Official Game Thread: Hawks at heat

[lethalweapon3]

Okay, but, who misspelled, “Couture”?

 

The Miami heat are going nowhere.

The Hardest-Working, Toughest, Meanest, Nastiest, Blah-Blahingest Team in the NBA hasn’t had to go anywhere, all season long. You know I’m not down with O.P.S. (Other People’s Schedules), and my grovel meter is at about a 9 with Jimmy Butler’s busy beavers.

Minnesota, Memphis, San Antonio. That is the entirety of the West Coast travel record to this point in the season for The Southeasternmost Team in the NBA. Worse, the latter two road games were conveniently sandwiched around the heat’s 117-109 victory in Atlanta way back on November 11.

Since beating the tumbling Spurs the very next day, all the way through their Christmas Day home date with the Sixers, Miami will have played 20 games. Only two of those 20 were outside of their Eastern Time Zone, and both of them in consecutive games just over the time line, in Chicago.

The heat hardly even have to leave the Everglades State these days. Turning the calendar to December with a close to a three-game homestand, Miami had three off days to get to Toronto and beat the Raptors. After that? A return home to face the Cavs, then a quick jaunt up to Charlotte. The heat brought the Hornets back with them to SoFla, to kick them around and kick off yet another homestand, this one four games.

This week? Miami hosted the T’Wolves here at Kaseya Center, then hoofed it to the not-confusing-at-all newly named Kia Center in Orlando to beat the backsliding Magic on Wednesday, making it home in time for this Friday night clash with Atlanta in town, fresh from Houston. Have I mentioned there was just one B2B for the heat in that whole stretch, and it was Hornets-Bulls at home?

Even with all that schedule conditioning, these Miami meanies (16-12) still can’t seem to propel themselves more than a half-game above the NBA East’s Play-In cut line. The heat’s schedule is finally about to get rougher, a few days after today’s tilt versus a Hawks club (8 PM Eastern, not like the Hawks have anywhere to be tomorrow, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Florida) on the first night of a B2B. But even then, not for long.

After Santa Joel climbs his way back up the chimney, Miami finally ventures out on its first Western road trip, a five-game excursion that features Golden State, the red-hot Clippers and Lakers, and Phoenix. They still won’t deal with a B2B though, not until after they return to Florida and conclude a mild four-game homestand in mid-January.

Coach Erik Spoelstra’s tough guys sit not just smack in the middle of the NBA standings. They’re 15^th of 30 teams in O-Rating, and 14^th in D-Rating, up from 15^th after boat-racing the Magic. That nice November stretch allowed Miami to top out at 10-5, but they dropped 7 of their next 12, the wins including the buzzer-beater Jimmy (strained calf, DNP @ ORL) needed to stick it to his old Bulls club here last Saturday. They’re 13^th in eFG%, one spot behind Atlanta, and 17^th in TO%, four spots worse than the Hawks.

But they are superlative in other things. Specifically, they rank last in blocks per game, and like Atlanta they are bottom-ten in opponent’s 2FG% and 3FG%, all while continuing to grind games out at an annoyingly slow pace. They will also lead the league in people rewarding their stars – Jimmy, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro – with All-Star votes, for those Finals they made over the past several years, rather than their relative merits this season.

Butler, one year and one week in age behind the greyed-out Kevin Love (also DNP @ ORL, illness), and about two-and-a-half behind Kyle Lowry, has regressed as an on-ball and off-ball defender, to the point where the five-time All-Defensive honoree rivals Duncan Robinson among the least-efficient defenders on his team. His steals, once at an NBA-best 2.1 per game in 2020-21, are down to 1.1, the lowest since his 2012-13 sophomore campaign in Chicago. Jimmy understands, though, that while defense no longer guarantees championships, “culture” wins All-Star and end-of-season votes.

Even so, the Hawks likely won’t be spotted 77 first-half points, then invited to play keep-away from Bam (26 points incl. a Capela-ish 8-for-8 FTs, 17 rebounds @ ATL on Nov. 11) and his nastiest friends, as Jabari Smith and company so graciously did in Atlanta’s 134-127 escape from Houston. It should not be necessary to pile up 140 points every night just to feel comfortable with the chances of victory, a point Coach Spo sought to drive home last month as the heat held the Hawks (12-16) to their lowest home scoring total, 109 points in its eight-point road win at State Farm Arena.

Spoelstra won’t have Dru Smith (out for the season thanks to the Cavs’ floor; 3 steals @ ATL on Nov. 11) around to make play-setting miserable for Trae Young and the Hawks (23 assists, season-high 21 TOs vs. MIA). But he also didn’t have Butler for that game, nor leading scorer Tyler Herro (career-highs of 23.6 PPG, 41.7 3FG%, 47.1 FG% thru 10 games, 4-for-5 3FGs, 28 points, 8 boards, 7 assists @ ORL), who returned this week after missing over a month due to an ankle sprain.

The heat entrusts whoever is on the floor with finding their optimal scoring spots, letting the halfcourt defense sort itself out, and hoping that should be enough to get by. Miami (6-0 vs. Dirty South foes) also depends on division opponents, like the Magic, and the Hawks, too spooked by the Ghosts of Seasons Past to be willing to do anything that disrupts Miami’s present-day narrative.

The Hawks could use another victory at Kaseya Center, as they did in last season’s Play-In, to boost their competitive confidence going forward, through what continues to be an arduous travel schedule. If they tighten up on their defensive precepts, and if they disallow pointless thoughts of who’s in who’s head during the game, they’ll be granted another peek behind the curtain, revealing it’s just Mid-ami we’re dealing with. The Boldest, Baddest, Snarliest, Surliest, Most Living-Off-Their-Past 6/7-Seed in the NBA.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

47 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The Miami heat are going nowhere.

agreed.

