In yesterday’s match up, the latest twist in strategy came with Tom Thibodeau deployed a zone for a handful of possession starting in the middle of the first quarter. While this move was most likely meant to help Derrick Rose avoid picking up a debilitating third foul, it could be tool the Bulls use again come playoff time. The question of whether or not they use it is something that remains to be seen, but both teams now have the tape to assess whether not it will be effective and to what degree.

Before diving into the film, it’s important to review what exactly a zone does to opponent’s game preparation. Depending on its effectiveness, a scheme change like a zone can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes of a given practice, walk-through and/or film session to countering it. That doesn’t seem like much. But remember, in a lockout-afflicted season teams (like the Heat) have precious little practice time to perfect their own schemes, let alone react to another team’s.

If a team consistently struggles against a certain scheme then that 10-40 minutes can blow up to over 3-5 hours of practice/film/walk-throughs over the duration of a playoff series (assuming that coach wants his team to be prepared). That is time a team could spend refining their own concepts, adding new wrinkles or simply use to let their players rest their worn-down bodies. With that logic, it seems like the perfect idea for the Bulls to trot out even a marginally effective zone against the Heat, right?

When looking at the numbers, it would appear to be a no-brainer. By unofficial count, the Bulls limited Miami to 5 points over 6 possessions (0.83 PPP). Obviously, six possessions is a ridiculously small sample size. That is where the film comes into play and when looking at that, the answer becomes much less clear.

The first time we see the zone is off a sideline out-of-bounds with 3:03 left in the first quarter. LeBron James enters the ball into Mario Chalmers who quickly swings the ball to Shane Battier on the left wing. Battier reverses the ball back to Chalmers then (perhaps unintentionally) cuts along the baseline with Udonis Haslem back to the strongside of the floor.

As James’ catches on the right wing, Ronnie Brewer drops to defend both cutters, giving up a gap in the zone. LeBron, employing a basic tenant of attacking zones, punches that gap with his dribble, flattening out the defense and forcing two defenders to the ball. On the collapse, James executes a brilliant hook pass to Chalmers spotting up on the weakside wing. The result is a semi-contested 3-pointer (Chalmers could have easily used a shot-fake, one-dribble pull up attack for a cleaner look, however).

Here is the video:

On the surface, it looks as if the Bulls forced a tough shot, but in all reality Chalmers just didn’t exploit a long closeout by Hamilton efficiently enough. The next clip is a bit of a mirage as well.

Norris Cole ends up setting a screen inside the top on ball defender (Rose). James uses the ball screen to pull Hamilton high toward him. Seeing Haslem flashing middle, James threads a pass through the gap. However, Haslem doesn’t hold his position long enough and looks to change space, leaving James’ pass to find only Joakim Noah.

Even though this lead to a run out and layup for Chicago, Miami was in a great position had Haslem just used a bit more patience. In the following picture, you’ll see that if Haslem catches the ball in that spot, the Bulls defense is extremely vulnerable. Not only does he have the space to immediately shoot a foul line jumper, but Haslem can look to go high-low with Eddy Curry (if Noah rotates up) or find Shane Battier (if Boozer rotates) hunting space either behind the defense or cutting up to the opposite wing.

Upon further inspection, this turnover is an easily correctable mistake. Perhaps this concept and alignment will be something that Spolestra uses should the Bulls zone them again.

The other things zones are notorious for giving up our offensive rebounds. In one possession, the Bulls actually gave up two offensive rebounds and only escaped due to a botched putback attempt by Haslem. In the following clip, a freeze-frame highlights a blockout dilemma for Kyle Korver.

With Noah and Carlos Boozer moving to contest a shot from the corner, Korver is left to try to fend off two Heat players (Battier and Mike Miller) coming in from the weakside for the rebound. Korver chooses to throw his body in front of the hard-charging Miller, which opens up a gap for Haslem (left unimpeded by Rose) to sneak in for the third shot attempt. Haslem misses a great chance, but this possession highlights the rebounding problems zones bring.

