First Half:
The Heat started slow, missing their first four shots before Ware sank a bunny to end the drought. On the other end, the depleted Mavericks had no issue shredding the Heat defense with OMax Prosper acting as their big man and scoring very well. The Heat were decent with new-comers Kyle Anderson and Davion Mitchell doing good work on both ends.
Spo was fluid in his rotations, but nobody stood out on the offensive end to start. Unfortunately what’s becoming commonplace in Miami Heat games is that they can’t make any shots, even if they’re quality. At the end of the first quarter, the Heat were 6/18. Thankfully towards the end of the first Kel’El Ware started to assert himself.
Both teams looked lackadaisical on the floor, resembling more of a classroom of kids on the last day before Christmas break than NBA teams. Thankfully, for the viewers Miami picked things up somewhat with Ware anchoring the offense. Jaquez looked noticeably aggressive in this one as he hunted for buckets by slashing towards the rim.
Tyler continued to struggle for Miami, and with his long-range jumpers still not falling he elected to return to the midrange (a questionable decision that paid off). Herro’s struggles were brief with him suddenly stacking points.
Ware was almost video-game-like as Heat players found him for lobs. With the amount of damage, he was doing on offense, it was almost surprising how close the game was at times. With that being said, Max Christie and Dinwiddie menaced the Heat often. Mitchell however was excellent as always on defense, creating some highlight stops out of thin air.
With eight straight points for Tyler, the Heat would go into the second half up one.
Second Half:
After a strong close to the first half, Miami’s start of the second wasn’t great as it surrendered the lead. That was short-lived though with Tyler picking back up from three and continuing his offensive assault. Midway through the third quarter, things got a little chippy between Mitchell and Dinwiddie who were having their own battle within the war.
The Mavericks came surging back on an 8-0 run towards the end of the third quarter and took back the lead. Despite the Heat having good moments, its inability to pull ahead and make stops on the other end made this game uncomfortably close. Kessler Edwards was the main culprit exploding out of nowhere for a 13 point quarter.
Kyle Anderson was incredibly solid, attacking and scoring well to keep the Heat in striking distance. Niko Jovic was not good tonight, missing nearly all of his looks for the first 3 quarters (save one layup in the final seconds of the third). Credit it to him that he didn’t stop shooting, but we expect more out of Niko at this point.
Duncan got involved hitting a big three to open the fourth for Miami and steal back the lead briefly. It was Anderson, Dunc, Niko, Burks and Ware contributing on offense for the Heat as they attempted to mount something of a lead.
The lead would fluctuate the entire quarter, but things got sticky when the Mavs went on a 12-0 run in the final minutes of the fourth. Down six the Heat couldn’t help but make sloppy mistakes. Burks stopped the bleeding, but the Heat were racing against the clock. A huge three that set up Tyler for a 4-point play, created a chance for the Heat. Duncan followed that up with a big three of his own to get within 3 points. Max Christie would momentarily dash hopes, but a poorly timed tech by Dallas and one made Burks free throw kept the Heat within 3.
A huge stop by Miami gave it a chance to tie the game with 28.6 remaining. But a missed three by Tyler and Miami’s inability to foul following the brick cost them a chance at sending this to OT. Miami goes into the All-Star break with 4 straight losses.
***
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The reason behind the Miami Heat’s 4Q issues isn’t that complicated
What’s up with the Heat in these fourth quarters?
“In the end, the Heat’s fourth-quarter woes are a symptom of a lack of talent, time to gel and decisiveness. Critique the rotations, various coaching decisions and the officiating if you want, but sometimes it’s simple. The Heat just need to play better for 48 minutes.”
https://allucanheat.com/the-reason-behind-miami-heat-4q-issues-isn-t-that-complicated?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
were a darion fox away from challenging.need a new gm sunman send app down
Good article if you have time to read.
No team needs the All-Star break more than the ailing Miami Heat
In this week’s 5 Things U Can Heat, Erik Spoelstra isn’t coaching his best season but let’s not go overboard.
