Five Things We Learned from the Finals
While many people were whining about refs or figuring out ways to compare Wade to Michael Jordan without sounding like they were comparing Wade to his Airness, there were some definite lessons for the C's to pick up on in the NBA finals. We could learn a lot by watching both the personnel and strategies of the contending teams. Here are five that I picked up on.
1) Live by the jumpshot, Die by the jumpshot: The Mavericks went cold and decided to try to shoot themselves out of the slump instead of attacking the rim. The reason Marquis Daniels was such a breath of fresh air for them was that he actually drove the lane. I don't know if it was the blocked shots or what but if the Mavs weren't settling for 20 foot jump shots, they were resorting to fallaways. The perfect example of the difference between the two teams was game 5: Wade drove the lane and got the much-argued foul call while Terry avoided contact and took a nearly impossible fade-away. Both guys missed but Wade got to the line. Another example of this is Game 6 when the "no-name" fifth starter on the Heat had a better 4th quarter than the franchise player for the Mavs.
So where are the C's? : The Celtics are pretty good on this one. Pierce is very much like Wade in his ability to drive and get to the line and West is solid enough at finding a lane now and then. Also, besides Raef, none of our big men spend most of their day out on the perimeter. The person who needs to learn this lesson the most is Gerald Green, who could easily devolve into a jumpshooter and not take advantage of his quickness.
2) You don't need a field general to win, but it's going to be ugly: One of the main problems the Mavs had was that they had nobody on their team to set up their offense. Every time down it looked like they had no clue what was going on. Terry was tossing up threes, Dirk was wandering around and unable to get free, Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels created offense out of necessity rather than any sort of plan. Devin Harris wasn't ready and the Mavs struggled because their best option at the point began to believe that he was the best option for the shot. In the two wins, Terry had 33 shots and 10 assists. In the four losses? 11 assists and 80 shots.
Not that the Heat were much better. J-Will and Payton have talent but for most of the key moments in the series they simply looked like plan C, floating around the three point line waiting for a kick out. Payton was so out of it that he thought once Wade got the ball, he could go back to focusing on yapping at the ref. One of the reasons the refs factored so heavily in this series was that both offenses were completely out of control. While Miami did a better job running plays to get Wade open, once Wade got the ball in his hands, it was pretty much over for movement without the ball.
So where are the C's? : The C's need a point guard or they need to get a lot better everywhere else so they can win in spite of not having a point guard. Delonte is good enough to win but with a bunch of high schoolers as our key pieces for the future, it makes sense that the team invests in a true point guard to keep the offense running smoothly. 3) You can win without a dominant offensive post presence, but it's going to be ugly: Shaq is a post presense but when it comes to crunch time he loses most of his value because of the Hack-a-Shaq (which was surprisingly absent from the 4th quarter of game 6). Dallas simply had no post presence to speak of. This is another reason the game was so helter skelter. Instead of bringing the ball down and running the offense through the post, these teams tried to run their offense from the wing. Not only did they run their offense from the wing but most, if not all, of their options were also on the wing. I can't remember seeing so many cross-court passes as I did in these games. Neither team could comfortably hold a lead because neither of them had a go-to guy who they could slow the game down with and get high percentage shots. If Wade truly wants to reach the rare Air, he needs to develop a post game like Jordan had. (This is a lesson Pierce needs to pick up as well) If Payton retires, the Heat would be wise to keep him around to tutor Wade on post moves since GP had one of the best post games for a guard. Wade has one ring playing his head-down, all-for-naught style but a few swallowed whistles and things would have been very different. He needs a go-to move besides his quickness. He has a good enough turnaround but he needs to expand his arsenal.
Now one key word here is "offensive". If you want to win it all, you have to have an enforcer in the paint and someone who eats up rebounds. The Heat had Shaq and Mourning, the Pistons had Wallace, the Spurs had Duncan. Grant, Rodman, and Cartwright helped keep offenses honest during the Bulls dynasty. While Diop improved this year, he still wasn't making anyone second guess a drive to the hoop. In fact, Jerry Stackhouse had the best block in the paint for the Mavs in the Finals.
So where are the C's? : The C's have good offense in Big Al but on defense they are lacking. Perk is good but his lack of mobility might make him Dampier-like: good in man but not as useful on help defense. This is an area that is a question but not necessarily a problem. Ainge and Doc need to see how Big Al and Perk develop this year before they decide whether they need more help in the frontcourt. (That is, unless a sweet deal comes their way that would give them an upper echelon big man). 4) Zone defense is a much needed, underused weapon: The Mavs slowed down the Heat by moving into the zone. While people liked to say that the zone wouldn't work in the NBA because people would shoot over it, there are very few teams with enough shooters to really make you pay in the modern overexpanded league. At the very least, every team needs to learn the zone so they have another look to throw at teams. With the level of point guard play being pretty low right now and most players being more athletic than fundamentally sound, the zone will likely do to many teams what it did to the veteran Heat squad; throw them for a complete loss and force the coach to call a timeout.
So where are the C's? : The C's would be a solid zone team and have the makeup of a team that could make teams pay if they slide into the zone. The only issue is whether or not Doc wants to add zone defense into the mix while the young 'uns are still learning how to play man defense. 5) An 8 man rotation is the key: While people can go on about depth, you really only need 8 men to win the Finals. The Heat rarely went to Derek Anderson, their 9th man, while Marquis Daniels and Keith Van Horn saw their minutes shrivel up in the Finals. In the Mavs case, the depth they had might have hurt them as it seemed like Daniels would have been a better option than the veteran, defensive specialist Adrian Griffin, who saw most of the reserve action in the series. Sticking with a player lets them get into the rhythm of the series; having too many options might actually be a hindrance. But regardless, you have to have 8. The Pistons and Spurs came up short because their bench 6 - 8 couldn't add what they needed.
