NBA Finals Review

The 2011 NBA Finals closed with a LeBron James major let down and a deserving group of veterans shooting the lights out.
A lot was made of LeBron's disappointing performance and his inability to deliver in the 4th quarter.
Also for perhaps the first time in his career his game was dissected in all different kind of angles.
Tim Legler pointed the lack of his mid-range game and Steve Kerr went a step further and mentioned both his mid-range and low post game needs work.
Both are right.

However before getting into his game, another area that needs clarification is his position.
Which leads to the first point I thought was key to this series, offensive entry execution.
In Game 7, LeBron brought the ball up for the Heat a total of 30 times. (Unofficial count)
Of those 30, 12 possessions lead to points, 18 did not.
This is not a good percentage in any scenario.
If you breakdown those 12, you will see a tendency.
When he goes straight into a 1 on 1 attack, he is fine.
When there is no back court pressure and he calls out a play, he is fine.
However he is not fine in the flow.
In fact he is more of a complete mess.
He does not give any kind of direction of what he wants to accomplish and what he wants his teammates to do.
Once upon ago, a GM famous for not drafting Michael Jordan said that a good offense will be dictated 80% by a good entry.
This means if you get into your offense smoothly and everyone knows what you are doing, the chances of scoring is a a lot higher.
If you take a look at the Miami Heat's possessions, you will notice that they had a terrible time getting into a smooth offensive execution in majority of their half court sets.
Usually by the time they settle in to their offense the shot clock is down to 14 seconds.
From there they start anew and by the time they run their simple set (usually a pick and roll or a 1 on 1 attack) the clock is down to 5.
Stu Inman would definitely had done something about this.
But the Miami Heat had problems.
To begin with they lacked a true point guard who could provide direction and leadership.
What was revealed was that LeBron James may have more talent, but he is no Magic Johnson.
LeBron doesn't point people where to go, he doesn't know how to stop, take a breath and start a smooth offensive execution.
But you can't put all the blame on him.
He never was brought up as a point guard, never trained as one, after all he is the Chosen One.
Second, the Dallas Mavericks applied backcourt pressure in which JJ Baera completely took out Mike Bibby.
Third, the Mavericks showed various looks on defense including zone which complicated things even more for the Heat.

On the other hand if you take a look at the Dallas Mavericks, you could see the difference.
First of all they had more ball handlers.
Second of all they had numerous entry patterns, staggered screens, down screens, high pick and roll, middle post set up for Dirk, numerous looks to get into an offense keeping the defense at bay.
Third, they were trained better, whenever a play was about to breakdown, the guards will quickly call for the ball and set up a quick shot opportunity.
Fourth and not least, the abundance of outside shooters is a huge advantage in the modern game.
Baera, Norwitzki, Stephenson, Kidd, Terry, Cardinal and though limited in playing time, they even had Stojakovich too.
The 24 second shot clock is too short for going through a series of screens thus a lot depends on pick and roll and 1 on 1 situations, however with the athletes becoming quicker and bigger there is not much space left around the basket.
The last breath of fresh air is on the perimeter and that is the last resort of escape.
When you can constantly put 3 shooters on a court, you have a great chance to fix a broken down play and also gain an extra point while doing so.
In other words, you can make up for a bad offensive execution and the Mavericks did just that with incredible shooting.

The second point I would like to stress on why the Mavericks won is one of the most least appreciated skills in the NBA, DEFENSIVE SLIDES.
Let's face it, this skill will never make Sports Center.
I believe the best slide stepper if you will was Gary Payton.
He could move laterally without losing his balance and apply pressure.
He also rarely crossed his feet and stayed with his man while slide stepping.
This lost art could be found by numerous Mavericks players.
Baera, Terry, Kidd, Stephenson and Marion.
When you have 5 players who can keep a player in front of you, you have a good chance of shutting the opponents top scorers than anybody else.
This skill was also a reason why they were able to apply pressure backcourt, which made the offense set up deeper in the 24 second clock thus creating rushed shots.
Compared to the number of outside shooters the Mavericks had on the court, the Miami Heat were at loss.
James Jones was seldom used as was Mike Miller.
Bibby became a non-factor once they found out he couldn't bring the ball up court against Baera.
Note that Chalmers wasn't having an easy time either.
Once the Mavericks kept the slashing Wade and LeBron in front of them while clogging the lanes as well, the Heat were missing a number of shooters.

When you look at the two main points I mentioned, it could be said that Spolestra was out coached by his counterpart.
I think that is true and more credit should be given to Carlisle.
His philosophy was apparent and built into his players.
He trained them to get accustomed to numerous looks both on offense and defense.
Also through out the playoffs he adapted to player matchup's accordingly such as starting Baera, sitting Peja and trusting Mahinmi in the Game 6.

But do give Miami credit.
This team just got together.
To ask them to show as many looks and entry patterns as the Mavericks maybe unrealistic.
However bare in mind that Pat Riley was never an offensive master mind.
Magic Johnson ran the Showtime Lakers.
The Knicks were dreadful offensively.
Also with the lockout and salary cap, don't expect them to have a bona fide point guard easily.
Spolestra is going to have be a much better tactician to improve this offensively, otherwise they maybe facing another frustrating offensive year.

For whatever it's worth, check out my solution which I wrote last November.
"How the Heat will click?"

I doubt that Pat Riley's pride will allow the Heat to play the Triangle Offense.
An offense that covers the lack of a true point guard and a reason why I foresee the Lakers struggling this year.
If the new coach abandons the Triangle, they maybe in serious trouble facing the similar problems I mentioned with the Heat.