Let's talk about the 2011 Finals

[Texas Chuck]

Also, I totally understand the Wade/Heat fans coming out and viewing some of the comments as insulting or disrespectful to Wade and thus wish to label it a myth that the Mavs put the emphasis on Lebron, but I can assure you that the Mavs game plan was 100% Lebron-centric just like in 2006 it was Shaq-centric. It backfired in the end in 2006 when Avery never adjusted to the fact that Damp/Diop were doing a solid enough job on Shaq and continue to let Wade roam free. But in 2011 the strategy proved correct. Yeah Wade was individually brilliant, but that Mavs team in 2011 was too good, too smart, too experienced, and too well-coached for Wade to beat them by himself the way he did 5 years earlier.

This isn't meant in any way to downplay Wade--its just the strategy choice the Mavs actually made. Had it failed and the Heat won the series Im not sure we as Mavs fans would ever get over it--Wade doing it to us again, but luckily Rick Carlisle is coaching to win, not avoid potentially negative story lines.

[PaulieWal]

Also, I totally understand the Wade/Heat fans coming out and viewing some of the comments as insulting or disrespectful to Wade and thus wish to label it a myth that the Mavs put the emphasis on Lebron, but I can assure you that the Mavs game plan was 100% Lebron-centric just like in 2006 it was Shaq-centric. It backfired in the end in 2006 when Avery never adjusted to the fact that Damp/Diop were doing a solid enough job on Shaq and continue to let Wade roam free. But in 2011 the strategy proved correct. Yeah Wade was individually brilliant, but that Mavs team in 2011 was too good, too smart, too experienced, and too well-coached for Wade to beat them by himself the way he did 5 years earlier.

This isn't meant in any way to downplay Wade--its just the strategy choice the Mavs actually made. Had it failed and the Heat won the series Im not sure we as Mavs fans would ever get over it--Wade doing it to us again, but luckily Rick Carlisle is coaching to win, not avoid potentially negative story lines.

I don't think you are particularly wrong but the "LeBron deferred to Wade" (not saying you said that) and that "Mavs just let Wade get his" are problematic statements. I am sure the Mavs planned more for LeBron than they planned for Wade BUT the point becomes that some act like they were leaving Wade's defenders on an island and just let him do whatever he wanted to do which is not true. After they would get the ball out of LeBron's hands, Wade would also see a lot of double and triple coverage. In that sense trying to downplay his level of play in that series can at times become annoying but other than that I am sure they lived with LeBron strugling the way he did. I mean 8 points from your 1a/1b option on an extremely top-heavy team is just brutal and even then that game 4 was extremely close.

That being said Carlisle absolutely ran circles around Spo and deserves a lot of credit.

[Texas Chuck]

Im not saying the Mavs didn't double Wade when they could--they obviously did. But they also guarded him with Jason Terry a lot, and even some JJ Barea. Dallas always had their best win defender assigned to Lebron first and foremost and went with secondary options on Wade.

Even without the strategic moves designed specifically to limit Lebron that weren't done to Wade, it should be clear who the Mavs decided to prioritize.

And again this should never be taken as an insult to Wade but merely a strategy. Just like Lebron never really guarded Dirk even tho he was clearly their best hope as an individual defender. The idea was to guard Dirk with a big and double/triple relentlessly and to use Lebron to keep Terry bottled up with the idea that the role players for Dallas couldn't beat them.

[JeepCSC]

The Mavs were not too well-coached, too good, too smart not to be beaten by Wade alone. They almost did lose with the strategy. The strategy worked not because it was perfect and the Mavs were unstoppable. It worked in no small part because the Heat allowed it to work. And by Heat, I mean Spo and James. It takes two to tango. Mavs deserve credit, above all Carlisle, but the series was not such that the Heat and Wade were hopeless causes.

