PG Heat: Loss

[StickeeFingaz]

Kinda funny to watch ... we are missing too many assignments and our drop scheme still hurts us.

Watch on YouTube

Watched the first minute or so and all the blame should go on the players, lazy lazy lazy. I’m sure Doc isn’t telling Giannis to not box out and Bobby should soft switch on shooters.

Maybe Doc deserves blame for stuff later in the video but the first minute looks like it’s all on the players. We probably thought we’d crush them with 50% effort due to all the players they were missing.

[Fotis St]

Yes, I agree, it is mostly on the players, but this team has been hard carried by Giannis. Even Giannis picked up bad habits all these years, under stpd Bud's drop scheme.

[Prez]

There are several on this board that don’t want to hear it because they have an irrational dislike of him and will spam our record without him, but this game was a great example of why we need Middleton. The takes I’ve seen on here the past couple weeks about how the team is better without him or that Dame/Giannis is sufficient from a shot creation/playmaking standpoint in the playoffs are all utter nonsense.

Dame isn’t a transcendent player. At least not anymore due to age/personal issues. He’s going to have games like this, and we need a third creator to take pressure off and give defenses something else to worry about. It’s not a coincidence that for most of the season until recently the Dame/Giannis pairing had a super underwhelming net rating in minutes without Khris but would smoke teams with Khris. A shot creating/playmaking wing like Khris, even a lesser version of him than what he was at his peak, is critical and adds another layer to things that the Jae Crowders and Pats of the world do not.

I still think we’ll be dangerous as **** in the playoffs if they’re fully healthy, given there are no B2Bs and they’ll get up for every game. But they’re not doing anything without Khris.

[WeekapaugGroove]

To be fair I don’t think dames a drunk or wanted to date models in Miami. I just don’t think he’s anywhere near as good as advertised. He has had the best marketing department in the nba.

I was in favor of the trade because I felt they needed an end of game scorer in the playoffs and I thought the bucks had the roster to hide him on D. I might have been wrong about the second point.

But prior to that trade I was saying I thought he was a risky acquisition and I thought some of the warts in his game were ignored because the media liked him and never truly believed Portland was a contender so didn't scrutinize him as much as they do some other guys. That was an unpopular opinion at the time but I still think it's the case.

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[fansinceforever]

We need active bodies and we're not going to get them. Let's just hope the defense can be top 1/3rd the rest of the season and into the playoffs. If that happens and Dame improves his shooting even a little bit - we'll be very deadly.

I don't think much help can come from the buyout market but it'd probably be worth a look.

[tydett]

Still mostly annoyed by the fact that Kevin Love is allowed to stick around the NBA because refs fall for his **** of just falling around and flailing near guys, and nobody takes him seriously as a threat offensively.

[BUCKnation]

I mentioned earlier that I wouldn't take much from this. It was just a weird game, you don't really expect Jovic to have the best game of his career and Robinson to have his best game of the season at the same time. Seemed like we took them pretty easy initially due them missing a few players and us on a b2b smelling our own farts, then when we tried to turn it up (early in the 2nd and 3rd) they were still hot and also, just some awful offense/lazy turnovers, they could push the lead back out. By the end of the 3rd it was bench time.

One thing I will say is idk how they just take it easy against any iteration of this team. They are 2-0 against them this season, but I'd want to kill them every game after our recent history with them. Same thing with Indiana and not turning up against them after the Giannis ball gate.

[Chessboxer]

Is anyone else noticing the team bypassing Dame to initiate the offense or is it just me? I seen so many times last night in the 1st half that when we get defensive rebounds and Dame calls for the ball to start leading the break, the rebounder immediately defers to Giannis. And then Dame just kind of moseys his way up the court…. Is this an actual issue or am I over thinking it? It’s not like I don’t want the ball in Giannis’ hands initiating the break but I think it’s hurting Dames confidence at times. He’s a rhythm player and it’s hard to get into rhythm when the team is taking the ball out of his hands constantly…. Idk, just an observation I made that I’ve been noticing quite a bit lately but especially last night.

I noticed that, and they typically do it during important stretches. My guess is they don't want him to turn the ball over, which happens frequently.

[paulpressey25]

We knew it would be a jagged learning curve with Doc and his assistants, just as it was with Griffin.

Last nights game goes well beyond the coaching. It is a Miami matchup problem.

We fired Bud for not being able to handle Miami.But we're learning the Miami problem wasn't all on Bud.

Their personnel, as coached by Spoelstra, has figured out how to contain Giannis, bother our other shooters, and in the meantime, get wide open looks themselves. We've seen it now for years.

