All U Can Heat » site news http://allucanheat.com A Miami Heat Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Sun, 26 May 2013 05:00:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Game 2 Preview: Indiana Pacers (0-1) at Miami Heat (1-0) http://allucanheat.com/2013/05/24/game-2-preview-indiana-pacers-0-1-at-miami-heat-1-0/ http://allucanheat.com/2013/05/24/game-2-preview-indiana-pacers-0-1-at-miami-heat-1-0/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 22:49:22 +0000 Jae Bradley http://allucanheat.com/?p=5735 1. How can the Miami Heat improve in Game 2? I think on some level, the Miami Heat didn’t take the Indiana Pacers as seriously as they should have in Game 1.  For example, when Paul George hit a deep three to tie the game as time expired, LeBron had the chance to close Paul George [...]

Game 2 Preview: Indiana Pacers (0-1) at Miami Heat (1-0) - All U Can Heat - All U Can Heat - A Miami Heat Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

]]> 1. How can the Miami Heat improve in Game 2?

I think on some level, the Miami Heat didn’t take the Indiana Pacers as seriously as they should have in Game 1.  For example, when Paul George hit a deep three to tie the game as time expired, LeBron had the chance to close Paul George out, and simply didn’t.  It was almost as if LeBron couldn’t (or didn’t want to) believe that Paul George could possibly hit the game-tying shot.  

If LeBron had closed out, would he have blocked the shot?  No.  
Could he have possibly altered the shot?  Yes.  
When your best player doesn’t close out on a game-tying shot does that say something about your team’s mentality?  Yes.

Hopefully, Game 1 was a wake-up call for the Miami Heat that the Indiana Pacers are a legitimate threat to the Heat’s title aspirations and that they need to do everything possible (even the little things, like, I don’t know, closing out the best player on the opposing team as they are taking the game-tying shot) to ensure victory. 

This is not to say the Heat weren’t intense (just look at their reaction at the end of the game) but that there is a subtle difference between being intense and doing everything you can to win — and the Miami Heat need to do everything they can to win.

2. Should Roy Hibbert have been benched in Game 1?

It is so so so easy to Monday Morning quarterback.  For example, if LeBron had taken a jumper instead of a layup, people wouldn’t be as uproariously anti-Frank Vogel as they are right now.  

I defend Frank Vogel’s decision, partly because Roy Hibbert is less mobile than White Goodman at the end of Dodgeball.  Miami had Norris Cole, Ray Allen, Shane Battier, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh on the last play.  What ended up happening (I break down the play, literally frame-by-frame) was that Ray Allen’s defender, Sam Young and Chris Bosh’s defender, Tyler Hansbrough (which would have been Hibbert, if he was in) switched — so now Tyler Hansbrough is on Ray Allen and Sam Young is defending Chris Bosh.  

Hansbrough guarding Allen is not as bad a matchup as Hibbert guarding Ray Allen (which is the equivalent of a freight train trying to keep up with a Kawazaki motorcycle).  The final thing is that even if Hibbert was in the game, Ray Allen was standing in the corner during LeBron’s drive, so Hibbert (who would have been guarding Ray Allen after he and Sam Young switched defenders) would have been in the corner, and not in any position to defend LeBron.


3. What is the most important match up for your team?

This series is going to be about rebounds, because there are going to be a ton of missed shots in this series due to a great Pacers defense and a bad Pacers offense.  For example, in Game 1 there was a total of 91 missed shots.  That’s a lot of rebounds, and whichever team can rebound the best (i.e. get those crucial offensive rebounds and corral defensive rebounds) is going to have those vital second-chance opportunities that determine whether one wins or loses a game.

This means that the battle in the paint (Bosh vs. Hibbert) is the most important match up for this team.  Bosh brings a lot to the table (foremost, his ability to be a legit pick-and-pop threat) but he also needs to be tougher in the paint — Bosh only had two (two!!!) rebounds in Game 1.  To put this into perspective, Norris Cole had four rebounds.  

4. Who needs to step up the most tonight?

Dwyane Wade

Don’t get me wrong, Wade played a good Game 1 (other than the minor detail that Wade fouled Paul George on a three-pointer in overtime, which 1. Put the Pacers up by one after George drained all of his free throws 2. Meant Wade had fouled out of the game).  Wade had 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting, six rebounds, and five assists — all good stats — but he needs to prove he can be a consistent second banana to LeBron James, which Wade has not done throughout the playoffs.  Much of it is has to do with his right knee injury, but Wade needs to get off his playoff schneid and perform well every single game for the duration of the playoffs.

