So far this postseason, LeBron James has been one of the best ball handlers in pick and roll situations, posting a PPP (points per possession) of 1.0, ranking him 7th among all players this postseason (2nd among all players with at least 20 PNR possessions). He’s been better than Dwyane Wade (0.934), J.J. Barea (0.961), and Derrick Rose (0.828) just to name a few. When you think about it, it makes sense, a player like LeBron James getting coming off of a screen is a scary thought.
However, in game four, James went from being an aggressive force coming off of ball screens to being an extremely passive player, and that really hurt his game (the numbers show that). According to Synergy Sports Technology, LeBron James was the ball handler for 12 ball screens, scoring just 6 points (for a PPP of 0.5). James’ production was cut in half due to his passive play.
One of the biggest problems that I had with LeBron James and his pick and roll play is that he was often dribbling away from the rim when coming off of screens. Dribbling backwards and not looking to attack. With the defense not worried about James attacking, it made their rotations everywhere else much easier:
When the Dallas Mavericks broke out their staggered ball screens in game two, it game the Miami Heat a world of trouble, as they were able to score 8 points in 4 possessions on 75% shooting. While we didn’t really see the play in game three, the Dallas Mavericks used it again in game four, and it is obvious that the play is still giving the Heat trouble. In my post about Dallas’ pick and roll adjustment, we saw that the Mavericks ran their double staggered ball screens twice, scoring 5 points. When rewatching the possessions, you can see that Miami is still searching for a way to stop this set:
The play starts with Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler setting screens for J.J. Barea. On this particular possession, the Miami Heat try to hedge off of the second screener (Nowitzki in this case) as Barea’s man (Mario Chalmers) fights over the staggered ball screens. The problem with hedging off of Nowitzki is that you don’t want to leave him and give him too much space. So instead of the hard hedges you normally see from Joel Anthony and the Miami Heat, Anthony just steps out in the hopes of keeping Barea from getting around him.
For much of the first half of game four, both the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks really struggled to score the basketball. However, for a brief stretch in the second quarter the Heat found themselves a play that worked, and they went to it three straight times, coming away with 6 much needed points. What was interesting about this set and how Miami used it was that the Heat got three different looks by running the same double cross screen action three times, showing you what a simple, yet effective, set can do to a defense:
The first time the Miami Heat ran their double cross screen set, it came off of a SLOB situation. The play starts with the ball going Chris Bosh at the top of the key as LeBron James sets up on the elbow.
Once James makes the catch, Dwyane Wade gets a double cross screen set for him, with one screen being set by Mario Chalmers and one screen being set by Joel Anthony.
