How to beat the Heat: ZONE DEFENSE!

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/david_aldridge/08/23/morning.tip.guest.casey/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1


The matchup zone will accomplish the following against Miami:

1. It will neutralize the Heat's athleticism.
2. It will disrupt Miami's offensive rhythm.
3. It will impede the pick-and-roll drastically.
4. It will contain or push out or down Miami's drive and kick plays.
5. It will force the Heat's offense to take time. The matchup makes the shot clock your ally.
6. It will make the Heat a "catch and shoot" team. How many of those players does Miami have? I'm not talking about spot-up shooters; I'm talking about guys who can catch and shoot. I see maybe one, Mike Miller.
7. It will make Miami's offense more routine, and the more routine an offense, the easier it is for a defense to groove into its schemes.
8. It can make Miami think "zone" even if the other team is back in man-to-man defense.



As you can see from the above diagrams, when James or Wade drives against the zone, X5 will pick him up thus stopping him from attacking. This simple action can take away the offenses aggressiveness and make the Heat into a jump shooting team. Can Miller, Eddie House and Mario Chalmers make enough jump shots to keep them in games? Only time will tell.

Over the weekend, the U.S. National Team won close games against Lithuania and Spain in pre-tournament friendly matches. But the U.S. showed the reality of NBA players -- they have a hard time scoring from the outside!

sure wish Tom T were here to help implement these schemes

Our basic defense starts as a man to man then overplays wherever the ball goes,overplays the strongside,I've heard many pundits say we play a disquised zone......hopefully Shaq will get it.

What if Bosh, or anybody else, sets a pick for LJ? Then this stuff means nothing.

Suppose they don't pass to LJ, suppose they pass to DWade and LJ sets a pick for him. DWade comes off the pick and drives or shoots or passes to LJ who is rolling to the hoop or has a mismatch on the switch.

Wade and House can drain it from outside with great effectiveness. Chalmers is a good mid-range shooter. Same with Arroyo.

It's better to turn almost any team into a jumpshooting team. A lot of people bitch about Rondo's shooting but the last time I looked layups are better than jumpers. The difference might be less stark with other guards, but the concept is sound. Make them take harder shots and unless you're a freak like Eddie House who is better from 23' than from 3', a jump shot is worse than a layup.

Nevertheless, it's nice to see someone putting their schemes on a chart. Now the offensive coordinator for the HEAT has something solid he can plan against. :-)

Seriously, Brandon, good find. It was interesting to follow the plays as diagrammed.

bob

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I think a lot of teams will play zone against the Heat. I think Boston will do the same thing that they have been doing ..play some man and play some zone.

Because of Boston's size in the post teams like the Heat will try to run more and neutralize Boston's half court suffocating defense.

This will be a very interesting season.

I think the heat have more than enough weapons to shoot out a zone however their ability to play on the perimeter will be impacted by how well they play offense in the post. Bosh is not a pure post up player but he can knock down shots from the outside which will open the middle up somewhat for DW and LB to drive the ball.

These guys can still get off even when they are doubled and tripled teamed. The only way this does not work for the Heat is if both Wade and James insist on pounding the ball. Neither player has ever been effective playing off the ball. They will have to reinvent how they play.

The Celtics just need to pound them inside relentlessly