Miami HEAT at Detroit Pistons Postgame Show | Five on the Floor

the Flor mys day you can check the score Hustle Hard couple SCS we bubble frogs just like Buck said you in trouble y check the Flor plan got it all B y'all seen the block stop with one hand and P trust it's have the guts we here to bring theat y'all can hang it up welcome to five on the floor a daily Insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan scholet Greg sander and Alex Toledo plus others from the five reasons Sports Network all right welcome into five on the floor live on the Five Reasons YouTube channel you may also be listening to this on the podcast feed here's today's floor plan I got Greg sander you can follow me at Greg sander I got Alex Leo you can follow me tropical blanket you can follow me at Ethan J skolnick or at five reason Sports Miami Heat and a four game losing streak they win in Detroit wasn't as easy as maybe it should have been especially in the first half but they do pull away in the third quarter they wi 108 to 95 now 35 and 30 on the season Detroit which had been playing better actually they'd won three of their last four they're now 12 and 53 on the season we'll tell you about our sponsors as we go forward here as always on the YouTube channel we will take your comments and put some of them up we' like you to be part of the show we also welcome you to check out playback with us during the game for those of you who have not done that it's a playback .tv back5 RSN that's playback. TV5 RSN we just had almost 100 folks on there with us for most of the game uh chilling with those of us from five on the floor and the five reasons Sports Network um I'll start with this guys before we go forward and get to the gamer of the night and all that um you know sometimes you just need a game like this and you know the first half was not I think what you needed um we were wondering whether or not this was going to be another clutch game at the end but there were enough guys who made plays in different pockets of the game and so I'll get to some of the guys who are not gamer of the night at least in my eyes but we're pretty pretty damn close uh Duncan Robinson uh did have four threes he's now at 999 threes on his career which is remarkable we shouldn't look past that considering where he's come from not just once in his career but many times ended up with 16 points um also had some Steals and five assists uh pretty good allaround game turo here at 18 points five rebounds just one assist uh but did make some plays getting to the basket tonight shots still going in and out a lot and bamat bio had 22 points nine rebounds on 10 of 14 shooting let's go to the gamer of the night though because I think we should we should credit somebody else who may I think at times we haven't credited enough and now on five on the floor it's time for the gamer of the night sponsored by Rock Esports Center the place to eat drink and play all day host your next birthday party with them located at 15305 South Dixie Highway in petto Bay they've got a 5500t state-of-the-art center equipped with all the high-end power play all day passes available for just 25 bucks but if you mention five reasons it's just $20 so mention five reasons or five RSN you get to play all day for $20 and now the gamer of the night this guy's been their most consistent player since the All-Star break I I I just don't think there's any question at this point you look at the way he shot the ball from three but to me it's like the consistent energy and effort like you just you know that when he comes in the game it's going to spike like he just he changes the way that they play tonight Caleb Martin eight of 14 from the floor 18 points eight rebounds and six assists he's done this against the bad teams he's done this against the good teams and I don't really know where they would be without him uh in the second half of this season I mean I haven't mentioned Jimmy yet I expected Jimmy to have a huge game tonight because he's played better against Bad teams and good teams he came out kind of very aggressive and then not much the rest of the night he ended up with 14 points four rebounds three assists I thought he was coasting a lot Caleb doesn't Coast um Greg and I think at this point we'll talk about the future when it comes and what they're going to do with his contract and all the rest of this but they had a decision to make at the trade deadline they could have punted on him and they didn't and I I think that if you look at all the transactions they've made whether it's bringing in D Wright who's not really playing right now bringing in Patty Mills who's playing a lot or Terry Rosier the trade for Terry Rosier honestly not trading Caleb Martin to me is the single biggest move that they made at the deadline it's damn close if Terry's not first but to your point um he's been the Lynch pin off the off the bench for them like I I think he's found a perfect role and that was something that I think he was maybe searching for initially he's like where's my spot with this team and he's found it and so that's really good heading into the stretch run I've Loved what I've seen from him defensively yet two steals tonight to go along with the stats you referenced earlier so to me yes he's been awesome uh he's a player that they're gonna have a decision to make this off season not for tonight's conversation at all but you're gonna need him down the stretch to play Big because I think he's also going to be leaned on to close and so then you've got a situation where not only is he your likely your sixthman if you know de facto six-man um if Tyler's back or some Duncan goes to the bench one of those two you could count as well but um ultimately uh he's giving them a spark game over game he comes in and the disposition of the team changes and they need that right now so uh they need to build upon this this is the Detroit P the Detroit Pistons so let's remember that but you know what sometimes you got to stack victories against the teams you're supposed to beat and Caleb helped lead them to do that I mean could you imagine how miserable it would