The 13-0 run at the end of the 1Q, the dreadful early shooting: both are signs of players not being connected, the wrong players, miscommunication among players both on offense and defense, players not knowing their roles (like when to shoot, who to guard). We didn't have those problems when Tyler was out. Our first 13 or 14 games everyone knew their roles, the starters were comme ci, comme ça set, the rotation was predictable, communication was clear as a bell. The last three games were +4 points over a failed team, Dallas, +4 over a one-star team, Beer, missing that star (Giannis), and -3 to a team playing the second of a back-to-back and their third in four games. All of those games at home. The three games prior: +10 at Phila, +36 at Chi., +14 over the winded Peaceniks in Miami.
Now you don't have to be fucking Red Auerbach, or Erik Spoelstra, to see that the wind changed. We ended up shooting wonderfully, 50% from the floor, 48% from range. How do you NOT win a game with those shooting numbers? When you start by shooting 31% and the other guys 78% as were the stats at 5:58 of the 1Q. And that was before that shocking 13 zip run. No way the wind changed at random. Detroit took five more shots than we did. When you connect on 59% of those shots, in a three-point game that's your ballgame! Clearly we were playing efense, no D. Miscommunication, not knowing roles, a la 13 zip. Why did they have five more shots? You can take your pick: was it that we were outrebounded 43-38? And was that because Kel'el played only 22' and had only 7 boards? Bam had 10. Was it because they were a net +5 (the margin of victory) in their points off our turnovers? How about this? They bullied us in the paint, paint points 76 to 54. Was that because Kel'el was 7th man in and was 7th in mins? It was not because they had a better playmaker: Davion had 10 assists and 3 steals. They had two more team assists but their high man had 8.
Or was it this: "Heat" starters +/- :
Norman +15
Davion +15
Bam +14
Andrew +12
Tyler -18. CLUNK🚨🚨🚨
Tyler's stat line doesn't betray the reason and I detest the +/- metric, but every team uses it, and in this case the difference is just too stark to discount. We lost because when our All-Star was on the floor, with whomever his four running mates happened to be, we were SMOKED.
This was a game coming in that we should have won. Detroit is very talented, Cade Cunningham is super (29 pts), they are well-coached. But second of second, three in four, 2L, nah-ah, New Miami (not to pile on! without Tyler) would have won this game. Tonight, New Miami arrived late and Tyler was a weight on a chain around our necks, and we got under water. One more stat for you: Detroit's largest lead was 22; our largest lead was tyoo, 7-5, 10:05 1st.We were never in this game.
Good night, heaters and haters!
