Five Takeaways from Panthers’ win over Canadiens

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MONTREAL: The Panthers ended their three game road trip with a dominating 6-2 win over the Canadiens in Montreal. 

 

The team will head back home to face Minnesota on Saturday night before jumping on the road again for another away back-to-back.

 

Here’s tonight’s takeaways.

 

Early injuries for the Panthers

Florida saw two of their veterans leave the game in the first period, both of whom did not return.

 

In the opening minutes of the game, goaltender Sergei Bobrosvky appeared to hit his foot against the post when sliding over to the opposite side of the net.

 

He left the game at the next whistle, leaving Alex Lyon in goal the rest of the way.

 

Later in the period, when Eric Staal was chasing a puck in the offensive zone, Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson laid a reverse hit on Staal.

 

Staal did not have possession of the puck when he took the hit.

 

 The 38-year-old was slow to get up and eventually went to the Panthers’ locker room.

 

Both players will get looked at tomorrow, per head coach Paul Maurice.

 

Alex Lyon comes in relief for Bobrovsky

With Sergei Bobrovsky leaving the game in the first two minutes, the usual Panthers’ third-string goalie Alex Lyon had to play pretty much the whole game. 

 

Lyon has been the Panthers’ backup goalie with Spencer Knight on IR, however he has not played in a game this season with Florida.

 

The 30-year-old goalie played a solid game, finishing the night with 23 saves on 25 shots.

 

Lyon had no problem jumping into the game after Bob went down.

 

“I think experience goes a long way,” Lyon said.  “Just getting into more of those situations, you get more confident. Just trust yourself and trust the things that make you good and just stay in the moment.”

 

Power play goal fest 

The biggest area of domination for the Panthers tonight was on the man-advantage. 

 

Florida scored four goals on the power play, with two of those coming from Matthew Tkachuk. By the time they scored the last power play goal, it was a five goal game.

 

The Panthers took their time on the PP; controlling the puck, feeding the open man and shooting with open lanes. 

 

“We had good patience on the power play,” Paul Maurice told the media.

 

Brandon Monotur hits his career-high in points

It has a fantastic season for Panthers’ defenseman Brandon Montour.

 

On Tuesday night in Toronto, the 28-year-old tied his career-high point total at the 44 game mark of the season.

 

Two days later in Montreal, Montour surpassed his previous best, as he now sits at 38 points in 45 games. Last season was his best year to date, with 37 points in 81 games.

 

As he sits top-10 in defenseman scoring league wide, Montour is on pace to shatter last season’s point total.  

 

The game turned physical, lots of fights

Montreal and Florida really have no history between each other. 

 

Besides a few trades and former players playing on both teams, there’s not alot there.

 

This season on the other hand has seemed to ignite a new fire between the two sides.

 

In tonight’s game, it was anything but clean hockey. The third period had three fights, there were bodies flying everywhere, the game had more than the usual bad blood.

 

By the end of the night, there were 90 combined penalty minutes, with Montreal’s 57 being the majority. 

 

Panthers’ forward Ryan Lomberg was one of the players who dropped the gloves in the game.

 

“Two teams that are close in the standings pushing for that spot…they’re a good team, it’s competitive,” Lomberg said. “We love that type of game and we’re pushing for the playoffs here so we’re trying to play a playoff style game for sure.”

Five Takeaways from Heat’s Win Over Pelicans

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The Miami Heat were looking to bounce back from their rough performance against the Hawks on Monday, and did just that, coming out scorching from start to finish in New Orleans.

They got a little bit from everybody all the way down the nine man rotation, as Bam Adebayo led the way.

Some takeaways from this high level performance….

#1: The Heat’s opening possessions telling the whole story.

Before this game, I said the game-plan I would go with would begin and end with the Tyler Herro-Bam Adebayo PnR. Against a team in drop with two drop killers, that could open up the rest of the offense. Herro got into his floater twice in the first few minutes, as Jonas Valanciunas sat right under the rim. The very next possession following that second floater, the Heat found themselves running a PnR at a different coverage. He was now defending at the level, and when they are forcing adjustments this early, that’s when they have you. Herro reads it, leads a bounce pass in the pocket to Bam who lays it in. Fast forward to the next play, Valanciunas was right back under the rim, so Herro flowed right into a mid-range pull-up that dropped. In the opening minutes, Adebayo had 8 points and Herro had 5 assists. The blueprint against teams like this as I said before the game: that Herro-Bam two-man combo.

#2: The first half: the Heat simply blazing in all areas.

