Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Clippers Game Breakdown #12
Welcome to Simply Ballin’s game breakdown of the Miami Heat. After each game, you will see my thoughts on the game, film breakdown, and other interesting bits that stood out to me.
This breakdown will be much shorter and without film — couldn’t go through the game again this weekend
It was a game without Jimmy Butler, and for that reason, for the first time, I didn’t think the Miami Heat were going to beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
But they should have won this game.
This was a winnable game and that makes this loss even more painful. I do prefer blowout losses compared to blowing leads, missing game-winning shots, and being unable to have a shot to tie the game.
The team hasn’t been it lately. They have started the season with a defensive rating in the 82nd percentile or higher — reaching 90 or higher three times.
Since then, their defense hasn’t been up to their standards. Against the Clippers, per Cleaning the Glass, they had a 112.4 offensive rating and a 112.2 defensive rating.
One stat that jumps the hell out is their offensive rebound percentage — 38.2%, 95th percentile. They had 18 offensive rebounds, but only 21 second-chance points. In comparison, the Clippers had eight offensive rebounds and had 18 second-chance points.
This is just one of the things that makes this loss quite strange.
I’ve mentioned on Miami Heat UK that the Clippers are one of the better 3pt shooting teams. They played a lot like the Heat from downtown, going 11–37 — everyone struggled from deep.
It’s a shame the Heat shot worse than that. It’s another game where no one can hit anything — 9–41.
1st Quarter Magic & Bam
That first quarter was the most I’ve been impressed with all season long — scoring 40 points and holding the Clippers to 25 points.
The story of that quarter was Bam Adebayo. In nine minutes, he scored 19 points on 8–9 shooting and 3–3 at the line. That is the aggressiveness the Heat needed and will continue to need when Butler is out.
He simply had the hot hand — 2–2 in the long mid-range, 2–3 in the paint, and 4–4 at the rim.
What was surprising to see is he finished with only 30 points. When I was watching the game, I would have bet he was going to finish with over 40 especially with everyone else struggling to hit shots.
After that first quarter, in the second half, he scored six points on 3–7 shooting and only got to the line once.
What happened to that aggressiveness? What happened to the point guards getting him the ball? Until he either cools down and starts missing or the defense adjusts, give him the ball.
Thank God for the 4th Quarter
We have to talk about Kyle Lowry, but before we get to that discussion, let’s start this on a good note.
Adebayo scored 19 in the first quarter, so Lowry beat that and scored 22 in the fourth. And it wasn’t even the full quarter — he scored 20 in just under eight minutes.
That is the Lowry the team needed and he delivered. The criticism of Lowry so far this season was that he doesn’t apply enough rim pressure. And that is what he did. Not only that, but he was hitting shots from deep, finally.
It was a great quarter, truly a great quarter.
But when will have the conversation about Lowry’s struggles?
Before that 20 points in eight minutes, he scored 5 points on 2–9 shooting, 1–7 from deep. Maybe if he didn’t start the game so poorly, the Heat wouldn’t have needed him to try to save them.
Duncan is Testing My Patience
This was almost the breaking point for me. I’ve been defending Duncan Robinson. I am a Robinson believer and I do believe he will get out of this soon.
But man, he is testing my damn patience.
And what’s frustrating is that they are good shots. The shot he took to take the lead was a good shot. I don’t know what the fans expect him to do? Stop and pass off every open shot?
Originally published at https://www.simplyballin.com.
