Heat problems

john mccall sun sentinel durant
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The Heat have problems. They have lost seven games in a row by an average of 17 points. The team’s body language looks horrendous on the court. Jimmy Butler says, “we’re not guarding anybody.” in this article here from Reuters. Maybe that changed during the video practice session. Read the article here on HeatNation. The trade of Kyle Lowry was huge as he was a “glue guy” like I put in my article here. Maybe now that he’s gone, players can finally speak their minds. Lets take a look at the obvious.

Problem #3 — Seems like everything happened after this game

The Heat had just beaten Brooklyn and were seven games over .500. In the post-game press conference, Coach Spolestra began to talk about wanting the team to win a game “in the mud” and have problems offensively. It seems that he might’ve jinxed the team with his talking because the team went “deep in the mud.” Obviously, this is an extreme speculation but the team was scoring over 115 points per game before the losing streak and then couldn’t break 100. The Heat, as can be seen in the post game stats, put up numbers of things to come, i.e. 22 assists, below 40% shooting. He may have “breathed it into existence.”

Problem #2 — What happened to the mixing defensive game plan?

I’ve noticed the last few games that the Heat have hardly played a 2-3 zone. It’s like they went solely man-to-man over the last seven games and it got them burned. The Suns for three and three-quarter quarters were doing whatever they wanted on offense. Their easy iso-offense–where Durant and Booker would break down the defense and look over them to see who was open was too easy. They weren’t disrupted by the defense. That is not Heat Culture.

Teams were pounding the Heat in the paint, outrebounding them and shooting a high percentage. It may not be this but in watching the Suns game on Monday and the Kings game tonight, the team is playing more zone and playing better defensively. This also exploited their lack of athleticism and ability to get broken-down by quicker players.

Problem #1 — Egos and game plans

NBA: Preseason Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat
Bryant needs to play, needs to shoot better. (Photo credit: Rich Storry, USA Today)

Tyler Herro was quoted in the Suns post-game interview on Monday that he was “going to sacrifice the way he played to be a catch-and-shoot player.” Twitter trolls had thrown around that Kyle Lowry had a problem with Jaime Jaquez and that was dividing the locker room. Check out this article here from the site Dexerto. In the video session, Spoelstra was demonstrative and important things needed to be said. Check out this article here from SI.com how Jimmy Butler gave his take.

Everyone and their mother saying that the Heat HAD TO, HAD TO, HAD TO finally trade Jimmy Butler. Really, the Heat have a 6’11, 245 lb player in Thomas Bryant that needs to improve his shooting. The Heat have size but this guy needs to be ready. Haywood Highsmith is a very good player, but he is not a Power forward. Haywood can shoot though and defend. The Heat don’t want a “Joel Anthony-like offense.”

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