“If you think you’re not going to see a different version of Miami, then you’re kidding yourself.” — Joe Mazzulla.
After losing their opening game against the Boston Celtics, the pressure is on the Miami Heat to adjust. That’s where Erik Spoelstra will thrive. As one of the league’s most innovative coaches, the Heat usually have an advantage on the sidelines.
Taking away the 3-point line must be the primary focus. Miami lacks the shooters to get into a shot-for-shot battle. They’re better when the game is mucked up, and they’re making their opponents work for every basket. They want the game to be physical. They want every possession to chip away at their opponents’ morale.
Still, as my mom always says, ‘What you want, and what you get, are two different things.’
Regardless of how Miami want’s the game to go, It doesn’t mean that’s what they’re going to get. Spoelstra’s team is the underdogs here. There’s a clear disparity in talent. Jimmy Butler, Josh Richardson and Terry Rozier remain sidelined with injury — which further limits the Heat’s rotation and their chances of success.
Since Saturday, we’ve looked at a couple of different actions the Celtics can potentially run to beat Miami’s perimeter defense (or their zone defense) if they want to take away the 3-point shot. We’ve touched on Wedge & Slice actions along with Shuffle cuts. Oklahoma. Chest. And Ram. All of which are staples of Mazzulla’s offensive system.
The fun part about breaking down film is that you can run the same action 100 times, and there’s always something new to pick up. Maybe the defense reacted differently. Or the play came from a new part of the court. What happened after the action was executed? Basketball is fluid, and that’s what makes the chess battle so much fun. I’m positive we’ll have more of this stuff to look at over the rest of the series.
What we haven’t done, is touch on some bigger principle stuff that we’ve seen Mazzulla go to throughout the regular season. Stuff that is designed to create penetration. Stuff that can crack open a tough perimeter defense.
So, that’s what I wanted to focus on today.
It all starts with running empty-side actions.
The Celtics have run empty-side actions all season. They were a staple of the offense during the opening stages of the year before Mazzulla drifted away from them during the middle of the season before coming back to them down the stretch.
If the Heat are looking to bait a ton of threes against a set defense, keeping a corner empty could be a solid counter. The above clip shows Al Horford and Jrue Holiday working out of an empty-side pick-and-roll. Holiday comes over the screen and looks to pressure the rim. By not having a shooter in the strong-side corner, Horford can roll into space around the low block, providing an outlet for Holiday. It ends in a nice middie.
