Posts Tagged ‘Chris Andersen’

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Playing Games: The Tao Of Pop

June 18, 2013  ·  2:42PM

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It was two weeks ago when the Spurs wrapped up their final practice before the start of The Finals and I had just walked out of their training facility on the northwest side of San Antonio when a shiny Mercedes-Benz pulled up along side of me in the parking lot.

The automatic window slid down on the passenger side and a voice yelled out: “Hey, could you answer a question for me?”

When I bent down to look in, Gregg Popovich pulled off his sunglasses and asked several: “Could you please tell me why I’m driving to the airport right now? Could you tell me why I’m making this trip to Miami? Could you tell me why I should even bother wasting my time with a foregone conclusion?”

When I smiled, he kept on going.

“I don’t know what everybody expects out of us, out of me. I mean, I’ve got Timmy Duncan. He’s 37 and a broken down old man. I’ve got another old man with Manu Ginobili, who’s always falling apart. I’ve got this skinny French kid Tony Parker. And then just a bunch of guys.

“They’ve got LeBron James. He’s the greatest player in the league right now, maybe the greatest of all time. And they’ve got Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. This is lopsided. This is unfair. This is ridiculous.”

So the Spurs have a 3-2 lead and a chance to clinch the fifth NBA championship in franchise history tonight at American Airlines Arena.

This, of course, is why we play the games and don’t settle them on paper or in the minds of the so-called experts. Otherwise, we’d already be joining in the James’ proclamation from the summer of 2010: “Not one, not two, not three…”

Standing in the Texas swelter that afternoon in the parking lot, the daunting image of the defending champions rose like the shimmering heat off the blacktop, the team that had a league-best 66-16 record and won an incredible 27 consecutive games — second-best streak in NBA history — in the regular season.

But that was all before a 21-year-old Kawhi Leonard stoically accepted the challenge of matching up with the best player on the planet and began to do everything he could to keep him from blowing like the top off a volcano dome. He’s making shots inside and outside. He’s rebounding. He’s passing. All while having primary responsibility on the series’ biggest threat.

The Spurs have used a smothering, suffocating, double- and triple-teaming effort to keep the cork in James’ bottle and have held him to 21.6 ppg in The Finals, down from 29 in the Eastern Conference finals and down from 25.6 ppg for the playoffs. He is shooting just 41.2 percent. James has certainly made his presence felt, but not as an unstoppable force who can take over a game singlehandedly. Rave over all those 3-pointers by the Spurs, if you must. It says here that Leonard is the MVP to date, along with the coach who entrusted him.

That was all before the Spurs had for the most part kept Wade from hitting their beach like a tsunami. Before Danny Green became the reincarnation of “Mr. Clutch,” Jerry West. Before Popovich lit a fire under the struggling Ginobili by inserting him into the starting lineup for Game 5. Before Parker hit his iconic “up-off-the-knees” banker to win Game 1. Before Duncan showed just how much professionalism a 37-year-old big man can still deliver. And before the Spurs have been able to match Miami’s small-ball lineup effectively and thereby kept the nuisance effectiveness of Chris Andersen chained to the bench.

That was all before the Spurs have done what they’ve always done — kept their heads down and focused solely on the task at hand, never doubting themselves and never wavering, even in the six years that it’s taken them to get back to The Finals.

They’re too old, too worn out, too overmatched by the high-flying marquee names of the Heat. Until they’re not.

All I can think of is leaning into the window of Popovich’s car, while wondering why the floor in front of the passenger seat is filled with dozens and dozens of empty plastic water bottles.

“Is this an eco-friendly green machine that you bought from Al Gore or are you just a slob?” I asked him.

Pop finally stopped his rant.

“The truth is I’ve been looking for a recycling center for weeks now, but I can’t find one,” he said. “You know what? That’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll just keep driving around town until I find a place to dump all of these bottles instead of going to the airport.

“I mean, really, what’s the point of going to Miami if you’re the San Antonio Spurs? What can happen there?”

He pushed the sunglasses back on his nose, shifted the car into gear, gave a wave and drove away, grinning.

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs, 2013 The Finals, HT News / Comments (22) /

Right & Wrong: Ginobili, Green Deliver

June 17, 2013  ·  11:10AM

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SAN ANTONIO – With Manu Ginobili‘s 24 points and 10 assists in the San Antonio Spurs’ Game 5 win Sunday night over the Miami Heat, each member of each team’s Big Three has now had a big moment.

