Miami Heat – The Numbers*

• Defensive Efficiency: 100.9 (5th)
• Opp. TS%: 51.8% (4th)
• Opp. Assist Rate: 19.33 (10th)
• Opp. Turnover Rate: 12.50 (28th)
• Defensive Rebound Rate: 75.50 (5th)
• Block Rate: 5.7 (8th)
• Opp. Free Throw Rate: 30.0 (13th)
• Opp. Three Point Rate: 24.3 (5th)

Miami Heat – Strengths

Pick And Roll Defense

Much like the Celtics and the Bulls, the Miami Heat are very good when it comes to stopping the pick and roll.  In terms of stopping the ball handler, the Heat allow a PPP of 0.764 (4th lowest in the NBA) on 38% shooting.  It doesn’t get much easier for the offense when they try to hit the roll man, with the offense posting a PPP of 0.967 (7th lowest in the NBA).  While the Celtics and Bulls have the exact same strategy, the Heat do things slightly different.  They still rely heavily on help defense, but Heat like to put heavy pressure on the ball handler, having their bigs show hard and stick with the ball handler until he gives up the basketball:

As Nash comes off of a Robin Lopez screen, Big Z shows really hard.  Lopez is going to roll to the basket, and because Big Z is showing on the screen, the help man rotates over to the paint to prevent Lopez from getting an easy look.

Because Nash is doubled here, he can’t really get a ton of zip behind the pass, so the pass to Hill is sort of a lob one.

This allows the defender to recover and keep Hill from getting a clean catch and shoot look.  As this happens, Big Z rotates back to his man to prevent Lopez from getting an open look in the post.

Hill is forced to take a tough contested jumper that he misses, and then the Heat grab the rebound.  Here is the play in real time:

This is a terrific strategy to use against a player like Steve Nash.  It keeps him from getting to the lane, and because the man usually showing is a big, it means that Nash isn’t going to be able to get a good view of the court and who is open.  More often than not, Nash is going to have to make that pass away from the basket rather than hitting the roll man, and that is a win for the defense.

I think what really makes this strategy unique is the extended show. It basically is a double team or trap on Steve Nash. Most teams don’t want to double Nash because it allows him to find the open man, so they have their bigs quickly show or hedge and then try to get back to their men. This is where Nash usually picks apart the defense. The Heat decided keep their bigs on Nash until he gave up the basketball, thinking they could either deflect the ball or force a turnover. Once the pass gets made, the bigs just return to their men.

Here, Joel Anthony’s man sets a screen for Nash, so he shows hard, and as this happens, Mike Miller comes over the screen and gets back on Nash. Normally, Anthony would try to return back to his man, but he stays with Nash and he and Miller double team him. Anthony’s length forces Nash into a lob pass (rather than a zip one) to the corner, allowing Jones enough time to challenge the shooter.

Here again, you see the trap from Anthony. This time, Anthony is able to get his hands on the basketball and force the turnover from Nash.

As you can see the defense is similar in that it relies on help, sharp rotations, and trust, it is just starts differently than the Celtics/Bulls pick and roll defense.  Both styles are very effective.

Closing Out On Shooters

On 1,858 shot attempts labeled as spot-up jumpers by Synergy Sport Technology, the Miami Heat have only allowed 687 makes, which is just 37%.  In terms of Points Per Possession, the Heat allow the third lowest in this category.  Again, it all comes down to hard work and sharp rotations (other teams in the top 5 of defending Spot-Up jumpers?  Bulls and Celtics, two teams that are great rotating teams).  This shouldn’t be surprising because as we mentioned in the Knicks-Celtics defensive preview a lot of these spot-up opportunities come from situations that require help defense.  If your team isn’t strong as a whole, you are going to give up a lot of easy makes.  Fortunately for the Heat, they are very good at rotating:

Here, you have everyone on the defense moving on a string.  This play starts with the Heat doubling DeMar DeRozan in an effort to get the basketball out of his hands.  It works, but now the defense is forced to rotate.  The defense rotates back to the opposite side of the court where a pick and roll takes place.  The defense sinks in on this and force a pass to the outside.  The defense closes out on that kick out pass and forces the miss.

This might be the best example of the Heat and their solid help defense.  You have Al Horford setting a ball screen, forcing Zydrunas Ilgauskas to show on the hedge.  When this happens, you see LeBron James dive from the corner to the middle of the paint to help out on Horford.  Once Ilgauskas gets back, James returns to his man where he eventually closes out on them.

Miami Heat – Weaknesses

Transition Defense

While the Heat are ok in terms of transition defense, it is the worst aspect of their defense (which should tell you how good their defense is). The Heat are 12th in terms of PPP allowed, and a large part of this is due to how much they send their opponent to the line in transition situations.  The Heat’s FT% in transition sets is 10th most in the NBA, as they send their opponent to the line 15.8% of the Heat’s total opponent transition possessions.

The fouls result in “free” points for the offense and allows them to score without having to fight through the Heat’s defense.

Philadelphia 76ers – The Numbers*

• Defensive Efficiency: 102.3 (8th)
• Opp. TS%: 53.1% (10th)
• Opp. Assist Rate: 20.08 (16th)
• Opp. Turnover Rate: 13.41 (13th)
• Defensive Rebound Rate: 74.77 (11th)
• Block Rate: 4.8 (24th)
• Opp. Free Throw Rate: 30.0 (14th)
• Opp. Three Point Rate: 20.5 (25th)

Philadelphia 76ers – Strengths

Defending Cuts

The Philadelphia 76ers have a pretty solid defense, but what they are best at is defending off ball cuts to the front of the rim.  According to Synergy Sports Technology, the Sixers hold opponents to the second lowest PPP when cutting to the rim.  The biggest reason for this low PPP?  The Sixers force a ton of turnovers in these situations, 7.7% to be exact (2nd best in the NBA).  The reason why the Sixers are able to force a fair amount of turnovers is because they are very good at reacting to the cut and pass:

Here, Landry Fields cuts to the rim and looks for the basketball.  Spencer Hawes sees the cut happening and reacts by helping.  Fields bobbles the pass and with Hawes in good help position, he is able to take the basketball away.

On this play, Spencer Hawes is once again the here.  This time he helps on his teammates’ gamble, forcing the extra pass.  This extra pass is key because it eventually leads to an offensive foul and a turnover.

Philadelphia 76ers – Weaknesses

Defending Ball Screens

When it comes to stopping ball handlers coming off of ball screens, the Philadelphia 76ers are a poor team.  The 76ers are 24th in the league in terms of Points Per Possession, and to me the main culprit is Lou Williams.  Williams has a tendency to get stuck on screens, not really fighting through them, and giving opponents open looks coming off of screens.  Williams gets caught on screens 34% of the time, and when it happens, the offense is shooting 52.6%:

On both of these plays, instead of fighting over the screen when it gets set, he gets “stuck” and stays with the screener.  In both instances, Williams getting caught in screens allows the offense to create.  In the first clip, Williams’ man is able to knock down the three point shot.  In the bottom clip, Williams’ man has the space to attack the rim and get the And-1.

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*All numbers come from the fantastic website Hoopdata.com