[PaulieWal]

Im not saying the Mavs didn't double Wade when they could--they obviously did. But they also guarded him with Jason Terry a lot, and even some JJ Barea. Dallas always had their best win defender assigned to Lebron first and foremost and went with secondary options on Wade.

Even without the strategic moves designed specifically to limit Lebron that weren't done to Wade, it should be clear who the Mavs decided to prioritize.

And again this should never be taken as an insult to Wade but merely a strategy. Just like Lebron never really guarded Dirk even tho he was clearly their best hope as an individual defender. The idea was to guard Dirk with a big and double/triple relentlessly and to use Lebron to keep Terry bottled up with the idea that the role players for Dallas couldn't beat them.

I have no intention of turning this into a Wade vs. LeBron thread since I like both of those guys and none of this Wade talk should overshadow what Spaceman has done brilliantly here by breaking down the series in details. My only point is that sometimes it's funny to see people saying that, "Well LeBron sucked because he deferred too much and should have been the clear-cut #1 option." And yes, I agree the Mavs were all for stopping LeBron but they did also focus a lot of their attention on Wade. For me it's not about insulting anyone since I don't get invested into these discussions like that, I am simply saying that he too faced his fair share of tough coverages and still played superbly. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess simply re-framing the "Mavs let do Wade whatever he wanted" into something like "Wade played well despite seeing a lot of the tough coverages that LeBron saw though LeBron faced more of those coverages" would make for a better discourse. The reason I say that is because a lot of the times teams when letting players "get their own" play those guys with single coverages and focus the doubles/triples/zone coverages on one guy which is something that Boston actually did to Wade and LeBron in 2012 to make it that much more difficult for LeBron without Bosh. They double teamed Wade to put more of a scoring load on James in that series and he delivered.

[Joao Saraiva]

The thing is that even when Wade wasn't that good against the Bulls he still helped LeBron close out the Bulls at the end of games. Remember game 5 when both LeBron/Wade went bananas on some crazy 18-2 run?

Now think about how close games 2-5 were in the Finals and Wade had no help from LeBron to close those games out. Even if LeBron struggled overall, the Heat would have still won if he had helped Wade close those games out since games 2-5 were extremely close.

Here it is, this is just insane. Why couldn't LeBron/Wade do this against the Mavs?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgLMI784M4E[/youtube]

I don't know if it is mainly because Lebron made a better use of Bosh like you are saying, but Chris played infinitely better against Chicago than against Dallas. And Dallas played better than Chicago , so you can't say stoping Lebron has more effect than stoping Wade just because we won one series and lost the other.
Wade didn't played very well against the Bulls, true, but like PaulieWal said, he was still crucial for us. He made some huge play down the stretch, like in the OT of game 4 where he made a couple of huge block.

This video is such a great memory as a Heat fan. That comeback was just incredible. The 11 playoffs had a ton of those epic comeback if my memory serves me right. The Brandon Roy one against Dallas, Dallaw own comeback against OKC, then the one against Miami in game 2 (not a good memory)...

Man If I could and1 Pauliewal and Hornetmania more I would.


I'm extremely tired of this myth that Dallas' put more emphasis into stopping LeBron over Wade and they just let Wade do his own thing. It's completely disrespectful to Wade's brilliant performance and just flat out wrong.

Unfortunately Dawkins account got deleted because he had the entire highlights of Wade vs Dallas, you could see through-out that Dallas made a concerted effort into stopping WADE, they threw double and even triple-teams(or at least had 3 eyes on him) every time he drove or was in the post including at times sending LBJ's defender.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PflzRXn5Wk[/youtube]

Wade was just better at attacking the double/triple teams and was A LOT more aggressive and relentless, JVG put it perfectly "He's everywhere". It was literally a tail of two sides between the two, Wade was super aggressive while LeBron was very passive and obviously rattled (in which he admitted in 2012).

