Friday, March 19, 2010

Orlando and Miami a 2 Versus 7 preview?

Miami has a big home game coming up against Charlotte if it wants to overtake them for the Eastern Conference's 6th seed. The Bobcats will be on the second game of a back to back that starts tonight in Atlanta, so there is reason to be optimistic. Two straight losses by the Cats would give Miami a 1/2 game lead on them.

However, should Miami remain in their current position, the #2 seed Orlando would be the first round opponent. At first glance it is a matchup we want no part of. However, JO seems to play with a lot more fire when he is up against Dwight. Also, the addition of Vince and subtraction of Hedo has made them a lot better of a match up for us, because it inserts two knuckle heads into the Orlando lineup in Mr. Carter and Matt Barnes. Rashard Lewis is not a true power forward, so they only have a noticeable size advantage when they go to their bench... assuming Dwight is kept relatively in check.

As frustrating as it has been to watch Miami fall behind at home to the Spurs and Magic and then come up short with their exhilarating comebacks, the mere fact that they have comebacks in them when other teams would have already packed it in is encouraging.

If Miami does want to avoid Orlando and Cleveland in the first round, they need to get hot right now as Charlotte, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Toronto are four of the next five opponents, along with the Nets. The final 8 games of the season will be against teams that are way under .500.

The ideal scenario seems to be the 6th seed and a first round match-up with Atlanta (who is battling Boston for playoff positioning), followed by a series with Orlando. However, I don't sense that Miami is afraid facing the Magic in the first round. They were one play away from taking the series 3-1. Hopefully Spoelstra and his boys put in some overtime on those late game scenarios that have seen potential victories against Orlando, Boston, Cleveland and Los Angeles (among many others) turn into gut wrenching defeats. This team has a hard enough road ahead without giving games away at the end.

14 comments:

  1. Though I may have hope in the players stepping it up, I am not encouraged that spo will improve.

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  2. I asked Ira this question the other day:

    I understand that spoelstra will be judged more critically with a better team around wade, but what kind of money would it take to convince a Jeff Van Gundy to take over this team when or if spoelstra falters with real talent?

    and this was Ira's response:

    I'm not sure with the Heat-Knicks history that Jeff would be embraced here.

    I open this question up to the floor

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  3. also, greg monroe says he is returning for junior season. one less guy

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  4. Can't see JVG working under Riley unless there's a shit ton of money involved + an absolute epic team.

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  5. I like JVG. Hated him when he was coaching the Knicks, but it has been so long since he was wrapped around Zo's leg.

    I believe Doc Rivers' contract in Boston runs out after the 2010-11 season. He is a former Pat Riley player from the Knicks days, I wonder if he could be stolen away from the Celtics since they could be in rebuilding mode by then.

    I don't really understand why Byron Scott was fired. Could there be interest there?

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  6. JVG???? do you guys want even less offense?

    Do you not remember how crappy his Houston teams were? Spotard has clouded your judgment.

    NO NO NO NO NO.

    We need someone like Houston's current coach.

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  7. Houston when healthy was a contender with JVG... T-Mac or Yao or both would always get hurt though.

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  8. Adelman >>> JVG

    Though van gundy is not a moron like Spo, i still think he is too defense-first.

    I have come to accept that Spo is a decent manager of a team, but not a coach. The team may win in spite of him, but it is doubtful he will do much to put them in position to win himself.

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  9. I agree with helium. I dont want another defense for all type of coach. I am tired of it. We need both sides of the ball. You want the truth, I dont want any of the coaches that are being thrown around, be it JVG, SCott, or Avery Johnson. All are good coaches and wayyyy better than what we have, but I dont think either is a final solution. JVG is good but hes all defense. Had enough of that. Scott wears on his players and seems to have favorites. If he doesnt run JR Smith away for peanuts, who knows how good that team would be. Avery.....we have seen his song and dance. No need to venture there imo. But yes, if Adelman was available, I take him in a heartbeat.

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  10. I still dont think Doc Rivers is a very good coach but that man knows how to call an offense. Its amazing how many plays/sets/looks the celtics run, even 2 years ago when they were healthy with 3 20 ppg threats. Even he was smart enough to not rely on isolation plays with 3 HOF guys. Shows how retarded Spoelstra is.

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  11. For those of you who want to learn how to do that incredible ball screen split that Wade does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxQnKulPT6k

    That guy's not too bad, its no D-Wade but it puts it in a nutshell.

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  12. Actually, tell Chalmers and Cook to watch it.

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  13. That's cool... I found a bunch of Wade's "The Art of..." videos on youtube - this one is on splitting the defense, very cool:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxrweKfFFIs&feature=related

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