Heat vs Sixers Round 1 Game 1 Fight ! 4/14 Sat. 8PM EST

[___Rand___]

Still chasing shooters instead of switching

Well THIS. THIS is what I don't get. Do Heat guys know how to switch? How did you guys defend them when you played them before?

It might've been a match up issue. Wayne, TJ and Dragic were pretty much responsible for almost all of Reddick and Belinelli's points and it was because they were a step slow and couldn't fight thru screens. Imo we should've had Jrich and Winslow on the floor together more and have one cover the hot shooter they'd be able to get thru most of those screens a lot easier or switch when Ben simmons is setting the screen

Yeah Dragic was a no show on both ends. I didn't like Trevor Johnson either. What I don't get is why Spo didn't change up his defensive scheme one bit the entire 2nd half. Not once. I mean he's great at making adjustments. Sometimes even just changing something can disrupt the flow and rhythm of the other offense by making them hesitate just a split second more. As is, Sixers just kept running same kind of screens and transition offense all night and didn't have to think one bit. Spo didn't call a time out during that big 20-0 run in third as I recall. It was like both him and players switched off mentally. I don't recall seeing that from him before.

[Enso]

Good effort op!

[TasteThePainbow]

Their role players can all shoot. When they tasted blood, they went all in on us. Got everybody's game up.

I feel good about game 2 though. We just have to settle it to some rotations, and not go on 5 minute long stretches of zero offense. Somebody is going to have to step up and become a leader for us. Hopefully that will happen before we go into a 2-0 hole.

Btw, welcome, and post more.

Thanks for the welcome and I"ll try to.

And yeah, I agree. Biggest problem is the discrepancy in shooting between their role players and ours combined with the sometimes non-existant offence (which is obviously correlated with the lack of shooting). After a few minutes in the third quarter I was even hoping that Spo would just insert Babbit for some semblane of outside threat outside of Ellington.

Oh well. I do think the second half was a good wake-up call and that game 2 will be much closer.

[TasteThePainbow]

Yeah Dragic was a no show on both ends. I didn't like Trevor Johnson either. What I don't get is why Spo didn't change up his defensive scheme one bit the entire 2nd half. Not once. I mean he's great at making adjustments. Sometimes even just changing something can disrupt the flow and rhythm of the other offense by making them hesitate just a split second more. As is, Sixers just kept running same kind of screens and transition offense all night and didn't have to think one bit. Spo didn't call a time out during that big 20-0 run in third as I recall. It was like both him and players switched off mentally. I don't recall seeing that from him before.

Think he was too busy telling Hassan why he pulled him out of the game

I agree though. I just hoped for something even if it was just a simple switch scheme or switching JRich or Winslow on Marco and Ersan. I feel like those two guys are, to some extent, more important to stop than Ben Simmons. Let the Aussie collect his triple double. If we can limit their shooters (Redick and Covington too) those few extra assists and points for Simmons are meaningless.

[___Rand___]

Yeah Dragic was a no show on both ends. I didn't like Trevor Johnson either. What I don't get is why Spo didn't change up his defensive scheme one bit the entire 2nd half. Not once. I mean he's great at making adjustments. Sometimes even just changing something can disrupt the flow and rhythm of the other offense by making them hesitate just a split second more. As is, Sixers just kept running same kind of screens and transition offense all night and didn't have to think one bit. Spo didn't call a time out during that big 20-0 run in third as I recall. It was like both him and players switched off mentally. I don't recall seeing that from him before.

Think he was too busy telling Hassan why he pulled him out of the game

I agree though. I just hoped for something even if it was just a simple switch scheme or switching JRich or Winslow on Marco and Ersan. I feel like those two guys are, to some extent, more important to stop than Ben Simmons. Let the Aussie collect his triple double. If we can limit their shooters (Redick and Covington too) those few extra assists and points for Simmons are meaningless.

EXACTLY. Dude is 7'. He'll get rebounds. Don't let him get a full steam going downhill. Were you guys able to make him a perimeter player in the wins you got? I saw one or two of the Pacers' game vs. Simmons, and when Raps played them, they all made Simmons a perimeter player. We had shorter guys guarding Simmons - OG and backup PG Delon and it worked. Somehow both Pacers and Raps were able to limit Sixers' transition game, and their half court was easier to stop once you make Simmons stay at 3 point line.

[KingDavid]

Whiteside's getting paid 27 M's next year I believe, not much else to say about his performance

Ouch. NBA's changed so much in the short span of time between his contract signing and now. Wow I guess Heat are going to be cap challenged till his and Bosh's contracts are off the books.

Bosh has been off the books. Tyler Johnson is about to get $19 million this off-season since Arison matched his contract.

[Wiltside]

I spose the difficult thing is that Spo loves him some Kelly O. Against this team, there's not gonna be many opportunities to go with a Hassan/Kelly frontcourt, and that means Hassan sits.

Look, Hassan doesn't appear fully healthy, engaged or happy. I can see why Spo has cracked it with him. Having said that, this is nuking his trade value and he's still one of our better players. We need to find a way to get him up and about, or this will be a short series.

[___Rand___]

Whiteside's getting paid 27 M's next year I believe, not much else to say about his performance

Ouch. NBA's changed so much in the short span of time between his contract signing and now. Wow I guess Heat are going to be cap challenged till his and Bosh's contracts are off the books.

Bosh has been off the books. Tyler Johnson is about to get $19 million this off-season since Arison matched his contract.

Damn that's a lotta money for a 14ppg guard. I guess Riley's thinking he's going to keep improving and paid the money.

[Wiltside]

Ouch. NBA's changed so much in the short span of time between his contract signing and now. Wow I guess Heat are going to be cap challenged till his and Bosh's contracts are off the books.

Bosh has been off the books. Tyler Johnson is about to get $19 million this off-season since Arison matched his contract.

Damn that's a lotta money for a 14ppg guard. I guess Riley's thinking he's going to keep improving and paid the money.

14? try 11.7 on 43% :\

TJ was a nice enough piece when he was cheap, but this contract is an absolute albatross. Micky never, ever should've matched it.

[Kolkmania]

Still chasing shooters instead of switching

Well THIS. THIS is what I don't get. Do Heat guys know how to switch? How did you guys defend them when you played them before?

For one the Sixers just made a lot of difficult shots, the 60% from three is obviously not sustainable. However, the team as a whole is better in sync than a month ago when they last met. The lineups with Saric and Ilyasova as the 4/5 with Simmons as the ball handler are incredibly tough to guard. In the previous meetings Richardson and Johnson were really physical when Redick and Belinelli ran off screens which bothered them. However with Saric and Ilyasova in, those perimeter guys often screen for the big guys and Whiteside, Adebayo and Olynyk were way too late with their rotations for 90% of the time.

Predetermined switching could solve some problems, but then you have the big guys chasing Redick, etc. In addition the Sixers will often slip when they sense that the opponent switches, in that case Simmons usually picks a defense apart.