Welcome to “One Play!” Throughout the 2019-20 NBA season, our NBA.com Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal its bigger meaning.
After playing little-to-no zone defence in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat played more zone than man-to-man defence in Game 2. Some of that was out of necessity with Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo being sidelined with injuries, but the Heat played more zone defence than any team in the league during the regular season and had a lot of success with it against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. They were bound to break it out at some point against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In theory, the Heat’s zone should give the Lakers a lot of trouble. In reality, it’s hard to play zone against a team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
We’ll get into all of that soon. First, let’s take a closer look at one particular possession from Game 2 in which James and Davis picked the Heat’s zone apart.
The play: James sets Davis up for a dunk.
Breakdown: Let’s just get to the meat of the possession.
With 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock, Rajon Rondo receives the ball from Alex Caruso just inside the 3-point line. Rondo and Caruso are on opposite wings, Kyle Kuzma and James are in opposite corners and Davis is in the dunker spot closest to Kuzma.
The Heat are playing their normal 2-3 zone, in which they have their two-best wing defenders (Andre Iguodala and Jimmy Butler) at the top of the zone, their two guards (Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro) on the baseline and their centre (Kelly Olynyk) protecting the rim.
When Rondo receives the ball from Caruso, Iguodala closes out on him. Butler, meanwhile, leaves Caruso to prevent Rondo from driving to the basket. Everyone else on the Heat matches up with whoever is closest to them.
What happens behind Iguodala and Butler is the beginning of the end for the Heat.
With Olynyk shading towards Davis, James makes a cut from the corner to the basket, looking for an alley-oop from Rondo. The Heat react in time to prevent him from getting an alley-oop, but it draws Herro into the paint and Olynyk away from Davis for a split-second.
Even though Herro’s zone in the zone is the corner, the Heat have their guards tag the person on the wing on ball reversals to give whoever is on top of the zone time to recover. They’re then expected to drop back to keep the 2-3 zone intact.
The problem is Caruso hot potatoes the ball to James on the baseline before Butler can recover. That forces Olynyk to rotate over to James to prevent a breakdown.
To be fair to Nunn, he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stick with Davis, and he risks James skipping a pass to Kuzma in the corner for a wide open 3. Close out on Kuzma, and, well…
It doesn’t help that Iguodala was stuck in no man’s land, although he didn’t exactly have an easy decision to make either.
Why it matters: Some numbers to chew on.
According to Couper Moorhead of Heat.com, the Lakers averaged 1.50 points per possession against the Heat when they were in man-to-man defence in Game 2. When they were in zone, that number dropped to 1.22 points per possession.
Better? Yes. Still a ridiculous rate? Also yes.
For perspective, the Dallas Mavericks had the best halfcourt offence in the league this season. Their offensive rating? 1.01 points per possession, per Cleaning The Glass. Anything over 1.10 points per possession is absurd. Anything over 1.20 points per possession is entering video game territory.
The combination resulted in the Lakers scoring at a rate of 1.35 points per 100 possessions in Game 2, making for the third-most efficient Finals performance in the play-by-play era, per NBA.com’s John Schuhmann. The Heat had their most efficient game of the playoffs, but they couldn’t string enough stops together for the end result to ever be in doubt.
Where the zone was effective: Miami was able to keep the Lakers out of the restricted area, get them to take a ton of 3s and keep them off the foul line. From that perspective, the zone worked. Where it wasn’t effective: Los Angeles still scored a ton in the paint (just not necessarily in the restricted area), made enough 3s to keep the Heat honest and dominated the offensive glass, the latter of which contributed to 21 second chance points.
The offensive rebounds in particular were a killer. There were a number of times where the Heat got the Lakers to take the shot they wanted, only for someone to swoop in for an offensive rebound and putback.
It’s easy to say that the Heat just need to be more disciplined, but one of the weaknesses of a zone is that it leaves teams vulnerable to offensive rebounds.
You can see why on possessions like this:
Olynyk does his job in boxing out Dwight Howard, but it leaves Nunn and Iguodala battling for position with Davis. Nine times out of 10, that’s not going to end well for them.
What will be interesting to see in Game 3 is whether or not the Heat lean on their zone defence as much as they did in Game 2. As I mentioned at the top, they went from playing little-to-no zone defence in Game 1 to playing zone almost exclusively in Game 2. Some of that had to do with the Heat being short-handed – again, not having Adebayo and Dragic makes it much harder for them to match up with the Lakers man-to-man – but it might be their best shot at getting back into this series if Adebayo and Dragic can return.
Even so, playing zone against James and Davis isn’t exactly foolproof.
James filled a number of different roles against the Heat’s zone in Game 2, alternating between attacking them from the wing, the middle and the baseline. He didn’t pick the Heat apart with his 3-point shooting. Rather, he picked them apart with his passing and cutting.
James made a couple of jaw-dropping passes in Game 2, this being one of them:
As for Davis, he punished the Heat on the offensive glass and out of the post. He finished with more offensive rebounds (8) than everyone on the Heat combined (6) and once again used his size to impose his will around the basket. He’s simply too strong for Butler and Jae Crowder and too quick for Olynyk and Meyers Leonard.
There’s no doubt that having Adebayo back would help – he’s a far better rebounder and rim protector than Olynyk and Leonard – but expecting him to solve all of the issues the Heat dealt with in Game 2, especially with him dealing with an injury, is … a lot. It’s not as though the answer is as simple as them going back to playing man-to-man if Adebayo returns either. Game 1 was a prime example of how difficult they are to defend in those situations, as it paves the way for James and Davis to hunt mismatches.
Such is life when you play against a team led by two super duper stars. Whatever weakness you may have, they’re going to figure it out.
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TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
