This here basketball savant
cum soccer sage
cum political potentate has just looked at the brushwork of artiste Erik Spoelstra's masterpiece, The Phiasco in Philly. This is Hassan Whiteside's involvement:
12:00. Whiteside jumped center to open the game.
11:49.
Eleven seconds into the game he grabbed his first rebound, a defensive. Score 0-0.
Fast enough for you, Erik?
10:42. A minute eighteen into the game he got his first offensive rebound. 4-3 Heat.
A whole 1:18?!
10:41. First assist. On a Goran Dragic three-pointer. 7-3 Heat.
So in 1:19 he had two boards and an assist on a three.
10:26. First block. 7-3.
1:34 into the game he has two rebounds an assist on a three and a block. Fair to middlin'.
8:20. Block. Whiteside's second. Philly 10-8.
6:24. His first shot, a miss. Philly 17-12.
5:48. Offensive rebound, his second. 19-12.
5:45. Turnover, his first. 19-12
5:29. First basket. 19-14.
At 5:19 Whiteside is subbed out. That is a "normal" substitution of a starter about half way through the first quarter. So when he was subbed out in the 1Q he two points--1/2--,3 rebounds, one assist, 1 turnover and two blocks but would have exited with a -5+/-. Lies, damn lies and statistics, I don't know what more could be expected of the guy. Of Philly's 19 points when Whiteside was in, nine points were in made three point shots (I know you are an advocate of positionless basketball, Erik, maybe Hassan was supposed to guard the three point arc?), two were free throws (foul not on Whiteside and eight were on at the basket makes, two layups, two dunks, that Whiteside absolutely was responsible for preventing, as he did with his two blocks. Still, 11 of Philly's 19 were not conceivably Whiteside's responsibility.
But, he sat for the rest of the 1Q and during his benching the "Heat" re-took the lead and finished the quarter with a robust 35-29 advantage.
2nd Quarter:
8:38. Whiteside re-enters game. That's about a normal reentry time for a starter. Philadelphia led 39-38 when he checked back in.
8:21. First foul.
7:35. 4th rebound (defensive).
7:27. Turnover, second. Philly 41-38.
6:59. Subbed out. Philly 42-40.
NOT a normal substitution. He was done for the half after playing a whole 1:39 of the 2Q. For the rest of the half though, again as in the 1Q, the "Heat" re-took the lead and closed the half up 60-56.
Third quarter.
12:00. Whiteside started the third. Long-ass break. Almost half the third plus the intermission.
9:10. 5th rebound (offensive). Philly 64-63.
9:10. Missed tip shot.
8:48. Missed alley-oop dunk. Philly 66-63.
8:43. 6th rebound, defensive. 66-63.
7:54. Subbed out after 4:06 of playing time with two more boards and two missed shots with Philly leading 69-63.
In the 3Q while Whiteside played Philadelphia scored 13 points, nine on 3's, one at the rim for 2, one distance undesignated 2. And he was done for the day. Miami was outscored 61-40 the rest of the way. The story of this game was 3's. Phila shot a sick 64% on 18/28. Whiteside in, Whiteside out, the Sixers were Three-ers all game long. Miami's perimeter defenders were game enders. Hassan Whiteside was not one of them.Could he have been? lolol. The "principle of verticality," Steven Adams on Steph Curry:
Lovey dovey turtle dovey on Steph.
Spoelstra had to do something. He decided--the book, this is the standard move--to sub the big guy out to try to get a smaller defender in there who could defend the arc. He tried everybody. Nobody could defend Philly from downtown. And Spoelstra did
not blame Hassan Whiteside post-game. Did not say he subbed Whiteside because he was ineffectual. No, I cannot blame Erik Spoelstra for subbing Whiteside out so earlier than normal in the 3Q. The game had turned. It went from a slight Miami advantage at half time to a slight "Sixer" advantage at the time of the substitution.
What I do fairly fault Spoelstra for is reacting as if Whiteside was the problem. One of his explanations was Philadelphia went small. (?) THEY HAD TO GO SMALL YOU IDJIT! THEIR BIG GUY WAS OUT INJURED! The "Heat" had a potentially enormous size advantage on Philly. POUND THE ROCK! Feed Whiteside until he bursts. But see here's the problem. Spoelstra does not trust Whiteside with the game. Whiteside only got four shots. He was spoon fed, not force fed. Spoelstra doesn't trust Whiteside to carry the team offensively. I guarantee you that thought has never entered Erik Spoelstra's head. For all of his advocacy of positionless basketball Spoelstra has Hassan Whiteside firmly nailed to two positions: 1. Offensive garbage collecting/defensive shot blocker, or 2.The bench. Once he takes Whiteside out of a game Spoelstra's angina disappears and he forgets about him. Have Whiteside defend the perimeter a la Adams and Love? Spoelstra'd shoot Whiteside if he saw him out there.When the six point lead became 10 then 12, 15 then 18 all the way to 29 Spoelstra tried everybody and everything except putting Hassan Whiteside back in the game.
Spoelstra may have been able to slow the game down a little by running his offense through Whiteside in the paint and that may have gotten the "Sixers" out of their rhythm on the three point line, but with a 24 second clock you can't slow the game down much. Still, he didn't try. Whiteside had had a pretty decent game when he was subbed out for good in the 3Q. The "Heat's" small ballers sucked but Spoelstra had them trying to match Phila three for three. The "Heat" took almost as many three point shots, 26, as did Philly, but made "only" 12 of them for 46%.
Piers MorganVerified account @piersmorgan
