09Dec

Takeaways from the Wizards Loss

Wade and Dragic

By far, the greatest achievement Dec. 7’s game was getting to see Dwayne Wade and Goran Dragic work together. The two each brought in 9 assists. To be honest, this is one of my greatest points of pride with this team. We have great talent, but every game is a team-game.

With little surprise, Wade lead the team in scoring with 26 points. 10 of those points were scored against Otto Porter. Wade was like a shark on the court, aggressively hunting down and converting a number of midrange jumpers, floaters, and banks-shots, while also helping out his teammates score. Wade was completely on his game.

Dragic performed remarkably himself. His half-court work was on point and the corner three that he nailed in the fourth corner was impressive. With 4:06 left on the clock, he managed a sweet pass to Wade who went in for the shot.

Other Notes

With nine rebounds, Chris Bosh’s game was also in pretty great shape.  Grom the get-go, Whiteside was doling out great frontcourt work, and he had some pretty impressive dunks to his name. Noticeably, Whiteside made a great slam at 2:26 in the second quarter.

The Three-point Problem

With more than a minute on the clock, Bradley Beal went up near the rim and then lost the ball and touched it without a defender touching it (although both Bosh and Dragic were close). Shortly thereafter, Neal made the three. It’s unfortunate that Beal’s traveling play went uncalled. Yes, the final deficit was 11 points. But Beal’s traveling 3-pointer scored with more than a minute on the clock, allowed the Wizard’s to basically score 5 when they should have only scored 2. I don’t need to tell you how every point counts. But what I will say is that Chris Bosh faced his second ejection of his career just shortly after that three-pointer was deemed legitimate. It can be demoralizing to see a violation go uncalled.

Moving Forward

Calls set aside, the Wizard’s brought their game. I’m looking forward to tonight’s game @Charlote.

Let’s do this.

30Jul

Miami Heat Cutting Costs

With the Miami Heat now a season under their belt without LeBron James, they now see how talented their team is. Many teams don’t mind paying luxury tax if they’re a sure bet for a deep run into the playoffs. However, Miami learned that they are no longer that kind of team. With that said, the Heat have been looking to shed costs where they deem necessary. They have made a few moves over the last week that have helped them get closer to the luxury tax line. Let’s take a look at some of these moves.

Heat Trade Napier to Magic

The Miami Heat traded Shabazz Napier to the Orlando Magic in a lopsided deal. Napier, a former 1st round pick was sent for just a protected 2nd round pick in 2016. The move was a salary dump trade for the Heat who currently have Goran Dragic and Mario Chalmers under contract to play point guard.

Heat Trade Zoran Dragic to Celtics

While the Heat re-signed Goran Dragic, they shipped his younger brother Zoran to the Boston Celtics. Zoran came to the NBA last season joining his brother in Phoenix. However, at the trade deadline the two were both shipped to Miami. Miami is now sending Zoran and a 2020 protected 2nd round pick and cash to Boston for a 2019 protected 2nd round pick.

Heat Waive Henry Walker

You may remember him as Bill Walker from his time with the Knicks and Celtics but Bill returned to the NBA last season as Henry Walker. Walker’s contract for year two was due to pay him $1.1 million, $100,000 of which would become guaranteed if he was on the roster by August 1st. The Heat decided to waive him.

These three moves save the Heat roughly $11 million in salary and luxury tax penalty payments.

25Feb

Miami Heat Trade Updates

With just about 15 games left to play in the NBA regular season, the Miami Heat are holing onto a #7 slot in the eastern conference. The Heat hope to hang onto their playoff position, especially with the addition of the Dragic brothers, Goran and Zoran for Danny Granger, Justin Hamilton and two first round draft picks: one in 2017 and another in 2021. The Heat also Traded Norris Cole, Shawne Williams and Justin Hamilton to the New Orleans Hornets for guard John Salmons. The team also signed another guard in Tyler Johnson earlier this month. Below is a slide show of the Miami Heat players before the trade.

