I didn't get to see all of last night's game yet due to my ridiculously hectic schedule as of late, so I'm not going to do a Blame Game. I did see from halfway through the 3rd quarter on, though, so I'm just going to put out some random thoughts for now. I might write a more formal season recap later.
1. There are many frustrating things about last night's loss, but one of the highest up there for me is the fact that TT did almost everything I wanted to see him do rotation-wise at the end of the game. Taj and Kurt were playing well, so he left them in. Ronnie played over Korver. He didn't shy away from playing Deng for most of the 4th with 5 fouls. TT put his 5 players who were playing the best on the floor out there to win it, which is all you can ask him to do there. (That being said, on the last play when you know you need a 3, maybe put Bogans or Butler in for Taj or Kurt?)
2. Speaking of Kurt Thomas, I wonder if this series would have gone differently if he had played a little more. I know that's strange coming from me, but his defense on Bosh and ability to hit that 17 footer consistently is almost exactly what we needed at the end of the game there. And the Heat didn't really make him pay for his slow help defense either, being content to shoot jumpers most of the time.
3. Unfortunately, those jumpers went in, because LeBron and Wade played like superstars down the stretch. LeBron is a flopping, preening bitch, but those were some cold-blooded 3s he hit with Ronnie's hand in his face. They both did everything veteran superstars are supposed to do in the 4th quarter.
4. Boozer is a dumbass for needling Bosh before the series started. He had his best playoff series ever, by far, and that's the main reason this ended so quickly. Let other people talk, you just go out and play.
5. It doesn't make sense that the fix was in. The NBA would want this series to go on to bring ratings up. A Bulls-Heat game 7 would have been one of the most watched NBA games of all time. So I don't think the reffing was fixed. But just because it wasn't corrupt, doesn't mean it can't be incompetent...
6. Don't outline an offseason plan that includes trading Boozer. It's not going to happen. He's due to get about $60 million over the next 4 years. There's not a GM in the league dumb enough to do that. We're stuck with Boozer for the next 3 years at least (until he becomes valuable as an expiring contract), so plan on him being there.
7. I don't know the answer to the 2-guard situation. This series has softened my stance that everything is fine and they should keep splitting the minutes between Bogans, Brewer, and Korver. A 2-guard that can create their own shot is obviously a need. That being said, it can't be someone too expensive, lest we can't sign Derrick to a max deal next year. And I don't want it to be someone that disrupts the team chemistry in any way, or shoots us out of games consistently. I'm not sure who that is right now, I'll have to look into it.
8. While I gave credit for TT for his personnel decisions at the end of the game last night, we need to find an assistant coach with a deeper offensive playbook. The Heat had seen everything by game 5 and knew exactly what was coming down the stretch of that game. You can't be afraid to have a little creativity. That should be a priority for next year.
9. Derrick will get better at protecting the ball and making good decisions. Derrick takes losses hard, puts the blame on himself, and works hard to fix the problems in the offseason. I'm sure that's priority number 1 this year.
That's all I got for now. Worst part of the loss? I have to just pay attention to baseball right now.
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