Game Thread 2022-2023 Game #10 BLAZERS @ HEAT - NOVEMBER 7, 2022 - MONDAY - 5:30 PM (PDT) ROOT

Glad that Jerami Grant isn't a "difference maker."

 

Although they tightened up and played not to lose, the Heat were better than us for most of the 48 minutes by a considerable margin playing without Herro and Oladipo while we shot ourselves in the foot. That kind of defensive effort or laziness with the ball will lose us a lot of games if it becomes a habit.

We found a way to win, but let's not pretend we played particularly well or that winning excuses sketchy play.

 

Get'em Cugel!

 

Hindsight now, but I was considering the prudence of putting in Nas for Ant on that final Heat possession.

 

Totally agree with ya Wizen.

 

But that’s basketball. When you played the juggernaut Warriors, you could outplay them or play them even for 42 minutes. But they would just come out for the first 6 minutes of 3rd quarters and blitz you and pretty much put the game away.

You got to play the full 48.

 

Jordan Clarkson too

 

We already have GB3, Butler, and Sarr. You want our whole bench to suck?

 

Agreed

 

John Butler is big with range

 

"One of the best road teams in the NBA has done it again."

Eric Reid, Miami Heat TV play-by-play announcer

 

We only lost 2 of the quarters and one of them was by only 1 point.

 

Blazers are 4-1 on the road. Stealing games left and right.

 

And weighs how many lbs again? Just a year ago, even I weighed more than this guy. And I’m 5’6

 

Very excited to be done playing both Phoenix and Miami already.

 

If you think turning the ball over as many times as we did through lazy passes and giving up open 3s because we don't know how to close out is acceptable, then that's you. It's not a way to win games regularly, even though we found a way to offset it at the end tonight.

 

Oh, please, stop it with the condescension.

First, the Warriors wouldn't play nearly as bad on the defensive end and commit as many turnovers or commit the kinds of turnovers we did tonight to put themselves in a hole. Second, when they did get hot, they'd blow you out, not win by 1.

Second, we're not talking about playing a style that was necessarily built on runs. Getting down like we did wasn't a result of missing good shots and the Heat just making a lot of shots that were well-defended. It was actually the opposite.

Like I told Eric, the way we played through three quarters wasn't acceptable to me. That was Terry Stotts Ball. If we played with any kind of energy and intelligence from the middle of the first quarter through the end of the third, we wouldn't have needed the big run at the end and the 3 from Hart at the buzzer to win. That kind of winning isn't sustainable and that kind of effort isn't to be shrugged off because we managed to overcome it last night. It's a bad habit that'll kill you over the long haul.

I said when the game ended that it was a good win because we played poorly but we managed to find a way to pull out a game on the road against a good team. That's enough. I'm not going to say "That's basketball," because it's not. Watching our all-star point guard try multiple times to force action and dribble through two or three guys like a young player that can't recognize defenses is not basketball. Watching our shooting guard telegraph pass after pass so that we don't even get off a shot and even give up dunks at the other end is not good basketball. Watching us chuck up shots with no rebounders within 25 feet of the boards over and over and over is not good basketball. Being out of control on closeouts on players who only are shooters and then not even trying to recover is not good basketball.

The win should be enough for some of you guys. The fact that you want to make this out as we have to pretend we played well rah rah rah we had them all along we knew what we were doing and quoting me so I am compelled to respond is just going to frustrate you, because it wasn't winning basketball, it was lucky basketball, and winning a couple of games like that and accepting it will lose you five down the road. Take your W and stop trying to convince people who actually know what basketball is that "that's basketball." OK?