[CharityStripe34]

There are several on this board that don’t want to hear it because they have an irrational dislike of him and will spam our record without him, but this game was a great example of why we need Middleton. The takes I’ve seen on here the past couple weeks about how the team is better without him or that Dame/Giannis is sufficient from a shot creation/playmaking standpoint in the playoffs are all utter nonsense.

Dame isn’t a transcendent player. At least not anymore due to age/personal issues. He’s going to have games like this, and we need a third creator to take pressure off and give defenses something else to worry about. It’s not a coincidence that for most of the season until recently the Dame/Giannis pairing had a super underwhelming net rating in minutes without Khris but would smoke teams with Khris. A shot creating/playmaking wing like Khris, even a lesser version of him than what he was at his peak, is critical and adds another layer to things that the Jae Crowders and Pats of the world do not.

I still think we’ll be dangerous as **** in the playoffs if they’re fully healthy, given there are no B2Bs and they’ll get up for every game. But they’re not doing anything without Khris.

When Khris is healthy he's deadly as the tertiary playmaker/scorer since he's a great shooter and doesn't need to pound the ball a ton. His chemistry with Freak is still there as well.

[CharityStripe34]

And it could've just been the team letting their guard down since Jimmy was out. There was definitely a lot of lazy and sloppy play. Miami were running circles around them and looked jacked up.

[fan230]

Too many things have led to this disturbing situation. Not one or two.

1) It all started with the firing of Bud. Facts are facts. Remember how the one incident of getting Anthony Mason and Scott being moved, caused the Bucks to slide?

There is so much sympathy or excuse, being given for Dame and his divorce situation. Where was there any sympathy or empathy with Bud’s brother dying just before he was fired?

In some ways, it is Karma.


Bud’s substitute was terrible, AG.

Doc is far better than AG but the rot had already set in by what I mention above.

Then 3 very good defenders, Jrue, Javon and Wes left. Now and only now we have 1 back, Bev. Naturally our defense is ruined. We have much worse defenders in our team now.

Dame was supposed to make our offense much better. That is going from bad to worse now.

Giannis is having to carry the entire team. It will cause him to have a breakdown in performance sooner than later if this goes on. As an example, he is getting turnovers, which would not have happened if he were not trying to do everything possible since our shooters cannot shoot, Dame is useless in defense and now poor in offense, Khris is hurt, we have no poa defenders (Bev may help), Jae has been bad last year and this year & we for some reason were thrilled at his acquisition.

There we have the main reasons for our huge drop in performance. Is it that hard to understand?

Every thing started with the Bud firing followed by losing our poa defenders!

[Perishable517]

Still mostly annoyed by the fact that Kevin Love is allowed to stick around the NBA because refs fall for his **** of just falling around and flailing near guys, and nobody takes him seriously as a threat offensively.

This was Jaquez Jr. last night. I was watching him and he just flails around. I don't care for his game.

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[humanrefutation]

The criticism of Dame is justified. He's been underwhelming, especially over the last month. But I think his performance issues speak to the lack of chemistry between him and the rest of the offense - particularly Giannis. Dame and Giannis just have not figured out how to work together and maximize each other's potential. Part of that is the fact that Dame was brought in relatively late in the offseason, and part of that is the fact that Griffin wasn't the right coach to help foster that growth. But I think a significant barrier is that neither Giannis nor Dame have figured out how to be effective off the ball.

Giannis has never in his career played with a superstar ballhandler, particularly one with Lillard's offensive abilities. Lillard has always been the guy to run the show back in Portland, whether he was paired with CJ or LMA. Both Giannis and Lillard were given carte blanche to run their offenses around them, and they both initiated offense consistently with the ball in their hands.

I think the key here is that Damian Lillard must be the guy to get the lion's share of the ballhandling, and Giannis just had to become more effective as a screener and roller, more comfortable operating out of the post, and has to defer to Lillard otherwise when it comes to ballhandling. Lillard also has to become better operating without the ball when Giannis is in the post and/or double teamed. He can screen for Giannis, too. But Dame has to be the primary ballhandler and initiator of the offense.

That's going to be hard for Giannis, because he thrives taking dudes off the dribble and steamrolling to the basket. And he can still do that when Dame is on the bench (Doc has to stagger them as much as possible). But this offense will not work in the playoffs if Dame is just standing in the corner while Giannis is dribbling the ball up the court. It'll just be a redux of every playoff failure when teams just wall off Giannis.

