Off and Running

A week into the NBA season, and you can’t say that you aren’t entertained.  The Miami Heat, with their “new” Pace and Space offense has filled highlight packages everywhere.  Even when they play about as bad as they are capable of playing versus the Charlotte Bobcats on the second of a back to back, the Heat still manage to come back in stirring fashion, with a fill of drama to boot.

The first week of the season, has been a feeling out process for the Heat, with a couple of new faces integrated into the rotation.

On opening day, the Heat pushed a break neck pace and ran away with the game, while calling (to the naked eye) less than one handful of sets.  I managed to count upon further review, two very distinct UCLA sets in the 1st quarter, and a handful of corner sets the rest of the way.  If you guessed less than 10 “called” sets for the entire game, you would be right.

Something that started last year, is now the reality.  Last year, Coach Erik Spoelstra trusted Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to “quarterback” the offense for stretches. Now they are trusted with a larger role in managing the offense.  Except for obvious out of timeout situations, or possession for possession situations, Coach Spo won’t call too many plays.  When you have two of the highest basketball IQ’s in the NBA playing for you, you can do that.  You don’t hand Peyton Manning a play sheet.

Of the new faces added to the roster, the most promising is easily Rookie Point Guard Norris Cole.  As stated in my Draft Review, Norris Cole’s biggest asset is his speed, and he has used it to benefit the Heat tremendously in this young season.

Certain players are easier to project into the pros, because of their film.  Sometimes, a guy’s film just pops.  Watching a couple of his games is what led me to raving about him on Twitter.  I am glad he has vindicated me somewhat.  I am not sure what the rest of the league saw, that he wasn’t a lottery pick.  His development the rest of the season has to come in his pick and roll game, to take advantage of the bevy of pick and roll partners on this team.  We have seen a smidgen of what his offensive game can and should be.

The other new face that has been slowly integrated is Shane Battier.  After a mere trial run versus Dallas in the opener, he saw a few more minutes versus Boston before turning in a fine performance versus the Charlotte Bobcats.  I do not buy into the “No stats all-star” talk, but as a source with some knowledge told me: “Some guys have film that is off the charts.  Shane is one of those guys.”

I think I am beginning to understand what he meant, watching Shane Battier’s off-the-bench stint that started in the 3rd quarter versus the Bobcats.  It was a 7 and a half minute stint that found him with some positive numbers such as 2 block shots and a steal, but what the box score doesn’t show is that he had five deflections, altered two Charlotte sets by denying a couple of high post entries, and was not late on one single rotation.

I watched the same 7 and a half minutes twice to focus on his play, and you can see what Pat Riley saw in him.  He will be a useful player if he can give that same effort and contribute the occasional open corner three.

A practice inside of a game

I found it interesting that during a stretch where the Boston Celtics ran a 3-2 zone, the Heat inserted a lineup it had not used, and Coach Spoelstra then called every single play from the sidelines.

Upon further review of this period, you see 6 distinctive sets run for each guy that would — in a future situation — be a zone busting weapon, minus of course Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and James Jones.  Why would Spoelstra do that?  Well, the obvious answer is that he was working out newer options in that situation.  Of the 6 sets, 5 ended with the right look.  As Coach Spoelstra likes to say “It is a make or miss league”.  They just missed.

Does it show a special disrespect to launch an in-game tutorial versus a rival with a big lead?  No.  It shows that you sometimes have to take advantage of situations you are presented with as a coach.

As for some magic elixir to defeat the zone that some teams go to versus the Heat, there is none.  It is about making open shots, and using your defense on the other end to break the zone naturally with transition offense.

Tagged as: Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Erik Spoelstra, James Jones, LeBron James, Norris Cole, Pat Riley, Peyton Manning, Shane Battier