In Game 5, LeBron James (8-for-22 from the floor), Dwyane Wade (10-for-22) and Chris Bosh (7-for-11) didn’t shoot great, but they did combine for 66 points, 16 rebounds and 19 assists. Sounds like a winning formula just as the statistics of the Spurs’  Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and surprise starter Ginobili do: 67 points, 15 rebounds and 16 assists.

With such even production, what was the difference in the Spurs’ 114-104 win in Game 5?

The role players.

San Antonio’s continue to come up big. Danny Green hit six more 3-pointers and scored 24 points. Kawhi Leonard went 6-for-8 from the floor for 16 points, plus eight rebounds and three steals. Boris Diaw used his girth to make James uncomfortable for much of the game.

With Ginobili in the starting lineup, the Spurs’ first five all scored between 16 and 24 points. For Miami, Mike Miller and Mario Chalmers combined for seven points on 2-for-11 shooting.

RIGHT: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich‘s decision to insert the struggling Ginboili into the starting lineup paid tremendous dividends. Playing alongside Parker more often allowed Ginobili to play off the ball more with less defensive attention — and often with Miller on him — and he was aggressive with his drives. He knocked down his first two shots early in the first quarter and dished a couple of assists and confidence that had been so elusive rushed back. Ginobili finished with a season-high 24 points and 10 assists and the Spurs moved to 23-2 this season when Ginobili has at least six assists.

WRONG: One reason Popovich put Ginobili in the starting lineup is because Heat coach Erik Spoelstra changed up his starting lineup for Game 4, going for offense with a smaller lineup that included Mike Miller instead of rugged forward Udonis Haslem. Off the bench, Miller was on fire, canning 9-for-10 shots from the beyond the arc. In two games as a starter, Miller is a combined 0-for-2 from the field (both shots from 3-point range) for zero points in nearly 46 minutes.

RIGHT: A few days ago Danny Green said he’s still waiting for someone to pinch him and wake him up. Yeah, well, the Spurs would like for that person to stay away for at least one more win. Green is on an historic hot streak and after he dropped another six 3-pointers in Game 5 on 10 attempts, he’s 25-for-38 (65.8 percent) from beyond the arc. He surpassed Ray Allen with the most 3-point baskets ever in an NBA Finals — and it’s only Game 5. He’s hit four, five, seven, three and six 3s in the first five games. Remarkable.

WRONG: The Heat’s defense on Green. As Parker said after Game 5, how in the world is Green open, ever, beyond the arc at this point in the series? Now, as Green said, he’s not actually open every time, he’s hitting contested 3s as well. The Spurs move the ball so well that it’s impossible to contain Parker, Ginobili and Duncan and still protect the 3-point arc. If the Heat want to stay alive for a Game 7, they’ll have to figure this out.

RIGHT: Dwyane Wade has really dialed back the clock. He had the huge 32-point, six-rebound, four-assist, six-steal Game 4 and followed it up with 25 points and 10 assists in Game 5.

WRONG: Have the tables turned for the Heat? Should we now be saying Wade can’t do it alone? James had his struggles in Game 5, scoring 25 points on 8-for-22 shooting, which included a ghastly 2-for-11 in the second half and 1-for-5 in the fourth quarter with just one free throw attempt in 10:54.

RIGHT: Another example of Pop pushing the right button at the right time was his use of Boris Diaw in Game 5. Diaw logged nine and 11 minutes, respectively in Games 1 and 2 and didn’t play at all in Game 3 before logging another 11 minutes in Game 4. In Game 5? Diaw played 27 minutes and much of that time was spent putting his weight on James, who finished 8-for-22 from the floor.

WRONG: Another example of the Heat getting nothing out of a role player is Chris “Birdman” Andersen — not that it’s his fault. He’s become a victim of Spoelstra’s small-ball lineup. A significant contributor in the East finals against Indiana, Birdman didn’t miss a shot until Game 7 of that series. He played the first three games of this series until Speolstra inserted Miller into the starting lineup and starting bringing Haslem off the bench. So not only have the Heat gotten no scoring out of Miller, they’ve kept their energy guy on the bench.

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Posted in 2013 NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat / Comments (149) /

Film Study: Birdman’s Smart Defense Puts Spurs’ Parker In A Game 2 Cage

June 10, 2013  ·  12:25PM

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MIAMI – Even before the Miami Heat went on a 33-5 run spanning the third and fourth quarters of Game 2 on Sunday, they were enjoying a much more efficient game than they played three nights earlier. Game 2 was played at a glacial pace, keeping the score looking more like a game played in the mid-90s than one played in the mid-80s. But it was a better offensive game than it may have seemed.

