GT: Hornets @ Heat Game 5 - 8PM - Time to Prove Ourselves !

Radu_Hornets · Post #1 » by **Radu_Hornets** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:01 pm

Game notes for the Hornets : http://www.nba.com/gamenotes/hornets.pdf

Game notes for the Heat: http://www.nba.com/gamenotes/heat.pdf

Goof luck charm:

Spoiler:

Roy Tarpley · Post #2 » by **Roy Tarpley** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:29 pm

My random pre-Game 5 thoughts:

- If I were Miami, I would NOT overlearn the lessons from Game 3 and 4. There is NO sudden swing of momentum to Charlotte. I would attribute the two Hornets wins to mostly home court advantage. In Game 5, the momentum will "magically" swing back to the Heat's side.

- If Miami overlearns the lesson of neutralizing Kemba and Lin's drives by doubleteaming or using hard fouls on drives to the basket, our 3PT shooters need to be prepared. Miami's original gameplan of neutralizing our 3 ball (which has been our meal ticket during the regular season) is the correct one, so if they panic and shift to packing the paint, then Marvin and Frank and Hawes and Lee (and hopefully Batum) need to be prepared to drop some bombs.

- Lin is tough, he's had a full season of being assaulted in the face so hard Miami fouls just means more trips to the charity stripe. Maybe even finally a flagrant?

- I love Al's mysterious willingness to set picks, but I'm always worried that he'll get called for illegal picks. Instead of having his arms down on his side, he always has them up by his chest, and almost pushes the defender as he sets the pick. I think he just doesn't want the contact, like he doesn't want contact when he posts up.

- As I expected, early in Game 4, Dragic came out on fire. But some foul trouble rattled him and he became a non-factor by the second half. I think he'll come out with the same intensity in Game 5 but with the benefit of home cooking, will avoid the foul trouble and be a big factor throughout the game.

- For the Hornets, I'm not sure what the takeaways from Games 3 and 4 were. Some people thought a new weapon was post-ups from Frank but Game 4 showed that was a one-off. Kemba, as our main star, needs to have a great game. With Batum out, Al in decline, and Marvin slumping, Lin has emerged as the #2 player and he needs to have a great game too.

- I don't think Cliff changes anything.

OmegaAtrocity · Post #3 » by **OmegaAtrocity** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:45 pm

I think i'm going to make a note of all the bs calls and non-calls for us from my point of view in this game. Will post tomorrow morning.

BatumtheGlue · Post #4 » by **BatumtheGlue** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:12 pm

This is the biggest game of this series. Can't wait to watch it. Go Hornets!

fafan · Post #5 » by **fafan** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:31 pm

Starters need to do better job not just dig hole. There will be no chance if behind too much at Maimi.

chabber · Post #6 » by **chabber** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:35 pm

Roy Tarpley wrote:My random pre-Game 5 thoughts:

- If I were Miami, I would NOT overlearn the lessons from Game 3 and 4. There is NO sudden swing of momentum to Charlotte. I would attribute the two Hornets wins to mostly home court advantage. In Game 5, the momentum will "magically" swing back to the Heat's side.

- If Miami overlearns the lesson of neutralizing Kemba and Lin's drives by doubleteaming or using hard fouls on drives to the basket, our 3PT shooters need to be prepared. Miami's original gameplan of neutralizing our 3 ball (which has been our meal ticket during the regular season) is the correct one, so if they panic and shift to packing the paint, then Marvin and Frank and Hawes and Lee (and hopefully Batum) need to be prepared to drop some bombs.

I agree. I think the correct call would be to continue with their current strategy. If they don't however, and they start blitzing P&R or just providing more help defense in general, then we have to get the ball moving and knock down some 3's.

Either way we're due a good shooting night right? I think we've just been saving it all up for the road.

LofJ · Post #7 » by **LofJ** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:01 pm

We're definitely due a good shooting night but it's wishful thinking for that to happen on the road. If we're going to win tonight we're going to do it on the defensive end.

That said with the defensive strategy they've been going with it REALLY sucks that MKG is not playing. They've struggled to stop Lin and Kemba from driving, they'd have no chance in hell of stopping both of them in addition to MKG. We would have eviscerated that defensive strategy from the get go.

I SO wish we can somehow manage to win this series and get MKG back sometime in round 2. The opening is right there in front of us clear as day. But we're only halfway there to winning this series and Miami is a really good team with HCA, it's still an uphill battle.

bws94 · Post #8 » by **bws94** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:12 pm

Looks like Batum is playing tonight. So I guess then it is back to Cody starting and Al on the bench. Hoping Batum is good and ready to go and not to hampered by the ankle and truly that he stays on the floor for the rest of the playoffs, and hopefully we can somehow win this round.

bws94 · Post #9 » by **bws94** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:21 pm

Batum is going to come off of the bench.

chabber · Post #10 » by **chabber** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:23 pm

bws94 wrote:Batum is going to come off of the bench.

I like that, good call.

LofJ · Post #11 » by **LofJ** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:27 pm

Lin, Batum, and Cody will destroy the Heat bench. We just need our starters to not get blown out and keep it relatively close.