With two more match-ups on the docket in the regular season, it will be interesting to see how much (if any) zone is used by Chicago. Perhaps last night was a one-time thing centered around a need to protect Rose given his foul trouble. Or perhaps it was a chance for Thibodeau to see if a zone has a chance to slow down the Heat come playoff time. Either way, this chess match will be fun to watch.

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Perhaps embarrassed by allowing 63 points in the first half, Miami put on a defensive display in the third quarter that, in combination with their torrid shooting, engineered a 27 point swing. In a period very similar to one we wrote on a few weeks back, they allowed a mere 12 points and forced a gaggle of turnovers. As we’ll soon see, the Heat had stretches where they made it difficult for the Spurs to even get a shot off, much less make one.

In perhaps an ominous start, the very first possession of the quarter ends in a turnover. Tony Parker runs off a double stagger set by DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson. As Parker curls, Chris Bosh is forced to show high to contest a quick mid-range shot, this leaves Blair open momentarily. Before Parker can deliver the pass, not one, but two Heat defenders rotate onto Blair and end up tipping the ball back to Bosh for a steal.

Just a few trips later, a poor pass from LeBron leads to a quick run-out by San Antonio. Parker pushes hard but is cut off and forced to dribble back outside the arc in a great effort by Bosh. However, due to the quick transition push, Bosh is forced to stay matched up with Parker. The first thing you’ll notice is the subtle positioning of Mario Chalmers on the play.

Chalmers basically switches assignments with Bosh and covers one of the bigs (Blair first, then Tim Duncan). Due to Blair/Duncan’s inability to stretch the floor from 3, Chalmers slides across the paint and sits in help on the strongside block, discouraging Parker from attacking Bosh on the isolated side of the floor. Parker is forced to try and reverse the ball only to receive it back and try to take on Bosh near the end of the shot clock. The result is a contested long-two that draws only back iron.

The next play is an absolutely perfect rotation by Miami on a dangerous screening action involving Gary Neal. Neal receives screens from both Duncan and Blair along the baseline as he heads toward the ballside corner. Whether due to great scouting or great focus (or a combination of both), the Heat shut this play down without a hitch.

Anthony, guarding Duncan, kicks out to the corner to contest Neal’s shot attempt while his defender, James Jones, fights through the screens. Bosh, guarding Blair on the opposite block, rushes over to defend Duncan and take away a quick dump-in and finish. James then crashes down hard on Blair while Chalmers fills the middle of the paint as the shot goes up. Due to a bad miss, the ball bounces long and the Spurs get the offensive rebound, but it doesn’t take away from a perfectly executed defensive rotation.

With Miami fully engaged on the defensive end of the floor, the beginning turning up the heat on the Spurs (bad pun intended). At this point, San Antonio is still clinging to a four point lead as Duncan hits Parker with a pass on the right wing. He chases his pass with a ball screen that Anthony and Chalmers string out. Chalmers does a great job of getting his hands on an attempted throw back pass.
That deflection leaves rookie Kawhi Leonard with the ball 35 feet from the basket with only seven seconds left on the shot clock. Leonard passes to Blair who forces up a wild shot that doesn’t draw iron (thus being a shot-clock violation), but due to an error on the reset, the Spurs get the ball back after an ensuing scramble with the shot clock at 2.7 seconds. The result ends up being same the same as Miami forces Neal into a wild floater that hits nothing but backboard. Here is the play:

A few possessions after that excellent defensive stand, James nails a 3 that put Miami ahead 69-68, a lead they would never relinquish. In the next video, you’ll see that three out of the next five San Antonio possessions ended in turnovers. An Anthony steal, a Jones steal and finally, a flustered Duncan simply throws the ball away on a simple reversal pass. The Spurs body language walking back toward the bench at the timeout says it all.

The Heat’s offensive fireworks will get all the headlines today, but it is important to note that it was the defensive effort that got things started. Unlike last night’s shooting bonanza, Miami’s defensive performance is repeatable. After all, this isn’t the only time this season they have thoroughly dismantled a team on that end of the floor. So while Miami currently sits at seventh in Hollinger’s defensive efficiency rankings, it is quarters like the third last night that frighten rival GMs and coaches around the league most. Wade or no Wade, if Miami can bring this type of sustained effort on the defensive end on a consistent basis, the Larry O’Brien trophy will be taking its talents to South Beach this June.

