So far this series, Joakim Noah has really given the Miami Heat’s pick and roll defense a lot of problems by using his passing ability to break down the help at the back end after the Bulls trap Derrick Rose coming off of ball screens.  Over at Hoopspeak.com, Brett Koremenos (you should seriously check him out on Twitter, great follow) did a great job of breaking things down.

Once again, in game three, Noah’s passing ability started to pick apart the Heat’s defense yet again.  This time, instead of just allowing it to continue, coach Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat made a defensive adjustment in the fourth quarter, changing how they played the pick and roll.

Before we get to the adjustment, let’s look at how Noah was able to pick apart the Heat’s defense here in game three:

On this play, Noah is the screener, setting a pick for Derrick Rose and then rolling/popping out to the foul line.  As the ball goes to him, Dwyane Wade rotates over, stepping up top him, determined to take away his space.

With Wade rotating over as Chris Bosh recovers to Noah, Keith Bogans is left wide open.  Noah does a good job of spotting the open man and hitting him.

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Much like Lakers approached defending Rajon Rondo in game six, the Celtics took whoever was covering Ron Artest (in most cases it was Paul Pierce) and had them float on the defensive end of the court.  Unlike Rajon Rondo in game six, Ron Artest was able to make the Boston Celtics pay for this defensive strategy.  Eleven of Ron Artest’s twenty points came directly from Boston Celtic double teams.  Here is a look at these plays:

Play 1 (Two Points)

Above is a play from a sideline out of bounds set.  Immediately after Ron Artest inbounds the basketball and floats to the corner, Paul Pierce leaves him to float in the middle of the court.  Rajon Rondo, unsure of what to make of the situation decides to pick up Artest.  As the shot goes up, Artest uses his size advantage on Rondo to grab the rebound and put it right back in the basket.

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For almost the entire second half, the Lakers were chipping away at the Celtics’ lead.  Any time they would get close, the Celtics would create a little breathing room for themselves.  That is exactly what happened after the Lakers tied the game at 61.  The Celtics used three Ray Allen free throws to create a three point lead with about six and a half minutes left.  That is when Derek Fisher hit another huge three pointer in a NBA Finals game.

An interesting little wrinkle with this play is Lamar Odom bringing the ball up.  This is important for two reasons.  When Pau gets the ball in the post, it is hard for Big Baby (the man covering Odom) to double off of him.  It allows allows for Derek Fisher to float off of the basketball.

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Update:  Steve Weinman also took a look at this play over at his site, D-LeagueDigest.  Really awesome stuff worth taking a look at.

After Ray Allen hit a three pointer with about 52 seconds left, the Celtics found themselves down three points needing to get a stop to keep it a one possession game.  They got their stop as Kobe chucked up a deep three pointer, but they were unable to secure the defensive rebound, and that was your ballgame:

After Ray Allen hits his three, things get a little hectic as Pau Gasol gets set to inbound the basketball.  All ten players are in the Lakers’ backcourt, and this leads to some confusions about matchups.  Initially you have Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett just kind of hanging around not responsible for any Laker yet.

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Yesterday, the Celtics made it official.  Kendrick Perkins won’t be playing in game seven tonight against the Lakers.  Kendrick Perkins is very important for the Celtics on the defensive end, and the numbers prove it.  According to raw +/-, the team is about 8 points better per 100 possessions with Perk on the floor versus with him on the bench, and it is performing better on both sides of the ball with Perk in the line-up (according to BasketballValue via CelticsHub).

On the defensive end, Kendrick Perkins is the anchor, allowing for the rest of the team to play against more favorable matchups.  Kevin Garnett on Andrew Bynum is rough, but Kevin Garnett on Pau Gasol (the matchup when Kendrick Perkins is in the game) is much more manageable.

Perkins is also one of the reasons why the Celtics are so good at defending the pick and roll:

Perkins hedges out real hard here, but the Celtics probably gameplan it this way to get it out of Kobe’s hands. The Lakers actually counter with a nice play, a quick pass to Gasol who then hits a rolling Bynum (trying to take advantage of Perkins’ hedge).  However, Perkins is able to get back, use his body, and force Bynum under the basket.  This is something that Kendrick Perkins does very well.

