Timberwolves 91, Heat 88
by: Ira Winderman February 23rd, 2010
9:58 PM
Observations from Tuesday’s 91-88 loss to the Timberwolves at AmericanAirlines Arena:
This has to rank with the 39-point loss in Charlotte. Simply not acceptable
With 1.1 seconds to play, why do you have the player who is 6 of 7 on 3-pointers inbounding? Shouldn’t Dorell Wright have been the one set up for that final attempt taken by Daequan Cook? Wright was 6 of 7 on 3s, the rest of the team was 2 of 15 and he’s inbounding, with no chance to get a pass back to him in 1.1 seconds?
No, not the best day for the Heat to begin 2010-11 season-ticket sales.
The Michael Beasley experience summed up in one sequence: Early in third quarter, the second-year forward launches a quick and wayward 19-foot jumper that has point guard Carlos Arroyo glaring first at him, then at the bench. Then Beasley steals a Corey Brewer pass on the other end and streaks in for what becomes a 3-point play.
So young; so unrefined.
The start could not have been much uglier, with the Heat opening 4 of 12 from the field and falling behind 20-10 against an opponent that entered 4-24 on the road.
The Heat closed the first period down 24-15, at 6 of 18 from the field, even though Al Jefferson had only two points at that stage for the ‘Wolves.
It then got to 30-15 within the first two minutes of the second quarter.
It was ominous from the start, with Beasley’s first shot a 17-foot airball.
Then, about 10 minutes later, Darko Milicic (yes, he still is in the league) airballed the first of two free throws for Minnesota, before barely catching the front rim on the second.
Beasley didn’t do himself or the Heat any favors with his two first-quarter fouls. Without them, he could he returned earlier in the second period, when it was going south.
Michael Beasley reaches to block a pass from Jonny Flynn. (AP)
Beasley missed his first six shots, continuing his 3-of-11 struggles from Saturday’s loss in Dallas. He closed 5 of 18, never recognizing a bad shot.
Daequan Cook started at shooting guard in place of Wade, after Dorell Wright got the start Saturday in Dallas. He shot 4 of 13.
Wright, though, proved to be more of an impact player, with his energy reviving the Heat in the second quarter, with his 10 points in the quarter his high for any quarter this season.
Wright finished with his first career 20-point game off the bench, with a career-high 26 points.
Oh, and did we mention the Heat might not have the cap space to re-sign him this summer?
The zone was back, but, frankly, not that impressive, with Minnesota 5 of 7 on 3-pointers in the first half and 8 of 14 overall.
With his eighth point, Heat center Jermaine O’Neal went over 12,000 for his career. With his eighth point, Beasley went over 2,000.
Timberwolves forward Kevin Love delivered one of his trademark fullcourt passes to Brewer for a layup off a made Beasley free throw late in the second quarter, something Love built a reputation on during his time at UCLA.
Love somehow gets it done.
So you’re down 68-58 entering the fourth quarter and you open the period without either O’Neal or Beasley? Common sense finally ruled when O’Neal was reinserted with 10:45 to play,
The number of times the Heat refused to work all the way through a play was startling.
There is a 15th roster spot available and there is a need for a scorer, without any certainty of when Wade returns. Can the Heat afford to wait?
Mario Chalmers recorded the Heat’s second 4-point play of the season with 6:58 to go. The Heat’s other 4-point play was recorded by James Jones on Nov. 25 against Orlando.
Of course, the Heat came right back and fouled Love on a 3-point shot.
Ugh. Simply ugh.
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The only reason I posted Iras blog is because he actually questioned the coaching moves without criticising the coach. lol. Instead continuing to point out the players alone. You using a guy who is 6 for 7 on three pointers to inbound the ball on the last shot, says everything u need to know.
ReplyDelete"So you’re down 68-58 entering the fourth quarter and you open the period without either O’Neal or Beasley? Common sense finally ruled when O’Neal was reinserted with 10:45 to play"
ReplyDeleteSpo really needs to stop doing shit like this. If you're going to put in crappy line ups all game at least put in a good one in the 4th quarter when you're down. BTW, 58 pts after the first 3 quarters? Is this a d-league game?
"There is a 15th roster spot available and there is a need for a scorer, without any certainty of when Wade returns. Can the Heat afford to wait? "
ReplyDeleteIf Von Wafer is healthy, its times. Should have traded for Nate Robinson like I said months ago. Oh wait I forgot, we aren't running a circus here....idiots.
i think wafer inked a deal with dallas right???
ReplyDeletelarry hughes just got bought out...if we are already paying the tax then why not add someone that could help, even if its a little.
really wanted us to sign Flip in last off season.
small but good move.
I wanted Flip as well, this has been a strange year to come to grips with. I dont know what Wafer is doing, last I had heard was he failed his physical a few months ago. That was a guy, after last year in Houston, that I found it absurd he couldnt get work. He couldnt have been that inured.