Going down the checklist of things you wanted to see, the first half was marking every area for the Heat. Kyle Lowry comes out with high energy, pushing pace, and getting the team transition buckets. Check. Going back to the previous point, Adebayo and Herro doing their drop in that in-between game to really set the tone. Check. The bench scores 28 points in the first half, with everybody contributing. Check. And well, the team shot 72% on twos in the first 24 minutes, pretty much getting wherever they wanted off initial and secondary attacks. Major check. In all honesty, the easy way to describe it was ‘one of those nights’ since the team just couldn’t miss on many shots in their overall profile. But the process stood out to me. There was diversity, there were paint touches into kick-outs, and they followed the base of their half-court game. That was the more promising part.

#3: Let me take another moment for Gabe Vincent.

Gabe Vincent knocked down 3 triples in the opening quarter, yet that’s no surprise as of late since he keeps breaking his own career high every night. But when zooming in a bit more on him coming back into form following the injury stuff, the one thing he displayed in this game is the real component to keep eyeing. Spot-up shooting. He’s been on an uphill climb when it comes to that spot-up three point percentage this season, but it’s been trending up as of late. Not only is that important for that extra punch from deep, but it makes it easier on the primary on-ball threats. Capitalizing on those kicks from Herro, Butler, Oladipo drives really can convert the offense in a positive manner. The other element of this emergence is it can provide lineup versatility. They can get back to plugging him in different spots if he’s hitting like this, so it’ll be interesting to monitor.

#4: X’s and O’s time: A set that I continue to like for this Heat offense.

The Pelicans began making a bit of a push in the third quarter as the Heat were forcing certain looks that they shouldn’t have. In a period that they needed to be offensively settled, they went to old reliable within their offense. I started out this piece talking about the Herro-Bam PnR in space, yet there’s a layered shift that always seems to generate a good look. Before Herro took a dribble with Bam screening, Butler slips dunker spots to catch his defender by surprise. He receives the ball on the left block, turning into an and-1. The very next possession, they baited the Pelicans a bit more. Herro and Bam actually run this PnR as Herro gets deep into the paint, Butler flips spots late, and he hits him for the easy flip shot. It’s a very subtle thing, but that’s a lot to account for on offense with those three pressure points.

#5: A potential momentum builder?

As I’ve discussed across this entire piece, this was a hot scoring night for the Miami Heat. But this was also the first time they’ve been fully healthy, probably all season. The starting lineup back intact, as the bench four were all locked into their respective roles as well. Sliding everybody down a slot simply does wonders to many of their role players. But now it’s all about seeing if this can be another one of those momentum builders. Consistency has been the word I’ve brought up all year, both on and off the court. On the court, they need consistent themes and identities on both ends of the floor. Off the court, they need to simply string some things together over a large span. They’ve done that this week, mostly against worse talent, but now they are facing Luka Doncic and the Mavs plus Jayson Tatum and the Celtics in 2 of the next 3 games. The true challenge.

Florida Panthers head coach wearing black suit and tie speaking to the media

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ OT loss to Leafs

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TORONTO: In a game that was anything short of ordinary, the Florida Panthers dropped a hard fought game to the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime.

 

Between the interesting calls in the game and the reaction from head coach Paul Maurice, this game was something to talk about. 

 

Here are the takeaways.

 

Penalties, penalties and controversy?

By the second period, this game had so many penalties called we started to lose count. 

 

The story of tonight’s game was all about the officiating. 

 

Between 30 combined penalty minutes, confusion on which team received the penalty, on top of questionable calls.

 

Panthers coach Paul Maurice spoke about the questionable officiating in tonight’s game.

 

“I don’t know what the hell those guys were doing tonight but it wasn’t Florida Panther friendly.”

 

Maurice continued, “I just explained to them [his team], it had nothing to do with my players, it had to do with me and the relationship that I have with one of the referees, that’s what that was all about,” he said. 

 

At the end of the night, Florida had 18 of the 30 total penalty minutes in the game.

 

Brandon Montour ties his career-high in points

The Panthers’ defenseman has been having a career season on the blueline. Tonight in his 44th game of the season, he got point No. 37, which ties his career best.

 

Last season, Montour finished the year with 37 points in 81 games. In nearly half the amount of games, he has reached that.

 

“He is an incredibly elite skater, above and beyond what you normally see,” Paul Maurice said. “He’s starting to use that speed, that skating to defend. When he does that, he’s going to be a star.”

 

The Brantford, Ontario native has been one of the best players for the Panthers this season and comfortably sits top to in points by a defenseman in the NHL.

 

“He’s calm, he’s confident,”  Aaron Ekblad said about Montour. “I love Monty’s game and it’s a treat to play with him.”

 

Cats pick up points in three straight games

While Florida wasn’t able to string together that third-straight win tonight, which would’ve been their first winning-streak of the season, the team has picked up five of a possible six points over that three game stretch. 

 

“I feel like we’ve been finding our identity a little bit,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “I think the last two, three weeks we’ve been kind of finding how to play as a team, how to work really hard, play smart.”

