How the Spurs Completely Exploited the Heat's Defense in Game 3

Sometimes the best adjustment is the most simple one. In last night's Game 3 of the NBA Finals, it appeared the Spurs biggest and best adjustment was simply telling Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard to be decisive and aggressive with the basketball. It's a coaching cliche, "make quick, aggressive decisions with the ball," but things become clichés for a reason. The quicker the decisions you make on offense, the less time the defense has to react and shut down what you're trying to do. Against these Miami Heat, who rely so much on speed and aggressiveness on the defensive end to make things happen, making faster, more aggressive decisions to put them on their heels, making them react rather than forcing the action to their will, is an absolute necessity. Last night, especially in that masterpiece of a first half, the Spurs two young wings were able to do exactly that. In one of the first few possessions of the game, Mario Chalmers was switched on to Kawhi Leonard, a result of LeBron being tasked with slowing down Tony Parker's dribble penetration. The Spurs spent a huge chunk of the possession, in very un-Spursian fashion, attempting to take advantage of the mismatch by forcing an entry pass to Leonard. Chalmers was able to battle for position on the block, denying the entry pass.

Leonard didn't give up, though, as he was able to circle out to the perimeter, receiving the ball from Danny Green at the three-point line with little time on the shot clock. Immediately, Kawhi put the ball on the floor, blowing by Chalmers, and drawing a foul on Dwyane Wade.

A few minutes later, the Spurs moved the ball a bunch, and at first glance, it looked like the Heat had been able to block all of their moves. Kawhi then made an interesting cut from the baseline to the top of the key that ever so slightly threw off the Heat's rotations. As he slipped through the middle and received a pass from Parker, Dwyane Wade was forced to rotate over onto him, leaving Danny Green open for a split second until LeBron rotated over to Green. The Heat's defense had made the right rotations, but they had to scramble just a bit to make those rotations. Before they are able to reset, Kawhi makes a quick move and goes by Wade into the paint, crashing into Chris Bosh and getting the hoop and the harm.

If Kawhi isn't as decisive there, the Heat easily hit reset on their defense, making it much more difficult for the Spurs to get a good look at the basket.

Over and over again early in the game the Spurs used dribble drives off of quick catches to get into the paint as they built their huge, ultimately insurmountable lead. Here, Danny Green cuts off a Duncan screen, catches at the top of the key and uses simple rip through move to blow by a reaching, flat-footed Dwyane Wade.

The Spurs incredible floor spacing makes the drive especially easy for Green (notice Rashard Lewis only half-heartedly trying to slow Green, as he doesn't want to leave Boris Diaw open for three), who generally does not have a good first step or dribble drive ability. The same could be said for Kawhi Leonard. He's not usually a huge threat to put the ball on the deck and blow by anyone in the half-court. He can do it on occasion, but you would hardly call it a strength.

It's probably no coincidence that Gregg Popovich's introduction of Boris Diaw to the starting lineup coincided with an increase in aggressiveness from San Antonio's young starting wings. Diaw helps space the floor and open up much wider lanes through which the Spurs can drive. That spacing also makes it much more difficult for the Heat's helter-skelter trap-and-recover style of defense to work. It's the same reason the Spurs went to more dribble drives for their wings without a ball screen. Miami's defense is too good at trapping and recovering if you give them the ability to cover two men in one area of the court. All of this good Kawhi and Danny Green stuff likely doesn't happen with Tiago Splitter clogging up the paint alongside Tim Duncan. It'll be interesting to see how Miami counters the Spurs ball movement leading into semi-isolations on the drive, rather than their usual heavy dose of ball screens, which Miami is generally more effective at neutralizing.