GT: Hornets @ Heat Wed Mar 8 7:30 EST

[Eoghan]

FFS we're just bound and determined to barely miss the playoffs and get a late lotto pick. Treadmill 4 lyfe.

[fatlever]

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When a team blows 19 4th Q leads in a season, does that say more about the players, coach or GM?

[fatlever]

Unrelated to my last post, because I'm really not sure where the blame lies with this team - but I'm still frustrated that Cliff continues to roll out Roberts expecting a different result, while not letting McCallum or Weber even sniff the court. For all I know, Weber might be a worse option, but you'd at least like to see Clifford try it rather than accepting the option that is known to be terrible.

Heat are out there with a squad full of young, hungry, energetic 2nd round picks and d-leaguers while steady Cliff keeps plodding away with his pet vets.

And like most of you guys suggested, I could not understand why Marco played entire 4th while MKG sat. Game was too fast for Marco. Needed MKGs hustle grit and energy, especially with a one-legged Batum on the return.

Seems like the refs let that game get away from them in the 1st Q. So much contact allowed. Typically Riley style of aggressive physical play, knowing refs can't/won't call all of it and will eventually just accept that level of contact as the norm.

Spoelstra should win coach of the year, so impressive what he has done with this team.

[fatlever]

Cliff wants guys who can defend? Play MKG more than 26 minutes. Weber and Graham over Marco and Roberts? No option at center. Wood had to play and he looked lost. Kemba playing thru double-teams and no space in 4th anyway, one man show on offense in face of attention. Who cares if Marco is not out there for "spacing".

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[fatlever]

Which bench guys is he specifically referring to in this rant? Marco seems obvious, yet Cliff played him all 4th. Can't bitch about a guy "not trying" and still leave him on the floor that much. Wood barely played, only 4 minutes, same with JOB. They both weren't good but hardly played enough minutes to really blame it all on them. Is he talking about his pet vet Roberts? Lamb? Is Lamb the scapegoat (pun intended)?

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[fatlever]

Pretty sure this play was on Batum. Lazy? Bad foot?

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[yosemiteben]

Had the exact same question fat. This is the closest I've come to thinking Cliff tried to tank by playing Marco.

[Mystical Apples]

Pretty sure this play was on Batum. Lazy? Bad foot?

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Nah it was Kemba then Cody. Watch you'll see.

[Mystical Apples]

On the first oreb Kemba got beat twice......once by Waiters down the middle and then was caught standing on the Waiters oreb.

On the 2nd Cody abandoned Whiteside on a premature rim run.

[fatlever]

Roberts with an offensive rating in the 60s tonight. He offensive rating for last 15 games is 95. For the season it even worse at 92. Amazingly, as bad as Sessions was, his offensive rating was 103.

Humor me Cliff. Try Weber for 5 games. If he sucks just as bad as Roberts and shows no signs of being worth development, then I'll gladly apologize and admit my mistake.

[fatlever]

On the first oreb Kemba got beat twice......once by Waiters down the middle and then was caught standing on the Waiters oreb.

On the 2nd Cody abandoned Whiteside on a premature rim run.

Thanks. Not sure why my eyes focused on Batum on that 2nd one. Must have been camera angle. I did not go back and rewatch, so it was a quick bang bang, then on to next frustrating moment.

BTW, holy hell Waiters. Calm down. In my frustration, I failed to at least give Waiters the credit deserved. That was some sick shooting on his part.

[316Hornets]

Roberts with an offensive rating in the 60s tonight. He offensive rating for last 15 games is 95. For the season it even worse at 92. Amazingly, as bad as Sessions was, his offensive rating was 103.

Humor me Cliff. Try Weber for 5 games. If he sucks just as bad as Roberts and shows no signs of being worth development, then I'll gladly apologize and admit my mistake.

At this point, I think Cliff is just on pin and needles and is afraid to try anything unconventional. He'll go down with the strategy he's used this entire season to basically save face for himself. If he actually did things like cut Marco's minutes or bench Roberts for Weber, and then the team actually started winning, he'd look foolish for waiting this long. Therefore, I don't see him trying out any other players unless he is just forced to.

[Bassman]

Cliff is by nature a habit dog...he resists change and struggles to alter strategy during games. But his biggest flaw is depending on and betting on vets over youth. I think mistakes by vets are forgiven while the same by youngsters are punished.

Everybody has their system. Clifford is just rigid.

[Braggins]

I'd like to think that Clifford is playing Roberts and closing with Marco to tank, but lets be real, that is him doing what he thinks gives us the best chance to win. I still like it since I want us to lose out at this point, but its as much a tank move as him playing Hibbert and Hawes together earlier in the season.

On the bright side, if Batum plays some games on a hobbled ankle it will help the tank even more. For once his combination of willingness to play through injuries and inability to be effective at all while playing through injury could work out in our favor.