 

The Panthers next opponent is a Montreal team that they defeated a few weeks ago 7-2 at home. Florida has a great chance to pick up more points on the road on Thursday.

 

Panthers get second short-handed goal of the season  

Florida’s penalty kill was extremely busy tonight and they fared pretty well considering they had seven power plays to kill, keeping the Leafs to two goals on those attempts.

 

The short-handed goal department hasn’t been explosive this season, with Florida only having one tally on the kill to their name prior to tonight, which belonged to Anton Lundell. 

 

Lundell was able to make that number two tonight, as he scored the team’s second shorty of the season, off a nice link up play on the kill between him and Barkov.

 

Barkov didn’t convert on the initial breakaway attempt after stealing the puck in the neutral zone, however his linemate and fellow countrymen were right behind to put away the rebound.

 

Lundell has goals in back-to-back games. 

 

Grigori Denisenko is working hard to stay in the lineup

Tonight was the second game in a row that saw Grigori Denisenko in the lineup. He replaced a struggling Colin White yesterday in Buffalo and retained his spot on the third line tonight in Toronto.

 

The former first-round pick of the Panthers hasn’t been able to make his mark in the NHL yet, however you can see the clear improvements in his game and why the team wants him in the lineup now.

 

Denisenko played a hard fore-checking game and his game down low led to him picking up an assist on Josh Mahura’s goal.

 

Paul Maurice said he likes the type of puck control game that Denisenko brings to the table.

 

“He’s hard on pucks and he’s strong on pucks and I’m really trying to work on some puck control here, not throwing pucks away,” Maurice said. “He’ll hang onto a puck… he’s got the understanding on how hard you have to work to be a good player and he’s starting to do it, so we’re pretty excited.”

Five Takeaways from Heat’s Loss to Hawks

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This Heat-Hawks game felt like multiple games in one. From an early Hawks on-pour into a Heat second half run into more Atlanta tough shot making.

Some takeaways from this Heat loss on Monday afternoon…

#1: Well, the first half summary is…something.

65% from the field and 67% from three. Those were the Hawks shooting numbers after the first 24 minutes of basketball. The Heat’s zone was being picked apart into middle of the floor push shots and kick-outs for threes, but I wouldn’t say this was by any means a schematic lapse. The switching was being countered as well, simply based off tough shot making in isolation. Those numbers aren’t just mirrored by a rough defensive night, that’s just offensive insanity to be quite honest. Now as for the Heat’s offense, they actually went through a 5 minute stretch in the first quarter where they didn’t miss a single shot. 9 of 9 from the field. How did they not make up any ground? Well, they turned the ball over about 6 times in that span, just demolishing their offensive flow. Shot making and turnovers: pretty much the summary of this one early.

#2: Herro, Martin back. But rust making an appearance as well.

The Heat were rounding back into form a bit on the injury report, as Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin were inserted back into the starting lineup this afternoon. Martin’s four first half minutes told the story for him, since he had 3 fouls in that span. He was looking a bit rusty as you would expect, which leads us into the Herro conversation. He starts the game 0 for 5 from three, but my biggest issue wasn’t really the zero. He seemed to be forcing that three ball on a night you would expect rust. Getting off that three point line into that floater was clearly his blueprint, which he flowed into slightly late in the second quarter. Not based off missing time, but Bam Adebayo looked rusty too in that first half with that 2 of 8 stat-line. Yet he was able to turn it around shortly after.

#3: Jimmy Butler generating points to start into an interior jam into an eventual flow.

While I discuss the many issues to begin this game, Jimmy Butler had an early 12 point to give Miami’s offense a tiny jolt. Mostly off fast-break buckets, but he was finding his lane a bit. As we saw a shift into the half-court, the Hawks were overly collapsing on his rim attempts. Atlanta had 3 blocks in the first half, and I’m sure all were on tough Butler drives. He wasn’t getting the calls to get to the line, so he began trying to play through it. There isn’t much to overly analyze when it comes to Jimmy Butler’s offensive game, but one thing that stands out on a night like this is the choice of attempts at the rim. There will be moments of that extra pass to Robinson under the rim that kills a possession, just needing to go up immediately. Then a tough force on multiple defenders the following play. Fast forward to the third quarter, his shot selection opened up, mostly off his defensive uptick, which I’ll get into next…

#4: The third quarter run: Bam Adebayo led offense, Heat locked in defensively.

While I’ve diagrammed the entire first half struggles for the Heat, the third quarter was just the opposite. Jimmy Butler set a tone defensively to begin the half, as the Heat closely followed. They began hitting passing lanes, doubling and recovering, and getting out into transition. A Heat style. As for the offensive flow to make this a game after trailing by a ton, it was all Bam Adebayo. After a rough start, he began finding his rhythm on his usual mid-range face-up game. Turnaround jumpers, play-making over the top, and crashing the boards for put-backs. He is the engine to what this team can do on both ends. These type of runs always begin with him setting the tone as an offensive base, since once a defense begins to pinch, the Heat’s offense can flow from there.