So where are the C's? : The C's are still figuring out their starters so worrying about the final pieces is a bit like putting the cart before the horse. The much lauded "depth" the C's have will most likely be better used as trade assets. Ainge needs to get the top of the rotation to playoff form before we can start worrying about tinkering around and fixing us into contenders. So while the C's are still a long way away from contending, these are a few lessons that we should hold onto while we build the Green Machine to 17.
So where are the C's? : The Celtics are pretty good on this one. Pierce is very much like Wade in his ability to drive and get to the line and West is solid enough at finding a lane now and then. Also, besides Raef, none of our big men spend most of their day out on the perimeter. The person who needs to learn this lesson the most is Gerald Green, who could easily devolve into a jumpshooter and not take advantage of his quickness.
2) You don't need a field general to win, but it's going to be ugly: One of the main problems the Mavs had was that they had nobody on their team to set up their offense. Every time down it looked like they had no clue what was going on. Terry was tossing up threes, Dirk was wandering around and unable to get free, Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels created offense out of necessity rather than any sort of plan. Devin Harris wasn't ready and the Mavs struggled because their best option at the point began to believe that he was the best option for the shot. In the two wins, Terry had 33 shots and 10 assists. In the four losses? 11 assists and 80 shots. Not that the Heat were much better. J-Will and Payton have talent but for most of the key moments in the series they simply looked like plan C, floating around the three point line waiting for a kick out. Payton was so out of it that he thought once Wade got the ball, he could go back to focusing on yapping at the ref. One of the reasons the refs factored so heavily in this series was that both offenses were completely out of control. While Miami did a better job running plays to get Wade open, once Wade got the ball in his hands, it was pretty much over for movement without the ball.
So where are the C's? : The C's need a point guard or they need to get a lot better everywhere else so they can win in spite of not having a point guard. Delonte is good enough to win but with a bunch of high schoolers as our key pieces for the future, it makes sense that the team invests in a true point guard to keep the offense running smoothly. 3) You can win without a dominant offensive post presence, but it's going to be ugly: Shaq is a post presense but when it comes to crunch time he loses most of his value because of the Hack-a-Shaq (which was surprisingly absent from the 4th quarter of game 6). Dallas simply had no post presence to speak of. This is another reason the game was so helter skelter. Instead of bringing the ball down and running the offense through the post, these teams tried to run their offense from the wing. Not only did they run their offense from the wing but most, if not all, of their options were also on the wing. I can't remember seeing so many cross-court passes as I did in these games. Neither team could comfortably hold a lead because neither of them had a go-to guy who they could slow the game down with and get high percentage shots. If Wade truly wants to reach the rare Air, he needs to develop a post game like Jordan had. (This is a lesson Pierce needs to pick up as well) If Payton retires, the Heat would be wise to keep him around to tutor Wade on post moves since GP had one of the best post games for a guard. Wade has one ring playing his head-down, all-for-naught style but a few swallowed whistles and things would have been very different. He needs a go-to move besides his quickness. He has a good enough turnaround but he needs to expand his arsenal.
Now one key word here is "offensive". If you want to win it all, you have to have an enforcer in the paint and someone who eats up rebounds. The Heat had Shaq and Mourning, the Pistons had Wallace, the Spurs had Duncan. Grant, Rodman, and Cartwright helped keep offenses honest during the Bulls dynasty. While Diop improved this year, he still wasn't making anyone second guess a drive to the hoop. In fact, Jerry Stackhouse had the best block in the paint for the Mavs in the Finals.
So where are the C's? : The C's have good offense in Big Al but on defense they are lacking. Perk is good but his lack of mobility might make him Dampier-like: good in man but not as useful on help defense. This is an area that is a question but not necessarily a problem. Ainge and Doc need to see how Big Al and Perk develop this year before they decide whether they need more help in the frontcourt. (That is, unless a sweet deal comes their way that would give them an upper echelon big man). 4) Zone defense is a much needed, underused weapon: The Mavs slowed down the Heat by moving into the zone. While people liked to say that the zone wouldn't work in the NBA because people would shoot over it, there are very few teams with enough shooters to really make you pay in the modern overexpanded league. At the very least, every team needs to learn the zone so they have another look to throw at teams. With the level of point guard play being pretty low right now and most players being more athletic than fundamentally sound, the zone will likely do to many teams what it did to the veteran Heat squad; throw them for a complete loss and force the coach to call a timeout.
So where are the C's? : The C's would be a solid zone team and have the makeup of a team that could make teams pay if they slide into the zone. The only issue is whether or not Doc wants to add zone defense into the mix while the young 'uns are still learning how to play man defense. 5) An 8 man rotation is the key: While people can go on about depth, you really only need 8 men to win the Finals. The Heat rarely went to Derek Anderson, their 9th man, while Marquis Daniels and Keith Van Horn saw their minutes shrivel up in the Finals. In the Mavs case, the depth they had might have hurt them as it seemed like Daniels would have been a better option than the veteran, defensive specialist Adrian Griffin, who saw most of the reserve action in the series. Sticking with a player lets them get into the rhythm of the series; having too many options might actually be a hindrance. But regardless, you have to have 8. The Pistons and Spurs came up short because their bench 6 - 8 couldn't add what they needed.
So where are the C's? : The C's are still figuring out their starters so worrying about the final pieces is a bit like putting the cart before the horse. The much lauded "depth" the C's have will most likely be better used as trade assets. Ainge needs to get the top of the rotation to playoff form before we can start worrying about tinkering around and fixing us into contenders. So while the C's are still a long way away from contending, these are a few lessons that we should hold onto while we build the Green Machine to 17.
