Culture Supersedes All ~ A Miami Heat MyLeague Series (NBA2k18/PS4)

[Number999]

2021/2022 Miami Heat Regular Season Summary

Introduction: The Miami Heat entered this season with a very familiar core that they had last year. It was still gonna be Dragic, Mushidi, Isaac, Gordon, and Guerrero albeit with slight differences to the bench. Inevitably, there will be speculation all season long about the potential trades given how much Miami were scouring the market but that's neither here nor there now since trades can't happen until mid-January involving the players being talked about. To kick off the 2021/2022 NBA Season, the Miami Heat took on the New Orleans Pelicans and man was it a thriller. With mere seconds to go, Mushidi found Gordon streaking to the rim off of a screen and fed him to put Miami up 104-103 with 4 seconds to go! On the inbound, Kemba Walker(yea he's a Pelican now with Boogie/AD) got the ball and he drilled a game-winner over Goran Dragic to takedown Miami in the opener in heart-breaking fashion. The Heat followed that effort up with a blowout loss to Charlotte, and then bounced back facing the 0-2 Celtics winning 104-94 thanks to 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists via Aaron Gordon.

It wouldn't take very long though for that Kemba Walker ball-buster to be topped. In Game #5, the Heat played the Bucks in Illinois. There, the game went to OT and from literal no man's land down 93-94, Evan Fournier hit a fading 3-pointer from 30+ feet at the buzzer to win 96-94 OT. It was honestly one of the most impressive buzzer beaters I've ever seen. Miami were 2-3 yet they should be 4-1 in all honesty if you take away the bullsh!t. Nonethless, Miami stay focused. They bounced back with a win vs OKC, and then made a minor trade with the Orlando Magic. They send David Nwaba and a 2025 Heat 2nd to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Irvin Daley and a 2024 Magic 1st that was lottery protected. You may wonder why the Magic would make such a deal but it makes sense. They're sick of losing and are paying monster money to Whiteside and also have young players like Lenny Douglas and Victor Fuller that they want to win with. Nwaba can help them, and if they still suck in the future that protection helps them. For Miami, it's a no-brainer since Nwaba is projected to get barely any minutes and is stuck behind multiple guys on the bench.

Now from here we have a bunch of games that happened until the new year. In terms of notable contests, the Heat smashed the Warriors at home on November 17th, winning 105-80 with AG collecting 30/11 while Steph Curry was held to a pathetic 10 points. During that stretch, Miami rattled off 7 consecutive victories to get to a record of 13-6 before facing the filthy Philadelphia 76ers and getting crushed 87-110. Kostja Mushidi scored 31 points on December 4th against the Celtics who were a middling .500 squad at this point, with many wondering what the hell was wrong with them given their recent years of regular season dominance. The 76ers then approached the Heat with a trade offer of Robert Covington + Willy Hernangomez in exchange for Justise Winslow + Hugh Fowlkes. The Heat contemplated the deal, but ultimately rejected it for two big factors. First, Covington is 31 and is going to get a big pay raise since he's expiring, as is Hernangomez. Winslow is 26 and locked in for another 2 seasons, and also Fowlkes role is pretty important since he's our only other point guard besides Goran Dragic. I must admit though, based on multiple outlets the Heat were seriously contemplating accepting given Covington is the PERFECT 3 in their system. But hey, loyalty to Justise and all.

Next big game was on December 16th where the Heat dismantled the NBA-best 22-5 Chicago Bulls by a score of 98-85 at home. It's kind of baffling how good Chicago has become, given the fact they also won 55 games the year prior. The 14-20 Magic snapped our winning streak of yet another 7 games by destroying us at home. Didn't matter that Gordon got 30 since Lenny Douglas and Victor Oladipo looked really good for them. On the final game of 2021, the Heat managed to defeat the 76ers 119-112. Gordon was a menace scoring 38, but contributions such as 12 points off the bench from Malachi Richardson were also massive in turning the tides. Philadelphia have been the cream of the crop in the East the last 2 years, and beating them is what Miami is focused on. Overall, a record of 24-11 to finish the year is very impressive and slots Miami in for the #2 seed in the conference. In the new year the first 7 games the Heat went 4-3, with big wins against the 27-11 LA Lakers and 21-20 Celtics(AG scoring 41 on them thooo) Miami held a record of 28-14, and that's when they decided right away to make a trade that would change their franchise direction for the foreseeable future.