Also this notion that the Heat needed LeBron to be the number 1 guy to win is also complete farce. The reason the Heat beat Chicago is because BOTH LeBron and Bosh played superbly while Wade still chipped in 18ppg and still made critical CLUTCH plays in each win especially in game 5 as we all know. In the Dallas series, Wade was the only one playing superbly. James AND Bosh both played worse than in the previous series, meaning vs Chicago you had 2 of the big 3 playing superb and 1 playing subpar with critical points while against Dallas ONLY Wade was great with the others under-performing and no one providing key clutch plays except game 3 with the Bosh shot (which they ended up winning).


Against Chicago, Bosh averaged 23 and 8 on 60% shooting, he completely destroyed the bulls alongside James who averaged 26 7 and 8

Against the Mavericks Bosh averaged 18 and 7 on 41%, HUUGE drop-off in production.


Thus, due to how close the losses were in the 2011 finals one can conclude that if Bosh had produced even close to what he averaged in the previous series then the Heat win the championship despite LeBron under performing. It has nothing do with "LeBron had to be the one in charge", LeBron and Wade were 1a/1b options all season. They averaged NEAR identical stats vs Boston so the notion that LeBron suddenly had to be the clear cut number 1 option is asinine. The main difference is two of the big 3 played great against the Bulls and won, only 1 played great against the Mavericks and lost.

You got it wrong. I didn't say Dallas let Wade do his thing - of course they didn't make it easy for him, but they foccused more on LBJ. It's just that Wade suffered more against Chicago's defensive plan than LeBron, and LeBron suffered more than Wade against Dallas' defensive plan.

I'm not saying Chicago made it easy for LeBron, or that Dallas made it easy for Wade! I just said the effect of stopping LeBron was a bigger issue for the Heat than the Bulls stoping Wade.

I always felt like LeBron had a better chemistry with Bosh than Wade. That's just it.

Also you guys are saying Wade had good plays in the end of games, but that doesn't erase his really negative series.

Wade vs Bulls
18.8 PPG 6.4 RPG 2.2 APG 4 TOPG 49.8 ts% ORTG/DRTG 90/100

James vs Dallas
17.8 PPG 7.2 RPG 6.8 APG 4 TOPG 54.1 ts% ORTG/DRTG 102/110

I don't feel that James had a worse series against Dallas than Wade against Chicago. If anything he contributed more with his all arround game.

And no, LeBron didn't have to be in charge. He was in charge from there on because Wade declined (and he still was a major factor in both Heat's championships). If Wade couldn't be in charge to win a championship he wouldn't have one of the most amazing playoff runs ever like he did in 06.

But that's besides the point. We're talking about the finals and not about the ECF, so let's get back on topic.

[Sign5]

Im not saying the Mavs didn't double Wade when they could--they obviously did. But they also guarded him with Jason Terry a lot, and even some JJ Barea. Dallas always had their best win defender assigned to Lebron first and foremost and went with secondary options on Wade.

Even without the strategic moves designed specifically to limit Lebron that weren't done to Wade, it should be clear who the Mavs decided to prioritize.

And again this should never be taken as an insult to Wade but merely a strategy. Just like Lebron never really guarded Dirk even tho he was clearly their best hope as an individual defender. The idea was to guard Dirk with a big and double/triple relentlessly and to use Lebron to keep Terry bottled up with the idea that the role players for Dallas couldn't beat them.

I have no intention of turning this into a Wade vs. LeBron thread since I like both of those guys and none of this Wade talk should overshadow what Spaceman has done brilliantly here by breaking down the series in details. My only point is that sometimes it's funny to see people saying that, "Well LeBron sucked because he deferred too much and should have been the clear-cut #1 option." And yes, I agree the Mavs were all for stopping LeBron but they did also focus a lot of their attention on Wade. For me it's not about insulting anyone since I don't get invested into these discussions like that, I am simply saying that he too faced his fair share of tough coverages and still played superbly. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess simply re-framing the "Mavs let do Wade whatever he wanted" into something like "Wade played well despite seeing a lot of the tough coverages that LeBron saw though LeBron faced more of those coverages" would make for a better discourse. The reason I say that is because a lot of the times teams when letting players "get their own" play those guys with single coverages and focus the doubles/triples/zone coverages on one guy which is something that Boston actually did to Wade and LeBron in 2012 to make it that much more difficult for LeBron without Bosh. They double teamed Wade to put more of a scoring load on James in that series and he delivered.

