Something that has really hurt the Miami Heat offense all season is the big three’s tendency to stand around while they watch one player with the basketball.  Against the Chicago Bulls and their terrific isolation defense where they like to load up against the ball handler, this standing around hurts the offense more than usual.  In game two, the Heat seemed to make an effort to cut off of the basketball and make themselves available for the pass.  This player movement really helped Miami get some clean looks against Chicago’s defense:

This first example is a set play, but this set play shows how effective LeBron James can be when he is moving off of the basketball.  Here, James sets the screen for Bibby and then rolls as the ball gets swung to Dwyane Wade.  Once Wade makes the catch, he now has an option (James cutting) aside from isolation.  James comes free on the block and Wade hits him with the pass.

On this play, the Heat get the ball to Chris Bosh on the block.  Now, Dwyane Wade has a tendency to stand on the wing and wait for a kick out pass, but here, Wade cuts off of Bosh.  This attracts a double team from Wade’s man and leaves Wade open under the rim.  Bosh hits Wade and Wade is able to finish.  What you have hear is Wade cutting instead of standing around, watching Bosh try to make a move on Joakim Noah.

Here, Wade is bringing the basketball up in transition as James is trailing him on the right side.  Wade tries to penetrate on Korver, but he is unable to get to the lane, and he is forced to take a step back.  As this is happening, James cuts to the rim while his defender (Luol Deng) is occupied watching the basketball.  Wade pulls up for the jumper, but James’ cut allows Wade to bail on the shot and make a pass to James in the paint, where he is able to draw the foul.  If James stands on the wing watching Wade instead of cutting, Wade takes that step back jumper, a really tough shot.

This next play is a good example of a cut beating the Bulls’ rotation, making it easier for the offense.  You have James setting, then slipping, a screen for Mike Bibby and he gets the ball heading towards the rim.  This forces Joakim Noah to leave Bosh and step up.  Instead of standing in the short corner, waiting for the basketball, Bosh cuts and gets the ball, allowing him to finish at the rim.  If you watch the play closely, you notice that Boozer is responsible for rotating over to Bosh, and he starts towards the short corner to complete that rotation.  But because Bosh cuts to the rim, he essentially beats Boozer’s rotation and gets a look at the rim instead of a shot that is contested by a Boozer close out.

Cutting isn’t the magic elixer for Miami, it’s not going to win them the game on their own (and they are going to still have possessions where everyone stands around and watches the basketball), but it does make things easier for the offense.  The Heat have three players on the court at the same time that demand attention from the defense, if they just stand around and watch one with the basketball, it makes it easy for the defense to pay attention to the ball handler.  A simple cut provides the ball handler with an added option and gives the defense another thing to worry about.

This was definitely something that they focused on in game two.  After running cuts just 7% of the time during the regular season, and just 6 in game one (6.6%), the Heat had 17 plays (out of 93, 18.3%) labeled as “cuts” by Synergy Sports technology, scoring 17 points on those cuts, with most of them being easy baskets.

If the Heat can get 17 “easy” points on this Bulls’ defense, it makes their job a lot easier and allows their defense to win the game for them (which happened in game two) because you are forcing the Bulls to score more points as well now.  It will be interesting to see if Miami continues to have player movement.  This could be something that swings the series in their favor.