The Heat have made a trade with the New York Knicks!

Miami Heat Trade:
SF Jonathan Isaac (85 OVR)
PF Wendell Carter (79 OVR)
2024 Magic 1st (Lottery Protected)

New York Knicks Trade:
PG Frank Ntilikina (82 OVR)
2023 Knicks 1st (Unprotected)

Analysis: YESSSSSSSS!!! It finally happened... the Miami Heat believe they've just landed their point guard of the next decade. But let's break this down first from both sides. Why did the Heat do it? Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter were on qualifying offers from restricted free agency. It seemed quite clear that Miami were doubtful on whether or not they wanted to commit to them. Isaac is a phenomenal defender, but his lack of offensive presence is naturally concerning. Carter was a blackhole on offense albeit a great defender, he just didn't fit with the Heat's desire to focus entirely on Guerrero. The Magic 1st was the extra clincher Miami needed to do the deal and get the Knicks to sign on. So why did the Knicks do it? They were sucking ***. 16-28 was their record at the time of this deal. With Kristaps Porzingis, Caron Nicholson, Ntilikina, Enes Kanter, and so forth there was no business for them to be so awful. They had to make a move and given Ntilikina's under-whelming stats (7/7 essentially on very poor shooting %'s) It made sense to make this deal. Isaac gives them a stupidly strong frontcourt now with Porzingis/Nicholson/Isaac and maybe this jolt wiill help them. For the Heat, Winslow becomes the staring SF and now Ntilikina becomes the new starter as Dragic sees his role reduced to a strong 6th man.

Ultimately, Miami felt that Ntilikina was needed since he's a younger far more athletic guard who will fare far better in the playoffs defending against the likes of Kyrie Irving and Markelle Fultz. He's not coming here and being asked to be a scorer. He's coming here to be a play-maker, defend well, and help the Heat win. He's still only 23 years old and now he's locked in through 2023 with a player option in 2024. This also helps give the Heat the very convenient marketing strategy of the Belgian Bros! Both of them were born in Belgium and hell their defensive tenacity could become a fan favorite amongst many. In order to fill the roster hole, Miami signed FA veteran Taj Gibson to try and help out in a limited backup center role behind Guerrero. He played for the Heat in the 2019/2020 season but then wasn't brought back, signed with Cleveland next year, and sustained a season ending injury that prevented him from playing.

How did the Heat perform with their new look lineup? Well in his debut, Frank Ntilikina went up against Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets and it didn't go too great... Miami lose 81-106 and Ntilikina had 0 points... but he had 12 assists! Yup, he was gonna be our brand new Rajon Rondo. After 3 straight wins, Miami felt good about themselves!.... and then they played Philadelphia on January 26th. It was a massacre. 76ers won 114-65. Heat shot 32% while the 76ers shot 54%. Just pathetic. To make matters worse, the Heat followed up that performance with two victories against Charlotte and Orlando(a game where Alonzo Guerrero scored 33 points and gathered 9 rebounds!) but then the injury bug hit. With a 33-18 record, one of the best in the entire NBA, the Heat sadly announced the Kostja Mushidi had suffered a torn right hamstring and would be out for 6-8 weeks. Dammit.