Miami’s 50 first-half points were scored on just 39 possessions. And before the 33-5 run started, they had scored 61 points on 54 trips down the floor, an efficiency of 1.13 points per possession, up from 1.02 in Game 1. And this was with LeBron James shooting 2-for-12 at that point.

Other Heat-ers were shooting 23-for-44. They were keeping their turnovers down and giving themselves second chances on the glass. Though the Spurs had already committed more than twice as many turnovers as they had in Game 1 and Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were all having an off night, San Antonio had a one-point lead.

That’s when the Heat locked down, allowing the Spurs to score just five points over their next 15 possessions, a span that included six turnovers. The stops turned into points on the other end for Miami, and by the time that 15-possession stretch was over, the Heat had a 27-point lead and the Spurs’ big three was done for the night.

The lineup that did most of the damage for the Heat (plus-17 in seven minutes) was a unit of Mario Chalmers, Ray Allen, Mike Miller, James and Chris Andersen. And while the MVP had the ridiculous block on Tiago Splitter, it was Birdman who played the biggest role defensively.

Defensive priority No. 1 for the Heat has been containing Parker, which Andersen did that during the Heat’s run.

With the Heat up seven in the final minute of the third quarter, Andersen stopped two Parker/Duncan pick-and-rolls and then challenged Parker’s short jumper in the lane. After the Spurs got the rebound, Parker isolated on Chalmers, and Andersen was there to help …


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Duncan would throw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds play.

On the Spurs’ final possession of the quarter, Anderson was there to contain Parker once again …


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Duncan was open for a flash, but James was on the back line ready to rotate. Getting the ball to Duncan at the dotted circle would have required getting the ball over Andersen, who didn’t leave Parker until he had given up the ball.

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The Spurs’ first possession of the fourth quarter was one the Heat’s best defensive possessions of the game. Andersen was there to snuff out a Ginobili/Splitter side pick-and-roll (easier said than done when Ginobili is going to his left). Then Mike Miller, after helping on the roll, closed out hard on Gary Neal in the corner. When Neal tried to go baseline, Andersen was there to cut him off and the Heat forced another turnover…


Miller’s defense in this series may be just as important as Andersen’s. We know he’s shooting much better than Shane Battier these days, so if he can hold his own defensively, there are really no questions or issues with Erik Spoelstra‘s rotation. Miller is looking a lot more spry than he did a year ago and he’s busting his tail on defense to make himself even more valuable.

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Tony Parker in Game 2

Tony Parker’s Game 2 shot chart

Parker was 4-for-9 in the paint in Game 2, not that far off from his 5-for-9 performance in Game 1.

But he had just one bucket from outside the paint, down from the four he had on Thursday, in part because the Heat’s bigs stepped out on those pick-and-rolls and made him give up the ball.

Turnovers were also a big difference. Parker had five of them, with Chris Bosh forcing two straight early in the first quarter by stepping out on screens.

Interestingly, the Heat scored just nine points off the Spurs’ nine live-ball turnovers. So it’s not like the Spurs’ sloppiness really killed them on the other end of the floor. Miami was just much more efficient in half-court situations and on the secondary break.

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As we saw in the conference finals, the Heat run pick-and-rolls from all angles. They’ll run the standard high pick-and-roll. They’ll set the screen at the elbow (like on Chalmers’ and-one). They’ll run side pick-and-rolls (the Spurs’ bread and butter). They’ll run them toward the baseline. And they’ll run them out of the corner.

One wrinkle we saw on Sunday was the Heat rejecting those screens out of the corner. In fact, here’s a clip of three different Miami ball-handlers — Dwyane Wade, Norris Cole and Chalmers — using a dribble to get their defender’s body moving toward the screen, then crossing over, and taking the open lane on the baseline.

Wade’s drive produces an open three for Chalmers, Cole’s produces an easy tip-in for Andersen, and Chalmers gets a floater for himself…


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Posted in 2013 NBA Finals: Spurs-Heat, Film Study, NBA.com/Stats / Comments (38) /

Heat’s ‘Birdman’ Grounded For Game 6

May 31, 2013  ·  8:13PM



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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The Miami Heat won’t be able to lean on Chris “Birdman” Andersen in their quest to finish off the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The backup big man was suspended for one game without pay by the NBA this evening for a Flagrant-1 foul on Pacers’ forward Tyler Hansbrough that was upgraded to a Flagrant-2 foul, a penalty announced by NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson.

