The Miami Heat Face MAJOR Problems...

The Miami Heat face a major problem or a few major problems after the first game of the regular season. It is apparent that a few things stand out amongst everything else and I'm here to break down three key components to why the Miami Heat lost last night that absolutely have to be corrected or at least adjusted going into Game Two to conclude and to go through the rest of this regular season or this Heat team is going to extremely be underwhelming we'll break down all of the moving parts on this episode of Heat Digest so let's not waste any time get right to it breaking down what actually took place last night between the Miami Heat in their season opener at home at the Kaseya Center against yes a very talented Minnesota Timberwolves team but definitely a team this Miami Heat organization should be able to compete with and possibly even beat definitely not lose by the margin they did last night 131 to 106 and this game was over basically when the fourth quarter started they were down 20 25 28 30 even at some points and there's three reasons in particular that this Heat team simply was extremely underwhelming especially last night so let's break those down and then we'll get into each and each and every one of them individually First things first, my biggest reason why this Heat team lost is the inability to rebound. They got destroyed on the boards last night by the Minnesota Timberwolves, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Minnesota was able to grab offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound, and it continued to add up. And you cannot give NBA-level teams second- and third-chance opportunities, especially when getting stops all night on the initial possession seems damn near impossible it didn't matter if it was Gobert didn't matter if it was LaMelo Ball it didn't matter if it was Ant didn't matter if it was McDaniels didn't matter if it was Kamuora everyone and anybody was in the position and flat out Miami just did not box out and just put themselves in bad situations to get or excuse me get defensive rebounding rebounds and allow it allowed Minnesota to get offensive rebounds at a rate that is just not justifiable in any facet now that was the first reason honestly in my opinion the biggest reason why Miami lost last night the second is the perimeter defense and specifically Clay Thompson as he was getting picked on all night long it was it was apparent every time Clay was in the game and he had the guard Anthony Edwards or Jaden McDaniels or Jonathan Kuminga it was give him the ball and let him just absolutely manipulate Clay Thompson and destroy him specifically with Anthony Edwards even if he wasn't guarding him Minnesota was running screen actions and getting Clay to guard the primary ball handler which in that case was Ant a lot of the times and Ant was just absolutely killing this Miami Heat team overall the perimeter defense did not look good overall as Minnesota was raining threes all night long and ended up outscoring the Heat team by like 40 from behind the three-point line and then finally is the offensive scheme Giannis Antetokounmpo had a tremendous first half he was dominant and in the first two quarters he was talking to everyone like not only to his teammates but the opposing team the crowd and he was really feeling himself to a certain extent but it just it is not going to work if it's a one-man wrecking crew because Giannis one has to come out of games he's not going to play every minute of every game this season and also the the three-point shooting for Miami was there there was options to get good looks off no one could convert I don't think that is going to last I do think this Miami Heat team is well built when it comes to the offensive abilities and specifically three-point shooting abilities but last night was a key example of what this Heat team offensively cannot look like so Let's break down the first thing and the rebounding for this Heat team and why and how it was so lackluster and just flat-out inexcusable for this Heat team. So if you look at the team stats overall, it is not good, to say the absolute least. These are not all the team stats, but these are the heavy-hitting ones. Minnesota out-rebounded Miami 52-34 overall. You look at the offensive rebounding side of things, 17-4 in favor of Minnesota, And they were coming at moments when they had no business getting a rebound. Like when Bobby Portis, Bam Adebayo, and Jovic were all on the floor, they were still giving up offensive rebounds. And it's just inexcusable, to say the absolute least. There's no way it should continue to happen. Getting out-rebounded in the sense of giving up offensive rebounds to this rate is never going to work. I don't care if you're playing the Charlotte Bobcats. I know it's the Charlotte Hornets now. But going back to when they were the Bobcats in an abysmal franchise, they would beat this Heat team if you gave them 17 offensive rebounds in comparison to your four it just it is not going to work it is never going to work and it's a it's a equation for failure in Miami if this continues then you keep going the steals 11 to 7 for Minnesota the overall turnover battle Miami did end up losing that as well 18 to 14 they turned the ball over a lot but it was the offensive rebounding abilities for Minnesota that kept them in the game got the Minnesota Timberwolves a bunch of second and third shot opportunities that put the Miami Heat in a position where it felt like they had zero chance to compete or even win that game last night you look at the box scores the leading rebounder on Miami was Bam Adebayo with seven the following guy was Jaime Jaquez with six after that you have a bunch of fours threes ones twos look at Minnesota Ant had 10 rebounds. Gobert had 15. Naz Reid, off the bench, had 5. They had Jaden McDaniels with 8. They just had the ability to go out there and rebound at an absurd rate, and it worked out tremendously. And it wasn't just Gobert grabbing offensive rebounds. McDaniels was poking the ball free, allowing just a tip drill amongst both teams, and then it resulted in getting in Minnesota's hands. The effort felt down just a bit when it came to rebounding last night for the Heat and it showed fully it showed fully now I'll use this box score to really just transfer into the next conversation and that is the perimeter defense and specifically Klay Thompson and his