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Much like Alexander in the beloved children's book, the Miami Heat had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day as they lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Their top three players are dealing with injuries and the Lakers uncharacteristically shot lights out from the three-point line, but Miami's biggest disadvantage seemed to be the Lakers' size on both ends of the floor.
On the daily Locked On Heat Podcast, host David Ramil laments Miami's terrible Game 1 loss and thinks the Heat may have an answer for the Lakers' size in Meyers Leonard.
David Ramil: As for Meyers Leonard, he'll match up with Dwight Howard, and he'll keep him off of the boards. To some degree, he knows what Dwight is like he faced him in Houston when Howard was with the Rockets when Leonard was with a Portland Trailblazers. I think there's some experience there.
I think he feels a little bit more comfortable boxing out, he's certainly a much better option than anybody else on this lineup. He's big enough. He's a big enough body so I think it's going to make things difficult again, he also went up against AD two when he was with the Pelicans. So I think there's some experience there.
I think it's a guy also who can space the floor on offense and so you keep Howard or AD out of the paint if you get a switch. They have to close more ground and that kind of leads into an open shot for Meyers. Which we saw he's capable of shoot over 40% during the regular season. Or if you sag off of him, you still have to respect that shot a little bit that opens up lane opportunities there for Jimmy Butler or Kendrick Nunn to attack the paint.
I think it works out, to be honest with you, I might be dead wrong here, but I think you abandoned the zone, go back to drop coverage with Meyers out there… First of all, I don't think you have to worry about Meyers on Dwight Howard. If he's up there setting screens, it's not like Howard's gonna attack you for the perimeter anyway. So all of a sudden, now you've got a double team that you can force on to a ball-handler, whether it's LeBron or KCP, or anybody else who's attacking the paint. I think honestly it's an advantage for Miami. Again, maybe I might be dead wrong here in my assessment, I'm a little surprised that Spo didn't consider going with that end game want to set the tone early.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PdOC8XfhbZiHORkMN4456?si=jWsz6-jiQseo3RS_jg8MIg