From there, Miami fell into a tail-spin pre-All Star Break. Losses to Denver and Charlotte hurt, but a 105-108 loss in a failed comeback against the New York Knicks scarred extra deep given the fact it wasted a career night for Frankie Nicotine who went off for 24 points and 8 assists but missed the potential game-tying bucket in the final minute. The losses stacked one on top of another, L's to Toronto, Dallas, Washington, and Cleveland all hurt as Miami's offense sputtered. Kostja Mushidi was the #3 scorer now taking a backseat to the frontcourt of Aaron Gordon and Alonzo Guerrero. He was fine with that role, he was the 20PPG last year because AG got hurt and Guerrero was a rookie. He focused on his defense more now, yet without him in the lineup, you would think Miami had a lost a 25PPG+ caliber player. The 7-game losing streak took a toll on the squad, but then finally, some life was breathed back into the organization. The Heat played the 43-11 Chicago Bulls on their home floor, and somehow, someway, stunned them with a Frank Ntilikina game-winner to win 94-92! A split after that led to the All-Star Break where Aaron Gordon had made the roster. 35-26 was Miami's record at the break.

Post-ASB, Miami continued to struggle greatly. They started 3-2 but then hit another skid losing 5 of 6. The lone bright spot was a game vs the Milwaukee Bucks where Taj Gibson got a game-winning block on Bam Adebayo to salvage a victory at 96-91. Kostja Mushidi finally returned from injury with the Heat slotting in at a 39-31 record, the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference now. Thankfully with his return Miami saw their lineup come back to life. A second win over the Golden State Warriors led to a series sweep! Steph Curry scored 41 but it wasn't enough as Alonzo Guerrero dominated the paint with 32 points and 17 rebounds. Miami then rallied from a big deficit against the Nets down by 9 with 4 minutes to play in the 4th to win at home. A big win on April 3rd against the Wizards by 18 points meant that they had fended them off for the #3 seed that they had fought so hard for. Overall, the Heat finished the season having won 9 of their last 12 games to attain a 48-34 record, good for the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference! One better than the year before, I don't see how you can have any complaints given all the factors that went into this season. Good job team!

2021/2022 NBA Standings:

Spoiler

Western Conference:
#1. Z - Houston Rockets (57-25)
#2. X - Minnesota Timberwolves (54-28)
#3. X - Golden State Warriors (50-32)
#4. X - Memphis Grizzlies (48-34)
#5. X - Los Angeles Lakers (48-34)
#6. X - Phoenix Suns (47-35)
#7. X - Sacramento Kings (44-38)
#8. X - Los Angeles Clippers (43-39)
#9. New Orleans Pelicans (40-42)
#10. Portland Trail Blazers (39-43)
#11. Denver Nuggets (35-47)
#12. Utah Jazz (34-48)
#13. Oklahoma City Thunder (34-48)
#14. Dallas Mavericks (29-53)
#15. San Antonio Spurs (26-56)

Eastern Conference:
#1. Z - Chicago Bulls (59-23)
#2. X - Philadelphia 76ers (52-30)
#3. X - Miami Heat (48-34)
#4. X - Washington Wizards (45-37)
#5. X - Cleveland Cavaliers (44-38)
#6. X - Brooklyn Nets (43-39)
#7. X - Boston Celtics (43-39)
#8. X - Milwaukee Bucks (43-39)
#9. New York Knicks (42-40)
#10. Charlotte Hornets (42-40)
#11. Orlando Magic (33-49)
#12. Toronto Raptors (32-50)
#13. Detroit Pistons (28-54)
#14. Atlanta Hawks (27-55)
#15. Indiana Pacers (21-61)

Analysis: It feels like the Western Conference has been the same for 5+ years now. At the top, it's always some form of the Warriors, Rockets, and Timberwolves. This year, Houston came out on top with a +6.8 point differential. At their core, they're still led by James Harden and Chris Paul along with Clint Capela as their main glue guy. beyond them, they've opted for younger role players such as Mario Hezonja and Ike Anigbogu. Will they finally have bigtime postseason success or flame out in the 2nd Round? Who knows. KAT has bruised ribs, but they should be fine. Warriors are looking to try and repeat for the first time ever, and they know their window is closing. All 8 of their top players 31 years old OR older. (KD is 33, Steph 34, Klay & Dray 32) It looks like Russell Westbrook was a success for Memphis. They wanted to give their fans and 37-year old Marc Gasol something special, they've done that. The up-and-coming new fresh organizations are the Lakers led by Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram along with the Suns led by Devin Booker and Michael Porter Jr. Kings are aight but have no Fox. Clippers made it with Rolando Stockton slowly becoming a superstar offensively. Pelicans stay a disappointment, and hell the Spurs are trash now bruh!

