kg01

Haha, you need the Hawks to win? With some of the stuff I'm saying to my BIL, he and I might be tusslin' in the front yard next time they visit. We'll make up afterwards but it's gonna be an intense first 30 seconds before our old arses get tired. Me and the kg's gon' roll up like ...

Heet culture = Lebron wasn't able to convince Bosh/Wade to come to Cleveland. Prove me wrong. And don't start with the Haslem nonsense. Dude is stealing money doing the same job as the dude's breakdancing for the halftime show. He might go on the DL with a torn rotator cuff waivin' that towel. "Oh but he all about the streets, kg" - My Heet-fan BIL Yeah color me unafraid that a pampered millionaire athlete gonna do somethin'.

Screw them clowns and AD's biased arse. I'm so tired of him talking about the PeliCan'ts as if they're title contenders. Like, dude, we know you work for them but galdang atleast try to be objective. I started to listen a bit today but the sound was obscured by your guy Kamla having Herro's banana in his mouf so I had to turn it off.

See people think I'm all fluff and silly gifs but ... Seriously though, the only thing that could throw a wrench in it is the fact that PHX plays tomorrow too and the league may want to see that series go beyond 4 games. NOP being the babe of the league and all, for some reason. For those that don't know, Chris Paul has a pretty bad record when Foster officials his games. Why? Well for the exact reason campst's post illustrates. When it's time to tighten up on the rules, they send Foster (or someone like him) in. As Paul typically operates outside the rules, he's negatively impacted by a ref who actually enforces them. They (players) painted it (Pauls record with Foster) as some kind of bias. It ain't that. It's just that most refs lack the guts to call the game as they see it as opposed to calling the game as it's dictated to them by Paul.

Lowry's play was dirty. Sorta like when Smart dove into Curry's legs. Maybe not "dirty" but certainly dangerous. Knowingly dangerous, which ultimately makes it dirty - follow that logic. Mobley definitely accelerated into Clint's legs. I could see it as him trying to skid rather than land with a thud ... but Capela happened to be in the way. I could see that simply being an unfortunate thing. The NBA people seemed to think along the lines of 'well if you pulled the guy down you should've gotten outta the way'. To me, that's an unnecessarily callous way of speaking of a guy that actually did end up hurt. I thought 'player safety' was a 'thing'. It's not like he pulled Mobley out of the air. It's not like he fake-hustle dove into Mobley's ankles .... (see what I did there?)

His impact is seen. The question is cost. Is he $20+ mill/year better than Capela and is it worth giving up the package it'd take to get him?

I concur with all @thecampster said in his days long diatribe. I took some vacation time, but I got through it all. Everyone should be proud. I usually tap out after about 3 sentences. whew I will add that I was shocked to hear most NBAradio people considered Capela's foul on Mobley to be very dirty. They stopped short of saying he got what he deserved in ending up hurt himself. Rick Mahorn, of all people, said this. He's got some nerve, to put it mildly. To campst point, I expect to see Scott Foster on our game tomorrow. Him or some other vet-laden crew.

I'd say you're mixing two different conversations. Is he a good coach, a really good coach? I'd say yes and the evidence is in how his teams have played, overall. His teams ebbed and flowed but he generally has been able to put a good product out there and his teams play with a certain personality (for lack of a better description). However, this whole 'heat culture' phenomenon is unduly elevated by the Lebron years. I've said for years that the free agent destination moniker is wholly unearned there. If Lebron had been able to convince Bosh/Wade to come to Cleveland, that's where they would've been. Had nothing to do with anything Miami did. But, because they had those Finals appearances and titles, the media folks chalk it up to "heat culture" which is nonsense.

Haha, Jimmy Jackson'll be on the broadcast like, "Wow Atlanta going with a strange starting lineup tonight. Is that Ivan Johnson? I wonder what this strategy is all abo.. ...ohhhhhh, that's gotta hurt!"

Yeah, don't tell @Diesel I agreed with him but I think he's right in that we don't need to out-shoot them, per se. We need to outplay them. We can't allow them to subsist with one-dimensional guys like Robinson and the Depaul guy who's name escapes me. And no-dimensional guys like Tucker. Make them move their feet and the shooting prowess plummets. So, in effect, you're both right because Collins could be a major factor for us if he can get ramped up. Haha. Nobody reads past the first couple sentences, bro.

Listen Gorg, when Jimi spins into the lane I want you to channel the bull ...

Eggsactly. We all saw their roster moves before the "new" rules were even announced. Before. It's shameless. The only thing I don't understand is why? Just to cowtow to Riley? Why?

I just wanna see Dieng hustling(sic) by diving, fist-first, at Adebayo's face during the tip-off. Hey, he's just gritty. He's a gym rat. Just hustlin'. Whoever's first to the face ... er floor is the one that truly wants ta win, right? Isn't that how it works?

But why? Why do we accept this? There are a myriad of reasons why the league did away with hand-checking and emphasized freedom of movement. There's a reason the 90's and early 00's are widely considered a terrible period of basketball with all the football they were playing on the court. Why are we all supposed to just turn our heads and allow one team to play rubgy? This is like taking a church league team to play in some high-level tournament. But since they can't match the actual basketball talent, you let them clutch and grab when they get beat off the dribble. That's what you want to see?