Well said, just because the Mavs' primary option was to stop LeBron doesn't mean that "they just let Wade do whatever he wanted" and score one on one like many seem to pretend. The whole games are there on youtube/dailymotion there to view with many highlights for each. Wade was scoring at will on double and triple teams, they couldn't stop him for most of the series regardless of what they tried. There were several times that he made scoop layups/drives with Chandler, Dirk and Kidd draped all over him. He was guarded by ALL different Mavs defenders (and so was James), the difference between James and Wade in that series was that one was able to attack and split the the zone aggressively and the other was contained with less aggressive play. Part of that could be due to their frame, a 6'4 220 guard with elite slashing ability more compact enough to dissect a Dallas zone than a 6'9 260 forward (not to mention James didn't refine his post game until the following season). Nevertheless, Wade picked apart Dallas.

Also IIRC Avery Johnson came out at the end of a press conference in '06 saying yes their goal was to initially stop Shaq but by game 3 their game-plan had been deviated to stopping Wade and he was still able to beat them.

[Joao Saraiva]

The Mavs were not too well-coached, too good, too smart not to be beaten by Wade alone. They almost did lose with the strategy. The strategy worked not because it was perfect and the Mavs were unstoppable. It worked in no small part because the Heat allowed it to work. And by Heat, I mean Spo and James. It takes two to tango. Mavs deserve credit, above all Carlisle, but the series was not such that the Heat and Wade were hopeless causes.

Bosh deserves some blame too.

[JordansBulls]

The Mavs were not too well-coached, too good, too smart not to be beaten by Wade alone. They almost did lose with the strategy. The strategy worked not because it was perfect and the Mavs were unstoppable. It worked in no small part because the Heat allowed it to work. And by Heat, I mean Spo and James. It takes two to tango. Mavs deserve credit, above all Carlisle, but the series was not such that the Heat and Wade were hopeless causes.

Bosh deserves some blame too.

Why is this?


Miami's Big 3 in the NBA Finals in 2011

Wade
26.5 PPG / 7.0 RPG / 5.2 APG / 1.5 SPG / 1.5 BPG / 2.5 TPG / 54.6% FG / 30.4% 3 PT FG / 69.4% FT


Bosh
18.5 PPG / 7.3 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.33 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 2.17 TPG / 41.3% FG / 0.00% 3 PT FG / 77.8% FT


Lebron
17.8 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 6.8 APG / 1.67 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 4.0 TPG / 47.8% FG / 32.1% 3 PT FG / 60.0% FT

[Sign5]

I don't know if it is mainly because Lebron made a better use of Bosh like you are saying, but Chris played infinitely better against Chicago than against Dallas. And Dallas played better than Chicago , so you can't say stoping Lebron has more effect than stoping Wade just because we won one series and lost the other.
Wade didn't played very well against the Bulls, true, but like PaulieWal said, he was still crucial for us. He made some huge play down the stretch, like in the OT of game 4 where he made a couple of huge block.

This video is such a great memory as a Heat fan. That comeback was just incredible. The 11 playoffs had a ton of those epic comeback if my memory serves me right. The Brandon Roy one against Dallas, Dallaw own comeback against OKC, then the one against Miami in game 2 (not a good memory)...

Man If I could and1 Pauliewal and Hornetmania more I would.


I'm extremely tired of this myth that Dallas' put more emphasis into stopping LeBron over Wade and they just let Wade do his own thing. It's completely disrespectful to Wade's brilliant performance and just flat out wrong.