Losing Andersen is a blow for a Heat team that has struggled to find consistent help for LeBron James in this series. Andersen is a perfect 15-for-15 shooting in five games against the Pacers, averaging 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in just 18.4 minutes. His energy and effort on both ends of the floor have been critical to the Heat’s cause.

Things went overboard, though, Thursday night in Game 5. Andersen was shoved from behind by Indiana’s Paul George, while chasing a rebound, and instead of checking to see who delivered the blow he went after Hansbrough, knocking him off of his feet as the two ran upcourt after the play.

Hansbrough and Andersen went chest to chest immediately after Hansbrough got back to his feet. Andersen followed that contact with  a shove to the chest and then had to be restrained by official Marc Davis, who Andersen was quick to shove aside as he continued barking at Hansbrough.

The video of the sequence went viral immediately. And even though there was no suspension, we all knew what was coming. The Heat’s paper-thin depth up front will be tested Saturday night. The Pacers will attack with Roy Hibbert and David West, as they should.

No offense to the Birdman or his legion of followers, but the Heat aren’t going to win or lose Game 6 based on Andersen’s contributions — not if Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade continue to struggle the way they have against the Pacers.

The Heat need a better all around effort from the entire supporting cast, and the usual spectacular work from James, if they have any chance of snatching another game on the road in this series. If the series does go to a seventh game, Andersen will back for that tilt Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

But he’ll sit for Game 6, as he should, for allowing his emotions to get the best of him in what has turned out to be an unbelievably tense series for both sides.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (200) /

Birdman Should Sit For Manhandling Ref

May 31, 2013  ·  8:51AM

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When the Eastern Conference finals shifts back to Indianapolis for Game 6 Saturday night, Miami’s Chris “Birdman” Andersen needs to spectate from his hotel room or his aviary or whatever other perch he can find outside Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Because the NBA needs to deliver a one-game suspension for Andersen’s actions in a second-quarter skirmish.

Not just for what Andersen did to Pacers reserve forward Tyler Hansbrough, either. For his tussle with referee Marc Davis.

By now, the sequence of events involving Andersen and Hansbrough is widely known: Miami’s tightly wound big man, while trying to rebound, got nudged from behind by Indiana’s Paul George. Only he didn’t get George’s license plate — he apparently thought Hansbrough had delivered the bump. So as the two ran upcourt behind the play, he bumped “back” at Hansbrough, the collision sending the Indiana player sprawling.

Hansbrough, startled at first, took exception and Andersen was all too willing to continue what he had started. The two closed the distance between them and bumped chests, at which point Andersen sharply shoved Hansbrough back with two hands.

OK, that should have been enough to eject Andersen right there. The only difference between what Andersen did on the shove and what Chicago’s Nazr Mohammed did in shoving LeBron James in Game 3 of the semifinals was that James went sprawling, sliding several feet in what Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau referred to as a “flop.”

Hansbrough’s mistake, even as the NBA seems ripe to wring out flopping, looks to be not (ahem) selling the play to refs Danny Crawford, Jim Capers and Davis. He couldn’t even had he tried, because teammate Roy Hibbert was there to catch him.

So Andersen delivers two blows — both of which sure looked to be “unnecessary” and “excessive” — and yet, upon review, gets slapped only with a flagrant-1 foul. But the skirmish wasn’t over.

One of the referees, Davis, gets in front of Andersen and moves him backward away from Hansbrough to stop a possible escalation of the beef. What does Andersen do? He pushes back. He grabs Davis’ wrist with his right hand. He pushes on the referee’s arm with his left. All of this physical contact with a game official because he’s steamed, because he didn’t like getting bumped from behind or because, in some misguided way, he’s trying to ignite (incite?) his Heat teammates and/or the crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena.

That was the most disturbing thing about the incident. Andersen did enough to be ejected then — or, a little late, suspended now for one game — with his hits on Hansbrough. But he crossed the line by getting physical with Davis.

No way should any NBA referee be subject to that sort of wrestling or manhandling, lest people assume they’re just part of the act in Andersen’s dumb WWE display.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (219) /

Film Study: Pacers’ ‘Smash-Mouth’ Offense Thriving Against Heat

May 29, 2013  ·  12:08PM

 

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – The most amazing thing about the Eastern Conference finals thus far is how efficient the two offenses have been.