5. What are your predictions for tonight’s game?

With the Indiana Pacers reeling from a very tough loss, and the Miami Heat motivated to take a 2-0 lead, the Miami Heat will win Game 2, 84-78.

My bold prediction for tonight is that Ray Allen and Udonis Haslem each score more than 15 points.
]]> http://allucanheat.com/2013/05/24/game-2-preview-indiana-pacers-0-1-at-miami-heat-1-0/feed/ 0 Why Frank Vogel Is Not A Terrible Coach http://allucanheat.com/2013/05/23/why-frank-vogel-is-not-a-terrible-coach/ http://allucanheat.com/2013/05/23/why-frank-vogel-is-not-a-terrible-coach/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 00:34:54 +0000 Jae Bradley http://allucanheat.com/?p=5727 Right after the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers on a LeBron James layup, which I’ve broken down frame-by-frame (I strongly urge you to read that article), everybody was trashing Frank Vogel for not having Roy Hibbert in the game. Um, yeah, that’s why I woudln’t have sat Hibbert if I were Frank Vogel. — J.A. Adande (@jadande) May [...]

Why Frank Vogel Is Not A Terrible Coach - All U Can Heat - All U Can Heat - A Miami Heat Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Right after the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers on a LeBron James layup, which I’ve broken down frame-by-frame (I strongly urge you to read that article), everybody was trashing Frank Vogel for not having Roy Hibbert in the game.

And my favorite tweet:

Here’s Frank Vogel’s explanation:

Basically, Vogel was afraid of getting burned on a Bosh midrange jumper via a pick-and-pop, or a Bosh catch-and-shoot at the elbow (one of Bosh’s favorite places to shoot).  Roy Hibbert, while an excellent rim protector, is not the most mobile guy — and Vogel was (rightly) afraid of Chris Bosh’s ability to shoot the mid-range jumper, so Vogel put Tyler Hansbrough on Bosh.

Let’s not forget that Bosh is a bona fide All-Star caliber player in his own right, and that he can hit clutch shots as well (remember the game-winning three from the San Antonio Spurs game this year?).  You have to respect talent, and Bosh is very talented; Vogel respected that talent by putting a more mobile big man (Hansbrough) on Bosh.

On Miami’s final play, Hansbrough actually ended up switched from defending Bosh to defending Ray Allen due to Sam Young’s lack of defense and Ray Allen’s excellent movement.  So even if Hibbert was in the game, and was initially guarding Chris Bosh, he probably would have ended up guarding Ray Allen in the corner (like Hansbrough) and away from the play instead of protecting the rim.

Which brings me to my next point: Miami went really really small on their last play.  They had Norris Cole, Ray Allen, Shane Battier, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh out on the floor.  Obviously, Spoelstra’s plan was probably to screen for a shooter and get an open look in the last 2.2 seconds.  And essentially, this was true — Ray Allen and Norris Cole both came off LeBron James and Chris Bosh screens, respectively.  However, the Pacers guarded the shooters very well, partly because Hansbrough was able to switch with Sam Young and defend Ray Allen.  Hibbert would probably not have been able to make the switch, and even if he had, Ray Allen vs. Hibbert is a greater mismatch than Ray Allen vs. Tyler Hansbrough.

So the real culprit here is not Frank Vogel, but rather Paul George.  See Paul George did the one thing that he should not have done — he played LeBron too closely.  During the timeout Frank Vogel is probably telling Paul George something to the extent of

Look, let LeBron take a jumper; if he makes it, fine, if he doesn’t make it, that’s great.  But whatever you do, don’t let LeBron go by you because the Heat have (basically) a five good perimeter jump shooters spreading the floor, and there is going to be nobody behind you to help. 

But Paul George overextends himself, and because of the great set that Miami ran, there was no help defense, and the rest is history.  It’s easy to Monday Morning quarterback — to point out what when something goes wrong — but if Paul George had actually played some solid defense and LeBron had missed a jumper (or even if LeBron had made a jumper) nobody would be talking about how Frank Vogel is an idiot for not having Roy Hibbert in the game, they would probably be making bad “fourth quarter” jokes about LeBron.

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