Miami Heat: Can they hang with Boston? | Five on the Floor

Miami Heat: Can they hang with Boston? | Five on the Floor

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The code fi ve and now today’s episode all right welcome back to five on the floor here’s today’s floor plan I’m Ethan skullnick and follow me Ethan J skullnick and at five reason Sports we got Alex too you can follow me tropical blanket make sure you check out the last

Couple episodes that we did of course a bunch of trade deadline related stuff but also an episode on Terry Rosier and Tyler hero what that backport looks like now and what it might look like in the future who needs to sacrifice what the upside is we got into all of it so Brady

And I uh did about 30 minutes on that make sure you check that out on the feed but they’re playing the Celtics on Sunday it’s getting lost a little bit because it’s Super Bowl Sunday but we felt it’s worth a short preview episode because this is the one team Miami needs to get

Past I mean I think when you look at the Eastern Conference right now talk about where they may finish Milwaukee Doc Rivers that whole defense thing doesn’t seem to be working the Knicks they’ve got some injuries right now anobi and Randall even though they’re playing very well Cleveland has gotten everybody back

And Donovan Mitchell is now an MVP candidate so they’re obviously some a team that’s gonna have to be reckoned with but Miami has a chance to pass Philly uh with what’s happened there with embiid and going to be out for several weeks and I believe Miami should

Stay ahead or get ahead and stay ahead of Indiana with their current roster so it’s really about Boston uh Alex and we saw what happened the last time Boston came down here it was humiliating honestly I mean I I haven’t seen Miami play that poorly defensively in a long

Time in a game that mattered Jimmy Butler is questionable for this game we should say that um dealing with some personal issues he missed two days of practice I had heard he was going to play then he got downgraded so we’ll see what happen happens on Sunday but Alex

Let’s just start here why did Boston give Miami so many problems the last time um I hate to say it because they’re a really good team and they got cooking and we know the flaws in the heat defense when you just talk about like their game plan and schematically right

Like we know the ways that a team has beat them before they really kind of just are able to kind of knife their way through the first layer of defense and what once they get the the heat into early ation and kind of scrambling the open threes start coming and I think

When those things add up um it can it can get bad real quick and a team like the Celtics that’s kind of been the best team in the NBA um all season and a team that now with the porzingis Edition and with their guys like that they can

Really play five out all the time um well not necessarily when Xavier Tillman is in the game because he’s not necessarily a shooter but that’s besides the point like uh in that game they there the way this new C itics group has a way of stretching you out I believe in

A way that others couldn’t now maybe like with the other teams like you could take Robert Williams off the floor and that and in that way that you can run five out and that’s kind of what they did but I think they have a more Dynamic

Group of guys trying to run that unit now when you’re involving Drew when you’re involving porzingis um you know Derek white and his production I I I think it’s just a really good team man and they kind of they got through the the the the the layer of the Heat

Defense and they kept making him pay with the threes and I think that’s a it’s a it’s nothing fluky like hot shooting is hot shooting but it it the hot shooting started because of defensive mistakes and I think um in that game specifically there was a lot

Of switching going on and I think I didn’t like it I didn’t like it against that team specifically when you’re starting hero and Rosier and if you’re G to do that right you have to do it right and I think like if you know that they’re going to be

Kind of having to switch a small guy whether it’s Roser hero onto somebody bigger more often than not because of what they’re doing you that help has to be there that second man has to be there on time and early like I think I thought there was so many points in that game

That they just kept like they they got into the teeth of the defense over and over and over and knew exactly where the holes were and what to pick at and I think it’s a little bit scary as a Heat fan because it’s like okay do do we

Match up with this team and look maybe it’s optimistic and naive me I really do think they can compete with them again like I always say if they hold down the fort defensively because like you can’t let that team get going from three they will kill you and it like we’ve seen

Them do it before they will live and they will die by the three except the the unit they have now can do a little bit more than others that they’ve had in the past but first things first the Heat have to have everything right on defense and it’s easier said than done right