This quote kind of sums up a lot of Miami’s problem:
“The Heat are operating without a floor general or an elite creator. The top five offenses in the league (Cavs, Knicks, Nuggets, Celtics, Thunder) all have one or the other. Some of those teams have two elite creators who break down a defense. You need those dogs to be great on that end.”
https://allucanheat.com/no-team-needs-all-star-break-more-than-miami-heat?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
no sht pats fault.talent deficient team need 2 stars ty bam good players need 2 better or at least one and another good player.spo was spoiled with wade bron bosh jimmy now hes seeing what it is to be like bernie bickerstaff jr
All true. A superstar player can hide a multitude of sins. That’s what happened here. Jimmy carried us those two years maybe ten percent extra amount of the load, not that we didn’t have a reasonable supporting cast, but we did not match up favorably with any of the teams we beat in the playoffs that year. It was Jimmy.
he also made everybody better,hes a goof ball but a very smart bball player.ballers dont need coaches maybe the end of the roster can use a tip or 2.just give jimmy ball right play was made all the time.he was fantastic for us for that i thank him but the way it ended left bad taste in my mouth warm weather tennis latinas everywhere for him jimmy had the city for him and pat pissed him off.thanks pat your fault we are mediocre,get me another tro or lowry while your at it
Riley and Butler are equally to blame. They could have resolved their differences but are both stubborn, arrogant and narcissistic.
agree but at this stage of their careers id rather have a motivated jim than 80 yr old riley.riley needs to fn retire isnt there an age limit for gms
Nobody here wanted to give Jimmy a max extension until he proved himself worthy in terms of performance and availability. Apparently, he wanted to get paid up front and let the Heat take all the risk. He could have made his point some way other than quitting on his teammates. For a guy who said money wasn’t important and that he already had more than enough, he sure proved to be a money hungry &^%$, didn’t he?
Exactly, I am still glad we didn’t pay him.
your right sun he was missing to many games and at this stage not a ss anymore.but talent wins in this league and he wasnt replaced with equal talent .so its up to riley to get a butler like talent back wiggins is not it..not sure besides kd who is doable but this year is a wrap for jewelry.meanwhile i will just wait for jimmy to get hurt .if he plays this hard its inevitable.i root against him and i dont like stephs mouthpiece antics anyway.
Three things to learn from this game.
1.The Heat needs a shooting drills.
2.The weak side defense is consistently missing.
3.JJJ has been playing like someone out of control in the paint. The finesse is lacking and getting more crude.
1.maybe just get diff players including mr no d/ 2duncs free lancing puts us in binds all the time dude never stays with his guy he drifts around like a free safety in football always somebody winds up wide open .3 thats where top 15 coach comes in
That might be the lowest point of the season.
great description of bendedict butler, unfort pat ruffled his feathers “Jimmy, he’s a real deal,” Kerr said. “I mean, just a complete basketball player, methodical, under control all the time, plays at his own pace, never turns it over, sees the game and then can get to the line frequently. Great closer, not in the traditional sense where he’s going to be Kevin Durant and make four straight midrange jumpers, but it’s more of a complete game. Get to the line, make the right pass, get somebody else an open look, get a defensive stop, get a rebound. He’s a fantastic player.
Kerr should have seen him a couple years ago. Back then he could take over a game. Short term, it’s going to be an exciting year in San Francisco. But, they will grow tired of his prolonged absences soon enough. Jimmy did go to the best place for him. Was it the best for Golden State, possibly not.
dallas was perfect .gsw aint winning jack sht 30
Not surprised about Kerr’s read of Jimmy. He praised Jimmy’s IQ of the game and added that he knows how to play the game.
Three years ago, in 2022, I commented on this platform, that the NBA had 4 players who truly understood the game of basketball. They understood what their teams needed to win, either in defense or on offense. Excellent 2-way players. I called them the coach/player
on the court. Lebron, Draymond, Kawhi and Jimmy. When I watch these guys play, I never cease to be amazed how they can affect the flow of the game. Kerr’s comment bears me out to be correct of Jimmy. I have not watched Jimmy play since he joined Golden state but heard of Kerr’s comments on ESPN.
Unfortunately, age is not on the side of these players and they are not as fast as they used to be 3 to 5 years ago. I am looking forward to seeing the emergence of new players that I can call coach/players on the court.
I missed that.
The new generation of such type are different. more one way players.
Jokic, Luka and SGA, for example.
