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 James’ first dribble coming off of the screen isn’t an attacking dribble, but rather one that takes him away from the basket, it immediately puts himself and his teammates at a disadvantage. With James not attacking with the dribble coming off screens, the defense doesn’t have to worry about his penetration, allowing them to rotate to the roll man at the front of the rim. So even when James makes a nice pass to a teammate rolling to the rim, there are a few Mavericks at the rim waiting to contest the shot and force a miss.
In addition, with James not attacking and not turning the corner, when he wants to make a pass to a man slipping the screen or popping out, it is an extremely tough pass. On the possession where James gets caught in the air and called for a travel, he wants to hit Udonis Haslem (who popped along the sideline) with a pass, but because his body is turned away from him, he is forced to try and try a pass where he jumps, turns in the air, and lets it go. Ultimately, this leads to a turnover. If James first dribble coming off of the screen is towards the rim, his body would be squared up, and it would be a much easier pass.
Finally, even when James wants to be aggressive, the fact that his first dribble is a passive one really puts him at a disadvantage. During both of these plays above, James makes the decision that he wants to try and turn the corner. However, instead of attacking the defense with his first dribble coming off of the screen, he dribbles out, giving the defense time to recover. On the first possession, he is able to flop his way out of trouble, but on the second, he is forced into a jumper that he misses.
In addition to a lack of an attack dribble, James also made a few curious decisions coming off of ball screens. During these situations, James came off the screen strong, putting himself in a position where he could come away with points (or at least attempt an aggressive move), however at the last second he would pass it, giving up the advantage he had:
On all three of these plays, LeBron James has a chance (and puts himself in a position) to make an aggressive decision, but at the last minutes bails the defense out. First, he turns the corner, but once he reaches the elbow, he decides to give up the ball to Chris Bosh, even though there is nobody stepping up to him. Then, he decides he wants to try and split the defenders on the pick and roll (which is something he likes to do), but halfway through, it is as if he changes his mind, deciding to throw a pass in the air that leads to a turnover. Finally, instead of attacking the double team that comes as he goes away from the screen, forcing the defense to commit then making the pass, he decides to pass without even attempting to attack the double team. This allows the Mavericks defense to rotate back and contest Mike Miller’s corner three.
Maybe the most frustrating thing about LeBron James (and his pick and roll play during game 4 in particular) is the fact that when he was aggressive, things went well for him and his teammates:
On this particular play, James decides he wants to split the ball screen. This time, James commits to the move and gets all the way to the front of the rim. This forces the defense to step up, and it allows him to hit Dwyane Wade, who is cutting to the rim on the back of Dallas’ rotations.
All it takes is one attacking move out of the pick and roll, and the defense is forces to respect James as a threat when coming off of ball screens:
The first ball screen that James gets after he made his aggressive move gets the defenses attention. Here, Shawn Marion (who is defending Wade) loses sight of his man and steps up to James because he knows he needs to make sure James doesn’t attack coming off of the screen. This allows James to hit Wade for the alley-oop.
Those two plays show you not only how dangerous James can be when coming off of screens, but why he has been effective using ball screens all post season long. For whatever reason in game 4, he just stopped attacking coming off of ballscreens. This wasn’t even him being a facilitator, either. Being a facilitator means hitting teammates and putting them in a position to score, and James wasn’t doing that. His passing was a result of not wanting to attack (especially in pick and roll situations). I have seen/heard/read at lot of different things the Heat can do to allow James to be more aggressive (hell, I even wrote some things). Work him off the ball more, put the ball in his hands more, either way, this is all on James. We saw him sit back and watch without the ball and simply be passive with the ball. James needs to be more aggressive overall, no matter the situation.