Unfortunately Dawkins account got deleted because he had the entire highlights of Wade vs Dallas, you could see through-out that Dallas made a concerted effort into stopping WADE, they threw double and even triple-teams(or at least had 3 eyes on him) every time he drove or was in the post including at times sending LBJ's defender.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PflzRXn5Wk[/youtube]

Wade was just better at attacking the double/triple teams and was A LOT more aggressive and relentless, JVG put it perfectly "He's everywhere". It was literally a tail of two sides between the two, Wade was super aggressive while LeBron was very passive and obviously rattled (in which he admitted in 2012).

Also this notion that the Heat needed LeBron to be the number 1 guy to win is also complete farce. The reason the Heat beat Chicago is because BOTH LeBron and Bosh played superbly while Wade still chipped in 18ppg and still made critical CLUTCH plays in each win especially in game 5 as we all know. In the Dallas series, Wade was the only one playing superbly. James AND Bosh both played worse than in the previous series, meaning vs Chicago you had 2 of the big 3 playing superb and 1 playing subpar with critical points while against Dallas ONLY Wade was great with the others under-performing and no one providing key clutch plays except game 3 with the Bosh shot (which they ended up winning).


Against Chicago, Bosh averaged 23 and 8 on 60% shooting, he completely destroyed the bulls alongside James who averaged 26 7 and 8

Against the Mavericks Bosh averaged 18 and 7 on 41%, HUUGE drop-off in production.


Thus, due to how close the losses were in the 2011 finals one can conclude that if Bosh had produced even close to what he averaged in the previous series then the Heat win the championship despite LeBron under performing. It has nothing do with "LeBron had to be the one in charge", LeBron and Wade were 1a/1b options all season. They averaged NEAR identical stats vs Boston so the notion that LeBron suddenly had to be the clear cut number 1 option is asinine. The main difference is two of the big 3 played great against the Bulls and won, only 1 played great against the Mavericks and lost.

You got it wrong. I didn't say Dallas let Wade do his thing. It's just that Wade suffered more against Chicago's defensive plan than LeBron, and LeBron suffered more than Wade against Dallas' defensive plan.

I'm not saying Chicago made it easy for LeBron, or that Dallas made it easy for Wade! I just said the effect of stopping LeBron was a bigger issue for the Heat than the Bulls stoping Wade.

I always felt like LeBron had a better chemistry with Bosh than Wade. That's just it.

Also you guys are saying Wade had good plays in the end of games, but that doesn't erase his really negative series.

Wade vs Bulls
18.8 PPG 6.4 RPG 2.2 APG 4 TOPG 49.8 ts% ORTG/DRTG 90/100

James vs Dallas
17.8 PPG 7.2 RPG 6.8 APG 4 TOPG 54.1 ts% ORTG/DRTG 102/110

I don't feel that James had a worse series against Dallas than Wade against Chicago. If anything he contributed more with his all arround game.

And no, LeBron didn't have to be in charge. He was in charge from there on because Wade declined (and he still was a major factor in both Heat's championships). If Wade couldn't be in charge to win a championship he wouldn't have one of the most amazing playoff runs ever like he did in 06.

But that's besides the point. We're talking about the finals and not about the ECF, so let's get back on topic.

Why are you quoting me when I never even specifically quoted you to saying that? It wasn't directed towards you, you may have not have said but there were/are people who said that in this thread and in the past.

This isn't a LeBron vs Wade debate, nor was it meant to be. My whole point of posting was to argue against the notion that 'Dallas let Wade do w.e he wanted' basically downplaying Wade's performance, or that 'LeBron needed to be in charge for the heat to win' and shouldn't have deferred when ignoring the fact that BOSH was the difference in both series. LeBron may have been better than Wade in their subpar series' but that's irrelevant, the point is that against Chicago you had 2 of the big 3 playing at an elite level while only one played at an elite level in the finals. So even if James played the way he did, if Bosh performed similar to how he did against the Bulls then the Heat win. The Heat weren't winning the title against the Mavs with only one of their big 3 playing great REGARDLESS of who that one player was.