#5: Let’s talk about a certain 4th quarter substitution pattern…

As I just described the Heat’s gritty run, they rolled into the fourth quarter only down 11. With the momentum shift, that lead seemed very gettable. Yet one thing was clear as Butler went to the bench to finish the third: they will need him back soon to steal this game away. Dejounte Murray kept hitting tough shots to keep the lead, as Butler stayed on the bench through every minute bench mark. 10 minutes to go, 9 minutes to go, 8 minutes to go: it drew a very viable question to ask why is Butler not in the game yet.  He finally entered after a timeout with 7 minutes to go, as Bam went to the bench as he had been on the floor the whole half essentially. But by that point, in my personal opinion, it felt as if their window had closed. They had a pocket of time to attack on the fall-off from Atlanta, but the survival mode of the non-Butler minutes into another survival mode stretch of the non-Bam minutes didn’t help their case. Miami still made a late push anyway, but this pattern felt like it made things so much harder for this Heat team following the run.

Five Takeaways from Heat’s Win Over Bucks

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The Miami Heat faced the Bucks yet again, with similar rosters on both sides as Tyler Herro and Giannis Antetokounmpo each missed another game.

It was the Gabe Vincent show yet again, as Victor Oladipo heated up late.

Some takeaways from this win…

#1: Gabe Vincent picks right back up where he left off.

After Gabe Vincent put up a career high 28 points against the Bucks on Thursday, he followed that up with a 21 point first half on Saturday afternoon. For starters, the way he was doing it was impressive within the PnR. Manipulating the point of attack defense around screens before keeping his defender on his back into a tough leaner or step back. But most of all, we saw his shooting from deep really return with 5 threes in the first 24 minutes of play. He’s obviously extremely confident in his pull-up, but the spot-up three returning is massively important. That number has been rough so far this season, and with all of the ball handlers on the roster, that making a return can shift the offensive structure. His play can be characterized as hot shooting nights, but it’s simply the growth of his offensive game.

#2: Looking a bit deeper into the Victor Oladipo usage.

I’ve been talking a lot about the Victor Oladipo minutes as of late, mostly since he’s been great on both sides of the floor. Yet if we were to point out one single downfall, it would definitely be his overall handle and being loose with the basketball at times. Some early turnovers made an appearance in this game, and it flowed into a consistent takeaway of mine. The extra ball-handler in the back-court with him feels like the most necessary adjustment to his minutes. When he’s forced to be the sole handler, that’s when the mistakes roll in. Yet next to somebody like Vincent or Tyler Herro, he can shift right back into his usual role and excel on the offensive end off secondary attacks. Fast forward to the second half, he takes off again after rough starts. While I can depict the minor stuff in his game, his energy and current level of play is hitting real highs at the moment. Bypassing the early uneven play into a 20 point night.

#3: Orlando Robinson doing the right things.

When watching this game tonight, there was a play where Spo was yelling at Haywood Highsmith on the weak-side defensively to fully help off the corner for the right slot drive. He second guessed, and a lay-in was the result. Spo called timeout to get in his ear a bit. Last game, Jamal Cain was pinching to hard at the top of the 2-3 zone, giving the Bucks an open three. Spo got in his ear at the next stoppage. We just haven’t seen many of those moments with Orlando Robinson. He’s played his role pretty well and simplified it. Fights on the offensive boards, and always seems to kick it back out to work on a short clock. He had zero points at half, but I saw more promising things than not.

#4: A statistical shift: assisted field goals down.

At the end of the third quarter, the Heat had 32 made field goals. Only 13 of those were assisted. That’s not really a Heat trend as of late, but that can be pointed toward a couple of things. Vincent’s hot shooting stretch pretty much led to a good amount of isolation cooking on pull-ups and floaters for a good portion of that first half. Jimmy Butler’s offense was also slow-paced post work on Jrue Holiday types, taking away the over-passing elements to generate a ton of assists. Also, Bam only having three made field goals at that point feeds that statistic, since most of his buckets are always assisted by the creators. I thought the offensive flow was good anyway, but just an interesting trend.

#5: Taking care of business.

The excitement of a Heat-Bucks prime-time match-up surrounded by the star players was pretty much eliminated from the equation, as Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out yet again. What could’ve been a game to kind of judge where the Heat are against real talent, it quickly shifted to a completely different theme: take care of business on nights like this. The Heat are in an uphill climb at the moment in the Eastern Conference standings following the early struggles, meaning they will take any break they can get. But knowing this team, games like this never feel like a break. They’re more likely to get up for an Antetokounmpo match-up than a short-handed group. But they did capitalize on this stretch with some gritty wins against the Thunder and two against this Bucks group. Now they head on the road for another test.

