Although the Heat are in adversity, Spall is not willing to tie his hands

In the first game of the NBA Finals, although the score was 93-104, the Heat lost by only 11 points, but the whole game was almost beaten by the Nuggets, and there was no chance of winning. It is widely believed that this will be a suspenseless final, and it is only a matter of time before the Nuggets win the championship. Is this really the case? Will the Miami Heat, who fought back all the way to the "Black Eight" in the playoffs, really be vulnerable? Fantastic Heat coach Spostela willingly tied up?

The Heat outside shooter desperately needs to recover his form

The manager is the soul of this Heat

This season, the Heat have played the "Black Eight" miracle to the fullest. The secret of this iron-blooded legion that eliminated the Bucks and Celtics one after another is not in the joint defense that can be called "throwing hands", not in the personal heroism of the star Butler, but in the indomitable temperament of this group of "frustrated people" from humble beginnings. And the forger of all this was created by the manager Spostel.

This year marks Spoh's 15th year in charge of the Heat, the second-longest tenure of any coach in the league on the same team. In 15 years, he led the team to eight Eastern Conference Finals, six finals, and two championships, but never won the regular season coach of the year.

In 1995, his father, who had been in the NBA for many years, used his connections to get a job as a video analyst for Spor with the Heat. In the charming South Coast city of Miami, Spall was initially confined to a dimly lit basement for boring video analysis. In an era of underdeveloped internet, legendary Heat coach Pat Riley on the road often received video analysis packages from Spoh that he had just prepared. The dedicated Spoh was then recognized by Riley, who promoted him to assistant coach of the team.

In 2006, as an assistant coach, Spoh won the championship of the season with the team, and the successful Riley Rapids retired, which also pushed Spoh to the forefront. In his first two seasons as a coach, Spoo's Heat ended in the first round of the playoffs, and many questioned his coaching ability, believing that he was just Riley's puppet. After James announced his "decision" to form a "Big Three" lineup with Wade and Bosh, fans' doubts about Spoh reached their peak.

In the 2010-2011 season, when the Heat played the Lone Ranger in the Finals, the Lone Ranger blinded the Heat with a wave of attacks, and then Spo called a timeout, and James ran straight into the oncoming Spoh. This image was infinitely magnified by live footage across the United States. After the finals, speculation that James wanted to fire Spall made headlines.

That offseason, Spall blocked all outside voices and went to the football team for tactical inspiration. A few months later, the fast-speed offensive and defensive conversion system tailored for James and Wade was born, and the "Janway Connection" finally brought two championships to Miami and became a classic picture in the hearts of countless fans.

But four finals, two championship wins resume is not enough to help Spo shake off the "puppet" name, everyone believes that Spo led the team to win the championship is just stained with the light of the "Big Three". Such doubts did not slowly dissipate until the dissolution of the "Big Three" in the 2014 offseason, and in the 2015-2016 season, Spall led the remnants of the Heat to the Eastern Conference semifinals; After Wade's retirement in 2019, the Heat's roster became more civilian, but Spoh, who welcomed Butler in the offseason, led the team all the way to the Finals in the 2019-2020 season, completely establishing the status of the league's top coach.

In addition to his outstanding tactical system design ability, the video analyst-turned-Spoh's more commendable ability is his ability to coach players. Among the team's current seven undrafted picks, the one who has improved the most is Caleb Martin, who just played a "supergod" performance in the Eastern Conference Finals. The 1.96-meter-tall striker was once unpopular in the league because of his small size and mediocre performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. But after coming to the Heat, Spall spent two weeks teaching him to integrate into the team's defensive system and helping him correct his shooting posture. Spall never gave up on any Heat player, he found shortcomings for everyone and developed a training plan to overcome. In the "Civilian Heat" team, the real soul is not Butler, not the long-retired Wade, but the coach Spoo who helped players regain confidence and help them grow.

So as long as Spall doesn't give up, the Heat won't lose their fighting spirit.

Spoh

Breaking the Nuggets' three-point shot is key

The Heat were hung in the first game, in fact, there was also their own dysfunction. During the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat's crazy three-pointers were key to their victory. In particular, the grasp of the open three-point position is jaw-dropping. Statistics show that the Heat shot 58.2% from three-point range during the Eastern Conference finals. However, in the opening game of the Finals, they also had a lot of open three-point opportunities, and the Heat players only turned in 5-of-16 answers.

In particular, Strus and Martin, two players who performed very well during the Eastern Conference finals, combined to be 1 of 11 from beyond the three-point line in the opening game of the Finals. Strus became the only player to make at least 10 shots on the Finals stage after Ray Allen in 2010, but did not achieve anything. "We've been through this before. They (Martin & Strus) are able to recover, and I like that they get that attention. Spall said after the game.

In fact, the Nuggets still focus more on the defense under the basket, such a defensive strategy can protect Jokic to the greatest extent. But if the Heat can't punish opponents outside the three-point line, everything becomes meaningless. In an interview after the game, Spall talked about the Nuggets' setup on the defensive end. "We created some good open three-point chances, and then we had too many rounds that didn't play our rhythm. But you have to acknowledge the quality of the opponents, they have the height, they can guard the basket and they can triple defend. We have to play with more clarity of intent, a better rhythm and more attention to detail. We're an aggressive team on the offensive end, so if we can't get the basket and the free throw, we have to find other ways to score. ”

From the perspective of the strength of both sides, the Heat are the party in the inferior. If they want to win, especially away from home, they need to maximise some of their strengths. When facing the Celtics in the Eastern Conference final, the Heat showed their firepower beyond the three-point line to the extreme. Now against the Nuggets, they also need shooters who can shoot crazy enough.

Proofreading by Tao Shangong