How are they going to stop us

[andre316]

and maybe Darth Vader coming of the bench.

That mental image made me laugh.

[HEAT33]

and maybe Darth Vader coming of the bench.

That mental image made me laugh.

Yeah, seeing him get up off the bench and still sounding like he is about to have an asthma attack.

[Rodrizzle]

You need North Korea nukes, Superman to become evil, Dr. Doom will help and maybe Darth Vader coming of the bench.

What about Dr Evil and has fricking sharks with laser beams attached to their fricking heads!!

[countrybama24]

I think your half-court offense will be really good, but not the most efficient of the contenders, since teams will just play zone to pack the paint. I think teams will basically play a wade-lebron backcourt the same way they play against them solo, except maybe more zone since neither are three point threats.

I think the real reason y'all are unstoppable is mostly because of the fast break combo of wade-james. Also wade and lebron make your perimeter defense so good, that you'll force a bunch of turnovers and turnovers --> easy dunks for those two.

Just my 2 cents from an impartial non-heat fan (but also not a heat hater, wade's my 2nd fav player and I couldn't care less where lebron went).

[andre316]

I think your half-court offense will be really good, but not the most efficient of the contenders, since teams will just play zone to pack the paint. I think teams will basically play a wade-lebron backcourt the same way they play against them solo, except maybe more zone since neither are three point threats.

It should be interesting to see, because Wade has been getting better at threes (30% last year) and LeBron is already a 33% shooter, which is about average. And that was before they were teammates, along with Chris Bosh who can also knock down the open three, to draw attention away from each other. I expect Wade to be closer to 33% from three and LeBron 36%.

As for zones, you can beat them with good off-ball movement and positioning, so once they figure out they're facing one I think they'll quickly punish that team for not guarding such a lethal trio man-to-man. You can't not have a guy on all three of them.

[mopper8]

I think your half-court offense will be really good, but not the most efficient of the contenders, since teams will just play zone to pack the paint. I think teams will basically play a wade-lebron backcourt the same way they play against them solo, except maybe more zone since neither are three point threats.

It should be interesting to see, because Wade has been getting better at threes (30% last year) and LeBron is already a 33% shooter, which is about average. And that was before they were teammates, along with Chris Bosh who can also knock down the open three, to draw attention away from each other. I expect Wade to be closer to 33% from three and LeBron 36%.

As for zones, you can beat them with good off-ball movement and positioning, so once they figure out they're facing one I think they'll quickly punish that team for not guarding such a lethal trio man-to-man. You can't not have a guy on all three of them.

I welcome a zone. Zones are softest at the FT line/top of the key area, and Miami's coaching staff typically likes to attack them right there in the thick of it with their power forward. In the past, that meant UD or less often Beasley. Now it means Chris Bosh getting the ball with little/no contest or ball denial, live dribble, at ~16 feet, a range from which he's very efficient shooting or more than comfortable driving and finishing.

We're talking about a guy who put up 24 ppg on a .592 TS% last season making a living facing up at 15-17 feet, only he was being guarded one-on-one or double-teamed and having to work to get the ball first. Killer. He'll eat that up.

Forget about shooting over the top, we'll destroy the zone from the inside out.

[DeeDub]

This team is very well equipped to beat a zone. The keys (in no particular order) to beating a zone are: (1) ball movement/passing, (2) penetration (especially with ability to kick ball out), (3) perimeter (3 pt) shooting and (4) a big man with some shooting range. The Heat has all those things in spades.

(1) Ball Movement -- Wade and LeBron are among the best passers in the game and Miller is also a very good passer. If you are willing to pass the ball and are patient with your shots you can destroy a zone.

(2) Penetration -- Wade and LeBron are amogn the top 5 penetrators in the game. A zone doesn't prevent penetration -- it just requires that the penetrator be good at it. No problems there. And Wade and LeBron are both very capable of either finishign at the basket or findign the open man when the zone collapses.

(3) 3 Pt Shooting -- Miller, House and Jones are all 40% shooters from 3. Miller and Z were at 48% last year. Bosh can hit 3s and while it is not the strongest part of Wade and LeBron's games, they can still hit the 3 at around 50% eFG. I think that for both Wade and LeBron their 3 pt shooting over the years has been "deflated" because a relatively high percentage of their 3s come at the end of halves or games with a defense specifically set up to stop it. I think that is a reason why none of the great go-to scorers, no matter how hard they work at their game, have career 3 pt shooting percentages over 34-35%: Kobe (34%), Jordan (32.7%), Wade (28.9%), LeBron (32.9%), CAnthony (30.8%), Iverson (31.3%), etc. I

(4) Big Man with Shooting Range -- Bosh is a very good perimeter shooter (36.4% from 3 last year and 43% from 16-23 feet, which is very good), as are Z and Haslem. In a zone, if you move them up toward the top of the key they will get open 18 footers witht he nearest defender being a guard who is likely 6-6 or shorter. If you keep Bosh down more toward the baseline, he is great at driving around a big man defender who comes out to try to defend the perimeter shot.

[boogydown]

You can't stop them, but you can limit and try to control a bad situation.

Teams with a talented front court can control and limit them defensively but can't prevent them while at the same time take advantage of a weaker front court offensively. In the back court, they can only try to match up, but you can't stop them.

It's like saying how can Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen stop Lebron James and Dwayne Wade. Well how can they stop each other? They can't. They can only try to limit and control the bad situation they are in.

