Coach to blame, too

Pat Riley said this isn’t about lineups right now.

This part of the season, while Dwyane is waiting to get completely healthy, is very much about lineups and tweaks and finding combinations that are working in any particular game.

The starting lineup, which included Dorell Wright on Thursday, isn’t as important as the lineup that works best when the game is in the flow. And that is on Riley to read the situation and react before the team finds itself in a double-figure hole. It was obvious Thursday that, with the shooters the Blazers have at the big men spots, the team would have been better off matching up with smaller people.

That doesn’t even take into account how bad Shaq looked. That’s another read Riley has to make, limiting Shaq’s minutes when it’s obvious he’s not able to move. He can’t just wait until Shaq gets himself in foul trouble or until the opposing big men get open jumper after open jumper against his defense.

It’s going to be interesting to see how soon Riley reacts to this same situation against the Warriors, because Don Nelson will still game plan around stopping Shaq and fouling Shaq and making life miserable for him. So it might be critical for Pat to get a small lineup in there early.

The trick when the Heat goes small, though, is playing great help defense and seeing the play before it happens. That used to be Posey’s role, but everyone has to play that part when the Heat is small, because neither Zo nor Shaq are there to affect the shot.

You’ve got to love Daequan Cook at this point. That kid has no conscience, which is great when he’s hot. I really like Martell Webster from Portland, but after watching this game, I think Cook has more upside than Webster.

Back to Dwyane for a second. I realize that he doesn’t like playing most of his minutes at the point guard position, but until he gets back to being the explosive scorer and finisher at the rim, then he is honestly better suited playing a lot of point guard minutes because he can still break down the defense and find a scorer, and he can still use the high pick-and-roll to get his jump shot off, or draw fouls with pump fakes.

All the stuff at the rim he normally gets from playing off the ball just isn’t there consistently yet. So I like him at the point guard for at least half his minutes. Besides, if Jason Williams doesn’t play 48 minutes, there aren’t too many option anyway.

But Thursday Riley figured it out way too late (as usually is the case) and it cost them another game.

This is starting to get embarrassing for them.

Comments

[leo]

you got to see the replay where cook is hitting his shots,so hot,when a lot of times you see wade is forcing his shots,you can see cook is waitng for a pass which is ha is open alot of times,did you see the field goals of cook,i mean he is so good!,c'mon wade pass it to ur guy,accept it,your not yet on ur 100%,don't force it!,you look like a rookie,the only reason you got 21 pts is bec of the garbage time.

[U-ungrateful-dogs]

You Miami people make me sick. If it were not for Shaq you guys would not have a championship. The 1st year he got you close, but Rileys, dumb a$$ guard Damon Jones blew that up! I love D-Wade, but he would not be no where near the Superstar he is, if Shaq had not come to Miami. Wade is great - I dig this dude! When the hell is anyone going to J. Williams to the carpet? He has not produced anything since he put on a Heat uniform. What about management? Why would you let Posey, your best defender go? We all agree, Antoine had to go. In fact he stayed one season too long. Shaq is not the problem. The team has no defensive players. Shaq can't do it all. Have you checked the teams shooting %? Is that Shaqs fault too? The only reason you ungrateful dogs, got Shaq is because the Lakers organization is corrupt! Those retards let Shaq go, now they're about to lose Kobe! I guess thats Shaqs fault too. YOu all were unzipping his pants so he could go to the bathroom, when you won the championship, now your owners have traded down and made bad front office moves and you wan to blame Shaq. Anyone want to talk about how Riley and Aronson could not whoo Garnet to the Heat? He & Shaq have always been good friends. Everyone knows Shaq teams win championships. Ask Kobe, Ask Wade! Ask Zo, ask G Payton. And can someone tell me why Riley decided to ressurrect Penny! You jerks don't deserve another championship in your city. I'm hoping Shaq comes back to L.A. for his last year and he and Kobe give it one more shot! Where will your Heat be then?

[big dee chi-born]

It's time to start Ricky Davis. It's not a good idea to have Wade as the only scoring option on the perimeter early in the game because it takes too long for his knee to loosen up!

We wasted all this time sitting our best athlete on the bench all year. Anyway Dorell, I see you fam. I see you working on your form on the jumpshot. Continue to stay around that rim though because we need another guy that can get to the line and finish above the rim! That jumpshooting stuff is going to come and go, but you can all get to the line with your handle. And with all the attention that Shaq and Wade get you can always back cut somebody for the lob! Stay around the rim though: it's good money down there.

