Philadelphia 76ers intimidating Miami Heat’s intimidators
By Bret Stuter
The Miami Heat are down 2-1 to the Philadelphia 76ers. Rather than play a clean but physical game, they have tried to intimidate the Philadelphia 76ers. But its Philly who is intimidating the Heat.
When the Miami Heat lost game one, they had to come up with a new strategy on the fly. The team decided the best strategy to counter the Philadelphia 76ers hinged on bullying the 76ers. But in doing so, the coaching staff made a huge error. In the biggest stage of the Philadelphia 76ers’ young players’ careers, the Heat chose to mask the awe, the glitz, and the happenstance of the NBA Playoffs, and convert this series into a brawl.
Bad move.
Bullying shows fear. Someone whose first response is physicality is not someone who is confident. Trying to get into the heads of another team through pranks and antics is an admission of that team already getting into your head. Miami, in choosing to take the low road, risked converting their veteran advantage into a street fight. Now, at the low end of a 1-2 deficit, they have a huge road back.
Miami played into Sixers strengths
In any veteran versus novice, the mental advantage to the veteran team is to enhance the facade that the veteran team is not affected by the hype or the spotlight. Business as usual. Create a calm cool and collected image to the performance, and let the self-doubt and the uncertainty rattle the Philadelphia 76ers. But the Miami Heat chose an alternate route.
Miami elected to assume the role of the NBA bully team. Push the envelope of the rules to the edge. Foul so often that the refs are forced to allow some level of physicality to slip through. And when the Miami Heat stacks up against the Philadelphia 76ers, what choice did the Heat truly have? They can’t outscore the Philadelphia 76ers. And they do not match up well defensively without some edge. The team believes they can bully the 76ers. Or rather did believe.