have been if they were stuck in Detroit until Sunday at 3 o'clock coming off a loss I mean at least now things can settle a little bit and they can figure out what the rotation is going to be and how they close this thing out um couple of things come in from the comments here uh one is uh our guy donut Dan Caleb's games in March 18 15 13 7 11 9 and 18 um and I saw another comment here from Jose Caleb is the balance of the roster no matter who's on the court that's the thing he is the guy who can play with anybody uh and and Alice I let's pivot forward a little bit not to the off season but to Tyler's return at some point and we don't know if Tyler's going to come back as a starter I I think it's looking less likely by the day I wouldn't necessarily bet against it but I don't know if it's better than 50% at this point but let's say that Tyler comes back off the bench Caleb has kind of asserted himself off the six-man ha hackz didn't do a lot tonight um does anything change for Caleb with Tyler back I mean yeah naturally like you just you know a little bit less responsibility and and less shots I think it's a natural thing for you know if he does if he were to play Off the Bench alongside Tyler I think that would that would definitely happen but I don't really think of Caleb as a six-man for the heat with even with as well as he's been playing like I think he is just a solid Staple in their rotation and I don't think they need him to be you know like a double digit score every night but it is absolutely helpful and uh I'm reminded of I want to say like a couple of weeks ago whenever it was that SPO said you know he was asked about Caleb ramping up and he he flat out said like oh he's healthy now right and that that's not verbatim I don't remember the exact quote but he was just saying like oh you know he kind of deferred that and that that Caleb wasn't healthy to start the year and I think it's kind of obvious when you watch him play like he just looks so much more aggressive trying to get to the rim and he looks very confident out there like we know what he can do we know the types of ways that he can get to the basket and finish you know off the second side I don't think of him as somebody who was creating those shots on his own and that's fine and that's why he's so good at his role like he got runner up for Conference Finals MVP playing that role it wasn't because they started using him as like a star player as like a hub of their offense he he just does a he stars in his role and like I said almost got Conference Finals MVP you know Runner as a runner up because of that role so I I think Tyler coming back definitely affects things but Caleb just being healthy and playing his game is ultimately a positive that I don't think it's gonna go away with Tyler being back in it's just maybe not quite as many of you know these bigger scoring games for him but to your point like for the past three weeks or so he's averaging 13 points five rebounds said you know I'm not usually one to go to just straight points per games or rebounds per game but you know when when for Caleb it's it's significant because I think he was really up and down to start the season and then the other side of the ball man I think he's been fantastic on defense yeah as like yep it's it's that's why it it really does feel like he's just you know he's healthy again and because you're seeing it on both sides of the floor like he's aggressive get you know getting to his game on offense but on the defensive end he is hounding dudes you know whether in the zone you know whe whether he's pring 94t the times he has or like just in general I think he's done a pretty damn good job getting back to that level that we expect of him and that's definitely a big Improvement for the heaten well I I think that's had an impact in a couple of ways I think he his Improvement defensively has cut into the high Smith minutes I I think that's one reason we're not seeing Haywood as much because Caleb's handling a lot of those responsibilities and I also think it's affected hakz a little bit on the offensive end uh because it Caleb's getting lot of those cuts Caleb is doing a lot of those kind of things and again it's fine as long as somebody's doing it and when we talk about Caleb getting healthy the conversations I've had with him about it it's really the physical health that has led to his kind of mental and emotional health where I I think what was really happening early in the season it wasn't so much that he was so physically limited it's that he was physically limited enough that he couldn't do some of the things he did before and I think there that's where the hitch came into the shot and some of the lack of confidence and and him not playing free he needs to play free like there are just certain guys that just need to be unencumbered and he has been so and again you look at his path it wasn't the easiest path and now he kind of found the perfect role last year and then this year it was like okay they're going to bring him off the bench but then they kind of needed him to start and I I do think him coming off the bench and kind of knowing all right because he told me before the year he was fine coming off the bench he just wants to close so it allows him to kind of see what they need in that game and then he's providing and Jason right nobody in the roster replicates what he does and it is going to set up this really interesting conversation um in the offseason all right let's get to the two stars tonight and and evaluate them uh there another night where bam was better than Jimmy right I mean are we in agreement on that so that's yes for sure I mean I mean Bam Bam had the three bam had he gamer than right I mean he was my second choice um so let's start with the the more I mean I don't want to say negative but there was not a Jimmy Breakout game tonight it looked early like there might be and then there wasn't uh why Greg what do you think's going on there I can't call it I don't know other than you know other guys got opportunities and they got the victory so I don't think it's a night to poke holes in Jimmy's game