JLei wrote:Heej wrote:bleeds_purple wrote:
There's a huge difference. I consider the Heat's defense a gimmick because it purposefully leaves players momentarily wide open and relies on sheer speed to make up the difference. It incentivizes the other team to play team ball. It speeds you up and forces you into your actions. A smart team can expose the gimmick by setting up a release valve on the screen and turning the situation into a four on three. We saw a couple teams during the Heatles era do this with varying levels of success.
The main reason I don't like that style of defense is because it automatically creates a double team which is something that offenses usually have to work hard to create and/or require an elite offensive player who would command a double. When a defense traps every screen it automatically puts them a step behind and forces them to scramble and waste tons of energy getting back in front of the defense. Coincidentally, it works really well against unprepared and lesser skilled teams as we saw with Miami when they would absolutely smother teams with traps. I remember during Linsanity in particular they absolutely crushed Lin with this style. But if you are going against superior talents with time to prepare they can easily exploit the self-created holes. This is why I call it a gimmick.
A switching defense doesn't have these flaws. Its actually the opposite. It doesn't intentionally leave players wide open. It incentivizes the other team to play isolation ball. It slows you down and takes you out of your actions. Essentially the Warriors bet that your isolation, even if conducted with a mismatch, will not beat their team play.
Make no mistake, I'm not suggesting the Warriors would steamroll the Heat. But I do think they would force them to adjust their entire defensive philosophy and quickly abandon the blitzing.
I also disagree regarding any defensive scheme being effective. For example, there is no combination of "personnel and coaching" that could make ICEing screen action involving Curry as a ball-handler effective. Rather, good teams will adjust their defense for the opponent. This is true in every sport.
Once again it comes down to personnel as I stated earlier. Yes you can short roll or short pick and rolls as counters but teams that have the optimized personnel with the recovery speed and hands/length to properly deflect balls in passing lanes can tilt the scales in their favor enough to make it an effective scheme.
You fail to see the fallacy in your statement regarding switching defenses as one again there are very clear flaws specifically in terms of mismatches on the ball and on offensive rebounds that can make it an untenable scheme unless you have the optimized personnel for it like the Warriors currently do or the 2014 Brooklyn Nets.
The ICE scheme vs Curry is the one I knew you would bring up in an attempt to refute my point about personnel but even then you're wrong. While it is painfully obvious some offenses and offensive players are super effective against certain schemes even an obvious example like the one you mentioned it is still possible to play that scheme against Curry provided you have the right players for it.
A hypothetical souped up version of KCP or Marcus Smart that essentially is impossible to screen to the point that they're one step short of teleporting through screens defending Curry at PG and a mobile athletic big like Anthony Davis with superior closeout technique on 3 pointers when the screener pops for a jumper would still be able to make what would be an otherwise irrational scheme work with the given that the back line rotations are what they need to be for this thought experiment to fly.
Even though a playmaking big like Green is the natural antidote to a trapping scheme the Heatles during their flying death machine peak are the most optimized set of personnel to run blitzing schemes in NBA history due to the coaching and players. Especially given the fact that thecurrent Warriors penchant for turnovers is the one chink in their armor and that Miami team being every bit d devastating in transition.
In the same way these Warriors just have more possessions where mismatches on ballhandlers and rebounders end up not hurting them allows them to play this style, there's simply more possessions the prime Heatles will deflect passes to the roll man, turn Curry around and pressure him a step back to halfcourt, get a hand on the ball during his dribble, or force him to give it to a wing player, that will stall the offense more than any team has been able to the last 2 years blitzing on pick and rolls.
Responding more to bleeds_purple here.
I actually agree that its a high risk high reward style that is energy intensive. It's also ridiculously hard to deal with when it was clicking. It's trying to pass over 2 long guys (usually Wade/ Bosh) to get the ball to the short roll man with Lebron running at him to intercept the pass with whoever in the corner (Mario/ Battier) sliding down to cover Bron who is covering for Bosh. Getting a pass through to the playmaking 4 man in a usable position over a double team and while also trying to avoid getting it stolen by Lebron is nice in theory but very hard to do so in reality. Even if the 4 catches it cleanly he still has usually Lebron or Battier in his face ready to deflect/ deter the easy pass. Many teams melted down (including the Spurs by the end of that series) to the point of stagnation because what happens is Bosh and Wade/ Chalmers will generally blow up the pick and roll your roll man has to come way up high as a release valve to avoid Lebron vs. catching it in a dangerous position and now you are up against the shot clock trying to reset.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxiaFkc-n2w[/youtube]
Something simple like this. Would be really nice Aldridge rolls right to the free throw line and gets a pass from Lillard. Lillard still has to try to find a way to get a through Bosh and Wade which is super hard which is why Aldridge comes way up high to catch it.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZZndWhpQQ[/youtube]
Or this one. Would be nice if Josh Smith could catch it at the elbow (Smith is actually a very good passer in the playmaking 4 type player). Thing is getting a pass through Bosh's length and avoiding Lebron sliding over is pretty hard here. Smith knows this so he stays high as a release. Play is blown up.
If the Heat weren't LONG and athletic I agree that this style would put their team at too much of a disadvantage because it is a double team and proved out in 2014 once the guys that really could execute it became older and less reliable. But with the healthy team in 2013. Was ridiculous.
Great post. The only thing about the Heat was they were notorious for giving up loads of open 3's due to the blitz and rotate style of defense. Wade/LeBron got away with it against most teams as most shooters got shook by their contests, even if they were weak closeouts. Other teams murdered them. Against GS, this would be murder like it was in 2014 against SA (granted, that was Miami's weakest/oldest defense during Bron's tenure).
The plus for Miami against GS is they would offer much more resistance inside the arc against GS's small lineup due to their quick rotations. 1-2 wins would almost be guaranteed solely from off-shooting nights for GS.
That Miami team, especially in 2013 was an offensive machine. They had a lot of consistent, varied methods to adapt to whatever the defense gave them. GS could not stifle those Miami teams like they can do to Cleveland.
