Really starting to doubt our defensive system-Spo Clueless

[mopper8]

I'll agree that any shot from 20+ feet or beyond (from a guard) should just be a 3 instead of a long 2. We should have nearly no shots from 20-23 feet IMO.

The turnover thing is tricky; it's all about finding balance. You gamble too much, you end up with penetration and either shots at the rim, or kick-outs to 3-point shooters. But obviously, I agree that we want to create turnovers. I think its about balance there.

As for matchups, I thought in the playoffs last year we had a lot more variety on defense throughout a series or even game than we did in the regular season, and I imagine part of that is simply that the scouting and game-planning is much more thorough in the playoffs.

I also don't want to draw too many conclusions from the regular season because, with so few practices, I imagine much of the experimenting with schemes and lineups is coming in-game.

That being said, I don't want to make excuses for Spo or the players; the D should be better. But right now, Miami has the #1 Ortg and #2 SRS, and the team we just absolutely waxed the team with the #1 SRS by 20 points for the second time this season, this time on their court. So, the team looks pretty good overall lol. 9th in Drtg is too low though

[HIF]

great post Mopper

[WD]

For The Record

All I hear from this team and some other teams and sports announcers is "this or that" starts on the defensive end" - well that's a know fact. the issue as i see it is, that EVERY team plays defense, some better than others.

Miami has a proprietary and exclusive way of playing defense which forces the players to do more running/closing out than most teams. I wonder with all of the athletes on this team, why we don't play a more traditional defense?

One last thing, it's nice to hear Eric Reid brag about the "Heat Culture" when a player takes a charge - we are the only team that intentionally takes so many charges - again another proprietary scheme we have. Personally besides roughing up your knuts, it's over rated.

[RexBoyWonder]

Great adjustment by SPOBOT Vs the Magic...they're only 8-14 from 3 point range to start the second quarter.

**** disgusted.

This team aint winning **** with this suicidal defensive scheme.

[Kerosene]

Great adjustment by SPOBOT Vs the Magic...they're only 8-14 from 3 point range to start the second quarter.

**** disgusted.

This team aint winning **** with this suicidal defensive scheme.

[This IsMy House]

Spo desperately needs to fix this "defense" we have. Stop helping so damn much on s*** players and worry about the guy who's going to light you up from 3. I'm pretty sure tonight was the first time Duhon has ever been doubled in his career.

[Lord Hades]

Every single ****ing night.

[TRG]

We're not winning a championship this year with this **** defense, seriously. Good jump shooting teams are going to continue having a field day against us until Spo gets his head out of his ass.

I'm so done with Spo at this point. Would Doc Rivers or Thibs allow for such a terrible defensive scheme? Absolutely not...

[Miamis3rdRing]

This is what happens when your coaching staff does not look at scouting reports or watch other teams play.

Imagine you are suddenly made head coach of a European basketball team. Unless you follow Euro basketball, you don't know s*** about the teams, players, or playing style. Without knowing a single thing about the opposition you would not know how to plan accordingly for them.

That's the fate of this team. It simply does not have the ability or knowledge to realize the style of play the opposition uses.

Spoelstra and Co. didn't even know Orlando could shoot 3's well. Even after this game I'm not fully convinced that they know.

This team will only play one way, and if doesn't work they just say "Oh well, we'll keep trying our way".

[This IsMy House]

For a coach who loves to study film, he sure seemed shocked at the amount of 3s Orlando jacked up and made.....I mean I'm no NBA coach or NBA pro, just an average fan, and even I knew they were going to do that.

[DefenseWins]

#1 in opponent 3's made and #1 in opponent 3's ATTEMPTED.

There's some holes here and this team was the most watched by other teams. I think there's some scouting report that there's wholes in the defense and the team just doesn't adjust.

They overhelp SOOO MUCH WOW.

They might not even make it to the Finals if they allow this to continue. This wasn't a problem in the playoffs, sort of in the Finals.

But something HAS TO BE DONE. BRING BACK THE OLD DEFENSE OR SOMETHING.