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ 4-2 loss to Knights

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VEGAS – Florida ended their four game road trip in Thursday night with a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.



The Panthers finished the trip with a 2-2 record.

 

They’ll return home for a Saturday night clash against the Vancouver Canucks before hitting the road again for a trio of Atlantic Division matchups.

 

Here’s tonight’s takeaways. 

 

Florida survived Vegas’ first period attack

Florida entered the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, but it wasn’t a dominating period for the Panthers by any means. 

 

Vegas didn’t take their foot off the gas in the opening period and they were pretty much all over the Panthers for the first half of the period.

Even with a one goal deficit, the Knights stuck to their game; hard fore-checking, clean breakouts and puck possession in the o-zone. 

 

Sergei Bobrovsky weathered the storm of high-quality Vegas chances, stopping all 14 shots he faced in the first.

 

Florida strikes on their first man-advantage 

The first power play of the game for either side came midway through the second period. 

 

With Florida on the man-advantage in a tied game that saw Vegas dominating to that point, a successful power play would be very helpful to change the flow of the game.

 

On the back end of the power play, Aleksander Barkov fed a streaking Sam Bennett a glorious look at goal, but the play was ended by Knights’ goalie Adin Hill. On the play, Hill lost his stick while another Knights’ player broke his, leaving the Knights exposed around the crease.

 

The Panthers used the Knights’ misfortune to their advantage. Matthew Tkachuk hit an uncovered Sam Reinhart in the bumper position and Reinhart buried the shot past Hill, giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead.  

 

The Anton Lundell wing experiment is working 

This is game number two in which Anton Lundell is playing on Aleksander Barkov’s wing. 

 

Paul Maurice decided to move the natural centerman to the wing in order to “Take some pressure off of him being down low.”

 

With Lundell not having the same defensive responsibilities he would need as a center, the ice is opening up for him and it was very clear that was the case tonight. 

 

Lundell appeared to have given the Panthers a 3-1 lead in the second period after he roofed a shot on a tight angle into the net. However, following a Vegas coaches’ challenge, the play was deemed offsides and the goal was taken off the board. 

 

Despite the disallowed goal, the play showed how much space Lundell has when he’s playing along the boards. 

 

A few minutes later, Lundell and Barkov played an aggressive gap near the Knights’ blueline. Barkov caused the turnover and stretched a breakaway pass to Lundell. If Lundell was playing down the middle, that play probably wouldn’t have occurred since he would’ve been playing lower in the zone. 

 

Panthers fail to convert on a third period 5-on-3

Florida had a glorious opportunity to put their stamp on this game in the third period.

 

The hot Panthers had 1:44 of 5-on-3 power play time in a 2-1 game. In such a tight game, just one goal would’ve given Florida some breathing room.

 

The Panthers had their top unit out there for nearly the entire man advantage but could not find the back of the net.

 

On the other side of the ice, Vegas picked up the momentum off the big kill.

 

It only took a few minutes after the kill to find the equalizer, off a Jack Eichel breakaway goal.

 

The Knights odd-man rushes proved troublesome for the Panthers 

Looking back to the effective breakouts from Vegas tonight, the area where they really had Florida on their toes was off the rush. 

 

The Knights had plenty of odd-man rush chances in the game, whether that was two-on-ones, three-on-twos or breakaways.

Jack Eichel’s tying goal in the third came via an offensive zone mishap by the Panthers blue line and a subsequent neutral zone lapse by the defense.

 

The same exact play happened later in the period with the same pairing, only this time the crossbar kept the Knights out of the goal.

Vegas would get the go ahead goal with 2:36 left in the third and seal the game away with an empty netter.

Five Takeaways from Heat’s Win Over Bucks

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The Heat faced the Bucks on Thursday night before the prime-time matchup on Saturday.

On the second night of a back to back for Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo and others sat.

With trap game written all over it, the Heat came out slow. But bounced back in the second half to get the win.

Here are my takeaways….

#1: The first half bench scoring going two separate ways.

To begin this game, the Bucks bench scored an immediate 20 points behind the play of Jevon Carter. The Heat’s bench points at that same time stamp: 0. Obviously the options were pretty slim, as the Heat’s bench consisted of Oladipo, Cain, and Robinson, but the offensive process on both sides was staggeringly different. Fluid pull-ups and good threes coming from the Bucks side, as it was a grind for guys like Oladipo to get into a rhythm with the way the Bucks were defending, leading to 1 of 6 shooting for him in that first half. I can’t say I’m very surprised on the offensive side for Miami, but the way they were being shredded defensively was more shocking. The Heat’s rotation tonight had more positive defensive players than not, which is why seeing Carter get so many good looking pull-ups was a rough watch.