TinmanZBoy · Post #12 » by **TinmanZBoy** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:30 pm

If Nic is going to play, I will play Al/Marvin/Nic/Lee/Kemba starting lineup....
1, you still want to establish Al in the post from the beginning... Both Nic and Kemba know how to set up Al and still get offense going better than the second unit that Al was in... and the defensively it is more balanced, since the starting unit can make up Al's shortcoming on D. Al is a great defensive rebounder.
2, another big reason is the new established chemistry of the second unit, Cody, Spencer,Lin, particularly in the defensive end...a big reason Lin got going is because Al was out of the picture most of the time, and Spencer is such a good passer and floor stretcher..
3, that means Frank probably will play spot minutes, depending on the flow of the game and matchups...
3,

UNCNYC · Post #13 » by **UNCNYC** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:05 pm

I would bring Nic off the bench in this game. If it aint broke don't fix it.

Roy Tarpley · Post #14 » by **Roy Tarpley** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:13 pm

Hasn't our starting lineup put us in a few holes, requiring a fix? Why put Batum on the bench, which has been playing well?

Post #15 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:29 pm

Rick Bonnell ‏@rick_bonnell 47m47 minutes ago
Nic Batum has asked Steve Clifford to play him off the bench tonight, so as not to disrupt chemistry.

Good man.

Post #16 » by **fatlever** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:36 pm

Roy Tarpley wrote:My random pre-Game 5 thoughts:

- If I were Miami, I would NOT overlearn the lessons from Game 3 and 4. There is NO sudden swing of momentum to Charlotte. I would attribute the two Hornets wins to mostly home court advantage. In Game 5, the momentum will "magically" swing back to the Heat's side.

- If Miami overlearns the lesson of neutralizing Kemba and Lin's drives by doubleteaming or using hard fouls on drives to the basket, our 3PT shooters need to be prepared. Miami's original gameplan of neutralizing our 3 ball (which has been our meal ticket during the regular season) is the correct one, so if they panic and shift to packing the paint, then Marvin and Frank and Hawes and Lee (and hopefully Batum) need to be prepared to drop some bombs.

- I don't think Cliff changes anything.

I think the strategy of staying home on shooters and killing our 3pt game was wise for games 1 and 2. But I think the Heat should have rethought that strategy once Batum went out. Batum is a key cog in our ability to take/make a lot of 3s. He is one of the better shooters as well as being the main passing threat for generating open catch-shoot looks for Kemba, Lin, Lee, Marvin and Frank. Once Batum was out, it was always inevitable that the Hornets offense would shift towards more of a Kemba/Lin centric offense with a ton of pick and rolls and some Al post ups mixed in. By having the wings stay at home, it allowed Kemba/Lin a lot more space to penetrate.

For game 5, I expect the Heat to try and contain the ball handlers coming off picks by cheating some off the shooters. They should bet that
A) it won't be easy to get hot shooting 3s on the road in the playoffs after 4 games of getting no looks and losing confidence
B) that Kemba might have difficulty creating open looks for those shooters

Perhaps a mix of both strategies is ideal. Stay at home and pressure shooters early, then come 2nd half when the shooters haven't had a good look all game and might be cold, start doubling-trapping Kemba/Lin aggressively to get the ball out of their hands and try to force Lee, Marvin, Al, Frank and Cody to make shots on the road.

We've also had 4 games were the refs were kind to us, which is unexpected. We have yet to have a game where we are the ones complaining about fouls. I expect that to change tonight. While it is understandable why we are getting so many fouls called - because of their aggressive defense and our shots in the paint off drives - we can't expect to get those calls for an entire series. At some point those calls will dry up.

Expect a lot of contact vs Kemba and Lin to go uncalled tonight. I hope our guys keep a level head and just continue to attack.

I expect more Haslem and less Amare and I wouldnt be surprised to see Green get another extended look if they aren't making shots. Wade and Dragic will be very aggressive on offense. Deng and JJ will get hot again.

MPM · Post #17 » by **MPM** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:36 pm

Go Cliff: http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id/15413046/miami-heat-center-hassan-whiteside-takes-issue-charlotte-hornets-flopping

EDIT: BTW, Whiteside's very vocal and very immature comments on officiating make me really call into question any interest the Hornets may have in him. He doesn't seem to meet many of Cho's requisites.

Post #18 » by **fatlever** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:37 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Rick Bonnell ‏@rick_bonnell 47m47 minutes ago
Nic Batum has asked Steve Clifford to play him off the bench tonight, so as not to disrupt chemistry.

Good man.

Wow, that's very big of him. Its probably the right move. Gotta love a bench unit of Lin, Batum, Cody and Hawes (if we go 9 deep).

Post #19 » by **fatlever** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:40 pm

MPM wrote:Go Cliff: http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id/15413046/miami-heat-center-hassan-whiteside-takes-issue-charlotte-hornets-flopping

EDIT: BTW, Whiteside's very vocal and very immature comments on officiating make me really call into question any interest the Hornets may have in him. He doesn't seem to meet many of Cho's requisites.

Awesome!!!

:lol:

"Listen, I watch the films really closely," Clifford said. "If you're going to get into career flopping between the two rosters, it wouldn't be close. So, I don't -- yeah. ... We don't have anybody that flops. We haven't had a flopping issue all year."

"Actually, the NBA reports -- they have 'em. Officiating reports. I wouldn't say that if you read those reports they could have any complaints about the officials," Clifford said. "Neither do we, by the way. But they certainly shouldn't."

Post #20 » by **fatlever** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:41 pm

"I asked to come off the bench for tonight because I don't want to mess up what we had for the last two games," he said. "It's not the [regular] season, it's the playoffs. All I want to do with this team is win.

"I'm not the type of guy who [wants] to get back into the lineup because I'm a starter. We're winning the last two games because we're playing a certain way of basketball, and because I'm back I don't want to mess up anything. I'm going to try to adjust [by] coming off the bench and play as hard as I can and as long as I can."