too much but it is weird when you see him drop 26 last time against Detroit and we didn't necessarily see that same command of the offense offense um so you know we'll continue to watch they needed this game no matter how the hell they could get it so I'm tonight going to try to not hyperfocus in on Jimmy's game too much other than to say I I still think he could be more aggressive just all around he was aggressive earlyer though Alex we had seven shot attempts in the first quarter right yeah I mean he was fantastic in that first quarter I thought it was going to be one of those games where you know he just got cooking early on and he seemed really adamant to kind of throw himself in there and maybe he felt a little bit free since he's finally playing a team that wasn't pressuring the hell out of the paint like I feel like even the Wizards were doing that to a certain extent the other night um and honestly uh it's it was good to see him do that but then like you said it just kind of faded away and you know sometimes I don't mind that from Jimmy we know that he's going to do that stuff during the regular season like he's not going to give you four straight quarters of you know bullying to the rim and really trying to be the number one we know he's not going to do that in the regular season especially not versus the Detroit Pistons right like but I'm just glad that he was able to you know do that in the first and I think he probably would have had to turn up a little bit if it you know if the game kept going at that rate that it was going I want to say late in the third when they the Pistons that kind of brought it back and if it ended up being a clutch game I believe that that that Jimmy would have you know thrown himself back into the mix a little bit but it just didn't like they they they beat the brakes off for them in the fourth quarter and then it was just kind of not necessary but you know I think he was okay he didn't have a great game or anything I'm it was just good to see Jimmy and Bam you know not have you know Bad Games consecutively and simultane simultaneously because I feel like they they were both okay last game you know okay or better last game and then kind of the same this game so just breaking that little slump that they've had as of late is is good enough for me comments here about how he struggles with size I I did think Isaiah Stewart uh gave him some problems tonight again it's not always just length sometimes it's it's bulk um he did the other night too when they played at home he he did I said there are certain players there seems to be a consistent thing with that and look if Jimmy recognizes it and realizes he okay I don't have it going against this guy tonight I'm okay with him aggressively setting up others and by that I mean like being part of the play but making the game easier on others what I don't like is when he recedes completely um I thought he was more active defensively tonight that he's been in some of those games where he wasn't offensively uh you know he missed another free throw tonight I I said tonight he's going to end up missing out on 50490 because he's missing free throws lately uh the the you know even though he was under he was under 50% tonight he was five of 11 overall but uh it looks like he's probably going to get that um I I thought Bam's game was encouraging tonight and uh uh you know they got a good young big on the other side who who gave him some problems had a bunch of rebounds against him but there was a stretch there were takeover stretches from him um the free throw shooting has got to get fixed though I I don't know what's going on there it's gone to the point where I it's in his head right I I was listening to Eric and and Cate they talked about it tonight so it is seeped into their Consciousness and they mentioned him being under 50% in his almost last 30 attempts um I don't know is the the form look different because we keep talking about they got to get to line more often and neither of them making their free throws the way that they have in the past yeah it's a tough situation for them because their two top guys are both missing bunnies and missing free throws uh on certain situations at least the team's missing bunnies but bams specifically I thought he was more encouraging tonight that he had those stretches that um that were good but ultimately the free throw shooting is the last part of the cleanup and we and when we talk about bam getting back to his game completely because it seems like he is kind of turning a corner and improving and getting out of the funk that he was in it's just now the final step to that is cleaning up the free throw shooting and so you have these games against Detroit I think the this is great competition for him you have a young big who is um on a similar trajectory as bam was at that same age and so that's an interesting matchup for him and so he needs to take pride in that come out in the next one have another good game and then you're continuing to see him kind of get out of the funk that um maybe the free throw shooting will be the last thing to leave well you want to look obviously in Philly you're not going to see embiid uh but in in Cleveland um you you will see Jared Allen and uh and that's that's a guy that uh you know I want to see bam go up up against and he's had some pretty good games against him uh in the past but we got to mention it let's go to the play of night because obviously he features into this one and now it's time for the insurance byet play of the night sponsored by insurance by.com at a Aggressive Insurance Agency you can reach out to our friend Lynette at 95458 8800 that's 95458 8800 or Insurance fet.my best play for Auto Insurance homeowners insurance condo Insurance life insurance or a retirement program reach out to lyette at insurance by.com first time in his career first time in his career bam made threes in consecutive games let's go it's a streak it's a trend um it's not necessarily what I wanted to see I'll say that like I keep talking about I want to see the stuff towards the basket I want to see the stuff towards the basket but