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Rajon Rondo is easily the key to the Celtics offense.  If he is playing well, then the Celtics are really tough to stop, if he isn’t playing well then the Celtics look average at best.  In game six, the Lakers were able to slow Rajon Rondo and as a result they were able to hold the Celtics to just 67 points.  Here is how they did it:

Ignoring Rondo In The Halfcourt

The Lakers were able to stop Rajon Rondo in the halfcourt by basically ignoring him as his defender (Kobe Bryant for the most part) played about 10-15 feet off of him the entire game, whether he had the ball or not.  It was as if the Lakers were saying, “If Rajon Rondo beats us with jump shots, then so be it.”

The above play is a perfect example of the Lakers’ strategy working as planned.  Here, the Celtics run a screen and roll with Rajon Rondo coming off of a screen set by Kendrick Perkins.  The Lakers switch the screen, and Pau Gasol ends up being forced to cover Rondo.  This is usually a point guard’s dream, and the way a point guard normally attacks this is by pulling the ball out and then just blowing by the big man covering him.  In fact, Rajon Rondo does try to do this, but Pau Gasol doesn’t take a step in Rondo’s direction and he stays in the paint.  Rondo is basically left with only one option (the pass to the mismatch isn’t there because Gasol is clogging the passing lane), and that is to take an awkward jumper that he misses.

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Rajon Rondo’s offensive rebound late in the fourth quarter with the Celtics up by ten points was a pretty big play.  Instead of getting a defensive rebound and having the chance to cut the lead down into single digits, the Lakers were facing a 12 point lead with the Boston crowd going nuts.  While this was a great individual effort by Rondo, the Lakers (more specifically Lamar Odom) are responsible for this play:

The Boston Celtics get the ball in Paul Pierce’s hands so he can initiate the offense.  Once he gets the ball, the Celtics run a pick and pop with Ray Allen as the screener.

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The Lakers are going to have to get on the same page when it comes to defending the Boston Celtics in the post.  There were a few situations in the second half where the Lakers tried to front the post, however the lack of ball pressure lead to easy baskets for the Celtics:

In both of these videos, the individual parts of the defense aren’t the problem.  Kobe makes the correct decision in playing off of Rajon Rondo to prevent him from penetrating and the fronting of the post in itself is a decent strategy.  However, you can’t do both at the same time.  This is because if you front the post, you are basically daring the offense to throw a pass over the defenders head.  Give a guy like Rajon Rondo 10 feet, and he is going to make that pass 9 out of 10 times.

In the end this is all about communication.  If the Lakers get caught in front of the the Boston’s big men, they have to let Kobe know (because he can’t see it as he is focused on the ball and his man) so he can put pressure on the basketball.  I think being in front of their home crowd, the Lakers are going to be able to communicate easier and you won’t see mistakes like these.

Kobe Bryant’s third quarter in game five was truly amazing to watch.  With that being said, I have to agree with Matt Moore who wrote at ProBasketballTalk that this run ruined any chance the Lakers had of winning.  They Lakers played their best basketball and were most competitive when they were passing the ball around and having contributions from all players.  However, where Moore blames Phil Jackson for this run (for essentially allowing Kobe to go off), I want to give the Celtics defense credit.

When you are dealing with a superstar like Kobe you always here of two defensive strategies.  You can double him and force the ball out of his hands and let his teammates beat you, or you can let Kobe get his but not let anyone else go off.  The Boston Celtics decided to go with the latter and it worked for them.  Think about it, during Kobe’s spectacular run, did you see a double team?  No.  In fact, the Celtics didn’t overreact and completely change their defensive strategy:

This is Kobe’s first basket of the third, and it is a pretty good look at the Celtics’ defensive strategy.  Kobe gets the ball in the corner and starts to back Ray Allen down as no double comes (Paul Pierce fakes a double and stays with his man). Kevin Garnett eventually brings a double, but only when it is apparent that Kobe is going to take a shot. They force Kobe Bryant into a tough shot, but he is able to knock it down.

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I briefly mentioned this on Twitter last night, but I wanted to expand on it today.  Paul Pierce’s sweet spot is that right elbow, everybody knows this.   However, last night in game 5, Paul Pierce was ale to get to his spot at will:

Pierce attempted 11 shots from that right elbow area and he made 6 of them, and his six makes count for half of his total makes for the game.  Just by looking at the shot-chart, it is no surprise to find out that Paul Pierce had his best game of the series.  If the fans know that this is Pierce’s sweet spot, the Lakers have to know about it, so I think it is safe to assume that one of their goals when defending Paul Pierce is to keep him out of this area.  The Lakers failed to do this last night:

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