Conference Finals Preview: How Will The Heat Defend The Bulls’ Pick And Roll?
During the playoffs, the Chicago Bulls’ offense has turned into a Derrick Rose show with the pick and roll being run more and more. During these playoffs, the Bulls have run their pick and roll 22.75% of all possessions, up from 19.4% during the regular season. This means that if the Heat want to slow down Derrick Rose, they are going to have to stop the Bulls’ pick and roll game.
We have talked about the Heat’s pick and roll plenty of times in the past, but what they like to do is trap the ball handler hard when he comes off of screens, forcing the ball handler to give up the basketball (and once that happens, the big trapping returns to his man). They did this last round against the Celtics whenever Paul Pierce came off of a ball screen:
Here, Paul Pierce gets the basketball on the wing and Kevin Garnett comes over to set the screen. Pierce uses the screen with his man, LeBron James, working over the top of it. As this happens, Chris Bosh, the man defending the screener, also shoots up to meet Pierce, throwing the trap at him.
With the trap set, Kevin Garnett rolls into open space trying to make himself available. Chris Bosh doesn’t leave Pierce to go to Garnett, instead choosing to stay with the trap (which is the Heat’s strategy).
With the pass in the air, Joel Anthony starts to rotate over to Garnett as Chris Bosh dives into the middle, rotating back towards Anthony’s man.
Anthony gets his hands on the basketball, knocking it away and Chris Bosh is able to secure it and complete the defensive possession. Here is the play in real time:
The key to this play are the Heat’s bigs (Chris Bosh & Joel Anthony). With Bosh hanging out up top, maintaining his trap as his man rolls away from him, you know he trusts Anthony to rotate over and get the steal, which is exactly what happens here.
Another advantage of trapping the basketball is that it can force the man coming off of a screen to pick up the basketball much earlier than he wants to. That is exactly what happens here. Pierce is forced to pick up the dribble, no teammate is near him because nobody was expecting it, and he is forced to throw a long pass that ends up missing the mark for the turnover.
What makes this match-up interesting is that the Bulls have seen this trapping style of defense mixed in against them throughout the playoffs, and then have done pretty well against it due to Rose’s ability to handle double teams. Instead of trying to split them or picking up his dribble, Rose dribbles backwards, taking the double team and hitting the open man, giving his team a four on three advantage:
Here, Rose comes off of the screen with Paul George and Josh McRoberts shooting up to trap him as soon as he uses the screen.
Instead of panicking and picking up his dribble or trying to split the defense, Rose dribbles straight backwards, forcing the defense to step up even further with their trap.
With the defenders who are trapping Rose stepping all the way up, it provides plenty of space for Joakim Noah to work. He gets right to the free throw line and makes himself available for Rose.
Once the pass is made, the Bulls have a four on three opportunity, and in this case, Noah is able to penetrate and draw the foul. Here is the play in real time:
The key thing to notice here is because the defense is so high up on the trap that once Rose makes the pass, George and McRoberts have absolutely no chance to get back in the play and become a factor.
With three defensive players trying to defend four offensive players, it allows the Bulls’ big men to hit the open man and get a look right at the rim.
However, when Rose doesn’t try to take the double team, he (and the rest of the team) is prone to turnovers:
On this particular play, Rose doesn’t try to dribble back and instead tries to get around the double. He eventually doesn’t and ends up having to throw a pass in the air (something that he seems to do every single double team). However, because he wasted so many dribbles trying to get around the screen, this allows the defense to rotate to the open man and get in position to steal the pass.
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Examining all of this leads me to believe there are two deciding factors when determining which team will have success on the Bulls’ pick and roll (will the Bulls score? Will the Heat stop them?). Defensive rotations and Carlos Boozer’s pick and pop play:
Defensive Rotations
With the Heat’s pick and roll defense, rotations are key because if they let that initial pass get to its destination, then they are in trouble. Looking at the Heat’s regular season series against the Bulls, you can see how important rotations are for Miami:
In this case, the Bulls use a screen and roll and the Heat are able to get their trap set on the wing. Bosh takes away Carlos Boozer at the top of the key, which forces Rose to try and make the pass to Noah on the block. However, James rotates over in a timely fashion and is able to steal the pass and create the turnover.
On this play, the Heat trap Rose, but nobody steps up to take the pass away from the screener, Taj Gibson. Once Rose makes the pass to Gibson, the Heat are in a vulnerable position and Luol Deng is able to flash to the rim, get the pass, and finish strong.
Boozer’s Pick And Pop Play
The best way to beat this trapping style pick and roll defense, is to execute the pick and pop, scoring off of it. This means Carlos Boozer and his play out of the pick and pop will be front and center all series. Boozer has been a below average pick and pop player throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. During the regular season, Boozer shot just 38% on pick and pop plays. In the playoffs, Boozer is shooting 41.7% scoring just 0.769 PPP (bottom 33% of all players in pick and pop situations this postseason). However, if you break it down a little further, you can see why Boozer struggles with the pick and pop.
When he takes a jumper without dribbling, Boozer is actually very successful, shooting 55.6% and posting a PPP of 1.11. However, when Boozer tries to attack the rim in pick and pop situations, that is where he runs into trouble, in fact, he hasn’t hit a shot after taking a dribble in pick and pop situations.
The explanation for this is pretty obvious in my opinion. With the defenses worried about Rose coming off of screens, Boozer is going to have plenty of space in pick and pop situations. When he trusts his jumper, he has success. However, he tends to shy away from wanting to shoot that jumper and he dribble drives (during the regular season in pick and pop situations, Boozer only took a no dribble jumper 54% of the time (0.889 PPP on 44.4% shooting), and the rest of the time he put the ball on the floor (0.695 PPP on 30.4% shooting). Once he attacks the lane, that is where he has trouble finishing due to his lack of size and his inability to finish over bigger defenders.
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In my opinion, the Bulls have been running the pick and roll so much this postseason that whether or not they have success could be the big factor that turns the series in one director or another. Me personally, I am not comfortable enough with Boozer’s decision making in pick and pop situations and I think that will really hurt them in this series. Without a successful pick and pop threat, the Heat will be able to trap Rose hard when he comes off screens, limiting the effectiveness of the Bulls’ pick and roll.
Heat in 7.
