Miami Heat's Defense Without Bam Adebayo Exposed By Hornets

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can buy for Apple Card, too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone. Subject your credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at AppleCard.com. Hey, everyone. This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thank you for being here because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting something awesome in return, check out the Every Day or Club. To get ad free episodes of your favorite Lockdown show, access to a member's only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about

1:03whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Every Day or Club link in the show notes to learn more. No bam, no defense, no chance is my name gets crushed by the hornets. You are locked on heat. You're daily Miami Heat Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, welcome to Lockdown Heat. I'm Wes Goldberg here with Dave Vermil, lock on heat is brought to you by Fandool. Fandool is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost at Fandool.com. To get started, that's Fandool.com Fandool, play your game on today's show. We'll discuss a concerning trend when it comes to Norman Powell. Whether they're a recent winning streak, went to the heat heads, but first, we start with tonight's loss to the hornets of blowout, David 136, 2106. You could look at the three point shooting as the issue here, right?

2:05Miami missed 29 of their 36 threes that certainly didn't help, but might take away from this one. Honestly, I think they really missed Bam out of bio, who was out for this game with a right calf tightness. His status in the hours prior to the game got worse and worse. It went from questionable to doubtful to finally being out, Kalalware started in his place, and the defense was horrible tonight. Yes, the shooting was obviously a reason for this loss, but defensively, I don't think they gave themselves a chance in this one. They gave up a half court offensive rating to the hornets of 125.3 points per 100 half court possessions. That's really bad for the non-numbers people out there. Miami on the flip side scored just 84.7 points per 100 possessions in a half court. That's also really bad for my non-numbers people out there. I thought Charlotte kept up with Miami's pace, and he really couldn't get a grasp of Charlotte's offense all night long.

3:06The three point shooting was a problem, but they didn't give themselves a chance with a pretty leaky defense in this one, David. Yeah, I think they were clearly missing Bam out of bio and the studying presence that he provides, all the little things that he does defensively. That would generate more opportunities for Miami to be able to score a little bit more effectively. Not only are you missing his production as a score and the starting lineup, and you didn't get much from Calilware who was starting in his place, as you said, but the fact that he wasn't able to box that, though, that he wasn't able to pull down crucial rebounds in key instances. He wasn't able to defend and get stops when Charlotte started pulling away. All those things were missing, and for a team that was just down eight going into the fourth quarter, they absolutely get clobbered in the fourth, you know, Charlotte just seemed to have their offense dialed at a higher level. Miami couldn't get any stops whatsoever, and they just couldn't find a way to score. There were no easy baskets in this game for the heat, with the exception of Cushion Johnson who provided a bit of a spark earlier in the game. But late down to stretch, they just didn't have anybody that they could go to.

4:09Everybody seemed like they were struggling, and then again, the defense was so porous that it looked like Charlotte was just playing against themselves. They didn't really seem like they were being defended at all. It felt very similar to watching what Washington did against Miami. Oh, no. The 83 points. That's what it looked like to see that they were just pulling up shots from randomly, and they weren't waiting for Miami to defend them, because there was no defense. They were just like, OK, we're just going to go ahead and lolly gag our way into an open shot. They would just pull and shoot and knock it down. And my name was just like, OK, well, you know, that's kind of they rolled over in that fourth quarter in a way that I don't know that they have all season. Lamellaball, who usually does not play well against Miami, had 30 points on 50% shooting in this one, also 13 assists. I mean, he was tremendous. It was a really good Lamellaball game. And then when he was out, it didn't help, because Cody, Kobe White came in, and he had 24 points off the bench on 53% shooting. So also struggles against Miami, typically, these two players that typically do not shoot well against Miami both for them out there. So and what was missing, right? Bam at a bio.

5:11And you say, well, why is the center even impact what these point guards are doing? Well, Bam is able to get up to the level of the screen. He can switch on those guys. He just he plays every defense at an elite level, where was Charlotte the way that they space the floor under, under Charles Lee, right? It's a lot of five out stuff, but it's also when they do run pick and roll, very, very high pick and roll. And what that's going to do is that makes sort of that yo-yo that the center has to do, right, where you try to get up and at least contest or show a little bit to when that when that point guard comes over the screen, you can't just let them walk into a wide open jumper. You got to show a little bit there. And then obviously try to get back to the basket to, to, to, to cover the roll man. Kalele really struggled with that. I thought in a really big way. Every time Charlotte ran high pick and roll in this game, they got something either at the rim to mousse a dibata or to a caulk Brenner off the bench, or the mellow or Kobe White or Con Caniple or Brenner Miller were just, you know, stepping into a wide open jumper. They did not have an answer for that very basic, simple action.

