Tag: Chris Bosh (Page 5 of 27)

      Heat blow 24-point lead in loss to the Magic

      March 4, 2011 /
      Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (R) drives past Orlando Magic shooting guard Jason Richardson in the first quarter during their NBA basketball game in Miami, Florida March 3, 2011. REUTERS/Joe Skipper (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

      The woes continue for the Miami Heat, who are having a tough time putting good teams away. The Magic came back from a 24-point deficit in the third quarter to upend the Heat in Miami, 99-96.

      Down by 24 points in the third quarter, the Magic went on an unbelievable 40-9 run over the next 15 minutes and stunned the Heat 99-96, the second-largest comeback in Orlando franchise history and matching the second-biggest in the NBA this season.

      Jason Richardson scored 24 points for Orlando, 11 of them to kick start the epic burst that turned a 73-49 deficit into an 89-82 lead.

      It’s unbelievable that a team with three players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would allow a run like that to occur. Not only are they three of the best offensive players in the league, the Heat are pretty damn good defensively as well.

      Forget about the 22-7 run to close the third quarter. The Heat had time to digest that during the break between quarters and went into the fourth quarter with an 80-71 lead. A Chris Bosh jumper pushed the lead to 11.

      Then the Magic went on an 18-0 run to take an 89-82 lead with 5:16 to play. Erik Spoelstra did his part, taking two timeouts (after Orlando’s 8-0 run and then again after the Magic rattled off another eight points), but it did no good. Miami’s three stars went 0-for-5 from the field during that run, and Wade even missed two free throws and turned the ball over once.

      Miami is susceptible to runs like this because they lack an inside scorer. Bosh is more of a face up power forward and is far more comfortable shooting 18-footers than he is trying to score on the post, and we all know that LeBron rarely (if ever) ventures down to to the block. When those jumpers aren’t falling, it’s so valuable to have a player or two who can get you a bucket or a pair of free throws with his post up game. That player should be LeBron, but he has never developed a post game, and at this rate — I doubt he ever will.

      It’s mind-boggling that LeBron and Wade combined to go 21-for-34 from the field for 57 points. That means the supporting cast shot just 14-of-41 (34%) for 39 points.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News

      Was Chris Bosh’s 1-for-18 night the worst ever?

      February 25, 2011 /
      Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh stands on the court during the second against the Chicago Bulls quarter at the United Center in Chicago on January 15, 2011. The Bulls win 99-96. UPI/Brian Kersey

      Chris Bosh missed 17 of his 18 shot attempts last night in the Heat’s 93-89 loss in Chicago. His shooting performance was so bad that it got me wondering — historically speaking, just how bad was it?

      Basketball-Reference has a ‘play finder’ that allows users to look up individual games or seasons based on a series of criteria. It only goes back to the 1986-87 season, but for our purposes, that’s probably far enough. I asked the site to generate a list of players that attempted 15 or more shots but had two or fewer makes, and list those results in order of ascending field goal percentage. The resulting list shows the very worst shooting nights over the last 25 years.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      How Erik Spoelstra uses advanced stats to refine Chris Bosh’s game

      February 10, 2011 /
      Miami Heat Forward Chris Bosh (1) during 1st half action against The New York Knicks at the American Airlines Arena, in Miami Florida, December 28,2010. The Miami Heat beat the New York Knicks 106-98.. UPI/Susan Knowles…

      Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra noticed something about Chris Bosh’s post up game, and he has advanced stats to thank for it. (TrueHoop)

      Data from Synergy tells us that Bosh did, in fact, perform better on the right side of the court last season with Toronto, especially in isolation situations. When Bosh attacked from the left in isolation, he scored 59 points on his 80 tries — and that includes free throws, not just field goal attempts. Synergy calculates his efficiency on left-side isolations to be .738 points per play, which ranked 43rd among 48 qualifiers last season. Not so good.