#2: Gabe Vincent finding some offensive rhythm.

As I just mentioned Gabe Vincent, it should be mentioned that he was the guy that originally got Miami somewhat on track offensively. He got a spot-up triple to fall off an extra swing, then followed that up with a screen refusal and left handed drive into a floater off the glass. Now that he was feeling it, he ran an isolation to his left and took a step back jumper with his feet on the three-point line: and-1. For one, it was necessary tonight with the Heat’s offense sputtering. On the other hand, it’s good to see Vincent find some type of rhythm. His shooting has pretty much been all over the place this year, and a more stable offensive option is what this team is searching for on nights like this one. His shot profile is the same, yet all he needs is the percentages to level out.

#3: Bam Adebayo trying to beat the Brook Lopez allegations.

Seeing Bam Adebayo back in the Heat lineup was a good sign considering the uncertainties with his wrist injury. Yet while the Heat offense was the definition of “in the mud,” the blueprint quickly became get the ball to Bam in the middle and let him work. He came out early with two quick pull-up mid-range jumpers against Brook Lopez in that deep drop, which is the easy counter to what we saw in the post-season in 2021. That coverage won’t give him nearly as much trouble as it used to with this new go-to jumper unlocked. I did notice some minor tweaks from Milwaukee as early as the first quarter. After those initial jumpers, Lopez began playing the pick and rolls slightly higher. Fast forward to the third quarter, Bam had a sequence where he rose up for a dunk on the roll with Lopez in the deep drop, got the rebound on the other side, then flowed into a pull-up middy over Lopez yet again. With his upgraded skill-set, deep drop no longer scares him.

#4: The recent offensive blueprint says a lot about Tyler Herro.

From a win against the Thunder to this game tonight, the offense has not been pretty for the Miami Heat. Butler free throw hunting against OKC to Vincent and Adebayo saving in this game against the Bucks. Aside from those components, one thing is clear: Tyler Herro is probably more important to this offense than we even note. We’ve obviously discussed his scoring runs and play-making improvements, but the drop-off has been clear when they’re without him. Simply, it’s just cleaner when he can get them a good looking pull-up at the elbow and force some nail help. That alone opens up the half-court in a way we haven’t seen the last few nights.

#5: What might be the most promising Victor Oladipo sign yet…

As Victor Oladipo walks onto the court to begin the fourth quarter, it was definitely not his best showing as he was 2 for 8 from the field. The shots weren’t falling, the offense was a mess, and the Bucks rim protection was pushing him away from his own offensive base. Yet in the opening possession of the quarter, they forced a turnover, Oladipo scoops it to push pace, and it results in a fancy spin and finish in transition. The following possession, Oladipo runs a high PnR with Bam against that deep drop, and steps into a pull-up triple at the top of the key. Timeout. When I mention the most promising sign, I’m talking about overcoming rough performances. Doesn’t have it going, out of rhythm. He still finds way to battle through and find his groove in a different manner. I didn’t expect this level of impact this soon this season, but I must say the comfort in his own ability is glaring on a night like this.

Complete Guide to Ghostwriting: What Student-Athletes Need to Know?

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A student-athlete’s life is not easy. They have to balance their time between school, homework, and being a professional athlete. When student-athletes fail to make it into professional sports, there are always other ways to keep the dream alive. 

An excellent option is to become a guest writer for a blog or magazine. This involves writing about topics you are passionate about that will help you build your portfolio. Becoming a guest writer is not easy, but it is possible. 

 

Know how to write 

Guest writing is an opportunity to share your voice with the world. If you have something important to say, this can be a great way to get it out there. You will need to have some experience writing about the topics of your choice. 

To become a guest writer, you need to know the basics of writing and publishing content online. You should take some time to learn about writing skills so that you can improve your writing style and make more money as a guest writer. The best way to do this is by taking courses on writing and publishing content online at your college. 

Find several writing opportunities 

You need to know how to find opportunities where you can publish your content and make money from it. If you do not have any experience, then join ghostwriting services that can help you write some articles. The top name in this field is EduBirdie. Then you can publish them on smaller websites. Study how they structure the articles, and after you have gained some experience, you can start publishing them in higher-paid journals. 

If you are looking for online publishing opportunities, consider joining virtual communities affiliated with your interests, hobbies, or even sports. College sports teams around the country have students like yourself who want someone else’s perspective on what is going on with their favorite teams. 

Social media platforms 

Start establishing yourself as an expert by promoting your writing skills on social media platforms. This can lead to networking opportunities with other professionals and can be a great way to build a portfolio of published works. 

