How LeBron James’ Dagger Dunk Was Set Up
LeBron James’ dunk with 2:47 left in the game pretty much sealed the game as it took the Heat’s lead from 7 points and stretched it out to 10 points (after the foul shot). While it looked like just your average isolation set late in the game, showing yet another example of a coach choosing the easy way out over a set play, looking at Miami’s previous two possessions shows you how the Heat and their coaching staff were able to set up Dallas’ defense for the dunk:
The two times down the court, the Miami Heat ran the same action twice in a row, with LeBron James bringing up the basketball, handing it off (or at least trying to) to Dwyane Wade and then letting Wade work off of a pick and roll. The Heat were actually looking to run the same action, but with the defense anticipating it, James was able to attack the rim:
As LeBron James crosses half court, he starts to take the basketball to Dwyane Wade, who is cutting towards James looking for the dribble handoff. Which is exactly what they ran two possessions in a row now.
However, once James gets to the point where he is supposed to hand off the basketball, he notices something. What he notices is Jason Terry playing on the wrong side of his man, Mario Chalmers, in a position where he can’t help on any dribble penetration. Why is Terry playing defense like this? In the two sets before this one, Chalmers set a rub screen for Chris Bosh who then set a screen for Dwyane Wade. This time down, Terry got on the other side of Chalmers to try and prevent him from setting the rub screen for Bosh. As soon as James notices this, he crosses over a flat-footed Shawn Marion (who was expecting the dribble handoff as well) and drives the lane.
With Terry in no position to help properly, James is able to get all the way to the rim before the defense steps up, fouling him, but not preventing him from getting the bigtime dunk. Here is the play in real time:
Was this a great one on one move by LeBron James? Yes. It wasn’t an isolation though, as this was set up by some smart coaching (not only in terms of running the same play, but by occupying the weakside, which eventually forces Terry out of position), and dependent on some great awareness by LeBron James. It was a great read by James and an even better move to get to the rim, finishing with the contact.