In the East, it was the Chicago Bulls who fell just 1 win shy of the 60-win mark. I'm still unsure of how great they are in reality, but Lauri Markkanen is their head-lining player followed by Steven Adams, Colin Sexton, and Bobby Portis. The 76ersare still great, but Ben Simmons and Dario Saric have both sustained injuries so Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic are gonna have to carry them for the early period of these playoffs if they wanna have another run. Obviously we're the #3 seed, and then you have a cluster of teams all with basically the same record. Wizards decided to stop sucking and let Bradley Beal carry them. The Cavs still have LeBron. The Nets are are the biggest shocker but they made an in-season trade for Pistons center Andre Drummond, and with him paired up with D'Angelo Russell they could be a major pain in the ***. The Celtics still have Kyrie and a bunch of talent and finally the Bucks still have Giannis. The #9 seed? THE FRIGGING NEW YORK KNICKS! They were 16-28 at the time of that Frank Ntilikina trade, how they'd do after? 24-12! That's a damn great record! Maybe next year... Charlotte is bubbling with youth talent and after that the East sucks ***. Congrats to the Indiana Pacers led by Blake Griffin and Omer Demunyck for achieving 60 losses by the way!

Miami Heat 2021/2022 Regular Season Stats

Miami Heat Stats - 21/22
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Aaron Gordon	82	32.6	20.5	7.8	2.5	0.8	0.5	1.6	2.5
Alonzo Guerrero	82	32.8	15.6	8.2	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.5	2.8
Kostja Mushidi	63	32.2	14.2	3.9	4.2	1.0	0.9	1.7	1.3
Jonathan Isaac*	42	29.8	9.7	7.2	1.6	1.3	0.9	1.3	1.7
Frank Ntilikina	82	30.8	8.6	2.7	6.5	1.2	0.2	2.1	2.5
Goran Dragic	82	24.7	8.5	1.0	3.6	0.5	0.0	1.2	2.1
Malachi Richardson	78	19.9	7.6	1.7	1.8	0.9	0.5	1.1	1.8
Justise Winslow	82	28.8	7.4	5.7	2.2	1.0	0.3	1.5	2.4
Hugh Fowlkes	82	14.1	4.8	1.0	2.7	0.4	0.0	0.8	1.0
Wendell Carter*	42	17.4	3.6	5.2	1.4	0.5	0.9	0.7	2.1
Taurean Pricne	82	10.8	3.5	2.0	0.7	0.5	0.3	0.5	1.0

* TRADED MID-SEASON

Analysis: The Miami Heat went 33-18 before Kostja Mushidi got hurt. When he was out with an injury, they went 6-13. When he came back, they went 9-3. That's how you get Miami's 48-34 record. When you put it that simply, it makes the fact Miami went on a skid after acquiring Frank Ntilikina not look so bad. How did Frankie N do with Miami? Pretty damn great. His points per game went up and even without a key scorer in the Heat's lineup, his shooting splits improved greatly compared to where they were with New York. With the Knicks, at the 16-28 mark this year, he was shooting 37/23/75, at the end of this season, his splits were now 42/31/70. That's a notable improvement. Plus, while Goran Dragic's stats have declined for yet another year it's fair to say that he's better suited for an off the bench role. He can still get buckets at the rim and knock down 3's, and now that he'll be matched up with opposing bench players perhaps he can provide a jolt for the Heat's scoring in bunches.

