What happened to Miami's defense in the Finals?

[fpliii]

LeBron and co., even though they had a down season (11th in DRtg this year), were pretty dominant defensively in the first three rounds of the playoffs (EDIT: turns out I was wrong about this, see my post later in this thread; thanks to Artillery for asking me to look at the data). In the Finals:

From stats.nba.com:

team contested fg-fga uncontested fg-fga

G1
SAS 24/40 16/28
MIA 23/47 14/31

G2
SAS 22/50 14/32
MIA 26/47 11/23

G3
SAS 24/39 14/25
MIA 20/37 12/25

G4
SAS 22/34 18/36
MIA 20/45 12/26

G5
SAS 17/38 20/40
MIA 16/43 14/32

SAS 109/201 (.542); 82/161 (.509)
MIA 105/209 (.502); 63/137 (.460)

161/362 (.445) of SAS shots, 137/356 (.385) of MIA shots were uncontested respectively.

---

The Spurs converted better on contested shots, but that might be bad luck on its own. Together with the gap in open shots taken though, neither is as easily dismissed. Part of this is probably due to SA's advantages in ORB% (22.7 to 15.7) and TOV% (13.9 to 15.2), but a lot of this is just bad/lazy defense.

[SCdac]

The Spurs happened. 19 game-win streak Spurs. Beat the Durant-Westbrook-Ibaka lead Thunder, Mavs, and Blazers. And the Spurs had all the motivation in the world (redemption). They looked legit all season.

[navy]

Spolestra couldnt figure out the offense and adjust accordingly.

[fpliii]

The Spurs happened. 19 game-win streak Spurs. Beat the Durant-Westbrook-Ibaka lead Thunder, Mavs, and Blazers. And the Spurs had all the motivation in the world (redemption). They looked legit all season.
That's another valid explanation. One of the best team offenses I've seen. I'd be interested in seeing some comparisons to other dominant offensive teams in recent memory.

[BlackVVaves]

Miami's defense has been shit all season in comparison to other top defenses in the league, and Bron's propensity to take plays off defensively this year was further magnified thanks to the incompetence of his teammates on the perimeter and lack of shot blocking in the paint.

The Finals was simply a microcosm of what their defense has been all year, coupled with the fact that the Spurs' offensive execution was immense.

[Kiddlovesnets]

I think their offense sucks worse, they are scoring like 80-90pts, thats not enough to beat any teams from the West.

[Trollsmasher]

DNP - Old

[STATUTORY]

coasting and saving bodies for 2015 season

[Mr.Kite]

LeBron and co., even though they had a down season (11th in DRtg this year), were pretty dominant defensively in the first three rounds of the playoffs. That all fell apart in the Finals, though:

From stats.nba.com:

team contested fg-fga uncontested fg-fga

G1
SAS 24/40 16/28
MIA 23/47 14/31

G2
SAS 22/50 14/32
MIA 26/47 11/23

G3
SAS 24/39 14/25
MIA 20/37 12/25

G4
SAS 22/34 18/36
MIA 20/45 12/26

G5
SAS 17/38 20/40
MIA 16/43 14/32

SAS 109/201 (.542); 82/161 (.509)
MIA 105/209 (.502); 63/137 (.460)

161/362 (.445) of SAS shots, 137/356 (.385) of MIA shots were uncontested respectively.

---

The Spurs converted better on contested shots, but that might be bad luck on its own. Together with the gap in open shots taken though, neither is as easily dismissed. Part of this is probably due to SA's advantages in ORB% (22.7 to 15.7) and TOV% (13.9 to 15.2), but a lot of this is just bad/lazy defense.

The Bobcats...We talking about the Bobcats

[Xoush]

coasting and saving bodies for 2015 season
^this :applause:

[aj1987]

Role players. When a single player leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, FG%, 3pt%, MPG, and is 2nd in blocks, you have to look beyond the best player. Wade and Bosh were complete ass in the Finals. The bench (which was the reason Miami was dominant) sucked ass. Shitmers played like he belongs on a bench in the D-League.