[Joao Saraiva]

The Mavs were not too well-coached, too good, too smart not to be beaten by Wade alone. They almost did lose with the strategy. The strategy worked not because it was perfect and the Mavs were unstoppable. It worked in no small part because the Heat allowed it to work. And by Heat, I mean Spo and James. It takes two to tango. Mavs deserve credit, above all Carlisle, but the series was not such that the Heat and Wade were hopeless causes.

Bosh deserves some blame too.

Why is this?


Miami's Big 3 in the NBA Finals in 2011

Wade
26.5 PPG / 7.0 RPG / 5.2 APG / 1.5 SPG / 1.5 BPG / 2.5 TPG / 54.6% FG / 30.4% 3 PT FG / 69.4% FT


Bosh
18.5 PPG / 7.3 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.33 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 2.17 TPG / 41.3% FG / 0.00% 3 PT FG / 77.8% FT


Lebron
17.8 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 6.8 APG / 1.67 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 4.0 TPG / 47.8% FG / 32.1% 3 PT FG / 60.0% FT

Bosh - 18.5 PPG on 49.6ts% with a 102 ORTG and a 115 DRTG. I'd say he played worse than LeBron. Of course the expectations were not as high on him as they were on James, and I understand more blame coming LeBron's way, but let's not act like Bosh played well and doesn't deserve any of the blame.

[Joao Saraiva]

I simply loved the observation on that Dallas crazy scheme to make LeBron bring the ball up and get him out of the post. That was actually a very smart move, and then they closed the paint very well when he was in the perimeter.

LeBron is the kind of guy that will usually make you pay for this kind of atention. We've seen it countless times, but not in the 2011 NBA finals. And that really wasn't his fault: Joel Anthony shouldn't play in any contender, and making the finals with him on the court just shows you how great Wade, James and Bosh were. In 2012 the Heat were having the same problem, and finally Spo took Joel out. I had been talking about that for the entire 2011 and 2012 season... What took him so long to understand? I thought it was kind of obvious.

With this kind of D the Heat should have played a lineup like: Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Wade, LeBron and Bosh. And then include Eddie House, Bibby and Jones in the rotation, if there was the need to search for the hot hand.

Did Dallas also make D. Wade bring the ball up or was it just LeBron? I'm sorry I don't recall it a lot, since I've never watched again those finals (yes I'm a LeBron fan so those are really not the games I wish to remember).

Great thread, very good OP and nice contributions from a ton of guys.

Mike Miller was banged up the first two years and not a consistent performer. He was supposed to be the 6th man but his health betrayed him. Remember after the OKC series there were rumors of him retiring because he couldn't even stand straight?

He was not consistent in any year. He was good against OKC in 2012 and Spurs in 2013, but during the entire year he didn't have a great impact.

Still the Heat should put another shooter out there. I don't care who it is. It could have been Eddie House, he could guard Barea or Terry (or maybe he couldn't but the Heat couldn't guard them anyway).

[JordansBulls]

Bosh deserves some blame too.

Why is this?


Miami's Big 3 in the NBA Finals in 2011

Wade
26.5 PPG / 7.0 RPG / 5.2 APG / 1.5 SPG / 1.5 BPG / 2.5 TPG / 54.6% FG / 30.4% 3 PT FG / 69.4% FT


Bosh
18.5 PPG / 7.3 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.33 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 2.17 TPG / 41.3% FG / 0.00% 3 PT FG / 77.8% FT


Lebron
17.8 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 6.8 APG / 1.67 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 4.0 TPG / 47.8% FG / 32.1% 3 PT FG / 60.0% FT

Bosh - 18.5 PPG on 49.6ts% with a 102 ORTG and a 115 DRTG. I'd say he played worse than LeBron. Of course the expectations were not as high on him as they were on James, and I understand more blame coming LeBron's way, but let's not act like Bosh played well and doesn't deserve any of the blame.

