game adjustments though. While Spo is great at preparing a team for a game, he still struggles to read a game properly and respond to the opposing coach's changes. You usually learn this kind of stuff on the job though, which is why I'm willing to give Spo another year. If he doesn't show improvement, we can still fire him.

Heej and I never claimed Spo doesn't deserve a large part of the blame cake. We simply implied that we don't necessarily need a triangle offense and that our current plays are good enough when executed properly. Heck, if LeBron hadn't been as horrible as he was in the Finals, we probably wouldn't even have these discussions right now.