6:15And you mentioned the fourth quarter, that was obviously the turning point, right? The heat get out scored 40 to 18 in the fourth quarter. When they were down 96 to 88, going into the fourth quarter, so still a game. And then they just get clobbered. The offense goes cold defensively. They tried to go to his zone to try to mitigate some of those pick and roll coverage issues, but that didn't help at all. Really. Kalele also struggled to anchor the zone. He was bad and they were frankly better with Kishat Johnson at Backup Center when he was in the game. Nikolay Yovic was activated for this one, finally from a lower back injury, but we had heard before the game even that he was probably not going to be part of the plans just because he was still kind of working his way back from that injury. So a good step from Yovic, I don't know that he would have helped a whole lot, frankly, in this game. Having the shake off some rust, and he hasn't been very great defensively this year anyway, but it was a bad Kalele wear game, and it just felt like, man, they really needed a good Kalele wear game with BAM out.

7:16Absolutely. He just was not an interior presence at all. Just his rebounding was not there, only eight but words, and twenty-something minutes of play. Kishat getting five rebounds in his limited sense, like Tyler Hiro matched Kalele's production as far as rebounding is concerned, so not a great night for him, but he just wasn't in the interior on offense at all, there was no legitimate rim threat, and he wasn't there to provide a kind of vertical spacing through the heat. He was often camped out on the perimeter and missing all of his three-point attempts. He just six of ten or six of his ten shots were from three-point range, he goes over six from three-point range. Yeah, it was bad. It was just not a good game for him. He didn't understand the spacing, he didn't understand how to make himself felt on there, and I think Diabata did a really good job of just making things difficult for Miami to try to score in the interior. There were a couple of possessions that were either power or hero, which drive to the rim, and it felt like what we had seen from years from this Jimmy Butler led offense

8:17where they would just get to the hoop and then make a pass at the last second to a three-point shot. I don't think that was the case. I think there were a number of places where they were just driving, they were like, no, no, I don't even want to put up a shot. They were intimidated in a way that I don't know that I've seen this team play much over the course of the season. That's usually not the way they think, even going against maybe say a woman Yama, that's a little different, but I didn't think that Diabata had that kind of impact right there where he was just, he was scaring heat guards from being able to attack the rim. With the exception of Jaime, who obviously has the size to be able to get to the rim a little bit more easily, I think that both hero and power really struggled at the rim. Yeah, I mean really the only thing that saved the heat was hero and power and some others getting to the free throw line, right, Norm power got to the line six times. He missed four of his six three-point, free throw attempts, more on Norm power here in a second. Tyler got to the line nine times, made all nine of his free throw attempts. Overall the heat, 27 of 34 from the free throw line where Charlotte only took 21 free throw,

9:17so why was this even a game three quarters in, that's why, right, they were saved by the free throw line, but I agree with you, like I would much rather get those shots on goal as opposed to getting fouled and some of those, you know, you don't want to rely on the refs, in other words, to try to save your behind in these games. The other part was the three-point shooting, right, like I don't want to overlook it, like that was a big issue here. They shot 19.4% overall, 7 of 36, and then 0 for 10 during that really bad fourth quarter. And some of those looks refined, right, some of those looks are solid, give credit to Charlotte's defense, they have been playing well lately, but you do have to wonder, like if they just shoot a decent percentage, this game probably looks a little bit different. But to me, the thing that we've talked about and hammered on this show lately is, especially during this winning stretch was the either winning all of the little margin battles, and their defense was playing at such a high level, and that obviously wasn't there tonight. No, they didn't win any margin whatsoever, the rebounding, the rebounding wasn't like

10:22they were crushed on the boards, but it felt like they were just not impactful rebounds. They just, they lead to extra possessions, they weren't able to generate off and stuff those rebounds. They didn't seem to have any kind of the rhythm or flow offensively that they had shown during the win streak, the defense was really poor, again, due to the absence of Bam and a bio, they just didn't seem to have anything really steady on either side of the ball. It was a very disappointing loss, and coming off of a loss against Orlando, you expected more effort. You thought that they might be able to understand what's at stake, and that wasn't the case. And I know losing Bam is a significant part of it, but you can't preach next man up and that you have enough, and then go out there and lay this kind of stinking egg out there. They heat now tied in the lost column with the ninth place hawks, who have 110 in a row and the 10th place 76ers who are going to be without Maxi here for a little bit more. So I'm not as concerned about Philadelphia, but they've been playing well with those guys out. Two losses behind the fifth place and sixth place magic and Raptor.

