I watched the game & I couldn't tell you if we stepped up our defense or all of a sudden they went ice cold. A team that put up a 34 point first quarter also put up 2 quarters in the teens.
I had the exact same feeling. I want to celebrate our defense but they also missed a few easy ones. But I guess the defense did its job because there weren't that many easy ones.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Anyone who's been watching the last 10-12 games has seen what DA's been bringing. He's been a more effective player at 15-10 than he's been the past 2 years with 25-14 games. Aside from a few miscommunications and bobbled passes, he's been phenomenal defensively and pretty unstoppable around the rim. And the focus has been there throughout, which was the key to everything.
I still see Ayton being a little less engaged... if there was a switch on offense and he has a smaller man on him and the other team gets the ball, he doesn't stream down court to take on the big guy, instead being content to stay on the small guy with whom he had a mismatch at the other end. Last night there was at least one possession where he let Booker defend Adebayo because of this.
Also on offense once he makes a play and drops the ball off to a guard he rarely just streams up court to put pressure on the defense.
And in the post instead of using his size and mass to attack the basket he makes finesses moves. Like that one possession where he had Duncan Robinson on his back but spun around to make an up and under shot from the other side of the basket (he was double teamed on the play).
Having said all that, I think this is maybe why he has been relatively durable except for a couple of ankle injuries. I'm at the point where 1. I like everything Ayton is giving us now and wish for just a little more assertiveness; 2. I like having Ayton for 90% of the games (suspension notwithstanding) over the theoretical fit of 30% of JJJ for the modern game.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Anyone who's been watching the last 10-12 games has seen what DA's been bringing. He's been a more effective player at 15-10 than he's been the past 2 years with 25-14 games. Aside from a few miscommunications and bobbled passes, he's been phenomenal defensively and pretty unstoppable around the rim. And the focus has been there throughout, which was the key to everything.
I still see Ayton being a little less engaged... if there was a switch on offense and he has a smaller man on him and the other team gets the ball, he doesn't stream down court to take on the big guy, instead being content to stay on the small guy with whom he had a mismatch at the other end. Last night there was at least one possession where he let Booker defend Adebayo because of this.
Also on offense once he makes a play and drops the ball off to a guard he rarely just streams up court to put pressure on the defense.
And in the post instead of using his size and mass to attack the basket he makes finesses moves. Like that one possession where he had Duncan Robinson on his back but spun around to make an up and under shot from the other side of the basket (he was double teamed on the play).
Having said all that, I think this is maybe why he has been relatively durable except for a couple of ankle injuries. I'm at the point where 1. I like everything Ayton is giving us now and wish for just a little more assertiveness; 2. I like having Ayton for 90% of the games (suspension notwithstanding) over the theoretical fit of 30% of JJJ for the modern game.
Agree with a lot of this. The part where he just jogs back defensively and doesn’t get back to his man bugs me...if I was an opposing team and he was switched onto a small, I’d purposely have that guy take his time coming back. Ayton just sticks to whoever is close to him.
But overall I’ve been very pleased with Ayton. Baby steps is fine and he’s made a few of those in the half court on offense and defense. We’ll tackle his transition play later.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Anyone who's been watching the last 10-12 games has seen what DA's been bringing. He's been a more effective player at 15-10 than he's been the past 2 years with 25-14 games. Aside from a few miscommunications and bobbled passes, he's been phenomenal defensively and pretty unstoppable around the rim. And the focus has been there throughout, which was the key to everything.
I still see Ayton being a little less engaged... if there was a switch on offense and he has a smaller man on him and the other team gets the ball, he doesn't stream down court to take on the big guy, instead being content to stay on the small guy with whom he had a mismatch at the other end. Last night there was at least one possession where he let Booker defend Adebayo because of this.
Also on offense once he makes a play and drops the ball off to a guard he rarely just streams up court to put pressure on the defense.
And in the post instead of using his size and mass to attack the basket he makes finesses moves. Like that one possession where he had Duncan Robinson on his back but spun around to make an up and under shot from the other side of the basket (he was double teamed on the play).
Having said all that, I think this is maybe why he has been relatively durable except for a couple of ankle injuries. I'm at the point where 1. I like everything Ayton is giving us now and wish for just a little more assertiveness; 2. I like having Ayton for 90% of the games (suspension notwithstanding) over the theoretical fit of 30% of JJJ for the modern game.
Agree with a lot of this. The part where he just jogs back defensively and doesn’t get back to his man bugs me...if I was an opposing team and he was switched onto a small, I’d purposely have that guy take his time coming back. Ayton just sticks to whoever is close to him.
But overall I’ve been very pleased with Ayton. Baby steps is fine and he’s made a few of those in the half court on offense and defense. We’ll tackle his transition play later.
Reminds me of this(you have to watch the whole clip though):
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:20 pm
by pickle
LOL that was excellent.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:25 am
by Mori Chu
Is that the single best scene with a pro athlete in a movie of all time? It's certainly my favorite. I love that scene so much, everything from Kareem's stiff line reading to the kid's terrified expression after getting grabbed and dressed down by Kareem at the end. LMAO.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Mori Chu wrote: ↑
Is that the single best scene with a pro athlete in a movie of all time?
Does Andre the Giant qualify as an athlete?
absolutely
Is professional wrestling a sport?
probably more sporty than a lot of the other sports out there, despite the performance aspect.
Sporty in the sense that you have to be athletic to do what they do, but then again, so did Gene Kelly, and I don’t think anybody would call him a pro athlete. Given the scripted, performance aspect, is pro wrestling more of a sport than dance theater?
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:33 pm
by Indy
Dancing is a sport too.
And what those guys did in the 70s and 80s seemed to be a lot more sporty than what pro bowlers or golfers did then.
Re: Game Day: Heat (28-25) @ Suns (38-15), Tues 4/13/21