Some perspectives.

[T Park]

So, your takes are

1. Heat are tired
2. Tim's not as good as Hibbert
3. Green is a bad defender
4. Spurs missed 3's were contested
5. Heat were coasting

Yikes...

[GSH]

#3 The Heat coasted for almost the entire second half.

Yo Gangsta. When the second half start?

[Aztecfan03]

I liked your forum and have been following it, but decided to make an account recently. Thought I'd provide some interesting perspectives. I'm a Houston resident and Rockets fan, but one of my best friends is from Ohio and a die hard Cavs fan/somewhat Lebron fan. Watched a lot of his/Heat games so thought I'd throw some things out there and see what you guys think/have to say as Spurs fans.

Things from game 1 that I'd like your thoughts on.

#1 The Spurs did a great job stopping the Heat from getting to the hoop only after the first half when they were worn down. The Heat's backup players had a pretty easy time taking it to the hoop. LBJ and Wade started this series really warn down and the thing that really worries me is every time they got man up with just Duncan between them and the hoop they took him to the hole and scored. (Especially Wade) Those guys are going to get stronger and Duncan's lateral movement was really slow. Way slower than Hibbert's. I know from watching enough that LBJ takes slacker shots when he's tired instead of dunking/challenging big's, and it seemed to me like putting Duncan in foul trouble would be really easy going forward because his lateral movement is so slow at this point in his career.

#2 There is only one good perimeter defender on your team. Kawhi... whoever he's not guarding can pretty much do whatever they want going to the hoop. Green on Wade was a joke and he's not exactly at full speed. The amount of times Wade took Green and Duncan to the hoop early was bad. Will Green get better as the series goes on in your opinions?

#3 The Heat coasted for almost the entire second half until the Spurs took advantage of them being worn down. Now that they have had 6 days of rest and no body banging against Pacers like bigs they will be coming a lot harder later on. The only player that looked terribly rusty was Duncan for 1 quarter. I've seen a lot of you guys talk about the bad 3 point shooting but a tired Heat team challenged almost every shot. This is exactly how the Thunder beat the Spurs last year by doubling down and then using superior athleticism to challenge threes anyway. Does it concern you that it should actually stay about the same 3 point percentage wise realistically? I've read a lot of comments about how the Spurs can play that much better offensively but are you seriously taking into account that they are playing one of the most athletic teams in the league with a deep bench. What if at best you get 1 good 3 point showing of 40%+ from here on out... do you see them winning?

I don't get to watch the Spurs much between being a Rockets fan and Watching Heat with my bud so I look forward to your thoughts.

To say Green is not a good perimeter defender is a joke. He had a bad game on that side of the game( Yes Heat players weren't the only ones not playing to their potential.

If the heat "coasted" in the 2nd half, it would make zero sense for them to be tired. Oh and the heat did not challenge almost every shot.

[Cry Havoc]

I love how the Spurs had no chance against Miami because we're old, yet we swept a much younger Memphis team out of the playoffs and now Miami is complaining of being tired. Maybe if the Heat were that good, they wouldn't have gone to 7 games against a fairly unimpressive Indy team that couldn't score 100 points in regulation to save their life, or their playoff chances?

[Cry Havoc]

Oh yeah, and Houston fans. They are keeping up the tradition they used to own of being the fans with the WORST takes on Spurstalk. That's saying something considering there are a plethora of Lakers homers downstairs.

[Cry Havoc]

Contested threes. Contested = being within 8 feet of the shooter.

[Seefourdc]

It's interesting how hard you are working to twist my opinions. I actually said in another thread that I think the Spurs did the most important thing they could have done by winning game 1 to win this series. It's not like I made a complete game analysis or suggested that the Spurs were in a bad spot. I'm just making some observations based on what I know from a more balanced and non-biased perspective. I do think that a lot of folks on this forum's opinions are very informed about the Spurs but completely uninformed about the Heat. Especially the way they look at the Heat vs. Pacers series. The Pacers are the BEST matched team in the league vs. the Heat currently. They are the best defensive team in the league by a pretty good margin through their starting 5 and the fact that their 6th man is a defensive specialist as well.

