That’s it

Miami Heat game 2 defense thread: Opening play after the jump ball summed things up pretty well

Heat switched Bam onto Tatum/Jovic onto Porzingis

Jrue Holiday iso on Jaime is opening set, and yes Miami will live with that

Jaime plays strong and forces the miss

The Heat’s adjustment: being ok with 1-on-1 ball

Jaime Jaquez Jr went to work against the 76ers on Christmas Day

31 points on 11 of 15 shooting

Spo called out he didn’t have to run a single play for him

So quick thread on his freeform scoring last night: Inbound to Bam sets up an early back screen from Herro

This is a product of many of their handoffs so they’re not going to get pulled away from Tyler

Jaquez slips back door, and Bam hits over the top

One of the unusually easy Jaquez layups last night

Tyler Herro dropped 30 points through 3 quarters in tonight’s preseason game

But it’s not about the number of points anymore for him

It’s how he’s scoring them

Thread on his film tonight: Tyler takes the bump here and ends up getting the and-1 to drop with the floater

But the part to note here is the initial read

Empty corner with no help in sight

Get to the spot as quick as possible

Contact/bucket

So here’s your mega Miami Heat undrafted preview

Thread on the skill-sets of Miami’s latest additions: Starting with Justin Powell, the Heat are looking for some more sharpshooter juice

Coming off a 42% 3 point shooting season

Smooth jumper off the catch with great mechanics, and also noticed a wide base on his shots

So yes he can spot-up

But the key is that’s not it with him

The Heat have adjustments to make defensively heading into game 2, but they did pick up some good offensive habits on the way in game 1 I believe

Quick thread on 3 actions I expect to see more of on Sunday night: I hinted at this before the series, but more Bam-Butler high low actions

Strus back-screen sets up the slip for Butler in the first one with Bam as the hub

Next, Bam plays point and pushes pace, then hits Jimmy in stride

There’s an opening here

There’s one single offensive adjustment the Miami Heat can make in this final series against the Denver Nuggets that stands out

It involves shifting the usage of their best player

Quick thread on this incoming shift for Miami’s offense: The Heat are going to work through their shooters even more than usual

They want to get 2 on the ball, since that opens up their actions

Bam will have an insane amount of 4-on-3’s to work with, and if he can make them pay……things look different

As seen here:

With 5 minutes left in game 4, the Heat trail by 10 as Jimmy Butler has 37 points on the night

5 minutes and 19 points later, Jimmy Butler has 56 points and the Heat have a 3-1 lead on the 1 seed

Quick thread on that run: The Heat’s transition play was hilarious last night:

Find Jimmy Butler before half-court and let him make the decision

Takes a shot that would normally be called awkward, but buried a elbow pull-up in the early clock to start the run

The #1 offense in the playoffs (lol) went on a 19-0 run early in game 3

But let’s not discount the fact the Heat left the Milwaukee Bucks scoreless for over 5 minutes of game time

Quick thread on the defensive changes Miami made: Starting off, they knew the paint attacks were the focus defensively

They don’t overwhelm you with elite rim protection

They just send a bunch of bodies and trap inside

Jrue works in early clock, Love shades down, Max helps over

All of a sudden he’s funneled into 3 defenders

The Heat trailed by 6 with 4 minutes left in the first quarter in game 3

The next 5 minutes included a 19-0 Heat run

In opposite fashion of game 1, it wasn’t heavy schematics

It was Jimmy Butler doing his best Steph Curry impression in isolation…

Quick thread: The segue from Kevin Love at the 4 minutes to Love at the 5 messed with Milwaukee’s coverages early

True example here of a Butler-Love pick and pop: Jrue thinks it’s a switch, Lopez rising to Love

Ends in a wide open Butler dunk

Setting the table for what’s next to come