One of the biggest plays of the game took place with about 2:30 seconds left in the game with the Dallas Mavericks leading the Miami Heat by three points. After a pick and roll for Dwyane Wade, a tremendous cut by LeBron James, and a collision in the restricted area between LeBron James and Tyson Chandler, Joey Crawford made what seemed to be the incorrect call. However, upon closer examination (and referring to a little known/used rule) we can see that Crawford made the correct call given the situation:
The play starts with Chris Bosh coming up and setting a screen for Dwyane Wade, with Wade actually using the screen. Off the ball, LeBron James sits in the corner, being covered by Jason Kidd.
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.
Trying to figure out what is wrong with LeBron James and his play, Hoopspeak’s Beckley Mason gathered some of the best basketball minds (and yours truly), and hosted a roundtable trying to figure what was wrong with LeBron and how the Heat can get him going. A part of my contribution to the roundtable:
When looking at what the Heat (and coach Erik Spoelstra) can do differently to get LeBron James going is something that they have done in the past and it is something that usually leads to tremendous success. However, for whatever reason the Heat shy away from it in late game situations. The set/quick hitting play I am talking about? The pick and pop with Dwyane Wade as the ball handler and LeBron James as the screener…
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:
Trailing by three points with 6.7 seconds left, the Miami Heat were coming out of a timeout looking to tie the game. After going for the quick two a possession earlier, the Heat needed to go for the tie with no timeouts left. The play head coach Erik Spoelstra ran was one that would have resulted in a clean look, but some poor execution resulted in a tough contested three from Mike Miller:
The play starts with the Heat players on the court starting out in bunches of twos. Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade are standing on the strong side block while LeBron James and Chris Bosh stand on the strong side elbow. As the ball goes to the trigger man Mike Miller, Wade turns around and curls off of a Chris Bosh screen going away from the basketball.
In game three, the Miami Heat scored an average 13 points on 12 post up possessions. However, if you break this down further, you will notice that the Heat had a lot of success on the block when they were posting up either Dwyane Wade or LeBron James. On the six possessions where either Wade (fourtimes) or James (twice) posted up, the Heat came away with 11 points. The Heat are having so much success posting these two up, that the Dallas Mavericks may be forced to change the way that they defend the Heat’s wing post up possessions.
All series long, the Mavericks have sent a double team whenever James or Wade post up their man. When LeBron James gets posted up, it is usually a set play and in game three it was no different. James’ post up plays came on the first possession of the game and the first possession of the second half. These post up opportunities are a set play based on how the Heat know Dallas defends James on the block.
Expecting the double team to come from Joel Anthony’s man, the Heat actually use Anthony to set a pindown screen for a shooter on the weakside. In the first clip, the result is Anthony getting a good screen set on Jason Kidd, resulting in a three point shot for Mike Bibby. On the second play, the Heat look to run the same play, but Dallas being a little hesitant sends a double from Chris Bosh’s man. The result is still the same, with Bosh getting (and hitting) a wide open jumper.
After Chris Bosh hit his jumper that gave the Heat a two point lead, the Dallas Mavericks came out of a timeout looking to get Dirk Nowitzki the basketball early in the clock, allowing him to get a shot off quickly that would maintain a two for one opportunity. The move Nowitzki made is a move that we have seen him make all postseason long, taking a dribble to the right, spinning, and then taking a hard dribble with his left before rising up for the shot. However, Nowitzki didn’t take the shot, instead he threw the basketball out of bounds:
Now, we have seen the Miami Heat double Dirk Nowitzki all series long, and just about every time, Nowitzki made the right play (whether it was to shoot or pass). However, this time, Nowitzki makes the wrong play, trying to throw a pass at the last second, but Nowitzki waits so long that Shawn Marion was already crashing the boards as the pass was made, leading to Nowitzki throwing it out of bounds.
After Chris Bosh’s shot along the baseline and an empty possession by each team, the Dallas Mavericks found themselves with the basketball, down two, and coming out of their final timeout with 4.4 seconds left. Mavericks’ coach Rick Carlisle ran a play using Peja Stojakovic as a decoy, trying to set up Jason Terry in the corner for a three point shot. However, with Dallas rushing and a fantastic defensive play by Dwyane Wade, they were forced to go to their second option (a damn good one) which was Dirk Nowitzki at the top of the key. With Udonis Haslem covering him, Nowitzki was forced into a miss.
The play starts with Peja Stojakovic coming off of two separate screens along the baseline, one from Dirk Nowitzki and one from Tyson Chandler. Stojakovic uses these screens as if he is flaring out towards the corner.
Instead of heading to the corner, Stojakovic curls around Chandler’s screen and starts heading back towards where he came from. As this is taking place, Jason Terry sets a pindown screen for Nowitzki in the middle of the lane. Nowitzki uses it and gets to the weakside elbow.