It's time to cut Penny and get Jalen out of the ESPN studio! Riley you want a point forward that can shoot and post up? There you go!

When is Riley going to take is his seat way back up stairs? It's too much talent on this team for the crap Riley is pulling! I wonder if there's another coach on the planet that would never try Zo and Shaq together even when matchups permit it?

December 24th hurry up!!!

[Help]

Pat Riley & Shaq are dinosaurs! Once big & scary now they should become extinct. God bless em 4 the title, but I'd trade Shaq back for Lamar Odom and filler. PLEASE don't let D Wright go - Wade loves him, and all you gotta do is look at Cook and see what Wright coulda been. Three years on the bench and you stop thinking you're worthy of playing. He starts and is out in five minutes. He's got a smooth shot and plays defense. And ATHLETIC!!! We need a Euro or an Argentine - how hard can they be to find in Miami?

[Miami is Loser Central]

IG is a homer. Shaq is on Social Security.Wade still doesn't have a jumpshot and is horrible on Defense. Roy used and abused him. D-Whistle without his bogus foul calls is just another player. He was never a superstar. Stern had to get rid of his corrupt official. Thank You Miami. Love L.A. for taking Smush Parker and paying 20 mill to Ralphie May I mean Shaq. Keep wearing your ear ring IG and lying to yourself. Muhahahahaha

[Jack]

Hey U-Ungrateful-Dogs:

Great post. I love it when someone like you, who can't put together a proper sentence i.e. "but he would not be no where near the Superstar he is", then refers to other people as "retards," which I assume you mean someone who is not as smart as you.
Lucky for you that you apparently don't have any family members that are retarded. My question, however, is: are your family members as dumb as you are, and do they mangle the language like you?

[U-ungrateful-dogs]

Hey Jack, If you want to give grammer lessons, I hear the local school district is hiring! Stop being so sensitive, this is not about YOU! Its about you fickle Heat fans! In L.A., we support our teams during the good times and the bad times. But, thats because we are used to success. Shaq is the best thing that ever happened to the heat. you all know it. Don't take issues with me or what I post. Get a life and find something of interest to post relating to the topic.

[Jack]

Thanks for the advice U-ungrateful-idiot:

Right, you've had a lot of success since Shaq left.

Good job on the post, though. Did you have someone proofread this one?

4-14. muhahahahh. Miami is full of losers and coke heads. The Heat have about 50 fans. The rest are Bandwagoners. The worst teams in Sports reside in Loserville Miami. make up some T-Shirts. Thank You Miami, Love L.A. Enjoy your Smushy Parker and Obese Shaq. D-Whistle ned another wheel chair for his shoulder. Muhahahaha. Hey Jack go cry sitting on Dan Lebatard's lap. 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14. hahahaha

[jzo19]

as ive said b4 , riley has 2 go , he's a poison to the team , his old school methods of inspiring and motivating players doesnt work anymore , most of the players have grown tired of him fast , especially shaq

[U-ungrateful-dogs]

So Jack, whats up with the name calling? Do you have anything related to basketball to post? If you don't stop calling me names, I'm gonna send O.J. over to see you! Leave me alone. I am not interested in discussions with your kind. I like talking about BASKETBALL!

[joke]

why shaq can't get the ball?

[Baller]

Riley badly needs to move back to the front office. U-ungrateful-dogs has a good point, the Heat wouldn't have a championship without Shaq, nor would it had almost gone to the finals the year before they won it either. Van Gundy was such a better coach than Riley. Riley didn't have to do anything new when they won it because they ran all the same plays Van Gundy set up. Van Gundy has Orlando playing the same type of ball he had the Heat playing....run when you can, and if you can't then play inside-out.

Shaq ain't what he used to be and he's having foul trouble, but he's still shooting 60%. Riley likes to blame the defense, but they loose games because they go into a scoring slump for minutes at a time. When teams prepare to play the Heat, they still focus on stopping Shaq, then D-Wade. Shaq is still double-teamed every night, but players don't cut to the basket except for Haslem. If Shaq's being double-teamed, someone is wide open. Riley isn't playing the people who can make outside shots. And Haslem is missing most of his wide open jumpers. Teams are doubling off him because his inconsistent. Why in the world would you give your highest shooting percentage player less than 10 shots a game? D-Wade is taking 16 shots per game at 43%, Davis 13.3 per game at 42%, Haslem 11.3 at 46%, and J-Will 8.8 at 42%. Of course your going to loose when the majority of your shots are coming from someone shooting 43% and under. Hardly any team wins shooting 43% for the game. You can't win a game without scoring. Most of the teams that Shaq has played on shot close to 50% for the game because Shaq averages 60% and usually takes 15 or more shots. Without Shaq's 60% shooting, the rest of the team would average 42% shooting. That's pretty pathetic. The Heat can still win if Riley starts coaching better, but he's too set in his old ways.