Student publications, academic ghostwriting service firms, and local newspapers are always looking for fresh perspectives. Student-athletes may find these outlets more receptive, given the experience with tight schedules and rigorous demands. With a dedication to the writing craft, there is valuable experience that can be gained through becoming a writer. 

 

 

Write about engaging topics 

The topics should be something that people would want to read about. Do not try selling them something. Instead, focus on topics related to sports, such as nutrition, training techniques, etc., so that readers can learn from them without feeling like they are being sold something. 

If you are a student-athlete who failed to make it in the professional sports arena, then you may want to write an article about how it all went wrong for you. There are people who want to write but do not have anything interesting going on in their lives. Your success story and how you made it in the writing world can inspire them. 

Avoid grammatical errors 

Grammatical errors can make your writing sound sloppy, unprofessional, and uneducated. They can also distract from the message you are trying to convey. Writers are often judged by the quality of their work, so make sure that your editor takes your article seriously. 

It is okay if it is not as good or polished as what professional writers produce. It is all part of the learning process. But do not let any typos or grammatical errors slip through, or your editor might not take your work seriously and reject it outright. 

Write regularly 

Becoming one of the expert paper writers from Canada may be an excellent fallback plan for student-athletes who are unable to make it into professional sports. But to do this successfully requires you to be disciplined. Focus on writing consistently and at regular intervals. Without dedication, it can be daunting due to the seemingly infinite competition. 

With the right amount of effort as well as the expert assistance from an online writing service, one can stand out by delivering quality content over long periods. After all, consistent practice leads to mastery and shining moments that reflect positively on the individual. With hard work, dedication, and regular effort, you can become successful in this field. 

Conclusion 

Student-athletes are often starting their careers with the dream of becoming professional athletes. Unfortunately, not everyone can make it that far in their sporting career. If you are a student-athlete who is looking to get into ghostwriting, these are a few things that you need to know about writing. 

Author’s Bio

Sylvester Greer has gained a lot of experience through his mentors in the writing field and some of the well-known writing courses that he has undertaken. This gives him an edge as an essay writer, and students trust him to provide the best assistance and top-class essay samples when needed. He is keen to introduce innovative methods in writing to make the process easier for everyone.

Five Takeaways from Heat’s Win Over Thunder

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The Heat walked into this game against OKC without 4 starters in Lowry, Herro, Adebayo, and Martin.

The margin for error was slim, but Jimmy Butler was willing them offensively to a reasonable point. Then closes it off with the game winning bucket.

Some takeaways…

#1: The Dewayne Dedmon situation…

I’ve sat here in many post-game pieces discussing “Dewayne Dedmon situations. But well, I’d say this one was a bit different. Let me start at the necessary point: the Heat were getting absolutely cooked in the 2-3 zone after he entered. The Thunder’s offense was as simple as sending a free-lancer baseline every play, as Dedmon and the guy on the box turned to each other in confusion. Sitting a few rows up watching, I wasn’t as confused, the problem was evident. Shortly after, Erik Spoelstra and Dedmon got into a heated discussion on the Heat bench before he stormed off toward the locker room. On his way, a flying massage gun hit the court. Dedmon punched it off the table in anger, leading to an ejection. On-court problems bleeding into…

#2: Jimmy Butler’s game-plan was evident pregame, and he executed immediately.

As I put my PrizePicks slate on Twitter before the game, there was one pick I mentioned made too much sense: Jimmy Butler’s free throws. Set at 6.5, he ended up with 14 in the first half alone. This wasn’t just a coincidence, it made too much sense heading into this setting without much of the roster. Butler was going to just attack the weak-spots of this Thunder defense, and he did that time and time again. Getting defenders up in the air and throwing himself into them at the rim. And let’s be honest, the ending to that last Heat game with the non-call made this even more likely that he would get a decently friendly whistle. He showed some early activity defensively, and got to the line a bunch: the two elements of a locked in Butler. When the threes start flying, you know it’s a laid back version. But this really kick-started the offense.

#3: Max Strus’ early rim attempts lead him right back to his game.

As we talk game-plans early in this game, Max Strus was the other guy with a clear focus tonight. Yes, he’s the shooter on this team, but the lack of creators meant he would have to shift the defense just enough to allow him decent looks. That shift came in the form of rim attempts to begin the game. Not the usual forced pick and rolls either. They were more timed pump-fakes and attacks to get into his favorite crossing scoop lay-up. Once that connected and got to the line, he was perfectly setting himself up. Now he began letting Butler and Oladipo do all the work, flooding in the catch and shoot stuff shortly after. Many players were given individual benchmarks to hit tonight, and that was Strus’.

#4: The offense wasn’t pretty.