I don't care about the rest of the regular season if Doc just focuses all of his efforts on maximizing their two man game. Because if he can get that right, I think we'll beat anyone and everyone.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

Bucks didn’t get Dame for the regular season. They got him for the playoffs. I will pass judgment on him after the playoffs.

his playoff numbers are generally worse than his regular season numbers tho.

i think alot of this playoffs vs reg season thing is just fan stuff. our team is struggling right now. this is when he should step up. you can see him trying... and failing. thats a snap shot of whats to come as it relates to the playoffs and our discussion board stuff

[chonestown]

Too many things have led to this disturbing situation. Not one or two.

1) It all started with the firing of Bud. Facts are facts. Remember how the one incident of getting Anthony Mason and Scott being moved, caused the Bucks to slide?

There is so much sympathy or excuse, being given for Dame and his divorce situation. Where was there any sympathy or empathy with Bud’s brother dying just before he was fired?

In some ways, it is Karma.


Bud’s substitute was terrible, AG.

Doc is far better than AG but the rot had already set in by what I mention above.

Then 3 very good defenders, Jrue, Javon and Wes left. Now and only now we have 1 back, Bev. Naturally our defense is ruined. We have much worse defenders in our team now.

Dame was supposed to make our offense much better. That is going from bad to worse now.

Giannis is having to carry the entire team. It will cause him to have a breakdown in performance sooner than later if this goes on. As an example, he is getting turnovers, which would not have happened if he were not trying to do everything possible since our shooters cannot shoot, Dame is useless in defense and now poor in offense, Khris is hurt, we have no poa defenders (Bev may help), Jae has been bad last year and this year & we for some reason were thrilled at his acquisition.

There we have the main reasons for our huge drop in performance. Is it that hard to understand?

Every thing started with the Bud firing followed by losing our poa defenders!

Everything started with Bud getting smoked in the first round of the playoffs.

He was allergic to calling timeouts.

He refused to switch Jrue off James Baskets.

He squandered two late second half double digit leads.

It was a scene, man.

[tydett]

The criticism of Dame is justified. He's been underwhelming, especially over the last month. But I think his performance issues speak to the lack of chemistry between him and the rest of the offense - particularly Giannis. Dame and Giannis just have not figured out how to work together and maximize each other's potential. Part of that is the fact that Dame was brought in relatively late in the offseason, and part of that is the fact that Griffin wasn't the right coach to help foster that growth. But I think a significant barrier is that neither Giannis nor Dame have figured out how to be effective off the ball.

Giannis has never in his career played with a superstar ballhandler, particularly one with Lillard's offensive abilities. Lillard has always been the guy to run the show back in Portland, whether he was paired with CJ or LMA. Both Giannis and Lillard were given carte blanche to run their offenses around them, and they both initiated offense consistently with the ball in their hands.

I think the key here is that Damian Lillard must be the guy to get the lion's share of the ballhandling, and Giannis just had to become more effective as a screener and roller, more comfortable operating out of the post, and has to defer to Lillard otherwise when it comes to ballhandling. Lillard also has to become better operating without the ball when Giannis is in the post and/or double teamed. He can screen for Giannis, too. But Dame has to be the primary ballhandler and initiator of the offense.

That's going to be hard for Giannis, because he thrives taking dudes off the dribble and steamrolling to the basket. And he can still do that when Dame is on the bench (Doc has to stagger them as much as possible). But this offense will not work in the playoffs if Dame is just standing in the corner while Giannis is dribbling the ball up the court. It'll just be a redux of every playoff failure when teams just wall off Giannis.

I don't care about the rest of the regular season if Doc just focuses all of his efforts on maximizing their two man game. Because if he can get that right, I think we'll beat anyone and everyone.

Luckily, I think we have recent history as a precedent for this. Doc really unlocked the two-man game of Harden and Embiid and turned them both into monsters. Think he can do the same with our guys.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

Everything started with Bud getting smoked in the first round of the playoffs.

He was allergic to calling timeouts.

He refused to switch Jrue off James Baskets.

He squandered two late second half double digit leads.

It was a scene, man.

minor infractions.

the collapse was on the players.

you could just as easily drawn the conclusion that the franchise needed to move on from giannis for his ft ineptitude and lack of fundamentals that makes him a bad option for gaurding top players.

sometimes ive been guilty of frustrated snap moronic ideas that i later go back on too. thats not a way to run a franchise.

now with hindsight dumping bud was the worst man... just the worst. not far from having a great idea we should trade giannis. that kind of level stupid

[pifhluk23]

Giannis is only slightly behind SGA for most ppg in transition, he should get the ball on every break while the shooters flare out to the 3p line.

[SupremeHustle]

I just now saw that the nickname for Jovic, Herro and Jaquez is "The Dame Package" and that is awesome.