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Much of the Heat’s defensive success is attributed to their athleticism, as it should be given Wade and James are two of the most athletic players in the league. Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh certainly rank near the top of that category for their respective positions as well. However, not enough credit is given to the intelligence, activity and grit the rest of this current Heat roster shows, especially with Shane Battier on board and Udonis Haslem healthy. That combination, under the guidance of head coach Erik Spoelstra, should have the Heat challenging for the title of “Best Defensive Team” come year’s end. While taking a look at last night’s second quarter, we’ll see they are well on their way.

With James on the bench to start the quarter, the Miami has a lineup of Bosh, Haslem, Battier, Jones, and rookie Norris Cole on the floor. The first play we’ll see starts with a high, flat ball screen between George Hill and Tyler Hansbrough. The Heat defend it by corralling (basically a soft trap-like action) Hill with the screener’s defender (Haslem) and the on-ball defender (Cole).

Behind the play, Bosh rotates off Lou Amundson and picks up Hansbrough as he slides toward the paint after screening. The other two Heat defenders of the floor (Battier and James Jones) zone up on the three Pacers on the weakside (Battier dropping low on Amundson in the short corner to prevent an easy look at the rim with Jones playing between two Pacers spotting up on the perimeter).

Hill looks to defeat the trap by passing over the top of it to Hansbrough. Thanks to Bosh’s quick rotation, Hansbrough can’t make an immediate attack on the rim and instead looks to move the ball opposite. Jones, playing the role of free safety to perfection, positions himself between his two offensive threats and denies an obvious passing lane. Battier sits on Amundson near the block until Haslem, switching assignments with Bosh, who was originally guarding Amundson, recovers back to him.

The end result of all this defensive activity is the ball being forced back out top and the Pacers essentially having to restart their offense with nine seconds on the shot clock. After a deflection on a skip toward the weakside, Shane Battier’s on-ball defense results in a travel from Lance Stephenson. After all that exhaustive mental imagery, here is a visual of the play:

The next clip is perhaps the Heat’s finest defensive possession of the game. For starters, both Battier and Cole do an impressive job guarding the ball. Battier recovers nicely through a ballscreen while Cole takes away a middle penetration on a difficult closeout against Hill filling behind the Amundson’s roll toward the hoop.

The final thing to notice is Haslem’s activity on the play. On the second pick and roll, he rotates across the lane to pick up the dive man (Amundson) then sprints back across the court to get into a position to contain dribble penetration off a third Pacer ballscreen. Battier finishes off the play by switching onto the roll man (David West) and forcing him into a tough, contested shot. Here is the video:

While not every Heat defensive possession was executed that well, they were certainly of high quality. Here is a brief three edit reel of three other top notch Miami defensive stands in the second quarter that all resulted in turnovers:

In the end, Indiana ended the quarter with only three more points than turnovers (12 to 9) and mustered only one made field goal (a Louis Amundson dunk on a late rotation by Heat rookie Norris Cole). It was perhaps the final play of the quarter that added an exclamation point to their dominating, 12-minute performance. Check it out:

Watch out NBA. It looks like the new-fangled Heat offense isn’t the only thing you need to worry about in 2012.

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She was a good actress that added value to the movies she was in. She brought her strength, comedy, to every one. She knew her role and played it well. Not many remember her name they way they do other stars of her era and let’s face it, they really shouldn’t.

So why am I brining up ZaSu Pitts in a post about basketball? For two reasons; first because Mario Chalmers is the ZaSu Pitts of the Miami Heat and second, well, because I can. Just like Pitts, Chalmers will never be confused with someone who wins a “Best Actor/Actress” award, but can certainly play a role in a great cinematic adventure and play it well. Chalmers as a player is like Pitts as an actress, he brings exactly what the Heat need from him; defense. On a team stacked with headlining talent in the form of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, Chalmers’ defense on-ball and ability to help Miami transition quickly from a defense stop to an offensive attack leads to even more easy points for a team that already has a leg up in the scoring department.