My point in asking the questions was to see someone discuss the actual matchup issues from people who know the Spurs well. No need to get defensive. We won't be matching up on the court tomorrow

[Seefourdc]

So, your takes are

1. Heat are tired
2. Tim's not as good as Hibbert
3. Green is a bad defender
4. Spurs missed 3's were contested
5. Heat were coasting

Nice twisting on some of the points.

#1 The heat were tired.
#2 Duncan is not a better *defender* than Hibbert. His lateral movement especially after pick and roll switches was really slow. Not only that but Duncan isn't a bruiser like him on the offensive end and that's what the Heat in particular really struggle with. (Basketball is a game of matchups) Duncan is an all time great. He's a way better player than Hibbert all around, over his career, and over the course of this season, but that doesn't mean he matches up better vs. the Heat.
#3 Green was terrible, but I haven't seen him defend athletic 2's regularly so I don't know if this is the norm at this point in his career. You can't legitimately rewatch the first half and tell me he wasn't the fall guy for a lot of the problems out there.
#4 You can call it contested or the shots were rushed. Watch it again. Athletic teams have this effect on the Spurs. Not much has changed that way since last year.
#5 The Heat did coast the entire 3rd quarter and a lot of the 4th. Or they were tired. Having watched enough of them playing I know this is true. It's a knock on THEM not the Spurs that they do this. The Heat are the most athletic team in the league but they were not pushing it either from being too tired to or because sometimes they lack mental for ude. It's not a new thing. They will go down 10-12 points some games in the first quarter just because they show up and coast to start. It's been a huge problem this season when they weren't tired. LBJ, Wade, and Bosh aren't MJ... they won't come out and attack the entire game and play to embarrass you so they let some pretty ty teams be way more in the game than they ought to be.

[Seefourdc]

Oh and I am a Rockets fan. I grew up in Houston and was young during Clutch city. I live a few hours away now in East TX. The only sports jerseys I've ever owned were an Oilers Warren Moon jersey and a Kenny Smith jersey. I don't have them anymore or I'd post a picture. The only other sports memorabilia I've owned is MN Vikings stuff because that's where my father is from. I'm legit. Sorry if you dudes deal with a lot of bull , I'm not trolling you. I came here because I wanted an honest opinion on the Spurs end of things since I know a lot more about the Heat atm.

[Bill_Brasky]

bringing the "Heat were coasting" argument up here in a Finals game

[Seefourdc]

bringing the "Heat were coasting" argument up here in a Finals game

Have you watched them play in any postseason series? They coast whole games to losses minus a few runs at times. Bobby Knight would be throwing chairs on the court a few games every series over their lack of effort at some point in EVERY playoff series. The sad part is the only team that pushed them this year was the Pacers and now they have to play a much, much more rounded team.

Tomorrow you will see what I mean. When they finally get beat for being slacking bas s they come back out and play a full 4 quarters. That's why they haven't lost 2 straight in 5 months. Someone here made one of the best posts I've seen when he said that the Spurs never got physical with the Heat and played very reserved in game 1 and proposed that it was actually a strategy. If it was a strategy it was brilliant because the Heat go from slackers to unbeatable when you push their buttons the right way.

Case in point. Lance Stephenson asking to guard LBJ in games 4-5, talking to LBJ in game 4 and then LBJ coming back and guarding Stephenson and giving him an 0-fer for 3 straight quarters in a blowout. Stephenson's trash talking didn't even bother LBJ, but the media rubbing it in for 3 days sure as did. That's what the Heat respond to sadly. They need to be embarrassed to play their best.

So yes, they coast. Why do you think Spo was so pissed off? He can't scream loud enough to get their attention... it has to be an outside factor.

[pikkiwoki]

i'm hungry