Notes from NBA TV’s Fan Night – Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Portland Trail Blazers (105) @ Miami Heat (96)
Voting is open on NBA.com for next week’s Fan Night match-up that will air on Tuesday, March 15. Fans can select between the following games:
Milwaukee Bucks @ Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks @ Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards @ Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks @ Portland Trail Blazers
***CLIP OF THE DAY***
(click on link below to watch)
NBA TV’s Kevin McHale & Chris Webber Discuss the Heat’s Recent Struggles
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AutoTrader.com Pre-Game Show
Rick Kamla, Kevin McHale and Chris Webber
McHale on the Miami Heat’s struggles: “When the Heat play well, their defense is active, they are making stops, they are getting steals, they are getting long rebounds and some blocked shots but they are getting out and pushing the pace. When they are out running, you have (Dwyane) Wade in one lane and LeBron James in the other. I mean pick your poison, those guys are great finishers. But when they go bad, and they seem like they go bad in the fourth quarter, they go stagnant. Their defense doesn’t turn into offense for them. They walk it up. They get very predictable.”
Webber on the Heat needing help from a fourth man in order to win games: “I believe two guys can win a championship. I tried to win one by myself against Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) and Kobe (Bryant) and a Hall of Fame coach (Phil Jackson). Looking at those teams Phil Jackson had, they never had a third guy. They had a fourth guy by committee. Your role players are one committee, your bench is one mob on their own and they can take on that fourth role on their own. I think the fourth man by committee is enough.”
Webber on Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra calling more involved plays: “We don’t see plays where all three guys are involved in the same play. We see a play where one guy is standing there and the rest are on islands. I think a lot of that is on (Erik) Spoelstra, who has done a great job, but a lot of that is on him to call plays where you have three options on one play. I definitely think they have a lot of things they can improve on but they are still a hell of a team.”
McHale on Dwyane Wade’s comments about the world being a better place because of the Heat’s losing streak: “‘Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll eat some worms.’ That’s what they used to sing in the school yard when you wanted to feel bad about yourself. Come on now, the world is not a better place because Miami is losing basketball games. People want to see these guys doing well. Again, when you have a parade-like atmosphere before you play one game…if you ask for that before you play, don’t cry.”
Webber on the Miami Heat “Big Three” being disliked by fans: “These guys have to embrace (being the villain). I’ve never seen athletes that needed to be embraced by crowds on the road. The fans respect you more and say ‘I like hating you because you beat my team.’ I just wish they would embrace it.”
McHale on Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra’s comment about players crying in the locker room: “For Coach Spoelstra, instead of saying that your team is crying you have to walk out and say, ‘I would hate to be the next team that plays us.’”
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T-Mobile Halftime Report
Kamla, McHale and Webber
Webber on injured Heat forward Udonis Haslem: “If I’m a Miami fan, I’m waiting for Haslem to get back (from an injury) because hopefully he will be everything that I need. Hopefully, he gives me the toughness of a Kevin McHale and hopefully he gives me the defensive presence of a great power forward. That’s what you really want, because right now there is no inside presence of a power forward on this team. I think the guards have to do too much on this team to win in the paint.”
McHale on the Lakers: “The Lakers are playing very well. When you can see the finish line, you start your sprint. They are feeling the playoffs coming on.”
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NBA GameTime presented by Hyundai
Kamla, McHale and Webber
Webber on the Portland Trail Blazers: “I love the mindset of the Portland Trail Blazers and if you think about it, they’ve been this way for a long time. They’ve had to fight injuries, their coach has been hurt and they’ve been resilient. This is who they were.”
Webber on Trail Blazers acquiring Gerald Wallace at the trade deadline: “I thought it was an awesome trade because some people trade to get a main guy, some people trade to get an auxiliary player. This guy can actually be the glue of a team. Why? Because he doesn’t need a lot of shots every night. When you see the type of temperament that (Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan) has, (how) the organization is and the way they play, this guy was a great trade because he is what the organization needs. He was a Portland Trail Blazer even before he came there and now he reinforces that inside play.”
Webber on the team chemistry of the Heat: “I think personnel makes everything. If you have two guys that go to the basket – you know, Michael Jordan had an (Charles) Oakley, a guy that could shoot a jump shot, wasn’t the most athletic but was the man around that basket. I think that in order for this team to win, (Chris) Bosh is going to have to transform himself, maybe into a player that he wasn’t. Bosh is a great player and he is hard to check, but they need ten rebounds. They need somebody to be hard and get a flagrant foul every once in awhile. They need a disrupter.”
Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge joined the Fan Night crew via Arena Link
Aldridge on how has matured as a player over the past season: “It was tough. I think after losing in the playoffs last year, I really took it personally because that’s when Brandon (Roy) first got hurt and I stepped into this role that I do now and I didn’t do well. That didn’t sit well with me. So, this past off-season, (Trail Blazers assistant) coach (Bill) Bayno came out and we went at the pads and he just beat me up in the post. I did three-a-days on the weights. I just took it really personal last year. I think as you get stronger in this league, the game gets better. I think it’s part of getting stronger, working hard and just believing in myself more.”
Webber on the Heat needing to earn respect: “I think the Miami Heat needs to find a way to sincerely earn respect. We’re not going to feel sorry for you so don’t tell me what happened badly. All I want to see and all others want to see is for you to go out there and take it. I think they need to change this around before other teams will look at them.”
McHale on the Heat needing to be more confident: “Now is not the time to say that everyone is happy (that) the Miami Heat is losing, the ‘woe is me’ stuff. Now is the time for them to stand up and say, ‘I’ll tell you what, this is it, it stops now, we play the Lakers on Thursday and we’re coming out and we’re taking them down.’ But you have to believe it. It’s easy to say it, but you’ve got to believe in your heart that you’ve got enough game to take those people down.”
Webber on how the Heat match-up with the Lakers on TNT this Thursday: “It depends on what (the Heat) want to make it. Are you desperate enough to turn it around or do you just want to go with the flow, feel sorry for yourself and continue to bleed? You stop it against the great teams. That’s why when you see Memphis (Grizzlies) beat the Lakers or Cleveland (Cavaliers) beat the Lakers, that’s because it’s their championship game. Teams are measuring themselves to it. If these teams have enough never to face this challenge, these guys do too… I think that this might be the game that maybe someone gets kicked out, maybe the coach gets kicked out, maybe they win by ten, maybe they lose by 20. A statement needs to be made so they can keep the respect.”
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