Last season, Chalmers finished in the top 40 in steals among guards. Much of this can be attributed to great hand-eye coordination and a desire to attack lazy passes with unmatched vigor. He seems to get his hands on passes he shouldn’t, resulting in an abundance of deflected passes, something he may well be leading the league in this season. Take a look at his at the video below to see Mario show off his ball-hawking skills.

What’s similar about all three clips above is that as soon as the ball is deflected or turned over, it’s immediately pushed up court, something that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has preached more than ever this season. According to Synergy, the Heat were No. 1 in transition offense in 2010-2011 with a PPP of 1.002. That number can certainly be attributed to having two of the best players in the league on the team (but some credit should be given to Chalmers for his role in pushing the pace looking to get the ball in the hands of Wade or James). Transition offense all starts on the defensive end of the floor, so it is imperative that Heat defenders play aggressive, harrassing defense on and off the ball. Chalmers isolation defense last year was near the top third according to Synergy last season, a rank that while not great, definitely helps Miami accomplish their goals. Here is a look at Chalmers’ aggressive on-ball defense leading to a run-out on the other end:

In the above clip, Chalmers plays excellent on-ball defense. He fights over the screen, pushing Kidd to the baseline and allowing the defense to rotate into position. Chalmers stays body-to-body with Kidd as he goes towards the wing/baseline and keeps his hands low, knowing the pass will be entered into the low post. One thing that Chalmers does well is mirror the ball. By keeping his hands active and shadowing the ball, Super Mario makes it tough any passer, or in this particular case, the venerable Jason Kidd, who is forced into a turnover. Chalmers makes things even harder on Dallas by pushing the ball ahead to a sprinting James without hesitation.

That quick push is something that gives Heat opponents nightmares. Anytime Wade and James are off the ball, they are always ready to break out quickly after any turnover. Watch how fast those two transition from defense to offense after Chalmers relieves the Spurs Tony Parker of the ball.

Let’s face it, the Heat have shown that this type off offense is terrifyingly spectactular. Awesome dunks aside, this is truly a team effort, with Chalmers sometimes leading the way. According to Hoopdata, Miami finished in the top 5 last year in Defensive Efficiency (100.7). This number is a reflection of a team defensive effort, a primary reason the Heat made the Finals last year. With the emergence of Norris Cole, Chalmers defensive impact might be mitigated but if Mario can build on what he’s shown thus far, his supporting role in the Heat’s feature film will be secure for years to come.

Despite the criticism that he has received for much of this season, Erik Spoelstra, in my opinion is a very good coach with a solid offense and a fantastic defense.  With that being said, he was outclassed in the Finals, making a few curious decisions.  It is said that one of Spoelstra’s few flaws is his stubbornness, and that hurt him in the Finals as well.

Lineup Issues

Erik Spoelstra seemed to make interesting lineup decisions all season long, but it really became apparent during the Finals.  In his terrific post over at ESPN, Tom Haberstroh looked at the top 10 most used lineups in terms of +/-:

Enough with the primer, let’s get to the numbers. Here are the Heat’s top ten most used lineups in the Finals and Winston’s adjust plus-minus ratings.

Lineup	Min	+/-	per48	adjusted +/-
Bibby-Wade-James-Bosh-Anthony	66	-5	-3.6	+5.2
Chalmers-Wade-James-Bosh-Haslem	59	-17	-13.8	+1.4
Chalmers-Wade-James-Bosh-Anthony	26	-1	-1.8	+11.6
Chalmers-Miller-James-Bosh-Haslem	21	+6	+13.6	+25.2
Chalmers-Wade-Miller-Bosh-Haslem	16	+3	+9.2	+20.9
Wade-Miller-James-Bosh-Haslem	14	-1	-3.5	+14.4
Chalmers-Miller-James-Haslem-Howard	13	+8	+29.5	+39.2
Chalmers-Wade-James-Haslem-Howard	8	+11	+64.1	+71.5
Chalmers-House-Wade-Bosh-Haslem	8	+16	+94.7	+105.2

The first thing that jumps out, to me at least, is that Spoelstra’s most-used lineups were getting beat. Big Three plus Bibby and Anthony? Minus-5. Chalmers and Haslem next to the Big Three? Minus-17. Chalmers and Anthony? Minus-one.