Based on *an estimate of possessions, the league’s No. 1 defense (Indiana) has allowed 110.9 points per 100 possessions and the league’s No. 19 offense (Indiana again) has scored 111.3. It’s a small sample size, but both of those numbers would have led the league in the regular season.

*Possessions = FGA + (0.44*FTA) + TO – OREB

And my own (unofficial) possession counts have both teams scoring a little bit more efficiently than the estimates.

MIAMI INDIANA
Game PTS POSS OffRtg PTS POSS OffRtg
Game 1 103 98 105.1 102 97 105.2
Game 2 93 87 106.9 97 86 112.8
Game 3 114 86 132.6 96 86 111.6
Game 4 92 83 110.8 99 82 120.7
Total 402 354 113.6 394 351 112.3

The Heat shot just 39 percent in Game 4 on Tuesday, including 14-for-48 from outside the paint. But they were 24-for-27 from the line and committed just six turnovers. They scored on just one of their final nine possessions, but had scored seven straight times before that and still scored more than a point per possession (22/21) in the fourth quarter.

Although the Pacers showed LeBron James more bodies on his post touches and the MVP seemed a little more passive (11 of his 18 shots came from outside the paint and he attempted just six free throws) in Game 4, defense was Miami’s bigger problem … and has been throughout the series.

The Pacers aren’t a good shooting team and they’re turnover-prone. But they score with second-chance opportunities and trips to the free throw line, “smash-mouth basketball” as Frank Vogel calls it.

Indiana has smash-mouthed Miami in this series. In fact, the Pacers have more than twice as many offensive rebounds (61) and more than twice as many free throw attempts (141) in four conference finals games than the Spurs did (28, 66).

Game 4 was a little unique in that the Pacers outscored the Heat, 50-32, in the paint. Roy Hibbert scored 20 of those 50 points, as much a force on offense as he has been on defense throughout the season.

The Heat have been doing a good job of fronting the post, making it difficult for the Pacers to throw direct entry passes to Hibbert or David West. But Indiana has been able to get them the ball using other action to set up entry passes.

Here, in the first quarter of Game 4, George Hill runs a pick-and-roll with Hibbert. This allows Hibbert to establish deep post position against Chris Andersen, who had jumped out to help on the screen. Two passes later, Hibbert scores on a short jump hook …


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On this play, Hibbert is stationed on the weak side as Hill and West run a pick-and-roll. This draws just enough of Chris Bosh‘s attention to allow Hibbert to seal his man as the ball is swung. Hibbert misses the jump hook, but Bosh fails to box out, and Hibbert gets one of the biggest baskets of the game …


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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs, Film Study / Comments (63) /

Miami Bigs Key to ‘Pace And Space’ Mantra

May 28, 2013  ·  12:14PM

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HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra uses the phrase “pace and space” about once every 86 seconds in his post-practice, post-shootaround, pregame and postgame press conferences. “Identity” is another one of Spoelstra’s buzz words. And yeah, the Heat want to attack the basket early and often and space the floor with their 3-point shooters.

Those shooters haven’t exactly been hurting the Indiana Pacers in these Eastern Conference finals. Ray Allen and Shane Battier are a combined 4-for-20 from 3-point range through the first three games. Mike Miller has played a little over six minutes.

But more important in this series has been the spacing of the Heat’s big men, who are providing a counter for Roy Hibbert‘s rim protection.

Chris Bosh has as many threes (4) as Allen and Battier combined, and two of those came when he was left open by a helping Hibbert. Five of Udonis Haslem‘s eight buckets in Game 3 came from outside 15 feet.

And then there’s Chris Andersen, who is a perfect 13-for-13 in the series. All 13 of his baskets have come from the restricted area, lay-ups, dunks and tip-ins. But those buckets have been made possible by Andersen’s initial position on those plays.

Three seconds before Andersen’s first basket of the series, he was standing about 20 feet from the rim. In fact, he had been standing there for 10 seconds as his teammates ran a couple of pick-and-rolls and moved the ball around the perimeter.

20130522_andersen_space

Andersen is no threat to shoot from out there. In 54 games with the Heat, he’s 5-for-15 from outside the paint. So Hibbert doesn’t have to venture out there to defend him. But Andersen’s positioning gives his teammates a passing lane when they penetrate and draw Hibbert’s attention.

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If Andersen is closer to the basket (or if he’s the roll man in a pick-and-roll), Hibbert has the length and smarts to challenge the ball-handler and cut off the passing lane at the same time. But by pacing the floor so much, the Heat’s bigs force Hibbert to make a difficult choice.

