Miami Heat Playbook: Breaking Down Miami's Most Intriguing Play of the Year

The Game: Heat-Rockets on 3/27/11

The Play: A double screen-and-roll handoff primariliy involving Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh.

The Result: A Wade layup in crunch time.

Progressions

1: On the second screen (set by Bosh), it’s more of a slip-screen where his job is to sell the screen, yet dive towards the hole. He was actually wide open on the play.

2: LeBron has the option of either pulling up for a jumper, attacking the rim, or handing off to Wade. He ended up going with the latter.

3: When Wade has the ball on the handoff his first instinct is to take it to the hole. He has so many other options as well. He can look to LeBron after the handoff, find Bosh posting inside, and then even dish to two shooters on the weak-side of the floor in Mike Bibby and James Jones. Jones and Bibby swapped spots to create some movement away from the ball and were also pretty open on the play.

Effectiveness: When I look at this play, I can’t figure out a logical way of stopping it. There are too many options with too many playmakers. The only chance the defense has of stopping penetration is to sag inside, which would leave the perimeter vulnerable to wide-open threes from the likes of Bibby and Jones. In the playoffs that will be the story. Teams are going to make guys not named Bosh, James, or Wade beat them. It’s a very creative, yet simple play by design, that I’m sure we will be seeing more of.

Check out the breakdown I edited below…

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