RealGM

I usually just lurk and laugh at the funny comments guys make on here but this series has me so upset I think I will just vent by putting my own crazy solution out there for you guys to dissect, rip, or whatever.

So for Game 5 solutions, the first thing I would do is stop the help defense and trapping. Pop has figured out how to exploit it and Spo would be a first class idiot if he continues to think that an aged and injured Heat team can run faster than the Spurs can move the ball.

Play man to man defense and this allows us to utilize players that suck in the help style of defense that the Heat like to play.

I would then change the lineup. I would start with a BIG lineup to try to neutralize the spurs starting 5. So my starting 5 would be something like this:

Lebron (will have to guard Parker if Pop leaves him in, only one who can in this lineup)
Beasley (can guard Green)
Lewis (will have to guard Leonard)
Bosh (will guard Diaw)
Oden (will guard Duncan)

vs

Parker
Green
Leonard
Diaw
Duncan

Beasley should be better in a man to man system, and even if he gets beat off the dribble by his man he would still get those points back on the other end. The only Spur that can guard him is Leonard who would have his hands full with Lebron.

But the thing about this lineup is that it should create a mismatch for Tony Parker because he would be too short to guard anybody in the Heat's starting 5. Pop could leave him in but Tony would be in foul trouble very quickly trying to guard someone. They can't replace Parker with Ginobili or Mills because it would be the same problem. So they will lose the edge in the PG department.

Then I would attack them at the center position.

For the first half I would play the game through Oden and Bosh, with Lebron handling the ball. Oden and Tim Duncan should both start racking up fouls on each other. Oden will get more fouls but it won't matter because I would just be using him as fodder, someone to help get fouls on Duncan. Trust me, as Oden starts to go up for those dunks, Duncan will start to accumulate fouls. I would have Lebron and Beasley attacking the paint to help Oden get Duncan in foul trouble. Oden has an offensive game, so we wouldn't lose on that end. I would also have Bosh inside the paint and either attacking the rim or feeding Oden the ball.

I believe Pop would have to sit Duncan eventually.

Now they would change the lineup to include Splitter.

I would pull Oden (need to save him, he probably would have 4 fouls by now) and bring in Hamilton. Now Splitter and Diaw have to stop Bosh and a 7 foot center who can shoot jump shots from scoring. But I would tell Hamilton I don't want him shooting jump shots I want him to stay by the rim and attack at every opportunity. Both Splitter and Hamilton will begin to collect fouls, but we can lose our centers (Oden and Hamilton) due to foul trouble, they can't lose theirs.

I would do this in the first half and have Duncan and Splitter in foul try by half time.

Pop may want to bring in Manu or Patty Mills but the Heat's BIG lineup would be a problem. They may score, but the Heat would be scoring also because guys like Manu wouldn't be any help on defense.

Now this lineup is so "out of the box" there's no way Spo would have the balls to use it. But in my opinion it would disable the spurs system and let Lebron be able to go off. As far as Wade, bring him in with the second unit when Pop sits his starters and put him in the post, right by the basket. This should hopefully make Wade more efficient and get him to the foul line more.

Eager to hear opinions on this lineup.

Somethingg crazy I was thinking about the other day, but it has no chance of happening. I'd go with

Allen, Jones, James, UD, and Bosh to start. Start Allen on Parker (he has to go under every screen), Jones on Green (just stick him), Lebron, UD and Bosh on Kawhi, Diaw and Duncan respectively. Then I'd sub in Wade for Allen at the 5 minute mark, Beasley for James with 2 to go or so, Birdman for Bosh with say 3 or 4 minutes to go, and Lewis for UD as needed.

Why? Our point guards have been terrible, yes Cole too. Wade has sucked defensively. Show the spurs a new look. Go down swinging, and most importantly give Lebron room to operate from the get go.

It will never happen, but I'd be crazy enough to roll that out and live with the results.

You wanna insert Beasley and Oden into a team that already has massive problems with timely rotations? That's suicidal.

The problem is, most of you think it's a problem of individual match ups when in reality, the Spurs just move us around and we let them. You can't chase the ball for 15 seconds and expect to be there because the ball will always move quicker than any man can. So in order to prevent that from happening, we'll have to be much more aggressive defensively. Right now San Antonio can swing the ball around as if we weren't even there. There are basically two simple solutions to this: You either pressure the ball handler a lot, thus at least having him waste time to throw a pass so that one of our guys can get to the guy he wants to pass to or make sure you have the simple passing lanes closed by always having someone stick to those guys. We attempted this by switching a lot, but we were simply not disciplined enough and left guys open as a result or we created mismatches they exploited.

We could change our pick and roll coverage a little, possibly by playing ice, which basically means you don't hedge and instead keep the "screen-defender" sagged off while the "ball handler-defender" makes sure his opponent doesn't even get to use the screen. The risk is, you'll give up a long shot for the screener every time because his man is down low, but you could live with that if Duncan or Splitter is setting the screen.