It’s not just about effort like when you have Rosier and hero out there you’re going to be you’re going to have to fight to help those guys out and your and your rotations are going to have to be on point since you’re constantly sending help for both of those guys so

It’s not going to be easy but I think if they can really start off well on that end they have a chance I think when you look at the matchups here um porzingis changes a lot obviously uh for them and that’s something they didn’t have to deal with

Last year uh but also Drew changes a lot and I you know I know that that Jimmy you know did some work against Drew in the playoffs last year but he he gives Boston a very different look defensively they just they have a lot of length um they really are not

Weak defensively at any spot you know there’s there’s no one to exploit it was pretty much only when you went to Boston’s bench and that’s one of the reasons they went and got Xavier Tillman uh to get a better Defender up front because they were thin up front but they

Have plus Defenders everywhere and really when this this matchup comes down to me a lot of times just comes down to the mental stuff with Boston like because I I I think Boston’s roster is better I I there’s no way to argue otherwise at this point I like the Heat

Roster better than I liked the roster last year but I like the Boston roster a lot more than I liked the Boston roster last year and so Miami is going to be at a disadvantage and a lot of this comes down again to sort of the mental Edge

That I think Miami has against them in the playoffs and just getting to that series playing well and then hoping that again that edge that you have uh it starts to get in Boston’s heads a little bit and I I think that’s kind of the recipe I’m looking for this year with

Them and it’s got to be at a point I think we talked about this where Miami faces them late enough in the playoffs um you know where they’ve gotten a little bit of a head ofest steem from winning a series or winning two series or something like that and

Maybe seeing them again in the Eastern Conference Finals and to do that Miami is going to need to be in that sort of you know 2367 bracket um as opposed to being in the one bracket because it appears that that’s where Boston’s going to be so you

Honestly although I think Miami may end up finishing fifth you don’t really want to finish fifth because I don’t think you want to see Boston potentially excuse me potentially in the second round um but before I go further on this if they haven’t engaged Jimmy Butler which they’ve not had in either

Of the two games they’ve seen the Celtics this year how much difference does that make in terms of I think I feel like it matters more in this matchup than it matters in just about any other I I get that I get that um that line of thinking and we’ve seen it so

Many times in the past in the playoffs when he’s really shining and you know kind of the number one even if we’re not necessarily talking about him having to kind of you know carry the team and all that just but but being number one regardless I think really and setting

The tone from the beginning of the game is valuable to the team he is their leader he is I think the guy that gets everybody going uh when you talk about his personality and when you talk about on the court I I honestly I feel like that’s been the biggest difference

Between this regular season Jimmy not I mean on the offensive side because the defense we know that that the differences have been there not as many deflections all that stuff but offensively um like we know that he’s never been this offensive Dynamite scorer for the in the Reg season for you

But the difference was I feel like in the past he was a little bit more willing to be on Ball and playmake and that there’s been less of that this season and you know more so as a recent since he’s been kind of ramping up but

Overall for the season I think they need that aspect from him even if he’s not giving you 30 points he needs to be a threat out there and more and on ball more often than not if he’s on the floor like it’s the cutting is cool but a lot

Of times like during the regular season he doesn’t cut as much also and sometimes cuts into space when others already there especally especially with bam I really can’t stand when that happens and I feel like it’s just like almost like not lack of focus but like those types of things wouldn’t be

Happening in the playoffs I think that he realizes like the Marchin for eror is different and we’ve seen that before but yeah like G get Jimmy right and and in the right role and I think that it starts there and it starts with the defense and then on the offensive end it

Starts with Jimmy I think he has to be in the right space it can’t be Tyler trying to like do too much it can’t be bam trying to do too much same thing for um you know but it’s it absolutely starts with Jimmy tring to talk a little bit about a

Guy that both teams may be competing for with a buyout a little bit later I I do want to mention a couple things first thing tilman’s not going to play on Sunday he’s been officially ruled out so we won’t see him uh he’s still getting over a knee injury prior uh that he

Suffered prior to the trade uh from Memphis and again I do think he’s going to help their depth because I thought the Miami’s major advantage here is depth um I look at a couple guys that I think could be keys in a Boston matchup