Wade and Bosh got raped on the defensive end. So did Chalmers, Cole, Lewis, etc. (LeBron as well). The Spurs' offense was just too much of this old Heat team.

[cltcfn2924]

Spolestra couldnt figure out the offense and adjust accordingly.


Pop took the trap away. Amazing offensive scheme. That led to Miami going zone explaining the high % of 3 pt. shots. Spo got schooled badly.

[Artillery]

LeBron and co., even though they had a down season (11th in DRtg this year), were pretty dominant defensively in the first three rounds of the playoffs. That all fell apart in the Finals, though:

Where are the numbers to support this claim? IIRC, Heat relied on their offense to get them through the first three rounds.

[Soundwave]

Miami was overrated defensively. LeBron and Battier are their only great defenders, and Battier is old as balls and LeBron's intensity defensively comes and goes depending on how the game is going.

Playing in the Eastern Conference masks a lot of weaknesses.

[zoom17]

Old Heat to get more younger legs next year.

[Lebron23]

They were not even a good defensive team this year. It was their offense was the main reason they advanced in the NBA Finals.

[fpliii]

Where are the numbers to support this claim? IIRC, Heat relied on their offense to get them through the first three rounds.
Actually, turns out you're right:

team - playoff ORtg vs MIA, season ORtg (difference)
CHA - 102.7, 103.6 (-0.9)
BRK - 112.4, 106.7 (+5.7)
IND - 110.2, 104.1 (+6.1)
SAS - 120.8, 110.5 (+10.3)

They weren't great, and got worse on that end as the playoffs went on.

[Derka]

Greg Popovich happened.

[SamuraiSWISH]

They weren't playing it, AND the Spurs passing ability cutting them to pieces. The San Antonio Spur Shredders.

[poeticism707]

A little known fact:

Lebron acts as a centerfielder for their D, covering for their slow, unathletic wings.

And in the Playoffs, Lebron turns it up.

And in the Finals,

the Spurs EXHAUSTED Lebron,

making him carrying the Heat offensively,

then going at him with Parker, Lenorard,

them him running off screens,

moving the ball like madmen.

Contrary to what people think,

Lebron ain't Superman.

When he's out of energy,

he's out.

So, down the stretch,

Bron was neither

able to carry the Heat offensively,

nor bail them out defensively.

Hence the blowouts:

The longer the series went on,

the more tired he became.

He is 30 after all.

Just brilliant,

legendary stuff,

from Pop and the Spurs.

[Rubio2Gasol]

What defense?

But their problem was not dominating on offense.

[SpaceJammeR]

real bad match up. their type of offense tired miami while conserving energy. pop outcoached spo real bad and realized that miami traps way to much and plays overly aggressive. miami had no rim protection. ray allen, battier, birdman were all gassed by the finals prolly why they played so terrible.

[SexSymbol]

LeBron was lackadaisical on defense, translated to the rest of the team.
Same for wade.
Both were shit as leaders. Lebron didn't even get back on defense countless times. And countless as in 10+
Wade was average in man to man defense but also shit in effort everybody else

[DatAsh]

Finally a thread about Miami's (lack of)defense. All these threads looking at box score numbers and arguing whether or not Lebron and company could have done more offensively are somewhat meaningless when you really look at why they lost.

They lost this series on the defensive end. If you're looking for heat players to blame, blame all of them; they all played some of the worst defense I've ever seen them play in a playoff series - Lebron included.

As for why? To me it looked like a combination of exhaustion and frustration. It's like every time the Spurs went on a small run the Heat defense just gave up for the next few minutes, or until the next timeout. That and the Heat over-rotate/over-commit, and that strategy struggles against good ball movement, which the Spurs have in spades.

Wade and Chalmers walking back after missed fgas and giving their man open 3s, Lebron and Bosh being in position to help Chalmers or Cole when they got beat off the dribble but instead just standing there, Wade and Lebron sagging to help protect the paint and then not even trying to run back out to contest when their guy got the kickout. All those things were problems I saw again and again that the Heat usually don't have any issue with.