Miami Heat: 5 Ways for LeBron James and Co. to Crack a Zone Defense
Since their rocky start, the Miami Heat have found their way nearly back to the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 25-9. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade's chemistry is improving every game, and Chris Bosh has found his role.
However, there is still one glaring weakness of this Heat team: their inability to crack a zone defense. Both times the Mavericks have played the Heat, they have locked Miami down on the offensive end.
With the zone defense working so well, it's quite puzzling that more teams haven't tried to emulate Dallas's game plan when taking on the Heat.
Should more teams start attempting to play zone defense against Miami, the Heat are going to have to try and find ways to break the zone.
On paper, it doesn't appear that hard, and here are five ways the Heat can do so.
Better Ball Movement
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At times, the Heat offense grows stagnant when playing a half-court game.
Too often, Wade or LeBron take the ball up looking to run isolations. Granted, for two of the best players in the world, this tactic works a majority of the time against average NBA opponents.
However, against elite teams like Dallas, who has just found its defensive identity, this individual attacking of the rim doesn't always work.
In order to be successful against the Mavericks and other zone defenses in the future, the Heat will have to learn to distribute to each other.
No worries, though, Heat fans. Miami has shown great signs of improvement as of late and instead of running isolations, they are playing more of a team game.
Being More Active On The Offensive End
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This goes hand in hand with better ball movement.
Having great ball movement won't get you anywhere if everyone is standing still, which often happened to Miami early on in the season. In order to find holes in the zone, the Heat need to stay active and move around constantly.
They need cutters, screens need to be set, pick and rolls need to be executed.
However, it does appear Erik Spoelstra has found his catalyst to kick his team into high gear on offense: Mario Chalmers.
Although some Heat fans may not be huge fans of Chalmers, the young point guard's active aggressiveness in the half-court offense has provided Miami with a much-needed spark.
Patience
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In order for Miami's ball movement and execution to be successful, patience is of the utmost importance.
In both losses to the Mavericks, the Heat have settled for way too many long jump shots. Long shots with plenty of time left on the clock. In fact, in the most recent loss to Dallas, Miami took 31 three-pointers.
Why?
Because they lacked ball movement, there was a lot of standing and watching by those off the ball, and they had a very difficult time cracking the zone and getting the ball inside. And they didn't seem to bother to fix those issues.
Instead, they settled for low percentage, outside jumpers. That's never a recipe for success on any level of basketball.
Fast Break
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It's no secret, the Miami Heat are virtually unstoppable when they can run the floor. With two elite athletes in Wade and James, the Heat have been dominant when they get the ball in the open.
And when they get the ball in the open floor, there's obviously no zone defense to worry about. Therefore, when facing a zone defense, Miami needs to come in with an aggressive mentality and look for every possible opportunity to open a fast break.
Whether it be catching the opposing team off guard in transition, or creating offense through good defense, Miami will need to find ways to create fast breaks if they continue to struggle breaking zone defenses.
Defense
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As the old saying goes, the best offense is a good defense. This couldn't be more true for this Miami Heat team, as the Miami franchise notoriously reps a defense-first mentality.
Head coach Erick Spoelstra said early in the year that this team's goal would be to create offense with good defense. In many games, this is just what they have done.
With LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and others like Mario Chalmers creating turnovers, the Heat often find themselves with easy points off fast breaks.
So if Miami finds themselves struggling to once again crack a zone defense, the best remedy might just be playing some solid defense of their own.