inabilities to defend on the perimeter at this rate especially against guys like Anthony Edwards like LaMelo Ball like Jaden McDaniels guys like Jonathan Kaminga who are so talented with the ball in their hands on outside the three-point line and on the perimeter Anthony Edwards had 45 points last night and it felt like he didn't even break a sweat the guy was knocking down jump shots he was getting to his spot inside the three-point line and he simply was a walking bucket we were doing a live stream shout to anyone and everyone who tuned into that and hung out with me watching the game it was a great time outside of the fact that I wanted to lose my mind two-thirds of the way through the game because of the offensive rebounding and the ability that Minnesota maintained last night when it came to shooting the basketball especially from behind the three-point line Anthony Edwards had 45 points 10 boards and three assists and a plus minus of plus 27 he just dominated and if you look at his numbers from behind the three-point 9 of 17 55 percent from behind the three-point line absolutely dominating now LaMelo Ball and a bunch of calls were not made and were made against this Heat team and not made against the Timberwolves and that is not the whole story, but it is apparent that LaMelo got away with a six-step travel in the first quarter that resulted in a three-point make because he was so open because he took six steps for what would be a gather or a hop step to a certain extent. Coming off the screen, gathering the ball, one step, two step, three, four steps, and then lands on five and six and then knocks down an open three-point shot. Legler and Richard Jefferson were on the call, and they were surprised that nothing was called. And so was I, watching along with you guys on the live stream. It was just absolutely ridiculous. But overall, Ant absolutely destroyed us. There is no way around it. And it came down to the fact that every time he saw Klay Thompson on the floor, he put himself in a position where he had to guard him on the perimeter. And he absolutely feasted on Klay Thompson and really the entirety of this heat defense. It wasn't just Klay, but it was apparent that they were picking on Klay Thompson when on the offensive side. and it wasn't just Anthony obviously Kaminga had a good game uh McDaniels Lamello all had good games but overall Ant was the proponent that absolutely killed this Heat team and now finally what offensive scheme what was wrong with the offensive scheme in Miami it was the one it was a one-man show it really and truly was Bam Adebayo had a good third quarter I will not argue against that but he finishes with 15 7 and 4 on 6 of 12 shooting he shot five three-point shots only made one of them only went to the free throw line twice he made two of those three free throws overall not the production we need to see from Bam Adebayo Giannis had a great game 35 6 and 1 a lot of he would have had a lot more assists i know keith was in the live stream praying that Giannis had got up to four assists for one reason or another but it would like he had he would have had eight assists last night if Hardaway didn't go one for seven if clay thompson didn't hit what two threes in the final three minutes of the game when Giannis wasn't even in the game anymore because it was out of reach and he had five personal fouls it the three-point shooting overall Miami goes eight of 33 after starting four of eight from behind the three-point line they just went ice cold in that game and Minnesota stayed red hot from the beginning all the way up until the end and it just didn't work for this team it simply the three-point shot was not falling again Tim Hardaway Jr. goes one of seven from the field all seven shots were from behind the three-point line again going one for seven Bobby Portis goes one of two from behind the three-point line clay goes three of six but two of his makes again were late in that game it felt like he couldn't buy a basket earlier in that game andrew wiggins one of four he did a good job getting to his spots inside the three-point line but overall 11 points is not going to get the job done especially when we have two rebounds again wiggins needs to do more again and i can say that for everyone Devon Mitchell only attempts two two or two three-point shots he makes one of the two end up going 11 points and 10 assists love to see that but it didn't feel like the impact assist it felt like it was just here and there and they ended up collecting assists over the 32 minutes that he ended up playing and then finally Bam Adebayo like mentioned earlier 15 7 and 4 1 of 5 from behind the three-point line i know bam has done a great job expanding his game and getting outside that three-point line and becoming respectable from out there but i would much rather see him shoot 15 to 18 to 20 times per game and have two to four three-point shots attempted allow him to attack the painted area allow him to get into the paint and just be dominant force fouls go to the free throw line and shoot a lot of free throws rather than limit living outside the paint in that mid-range to three-point area i will say he did have a bit of an ankle breaker last night which resulted in a made three-point shot from the top of the key but if you look at this box scored 35 from uh Antetokounmpo 15 11 11 and 10 from the other four starters and then off the bench 7 4 4 4 3 2 like it just Miami did not get the production outside of Giannis that they absolutely need to compete with high of high energy and high octane offenses the defense again didn't play all that well and Minnesota was red hot to say the absolute least but it did not work it was not a good look for Miami last night and Giannis spoke post game about the energy and the effort he said our effort has to be better it starts with me was not as good as in the past I gotta be better I gotta do better it starts with me so Giannis accepting the accountability even though I don't believe he's the one to be at fault here I believe the rest of this Heat team should be answering this big big loss in Miami to start the NBA season but again they go again in two days on Friday October 23rd if I am available outside of work I will be doing another live stream so make sure you are subscribed to the channel to stay up to date with that and tune in for the next live stream again we do appreciate you guys watching i'll see you on the next one