Are The Miami Heat Contenders Or Pretenders? + Jimmy Butler Concerns, Terry Rozier Impact & More

Are The Miami Heat Contenders Or Pretenders? + Jimmy Butler Concerns, Terry Rozier Impact & More

On today’s show why have the Miami Heats struggled to beat good teams this season are they still legitimate contenders and concerns with Jimmy Butler is playoff Jimmy a guaranteed phenomenon or is it not looking so hot this year it’s all coming up on today’s locked on

NBA you are locked on NBA your daily NBA podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s up and welcome to another edition of locked on NBA the biggest stories with the local experts I’m your host Jackson Gatlin also host of locked on Rockets

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Host of locked on heat and locked on NBA West Goldberg you can track down wherever you’re listen to your podcast and on YouTube just search locked on heat now Wes when Miami and Cleveland met in the middle of last week it took some late game heroics from Terry Rosier

To for the heat to pull off the 107 104 win then just a few days later Sunday evening a completely different story an absolute blowout win in favor of the Miami Heat why was this heat Cav rematch so different the second time around just a few days removed from the first one

It’s a great question I have not seen a team give up the way that the Cavs did basically all season this team looked like they did not want to be playing basketball tonight um Miami got out to a quick start credit to Jimmy Butler and bamat bio setting the tone early in this

One Jimmy Butler is very sort of like all right what kind of Jimmy are we getting tonight you know kind of thing is he going to be all NBA caliber Superstar Jimmy Butler or is he GNA be you know what I kind of want somebody else to do the heavy lifting tonight

Jimmy Butler and tonight it was a pushing the pace very motivated very engaged Jimmy Butler who played like the best player on the floor the heat were down Duncan Robinson Tyler hero Kevin Love Josh Richardson just so many guys in the rotation this team team has been

Banged up all year long and they’re going through a particularly tough stretch of injuries right now and you know the heat are very uh you know they like to say next man up we have enough and all this kind of stuff and that stuff’s cute it is and it’s and and it’s

Worthwhile but at the end of the day you just need your star players to play like your best players you know and so that’s when you when you were down the guys that they were down you just needed Jimmy to be engaged really early and

Just play like the best guy on the floor especially against the Cavs team that was without uh Donovan Mitchell and was working Evan Mobley back into the rotation and so that’s what he was um eight or nine points in his first eight minutes set the tone bam kind of took

The Baton from there and next thing you knew the heat were up by almost 30 points um and then they they extended the lead to 40 points by the third quarter and the Cavs were just like uh this one’s over get us out of here and they basically just started handing the

Ball to the Heat and they were like cool thanks we’ll take it down to the other end and score Cavs didn’t even bother getting back on defense and so you know I hope the I hope the Cavs had like dinner reservations or something better to do because they certainly not look

Like they wanted to be playing Jimmy Butler in the Heat tonight Cavs certainly needed to pick me up after that uh just excruciating Beatdown of a game I I I I want to follow up with you about the Jimmy stuff because I think Jimmy’s play this season has been kind

Of polarizing but first just mentioned you know Scary Terry his play in the first meet up between these two teams you know he was a big mid-season acquisition for this Miami Heat team how important has he been and how has he kind of fit into this Heat team and their

Identity he’s actually fit in pretty well it was rough to start I mean he went basically two weeks without getting a practice just cuz the timing and the weird schedule that they had and so he was basically just figuring it out on the Fly and it wasn’t working great um

But the heat really needed just some of the things that he brings in a vacuum as a player Rim pressure um active on defense uh and obviously just the willingness to pull up from three as you mentioned like the Cavs game the other night just having the coones to just go

Back there and and take a couple step back threes when the team needed him to right uh so that’s not something that they were getting from Kyle Lowry at that position and they just needed more of a scoring threat there uh to sort of lift the offense which is not been good

All year long and so um I think as he’s gotten better he’s leaned more into what it is that he does well and stopped worrying about sort of stepping on the toes of bam and Jimmy and these other guys and because and that’s basically what the coaching staff and the and and

His teammates have been preaching they said hey we brought you here for a reason we need you to be aggressive go play your game if you want to go score 20 points go score 20 points you’re not going to you’re not taking anything off our plate that we didn’t want you know

What I mean and so um he’s gotten more comfortable he’s become more of a of a score and as he’s got more comfortable the three-point percentages have started to declined back to where he’s been at through his career and uh and I think you look at that trade now and you judge

It and I think it was a home run for the Heat and uh if the heat do end up making another deep postseason run he’s going to end up being a big part of it now despite these couple back-to-back wins against the the three seated Cavs uh who