Aaron Gordon put together another 20PPG+ season. He played the full 82 games which is a great sign for those worried about his injury history. Still, he has a monster player option coming up and he must decide whether to commit to the Heat or explore Free Agency. For Heat fans, how badly they want him back will depend on whether or not he can improve from his lack-luster playoff performance last season against the Celtics, albeit, he was coming back from a torn MCL injury. Alonzo Guerrero became the Heat's 2nd best player seemingly overnight. The 24-year old has seen a jolt in his stats from his rookie season and is quickly rising up the ranks as one of the best new young faces in the NBA as a big. The reason he fell to the #10 pick in the first place was the fact many doubted how committed he was to the game of basketball. Since then he's shown nothing but professionalism and his per 36 stats suggest he could become a consistent double/double guy in the future.

Now for some quick takes. Kostja Mushidi saw his scoring regress from being 20PPG worthy to 14.2PPG. It was expected, since Guerrero has emerged and Gordon was healthy all season. Mushidi's worth is not entirely on his offense but rather how he can contribute when it comes to guarding the opposing teams best perimeter player. His shooting splits were still inefficient at 41/34/87 but that's just who he is as a volume scorer. We're gonna have to get used to it. Dragic's stats took a slight dip as we've mentioned, but he still shot 49% from the field and 38% from 3. Malachi Richardson was up and down all season, and his killer 3-point shot only shot 35% from deep. Justise Winslow is somebody all fans know by now to not look at his stats and define him by. He is so much more than that, and his defense against the likes of Ben Simmons, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum are where you should judge him. Fowlkes was also aight. The likes of Tony Snell, Dzanan Musa, and Taj Gibson are all not listed cause they didn't have anything worthy of posting. Regardless, let's look at All-Stars and Awards.

2021/2022 NBA All-Stars:

Spoiler

Eastern Conference All-Stars:
#1. Kyrie Irving (92 OVR, 30, Celtics)
#2. D'Angelo Russell (88 OVR, 26, Nets)
#3. Giannis Antetokounmpo (97 OVR, 27, Bucks)
#4. LeBron James (93 OVR, 37, Cavaliers)
#5. Jabari Parker (86 OVR, 27, Bucks)
#6. Bradley Beal (90 OVR, 28, Wizards)
#7. Gordon Hayward (86 OVR, 32, Celtics)
#8. Blake Griffin (87 OVR, 33, Pacers)
#9. Andre Drummond (90 OVR, 28, Nets)
#10. Caron Nicholson (89 OVR, 22, Knicks)
#11. Aaron Gordon (84 OVR, 26, Heat)
#12. Luka Doncic (87 OVR, 24, 76ers)

Western Conference All-Stars:
#1. Stephen Curry (92 OVR, 34, Warriors)
#2. James Harden (95 OVR, 32, Rockets)
#3. Kevin Durant (95 OVR, 33, Warriors)
#4. Paul George (86 OVR, 31, Thunder)
#5. Karl-Anthony Towns (94 OVR, 26, T-Wolves)
#6. Lonzo Ball (89 OVR, 24, Lakers)
#7. Rolando Stockton (84 OVR, 23, Clippers)
#8. Anthony Davis (91 OVR, 29, Pelicans)
#9. Nikola Jokic (91 OVR, 27, Nuggets)
#10. Russell Westbrook (89 OVR, 33, Grizzlies)
#11. Clint Capela (87 OVR, 27, Rockets)
#12. Michael Porter Jr. (87 OVR, 23, Suns)

2021/2022 NBA Awards:
MVP: (HOU) James Harden (26.7PPG, 7.0APG, 4.3RPG)
ROTY: (CHI) Coty Sparks (15.6PPG, 2.4APG, 3.5RPG)
6MOY: (CHA) Mohamed Bamba (12.1PPG, 0.6APG, 8.9RPG)
DPOY: (MIL) Giannis Antetokounpo (22.8PPG, 5.5APG, 8.5RPG)
MIP: (PHI) Ben Simmons (15.7PPG, 7.5APG, 8.5RPG)
COTY: (CHI) Logan White (59-23 Record)

The Miami Heat will take on the Brooklyn Nets in the 1st Round of the 2021/2022 NBA Playoffs!