ReplyDeleteFlip would have been nice here tho. He probably would have eliminated the need for Arroyo, who wasnt a bad pickup, but Flip fills 2 holes as a combo gaurd.
There were a lot of "small" moves we should have made in the offseason. I wont go down the list but Randolph and Arroyo? was that really necessasry over what else was out there? Mickey thats being ridiculously cheap.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else thinks Sundiata(?) Gaines would be our starting PG?
ReplyDeleteI dont have a problem with Skip as our starting pg this year. He does everything right except make a freaking shot, as crazy as that sounds. I tell you what, had Skip played, I doubt Flynn would have been as effective as he was.
ReplyDeletewould larry hughes help this team? thats a legitimate question at this point
ReplyDeleteNot making shots is a BIG thing though. Considering most of the time he's left wide open. Lets say he hits 3 more wide open shots throughout the course of a game.. that's 6-9 more pts right there which is usually the deciding factor in the average NBA game. Those are the wide open shots that Fisher, J-Will, Delonte West, Anthony Parker, Jason Kidd, etc hit for their teams.
ReplyDeleteHughes is streaky as hell. At this point he's Daequan Cook.
ReplyDeleteapparently larry hughes has a broken finger
ReplyDeleteHe also has a broken jump shot
ReplyDeleteChris I cant argue with that at all. But, Skip brings things to the table the other 2 pgs just cant, and thats defense, creating,pushing the ball on the break, and having somewhat of a decent IQ. True enough tho if he hits those 2 or 3 shots a game, thats big for us. I just dont think his shooting takes us OUT of any games because its not like hes jacking up double digit attempts every night. At least the man recognizes that part of his game sucks.
ReplyDeleteBack to Hughes tho, I think its the same thing. He has been crap since he left Washington, its just our team is so terrible in so many areas, there has to be something said for an extra ball handler and defender being added. Not advocating a move for Hughes but on this team, every little bit helps. Someone please find out where the fu*k Von Wafer is.....
kb
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=4940999
"our team is so terrible in so many areas,"
ReplyDeletequote of the day...
Starts at Head Coach.
"It's about Jermaine O'Neal making more money this season than Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Eric Maynor, Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green combined."
ReplyDelete...and they're 33-22 (we're 29-29)
Iverson
ReplyDeleteTinsely
Nate
FLip
And now Wafer.... I dont think I want to hear anymore about the ineptness of our back court
sans Wade, we had our chances to upgrade. Someone tell Ira to start pointing fingers for a change and stop insulting players alone.
21 year old Michael Beasley had an off game and people are coming on here making bold statements like he doesn’t get lol. Yes his shot struggled like allstars, especially Kobe, who last year had 29 games shooting under 40% and practically everyone else. Yes he shouldnt have settled for the outside shot as much. But lets face reality here, a Michael Redd, a Kevin Martin, a Vince Carter, a Rashard Lewis, a Jason Richardson, a Bed Gordon, an Al Harrington and others, would not have contributed in other areas. The fact that he recorded 4 blks, 2 stls, 9 rebounds, 4-4 fts should be a welcome sign for Heat fans. Thats what great players do. Instead, we are sitting on a blog claiming that Beasley is a Tito, and will always be one after watching just his 3rd game now, without Wade. He is a Junior in college right now, he is trying, he is learning motivational techniques to get him going and get him mad. You know where he learns this from? Wade. Wasn’t Wade the one who recreated himself because he wanted to prove the “doubters”, he was “angry” that he barely got invited to USA Basketball Olympics, that he was out of the top 5 players discussion, etc, etc. Wade probably uses anger, more than any other superstar to motivate himself. That is exactly what Bease is doing, and I for one and proud of him. And I know I dont say this enough, but I am proud of Haslem for being Beasleys best friend, and trying to make him the best competitor that he can be. But lets stop this bashing of Beasley after 2 bad games. Dont u think this is quite a small sample size? I mean, Josh and others were saying that Wade was out of the top 5 players after 25 games because his Fg% was so damn low. Have u seen his Fg% lately? Its going up, and up, and up, and up. So, lets try to have some perspective here and give Bease a realistic sample size here on which to judge. Its only fair. I know there are agendas here on this blog, but id like to think that we all Heat fans. There are definitely some positives to take from Bease these last few games.
ReplyDeletewait...do we run screens for Beasley?
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with JO himself. All he did was get paid a lot in a system with a fucked up salary structure. That whole thing goes back to buying shaq then dumping him. At least Ira had the balls to blame someone other than Beas alone - PGs. But he is still too chicken-shit to call out the great Spo directly.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what...if Beasley can be as good as Odom one day, I'll be happy.
ReplyDelete