11:25So still very much in the mix, but these are those types of games that you need to win, and now they heat have lost two games in a row after winning. What was it, seven or eight in a row? I already forgot, seven in a row. Meanwhile, Norm Powell played his second game since missing time with the growing strain, but he hasn't been able to shake off a troubling trend that we've noticed since the all-star break. We're going to talk about that next. Today's episode is brought to you by Robinhood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robinhood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in a moment, it's that matter. Robinhood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator, play by play, you decide.

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13:27It's your parlay, your style. It's Fandall.com to get started. That's Fandall.com. Fandall, play your game, we'll be right back. Welcome back to Locked On Heat. Join the Everydayer Club now with the code March and get your first month free. If you sign up before the NCAA tournament tips off this Thursday, you can compete against us and our men's and women's bracket pools on Discord. The winner in each will get a $100 in Locked On merch. The rest of us can commiserate the members only Discord chats as our brackets blow up in front of us. And as a members of the club, you get an ad free version of this show again. It's all for free for a month with the code March at Locked On Heat dot supercast dot com. Let's talk about Norm Powell who's been really bad since the All Star break. A couple of stats for you, David, to kick us off. Here's what Norm Powell averaged before the All Star break where he was an All Star. 23 points on 47.4% shooting 39.6% on threes.

14:27One of the more electric offensive players in the league, especially within the first seven seconds of the shot clock, a very big part of Miami's up tempo offense. Since then, however, Norm Powell is averaging 17.8 points on 46% shooting in just 30% on threes. Those numbers, by the way, are going to go down after tonight where he was 7 of 17 overall, just one of four from three point range, struggled from the free throw line for just 17 points in this one. The heat need more from Norm Powell, obviously, the growing strain is probably the biggest reason as to why those struggles have been there. We heard that even before he missed that time that the groin had been bothering him, then he sits out for a bunch of games, comes back, but it still looked like in this one that he was either rusty or something's still not right there. I don't know what to make of it. No, I think the injury is definitely a big part of it. We saw with Hyman, too, when he had that groin strain last year, where it sapped all of it. He was very eliminated, what he could do. I think Norm was dealing with something similar. Some of those shots just looked really flat.

15:27The three point shot that had been such a big weapon for him, not there at all, that touch around the basket, his floater game, not existing, is touch around the rim, like in terms of he used to have that great layup package to be able to knock things off high of a glass or anything like that. It doesn't seem to have the same lift, and look, part of it is probably rust. I think a big part of it is also the injury, and I think there's also the fact that he has to play alongside Tyler here, too, because that combination has not worked well all season long. So I imagine it's probably going to be a continued factor, too, until they get it right. With both of them coming back from injury and showing obvious signs of rust, it's not a great time to work through this and try to get to your best self, but that's what they have to do in order for my aim to be able to continue making these playoffs, because right now they're struggling both of them are offensively. I thought hero is better than Powell, right? I mean, he shot 45%, made 50% of it. You still want Tyler to get going. He had the one game from three point range a few nights ago, but you really need to get

16:30him going from three. The fact that he only took two, three point attempts is a big concern, especially when the team struggled so much from three point range in this game, you need your best three point shooter to take more. But credit to Charlotte's defense, they were face guarding him or playing ball denial defense for most of the night. Sion James was just straight up in his grill. Every time he was in there, just face guarding him, then Josh Green had some time on him, and was doing a lot of ball denial defense credit to the Hornets, they put up a good, they drove up a good game plan and they executed it. They really limited Tyler Heroes touches from the spots that he wanted to get on the floor. Credit to Tyler Hero, you know, like he turned those, that kind of close physical defense into trips to the free throw line, led the team with nine free throw attempts, but you need more from him and the Hornets, like this is sort of the flip side of what we were just talking about, right? Miami didn't shoot well from three, but their defense didn't really give them a chance where the Hornets, they shot fine from three, but their defense is really what kind of controlled this game.