      But on the right side, he was much more effective. He scored 86 points on 86 right-side isolations, nearly 25 percent better than on the left side. And on post-ups? Bosh was better from the right side as well, though the contrast is not quite as dramatic as it is for isolations.

      “If you look at the numbers, he’s pretty consistent, he’s a little better on the right side, but not by a glaring amount,” Spoelstra said. “It just allowed us to be a little bit more consistent for everybody else to know where we are starting the offense.”

      What does Bosh have to say?

      “Stats are stats, man,” Bosh laughed. “I couldn’t say anything. I was like, ‘I can post up over there [on the left side].’ They said, ‘Well, this says you can, but it’s not the same [as the right side].'”

      Bosh obliged.

      “I didn’t fight it. I like getting the ball in the post, so to keep that going, I just said ‘Coach, that’s fine.’”

      Teams use advanced stats to differing degrees. Houston’s GM Daryl Morey has long been known as one of the foremost users in advanced stats in the NBA. But this is the first time that I’ve heard of a specific example of a coach admitting that advanced stats have altered his game plan or approach.

      It was only a matter of time, really. The NBA is a cutthroat league and if there’s an edge to be exploited, you better believe that coaches will catch on.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Durant: Bosh is a “fake tough guy”

      January 31, 2011 /

      Kevin Durant had something to say about Chris Bosh after the Thunder’s 108-103 loss to the Heat yesterday. He was none too pleased about Bosh barking after fouling James Harden on a fast break early in the first quarter. There’s video over at DailyThunder, but it’s hard to see what the two are saying to each other.

      The two were hit with double-technical fouls in the first quarter after Bosh fouled Harden on a fast break. KD said something to Harden and Bosh jumped in. The two had words and it was over. Until Durant was asked about it in the locker room.

      Durant said, “I was talking to my teammate and [Bosh] decided he wanted to put his two cents into it. I am quiet guy, laid back guy, but I’m not going to let nobody talk trash to me. He’s on a good team now so he thinks he can talk a little bit. There are a lot of fake tough guys in this league and he’s one of them.”

      And more: “I’m no punk. I wasn’t even talking to him first off. He decided to butt in and I’m not going to just let that slide. Especially in our house. Like I said, he’s not one of those guys I look at and say he has a rap for talking back to guys or getting into it. He’s a nice guy. I’m not going to let that type of person say something to me like that.”

      It’s not like Durant to get into a war of words with anyone. He’s one of the most affable players in the league. In fact, in another three or four years, if Durant doesn’t break through and win a championship, people are going to start to say that he’s “too nice,” a la David Robinson.

      I don’t know why Bosh is picking fights with Durant and Harden. He clearly doesn’t have much of a rep around the league for being a tough guy, so maybe he should be quiet and let his game to the talking.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Reward system the key to the Heat’s run?

      December 14, 2010 /
      Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3), forward LeBron James (6), and forward Chris Bosh take a break during a time out in the second half of the opening night game against the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on October 26, 2010. UPI/Matthew Healey Photo via Newscom

      Per the Miami Herald…

      A simple reward system has contributed to the Heat’s current run of eight consecutive blowout victories.

      If Dwyane Wade grabs a defensive rebound, he has the green light to do whatever he wants offensively. If LeBron James makes a defensive stop, he controls his own game on the other end of the court.

      These are the parameters set by coach Erik Spoelstra, and the chance for offensive freedom has helped spark the most dominant winning streak in franchise history.

      While this may be working during the regular season, I don’t know that grabbing a defensive rebound is worthy of being able to do whatever you want on the other end of the court, at least not against the best teams in the league. But if freelance by Dwyane Wade or LeBron James is better than the plays that Erik Spoelstra calls, then maybe it is the right way to do things. But that says more about the offensive game plan than it does the value of any reward system that may be in place.

      The more I think about this team, given the injuries, I don’t see them getting past the Celtics in the playoffs…but we will see.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