Run it Back! NBA Week in Review - Miami Heat! - Week #16

Run it Back! NBA Week in Review - Miami Heat! === Eric: [00:00:00] Week 16 of the 2024 2025 NBA season is over, which means it's time to run it back. This is Run It Back, NBA Week in Review, Heat Edition. I'm Eric Labrador, contributor at thepeachbasket. net, covering the Heat. This is the show where we recap the week that was in the NBA, and then highlight the marquee matchup for the week to come for the Heat. We start with the only objective overall NBA power rankings anywhere. You can read more about how we get to these rankings and see the entire list at the peachbasket. net as for the heat, they move up one spot in the rankings to 16th after Phoenix dropped two spots due to their one and three week this week. As for the Heat, they went 1 2 and had a horrible game against Brooklyn, carrying a lead into the fourth quarter, but then only scoring 9 total [00:01:00] points. They did the same thing against Orlando earlier this year. Brooklyn now rebounded Miami and outscored them in the paint. Brooklyn scored 31 points in the fourth quarter compared to Miami's 9. The Heat also carried a lead into the fourth quarter against Chicago and lost that lead also. Chicago and Philly outscored Miami in the paint as well. But all this pales in comparison to what I'm prepared to discuss in the full court press. The major news of the week was the ending of the Jimmy Butler era in Miami. It's obvious that the past month has affected the team greatly. Wondering about Butler, their friend, versus Butler, their leader on the court. The past month for sure has tested the professionalism of each player to focus on what they needed to do on the court. and contribute to winning and [00:02:00] not take sides with Butler versus the management. In return for Butler, the Heat acquired Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson. In my coverage of the team, I believe that with color where the addition of Wiggins and Mitchell, it will help Bam Adebayo in his defensive responsibilities. He wouldn't have to play so much drop coverage. And would have to have time to score more instead of setting up players on offense. Now is the time for Bam to step up with his scoring and and be selfish Bam like we saw last season when he had about 10 games where he was averaging 20 and 10. Mitchell is by all accounts a true point guard. His 2021 draft report on the sporting news highlights his on court vision and quickness that makes him good at plays and on defense.[00:03:00] Wiggins is also very talented on the defensive side as well. Now with all this I'm talking about Miami Herald writer Barry Jackson had tweets a exit interview from Jimmy Butler that talked about the Heat being very poor defensively at the point of attack, constantly getting beaten off the dribble. Spoelstra made the trade for Davion Mitchell after Andy Ellsberg had told him, according to Barry Jackson's tweet. that Davion Mitchell could help with this. Jimmy Butler's philosophy should carry with the team even though he's not on the team anymore. This was in a postgame interview in the 2021 playoffs when he said it. As long as we worry about defending instead of making shots will win. That is heat culture in a nutshell. By average this week Tyler Hero led Miami in points. Three pointers made. assists and player efficiency. [00:04:00] Bam was the leader averaging 8. 3 field goals made during the games this week and led in offensive rebounds. Klaue Ware averaged 13 rebounds a game in the three games and 9. 7 defensive rebounds. Surprisingly, Alec Burks and Pella Larson averaged a block a game and Burks averaged two steals a game. The marquee matchup for the Heat this week is going to be Monday night's game at home versus the Boston Celtics. Yes, the ultimate adversary for the Heat, and now any team in the NBA, will be when the Celtics come to town and the Heat fans get a chance to see Andrew Wiggins, Mitchell, and Anderson at the Casais Center. I doubt that the Heat will play poorly against Boston, as they're playing with their new toys and they're at home. The true test is going to be when they play teams like Washington, Brooklyn, Chicago, Charlotte, [00:05:00] teams with below 500 records, not interesting, not motivating teams that performance will solidify their consistency and help them when they play against really good teams. Later in the week, Miami go to play a difficult back to back at Oklahoma City and at Dallas. Miami hasn't won at Dallas since 2021. And the heat haven't won in Oklahoma city since 2022. Now, one of the articles that I posted this week was the top five moments in the Jimmy Butler era to me as a heat fan number five, I think is when Kendrick Perkins during the 2020 playoffs went and highlighted heat fans and the heat and called the heat them goons because the heat were playing such good defense. It was the first time. since the LeBron era that I had ever seen people on national [00:06:00] TV give the heat props. And because before after the LeBron era, the heat couldn't move past the second round of the playoffs. And now they went into the bubble. Covid just threw a curveball for everybody in terms of expectations and the heat managed to take advantage of this moment. And I am positive that if Goran Dragic did not get injured in game one of the NBA finals, the Heat go to seven against the Lakers and probably eke out the championship because Dragic was having the