17:31The last thing on Powell here, though, like it's a great point you make about Jaime and we saw with Jaime, he never really got right into the off season and then obviously he's on a great season right now, right, six minute a year candidate. With Powell, what can he do if this is the version, if we're just going to get a slightly diminished version of Norm Powell going forward, because it wasn't that long ago that we were talking about this team potentially making some noise in the playoffs and how well that they were playing and now they've lost two in a row and Norm Powell's looked really bad in these losses. Yeah, I know the tendency is for players to say they can push through it and I know the coaching staff is probably looking at and saying, yeah, he's struggling, but he'll work it out, like he'll figure it out and he'll be the player that he was, but and maybe this is a little bit rash and more of a prisoner of the moment kind of reaction, but I almost feel like you have to shut him down because he's not going to, I don't know that he's going to snap out of it. I don't know that he's going to be able to continue playing for these games.

18:31I would rather him sit out the next two weeks and then come back at full strength right before the playoffs and I know that that's a bad proposition. There's a risk there too because again, you're trying to integrate him and Tyler at the same time, figure out how to balance those two personalities as a play and make it work and you need Norm, you need a guy who can provide that scoring because you really don't have anybody else aside from Tyler, especially if Bams out of the lineup. So it's not a great situation, but I think he's more of a liability out there than anything else if he's not at 100 percent. If he's struggling the way he is, it's not like he's providing such great defense or adding any kind of other dimension to what the heat are looking to do. I mean, he has some gravity, but it's not all that much where it's like he's drawing defenses or forcing the defense to collapse on him to make shots easier for anybody else. It's mostly just been one-on-one defense against Norm and he's been attacking and the best he can just hasn't worked. So if that's the case, might as well have a Drew Smith or give a Yekas Yanis system some more run out there.

19:32Or Miron Gardner, who at least makes things happen when he's out there on the floor. I don't know. That's a little strong to me. I still think during this playoff push you want your best players out there and no more still. I still think he is. I mean, he got, he did score 17 points. I don't mean to just poo-poo it. I mean, take him 17 shots to get those 17 points, and he was a minus 23 in this one, but everybody in the start line up was a minus. I don't know. I still think you need to try to get, there might be a game over the next few weeks where Norm Pal does play well and it maybe swings it. I think you owe it to him to get him out there if everybody's dealing with something at this point in the league. Like, nobody's going to be 100% healthy, so to try to get that to that point to me is a little meaningless. Sure. But I'll tell you this, I do think it might make exposed decision easier about what he wants to do at the starting line up and whether or not he needs to start Tyler Hero and Norm Pal together, because if Pal is playing like this, there is no argument. Pal comes off the bench, and in that way you can manage it. If Pal is playing well and he's feeling good that day, playing more run, right?

20:32He could play 31 minutes in a game. If not, he plays 12, right, or 15 or 18 or whatever it is, and then, like you said, you redistribute those minutes to Yakuchonis, or Pelowarsin, or Marin Gardner, or somebody else. And that's sort of where I'm at with this, because the heat start this game with Davy on Mitchell, Tyler Hero, Norm Pal, Pelowarsin, and Kalalware. And part of me thinks that this team is healthy, maybe Spowe just showed his hand, where he's going to start Davy on Tyler Hero, Norm Pal, Andrew Wiggins, Went Healthy, and Bam at a Bio and Healthy, and then Larson and Ware come back off the bench, which, as we've discussed, maybe we're overthinking this thing, and maybe that's just the obvious starting five that you go with. You just start with your, quote, unquote, best five, and you go from there, maybe in certain matchups you put where in the starting line up instead of somebody else, but whatever. But at this stage, I think you might be better off managing Powell's injury, and just say, hey, man, look, you're clearly not right. This is clearly bothering you, and until you get right, we're, we don't want to bench you, right? We don't want to do that thing where we do just shut you down.