He was going up against Dirk the guy many considered the best in the league.

[PaulieWal]

I simply loved the observation on that Dallas crazy scheme to make LeBron bring the ball up and get him out of the post. That was actually a very smart move, and then they closed the paint very well when he was in the perimeter.

LeBron is the kind of guy that will usually make you pay for this kind of atention. We've seen it countless times, but not in the 2011 NBA finals. And that really wasn't his fault: Joel Anthony shouldn't play in any contender, and making the finals with him on the court just shows you how great Wade, James and Bosh were. In 2012 the Heat were having the same problem, and finally Spo took Joel out. I had been talking about that for the entire 2011 and 2012 season... What took him so long to understand? I thought it was kind of obvious.

With this kind of D the Heat should have played a lineup like: Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Wade, LeBron and Bosh. And then include Eddie House, Bibby and Jones in the rotation, if there was the need to search for the hot hand.

Did Dallas also make D. Wade bring the ball up or was it just LeBron? I'm sorry I don't recall it a lot, since I've never watched again those finals (yes I'm a LeBron fan so those are really not the games I wish to remember).

Great thread, very good OP and nice contributions from a ton of guys.

Mike Miller was banged up the first two years and not a consistent performer. He was supposed to be the 6th man but his health betrayed him. Remember after the OKC series there were rumors of him retiring because he couldn't even stand straight?

He was not consistent in any year. He was good against OKC in 2012 and Spurs in 2013, but during the entire year he didn't have a great impact.

Still the Heat should put another shooter out there. I don't care who it is. It could have been Eddie House, he could guard Barea or Terry (or maybe he couldn't but the Heat couldn't guard them anyway).

He wasn't even good against OKC except for game 5 lol.

Well yeah, Spo should have spread the floor more in 2011. That was one of his biggest mistakes.

[Joao Saraiva]

Why is this?


Miami's Big 3 in the NBA Finals in 2011

Wade
26.5 PPG / 7.0 RPG / 5.2 APG / 1.5 SPG / 1.5 BPG / 2.5 TPG / 54.6% FG / 30.4% 3 PT FG / 69.4% FT


Bosh
18.5 PPG / 7.3 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.33 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 2.17 TPG / 41.3% FG / 0.00% 3 PT FG / 77.8% FT


Lebron
17.8 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 6.8 APG / 1.67 SPG / 0.50 BPG / 4.0 TPG / 47.8% FG / 32.1% 3 PT FG / 60.0% FT

Bosh - 18.5 PPG on 49.6ts% with a 102 ORTG and a 115 DRTG. I'd say he played worse than LeBron. Of course the expectations were not as high on him as they were on James, and I understand more blame coming LeBron's way, but let's not act like Bosh played well and doesn't deserve any of the blame.

He was going up against Dirk the guy many considered the best in the league.

So what? Dirk wasn't one of the best defenders in the league. That doesn't justify Bosh's low ts%.

[Joao Saraiva]

Mike Miller was banged up the first two years and not a consistent performer. He was supposed to be the 6th man but his health betrayed him. Remember after the OKC series there were rumors of him retiring because he couldn't even stand straight?

He was not consistent in any year. He was good against OKC in 2012 and Spurs in 2013, but during the entire year he didn't have a great impact.

Still the Heat should put another shooter out there. I don't care who it is. It could have been Eddie House, he could guard Barea or Terry (or maybe he couldn't but the Heat couldn't guard them anyway).

He wasn't even good against OKC except for game 5 lol.

Well yeah, Spo should have spread the floor more in 2011. That was one of his biggest mistakes.

