Miami’s Unusually Poor Rotations Cost Them The Game | NBA Playbook

Miami’s Unusually Poor Rotations Cost Them The Game

We have talked about Miami’s solid defensive rotations here in the past, and the fact of the matter is they are very good at rotating defensively.  However, last night the Heat’s poor rotations is what cost them the game:

With the game tied at 68 early in the 4th quarter, the Heat needed to get a stop.  The Celtics made a pretty big run at the tail end of the third/start of the fourth and they had all of the momentum.  If the Celtics were to go ahead, the crowd would get really into it, and it could effectively end the game.

As Rondo walks it up, the play starts to get a little funny.  Both Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis go to set a screen on the same side.  My guess is that only one of them should have been setting the screen, or one should have been on one side while the other would be on the other side.  Either way, because of the miscommunication, Rondo decides to go away from the screens.  Even though Mario Chalmers seems to be in good position, Udonis Haslem still feels the need to hedge out.

Haslem’s hedge comes a little late, and he actually runs into Chalmers, knocking him to the floor.  This frees up the lane for Rondo, and forces the Heat to rotate.  Dorell Wright needs to stay with Ray Allen because you don’t want to give up a wide open three.  Jermaine O’Neal is the one who needs to get to the block to stop Rondo, and that is what happens.

Once O’Neal cuts off Rondo, the next rotations responsibility falls on Dwyane Wade.  Wade needs to get all the way into the paint and cut off the passing lane to Davis.

However, Wade hesitates just a bit, and he can’t get in the way of the pass to Davis.

Davis gets himself to the basket, and makes the lay-in while absorbing the contact.  Here is the play in real time.  I think Chalmers would have been able to stay in front of Rondo had Haslem not run into him.  Even with that, the Heat had a chance at stopping the play, but the poor rotation cost them the basket.

18
Apr 2010
POSTED BY
POSTED IN 2010 Playoffs 4th Quarters Boston Celtics Miami Heat
DISCUSSION 3 Comments
TAGS

  • http://www.noiinblog.com Patrick

    The Celtics ran a number of these 2 man screens toward the end of the season, almost always on the same side. I always thought it looked funny and like a mistake, especially considering at least one of the 2 screeners was always a 2nd stringer, usually Davis or Sheed. But considering how often I saw they ran it (I remember seeing it twice in one game, in a span of a few minutes), might they be running it on purpose?

  • http://bynumite.blogspot.com Jakob Eich

    I think it was mainly Haslem’s fault for hedging out too late AND knocking down Mario Chalmers. From then on the Heat basically have to play 3 on 5 and an experienced team like Boston is going to take advantage of it. Wright stayed with Allen and O’neal rotated over, but I don’t see D-Wade’s mistake there. He’s pretty much stuck in the middle. If he rotates more quickly it doesn’t help either since Rondo is such a good passer he would have thrown the ball to the guy in the corner (don’t know who he is, Allen) which would have resulted in a dunk or a lay-up. That was one tough lay-up Big Baby made there, so I’d still say it was good defense if you consider the situation Miami was put in after Haslem’s brain-fart.

  • http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/05/12/yet-another-quick-hitter-for-ray-allen/ NBA Playbook – A Look At The Playcalling In The NBA Through Videos, Pictures, & Words » Yet Another Quick Hitter For Ray Allen

    [...] really really good shooter.  Yet somehow, the Celtics are able to get him a number of open looks game in and game out.  Late in the first half the Celtics found themselves in another situation where they wanted to [...]