Didn't even look at it. Did not even look at it. Isola made a comment last week that a coach was complaining about how the Heat were playing .. this was apparently a game years ago, but still applies today. The coach was complaining about them fouling and the ref turned to the coach and kinda shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, that's just how Miami plays..." Uhm, what? Is it against the rules or not? That's the question. If we decided to take 4 steps without dribbling instead of 2, are they gonna just let it go and say, "Bwah, that's just how Atlanta plays"? It's maddening but .. and here's the bit that explains why they continue to get away with it ... we gotta adjust or we're gonna lose.

In a word 'yes'. Don't be fooled by Tucker. He's absolute trash as a player. Whatever production he gives is completely dependent on situation. And the second .. the instant he has to do anything beyond catching and shooting, he's a middle school level player. If a game is even moderately called anywhere approaching tight, his "defense" is completely moot as he won't be able to stay on the floor more than 2 consecutive minutes. If we raise our level and play through the constant clutch/grabs, he has nothing else in the toolbox basketball-wise. Herro is able to contribute at a high level, for sure. But it'll be interesting to see how he'd fare against physicality. That's an unanswered question and guys typically don't do well when they start getting hit. It's certainly an adjustment they have to make. I'd like to see us give Herro something to think about in that regard. Jimi is not a shooter and I feel, if we match intensity levels, he reaches a level of diminishing returns because he won't be able to bully his way into spots like he did in game 1. When forced to be more of an outside threat, he comes up woefully short. Overall they are a well-coached team, which I believe is what you're seeing when you doubt our ability to out-talent them. I just think, once you take away the difference in forcefulness, we stand more than toe-to-toe in this matchup. With the only caveat being Capela's absence but, as supes pointed out, Okongwu did fairly well. Even avoided early foul trouble, which is what I thought would doom him.

The issue is the same(ish) as the Knicks matchup. They played hard against us all regular season. Once we matched their intensity, talent took over. With Miami, once we match their physicality, are they more talented than us? Not really. Knicks didn't have another level to get to. We did. Not much different here. Just gotta ratchet up the ratched.

If he's gonna be as off-rhythm as he was in game 1, I just wanna see Johnson in the same role. Be physical, foul, be disruptive, and catch lobbies. Can't be getting beat to spots by the ghost of Deadman consistently. That was embarrassing. Granted, Deadman shuffled his feet each time before dribbling which I thought was a travel, but that's a whole other thread. Maybe there's a thing called "playoff travels" that go uncalled? Did I miss that email? Oh I forgot, we're not s'posed to talk about officiating. 'Cause wanting them to call travels is disingenuous, I guess.

Welcome to the dark side, @Gray Mule. I saw this coming with BSPN years ago. They think people (a) tune in to hear them talk and (b) have too short an attention span to watch sports. It's not just baseball, all their sports coverage has devolved to some level of talk show ..................... and, oh yeah, there's a game going on behind our on-air talent(sic). I will not watch a single second of anything on that channel unless I absolutely have to. And, even then, mute the TV and purposely tune in late so I can DVR it and fast-forward as needed. Life shouldn't be that hard. If anyone comes up with a sports network that keeps it 'sports' (to the extent that they can, I know they gotta pay bills), I'm all in. Sadly, all networks now follow the BSPN model since that's what makes money.

And lol at the idea that we just have to take it 'cause, "Thas jus' the way that game's called" or w/e. If that's how they're allowing the game to go, some dude in a Heat jersey needs to finish the series in street clothes. Thoughts and prayers, tho. Thoughts and prayers.

I'd expect this thread from a Heat fan whos been programmed to see their fouling as "defense". That said, we have to do a better job at adjusting to the fact that they will be allowed to play outside even 'playoff' rules foul-wise. Bullies count on their bullying to get you outside your 'normal'. Once they see you complaining, that's half the win for them. And again, all that said, this is in no way an acknowledgement that the way the game was called was proper in any way. Just, I'd rather fight back and let the chips fall where they may. As opposed to trying to stay within the rules, lose, then complain when we get screwed. The screw is in. Deal with it accordingly. If the fake-hustle dive into knees and ankles is 'legal'. Why not put Mays in and give him marching orders that end up somewhere in the vicinity of Bam's legs? Hey, call it 'hustle' and apparently that makes it a-ok.

Ayo @Spud2nique, I got my loafers on with no socks. I got a jheri curl. And I got my pastels workin'. Crockett 'n Tubbs is in this b*tch! I been listening to Phil Collins all mornin' ... Oh I can feel it comin' in the air tonight... oh, lo'rd.... oh, lo'rd.... I'm more ready than Pastor Troy rite now! Yeah, that's right. A Phil Collins/Pastor Troy shout in the same post! ThasHowRed-EIAmMickyFickies!!!! Betta get-cho mines rite!!!

If those were reversed, how empty would these folks be saying Trae's numbers are?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap ..... you goin' straight to heyul, RF.

I dunno man. Sounds like he's not actually ready. Kinda makes me wish Johnson was ready-er. We gotta punish their lack of size.