I talked about stubbornness, and this is where it really effects Spoelstra, in terms of who he plays when.  One of the Heat’s worst lineups is one that he used the most, a lineup that he started 5 of the 6 Finals games with.  Me personally?  I had two big problems with Spoelstra and his rotations, Mike Bibby vs. Mario Chalmers and Eddie House vs. James Jones.

Anyone watching the Finals could see that Mike Bibby was simply overmatched during this series, especially when Barea was on the floor.  Another great tidbit from Haberstroh:

Here’s something else to chew on: How did the Mavericks perform in the 33 minutes with Barea on the floor against Bibby? Plus-17. The Mavericks in the 95 minutes with Barea on the floor and Bibby riding pine? Minus-41. That’s a 68-point swing.

Bibby can’t stay in front of players like Barea, yet he continued to trot him out there, allowing him to get abused.  It was only until game 6 where Spoelstra gave in, starting Mario Chalmers, and they jumped out to a lead in the first.  With Chalmers on the court during the first quarter of game 6, the Heat were a +7 (including a 12-1 run).

Despite his decision to finally start Chalmers, Spoelstra didn’t have a great game 6 rotation wise either.  This was because instead of playing James Jones, he brought Eddie House off of the bench.  Now, if you want to play Mike Miller instead of James Jones, I totally understand it.  Miller is a much better defender and a much better rebounder (plus Miller was knocking down a three here and there).

But to put in Eddie House instead of James Jones?  That is outrageous.  Sure House knocked down a few threes, but he essentially gave them back, losing Terry twice in transition and giving up big threes.  Are you telling me that Jones couldn’t play better defense than Eddie House?  I don’t buy it.

The way that Spoelstra treated Jones in terms of minutes (playing him, then sitting him for a stretch, then going back to playing him, then sitting him in the postseason) was maybe his biggest error this season.  Jones is a knock down three point shooter, and while he can’t do much else, he has to be better that Eddie freaking House.

Late Game Offense

Maybe the lasting memory of the Heat’s losses to the Mavericks will be the amount of “hero ball” played late in games.  Every single game, as soon as it hit 6 minutes in the fourth, the Heat’s offense would just stop.  A lot of dribbling, a lot of simple ball screens, and a lot of three point shots.  No offense, and even when they scored, it felt like fool’s gold rather than a score off of a productive set.

While many people blame LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (and they do deserve some blame), Spoelstra is also to blame.  There was a play late in game two where Spoelstra called a set and the Heat ran it:

Notice Spoelstra running into the screen, screaming a play call, and then Miami running it.  While they didn’t score, this did show us when Spoelstra called a play, the Heat listened.  This hero ball wasn’t because the players were ignoring Spoelstra, it was because Spoelstra was sitting on his hands, letting his players run the offense, without trying to intervene.  The notion that the players actively ignored Spoelstra every single time down the court gets overblown in my opinion.

Lack Of Wade/James Pick And Rolls

The pick and roll where LeBron James is the screener and Dwyane Wade is the ball handler is a devastating play that has been underutilized all season by Spoelstra, especially so in the Finals.  By my count, this was run two or three times, with one of those times resulted in Chris Bosh’s game winning shot:

What makes this so hard to defend is that you are forced to play this pick and roll straight up without hedging (if you hedge on Wade, you are leaving James), and that allows Wade to get to the lane.  If you hedge and send help to James (which is what Dallas does on Bosh’s game winner), you have open players on the weakside.  It’s a lose-lose situation for the defense, and the Heat didn’t use it nearly enough.