In Game 3, that big spacing gave LeBron James room to operate in the post against Paul George. Now, the Pacers weren’t going to send a double-team at James, but, with his man hanging out in the opposite corner, Hibbert couldn’t get close enough to James to provide much of a threat.

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“They really spread us out,” Hibbert said after Game 3, “so I wasn’t able to get down there as much as possible because Birdman was either on the three point line or Haslem was all the way in the corner, deep corner.”

The Pacers have stayed true to their identity and defensive principles all season, so how they defend James in the post in Game 4 on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT) may be the most interesting question of these playoffs.

And it’s the Heat’s spacing that makes that decision so difficult. If they leave George on that island, the MVP could have another huge game. But if they send a double, his teammates, including the big men, could make Indiana pay.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (9) /

Pacers Must Stop Heat’s Paint Parade

May 24, 2013  ·  10:55AM

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MIAMI – It’s another game day on Biscayne Bay, so it’s well past time to put the Vogel/Hibbert thing behind us. It’s done with, the Pacers proved that they can hang with the Heat, and they have another chance to steal home-court advantage in Game 2 on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

Besides, more concerning than the two layups that LeBron James got with Roy Hibbert off the floor in the final 11 seconds of overtime were the other 56 points in the paint the Heat scored in Game 1, 2 of which came with Hibbert on the floor.

The 60 points in the paint were almost twice as many as the Heat averaged (30.7) in three regular season games against the Pacers and, appropriately, were the focus of the Pacers’ film session on Thursday. The Heat shot 11-for-42 from outside the paint on Wednesday and committed 21 turnovers, but still had a solid offensive game (103 points on 97 possessions), because they were able to get to the basket so often against a defense that has typically protected it better than any other team in the league.

“We got to keep them off the glass,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday. “We got to keep them out of transition more than we did. And we got to clean up our coverages in the half court, so we don’t allow so many straight-line drives at the rim like we did [in Game 1]. And I think we can do that.”

Though there was that example of James getting an and-one when the Pacers failed to get back after a dead-ball turnover, the Heat registered only 11 fast break points on Tuesday, a not-so unacceptable amount given the Pacers’ nine live-ball turnovers. And Miami’s 16 offensive boards (and 24 second-chance points) were mostly a product of those “straight-line drives at the rim” forcing the Pacers’ bigs to help and rotate. So if the Pacers can curtail those, they’ll be in decent shape in Game 2.

The problem is that the Heat have James, the trump card to any adjustments a team might make. Still, there are some adjustments to be made, because the Heat ran their offense a lot differently in Game 1 than the New York Knicks did in the conference semifinals.

Though many of their possessions eventually turned into isolations, the Knicks did run a lot of pick-and-rolls. But they mostly ran them at Roy Hibbert, without much variation. With Hibbert’s man acting as the screener, he was able to pose a threat to the man with the ball, while also staying within reach of his man rolling to the basket (who was still in front of him).

The Heat didn’t run many pick-and-rolls at Hibbert, instead using a guard or David West‘s man as the screener and leaving Hibbert’s man on the baseline, forcing Hibbert to make a decision between the guy attacking the basket or his man behind him.

“They had a more intelligent plan against Roy Hibbert than New York did,” Vogel said. “It was effective last night and we got to adjust to it.”

Of course, the Heat’s plan wouldn’t have been a huge issue for the Pacers if West was able to contain the ball-handler better than he did.

Here’s an example where Chris Bosh sets a high screen for James, who is able to get around West.

james-bosh_p&r_1

At this point, both West and Sam Young (James’ defender) are trailing the play. James goes straight at Hibbert, gets the big man to leave the floor, and dumps the ball off the Chris Birdman, who throws down two of his 16 points.

There were countless examples in Game 1 of West getting burned on pick-and-rolls. In fact, on the very next play, James goes right by West with his left hand. He misses a scoop shot that Hibbert contests, but Andersen is right there to tip in the miss.

Another wrinkle that the Heat used was running a lot of pick-and-rolls toward the baseline, instead of toward the middle, something the Knicks had a little success with in the last round, but probably didn’t try often enough.

The Heat ran it quite a bit in the fourth quarter and overtime, mostly with Norris Cole as the ball-handler and Shane Battier (being defended by West) as the screener.