Raanan Katz and the Miami Heat Roster:

23Jan

Miami Heat Fans Rank #1 in Forbes for Best Fans in the NBA

Raanan Katz Miami Heat FansForbes recently did a study on the NBA’s best fans. They use five variables in their algorithm to determine which team has the best fans. The first variable is hometown crowd reach, which is a percentage of local individuals who listened, watched, or attended a game in the last year. The other variables consist of three years worth of television ratings, three years of capacity reached for an attendance based approach, three years of merchandise sales, and social media followers, which is the combination of Twitter followers and Facebook likes. There are also factors that count in behavioral variables such as loyalty and television ratings. Social media reach was calculated as a percent of the city population. Dual city teams had their local population cut in half to account for multiple team options in a single city.

This year, the Miami Heat was calculated to have the best fans in the NBA. Although LeBron James leaving the Miami Heat might have something to do with their high score, the Heat fans have been ranked in the top 5 ever since 2004. With Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Shaquille O’Neal; the team’s merchandise sales have been among the top since 2004. The Heat are ranked 3rd in the social media metric with both the 3rd highest combined Twitter followers/Facebook likes and total percentage of social media followers combined with the population of Miami.

After LeBron left, the teams capacity and merchandise sales still ranked towards the top of the league. To even further prove the team’s momentum, Fox’s Sun Sports signed a network contract with the Miami Heat that pays triple today’s rights fee and is signed through the 2025 season.

 

The list of the top 10 best NBA fans:

 

1)   Miami Heat

2)   Oklahoma City Thunder

3)   San Antonio Spurs

4)   Chicago Bulls

5)   Los Angeles Lakers

6)   Boston Celtics

7)   Dallas Mavericks

8)   Indiana Pacers

9)   Portland Trail Blazers

10)  Los Angeles Clippers

09Dec

Miami Heat’s Road Woes

Raanan Katz Miami Heat WadeThe Miami Heat are on quite the skid as of recent losing five of their last six games. Throughout their first 18 games, the Heat have struggled with continuity. They have used six different starting lineups in their first 18 games. Dwyane Wade has recently missed seven games due to a hamstring injury, and Luol Deng injured his right hand, leaving him questionable for a couple of recent games.

They started off their losing skid against the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry scored 40 points, 24 of which came from 3-ponters. Chris Bosh was the Heat’s leading scorer, raking up 26 points, but that was not enough as they lost 114-97.

The Miami Heat then traveled to New York City and beat the Knicks 86-97. Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade both returned to their teams starting lineup. Wade scored an impressive 27 points, leading his team to a comfortable victory.

The Heat moved their way South to play the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center. The Heat could not contain John Wall as he scored 18 points and 13 assists. Chris Bosh lead the head with 21 points and 8 rebounds, but that was not enough as the Heat ended up losing 86-107.

The Heat then played the red-hot Atlanta Hawks and put up a good fight at home. Luol Deng injured his right hand in the middle of the game and was taken out. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh lead the team by scoring 28 and 27 respectively. The Heat were shooting 56% from the field, which normally would result in a win. Unfortunately, they were playing the Atlanta Hawks, who have won 6 of their last 7. The Heat lost 102-112.

Dwyane Wade continued to play well on the road, scoring 28 points against the Bucks, but that did not help the team turn out a victory as the Heat still lost 85-109.

Sunday night was a similar turnout. The Heat traveled to Memphis and lost to the Grizzlies 87-103. Dwyane Wade scored 25 points.

The Heat continue their road streak tonight against Phoenix. They then travel to Denver and Utah.

17Nov

With a team suddenly limited by injuries, #Heat coach Erik Spoelstra finds himself relying on Mario Chalmers

By Joe

HEAT (5-5) at NETS (4-5), 7:30 p.m., Barclays Center, Sun Sports/FM 104.3, AM 790 and WAQI 710 AM (Spanish)

LINE: Nets by 6 1/2 (Opened at 5 1/2.)

OFFICIALS: Derrick Stafford, Josh Tiven and James Williams

WHY WATCH: To see if the Heat can overcome all these injuries. Dwyane Wade (hamstring) and Josh McRoberts (foot) are both out and now Luol Deng is questionable with an injured wrist.

SPO-SPEAK: “We’re not making any excuses for injuries or guys in and out of the lineup. That’s this league. What we talked about today at shootaround, welcome to the NBA. Every team is dealing with it. If they’re not dealing with it now, then they’re dealing with it at some point. So, it’s how you manage that and how you respond. Are you getting better or getting worse?”

IS MARIO CHALMERS A STARTER OR BACKUP? “You have to get to know your team, and we need Rio to be out there, so I’m trying to balance him to do both. He needs to play 35 minutes plus. He needs to start the game, but he also needs to be our back-up [shooting guard]. Welcome to our team.”