 

47 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Jimmy Butler’s busy beavers.

 

51 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Specifically, they rank last in blocks per game,

Wow. 

Miami doesn’t scare me as much this year, not yet anyways..
 

Thanks lw3! Happy Holidays! 
 

Go Hawks!!!

[kg01]

Hawks ...... I needs this.  Please?! 

[Final_quest]

Whoa the game thread came in before 7AM!  It's like LW3 has elves writing for him through the night.  

[Chrimturn]

Let’s keep it going!

[shakes]

Will Trae continue the streak?    Only reason to watch tonight.

[Final_quest]

34 minutes ago, shakes said:

Will Trae continue the streak?    Only reason to watch tonight.

If you really took the .500 pledge you’ve missed out on some high level performances by Trae and Bogi.  
Actually, even during our losing streak we played well through most of it.  Maybe one game was a beat down where we didn’t compete.

[lethalweapon3]

There will be a second straight Hawks-heat game with no Buckets from Jimmy (Out, calf strain). No word as to whether Druski (Gwinnett's Other Finest) and his friend Scam Likely will be allowed to sub-in, but Coach Spo plugged Jaime Jaquez, the rookie who has cooled off lately, into Wednesday's starting lineup in O-town. Kevin Love (plop plop fizz fizz) will be Available, likely cutting into the minutes for Haywood Highsmith (4-for-9 3FGs, team-high 15 bench points @ ORL).

No word on MIAJ Griffin (Reasons! Don't take it Personal). Good news so far is Bogi is nowhere to be found on the Boo-Boo Report. Also, I can has Jalen and Ko-B (Out, but practicing with the squad in full), sometime soon?

Seth and Miles did their thing yesterday afternoon up the road in Orlando, but remain on Skyhawk duty. Speaking of Skyhawks, welcome to their PBP guy Carl Dukes! One-half of the Hey Man Ale drive-time duo on 92.9 is joining the Bally Sports Hawks crew on a fuller-time basis for the balance of this season. Put 'Em Up!

~lw3

[shakes]

23 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

If you really took the .500 pledge you’ve missed out on some high level performances by Trae and Bogi.  
Actually, even during our losing streak we played well through most of it.  Maybe one game was a beat down where we didn’t compete.

I've missed a couple, but have cheated on the pledge for a couple of games as well.   But only to watch Trae's minutes.     Will watch tonight since only other sports commitment I have is the Blackhawks game.

[Spud2nique]

15 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Jaime Jaquez

This foo straight annoying knows how to play and understands the game ala Giddyish. I swear I thought it was a bad pick initially but wtheck. He can play a bit, despite kinda looking like dude who parked Ferris’s car and took it for a joyride in 86. #saveFerris

15 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Good news so far is Bogi is nowhere to be found on the Boo-Boo Report.

Who are the 6th men better than Brate this year? He’s on one! 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Spud2nique

[Spud2nique]

Ps I see @HawksNWaffles lurking.. oh dear… oh myyyyyyy.. like I don’t know anymore.. baby Hawk ants with doo rags? I’m ready for ANYTHING BABY!!!! Give it to us!!!!  

[lethalweapon3]

heat GameNotes, um, notes that Miami would tie their franchise-best 20-game intra-divisional home winning streak (March 2004-March 2006) with a Dub tonight. That 2005-06 season, GM Pat took over for Coach SVG and got Miami its first ring. Salim Stoudamire and Esteban Batista almost ended the heat's home run early in March '06, but the Hawks couldn't hang on to a double-digit fourth-quarter lead and fell short with a 95-93 loss to Shaq, Zo and company.

Atlanta's road win tally (8-8) has them just behind the Mavs (9-5), the West-leading T'Wolves (9-5), the heat (9-6), and the Knicks (9-8), while deadlocked with the Sixers (8-4), Thunder (8-4), Pels (8-7), and Nuggets (8-8). Of those other teams, only the Mavs (@ HOU) and the Nuggets (@ BRK) are playing away games tonight.

Hawks' Game Notes cites Bogi's pair-or-more str3ak of 20 games, a franchise record, as leading all active NBA hoopers. With two treys tonight he'll tie heat/Hawks legend Steve Smith (549 3FGs) for 6th on Atlanta's franchise list. The Hawks' 20-straight games splashing at least 10 threes leads all NBA East teams and is behind only the Kings (33) and G-State (30) overall.

~lw3

[kg01]

Which is worse?  Pretending to retire from the site but then showing up like 2 days later?  Or making a big deal about 'not watching until they're over .500' knowing full well you're still watchin' just the same as always?

[HawksNWaffles]

[JayBirdHawk]

I know you are focusing on the dancers in the back what fresh hell is that thum-inger looking thing. 

 

[kg01]

@HawksNWaffles should be banned. Expeditiously.

[macdaddy]

26 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I know you are focusing on the dancers in the back what fresh hell is that thum-inger looking thing. 

 

Well who's the fancy gal who's so perfect she doesn't have thum-inger.  Quit hand shaming miss america!

[macdaddy]

I'm tired of being patient.  We win tonight, Nets lose and we start putting them in our rear view.  Then Indy, Cleveland, Miami are next.  Season isn't as long as we think.  Let's get up into 6th.  We should be as good as all those teams. 

[JayBirdHawk]

I almost forgot: Play BIG!

[JayBirdHawk]

I'm really hoping the team is prepared for the 'Trap Trae' defense, particularly Murray. Moving the ball quickly after the Trae pass is key, don't stand around waiting for him to get free to get the ball back, play going to the rim.