Playoff Breakdown: Lowry’s Immediate Impact, Oladipo’s Stellar Defense, Adebayo going to Work
If you simply followed the national media, you would’ve thought that the Boston Celtics have taken the lead in the series because they only lost two quarters. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works and the Miami Heat take a 2–1 lead despite Jimmy Butler missing the entire second half.
There were so many things happening in this game. Kyle Lowry returned and showed his immediate impact, Bam Adebayo got more involved, Victor Oladipo’s all-around defense, and caused a lot of turnovers.
And to do all of this without their best player for an entire half on the road was impressive.
Offensive Breakdown:
You ask for Adebayo to be more aggressive and take more shots and you shall receive.
It was clear from the start the goal was to get Adebayo going. He started the first quarter with a game-high nine shots and 12 points — he had a 40.9 percent usage. He heard all of the criticism because the way he got those shots up was the ones that fans were asking for.
I guess this is the type of Adebayo that fans want to see consistently because he shows that he’s capable of such games. With Robert Williams out, there is no one that can guard him effectively. You can see that he wants the ball whenever he’s in the post, battles for position, don’t hesitate with the moves, and just takes the shots they’re giving him.
This aggression is key because it draws the defense in. It forces the defenders to pay attention to him and to make a decision whether to help off or let him cook one-on-one.
Here’s a key example of that. Adebayo gets the ball and is looking to attack Grant Williams near the elbow. But seeing as this is in the second quarter, the Celtics adjusted and there was more defensive attention on Adebayo. Now, this was Butler on the opposite wing, which made it easier for Marcus Smart to help at the nail. With Smart playing off, it allowed Butler to make a timely cut.
This also wasn’t the only way Adebayo got his points. Part of Lowry’s impact is his ability to push pace (more on that next), and that translated to Adebayo getting better looks.
The constant pushing, running after missed or made shots, and turnovers. All of this meant Adebayo was in transition and in an open court. There was no one that was going to stop him from getting to the rim when he started to run or cut.
As I’ve mentioned, Lowry was a huge reason for this.
On the very first play of the game, the Heat get a stop, Lowry gets the rebound, and he just runs. He doesn’t think twice, doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t look to pass, he just runs. And what this leads to is a numbers advantage and an open 3 for Max Strus.
All the plays in the clip are in the first three minutes of the game. The emphasis from Lowry was simple. Push the damn ball. We finally got to see his usual pitch-ahead passes, which here led to an and-1 from Butler after a made basket. Those are easy points for Miami.
Although Tyler Herro had a poor game scoring and shooting-wise, I did feel like this was a significantly better game when it came to his playmaking, decision-making, and passing.
I liked these two plays off a pick-and-roll (PnR). In the first play, he rejects the screen, gets to the paint, draws Al Horford from the corner, and it’s a kick to PJ Tucker in the corner. In the second play, he uses the screen but still manages to get to the paint and occupy two defenders by doing so. Horford again helps and it’s a kick to Caleb Martin.
These were the plays that I was impressed with the most. In all these clips, he makes the right pass, snappy decisions, manipulated the defense for kick-outs, and found Adebayo on a roll. These plays were the ones that I haven’t seen him make on a regular basis in the last couple of games.
The issue was his inability to score.
The Celtics regularly switched Horford onto him and he wanted nothing from that matchup. He couldn’t get by to the rim, couldn’t score on isolation, commit turnovers, or just run the clock down.
Finally, I liked this play by Duncan Robinson.
Many people will say that he does nothing on offense if he’s not making shots. Then people will laugh at the idea of his gravity. However, I don’t think there is another player on this team that regularly draws the kind of defense off an Adebayo PnR.
People will complain about all of the dribble handoffs (DHO) with Robinson, but those actions aren’t just for him to get a 3. He still gets guarded the same on these actions, so there will be times where there are two at the ball or there is an aggressive closeout. Then, when it comes to making that fast read, good pass, he’s able to do it. I’ve said this all year long that he’s such an underrated passer and one of the best on this team.
The Heat have gone away from Robinson and his DHOs, but he’s still elite at what he does. Amongst players with at least one handoff possession per game, he’s scoring 1.71 points per possession, which would rank him second.
Defensive Breakdown:
The Celtics had 23 turnovers. The Heat had 19 steals (20 if you count that they also stole this game from them). And if you listened to the national media again, you would know that the Heat’s defense did nothing to cause that. Those 19 steals were a result of the Celtics making stupid decisions.
One of the ways the Heat caused so many turnovers is through doubling, making timely rotations, and helping off, which all lead to pressuring the ball and passing it out.
In the first play, Strus is fronting Horford and you can see Gabe Vincent getting ready to send extra help and double if needed. When Horford decides to make the pass, that’s when Butler does what he’s best at and plays the passing lanes.
The second play is the reason why I love Vincent. He gets switched onto Jaylen Brown, fronts him to prevent an easy pass, and manages to tip the ball. Then he doesn’t give up on the play and dives for the ball. That is a hustle that you love to see. And people had the audacity to question why he’s getting minutes on my timeline.
In the third play, the ball gets moved to Horford in the corner. He attempts to drive but is met by Tucker, as he makes an early rotation to prevent a drive. As he does that, Strus sinks in and helps on Tucker’s man to take away the first pass and Lowry plays the passing lane.
The story on defense also has to mention Victor Oladipo. He didn’t play the first half, but when he came on after the break, he was ready on defense. The Heat don’t win without his great contribution on the defensive end.
He was great against Brown, pressuring him non-stop and stripping him with ease. Oladipo was simply taking the ball, as soon as Brown attempted to dribble. Brown committed four turnovers against him.
He also had great plays off the ball when he was helping at the nail or rotating on rolls to cause a turnover. It was an all-around defensive performance from him.
