This Thursday, Miami Heat Check gaming will travel to virtual Bean Town to take on the reeling Boston Celtics Crossover Gaming.
This Thursday, Miami Heat Check gaming will travel to virtual Bean Town to take on the reeling Boston Celtics Crossover Gaming. Coming off of an eight-point loss to the second-place Blazer5 Gaming (8-1), the Portland Trail Blazers’ 2K team, Boston will be looking to bounce back and show that they can get a victory when needed. Best case scenario for them to pull out a win versus Miami then win their next two games against the easier competition in Wizards District Gaming and Knicks Gaming.
They’ll have a bye week leading up to The Ticket Tournament where a guaranteed playoff berth will be granted to the winner regardless of regular season record. The Celtics must know that if they lose to Miami and aren’t able to handle business in their next two matches, their season is over unless they can run the gauntlet in the Ticket Tournament.
This circumstance is unfortunate, but it’s every bit true because coming out of this tournament, the Celtics have a doubleheader with The Turn Tournament winner Warriors Gaming Squad and the currently undefeated Mavs Gaming (9-0). I’d pencil those in as scheduled losses. The Celtics have the opportunity to take their destiny into their own hands and right the ship.
Miami is coming off of a weird week where they saw the fabulous debut of Hood in a 31-point thrashing of Cavs Legion GC followed by a 16-point loss to one of the best defensive teams in the league, Pacers Gaming.
To make matters worse, head coach Derric Franklin wasn’t able to make the trip due to an illness, and he was sorely missed. The silver lining? Center HotShot was awarded player of the week for his dominant play on the court by nearly averaging a triple-double across both games in week five. Though the team went 1-1 on the week, HotShot was able to average 15 points, 14.5 rebounds, 9 assists, 4.5 steals, and 2 blocks (all team highs for the week).
Keys to a Heat victory
Defense:
Miami Heat Check needs to watch out for the spread pick and roll with oFAB and NO xAUTOGRAPHSx. This is the bread and butter of the Celtics offense. The pick sets up a switch on the perimeter which then leads to a mismatch on the roll. If the man in the corner and the disadvantaged player underneath the basket don’t pre-switch, that’s an automatic lob over the top from Fab.
If the rotations are late or the Heat get caught ball watching, that’s a quick dot to the open man. With the gold dimer badge, Fab’s Sharpshooting Playmaker has that shot is an automatic bucket. Especially since the napping defender will only register a light contest or even worse no contest on the shot at all.
Since the Celtics run this action so much surrounded by 3-point shooters, they become incredibly predictable. And when have you seen a Miami Heat team not go for the kill defensively when the opportunities arose? Look for the Heat to do everything they can to get Lotty guarding oFAB. If this is successful, that’s game. Set. Match for Miami Heat Check gaming.
Offense:
Before trading for Hood, the Heat much resembled the offensive philosophies of the current Milwaukee Bucks led by Giannis Antetokounmpo. A great defensive team that loves to turn you over and get out on the fast break but has trouble scoring once in the half court. During his first game, he showed the fans what he could do for the team by keeping up the pace as well as being a vocal leader.
Expect Miami to make an emphasis on transition scoring. Both sides run almost the same lineup from top to bottom (primary Archetype listed second): Sharpshooting Playmaker, Pure Lockdown Defender, Shot Creating Sharpshooter, Sharpshooting Rim Protector, and a Pure Glass Cleaner.
The only difference is that Heat Check power forward 24K Dropoff prefers a Sharpshooting Rebounder which is clearly the better Archetype in my opinion. Can someone say silver Mid-Range Deadeye and gold Pick and Popper badges?
Now that the newly forged Heat have had a week of practice, we’ll be able to see what they’ve incorporated into their half-court playbook. The squad has the opportunity to be a bit more dynamic now that teams know there’s an aggressive point guard out there not wearing green who’s itching to let you know about yourself from across the stage.
Three Keys
1. Play aggressive defense targeted specifically to turn oFAB over since he’s prone to them in the first place.
2. Get out in transition and look to score every time down.
3. Incorporate 24K Dropoff into the half-court offense a little more so that his shots come a bit more consistently and on purpose.
The Heat’s next game will be Friday against the 6th place, battle-tested 76ers GC and it will not be easy, but first, they’ll need to handle business against Celtics Crossover Gaming.