21:32So here's the compromise. We're going to bring you off the bench. And if you're playing well, you're going to play starters minutes. And if not, we're going to manage it from there. Yeah, the growing injury though, it's just, it's not like you're trying to just shake some roast off, or you kind of, you just need to work on the mobility a little bit. It's going to constantly drain what he's able to do, and it's mostly on offense. So if that's the case, I just, I don't know, I'm concerned about norm being able to be more of a factor, and I'd rather give him the extra week to recover so that we don't get this version of them, because he was so good, and because he is so vital to what Miami can do for the rest of the season, I'd rather just give him the one week off. And I know that's putting pressure on everybody else, but if you're going to preach that one of your strengths is the team's depth, then utilize that depth to give norm the chance to recover. Like, I know that the Lakers represent a different challenge, and hopefully, Bam will be back for that, and who knows if Wigs of them be available, but it sounds like he's not coming back any time soon. That's another concern as well, so, but I think you have enough, even if he benched norm

22:33or keep him out of the lineup altogether. You need Bam, right? You need Bam. That's hopefully, and the expectation, by the way, is that he will be able to play by Thursday night against the Lakers at home. A couple of things. We'll go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I mean, maybe we should save looking ahead till tomorrow's episode, but like, how do you stop Luke a touch, who stops Austin Reeves? I mean, are you going to put Norm Palau out there? That is a great way to look ahead to tomorrow's episode. Before we tease tomorrow's episode, let's tease the next segment. We do have some listener questions to get to, including whether or not, hey, beat the Hornets every time they played them this season until tonight, did they overlook this opponent? We'll talk about that next. Today's episode is brought to you by Indeed Sponsored Jobs, workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing in the one position you have to fill, still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsor jobs. Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps you reach people who actually fit what you're looking for,

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24:40Let's go to our questions from the cookie gang. You can submit questions and hear yourself on the post game show by joining the every day or club and joining the all access to your for $15 a month or sign up for the yearly subscription, save 17% or use the code March and get your first month for free, top of the link in the show notes to check that out. Malachi writes in, I didn't watch Night's Game, but you could see how much the heat missed Bam and his impact on the game. Claudia writes in, where was terrible in this one seems like he's only a decent rebounder. Does Bam not playing show how bad Collelware is David? I don't want to go that hard on Collel. I do think it shows how much more he has to go development wise to nail the consistency part of it. I think more than anything, it just really shows Bam's value and why some people may overlook and underestimate his consistency and take his consistency for granted. That is again my big takeaway from tonight's game. Yeah, I think that's a good point. It's the little things that Bam does and that you see when Collel's out there starting

25:42his place that he just isn't doing. Which isn't to say that it's not like Collel isn't capable of other things, but when you're going up against a solid defender as he did tonight, it takes him out of the game completely. He's rendered as just another tall body out there and not an effective one. That being the case, his value is diminished greatly. I think both things could be true. And underscores what Bam does so well and it also magnifies what Collel doesn't do well. And that's a bit of the concern. The duo should work together because of what Bam's capable of and what Collel is able to offer and potential. But with Bam missing, then you're kind of left exposed to a certain degree and I think we saw that tonight. That Collel is just not capable of doing those little things, especially it's a physical defender who matches him in terms of the kind of shoplocking ability and the physical presence down in the interior. So when you have a guy like Diabate out there playing as well as he has over the course of the season and where's not able to match that physicality, it's a concern because

26:46that was the knock on him from what we saw. He was exposed greatly by Jared Allen and Cleveland Cavaliers and the playoffs. And you think that you're going to approach this season knowing you have to get better in that aspect. There are moments where he does get, he shows that there's some growth and then there's tonight where it's clear that he's just doesn't, isn't it maybe ready to match that level of physicality? I did get flashbacks of that Cleveland series in this game going back to that pick and roll coverage stuff that I was talking about earlier. It was exactly what the Cavs ran with Don with Mitchell in the areas growing with Jared Allen setting those picks. Just Collel where putting him in no man's land in Ireland and just trying and forcing him to keep up and then he couldn't. And the Hornets basically did that to him. So we've talked a lot about how far Collel way has come in terms of his development, but it's clear. These are the kinds of games that expose him a little bit and just show how much further he has to go. Not to say that he can't do it, but there's still a whole lot more room to grow for Collel. Adam writes in bad back to back losses. What's going on with this team? We talked about what's going on with this team.