then again I was the idiot who said that Chris BOS shouldn't shoot threes and CP Morehead and I used to argue about it all the time on press row and then Chris Bosch became an elite three-point shooter for the heat during their run so it's not that I don't think bam can do it I've seen him do it in practice I just don't to me that's not the focus for what this team needs um but it's good to see him step into it like I you know when it goes it's kind of like because I feel like he gets well it's not just his progress It's that mentally I feel like he's happier when he does it like it's like even in the All-Star Game right it's like it's like I could do this okay the whole thing of the allstar game know someone should tell SPO because his we talk about his mindset all the time we talk about his emotional state you know where it it it matters with him like it does and so if this is something making a three every other game or whatever is gonna make him happy and keep him focused on the other stuff I guess I'm okay with it and it's always from the same spot it seems like right there at the top of the key it even was at the allstar game and so I don't know I think just look out for that his team sag off of him in the playoffs and they're dropping back dropping back dropping back keeping him honest I wouldn't be surprised if you see him tee one of those up come playoff time well that's the shot that SPO said two years ago that he was comfortable with bam taking the above the break three that that's the one that he wants him taking I want him developing some post moves like that's I maybe that's maybe I'm old school on that I I I get I get I think if you ask Pat honestly what he would prefer right it would be the latter but again if he's going to make an occasional three uh it's fine all right Alex I'm Gonna Let You pivot here to to somebody else tonight because I mentioned him at the top of the show uh Duncan's the one who actually broke this game open yeah no he had a great he he had a great game and it was um it was sorely needed because that first quarter um no actually the first half really were I think they ended up with with what was it three of 14 from three at the half and they didn't finish the game shooting great from three either but Duncan was the reason that they were able to you know I think kind of get some momentum that eventually turned into building a lead and then building a bigger lead and all of that because it was getting kind of ugly and in the mud there I it was uh three three-pointers made as a team in the first half and I believe Simone fio uh had three on his own in the first half which by the way that guy is just something else against Italian Duncan he he's gonna be on the heat in a couple in a few years right I mean he is he's gonna be one of those guys they cycle back to because he kicked their ass yep as and I said it on playback too the Italian dunan thing and that comment and it's just like it totally feels like somebody they cycle back to not only because he kicks their ass with it's like he kind of fits that exact role that they have Duncan playing in not saying to you know to replace Duncan nothing like that but like I could totally see him playing that role in the future at some point it's like yeah this guy can do that right and he's like 69ine you know not like skinny or anything doesn't stand out too much on I could totally see it but that's besides the point he was like the one guy who really killed him tonight and I thought Jaylen Duren had a really good game as well um the Heats defense was solid they did a good job I think keeping Kade uh keeping Kade and Ivy away from the rim and not getting easy stuff they both kind of struggled a little bit there and um on the offensive side Duncan was just huge man he was really gunning for that 1,000th uh three-pointer made for his career and he didn't get it like he was really taking some UND Duncan like shots towards the end of that game to since it was a blowout and wasn't able to get it unfortunately but you know um the heat were able to outscore the Pistons by 11 in the third and I think all of that was possible because of Duncan kind of opening things up for everybody else because he he really got that offense going man other than bam it was I think I mean Jimmy had a nice first quarter right but I think Duncan was the the biggest reason things started to kind of a flow and then you know you look at it now bam had a good game Duncan had a good game um Terry didn't shoot well but got to the free throw line 11 times which really helped make up for again another Trend that I didn't mention before um when I was talking about Jimmy you know five free throw attempts for him tonight so shout out to Terry for you know making up for that shout out to Duncan for all the shot creation he just brings on a night toight basis Caleb stepping up I mean haime I thought like didn't have a a great game or anything but five rebounds four assists one steal like he's active and and making stuff happen and I think this is the type of team effort you need right like just a lot of guys touching the ball a lot of guys making their impact especially when you know game to game you you might not you're not getting the best of Jimmy Butler so um you know got to give credit to Duncan for I think making all of this possible you know I would expect that Duncan uh is gonna try to get that thousandth pretty early in this next game uh if there's anywhere that he would want to get this done other than Miami it probably is Detroit after all he did go to Michigan I would think uh you either that or in Boston obviously because of the Northeast ties but um you know to get it done in Michigan I think would be significant for him and it's incredible I mean I when I talked to him about it and this was on the podcast I think maybe we should rerun that podcast after he gets the thousandth um but he talked about how there was no way he was gonna pass Steph for a thousand but I mean if you look at the paths of him versus the others who are up in this Stratosphere I mean couldn't be more different and you again you're talking