Miami Heat @ Brooklyn Nets (Game 17) | Keys of the Game

What's up guys, Sean Rochester, Five Reasons Sports, bringing you my five keys for the game tonight. Game 17, heat at Nets, November 25th. Before I talk about that, get yourself $10 off of Finish Line when you buy $100 from Finish Line to get our holiday shopping done there. Shoes, socks, sports gear, jerseys, whatever you need, Finish Line's got you covered. And get $10 off using the code below in the description when you buy $100 at Finish Line. So my five keys last night, obviously disappointing loss against the Knicks. Fourth quarter collapse, just a variety of things. A lot of people are going to point to the Jimmy Butler shot and the decision with that, and I didn't like it, but the game was lost well before that. So hopefully tonight we can pick it back up. But the first key really is who is actually going to be available tonight. And as I record this on Saturday morning, right now we're still kind of waiting for that news to come out and shoot around and whatnot. So, you know, Jimmy tweaked his ankle. Is he going to play on the second night of a back-to-back? I would guess not. That means probably Jaime Jaquez starts in his spot. Could Bam sit with his hips and knees and, you know, just overall maintenance? Is it a Kyle Lowry situation where he sits? A lot of times he's the guy that gets leaned on heavily in this situation and they don't really have any other point guards right now. So who knows what's going to happen? You know, Cole Schweider got some minutes last night. I think he'll probably get a bump tonight with how the Nets defend the three. So it's going to be interesting, but Spoh really relishes these opportunities for guys to go out there and shine when they normally don't get very much playing time. Second key is turnovers. Last night, obviously it got very sloppy. The turnover rate was not good. Not, you know, typical of Miami Heat. And when we look at the Nets, they are league worst in terms of forcing turnovers, 11.4%. So it's not a defense that's very aggressive in forcing those types of turnovers. It's also a bottom 10 defensive and defensive rating, around a 117 defensive rating. So it's an opportunity. Miami usually, against teams like this, and this is the third time we've played them, we've averaged 113.5 points a game against them this season. Depending on who's out there, it's, you know, going to really determine how the offense looks. But even at full strength, well, full strength according to what we have available, it's still going to be a challenge, but I think it's an offense, or a defense where we can get off on. The third one is the balance. I talk about this every time. Last night, it was too much threes. We were higher, I think, a 39% rate from three. And this is another defense that allows the fourth highest rate of opponents shooting threes this season. So, you know, I think when we get into those situations, yes, they can be open, but not all threes are created equal. Like the Jimmy shot at the end, it's a clutch situation right there, but not a good shot. When it comes off of a driving kick, when it's a wide open, uncontested shot off of some movement, I'm okay with that. But sometimes we're forcing up too many threes, especially early in the shot clock. When we shoot less than 35% of our attempts from behind the arc, five and O. Small sample, don't get me wrong. But to the nets, allowing a high rate, you don't want to get too far off of that 30, 35, 35 balance that usually seems to have a good recipe for us. Fourth one, McHale Bridges, obviously a very talented player. Does it a little bit different than the guys we've seen lately in terms of Jalen Brenton, Darius Garland, Zach Levine. He's kind of a star role player in a way, and that's not to discredit what McHale can do, but he's coming off a 45 point game in Atlanta. Obviously not a very good defense. He's averaging 22 points a game against us in the two meetings that he's played against us this season. So if you can force the ball out of his hand or limit him as much as possible, they really don't have a lot of scores. You know, Bridges did what he's a score, obviously. Cameron Johnson's a score. Lonnie Walker off the bench, but beyond that, you're really looking at a limited nets offense, especially with their injuries. So four shots to go everywhere else and then try to limit what they do in transition. My last key kind of goes back to my first one. Second out of the back to back, can you get back up off the floor? You know, you kind of got punched in the mouth last night. It's a disappointing loss. You're tired. You've been on a road trip for a long time. It's a holiday weekend. All these different things of adversity. How do you respond in this situation? It's not a game that's a season tournament game. It's not a game that's a playoff game or anything like that, but does it mean enough to you to go out there and put effort? Does it mean enough that if you do want to get tonight off, but you still go out there and play to try to get a win for the Heat? So we'll see what happens tonight. I'm going to be there again and hopefully getting a win at the end of this road trip. Good luck.