As much as I talk about some of the Heat’s individual performances tonight, it should be noted the offensive structure wasn’t pretty. Why would it be? Missing three of your primary initiators is never a good blueprint, meaning more guys having to do more things. (Including more screening for wing players, leading to the offensive foul surge) But as for Victor Oladipo, his offensive layout almost always felt like a bail-out bucket. He came up big at times in the first half one all else failed, leading into tough buckets at all three levels. Butler having 20 free throws through 3 quarters is also a good representation of the offense not being “pretty.” As I said before, the moving screens was a momentum killer for a large stretch of that third quarter, and we saw the whistle really slip sides for giant chunks of time. After Dedmon’s ejection, Orlando Robinson was the sole big available and he was having foul trouble. Cain/Highsmith at the five, yeah, there were offensive limitations.

#5: The fourth…

Eight minutes to go, down 5, the offense is slipping, and Erik Spoelstra struts down the bench to tell Butler to walk to the scorers table to enter. Simultaneously, Oladipo throws an awful pass for a turnover, then absolutely hunts it down for the cleanest steal. Clear path foul. Two free throws and a giant and-1 triple from Gabe Vincent later, the Heat were up 1. The Heat answered shortly after with an inbound to Butler for the dunk, as the run was cemented by an Oladipo attack and kick-out to Jamal Cain in the corner for three. Heat up 4. The Thunder answered with a run of their own due to the Heat becoming stagnant offensively for a short stretch. Back at a tie game. A Shai Gilgeous Alexander step back triple put Miami right back on the ropes, as the search for offense wasn’t looking too clean. As the Heat trailed by 5, they finally got a stop with 50 seconds left, playing into the open floor. Oladipo steps comfortably into a transition triple and nails it. 2 point game. The Thunder got a quick whistle on a turnaround that Spoelstra immediately challenged, which ended up being unsuccessful. He goes 0 for 2, the ball is loose, Oladipo swipes it and goes. Butler gets it in the low post, and-1. Ball game.

5 Fun Facts About the Breeders’ Cup

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The Breeders’ Cup is without a doubt one of the most popular and famous events in all of horse racing. Sure, the Triple Crown is pretty big, but it doesn’t even touch on the infamy of the Breeders’ Cup. 

 

There have been so many horses and jockeys who have performed amazingly at this event, and we anticipate even more in the future as we start to consider 2023 breeders’ cup betting. 

 

But, there is much to the history of the Breeders’ Cup, and much to know. So, before hooves hit the track, let’s indulge you. Saddle up and ride through these fun facts!

 

Our Fun Facts

 

Here are 5 fun facts about this incredible race that will have you galloping to place your next bet.

 

#1. It’s Always Been Held In The U.S., Except Once

 

The Breeders’ Cup has always been a U.S. event, although there was one year this is untrue for. It has only ever been held outside of the United States on one occasion since its inception. 

 

Back in 1996, the Breeders’ Cup was run in Canada, at the Woodbine Racetrack in Ontario. 

 

#2. The U.S. Has The Most Winners.

 

While horses come from all corners of the globe to compete in this race, the U.S. has seen the most winners. The U.S. is the homeland of a majority of Breeders’ Cup champions, having nearly 300 winners overall. 

 

Just behind the U.S. is Ireland, Great Britain, and then France, Argentina, Germany, Canada, and Japan. 

 

When we consider the places best known for horse racing, these countries are no surprise, but we should be proud of having the most winners! 

 

#3. Only One Horse Won The Classic 2 Times

 

Of the entire Breeders’ Cup the most elite race is the final, which is the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It is a grade 1 race that is for only thoroughbreds of 3 years plus. The horses need to run a distance of one and a quarter miles on a dirt track. 

 

There is only one horse that has won the Classic two times, named Tiznow. He won in 2000 and 2001. Tiznow was a legend, winning 8/15 of his starts and taking home nearly $6.5 million in winnings. 

 

Of course there have been other big wins for this horse, such as the Affirmed Handicap. But, this was probably his greatest.

 

#4. Santa Anita Has Held It The Most

 

The Breeders’ Cup is not a stationary event, it moves and is held in different locations. Of all the popular locations, it has been held in Santa Anita park the most. 

 

Santa Anita park is in Arcadia, in the state of California, and has held the Breeders’ Cup 10 times, which is more than any other track has. 

 

Churchill Downs has the second most with 9 Breeders’ Cup races. 

 

Belmont Park has also held this race, although it is better known for the Triple Crown. 

 

#5. The Biggest Winning Jockey

 

All jockeys are great but Mike Smith kind of takes the cake. He is one of the most famous jockeys in the world at this time. He has over 5,600 wins overall and has won 26 Breeders’ Cup Classic races. 

 

This is more than any other jockey, and also more than any horse. 

 

He has also won the Triple Crown in 2018 on Justify, and make himself known as the oldest jockey to ever win this race, he was 52 when he completed this feat. He is followed closely behind in this by Velazquez, Bailey, and Dettori.