[DWadeno3]

I don't get all the zone talk either. First of all I think Dwyane and LeBron are two underrated shooters. Their numbers might not give you any indication but I wouldn't leave either of them open on the perimeter. Plus, you can always attack a zone and thus force them to create gaps which give the other four guys on the floor enough room to take advantage of it and we have to perimeter players who can create major havoc by attacking a zone and then passing it off to an open teammate.

I also agree with the Bosh comments made on this page. He really is underrated around the league and I hope he'll get the credit he deserves this season so that all this Gasol nuthugging will stop (even though nonetheless he's an outstanding player).

[countrybama24]

All the comments on the Zone are good points. I certainly don't think the zone is an achilles heel or anything for this team, I just think you won't have the most efficient half-court offense at the end of the day, because you'll have only 1 starter who is an accomplished three point shooter.

Lebron and wade can clearly shoot, but they've always had the open three if they wanted, defenders have been giving them that shot for years. They'll take 33% from beyond the arc all day. Lebron even shot 50% in the playoffs, but it's still not the comparatively efficient option for either of them.

I'm very excited to see this team play and how teams game plan against them, I think only the season will tell. I just think teams aren't gonna let lebron and wade get easy shots at the rim, so they'll leave wade or lebron and whoever else is on the court who can't shoot the trey, and double anything (penetrators, bigs etc) that comes near the paint.

It isn't like they have to play 100% zone. They can have a guy on lebron and wade at all time, but just have the other 2 perimeter defenders play zone while 1 guy goes one on one. At the end of the day, defenses are gonna find ways to make you shoot jumpers, one way or another. Sure, those jumpers are gonna be pretty open, but elite defenses aren't gonna be broken with layups or dunks, no matter how good your team is at passing.

[andre316]

I just think you won't have the most efficient half-court offense at the end of the day,

Agreed, which is why I'll bang my head against the wall if this team doesn't run like Coach Spo says he wants them to.

[countrybama24]

Yea, I have faith this team will execute the break just fine. What ball handler (outside of elite PGs) can deal with wade and lebron harassing everything on the perimeter? And when the break does start, wade-lebron is just absolutely unstoppable. I'm sure some defenders / coaches are losing sleep over it right now.

But I do think that half-court efficiency isn't gonna be elite THIS year, but once y'all have a few midlevel exceptions (or whatever comes out of the CBA).... then it gets scary.

[Dezmondballins3]

wont be the best half court soring team but when you have 3 top 10 scorers you cant say itll be a problem

[alucryts]

first things first like i said before in another thread, as disappointed as i am in all 3 in miami, im trying to put that behind me and at least enjoy something special while its happening n as a basketball fan; not regret hating it later.

i realize a few of these may be stretches, but they are the possible things i can think of all together in one spot. anyway, a bulls fans pov on this subject:

1. the three not working well together is the obvious one

2. someone getting hurt is the other obvious one

3. heres a personal theory: is if lebron plays the pg role, teams may not respect his scoring threat as much and his play making ability may decrease.

4. another maybe obvious one is bosh literally going invisible with wade and lebron on the same team and being reduced to a role player

5. good teams mega packing in the paint and letting the heat shoot 3s as a high risk/reward type strategy. maybe keep an excellent defender out on the perimeter to dog anyone hitting 3s

6. the pg and c being so invisible that teams play 5 on 3 on defense and ignore the pg c unless they are in the paint. this should obviously be avoided if the coaches arent terrible tho lol

those are the only real options i can think of atm but imo a few of these would need to happen with none being likely

[roy_jones_calderon]

4. another maybe obvious one is bosh literally going invisible with wade and lebron on the same team and being reduced to a role player

This is the one I'd put money on if I absolutely had to. I don't think he's going to be happy being the third guy indefinitely.

I think the Heat should deal Wade in a couple of years for more roster balance and a legit defensive center.

[shadowx]

4. another maybe obvious one is bosh literally going invisible with wade and lebron on the same team and being reduced to a role player

This is the one I'd put money on if I absolutely had to. I don't think he's going to be happy being the third guy indefinitely.

I think the Heat should deal Wade in a couple of years for more roster balance and a legit defensive center.

Completely disagree i think bosh is what will make this team win by playing inside the paint.

[TrueRain]

4. another maybe obvious one is bosh literally going invisible with wade and lebron on the same team and being reduced to a role player

This is the one I'd put money on if I absolutely had to. I don't think he's going to be happy being the third guy indefinitely.

I think the Heat should deal Wade in a couple of years for more roster balance and a legit defensive center.

And I think that's one of the dumbest ideas I've read on this board

[Heat11114]

2. someone getting hurt is the other obvious one

This is seriously the dumbest thing ever. This isn't a Miami problem this is an everyone problem. If anything Miami is better prepared to weather an injury than say Chicago (Rose), LA (Kobe), or Magic (Dwight) because we do have 3 all-stars. Does it make us worse? Of course, but it's not like we're a .500 team if one of them goes down.

[MVP-3]

4. another maybe obvious one is bosh literally going invisible with wade and lebron on the same team and being reduced to a role player

This is the one I'd put money on if I absolutely had to. I don't think he's going to be happy being the third guy indefinitely.

I think the Heat should deal Wade in a couple of years for more roster balance and a legit defensive center.

NO.


Bosh is going to be fine. When they are doubling Wade and Bron... Bosh will just have his way

[mattzane227]

yeah I'd say the biggest possible problem would be if Bosh LITERALLY went invisible. It would be pretty much impossible to even find him in the post or anywhere to even involve him in any plays. Or by literally did you actually mean the opposite of literally?