Here, West doesn’t get totally burned, but Cole uses a little in-and-out dribble move to get to the basket and draw Hibbert’s help.

baseline

Cole could hit Bosh, who is wide open in the corner here, but the advantage of the ball being on the baseline is that the defense is turned inside-out and defenders have to turn their heads away from their man. That’s exactly what Lance Stephenson does, and Dwyane Wade takes advantage by cutting to the basket. Cole dishes to Wade, who hits a short floater over West.

When West overplayed that toward-the-baseline pick-and-roll, Norris Cole went the other way, drew Ian Mahinmi‘s attention, and got Birdman another dunk …


West carried the Pacers’ offense in the first half on Wednesday and finished with 26 points. But he was largely responsible for many of the Heat’s points on the other end of the floor. And if Indiana is going to keep Miami out of the paint in Game 2, it has to start with his containment on pick-and-rolls.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (5) /

Push Comes To Shove For Outnumbered Bulls

May 11, 2013  ·  2:19AM

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CHICAGO – Shorthanded from their first practice of training camp through the 104-94 Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat Friday night at United Center in their Eastern Conference semifinals series, the Chicago Bulls have remained stoic throughout — sphinx-like, even.

At no point during a season defined as much by who hasn’t played as who has – no Derrick Rose at all, no Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich for about half of this playoff run now – have they whined. No grousing, no feeling sorry for themselves, no covetous glances or comments about the relative health of their opponents.

The Bulls have fallen in line behind their coach, Tom Thibodeau, who replays the same half dozen or so responses to any questions he fields about the team’s shortage of healthy players. More than enough to win. Do your job. Next man up. More than answers, they’re mantras and affirmations, repeated so often now that the fellows in Chicago’s dressing room truly believe.

Only it’s gone on too long now. The manpower disadvantage Chicago drags onto the court each game in this series against the NBA’s defending champions is starting to seize up on them. It’s frustrating, facing mighty Miami outnumbered and undermanned, and it’s starting to poke through not as woe-are-we grumbles about their injury plight but in a creeping sense of persecution.

Maybe it’s not merely the unfairness of relying on the same seven or eight players night after night, the Bulls more than hinted after Friday’s defeat, while the Heat can draw a rotation from 10 or 12. Maybe it’s the impossibility of winning basketball games five-on-eight, when three on the other side have whistles.

Yes, for the last few days, Thibodeau and the Bulls have gone there.

“We’re well aware of what’s going on,” the coach said after a game in which his backup center Nazr Mohammed got ejected for pushing Miami’s LeBron James in the second quarter and his starter Joakim Noah got called on what might have been an offensive rebound in the final minutes.

The former, a stunning moment that saw the NBA’s Most Valuable Player toppling backwards (and looking for the best place to land as he fell), cost Chicago Mohammed’s services, which typically provide 10 or 15 minutes rest for Noah. The latter, with the Bulls down 88-83 with 3:15 to play, might have triggered a four- or five-point swing when Noah’s foul coughed up the ball and the Heat’s Chris Bosh sank two free throws.

“When you play this team, you have to have a lot of mental, physical and emotional toughness,” Thibodeau said. “And things aren’t going to go your way. We’re not going to get calls. That’s reality. We’ve still got to find a way to get it done. And we can.”

That might read like typical Thibs-ese, but there are insinuations in it of a double standard at work. Thibodeau has dropped in comments about the Bulls “not getting calls” each day since their 115-78 meltdown in Game 2 Wednesday, when Chicago players were slapped with six technical fouls and both Noah and Taj Gibson were ejected.

Fact is, the sense that Miami might try to muscle up in this series dates back to Chicago’s streak-busting victory on March 27. After that game, in which the Heat’s run of consecutive victories ended at 27, James complained publicly about the Bulls being overly aggressive – particularly two “not basketball plays” in which Hinrich tackled him and Gibson knocked him down awkwardly in the lane. James acted out his frustration that night, slamming into Bulls forward Carlos Boozer to earn his own flagrant foul.

But the tone was set.

Game 1 flew below the radar, Miami searching for its game and its edge beneath some layoff rust and a lack of urgency dating back weeks. But Game 2 got snarly – in the tradition of Dwyane Wade pushing Rip Hamilton into the seats last season – and Game 3 wanted to go that way, too, if not for referee Joey Crawford, and his notoriously short fuse, working as the night’s top cop.

Still, it didn’t stop Mohammed. After the backup center fouled James to prevent a fast break, the Miami star pushed back – harder – sending the bigger man to the floor. Mohammed got up and, without even realizing James had just earned a technical foul for that move, shoved back. James went reeling, lost his balance or folded in a little theatrics exaggerating the impact enough that Mohammed was a sure goner from the game. Easy ejection.