After a Chris Bosh jumper midway through the first quarter, the Heat stretched their lead to nine, scoring 20 points in the first 5:41 of the game, and putting them on pace to score about 40 points.  Despite the Heat (and especially LeBron James) hitting jumper after jumper, the Dallas Mavericks went zone on the next possession, and played it for the remainder of the quarter.  The Heat scored just 7 points the rest of the quarter.

Possession 1 – LeBron James’ missed lay-up

Maybe the most surprising aspect of Dallas’ zone in the first quarter is that Miami didn’t look lost when first attacking the zone.  Instead of standing on the perimeter and failing to recognize the zone, Miami was ready for it and attacked it properly their first possession.  LeBron James gets under the basket and flashes towards the middle, gets the ball, pump fakes, and attacks the rim.  However, because of the zone defense, there is a second level of defense, and that is Tyson Chandler.  Chandler does a fantastic job of jumping straight up, avoiding contact, and contesting the shot, forcing a miss.

Possession 2 – Bosh Fouled (2 points/2 points total)

Taking the ball out of the side, Miami quickly attacks the mismatch that Dallas’ zone provides, getting the ball to Chris Bosh on the block as he is defending by Dirk Nowitzki.  After making the catch Bosh himself goes quickly before the zone can rotate over and challenge the shot, drawing the foul.

Possession 3 – LeBron James Missed Three

Despite the Heat attacking the zone properly, coach Carlisle decided to stick with the zone and it finally paid off on their third possession.  The Heat finally started playing into Dallas’ hands, with two quick passes around the perimeter and a LeBron James pass at the end of it.  Miami’s zone offense is to work the ball around and have their bigs (Haslem and Bosh) flash to the middle.  When Miami takes quick shots like this, they don’t work their offense and let the zone off the hook.

Possession 4 – Dwyane Wade Turnover

This is another possession where the Heat are taking the ball to the side and quickly try to get the ball to the opposite block where they think they have a mismatch. This time, LeBron James enters the ball directly to Wade on the block. However, instead of going quick (like Bosh did on the second possession), Wade hesitates. Finally, he is forced to try and thread the needle to Udonis Haslem. However, because of Wade’s hesitation, the zone has rotated over and they are able to force the turnover.

Possession 5 – Udonis Haslem Lay-up (2 points/4 points total)

After a few possessions where the Heat failed to attack the zone properly, they go back to doing it the right way.  James makes the catch on the wing as the defense closes out on him.  Instead of settling for a shot, James catches, drives, and kicks to Dwyane Wade.  Instead of Wade settling for a shot, Wade attacks and dishes it to Udonis Haslem diving through the middle.

Possession 6 – LeBron James Missed Three

All season, the Heat’s offense has been bi-polar.  They do something right, then they just stop.  After doing a great job of attacking on a hard closeout and starting a series of rotations that results in a lay-up, LeBron James finds himself in the same situation, catching a pass as the defense rotates towards him.  Instead of driving though, LeBron James settles for the three point shot, a shot that he ends up missing.

Possession 7 – Juwan Howard Turnover

In addition to flashing the middle, Miami also likes to use their bigs to screen the top of the zone.  The reason why it’s effective is because they usually have a popping threat get right into the middle of the zone, threatening the defense.  However, on this particular possession, the Heat are using Juwan Howard as the man popping to the foul line.  The Mavericks are content to let Howard catch the ball in the middle, and he obliges, taking too many steps before putting the ball on the floor.

Possession 8 – Eddie House Three (3 points/7 points total)

On this possession, the Mavericks sit in the zone as Miami holds the basketball looking for the last shot.  One pass to Eddie House and he knocks down a contested three point shot.  Not great offense that is bailed out by House knocking down a tough three point shot.

After scoring 20 points in the first six minutes in the first quarter, the Miami Heat scored just 7 points in the final six, allowing the Mavericks to go from being down 9 to being up 5.  Rick Carlisle deserves a lot of credit for going zone when the Heat were knocking down shots.  However, these shots were coming off of the dribble (like a few LeBron hit), or off of dribble penetration leading to kickouts and open jump shots.  Carlisle put his defense in a position to take away this dribble penetration and get stops.  Even more, after Miami’s first two possessions where they attacked the zone properly, Carlisle didn’t have a knee-jerk reaction and take it away.  He knew Miami’s tendency of attacking then not attacking, and he stuck with the zone for the remainder of the quarter.