[This IsMy House]

#1 in opponent 3's made and #1 in opponent 3's ATTEMPTED.

There's some holes here and this team was the most watched by other teams. I think there's some scouting report that there's wholes in the defense and the team just doesn't adjust.

They overhelp SOOO MUCH WOW.

They might not even make it to the Finals if they allow this to continue. This wasn't a problem in the playoffs, sort of in the Finals.

But something HAS TO BE DONE. BRING BACK THE OLD DEFENSE OR SOMETHING.

They doubled Duhon. Game over.

[DefenseWins]

I remember Jason Terry saying this team wasn't that good defensively and he thought Portland was better. I guess he wasn't trolling...

[TRG]

#1 in opponent 3's made and #1 in opponent 3's ATTEMPTED.

There's some holes here and this team was the most watched by other teams. I think there's some scouting report that there's wholes in the defense and the team just doesn't adjust.

They overhelp SOOO MUCH WOW.

They might not even make it to the Finals if they allow this to continue. This wasn't a problem in the playoffs, sort of in the Finals.

But something HAS TO BE DONE. BRING BACK THE OLD DEFENSE OR SOMETHING.

You would THINK that after the Finals last year this team would finally learn how to combat 3 point shooting teams. After Dallas exposed us, they laid out the blueprint for the rest of the NBA on how to do the exact same, and we're just now seeing the results of this.

Our coaching staff's inability to LEARN and to ADAPT is just mind-boggling at this point. We have too much talent on our team to keep allowing these 3 point assaults! How many times do we need to keep getting lit up from the 3 point line until we finally learn??

[GreenHat]

Those of you saying that Spo and the coach staff don't watch any film are overstating things.

They watch plenty of film. They were aware Orlando shoots a huge amount of threes.

They were just unable to stop it.

You can blame some of it on the players, but allowing 42 attempts is a systematic issue not an execution issue.

It wasn't even like they got hot. If they were hot tonight we would have lost even if our offense played well tonight.

[OtW]

"AAAGH! WTF DO YOU MEAN ORLANDO IS A GOOD 3 POINT SHOOTING TEAM?!?!?!? It's not like they have a supporting cast of jump shooters! Come on, it's not like Ryan Anderson is currently leading the league in 3 pointers attempted and made. It's not like Hedo, J-Rich, and Nelson don't have 3 point strokes. And what is this you are saying? No way they can't send the pall into Dwight for a kick out, they are not a jump shooting team. I coached Q-Rich in Miami, he was definitely a slasher/athletic scorer, not a 3 point shooter.

And what do you mean? No way they have JJ Reddick coming off the bench for 3's, either! So stop lying to me, I'm not reading scouting reports anymore."

[Wade2k6]

You'd have a point if this only happened a 2 or 3 times this year, but it's clearly an issue. I don't see how anybody can't see that. There's entirely too much helping on the PnR. I don't know why Haslem and JA feel the need to continue hedging (just about doubling the ball handler) 2-3 seconds after the defender has already recovered.

Miami is 22nd percentage wise on 3pt shots.
Of the 7 teams worse than Miami, only 1 other team has more then 460 attempts against. Miami has 542. None of those teams, with the exception of Denver, are within 20 of the Heat in made 3pt shots against. Sorry but that's unacceptable with a team that moves as quick defensively and is as athletic as this team.
(not sure if this is counting tonights game or not).

[Voice_of_Reason]

The game got away from us in the 3rd because Dwight was scoring from the post and hitting the open man in the pocket when we were forced to double. I am perfectly fine with that defence. If we just kept playing Dwight straight up he would continue to score and continue to get fouled, and make us look stupid. Give up the 3 instead of a 4 foot hook, fine.

We must remember this team is being built for the playoffs and winning a championship. In a short season where training is limited I'd rather we continue to work on one defensive scheme and not continually change depending on opponent. In a 7 game series there is room for adjustments and opponent scouting. Continue to work on us, and forget who the opponent is.

[Voice_of_Reason]

The bigger issue right now is getting Bosh involved with LeBron and Wade on the court.