Even if we were to do that though, we'd still have the problem of San Antonio having great off-the ball action, where we simply have to have good communication and discipline in order to not have any mix-ups or confusions which results in losing players.

ssenbonzakura wrote:Allen, Jones, James, UD, and Bosh to start. Start Allen on Parker (he has to go under every screen), Jones on Green (just stick him), Lebron, UD and Bosh on Kawhi, Diaw and Duncan respectively.

I think JJ would be able to guard Green. He could also make Green chase him around the court to try an tire him out. But Parker would torch Ray Allen. That's the only problem I see with this lineup.

DWadeno3 wrote:You wanna insert Beasley and Oden into a team that already has massive problems with timely rotations? That's suicidal.

I agree it would be suicidal it they continue to play help defense. I think it would be okay if they play man to man and stop switching.

JTayler wrote:

DWadeno3 wrote:You wanna insert Beasley and Oden into a team that already has massive problems with timely rotations? That's suicidal.

I agree it would be suicidal it they continue to play help defense. I think it would be okay if they play man to man and stop switching.

We are playing man-to-man defense, we're just hedging hard on the pick and roll amongst other things, which is probably what you mean by "playing help defense" . Help defense is a basic concept in basketball and especially present in a man-to-man defense because you are gonna get beat off the dribble at some point or beaten to the basket on a cut or get screened off.
The necessary rotations I'm referring to are mostly a result of the Spurs' good offensive execution. Beasley and Oden would get completely lost.

DWadeno3 wrote:We are playing man-to-man defense, we're just hedging hard on the pick and roll amongst other things, which is probably what you mean by "playing help defense" . Help defense is a basic concept in basketball and especially present in a man-to-man defense because you are gonna get beat off the dribble at some point or beaten to the basket on a cut or get screened off.
The necessary rotations I'm referring to are mostly a result of the Spurs' good offensive execution. Beasley and Oden would get completely lost.

Ok, thanks for your input man. I understand your points on this now.

As long as Chalmers ain't in there I'm cool with it.

We need "ojo" against the Spurs! Anyone have a Mexican abuela that can help?

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-f ... -at-heart/

So, I think it's really a mistake now to switch things up too much. We would only compound the errors we have. I don't think it's time to chop and try to paste things together. We need more consistency from our players, but that isn't going to come by putting them in a stressful chaotic situation that they haven't played in before. Unfortunately (or not), we are here now with what we have and this is the team that is going to get us the ring.

Full Disclosure (before I'm called out!): When I was arguing before about having Beasley around, I meant on the bench, coming off to give an offensive option when LeBron James couldn't play. I think Beasley should be an offensive option.

Also, in response to many posts here (including the OP), I've seen the video of Dwayne Wade's terrible defensive play in the Finals, but even so, I think it would be an enormous mistake to leave him off. That is despite the fact that he was even worse than Chalmers last time out.

I don't really have a solution, but I think the only thing that gets us through is our players battling with their backs to the wall. I am optimistic, but insane.

So this is how I would approach it:

First unit: (James, Wade, Lewis, Bosh, Andersen/Oden)
Run the plays through LeBron. James marks Parker.
Slower and both more physical and cerebral.

Second unit: (Cole, Allen, James, Beasley, Bosh)
Faster team that can strike for the jugular offensively.

Third unit: (Cole/Douglas, Douglas(when Cole is "1")/Jones, Battier, Haslem, Bosh/Andersen)

Play Wade approx 25 minutes.

So who sits from our team?

0 - Toney Douglas - PG
1 - Chris Bosh - C/PF
3 - Dwayne Wade - SG/PG
6 - LeBron James - SG/PG/SF/PF
7 - Justin Hamilton - C (inactive)
8 - Michael Beasley - SF/PF
9 - Rashard Lewis - SF/PF
11 - Chris Andersen - C
15 - Mario Chalmers - PG (inactive)
20 - Greg Oden - C
22 - James Jones - SF/SG
30 - Norris Cole - PG
31 - Shane Battier - SF/SG
34 - Ray Allen - SG
40 - Udonis Haslem - PF

Sorry, Mario.

guys the sad reality is that our bench hasnt done jack sh** all series while san antonios has. plain and simple. lebron and bosh have been the only contributors. wade has had probably 2 good games but other than them. rio and cole have been zeros. rashards hot shooting only lasted the indy series. birdman looks gassed, battier is a zero. ray allen hasnt been hitting his threes. we cant win like this. we need our bench players to step up significantly or else lebron and bosh are going to continue to struggle down the stretch. san antonio is daring our bench to beat them but they cant hit anything.

Here is where we miss Mike Miller. Because of Wade knees the lineup that Heat ran with Wade at Point, Mike Miller, James, Battier or Haslem and Bosh is the type of lineup we need to run. Only if we could do the same but insert Beasley in Mike role. Lewis has tried to play that role but Lewis, can not handle the ball, finish around the rim, and rebound like Miller and Beasley. I rather have Wade defending on the Ball instead of getting caught in the paint rotating to defend the bigs. This is one of many mismatches that Pop has exposed to perfection. Wade length is more suited for trapping and making it difficult passing out of the trap. The only way we will beat the Spurs is successfully smothering the ball handler when trapping, not allowing him to have vision to passing to the roller down the middle.