One guy I want to see get going is hwz I I feel like he’s starting to round back in shape a little bit got the rust off came back to a team that was a little bit different than the one that he left um obviously Rosier is going to be a

Little bit more ball dominant uh than than Lowry was so it does change the dynamic somewhat I know Tyler we we talked about that on the podcast how Tyler’s trying to figure out how to play off of off of Terry um but hakz feels

Like the guy to me a guy to me who could be an ex Factor against Boston we saw it last year with Caleb obviously Caleb’s on the scanner Report with them Caleb May Caleb’s mind may be Freer now too by the way got past this is the first game

After the trade deadline Caleb was out there we saw we saw this affect Duncan and Tyler in previous years and then both of them kind of take off particularly Duncan when the All-Star break when the trade deadline pass I don’t think that was as big an issue

This year it definitely was the past couple years but I do think that we may see Caleb come out energized but Boston is well aware of him with what he did to them last year hakus to me now needs to counter what other teams have done against him defensively like we talked

About he’ll have a counter for everything now we need to start to see it because teams are starting to take away that little spin to the middle they understand that when he’s in transition he’s not passing he’s just going there’s certain tendencies that have been developed here over his first 40 50

Games I also think that you know he hit the wall a little bit I mean he was playing crazy amount of minutes for a rookie and he was playing clutch minutes he was playing the entire fourth quarter he’s playing high intensity High leverage minutes so I feel he needs a

Break he’s not going to get it over All-Star Weekend obviously because he’s gonna be in Rising Stars and in the slamon contest but I just look at him as a guy that Boston I I feel like maybe it’s because Bill Simmons is so afraid

Of him maybe that’s it but I I just I don’t know I feel like he’s an ex factor in this matchup like I I I feel like he’s the kind of guy who could get going a little bit um against what Boston will throw out

There I could see it I could see it too and I could also see it the other way because what made Caleb and how he responded so special was it it was a matchup thing and that doesn’t take away from what he did and but what I Bean

What I mean by matchup thing is it’s just like the way that they guarded him not necessarily like who is guarding him and they might do the same thing with with hakz and I think I’m not 100% sure that he’s going to respond to it great

Not because I don’t you know have faith in him or anything like that but I think he might have to take some of these open threes and you know him him being so open if that is what they do um I think will ultimately help him because I think

Some of these Miss threes are when he kind of rushes some I think you said that the other day at the game when we were there and and I think it was it’s a good point because um like the the the form is okay but I

Think his form kind of lends itself more to inside the arc and I think you see that with like the the midi looks very natural and the NBA 3 as everybody knows is a little bit longer than the college 3 so I think sometimes when the shot

When he just when he doesn’t have enough time to really set his feet um a lot of times it looks short in my opinion and you saw it short in a couple of the free throws last game too and so it’s not that I don’t have belief in him to make

Those shots I think he’s open enough he will make it I don’t have doubt in that but it’s more about him getting to his actual game uh against the Celtics and their plethora of Defenders and it’s like you know there’s no easy way to get

To that I think I would like to see him get some more of those like mid post touches that um we saw him get earlier in the season and that’s kind of where I feel like he’s in his office right so to speak where and a lot of guys on this

Team are Jimmy and Bam are great u in the mid post bam High post same thing but hakz I think like in some of those units right um where maybe it’s Jimmy’s not on the floor and he can be a little bit more involved and does everything

Doesn’t have to be off ball for him as a scorer I think that’ll be a nice way to get him in Rhythm as opposed to just having to hit open threes which has never really been his role right so I think he has to make sure to find that

Balance and I think that’s what made Caleb’s response in the playoffs so special not only because it was at such a high stage and such a high level but he really just gave I mean took what the defense um gave him there’s me messing up another wellknown

Saying but yeah like now it’s up to haime it’s up to H to show people that he can do it against the best defenses and he can just respond to how they’re playing him he’s going to have to take advantage of the open space and you know