You right about luka, and jokic, but wrong about SGA. SGA is a two way player, it’s just his offense is mvp level, but his D is above average and has 104 defensive rating.
ants 2 way tatum brown 2 way .bird was not a great defender,when your luka and joker good offensively u can play d at duncs level,theres not to manyplayers id take over the ics .they make everybody better.the ics are 2 of the top 5 players in nba our ic is a joke ic,pat has set us up for mediocrity for the near future.until he gets us a whale w/o jimmy we could be fkd for a while.coaching doesnt matter its da players guys
Kerr should have seen him a few weeks ago when he quiet quit on his teammates in order to get what he wanted. Missing wrong legged 3’s, standing in the corner, not jumping for rebounds or shots, playing crappy defense, pouting, missing flights and shootarounds, etc. Nothing like a little money to get your Mojo back
embarassing how could an athlete getting paid millions ever do that..just demand a trade if pat pissed u off but be a professional.i root against him every game with gsw ..kerrs description of him is spot on though .meanwhile w/o him i know we have no chance of doing anything.up until this year the last 3 decades just about every year with a ss thought we could win it all
I hate to break it to you heat but we weren’t going to do anything this year, with or without Butler.
These guys were all out for Dallas and we still lost.
Oh well. Look at the bright side. If the Heat tanks it up the rest of the way and loses in the play-in round, and Golden State makes the playoffs, the Heat get two 2025 first round picks. If the Warriors make the play-in round but don’t advance to the playoffs, the Heat gets two 2025 lottery picks.
Spo should use the remainder of the season to play the young guys (plus G Leaguers) to see what he has and in what direction the team needs to go over the summer. The team definitely needs a closer.
mariano rivera avail
Not this guy. We need a real closer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLb7TSn2g5A
best closer ever.hes the michael jordan of closers.ty doesnt have enough ant ja athleticism handle to create space or kd height for a good look.his last second herro shots are usually well defended.need a brother with the shakes and bakes for the game winners.i thought slo mo was real solid last night he needs to play before jaime and the flying drop kicker.spos selection of personnel again has me scratching my head.hes been terrible.for a 24 0 run to happen the other day is all on him.he did nothing during the avalanche.good head coaches do something line up change call your best play something spobot u did nada
Don’t be too tough on Ty. He is the only guy anyone has to cover. He has all the moves you can ask for as he is a magnificent athlete. In fact, I believe you can count on your one hand the amount of white players who have come along with his hand eye coordination and athleticism. Often he is the most skilled player on the court. We are lucky to get to watch him. He isn’t the problem, it’s the lack of supporting athletes that hurts us.
Talk about not having any shake and bake, last night you could see the limitations in so many other players. For example, I am really concerned about JJJ, as his spin moves are his one trick and he is moving faster than his handles. And Nico, who has a strength in his power moves so he still could be a serviceable down rotation player, but there is a gawky tweenerness, as you pointed out, that renders him somewhat ineffective. He is fairly easily stopped when he has to create his own shot. Those two draft picks may have been, if not busts, less return than hoped.
They aren’t the only ones, we have two players, Mitchell and HH, who we wish’s had Ty’s offense. Dunc, unless his three is hitting, is a debit as opposed to an asset. Why is Love even in the nba? SloMo, is a down the rotation talent. Even Wiggins has shown us little so far. I hope he has more to offer than we have seen. Rozier has so many four for fifteen type shooting percentages even I lost faith in him and I thought he was going to be a favorite. In his defense, sometimes he too suffers from having to create his shot with no one else for the d to worry about.
We only have really good players in Bam and Ty, a little Burks, hopefully we will see more of Andrew, Terry on his good days, the still not fully realized potential of Kel ‘El, the defense and ball handling of Davion, and some rotation guys, an okay core but not really a strong supporting cast.
We avoid talking about the whiteness of the Heat, what I euphemistically refer to as Pat’s social experiment, accumulating six white players and having our rotation using five of them in high leverage, which no other team does. It was a strange attempt by Pat late in his career to try to prove something, not sure what. But, it didn’t just happen, that is for sure.
