Miami Heat – The Numbers*

• Pace: 93.1 (20th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 109.3 (2nd)
• True Shooting Percentage: 57.2% (2nd)
• Assist Rate: 19.27 (22nd)
• Turnover Rate: 13.32 (14th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.80 (22nd)
• Free Throw Rate: 36.5 (2nd)
• Three Point Rate: 23.4 (10th)

Miami Heat – Strengths

Pick And Roll – Ball Handler

In terms of points per possession, the Miami Heat are the top team in the NBA when it comes to ball handlers coming off of ball screens.  It isn’t hard to figure out who the Heat have been setting ball screens for most and why they are so successful.  LeBron James and Dwyane Wade account for 76.5% of all the Heat’s ball screens.  Both players are scoring over 1 point per possession (1.02 to be exact) and both players are shooting around 48% when coming off of ball screens.

Wade is tough to defend when he uses a screen because he is a player who likes to go away from the screen in addition to actually using it.  Wade goes away from the screen 36.8% of the time, which is 2nd most in the NBA:

Here, LeBron James comes and sets a screen for Dwyane Wade.  Wade starts off as if he is going to use the screen, crosses over, and attacks the rim.  That one step towards the screen is enough to get his defender going towards the screen, setting him up for the cross over and drive.

In addition to going away from screens, Wade is also effective using the actual ball screen.  The reason why it is so effective is because is because a ball screen creates just enough space to allow Wade to take advantage:

Here, Wade gets the screen and uses it, creating space as his defender gets caught in the screen.  Now having a big defending him, Wade is able to attack the rim and get the easy lay-in (take note that this is against one of the best pick and roll defenses in the league).

While Wade likes to use screens to slash to the rim, LeBron James uses screens to set up his jump shot.  When coming off of a screen, James takes a jumper 67.2% of the time.  While this doesn’t seem too effective, James actually does have success with these jumpers, shooting 45.6% when coming off of ball screens.  The reason why James is able to have success is because a lot of these jumpers are wide open as defenses play off of him, worried about his penetration:

In both of these plays, LeBron James comes off of the screen and the defense plays off of him, concerned about his penetration.  James uses this space to get off a wide open jumper that he knocks down.

Transition Offense

In addition to their success coming off of ball screens, the Miami Heat are the best team in terms of points per possession when getting out in transition.  The Heat are scoring 1.22 points per possession on 61.1% shooting.  There is no real analysis to provide here as the Heat like to run off of misses and turnovers, so just watch how effective they are:

I can see why this is pretty effective.

Miami Heat – Weaknesses

Hitting The Roll Man

We have seen how effective LeBron James and Dwyane Wade can be coming off of ball screens, but when they try to get the ball to the roll man, they tend to be just average.  This is because they don’t have many options in terms of screeners/roll man.  After Chris Bosh (who has been playing solid as a roll man), who is the most used roll man (53.2% of the time), they don’t have a viable option.  The next most used is Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is the roll man 20.4% of the time, but he isn’t effective at all.  He is a capable pick and pop man, but when he rolls to the rim he only posts a PPP of 0.400, which is pretty terrible.  Ilgauskas just doesn’t have the foot speed to be an effective roll man at this point in his career:

Here, he sets the screen and attempts to roll to the rim. Instead of diving hard and trying to get to the rim, he half shuffles, half walks towards the rim, getting the ball a little to far away from the rim to do anything with. He is forced to put up a weird hook shot that he misses.

Philadelphia 76ers – The Numbers*

• Pace: 94.0 (17th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 104.4 (17th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 53.8% (17th)
• Assist Rate: 21.57 (6tht)
• Turnover Rate: 12.44 (4th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.61 (23rd)
• Free Throw Rate: 27.6 (27th)
• Three Point Rate: 18.4 (25th)

Philadelphia 76ers – Strengths

Post Up

In terms of points per possession, the Philadelphia are the 7th post-up team in the league.  The reason they are so successful on the block is because they have a number of guys who can back down their man and score with relative ease.  In fact, the Sixers have three guys who are in the top 30% of the league in PPP on post up plays (Elton Brand, Thaddeus Young, and Andre Iguodala).

When Elton Brand posts up, he likes to get the ball on the left block (64.5% of the time) and then shoot a jumper.  73% of Brand’s post up opportunities on the left block end up with him taking a jump shot.  This means that Brand isn’t looking to back his man down all the way to the rim, he just wants to create enough space to turn around and get a jump shot off:

Here, Brand gets the basketball and starts to back his man down.  Before taking his turn around jump shot, Brand gets his body into his man, creating separation and giving him space to get the jumper, that he knocks down, off.

When Thaddeus Young gets the basketball on the block, he likes to use the hook shot from each side of the block:

Young’s hook shot is a quick move that is designed to allow him to take advantage of his length.  He knows that there isn’t going to be many defenders at the 4 or the 3 that can block his shot, and that is when the hook shot becomes effective.  He is also very good at it, always following through, and always finishing the hook shot properly.

When Andre Iguodala gets the basketball on the block, it is usually because he has a smaller defender on him.  He likes to make the catch on the left block, and when he does, he has a tendency to turn baseline (and that is where he has the most success).

The tendency to turn baseline is due to mismatches trying to play over the top on him in an effort to deny him the basketball.  With the defense playing over the top, he is naturally forced to turn baseline and attack the rim.  If the pass gets through, it will lead to a basket.

Philadelphia 76ers – Weaknesses

Off Screen

The problem with the Sixers and their lack of success coming off of screens away from the basketball is that they simply do not have enough shooters to have sustained success.  The Sixers are 23rd in terms of PPP, while shooting 39.7%.  Behind Jodie Meeks, who is a phenomenal shooter coming off screens (and in general), there isn’t a solid option.  Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday are the third and fourth most used options for the Sixers coming off of screens, shooting a combined 33.9%.  The Sixers need to find a different way to use these possessions for Iguodala and Holiday, putting them in a better position to score.

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*All numbers come from the fantastic website Hoopdata.com