27:46I don't know how related the Orlando and the Charlotte losses are other than that they really hurt the heat and the standings, but yeah, very different teams. They lost that Orlando magic game because they got the physicality. They struggle with Orlando all season long. They can't beat them. Their size or physicality just kind of throws Miami and limits their ability to score in the paint and get into the paint and kick out. And then sort of the opposite against the Hornets, they just couldn't keep up from beyond the arc. Still, in both of these games, they shot 31% on threes against Orlando, 19% against Charlotte tonight. Maybe if there's any sort of through line, it's the fact that they've just kind of gone cold from three point range. At a very bad time, I might add, this is not a very good time to go cold. No, absolutely. I mean, you hope they can turn it around with the handful of games left in the season, but it makes things much more difficult if you're going to start shooting like this. I mean, it's just, it's not, it's not going to work. I mean, you just need, we've seen this team. They can't generate offense that easily if the three point shot isn't available to them,

28:49especially when they don't have that kind of interior presence, and they're not able to get to the rim. I mean, I don't know. I'm curious. I might have to rewatch the game to see exactly how much Charlotte's defense limited those looks in the perimeter, because I know that they were, you know, making things a little bit more challenging for Tyler and for Norm, but I thought a lot of this looks were open and probably makeable. And it just didn't seem like they had the kind of rhythm, they just, maybe they were just relying too much on the three point shot to kind of bail them out and the shot wasn't falling. Simone was one for six. So he was really struggling, but that's kind of the Simone story. He's pretty streaky as a three point shooter. When he does get hot, he gets really hot, and when he does go cold, he tends to disagree. Kishat Johnson was your best three point shader to him. Kishat. And that's what it was kind of, Kishat had nine three point attempts, Kilell had six three point attempts. Charlotte forced the heat play, they gave up the threes that they wanted to, and they didn't give up the ones that didn't, Norm Powell and Tyler Hero combined to take his many threes as Kilell wear did by himself.

29:49That's a bad formula. The heat need to find a way going forward to unlock Hero and to unlock Powell, to get them as many threes as possible. And even with Powell struggling the way he has, the best way to get him going is to get him those open looks from three. And then obviously for Tyler, you want to get him as many looks from three, certainly more than just two in an important game. William B writes in, that it seemed like the heat really underestimated the horn. It's choosing to rest BAM in the way the line-ups from managing this game, it felt like they played with their food, and this game got away from them. This is it. This is the final stretch, and it seems like they're content to be a play-in team. In terms of the phrasing, resting BAM just to start there, really quick, David. I don't know if they rested him so much, yeah, here's what his quote was after shoot around. He said, he's been playing through the calf strain for a couple of games, but it got to a point that I had to sit down and quote. And then you see that, and the fact that he went from questionable to doubtful to out, that if they were resting him, he would have just been out, right?

30:51Even if they would have said calf strain instead of rest on the injury report officially, that he did try to play in this game, and ultimately they decided it wasn't worth it. So I don't know that they rested him so much is that they are being careful in preserving him and playing the long game. And you want a guy like Clalware, by the way, to be able to step up in this big moment, which he has in other parts of the season, right? They didn't do that with just sort of blind faith. We've seen Clalware step up in these moments. When BAM is miss multiple games in a row, we've seen Clal step up the season. So in terms of playing with their food, I just, to me, it felt a little bit more like searching for answers in this one. Yeah, I agree there. I don't think they were taking Charlotte lightly. When they played them a couple of weeks ago, the intensity there felt like a playoff kind of intensity. So I think they understand exactly what's at stake in these games. They felt short against Orlando at home.

31:51And I think they understood that they needed to do something differently against Charlotte, but they just weren't good enough. I mean, they just couldn't match what Charlotte was trying to do. They couldn't keep up, especially in that fourth quarter they got exposed. And so I don't think it's a matter of just not appreciating your opponent, but it just boils down to when you're missing a key player, like BAM, who does so many little things that is necessary for you to win, and you're not able to get an incredibly productive offensive night from one of your top guys, whether it's Norm or Tyler, then you're kind of floundering and you're kind of left exposed a little bit. And I think that's just the bottom line for this team is that they need everything to break right in or for them to look well. And tonight that wasn't the case. They didn't get anything to break their way. Nothing. They got beat in this game, man. Like they just got beat. They got beat by a team that played better at home, and that was it. Thanks for tuning in today to Lockdown Heat. Make sure you subscribe, follow Lockdown Heat, so you get all of the latest episodes. We'll be back tomorrow with a preview of this big Lakers game, if you never missed an

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