Maybe, because he found a gem in Ty, he thought he could reproduce it. But, Ty is such a rare athlete. If we had a decent team around Ty, we could win a championship.
liability or asset debit or credit.what were u expecting in frank zappa and shnozic 30.there playing at the level i expected.inconsistent.when your not athletic as u hav e mentioned u are def limited.its like a slow wr in the nfl at best possession wr.id like to see jaimes tape when he first got here he was awesome.since second half last year not to good.he needs to look at film with the film boy see how he was playing it wasnt like this.jovic gonna have to be a spot up shooter going to hoop unless guarded by a small player is not a good thing,i see them as maybe 8 9 type guys.ty is having a great 50 games no doubt.before this year very up and down.so tymeters up and hope it stays up.as far as athleticism its good not great watch ant ja
So cool to be able to discuss this. Yes, Ja and Ant are unbelievable athletes. But, Herro is truly gifted and is in maybe the top fifteen great athletes in the nba, which is the greatest athletes in the world. For example, I would also say Maxey is more athletic than Ty. There are maybe ten others, maybe a little better than Ty. But Ty is an incredibly gifted athlete, better than many quality nba players in that part of athleticism where your body responds very quickly and precisely to your commands and you move very fluidly. It’s funny that Ty is considered a liability in defense because he gets bullied. But, if you watch him, he stops and starts so quickly that nobody really fakes him out or blows past him and very few are faster either.
So, to sum it up, it is a privelege that we fans get to cheer for Ty like we do.
While I don’t believe you are racist, this ‘social experiment’ theme you raised here is, imo, absolute bullshit. I will not waste my time breaking down every player, but I did so with Jovic. The 4 players chosen before him and 3 subsequent were David Roddy, Marjon Beauchamp, Blake Wesley, Wendell Moore Jr, Patrick Baldwin, TyTy Washington, and Peyton Watson. ALL are men of color (Baldwin mixed?). NONE OF THEM ARE AS GOOD AS JOVIC. I believe Riley chose him because he thought he was the best available player in that spot. I believe he has done that in all the cases of players he picked up. Some of his choices turned out to be fine, others not so much. But I don’t believe there was any ‘agenda’ when he chose who he chose.
Our team is a statistical outlier in its player demographic and particularly in the usage patterns. I think you are bandying about your terms. This team stands out. No other team does it this way and historically, since the start of the seventies, very few have even tried. They talk about the old Celtics but there was Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Cedric Maxwell, Don Chaney, Gerald Henderson, ML Carr, Nate Archibald, and others. If you say I do have the temerity to call out the elephant in the room, I grant you that. This is more of observational analysis, with an eye towards the wonders and peculiarities of this great game and the superior athletes that make up its flavor and expression. And showing some well deserved Ty love.
And, albeit by just a tad, I do wish we would have taken Roddy or Moore, but we couldn’t. And that one pick we made, even if it was best available big, does not explain everything.
I haven’t analyzed every roster, so you may be right about being an outlier. I still think that they pick based on who is best available at that moment.
do u watch other teams
Sometimes. But I always pay attention to the draft and player profiles.
It’s true that, black players are more athletic, and we could use some more. But ty is special probably the most athletic white guy in league, you can tell by his rebounding, which is top tier for his position, can create for others, or himself. So herro shouldn’t get any slander. Jovic isn’t that athletic, doesn’t dunk, and below average rebounder for his size, but most European white players rely on skills, with back said I would still take jovic over Roddy, Moore, and others Czech said. They’re fringe nba players, way more of a bust then jovic. Jovic is still 21 with more time grow,and get stronger. Plus he shoots near 40 percent from 3, and really good passer,one of the best on the team. I will give you Jaquez tho, I wanted cam over him. Jaquez has regressed, and Also Pelle Is decent, but I feel like keshod will be better then him cuz of his top tier athletism. So I think keshod will have better d, rebounding, and a better scorer.
Good stuff. We both know there are more effective players than Ty, but those players have other skillsets like power to bully into the basket, that do not require the athleticism to snake thru the lane mostly using only finesse, like Ty does routinely. I try to think of other players like him and come up with maybe Pete Maravich, Danny Ainge (many forget what a tremendous athlete he was), then a few others like John Havlicek, Paul Westphal, and maybe John Stockton. Detleff Shrempf was quite athletic. We are not talking Larry Bird’s skillset, but more like Alan Iverson’s skillset, pure finesse.
Since we are on the subject of race, the real elephant in the room is the mixed race athletes like Steph, Thompson, Hartenstein, the Balls (not those), Tatum, Haliburton, Young, Gobert, Kuzma, Horford, Porter, Jamal Murray, Cunningham, the Martins and many others.