The Bulls, however, didn’t see it that way.

“From my angle, I just saw a guy basically flop,” Thibodeau said. “And … I’m gonna leave it at that.”

Only he didn’t. Asked specifically about the refs’ decision to eject Mohammed, the Bulls coach said: “I didn’t think it warranted an ejection. I understand a flagrant foul. I understand that. But an ejection? No. No. Nope.”

Mohammed said he never imagined he would get tossed, given James’ shove triggered his reaction. And that’s where the context of what had happened – the way the series has gone, the way most of the games between Chicago and Miami have gone the past three seasons – bubbled to the surface.

“I look at some plays that have happened through the series already,” Mohammed said. “Guys jumping on [Nate Robinson's] face. [A] Guy tackling Marco Belinelli out of bounds. Guy takes out Nate first play of the game. I mean, there have been a lot of plays that didn’t [get] ejections.

“I’m disappointed in myself. I let my teammates down, I could have been out there to help. I’m disappointed in myself also because my son was probably watching the game. I don’t want him to see that type of behavior on the court. But I’m also disappointed it warranted an ejection for something like a push when I got pushed down first.”

There also was a heated moment late in the first quarter when Miami’s Chris “Birdman” Anderson fell atop Robinson along the baseline and wasn’t getting off him fast enough to suit Noah. The Heat do seem to aim their falls so they land on opposing players, so Noah rushed over and shoved Andersen, as he was untangling from the Bulls guard. It was a sneak preview of the Mohammed-James altercation.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra brushed aside questions about the dust-ups, calling them “inconsequential” to the outcome. And, mostly, Spoelstra was right. Chicago could not get stops when it needed them down the stretch and the Heat got a big game from Bosh, unexpected help from backup guard Norris Cole and timely scoring late from James.

But the Mohammed and Noah incidents did matter to Chicago, same as nudge foul by Jimmy Butler on James for a three-point play that made it 99-90. The series is one of attrition for the Bulls, so more than doling out free throws, any disparity in how fouls are assessed further shortens their bench and dictates which players Thibodeau can keep on the floor, for fear of maxing out with six.

Miami can play with abandon, as the Bulls see it, because it has numbers on them. Its stars rarely veer into foul trouble – James had only three games this season of more than three fouls and never fouled out, while Wade had one disqualification and five more with more than three – and there is depth for everyone else.

“I’m watching how things are going,” Thibodeau said. “I see how things are going. I watch very closely. And what I’m seeing, we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Coming from a guy who’d rather sing the anthem pregame than make excuses or shift responsibility anywhere but within, it was telling. A sign, it seemed, that the toothache of missing players had pounded on too long.

Also telling: Noah’s reaction when asked late Friday if that March 27 game and James’ gripes about it had bled into how Miami was playing and the refs were calling things now.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” the Bulls center said.

His words said one thing. His eye roll, broad enough for Broadway, said another.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls / Comments (341) /

Air Check: Playoff Excitement

May 2, 2013  ·  5:44PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY — For NBA fans like us, there’s nothing better than League Pass. Having the ability to watch every game every night (and then again the next day) is heaven.

Of course, with local broadcasts, you get local broadcasters, which can be good and bad. It can be good, because these guys know their teams better than most national broadcasters. It can be bad, because these guys love their teams more than most national broadcasters. And they’re usually not afraid to show that love.

Air Check is where we highlight the best and worst of NBA broadcasts.

The season is on the line with every playoff game. Every quarter, every possession means so much. So clearly, players, coaches and fans are going to get emotional.

Broadcasters, both national and local, get emotional too.

The Kevin Harlan experience


I think Kevin Harlan likes Chris “Bird Man” Andersen, because he goes a little over the top with this call on a Bird Man put-back dunk in Game 1 of Heat-Bucks.

“Oh, here comes the Bird Man! Flapping his wings and soaring for a sweet flush! When you’re aerodynamically designed with that hair-do you can do those kinds of things … with that sweet mohawk. It helps him fly.”

But that’s Kevin Harlan, and that’s why we love him.

Stacey G. Excited


Not to be outdone, Bulls color man Stacey King has a flair of his own. And it comes out in full force when Jimmy Butler gets the hoop and the harm on this fast break in Game 4 of Nets-Bulls.

“Give it to me, Jimmy G. Buckets! The ‘G’ stands for ‘Gets!’”

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Posted in Air Check / Comments (11) /

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