about a guy who a wasn't supposed to be in the league to begin with well first he wasn't supposed to be in a major university to begin with uh had to go from Williams obviously to to Michigan wasn't drafted has to fight his way on the heat and then after he establishes himself is pushed back to the side and now he's reemerged as a different player with the Thousand threes it's it's a great story all right let's close with this and this will be more interesting than usual because I know everybody wants to talk about this uh let's get to the injury report and now it's time for the official five on the floor injury report sponsored by our friend Eric Rubenstein the personal injury attorney born and raised in Lauderdale Florida lives in Miami went to St Thomas he's a South Florida guy and a huge Miami Heat fan but the important thing is he can help you get your money that you deserve when something happens to you so reach out to our guy Eric Rubenstein again Eric Rubenstein decom or ask about me I got you on Instagram and now the injury report all right so there's a lot of stuff out there right now about Tyler one way or the other when he's going to be back I obviously I saw this in the comments and and people have have mentioned it that that's someone uh who tends to be talking a lot lately who's tied to Jimmy Butler said something I saw it today also about uh how maybe back a week before the end of the regular season um the reality is I I don't think anybody knows I'm going to start with that agree um I was you know I was talking to the beat guy uh before about this they the guys who would know the most okay they don't know I think we were all kind of okay you know I thought Kevin was gonna make this trip honestly so you know and and he hasn't um I the only thing I was told was just because they didn't make the front end of the trip doesn't mean they couldn't join the team in Philadelphia or Cleveland U and obviously with Kevin's ties to Cleveland and the fact that he miss he's missed a couple games up there since he's left uh it wouldn't stun me if he joined them up there but I know more of the focus is on Tyler here all I'm saying is Time's running out I just I just I'm just gonna keep saying that time is running out on them to integrate him in the starting lineup and I have repeatedly said when he comes back he's a starter but that's before this latest injury and before this latest injury has taken longer than I we believed it would at the very beginning and uh we were talking about this on playback today and I'll just I'll let you close the loop on this Greg and then we'll we'll do more tomorrow and on Sunday I I don't really think the issue with Tyler is as much the number of injuries he has it's the amount of time it takes to come back from them yeah and it it just I mean you're looking at a season where he's gonna end up playing 45 games I mean that's kind of where we're at and Jimmy who we who we have dogged for not playing enough games even in the lockout shortened season got to 50 I mean even in his lowest um or the the excuse me the covid shortened season um not the lockout short season sorry uh so to me it's a situation where they need him back ASAP or else you got to go into the playoffs feeling like you can't rely upon him to be a key cog like that's you got to make alternate plans and then he's incremental to the total once you get there because you're getting too close to to game time to be making making lineup swaps and stuff like that you got to go with the lineup and run with it um so they're running out of time there and I remember Pat riy back um After Jimmy missed three against Boston he brought up soft tissue injuries and he kind of alluded to pain tolerance and I just wonder um if that's going to end up being a conversation where they Wonder um you know is this Tyler hero not wanting to get back on the court until he's absolutely 1 million per ready from a pain perspective and look this is all about the playoffs for him it was last year he knew it um and so I understand if there's been a pivot now to saying make sure he's 100% by the playoffs because that's what matters but let's say that he doesn't come back until five or six games let's say it's the last week of the Season like someone speculated today and then he comes back and then they're out of rhythm okay that's no better than him being hurt for the playoffs in fact in some ways it's worse um I I I'm at the point now where if he's not back right after this road trip Duncan Robinson's you're starting to start the playoffs no matter who they face I just I just don't think you can make the change and then the question becomes is yic you know firmly in that starting lineup and I feel like spo's gonna lean that way but what we've talked about tonight with Caleb is Caleb is the Swiss AR Caleb is the one who's gonna have to try to he's goingon to be plugged in to fix whatever it is okay so if if it's not working with the over star L you throw Caleb out there if you need a little bit more offensive production even in the back court I could see you putting him out there with Rosier okay if that was required it it's going to be Caleb has proven you can rely on him and and that's reliability you know availability is an ability and we started the show with Caleb we'll close the show with Caleb we're gonna have convers this offse and I I think they're going to look very seriously at resigning Caleb Martin because they know that ultimately yes I know the beginning of the season was choppy and he was hurt and all the rest of that then but he ramped up and he got himself in a position to be a factor this year on a consistent basis and it's just not the case uh with with 14 at this point and I that's going to be it's going to be something to watch so anyway uh we're let everybody enjoy there Friday night we we appreciate you guys hanging with us on playback on here uh we will do a podcast at some point on Saturday and then also Sunday at 3 o'cl have a great weekend everybody thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the fire Reon Sports Network after all someone needs to listen to my dad