The “Heat” lost their fifth game in a row after winning 11 out of 12.
Before that they won four in a row in early February, and that was preceded by five straight losses in late January.
I have zero explanation for this current slump. I excused the first loss in the streak to having an aberrational, systemic cold shooting night. “It happens,” I excused.
But in the next game they couldn’t shoot shit from range and all of a sudden couldn’t defend. Indiana shot 58.4% (55.6%) in the most embarrassing defensive performance I can remember a Spoelstra-coached team having.
In the re-match two days later they defended well but still couldn’t shoot.
Didn’t defend and didn’t shoot well from long against PHX next game.
Now in the context of those four games, the initial Memphis loss was not aberrational but the first of four straight sub-par shooting and/or defending games. Something fucking happened! don’t know what but it is Erik Spoelstra’s job to know, and to fucking fix it.
Tonight, I could excuse the loss to Portland by the absence or yet-to-arrive of six of the roster’s 15 players, including Jimmy and the 🐉. Magic Johnson opined when today’s trade deadline passed that,
Earvin Magic Johnson
@MagicJohnson
·5h
The Miami Heat won the NBA trade deadline acquiring Victor Oladipo and Nemanja Bjelica. The Denver Nuggets came in second acquiring Aaron Gordon and JaVale McGee.
Which is groovy poovy except we didn’t have Oladipo and Bjelica.
But looking at the box score I have no idea how you lose a game where you shot 56% (47.1%)! Miami didn’t defend terrificly, Portlandia shot 47.8% (43.5%) but they didn’t shoot as well as the “Heat” did! How the fuck do you lose that fucking game.
The nine guys we did have available, which included some pretty fair ballplayers named Adebayo, Herro, Robinson, and Nunn, played some pretty good basketball it looks like. Still lost. AP noted that this was the 19th different lineup Spo had used this season. Again, tonight that is eminently excusable. The other 18, not so much. Spoelstra is a tinkerer, he equates tinkering with coaching. There is no excuse for this season’s streakiness and there is only one explanation: Spo is tinkering and that is not the same as coaching.
