In their first game of a back to back against the Eastern Conference elite, Orlando had a rather forgettable evening. Dwight Howard, fresh of his opt-in drama, showed up but the rest of his supporting failed to do the same. The Magic only surrendered 91 points to the Heat last night (not bad against the team currently ranked 2nd in offensive efficiency) but one set in particular gave them a bit of trouble.

Throughout the course of the game, Miami went to a 5-out middle pick and roll set. The basic premise of the play is a two-man game in the middle of the floor with the screener rolling hard to the rim surrounded by three shooters. Ironically, it is an action that has been a trademark during the Stan Van Gundy-Dwight Howard era.

On Sunday, however, the Magic had some difficulty defending it. Miami got into the play in two different ways. Primarily, they’d run a flex cut and then have the post sprint into the pick and roll with either James or Wade. The floor is then spread with two players spacing the weakside, one in the strongside corner and the defense forced to decide who to leave uncovered.

Late in the first quarter, we see the more prevalent “false action”. Chalmers passes to James at the top while Dexter Pittman sets the flex screen for sharpshooter James Jones near the right block. As soon as Jones cuts over the top of him, Pittman moves to screen for James at the top of the key. Jones circles all the way up to the left wing while Udonis Haslem spots up in the left short corner. Here is the play.

The result of the play, as you saw, is a made jumper by Haslem. It comes from Orlando’s decision to jam the rolling Pittman with Haslem’s defender, Glen Davis. James makes a nice read on the rotation and zips a pass over the top for the open look.
The next two clips, James creates offense for himself. With Howard involved in pick and roll, Orlando simply zones up the paint, daring any ball handler to either attack Howard or settle for a contested two. Here is one from the late first quarter that starts with the same false action and ends with James taking a rhythm dribble into a long 2-pt jumpshot.

In the next video, there is different action before the pick and roll. This time, it’s called as an end of quarter play and rookie Norris Cole simply screens down for the screener (Joel Anthony) before spacing to the weakside of the play. James, due to time restrictions, is forced into a tough mid-range jumper that finds the glass before it finds the net. Not aesthetically pleasing the least, but still effective.

In the final clip, the Heat, looking to deliver the knockout punch, go back to the same flex-cut, false-action to help set-up a Bosh-James pick and roll. This time James delivers a clever pocket pass to the rolling Bosh who slips by a sloppy Magic rotation on the back end for an “And 1”.

Half-court execution is the type of thing Miami needs to continue to improve as this season wears on. Being able to execute sets like this when the game slows down is the real key for the Heat to become the odds-on favorite to win it all. By giving Orlando a dose of their own medicine last night, Miami took a step forward in their quest.

By my count there was only 1 game in the NBA last night (yes, I know that the Pacers and Heat played each other, but the final score of that game means it doesn’t count), and it was a pretty good one.  We are going to breakdown a good amount of possessions from the Cavs and show you a number of ways they manage to get LeBron the basketball.  Here we go:

Getting Shaq Involved

I noticed this when I did my opponent breakdown for the Nets vs. Cavs match-up a while back.  When the game starts or whenever Shaq enters the game, the Cavs love to feed him the ball, get him some touches, keep him happy, and go from there.

The Cavs are coming off of a Cavs miss, and they quickly get it into LeBron’s hands.  That is a smart decision.  He is such a threat with the basketball and such a good decision maker that you want the ball in his hands as much as possible, especially on the break.  Notice Shaq busting it down the court.  This is because it is early in the game and he knows the Cavs are going to go out of the way to get him the basketball.

As LeBron pulls up, Shaq pins Chris Bosh right on his back.  The only way that the Raptors are going to be able to stop this is if one of the two defenders eying LeBron drops off.

This doesn’t happen though, and both of the defenders close out on LeBron as he rises up to shoot.  At the last second though, LeBron decides to pass it to Shaq who has fantastic position.

After making the catch, Shaq has deep position with Chris Bosh trying to body him up.  Who do you think is going to win this battle?

Yup, Shaq.

What Makes LeBron So Good

What makes LeBron great is not only the ability to pass, but the willingness to pass.

Here, LeBron is attacking the middle of a quick screen from Anderson Varejao.  Everyone is in proper help defense right now, but the man to focus on for the Raptors is Jarrett Jack.  This is the guy the Cavs are isolating on this play.

As LeBron starts his drive, Jack knows that Mo Williams is wide open.  Why?  Because he left him to help on the LeBron drive.  Right now, the Raptors have three guys basically covering LeBron.  This is where LeBron being a willing passer comes into play.  Teams can’t load up on him like this, because if they do…

LeBron just finds the open person.  In this case it is Mo Williams.  Another reason that LeBron is great?  He can hang in the air for such a long time.  You are convinced he is going up with the ball because he hanging on with it for so long you think he is going up.  But at that last second, he will pass it.

Mo Williams makes the catch and he is wide open and he knocks down the three.

Getting LeBron Touches

LeBron James can get his own shot whenever he wants, he is that good.  There are times though where he gets a little shot happy.  Normally you don’t mind because he is still hitting these bad shots, but when he isn’t the Cleveland staff does a great job of getting James the ball going to the basket.  You will notice that all of these end with a LeBron dunk.  This also gets the crowd going.

Pick & Roll As A Decoy

The first way they get LeBron going to the basket is by running the pick and roll away from him.  Since he is standing 30 feet away from the basket, opposing teams think that he won’t be involved in the play.

As the pick and roll gets set and run, LeBron is still hanging out 30 feet away.  This is key, because there are some plays where he actually stays there the entire set.  I think they do it in part to set this kind of stuff up later in the game.

The Raptors switch the screen and Mo Williams drives the baseline.  As this happens, the defense starts to focus on Williams.  With that happening, Big Z is now allowed to sneak up on LeBron’s man and set a backscreen without nobody noticing.

The screen gets set, and LeBron is now going fullscreen to the basket without anybody looking at him.  You have arguably the best player in the NBA, not being covered with the defense focusing on somebody else.  This is incredible, and such great playcalling.

LeBron makes the catch and finishes strong with the dunk.  Here it is in real time:

Lobbing To LeBron

Here is the next one.  This is another quick hitter that ends with LeBron getting the lob.

As Mo Williams dribbles out to the wing, LeBron cuts in front of him with Anderson Varejao setting the backscreen.  Anthony Parker is a three point shooter, so the defense needs to stick with him.

As the backscreen gets set, J.J. Hickson clears to the wing.  This is where the Raptors messed up.  Hickson’s man follows him instead of staying in help position to help defend the lob.  Bargnani realizes it and tries to back up into the lane, but it is too late.  LeBron has a ton of free space to make his catch.

LeBron makes the catch and finishes strong with the dunk.  Here it is in real time:

LeBron Moving Without The Ball

Here, the ball gets dumped into Shaq, and Mo Williams and LeBron switch positions.  The Cavs just ran this and hit Mo Williams for a three pointer, so the Raptors are naturally going to hedge to that.

As LeBron finishes his cut, instead of going to the top of the key, he quickly cuts to the inside.

Shaq dumps the ball to LeBron.  Bargnani is too close to Shaq (because he is trying to body him up and not let him get an easy basket in the post), so he is in no position to help, and once again, the lane is wide open for one of the best players in the NBA.

LeBron finishes strong with the slam.  Here it is in real time: