I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! What a fun slate of hoops. It was a long day for me yesterday, so it’ll just be macro notes here.
MIA @ ATL | CHA @ ORL | TOR @ WAS | BOS @ IND | PHI @ CHI | MIL @ MEM | PHX @ NOP | DET @ UTA | LAC @ POR
Miami Heat at Atlanta Hawks
Team Totals: Heat 123, Hawks 126
Injury Report: Bam Adebayo (Q, back), Tyler Herro (O, toe), Mo Gueye (Q, shoulder
Heat projected starters: Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’El Ware
Hawks projected starters: Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu
Spo quotes: Said he thought they were ready to play against the Raptors and they were “lifeless” early, said the Raps couldn’t match the force and speed from them, said they are trying to work with Bam to get him going on offense, said this tough run for Bam has made it tougher on him, said the Raps brought so much pressure to limit their offense.
Snyder quotes: Said they stopped running against the Bulls and it led to worse shot quality, said their defense was better than it was on Sunday and they were mixing up their coverages, said they were better at keeping Vooch from killing them in the pocket, said they just need more pressure with their defense, said they still need to get better shots overall even when it’s not just about pace.
Stats and Notes:
*Miami’s defense is really in a bad spot with three terrible games in a row (TOR, NYK, BOS), and they are back to giving up a ton of 3-pointers again (they were doing well for like two weeks). While they are doing better on the boards, they have been more vulnerable to the perimeter guys, and all that zone isn’t helping there. Trae Young hasn’t done all that great against Spo, and he’ll have to see some Davion Mitchell. I’d expect Bam Adebayo to guard Jalen Johnson (assuming Bam can go). For the Hawks, their defense has been a disaster at 26th over the last month. Quin Snyder wants to play fast, and it’s led to some huge point totals.
Great matchups: Davion Mitchell, Kel’El Ware
Good matchups: Onyeka Okongwu
Bad matchups: Jalen Johnson
Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic
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