If I think he can really make have an impact as a cutter if they’re going to be doing that the way that they play Caleb right after the break uh we’re going to talk about a player that it looks like these teams May compete with off the buyout market and and what he

Would mean for each team before we do I want to mention a couple great sponsors of the five reason Sports Network we do this before heat Celtics but also before the Super Bowl make sure you get in on our better Edge our better Edge Super Bowl contest it’s $10 to participate

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That against you go to prize.com use the code 5 FIV get that initial deposit matched up to $100 so as I was looking through some Celtics uh stories before we started here uh there’s a lot of talk about ginari going back there and uh that’s someone that they had he was

Injured obviously and I’ll just ask you this because I I know that we’ve talked about galinari as being an option for Miami they’ve had an attraction to him for several years they almost acquired him at the trade deadline when they got uh Iguodala Crowder and Solomon Hill in

2020 but there was a a dispute over how many years that he’d offered him two he wanted one or three they didn’t end up acquiring him um he’s not the same player that he was he’s play on a couple bad teams lately in Detroit and Washington but he’s had some

Games and but I feel like he’s going to be Miami’s Target like I don’t have a lot of information on this but it just feels like it it feels like that’s one and maybe a Thad young or dlon Wright comes in after that but if he’s Boston’s Target

To does that make it more imperative that Miami gets him well look man Boston taking anybody that you’re going after always hurts there’s there’s no doubt about it but honestly I don’t know man I I think you know it it would probably help them a little bit I don’t think like ginari is

Going to change a series for you I think he’s more of a death piece at this point than like a consistent rotation player no I think I I think he’s still got some offensive juice left to him like he can still really shoot that ball and he’s

Kind of as he’s aged um Turned more into a into a stretch big and it’s funny I think he he would be just kind of like a love replacement or not replacement but love insurance I would say for when he’s out um and more more so than like oh

He’s a four that you had right I don’t think he’s a four anymore right like he he was once a three right early in his career in his prime he was a three then he was a four now he’s kind of a stretch five he really does not like move well

Out there and I think you have to kind of um keep him from having a defend in space but you know he can he can really still shoot it can uh score and shoot over a mismatch right if they if they switch a small guy into him so I

Wouldn’t be surprised if he just be like just thought like you know know this is a guy who can do a lot of the stuff that K Love is doing now I think K Love is just better I think he moves better and I think they need they would need to get

Gallow on the love diet plan right because as of right now I don’t think Gallow can cover a lot of ground I think he’ be used in a whole lot of Zone and maybe a hedge and recover type of thing but you know I’m not necessarily like

Determined if I’m the heat to get Gallow I wouldn’t be like oh man do everything I can to get him I I don’t feel like he’s that type of piece I think you know it would be cool if they got him another vet piece like that and somebody that

They’ve been wanting to get forever but you know all of these guys are more or less death pieces same thing with that um he’s obviously a different role play uh you know different type of role player you know I’ve been high the past couple of days on chimzi metu who was

Playing for the Suns this season and played like five season for the Kings and you know he’s he’s going to be 27 in March athletic type of 45 hybrid who who’s pretty mobile and you know I think he can be that type of guy for for them

You know again another typee of death piece who I think might be able to play with or without love probably not next to Bam and I think metsu has some stuff to him man he he’s lean he moves well really good roller you know I think he

Can hit open three sometimes is a little bit too quick trigger with it and probably needs to you know just take the ones where he’s wide open in his feeder set but I like I like the stuff that he flashes and you know he’s been a rotation player for a couple years now

It’s not like a guy who’s just been sitting at the end of a bench and we have seen him and it’s all in theory so I think a guy like that would make some sense too instead of only having to add like you know 35 year olds and 36 year

Olds something like somebody like that is available so young athletic and you know somewhat proven in the sense that they’ve been in an NBA rotation for some years so I like that idea too dlon Wright still not available so otherwise he would be he would

Probably be number one for me as a guard Defender for them but you know none of these guys are going to change your world but I don’t think they should be above trying to get a couple of these guys which would um mean they gotta wave