Were clearly not at full strength than you know missing some K obviously Miami banged up as well but why has Miami really struggled to beat good teams this season that’s kind of been a concerning Trend with this team is it is it simply can it just be chocked up to health is

It because this team is kind of coasting and they’re like we’ll just get to the post SE and then we’ll start taking it seriously or is it something else entirely I think you definitely have to start with the health thing and and it’s such a great point we talk about it all

The time on lockdown heat it’s like okay yeah you could beat these these bad teams but then you’re 3 and 18 against teams with a top 10 point differential like where’s the statement win this season you know they they really don’t have like a big statement win that shows

Me at all that this team this team not last year’s team that made the run this team is capable of beating those good teams Celtics the Milwaukee Bucks just on their own side of the bracket let alone who might be facing who’s in the western side uh of the bracket so um no

I think you start with injuries you have to uh it is a real thing despite the heat not wanting to admit it like it is a real thing when you’re best players are hurt for a long time but I also think that you know you look around the

League and a lot of their a lot of their competition just got better man and the heat I I think they’re a little bit better than they were last year I do I think Terry Roser is an upgrade I think they’ve added some depth with guys like

Haime hakz and other guys but I I don’t know that the level that they got better is the same level that these other teams around them have gotten better right I just think that the the Gap is so much greater than what it was last year so I

Think that’s part of it I also do think that there is a little bit of okay we don’t really care about getting these wins in the regular season like a statement win to us doesn’t matter even if you guys want us to prove it and I

Don’t even know if that’s the right or wrong approach honestly I just I I think that’s how they think they prioritize things other than winning in the regular season they prioritize experimenting figuring out new rotations new lineups different combinations and and developing into the best team that you

Could be by the time the playoffs come around and if it costs you a few wins here and there then so be it right and and so that’s that’s sort of part of their game plan we’ll see if it works out I don’t know I just I I have no

Reason to think that this team is as good as some of the top teams in the East right now but they’ve surprised me before and that that’s kind of the the big question right is is this Miami Heat team are they still legit contenders right you talk about the competition

Getting better around them and and specifically you can point the point the finger probably at a guy like Jimmy Butler right with the whole the the playoff Jimmy thing right is it is it real does this team really have like I guess a switch that they feel feel

Confident that they can flip when the postseason actually gets here Jimmy does like Jimmy definitely does and the thing that Eric spoler always talks about is the difference between regular season basketball and playoff basketball and maybe it’s just the case that this team’s not very good at regular season

Basketball but it’s very good at playoff basketball which sounds like a insane thing to think to say but you’ve heard coaches and players talk about this over the years like how it is just different Draymond Green a few years ago said you’ve got 82 game players and 16 game

Players right and I think the heat are just a a bunch of 16 game players and not a whole lot of 82 game players or and maybe that’s just like it’s like the biggest like Divergent between those two things ever with a team is this one uh

And and maybe even last year’s team too but I don’t know I I think they believe that they’re contenders and I’ll say this if Jimmy Butler is playing at at that all NBA level the level that we know he can get to the the playoff Jimmy level the playoff Jimmy if he’s doing

That then this team is a contender I have absolutely zero doubts about that my question is whether or not you can ask a 34 yearold Jimmy Butler who’s just done this basically three times out of the last four years and that takes a lot

Of wear and tear on that body I I don’t think we can also just assume 34y old Jimmy Butler can turn into playoff Jimmy again even last year you know kind of quietly worn down by the time the NBA Finals rolled around bam adaba was Miami’s Best Player you know it wasn’t

Jimmy Butler anymore and so how much can you really ask of him how much can you expect of him and if he doesn’t turn into playoff Jimmy at that level then then I think you do have to ask yourself some serious questions if the heat can this Miami Heat team get

Healthy ahead of a ideally deep postseason run can they switch the flip in the playoffs you’re going to have us cover for all of that and so much more over it locked on heat West thanks for stopping by locked on NBA with me thanks for having me Man

Are The Miami Heat Contenders Or Pretenders? + Jimmy Butler Concerns, Terry Rozier Impact & More

Jackson Gatlin (@LockedOnRockets) is joined by Wes Goldberg (@LockedOnHeat) to discuss the Miami Heat back-to-back wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Terry Rozier’s importance and fit since joining Miami, why the Heat have struggled against good teams this season, concerns with Jimmy Butler and whether or not the Heat are still “legit” contenders.

#Heat #NBA #JimmyButler

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