Aloha,
Anytime you turn the ball over 26 times for 31 points you deserve to lose. And to top it off 2 starters, Austin and Lonnie didn’t even score but we still had a shot, which maybe says more about the Heat than us.
I’m keeping this short, not much to talk about here. Still, JTA’s defense and work on the boards was great to see. It was a big part of the comeback. I feel for him because he’s either been injured or playing hurt most of the year. I’m hoping he can stay healthy moving forward.
The other reason we were still in the game was Troy Brown. 4 straight 3 pointers. He seems to have rediscovered his range the last two. My biggest problem down the stretch was Ham taking Troy out. Basketball 101 states, ride the hot hand. While we continued to get stops we couldn’t score ourselves. Why take someone that is red hot out? Especially when you can’t score. He was playing decent defense as well but he brought back PatBev. Too me this smacked of going with your preset rotation, instead of staying with what’s working. I have seen that a lot with various coaches and it always drives me crazy. Like I said, we didn’t deserve to win, still I wish Coach Ham had stuck with Troy. You never know in the NBA.
Great post, Michael. I was so pissed when he subbed Pat for Troy. Sit the hot shooter was a big mistake. Effing turnovers.
Michael, you are right. “ride the hot hand.” is simple logic and makes more sense. The biggest culprit in this game is the turnovers. There is no way you can win on the road on the second night of back-to-back games if you commit 26 turnovers. From the moment the game started and I saw all those turnovers I knew then that was the end of the game.
The Lakers look flat and unmotivated with no energy at all. All they did was show up and not come to play. This Miami team looks average and this was a winnable game but the Lakers didn’t have it in the tank. Heck, they could even lose to a G-League team with that lackluster effort. Add the fact that the coach doesn’t realize riding a hot hand in a tough situation like this might be the best move then you are staring at a loss.
Kudos to JTA for a surprising performance and hat off to Troy Brown for a newfound three-point shot. Overall, it was the turnovers that killed any hope the team may have had coming into this game.
Our usual inconsistency from our so-called team, with LBJ being the usual exception with his good to great play!