As for D-Wade, he's slowly improving, but he's inconsistent. It's going to take him probably another month before he's fully healthy if he even gets 100% this season. He can't his open jumpers consistently, he has no lift, and he can't change directions as quickly. He should've took more time before he came back. They are loosing with or without him, and if he took his time to heal, then he wouldn't be playing like crap. It's most noticeable at the end of games now when guys are playing him tight and he can't get to the basket or elevate.

[bong]

Riley should move back to the front office before the heat looses everything. Stop blaming on Shaq. Heat has the best players in the NBA. Why Riley can't make them play well? He keeps on experimenting some rotations and benching players as an excuse. They 're just playing together with rules frequently changing, now they're loosely organized as a team.

I agree with that - that Van Gundy was such a better coach than Riley and Riley didn't do anything new when they won the championship because they ran all the same plays Van Gundy had set up.

What is Penny Hardaway doing in the bench? He was once a great player. I still do believe in him.
I guess the heat should make some changes. They need a coach like Van Gundy.

[VA]

Shaq's not the problem, Wade's not the problem. It's Riley. Some of you are exactly right. He's old school, doesn't recognize when he needs to adjust because he's too stubborn to make change. He's killing the team. Championships only last for a few months over the summer. Each year is a new journey so to hell with what he USED to or HAS done!!
We're in the present. He's stuck in the 80's. Ths is what happens when you screw people out of their jobs then put your name on a championship! It ALL EVEN'S OUT.

[J Pizzle]

the heat will be fine. they are 4-15. all they need to do is finish the season at .500. if we end up with the 8th seed, so what? we match up well against the celtics. they are on a tough road trip, but are playing better as of late, and when they come back home and play east teams, they will go on a nice win streak. If, after 41 games, they are 17-24, they'll be okay. Watching the games right now, its tough to see them even winning any games, but they are always in the games and last night were some really UNLUCKY bounces going the warriors way. Riley should have put Shaq in to close the game because late in the game the pace is never as fast, with all the timeouts and need to run the clock down.

[Celtic fan]

Wade is an amazing player, everyone knwos that (Even the idiots that are trying to hate on us that are lying to themselves)......... but the thing is that he is not back to normal yet. Its gonna take some more time, until then the Heat are gonna have to fight real hard to stay close to .500..... but once Wade is back to normal about 10-12 games from now rounding into shape this will be one of the best teams again. All this humility theyre getting is good for them, it will make them hungrier and better. If they add a 3 point shooter it will also do wonders for them.... theyll be back. The Heat will get back to where they were, they have too much talent not to. Its just a matter of time, it is "When it will happen", not "If it will happen"..... once Wade is back to his normal self (One of the 3 best players in the NBA) Miami will be one of the 4 best teams with Boston Detroit and Orlando (Ahead of Toronto, Jersey, Cleveland, Chicago)... they may not have the 4th best record at seasons end due to the slow start so they may have to deal with a 6 seed or so (Maybe, maybe not), but either way they will be an elite team despite their record by seasons end, and theyll be in the playoffs regardless...... Im a celtics fan, and let me tell you: Once Miami gets it going and are back to themselves, I dont want to see them in the playoffs.

[Celtic fan]

You know what Baller: I COMPLETELY AGREE!

[Celtic fan]

The number 1 thing that you can see on a stat sheet as proof that Wade isnt himself: The FG% and FT%, he usually shoots free throws at 84% and is only 65% this year so far, YIKES! And for overall FG's he is usually one of the most efficient scorers in the NBA that always makes the right play and shoots 50%, this year only at 43% so far, YIKES!!!!

If you watch the heat every night you already know, but for those that dont watch the heat as much and are wondering whats wrong with Wade or Shaq or the heat: That is proof right there more than anything else when it comes to Wade.

Get the ball to Shaq more Riley, or get out of town.

[Sheiksphere]

Wade Plays but flight delayed
three or four strong
no luxury tax, no rings
no pocket full of Posey
Cirque de Riley
Kapono 4-3 a no-goto-no-mo...
Even when everything goes Wright, it's still wrong