Finally, one thing that you didn’t see on Miami’s misses?  Offensive rebounds.  The Mavericks were determined in grabbing every rebound out of the zone, going out of the way to get a body on someone and get the basketball (this wasn’t always the case during Dallas’ zone).

Did the Mavericks go with the zone too long in the second quarter?  Yes (the Heat scored 10 points on the Heat’s remaining 7 possessions), but the zone did play a huge factor in this win.  Not because it stopped Miami every time they ran it, not because the Heat looked dumbfounded when the Mavericks first threw it out there, but because it slowed the game down and allowed Dallas to work their way back in the game in the first quarter when it looked like Miami was going to run away with things.

“Don’t leave your feet unless you know what you are doing with the basketball.”

Your coach was right about that, you never want to jump without knowing what you are going to do with the basketball because it forces you into rushing decisions because you need to let go of the ball before you hit the ground.  Rec league and high school players aren’t the only ones breaking this “rule,” as we saw in the finals, NBA players have a tendency to trust their athletic ability and leave their feet plenty of time:

According to Synergy, there were 156 turnovers committed by both teams.  25, or 16%, of them were a direct result of a player leaving his feet, trying to throw a jump pass.  Yeah, you probably shouldn’t do it.

On of the main reasons why trapping the pick and roll worked is because it kept the basketball on the perimeter.  On all of those clips, you see the ball handler getting trapped and the only option they really have is to kick the ball out to a man on the outside rather than trying to penetrate or hit the roll man.  The ball gets into the paint a grand total of 0 times on all of those plays.  The one time they try to hit the roll man, they go from Terry to Kidd to Ian Mahinmi instead of going straight to Mahinmi.  The result is a turnover.

Another thing that trapping the smaller Dallas ball handlers does is it throws the Mavericks’ timing off:

Here, Chris Bosh steps up to trap/hedge hard at Jason Terry.  Terry hits the roll man, but because of Bosh’s length, Terry is forced to jump and throw a lobbed pass.  This gives Dwyane Wade plenty of time to rotate over and get the huge block on Tyson Chandler.

The problem is when they didn’t trap the pick and roll, they allowed Dallas to score at a pretty good rate (18 points on remaining 15 pick and rolls, including 9 points on 6 staggered pick and rolls and 9 points on 9 pick and rolls that weren’t trapped).  The Heat’s trapping pick and roll defense really disappeared in the fourth quarter.  Out of the 9 straight pick and rolls (we are ignoring the two staggered screens because it is a unique situation), the Heat chose not to trap 7 of them (the two times they did, they got a missed three and a turnover).  When Miami failed to trap, Dallas was able to get to the paint:

When Miami chose not to trap the basketball, either the ball handler or the roll man were able to get into the paint and come away with a pretty good look.  Even on misses, it wasn’t Miami’s defense forcing the miss, it was simply Dallas missing lay-ups.  To me, it was interesting to see Miami in a situation where they needed to get a stop and they went away from what was doing just that.  Dallas wasn’t really doing anything differently with this pick and rolls, so it was strange to see such a dramatic change in their defensive strategy.

When you look at the overall numbers, 26 points on 32 pick and roll possessions (0.81 PPP) is a pretty solid defensive night, especially after giving up 49 points on a similar amount of possessions during the previous game.  However, if you break it down further (by when they trapped and when they didn’t trap), you realize that they could have done some things differently when defending the pick and roll.

Going into game 5 knowing that he needed Brian Cardinal to steal minutes on the court, he came up with a way to make his staggered ball screen effective with Nowitzki on the bench.  The adjustment was effective, leading to 7 points on the 3 possessions where Brian Cardinal was involved in the staggered ball screen:

Jason Terry brings the basketball down the court along the sideline as Brian Cardinal and Tyson Chandler get in position to set the staggered ball screen.  Once both bigs are set, Terry comes back towards the middle of the court, using the ball screens.

