Has Miami Returned? | Group Chat | The Ringer

Has Miami Returned? | Group Chat | The Ringer

Miami wins fifth in a row last night against Porton Trailblazers look a little dicey at halftime there until DeAndre Aton went out uh but they are now fifth in the in the Eastern conference 8-2 in February slowly climbing up as the zombie heat tend to

Do here and so Rob I ask you is this win streak is this recent success for Miami anything definitely and I think for a lot of teams out there you know 10 games even a solid month might be just that and we keep it moving the heat are not

One of those teams we know that this core can be dangerous we know that any sign of life is something we have to take seriously and we know that Jimmy Butler being in Fallout Boy latest video is a is a pretty good omen for them I

Think whoa I didn’t hear emo Jimmy oh emo Jimmy back in full effect he’s got a Rhinestone Cowboy thing going on wow I look how do you see that and not think this is a real Contender is this like the culmination of everything in your life right now it’s all been building to

This moment a lot of hair swooping a lot a lot of very tight black band T-shirts have led me right here Justin in front of you begging you to take the Miami Heat seriously so is this what Jimmy’s doing when he’s not playing games oh my god dude just been preparing for this

Role no but seriously just I looked it up the other day and he had missed 20 out of a possible 58 games like wow yeah you know like he’s missed so much time obviously the little suspension with the little Skirmish notwithstanding that’s whatever but he’s missed so much time

And but when he’s playing he’s chicking ass like so I don’t know how you don’t take what the heer doing seriously when you consider the way they’re playing defense which obviously is always going to be a Hallmark of this team and if Jimmy Butler’s healthy reasonably healthy they can generate quality

Offense right like they’re not going to like blow the doors off of people but I think because the heat are not just a team but they are a system they’re a program uh like they bring consistency to every single thing that they do and so Jimmy being healthy I think you got

To take these guys seriously and you know let’s face it this team went to the finals last year right uh yes they’re they’re missing Max stru your brother um they’re missing Gabe Vincent but I think they’ve done a decent um decent enough job of replacing some of those pieces

And I think they Prime for a run man yeah the thing that jumped out to me last night against the Blazers was just how the ball just pings around with these guys the amount of guys that they have that can dribble and pass some of whom can actually shoot I mean a couple

Of them are a little shaky but like the amount of just Talent up and down the entire rotation at this point it’s like it’s one thing if bamama to bio dribble drives and kicks it out to a shooter we’re kind of used to that at this point

Even though it is wild to say for one of the best centers in the league it’s another thing to see Duncan Robinson now do that with confidence he’s doing that pretty regularly at this point and then it’s another thing on top of that to see Nicola yic a guy that we didn’t know

Anything about might be the tallest guy on this damn roster functionally plays point guard I guess they just kind of just throw out titles for some of these guys but not only get the ball moving but then relocate and actually hit a shot there it’s just like every single

Guy here is is a little bit more varied and versatile than I think that what they had last year so if you’re going to be encouraged that they could be even better than what they were last season I think it’s that Joon should be punching the air right now

Bro so much regret over over over not getting not getting yic in the building well can I can I ask you this question though because I do think this brings us back to the bigger picture conversation with the heat there I do think yeah they are better on the

Margins here I do find myself wondering as I’m watching some of these games they are seemingly relying on Jimmy doing the Superstar [ __ ] in the way that didal on the one hand you could say this is what Jimmy Butler does at this point on the

Other you could say well if he can’t do that if he’s hobbled like he was later in the postseason is Rosier really the guy that’s going to step up and do that I mean they have more of these guys but I’m I’m not sure they really closed the

Gap in terms of like having a secondary Star Rob yeah they still don’t really have that and you get flashes of it from you know haime hawz in particular bam will have great scoring nights and I think it’s had a pretty good season overall the thing is though the they’re

Getting back into that plug-and playay Miami Heat way where guys are out of the lineup all the time even as you mentioned why was that suspension game Jimmy’s out against the Kings out they just won that thing going away and that’s now that’s very Miami Heat [ __ ]

It’s also very Sacramento King [ __ ] who they competition oh my God they have lost to every team missing players this season it’s it’s getting a little concerning but seeing that from Miami is reassuring because they have made moves to kind of shore this thing up around the edges especially at Point getting

Rosier getting Delon right those are really important moves for them relative to what they were and really what they weren’t getting out of Kyle Lowry earlier this season yeah I think the only problem for the heat is secondary scoring is not the kind of thing I think

You can do by committee right like when teams are rolling out Kyrie Irving and Devin Booker and these are the secondary scorers or Jaylen Brown and you know the heater like it’s Tyler hero some nights it’s you know it’s timee hakz other the nights is Bam out I don’t know that you

Can you know have that role be filled by a platoon if you will and so you know but didn’t they just do that and get to the finals you know I know they B they kind of undercut any sort of like rational thinking though they’re sitting here 19th on offense in this stretch

Where they’re eight- two and yet here we are talking about how good the ball movement looks on their offense right um I think the other concern is also just size like they Center right now is Bam and Kevin Love and that became an issue farther down the line in

The playoffs last year especially against niic I mean the East is a little bit downsized at this point because embiid isn’t there I mean maybe the Cavs and whatnot I don’t think a lot of the teams have the offensive Juice Plus the size in the way that you would be

Worried about if you’re Miami but I think farther down the road it could be an issue but the defense is Rock Solid again second in this whole stretch that they’ve been on yeah that’s where I think the big growth has been going from kind of a mediocre defense for a lot of

This season to now we’re back at Miami Heat standard Elite defensive play and it’s getting in some disruptors you know I think dlan Wright is is really helpful in this way he’s a guy who if you make him your stopper you’re going to be setting him up to fail but if you let

Him play in a system with other good Defenders he’s going to gum up space he’s going to jump Lanes he can be really awesome in that sort of role and so you’re getting a lot of those kinds of contributions like a little Delan right here you know even a little like a

Even L yic is going a long way right now like his like defensive minutes have been solid and to your point Justin he gives you a size that you’re just not getting Elsewhere on the roster so not a perfect player as you can tell from the fact that he either basically starts or

Is out of the rotation right now I I have no idea what his role is on this team especially when everyone is healthy but you’re getting a sense that when guys are coming back into the lineup for Miami these little bits of defensive addition are starting to be cumulative

Like they’re starting to all all come together and we say it all the time like a weakness only matters in so much as your opponent can exploit it right and what Eastern Conference team do we have confidence can’t exploit I think the Knicks they have a nice big man rotation

In hartenstein and Mitchell and and and Julius Randall and those guys are really physical guys right like they’re going to try to beat you with their size but I don’t think anybody’s like oh the Knicks are going to out physical the heat in the series well if if OG is healthy is

OG as big as dam you know yeah no that that’s that’s fair and that is a brand new component to the team that didn’t exist last year but again if you go down the Celtics who are killing everybody nobody thinks they’re going to out physical any team in the playoffs right

Like this is a finesse team they’re going to shoot the ball at you they’re not going to just you know sort of batter and Bruise you and then of course Milwaukee who I think like Brook Lopez and Giannis these are legitimate physical guys but I don’t I don’t know

Why we should have the confidence that by the time the playoffs come they’re off offense will round in such a well oiled machine that they can exploit these kind of size weaknesses that other opponents might have so I I I don’t know that it’ll even come up is what I’m

Saying the I think the Knicks are the most compelling of those teams in part not just because of the physicality but what they can do on the offensive glass that’s where I would be worried if I were if I were in Miami’s Position

Justin, Rob, and Wos look at the recent surge of the Miami Heat and their climb up the standings and pose the question: “Is this anything?”

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