…read more

Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat

15Nov

About last night …

By Joe

MY GAME STORY LINK: CLICK ME!

Poor defense has plagued the Heat during its two-game losing skid. The Pacers out-rebounded the Heat 53-28 on Wednesday on and Friday the Heat’s defense allowed the Hawks to shoot 56 percent from the field.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra…

ON THE LOSS: “There were a handful of times when we were able to impose our will. It takes a tremendous amount of effort, multiple efforts and activity to be able to defend offensive teams like this. We certainly felt with Dwyane [Wade] out that we scored enough to give ourselves a chance to win, but we never got to the defensive disposition and mind-set that you need to win against a team like this in their building.”

ON CHRIS ANDERSEN’S LIMITED MINUTES: “I actually had the intension to play him in the first half, but I went with [Udonis Haslem]. It looked a little bit out there, but Bird will be out there Sunday.”

WHY DID JAMES ENNIS START: “To keep Mario [Chalmers] in the second unit, and to stabilize that unit. Instead, he played 40 minutes.”

Chris Bosh …

ON THE POOR FIRST QUARTER: “We’re not getting off to good starts defensively, whether it’s the …read more

Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat

14Nov

Stuff about tonight’s game, #Heat (5-3) at #Hawks (4-3)

By Joe

HEAT (5-3) at HAWKS (4-3), 7:30 p.m., Sun Sports

LINE: Hawks by 2 (Opened at 3.)

OFFICIALS: Tom Washington, David Jones, JT Orr

WHY WATCH: The Hawks have won three in a row while the Heat is trying to boucne back from its 75-point performance against the No Name Pacers on Wednesday. Both the Heat and Hawks now feature similar offensive styles predicated on ball movement and Friday night’s matchup will be the first of four meetings between the two division opponents this season.

SPO-SPEAK: “It’s not always going to work out smoothly, ball moving, everyone in great rhythm like it was in Dallas. There are games you’re going to have to develop some team and collective grit and figure out how to win. And those can be very gratifying at the end, particularly when you don’t play great.”

…read more

Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat

13Nov

About last night …

By Joe

GAME STORY LINK: CLICK ME!

The Pacers turned ugly into art and embarrassed the Heat 81-75 on Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami was out-rebounded 53-28. It was the lowest scoring total for the Heat on its home court since the 2009-10 season.

In addition to the rebounding problems, the Heat went 8 of 18 from the free-throw line. The Pacers won despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field and recording more turnovers (16) than assists (13).

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra…

ON THE REBOUNDING: “I’ll have to get to the film, but certainly more block outs and we have to be a gang-rebound team. It can’t be just a one individual and that certainly hurt us tonight. We’re all well aware of that.”

ON THE MISSED FREE THROWS: “These are those types of games that you would really like to see your team to find a way to grind it out when you’re not necessarily in a great rhythm. It’s a defensive game. It’s a grind out game and you like to find a way to win ugly at the end. Whatever, just make some plays. We had some foul trouble. We had some free throw opportunities that we came up short but …read more

Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat

12Nov

Stuff about tonight’s game: Pacers (2-6) at Heat (5-2)

By Joe

PACERS (2-6) AT HEAT (5-2), 7:30 p.m., Sun Sports, ESPN

LINE: Heat by 8 1/2 (Opened at 10.)

OFFICIALS: Scott Foster, Eric Lewis, Eli Roe

WHY WATCH: The Pacers are bruised and broken to begin the season, but tonight’s nationally televised game is still the first matchup between the Heat and Pacers since last season’s Eastern Conference finals.

SPO-SPEAK: “It’s still Indiana, so you know they’re going to bring it defensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They’re not going to allow you to have easy opportunities on the paint. You’re going to have to work your offense with force, with poise and the ball is going to have to move. The more shortcuts you try to take, the more it plays right into their hands.”

ON THE 5-2 START: “It’s not even about that right now,” Spoelstra said. “It’s about our habits. Are we coming in to work to get better? And the guys have been great. They have a real lunch pail, hardhat mentality to come in here and work and work the process to try to get better.
“You’re seeing some of the improvement, but we have a long way to go, particularly on the defensive end. And there is no shortcut to it. …read more

Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat