Wednesday, June 01, 2011

On the NBA: Defense proves to be the Heat's calling card

By John McMullen

Looking across the court and seeing LeBron James and Dwyane Wade has to be an uneasy feeling for any opposing coaching staff.

If you checked the pharmaceutical records in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago over the past six weeks or so, there was likely a spike in Ambien sales when "The King" and D-Wade were torturing the Sixers, Celtics and Bulls this postseason.

Most of the sleepless nights suffered by the coaches in the City of Brotherly Love, Beantown and the Second City were likely caused by the vaunted offensive skills of James and Wade. In hindsight, they should have been more concerned with their defensive prowess.

Incredibly athletic, James and Wade have bought in on the other end of the floor. Add lengthy shot-blocking sensation Joel Anthony, the energetic and always tough Udonis Haslem, along with quick point guard Mario Chalmers to that mix and you have a group that has quickly turned the Heat into the game's best defensive club, a team that simply doesn't allow uncontested looks in the half-court set.

Dallas has quickly joined its Eastern Conference counterparts in finding that out after a 92-84 setback in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday in South Beach.

The Mavs, certainly a more accomplished offensive club than any of the Heat's other roadblocks this postseason, shot a postseason-worst 37.3 percent in the loss, missing everything from layups to three-pointers, usually with a hand in their face.

The Heat didn't shoot much better -- 38.8 percent for the game -- but they were a little bit better in the second half, hitting at 41 percent as they finally put the pedal to the metal for a little distance.

"It was a grind. We didn't get into an offensive flow the entire game," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "This was more of a defensive battle."

Dirk Nowitzki, perhaps the NBA's best pure scorer, registered a game-high 27 points, but was far from the dominant performer he had been in the postseason before Game 1. The German star scored 12 of his points on free throws and connected on just 7-of-18 shots, 3-of-9 when it really counted in the second half.

Nowitzki made his first shot of the game and then went nearly 19 minutes before making another, as Haslem and Anthony slowed him with the type of defense that stopped the Mavericks from getting into a rhythm. The Mavs scored just 16 points in the first quarter and 17 in the third, almost everyone of them earned the hard way.

Jason Terry, Dallas' second best scoring option, had an even tougher time, finishing just 3-of-10 on the night for 12 points and missing a pair of big shots in the fourth quarter when the game was in doubt. In fact, "The Jet" didn't even score in the second half when James was using his size to make things very difficult for him.

The diminutive J.J. Barea had similar problems trying to deal with Miami's perimeter length, hitting a dismal 1-of-8 shots for two points.

While most have swooned over James' monster shots in tight situations this postseason, his true progression in these playoffs came on the other end of the floor. His willingness to check Chicago's Derrick Rose down the stretch is something that never happened in Cleveland. Now, Terry is in the former MVP's sights.

"That's not our style of basketball," Terry said of the Mavs' offensive struggles. "They did a good job of playing their tempo, and they finished at the end when they needed to."

Perhaps the signature play of Game 1 also started at the defensive end when Wade raised up to block Mavs forward Shawn Marion on a jumper, then hit a three-pointer over Jason Kidd on the left side that gave Miami an 82-73 lead with barely three minutes to play.

"Two-way player. That's what we expect of him," Spoelstra said of Wade,

To make matters worse for the Mavericks, Nowitzki suffered a torn tendon on the middle finger of his left hand, his non-shooting hand, in the closing moments when he tried to swipe the ball from Miami's Chris Bosh.

"I couldn't straighten my finger out any more," Nowitzki said after the game, although an X-ray showed no broken bones. "It was just a freaky play. I have to wear a splint probably for the rest of the playoffs, for a couple of weeks. But it will be all right."

Knowing Nowitzki, the injury will not affect him but that grinding through a torn tendon isn't going to solve the Heat's defense.

Getting out in transition and keeping Miami off the offensive boards could help, however. The Heat grabbed 16 caroms off the offensive glass which helped them secure a playoff-high 11 threes as the Mavs scrambled to get to the shooters.

"What really killed us were the offensive rebounds," said Nowitzki. "We were out of position a lot. Especially in the fourth quarter, there were two or three in a row. That really hurt us."

Now, it's all about adjustments for Dallas coach Rick Carlisle and his staff.

This time, instead of devising ways to stop James and Wade from scoring, a more prudent approach may be finding ways to solve them at the defensive end.

"We got to play better overall. We have to be opportunistic," said Carlisle. "They were more opportunistic than we were. And that's been one of the traits of our run."

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