In 2012 he was good in game 5 because that's the game he had some minutes on the court to provide help. However I said Spo should try to have him out there. Guys like Miller impact the game a lot. He makes one open 3 and all of a sudden the defense doesn't want to give him that shot anymore, so LeBron and Wade would benefit a lot from it.

[Dr Spaceman]

I simply loved the observation on that Dallas crazy scheme to make LeBron bring the ball up and get him out of the post. That was actually a very smart move, and then they closed the paint very well when he was in the perimeter.

LeBron is the kind of guy that will usually make you pay for this kind of atention. We've seen it countless times, but not in the 2011 NBA finals. And that really wasn't his fault: Joel Anthony shouldn't play in any contender, and making the finals with him on the court just shows you how great Wade, James and Bosh were. In 2012 the Heat were having the same problem, and finally Spo took Joel out. I had been talking about that for the entire 2011 and 2012 season... What took him so long to understand? I thought it was kind of obvious.

With this kind of D the Heat should have played a lineup like: Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Wade, LeBron and Bosh. And then include Eddie House, Bibby and Jones in the rotation, if there was the need to search for the hot hand.

Did Dallas also make D. Wade bring the ball up or was it just LeBron? I'm sorry I don't recall it a lot, since I've never watched again those finals (yes I'm a LeBron fan so those are really not the games I wish to remember).

Great thread, very good OP and nice contributions from a ton of guys.

Mike Miller was banged up the first two years and not a consistent performer. He was supposed to be the 6th man but his health betrayed him. Remember after the OKC series there were rumors of him retiring because he couldn't even stand straight?

He was not consistent in any year. He was good against OKC in 2012 and Spurs in 2013, but during the entire year he didn't have a great impact.

Still the Heat should put another shooter out there. I don't care who it is. It could have been Eddie House, he could guard Barea or Terry (or maybe he couldn't but the Heat couldn't guard them anyway).

Glad you mentioned House, because Spo FINALLY went to him in G6 and he immediately hit two 3s against the zone when LBJ/Wade looked helpless. Not even joking.

It's kind of a joke how bad Spo really was this series.

[JordansBulls]

Bosh - 18.5 PPG on 49.6ts% with a 102 ORTG and a 115 DRTG. I'd say he played worse than LeBron. Of course the expectations were not as high on him as they were on James, and I understand more blame coming LeBron's way, but let's not act like Bosh played well and doesn't deserve any of the blame.

He was going up against Dirk the guy many considered the best in the league.

So what? Dirk wasn't one of the best defenders in the league. That doesn't justify Bosh's low ts%.

Tyson Chandler was on him and Shawn Marion was on Lebron.

[Dr Spaceman]

Tyson Chandler was on him and Shawn Marion was on Lebron.

JB this is just flat inaccurate. I just made a detailed OP in which I dissected Dallas' scheme, and it had nothing to do with any of the big 3 being guarded 1v1 and everything to do with their zone/help scheme. LBJ would often see looks from Kidd, Stevenson and Marion, sometimes on consecutive possessions.

[PaulieWal]

He was not consistent in any year. He was good against OKC in 2012 and Spurs in 2013, but during the entire year he didn't have a great impact.

Still the Heat should put another shooter out there. I don't care who it is. It could have been Eddie House, he could guard Barea or Terry (or maybe he couldn't but the Heat couldn't guard them anyway).

He wasn't even good against OKC except for game 5 lol.

Well yeah, Spo should have spread the floor more in 2011. That was one of his biggest mistakes.

In 2012 he was good in game 5 because that's the game he had some minutes on the court to provide help. However I said Spo should try to have him out there. Guys like Miller impact the game a lot. He makes one open 3 and all of a sudden the defense doesn't want to give him that shot anymore, so LeBron and Wade would benefit a lot from it.

He couldn't have played Miller man lol. He couldn't stand straight in 12 playoffs. And from what I remember Miller wasn't exactly playing well in limited minutes. In 13 he had a tremendous impact during the Spurs series and he was healthy so he got decent minutes.