Miami Heat at LA Clippers
Mastercard Center (Beijing, China)
October 11, 2012 4:30a PT NBA TV
(Replay at 11:30a PT NBA TV)
It’s been 4 days since the Los Angeles Bledsoes fell in Las Vegas on a buzzer beater to the Denver Ty Lawsons. What have they been doing during that time? Just travel 6000 miles to Beijing, China and stand on a 2000 year old wall (via LA Clippers):
It’ll be interesting to see how Del Negro decides manage Bledsoe’s minutes, who played a whopping game-high 34 minutes versus the Nuggets. It’s not a question of whether Bledsoe can handle the minutes so much as not wanting to expose key players to large minutes in exhibition games. But Del Negro may not have a choice; Bledsoe is the only point guard expected to be on the roster capable of playing. And it’s tough to evaluate a team’s progress without a reliable guard to set up the plays.
Last season, the Heat were 8th in Offensive Rating. More importantly, they were 4th in Defensive rating (Denver was 20th). So the Clippers will get another opportunity to work on their defense schemes and rotations against a top-10 offense and also test out their scoring chops against a top-5 defense. Fun.
Defensively, the Heat will likely the space the floor out for their shooters and cutters, allowing Bosh and James to break down the defense. This will require a lot of communication and rotation from the Clippers young frontcourt; a big test for a group saying the right things about a commitment to defense.