playoffs of his life in 2020. Then number four would be that the Heat went to the finals in the bubble. Like I said, Dragic was having a great finals Jimmy Butler was having great games. Tyler Hero had the games against the Celtics. So that was great seeing the first Eastern Conference [00:07:00] Championship since the LeBron era. Number three, Jimmy Butler wins the game against Chicago in the play in game. Now, the week before, or a couple of days previous, the Heat had lost the opening play in game against the Hawks. And as a fan, it was horrible. because we had beaten the Hawks. We killed them all year, all season long. And then the Hawks came in and upset the heat on their home court and the game against the Bulls wasn't that much better. So I'm here as a fan watching the game and I'm like, Okay I guess I'm gonna have to get ready for hurricanes football. I'm gonna have to break a long held tradition and maybe get into Marlins baseball. And then all of a sudden, Mhm. Three minutes left in the game. Jimmy Butler wins. It's okay, fine. We get a chance to play against Milwaukee. Now, yeah. Telling, my coworkers, gentlemen, sweet [00:08:00] Milwaukee is going to kill us. And he won game one. He won game two. And then it started to remind me about the 1989 movie major league when Tom Berenger his character says, there's only one thing left to do now. Yeah. win the whole effing thing. So that was the mantra during those playoffs that it was like, okay, let's just as if we're at three games might as well just win the whole thing. And it was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was a great time. Number two was when Jimmy scored 56 points against Milwaukee. It was like when you really fell in love with the guy because it was, since Dwayne Wade, we had never had a guy that came here. And just showed out like that. It was unbelievable. And when Jimmy came in 2019 the heat, nobody [00:09:00] expected the heat to get him, and then the heat got him. And they became, a force in the league. So it was almost like he was a homegrown guy a guy that we drafted, a guy that we put our confidence in our faith in that, he was having such a tough time in Minnesota. And, then he comes over here, he gets embraced people paint murals of him in Wynwood, blah, blah, blah. And then he scores 56 points in a game against Milwaukee. And he's unstoppable. He's otherworldly, and we upset Milwaukee, sorry, Milwaukee fans. Jimmy Butler and the heat got the better of you during that time. Let's see what you can do now, but that was beautiful. And then. The 2023 number one jimmy butler moment in the jimmy butler era for me was when The heat got awarded the eastern conference trophy in boston garden And you can see the look [00:10:00] on the face of ernie johnson from tnt And it was just a look of resignation As they he began the trophy ceremony with the heat You And he just fit in and if anybody looks at the video, of And it's on youtube. You can see ernie johnson just fit in while there's a lot of Celtics greats. Let me tell you here at this, eastern conference, presentation let's give a hand to all those celtics greats and it's hey, buddy. This is our moment All right, forget about the celtics greats. We just beat them by 16 points That was beautiful. And throughout the playoffs during the Jimmy Butler era, it was like if, especially the TNT commentators, any time something would happen with the Celtics. It was the best thing in the world. Oh, the Celtics are so talented that he did something. And it was like [00:11:00] yeah, the, he went and they're on a 10 to one run. And then, as soon as something would happen that he would commit a turnover off the Celtics are just putting it to the heat. So sweet, very sweet as a heat fan to see. That that was a great moment that the heat won on the Celtics home court. They won on the Celtics home court and especially after Game six of the Eastern Conference finals, that everybody and their mother thought that the Celtics were going to come to Boston and they were going to finish off the heat and it didn't happen. So that to me is the number one moment in the Jimmy Butler era regardless of whatever Was able to be done in the NBA finals the heat were consistent year after year When before LeBron and after LeBron The heat couldn't get past the first [00:12:00] round sometimes past the second round. So as a fan, it was fantastic so with that As a fan, I guess I'm breaking up with jimmy butler in this podcast and moving on and hopefully we're moving on to another era of heat consistency where davion mitchell is the shane battier of You know this iteration of the heat and kalel ware is like the pj brown to bam out of bio You He is just, backing a BAM. He's a rim protector on the defensive side. Tyler Hero is like a better version of Dan Marley, and we get a lot of role players making good contributions and the Heat find their way back into back on people's minds, the great villains of the NBA, the Miami Heat and they find a way to just throw a monkey wrench into the whole [00:13:00] coronation of the Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, all the sexy pretty, teams, and the Heat with their blue collar, grimy Playing games in the mud managed to just Draw down ratings and make things interesting, you know for people in miami so with all that that's it week 16 of the 2024 2025 mba season is in the books join us next week after week 17 When we once again Run it back