In 2023, 9.7% of the NBA players were biracial (African-American and Caucasian). In addition, There are other mixed race combinations. Jaquez and Booker are half Mexican, Clarkson is half Filipino, Hachimura is half Japanese. Kyrie Irving is 1/4 Lakota Indian, Jaylin Williams is half Vietnamese.
Today, White Europeans account for many NBA players, especially from former Yugoslavia—including two of the top five players in the league, Jokic and Doncic. The saying goes: “If the name ends with “vic” or “vitch” you know he’s a good shooter.” Former Yugoslavia is now made up of 6 or 7 countries, but the entire region comprises only 23 million people, not much more than the Netherlands.
Once again, it’s hard to make a definitive judgement about the role of player size. The data on average height in Europe is all over the place, but it does seem like Yugoslavians are a bit taller than average. If the dominance of black American athletes in the NBA nudges you toward an explanation focusing on how race might confer some sort of physical advantage, then the odd success of Yugoslavians points back toward a “cultural” explanation.
The picture gets even more complicated when we examine European athletes from a racial perspective. The many Yugoslavians that have played in the NBA are almost all white. But among non-Yugoslavian Europeans, black basketball stars are becoming almost as dominant as in the US. The best young NBA player is a mixed race center from France (Wemby) who was picked number one in the 2023 draft, and the top two picks in 2024 (Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher) were both mixed race players from France.
So, it isn’t as simple as Black & White, is it? There are also many shades of gray.
Fabulous take on a very complex topic
Thanks RC. Just trying to keep things real.
The bottom line is we all want better players to replace the not-so-good ones we now have. Whether they are athletic African Americans, tall or skilled Europeans, mixed race or other, it doesn’t really matter. As long as they are very good basketball players, I don’t think any of us gives a flying f*** what race they are or where they are from!
As 2qbn would say: TESTIFY!
i miss his ps also.dudes a funny dude.hes not taking as many shots at me lately have u talked to him about that rc
Good comments. We are a melting pot still growing past our primitive tendencies towards xenophobia. Perhaps someday we will be a post racial nation, more like Brazil in that regard. It is our greatness and what every other country respects most about us.
exactly how many nfl rbs are there that are white or wrs.that are white blaCKs are superior athletes everybody knows that,im 68 year old white dude and ive played basketball with brothers when i was younger and was amazed at their ahtleticism.obviousley the heat dont value athleticism lately..ty is the best white american basketball player in the usa he has really improved and i am pleasantly surprised how good he is playing.
your a 100% right
Always gonna be an interesting post when it starts off with “While I don’t believe that you are racist”
Yes, that was where I felt myself getting defensive. I swear I would never bring this stuff up if we were any other team in this league, even Utah, which is closest to us but they are not trying to compete. I bet you if you said to someone from another city, over drinks so you were talking freely, what do you think of the Heat? I would be surprised if demographics is not discussed.
So many insightful comments here. Great discourse! I’m glad we can have a civil discussion and respect different perspectives. If only the rest of society could do the same.
You know I respect you and your opinions. If that sentence came out anywhere beyond neutral, I apologize. But it turned into a great discussion.
It’s cool. I was glad you gave me a chance to discuss this. I am an RC fan. In fact, I have grown quite fond of all our posters..
Lol, great comment!!
i hope it isnt the case but our team is very vanilla and in the nba thats not a good thing.look at the other teams rc.bost has 2nd most3 porz pritch hauser ny 0 cleve strus phily 0 milw lopez orl 0 atl 0 out west minn 0 houst 1 senguin european dallas 0 okcs 2 chet shtein lal 1 reaves sac 0 gsw 1 porzienski
den 2 joker braun mia ty dunc jjj jovic ,
My only point was that I believe Riley and staff pick who they think is the best player at that moment and/or the best fit.
It was a good point. For sure Pat was aware of our make up and what adding each player he did add would impart to the team as a whole. I will point out that some of the choices were buy outs and trades, not just draft choices. But, to assume any tendencies in that direction is taking it too far.
Ah, but you are wrong. I only checked Boston. Besides the 3 you mentioned, they also have Kornet, Peterson, and some guy named Scheierman. That is 6, not 3!
Time to adjust our gaze towards the future. There was some good, Ty showed he was the best player on the court. Anderson looked fairly good. Ware was strong. Dunc came on a little. Two not so good were Jovic and JJJ. Those draft picks are so important, got to hit on them,,even in the midteens.