Going into game four, the Dallas Mavericks were using Dirk Nowitzki as the primary screener whenever they were running a pick and roll when he was on the court.  For whatever reason (maybe it was because Nowitzki was sick, maybe it was because they noticed something on tape), the Mavericks decided to go away from that and run pick and rolls with Nowitzki not involved, standing away from the action.  The results were exactly what the Mavericks wanted:

As you can see, the Mavericks ran 21 pick and rolls with Dirk Nowitzki on the court. Nine (42.8%) of those pick and rolls were with Dirk Nowitzki as the screener, with Dallas scoring just two points off of these pick and rolls.  On the other hand, during the 10 (47.6%) pick and rolls where Nowitzki was not directly involved in the pick and roll action, the Mavericks scored 16 points (I’ll have more on the staggered ball screens in a future post).

So why were these pick and rolls where Nowitzki wasn’t setting the screen so successful?  There are two reasons why.  First, the defense has to respect and pay attention to Nowitzki and the pick and roll at the same time.  Nowitzki is drawing attention to himself instead of the pick and roll taking place:

On this particular possession Chris Bosh, who is defending Tyson Chandler (the eventual screener), leaves Chandler to provide help defense on Dirk Nowitzki’s cut to the rim. This help defense draws Bosh out of position, so when the pick and roll between Barea and Chandler take place, Bosh isn’t able to hedge out on the ball handler effectively. Instead of trapping hard, Bosh is forced to leave space between himself and Barea, allowing him to attack Bosh and get to the rim, where he finishes.

Dirk Nowitzki not involved in the pick and roll forces the Heat defenders to think twice before making their rotation.  With a defense that relies on its speed and quick rotations, any slight hesitation is a killer:

Whether it is pulling his man away from the rim and forcing the rotation to the roll man to come from a different spot (which happens on the first, third, and fourth play) or it is keeping the help from coming on dribble penetration (which happens during the second play), pulling Dirk out of the pick and roll action throws out all of Miami’s defensive strategy and forces them to try and make up something on the fly.  The result was open lanes and open shots.

In addition to messing with Miami’s pick and roll defense, pulling Dirk Nowitzki out of the pick and roll action makes it easier for the ball handler to get a pass off.  The reason for this is because with Joel Anthony covering Dirk Nowitzki, you are pulling your biggest and probably best hedge/trap man away from the pick and roll.

Miami likes to trap the ball handler with their bigs, and one of the biggest reasons they are able to do that is because Joel Anthony is so big and long that when he gets his hands up he really takes away passing lanes.  In addition, Anthony is mobile enough to stay in front of the ball handler while bothering the pass.  With Anthony taken away from the pick and roll action, the pass from the ball handler becomes so much easier for Dallas:

On all three of these possessions, notice who is stepping up and hedging instead of Joel Anthony.  It’s Chris Bosh.  While Bosh is a solid defender, he isn’t as big as Joel Anthony, and he doesn’t seem to have the same kind of knack for getting big and bothering passes that Anthony has.

The result is a pass around him (on the first play) to Tyson Chandler and over him (on the second play) to Shawn Marion.  In addition, with Barea coming off of the screen and attacking, Bosh can’t bother a shot like Anthony can and instead of a probable blocked shot (if Anthony was defending the pick and roll) the result is a made lay-up as Barea is allowed to get the basketball up on the glass.

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Much like the Mavericks introducing their staggered ball screens, this is another tremendous offensive adjustment by Rick Carlisle.  With Nowitzki struggling to knock down shots, this was a way to still use the threat of Nowitzki to create open looks for his teammates.  What is really scary is what happens when Nowitzki is healthy.  If he knocks down shots and Dallas maintains this pick and roll balance (about a 50-50 split between using PNRs with Nowitzki as the screener and without), their pick and roll offense can be even more effective overall.