With Chandler as the second screener, his man (Udonis Haslem) is the one who comes out and attempts to trap Jason Terry.  This is where Dallas’ adjustment takes place.  Instead of having a big slipping the screen or setting a pindown (both designed to get Dirk Nowitzki open), Chandler simply rolls to the rim hard.

Another way Dallas was able to counter Miami’s trap of the ball handler coming off of staggered ball screens is Terry quickly kicking the ball to Jason Kidd on the wing.  Any pass to out of this set would be coming from Jason Kidd.  With Chandler rolling hard to the rim and being a threat to make the catch from Jason Kidd, Mike Miller leaves Cardinal to defend Chandler’s roll.  The problem is that after hedging, Udonis Haslem returns to Chandler as well.

The result is Brian Cardinal spotting up on the wing, behind the three point line.  Jason Kidd does a good job of spotting Cardinal and hits him with the pass.

Cardinal makes the catch and pulls the three before Mike Miller can return to him to contest the shot.  Here is the play in real time.

The thing to take away from this play is how Tyson Chandler’s hard roll to the rim drew the attention of both Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem.  The Heat’s bigs were so worried about stopping the lob to Chandler, that they ended up leaving Brian Cardinal wide open.

Because the set worked so well, Dallas decided to run the same exact play the next time they had possession of the basketball:

The Heat defend this play pretty well initially (though they are helped by Jason Terry who doesn’t even use the screens well) as Mike Miller slides down and helps on Chandler rolling to the rim with Haslem hedging.  Once Terry makes the pass to Kidd, Haslem returns to Chandler as Miller returns to Cardinal.  It looks like Miami has all of their bases covered, but with Haslem so concerned with getting back to Chandler, he completely ignores his help responsibility.  By the time Haslem realizes that he needs to help on Terry’s drive to the rim, it is too late, and Chandler is able to knock down the floater.

Again, this all comes from Tyson Chandler’s hard roll to the rim.  The defense is so worried about leaving Chandler open at the rim, that returning their basically takes away any chance they have at helping on dribble penetration.

The next time Brian Cardinal entered the game late in the third quarter, the Mavericks decided to go to the same play that they had success twice before:

Jason Terry again brings up the ball along the sideline as Brian Cardinal and Tyson Chandler get in position to set their ball screens.  Once again, Terry leaves towards the middle of the court a bit early (leaving plenty of space between himself and the screeners), forcing Tyson Chandler to step way out in an effort to try and get a body on Terry’s man.

Once Terry gets towards the middle of the court, Tyson Chandler again rolls hard, diving to the rim.  Because he had to step out to try and screen Terry’s man, Brian Cardinal finds himself in a position where he can set a backscreen for Chandler.  Making a very heads up play, Cardinal sets the backscreen on Chandler’s defender, Chris Bosh.

Cardinal’s screen stands Bosh up and it allows Chandler to lose him on his way to the rim.  As this happens, Terry gets the ball to Jason Kidd on the wing.  That pass to Kidd puts Haslem in a tough position, forcing him to slide over in help position.  This causes him to lose sight of Cardinal, which means he doesn’t see the screen on Bosh getting set.  This allows Chandler to get all of the way to the rim unguarded.

Jason Kidd makes a great pass, pump faking the shot and then threading the needle, hitting Chandler as he stands under the rim.  Chandler makes the catch and finishes with the strong dunk.  Here is the play in real time:

The backscreen wasn’t a designed aspect of the play, but Cardinal makes a great heads up play, recognizing the opportunity to get a screen set and setting a strong screen.

Rick Carlisle knew that he needed to get points when Dirk Nowitkzi is on the bench, and one way he was able to put his team in a position to score when Nowitzki was on the bench was by running a lot of pick and rolls in general.  Carlisle does a great job here of finding an effective way to make the defense respect the staggered screen action by sending Tyson Chandler to the rim hard, forcing the defense to react to that.  The defenses reaction opened up a number of different things including an open three, driving lanes, and of course Chandler himself.