Drew Smith well right and that would be the guy I I think the significance of this is more so for Boston than Miami and here’s why I say so Boston is operating above the second apron right the whole idea was that if you operate above the second apron you are

Significantly Limited in terms of the way that you can add to your roster there’s a whole bunch of penalties and the penalties are going to get worse right and I agree with the heat on that I I don’t think that they should operate above the second apron I don’t think

That they should give up you know exceptions and all the rest of this stuff and be bounced to bottom of the round and everything else that’s gonna that happens potentially with that but I’ll say this if Boston continues to be able to add Talent while operating over

The second apron it makes you rethink it a little bit because if they’re able to outbid you for certain guys I’m not talking about just with money but just with the attractiveness of their program right now then I don’t know then maybe it’s not so bad honestly and so you know again this

Is the team that soon well right I I I think so but I think that that were’re I think we have to watch how these teams operate in that space there are seven teams above the first apron it is it could potentially limit Miami there was some talk on our Discord today about

Marcus Morris they can’t go after Marcus Morris there there’s there’s certain rules that that are already in play on the first apron Boston is the decided to go to the second apron that’s not typically an organization that has spent crazy money so I’m curious again to see

If they’re still able to add significant pieces and again we talk about yes gallinar at this stage is a bench piece but look that use them that yeah that’s same that Boston bench was atrocious last year in the playoffs that was a huge Advantage for Miami right well

Theyve Tred four for two right and now they’re a they’re filling in gaps and that that’s the thing that we have to watch here because then I think it becomes harder to argue you have to stay under it then it just becomes Financial thing the good news for Miami regarding

Galinari um is that there was a clip that went around um I think it was when he got first got traded to the Wizards earlier this season if I remember correctly for like in the porzingis trade uh I think he said that he was GNA Circle the the the Boston game on the

Calendar so that might uh that know I think Heat fans will like him a little bit after hearing that and I don’t know how much he wants to go back I’m not saying he’ll say no I don’t know I don’t I can’t speak for him but um you know I

Think maybe that helps and what really helps is the Heat’s ability to Shell out that U taxpayer midlevel which is in the range of four or five million dollars there and you know better than just getting a vet minimum for him which should probably be somewhere around

Three million that other teams might be able to offer him and the heat can do that and stay under the second apron still which is their their ultimate goal financially so again and and if you and you can wave Drew Smith again theoretically I’m not sure that they’re

Going to do this and they might they might wave Drew Smith and then just promote Jamal Kane to get somebody else uh a two-way spot and Jamal Kane gets the standard but it if they they can wave Drew Smith eat that um that dead cat pit that because they would still

Need to pay him and he would just be off the roster um and pay two guys and still be under the second apron I think I’m not Brian going shout out Brian but uh the the cap expert but yeah well the other thing you mentioned is they could

They could outbid with the uh using the mid level uh but of course they’re going to get a multiplier on that in terms of the actual dollars they need to spend it it it keeps them under second apron you’re right but it’s still there’s still a cost there’s but there’s a

Financial cost that’s not a vehicle cost these are really two different things we’re talking about that are intertwined My overall point is this if they don’t get galinari it’s not the end of the world I don’t think they desperately need him I’m looking at it more from Boston’s

Perspective because the the league has basically put this stuff in place essentially to create more parity and not allow teams to load up when they’re they’re already have you know a very high payroll and to create some punitive stuff to prevent them from doing so but if these teams can still get players

Anyway because they’re just a more attractive situation and they can convince a guy to come again it makes you rethink it a little bit so just something to look at um well we’ll have all the coverage for you Celtics heat also uh obviously check out the YouTube channel we’ll have some Super Bowl

Coverage as well but uh you know we do a lot of heat stuff there so check it out thanks for our sponsors better Edge prize picks and also tub culture shopt culture.com make sure you use the code fi ve and I promise my voice will be better someday I don’t know what day

Have a good one everybody

Ethan Skolnick and Alex Toledo get you ready for the Celtics’ final visit of the regular season to Miami — and explain how the Heat can compete with them on and off the floor.

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