The Pace-and-Space Miami Heat Live in These NBA Finals
By Wes Goldberg
The Miami Heat are absent of the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011, but the ripples of the Big Three Era are still being seen in this ultimate series.
The Warriors took a 3-2 series lead in the NBA Finals after trailing 1-2 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. A team that embraced small ball all along, Steve Kerr made a major lineup shift by benching Andrew Bogut and starting five shooters with no traditional center. It’s a move the harkens back to when the Heat moved Chris Bosh to center in 2012.
The Big Three Heat evolved into more than three overpowered super stars–LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh–joining to become the most challenging of boss battles.
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After a bout of adversity, the Big Three Heat pivoted and became the pace-and-space Heat. Rather than three kings imposing their authority, LeBron, Wade and Bosh became servants of a system. One based on the gravity of three Hall-of-Famers as opposed to exploiting their individual prowess.
It was a system born in Phoenix, back when Mike D’Antoni was heading the run-and-gun Suns, one of the most revolutionary teams in NBA history.
D’Antoni talked with Bleacher Report about how the Golden State Warriors embody the principals of his Suns teams that never won a title. If all goes expected, the Warriors will do what those teams could not.
As Howard Beck writes, regardless of how these Finals play out, we’ve already seen validation that those principals work.
"The Miami Heat won two championships with a “pace-and-space” offense that was patterned after the Suns model, with Phil Weber—a former D’Antoni assistant—brought in as a consultant to help implement it. The Heat won titles with the 6’8″ Shane Battier playing as the undersized power forward, shooting threes to stretch the defense."
D’Antoni moved Amar’e Stoudemire from power forward to center. Erik Spoelstra made a similar move, moving Bosh from his natural position at the 4 to the 5. Kerr is following in step, inserting Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup, giving the Warriors five ball handlers to run through an endless series of pick-and-rolls. (In Game 5, David Blatt answered by playing LeBron a solid helping of minutes at center.)
In making sure that all five guys on the court can punish defenses from the perimeter, D’Antoni, Spoelstra and Kerr are the NBA’s Chip Kelly’s. There is no fullback. No blocking tight end. No running back who can’t catch. Only guys who can score on any given play.
By taking a struggling Bogut out of the starting lineup, Kerr got rid of his fullback. After a few failed experiments (Eddy Curry anybody?), Spoelstra’s calculated gamble of moving Bosh paid off in the form of a home run threat at every position. D’Antoni gave these great coaches the idea. The Heat used it to win two championships. The Warriors are trying to win one now.
Credit: USA Today
Those Suns teams had Steve Nash, a virtuoso point guard who could Jedi mind-trick defenders while darting around screens, get into the paint and use angles like a pro billiards player to get the ball where ever it needed to go.
The Heat used the gravity of LeBron’s post ups or Wade’s drives to the basket to create room for an arsenal of shooters.
Wade, helping out with the Finals broadcast, noted how Heat coaches preached keeping the ball in the middle of the court, then kicking out to shooters at the last second. That’s what Nash did so magnificently.
It’s not a revolutionary idea. The drive and kick game. Hell, the Orlando Magic were doing the same thing when Dwight Howard was getting double-teamed and kicking it out to Hedo Turkoglu. But Dwight can’t score if he can’t reach the rim from where he is standing.
Stoudemire, Bosh and Green? They are, at the very least, respectable from beyond the arc and, in the case of Stoudemire and Bosh, devastating from mid-range.
It’s more than just personnel. It’s how they are used.
The double-team comes when Nash/LeBron gets into the paint. They kick the ball out. The ball whips around among the hands of shooters on the perimeter, each help defender a step later than the one before until the open shot goes up.
June 14, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) passes the ball against the defense of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) and center Tristan Thompson (13) in the first half in game five of the NBA Finals. at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
What the Warriors are doing is a bit different. The MVP, Steph Curry, doesn’t get to the rim like LeBron and Nash. Rather, he’s such a great 3-point shooter that he demands a double beyond the arc. The perpetual threat of him putting a shot up forces his defender to pick him up at half court. At the latest.
Curry, a great passer in his own right, can find a cutting Iguodala or Harrison Barnes. Defenses dash in frantically to recover, and they have the option to finish at the rim or kick it out to a shooter in the corner. The Warriors can do the same thing with Klay Thompson, which is why Kerr will always keep at least one of his Splash Brothers on the court.
It’s a play on what the Suns and Heat were doing. The Warriors, in utilizing the strengths of their own best player, however, have orchestrated a wildly efficient offense that’s first option is to shoot the 3, then get the ball to the middle of the floor. In Phoenix and Miami, the offense was born in the paint and thrived on the perimeter. In Oakland, the offense is born and raised on the 3-point line.
It’s made possible by going small, by playing five shooters and inverting the offense like the Heat did so well. As basketball continues to evolve, the historic Big Three Era Heat, like D’Antoni’s Suns and these Warriors, should be remembered as an important link in the chain.