The Miami HEAT face the Detroit Pistons Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars
Arena. The HEAT defeated the Pistons 97-96 in their last meeting on Mar. 28.
Tip-off is set for 4:00 PM. Television coverage on FOX Sports Sun begins at 3:30
PM. You can also listen to the action live on 790 The Ticket.
1: What did the HEAT do so well to earn a road win at Utah?
Couper Moorhead: The obvious answer is that they defended about as well as you
can defend in this modern age of supercharged offense. Utah is not an elite
offensive team, to say the least, so take this with a grain of salt, but when
Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters were on the floor the team had a defensive rating
(points allowed per 100 possessions) of 51.8. The best single-game defensive
rating since 1984 was the HEAT back in 1999 holding the Bulls to 52.5 points per
100. In other words, for 28 minutes with their starting backcourt on Friday, the
HEAT played the best statistical defense in about 35 years.
But what the HEAT did better than Utah – they played a pretty fine defensive
game themselves – was make more shots in the final minutes. Close, physical
games like this often come down to a stretch of a couple minutes when one player
gets hot, and Friday it was Dion Waiters scoring in the final minutes –
including an incredible tough, leaning three with a short shot clock – while
Utah came up cold. Those were the types of games Miami had trouble winning at
times last season and even though you can’t always rely on tough, contested
jumpers to be the difference, Waiters’ ability to simply get those shots up is a
valuable skill to the team.
Joe Beguiristain: The HEAT defended at an elite level in the second half, as
they held the Jazz to 4-of-33 shooting after halftime. 4-of-33. That’s 12.1
percent. While some of those were good looks that just didn’t go in, Miami had a
hand in shaking Utah’s confidence.
Speaking of confidence, Dion Waiters took over in the fourth quarter with 12
points on 4-of-5 shooting. In addition to knocking down some tough 3-pointers,
Waiters also made a key pass to Josh Richardson for an open three with 1:27
left. It’s that kind of fearless demeanor that makes the difference in a
defensive slugfest like Friday night.
Waiters’ fantastic fourth quarter performance was just another example of him
getting the job done in “Philly Cheese Time”. In fact, the 25-year-old is
shooting 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) in the clutch this season (last five minutes of
a game within five points). That’s impressive.
2: With Detroit second in the Eastern Conference in wins, what are they doing so
differently this year?
Couper: They’re scoring. Detroit was a good defensive team last year and they
are again this season under Stan Van Gundy, but they’ve shifted some of their
offensive focus en route to a Top 10 attack thus far. And a good portion of that
comes from how they’re using Andre Drummond (hitting his free-throws better so
far) differently. Van Gundy’s teams have been known for their spread
pick-and-roll system ever since the Dwight Howard days in Orlando, and with
Drummond Detroit has been trying to replicate that success. This year, possibly
because so much of the league runs the same spread offense and thus teams are
better prepared to stop it, they’ve reduced the number of used pick-and-rolls by
about 14 per 100 possessions and nearly every one of those possessions has
become a handoff play. Couple that with Drummond using fewer post-ups this
season, never a particular strength of his, and Detroit has been a more dynamic,
efficient offense without altering much of their roster beyond Avery Bradley
(who is very good and an underrated acquisition last offseason).
Getting healthy helps a ton, too, given that Reggie Jackson dealt with injuries
for much of last season.
Joe: As Coup stated above, Detroit has improved a great deal on the offensive
end. In particular, Andre Drummond has stepped up his game and has been way more
efficient than he was a year ago. For starters, he’s no longer a liability at
the charity stripe, as he’s shooting 64.2 percent on 4.4 attempts per game at
the line. You may think that’s still pretty low, but keep in mind that he shot
38.6 percent on those shots last season. Additionally, Drummond has tallied at
least 12 rebounds in every game thus far, with a good chunk of those coming on
the offensive end. Like Hassan Whiteside, Drummond gives his team a bunch of
second-chance opportunities and reduces the number of empty possessions.
Whenever you talk about Drummond, you also have to mention Reggie Jackson. The
27-year-old point guard has continued to be solid in the pick-and-roll, as he’s
averaging 1.04 points per possession as the PNR ball handler and shooting 51.7
percent on those looks.
When you factor the duo in with Tobias Harris, who leads the team with 19.7
points per game on 49.3 percent shooting from deep, you start to understand why
the Pistons are 9-3.
3: Where might Miami be able to best attack Detroit’s defense?
Couper: Detroit’s defensive profile is remarkably similar to that of Miami in
allowing few corner threes and even fewer threes above the break. Detroit even
allows fewer attempts at the rim per game. This is a team that’s smart about
where they want their opponents to be shooting. But like Miami, due to the
nature of having big men play back in the pick-and-roll, Detroit will still
allow attack into the upper reaches of the paint before the ball reaches the
rim. So while the HEAT will still want to get their drive-and-kick attacks, it’s
likely that the Pistons will attempt to shut down those passing lanes and
contain the ball with two defenders in the middle of the floor. That means, for
attackers like Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters, Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, James
Johnson and Justise Winslow (the HEAT have a lot of attackers), how they’re able
to score from the 12-foot, floaters and pull-ups range might be the deciding
factor in this one.
Joe: While Detroit is one of the better all-around defensive teams in the
league, Miami should still have success when driving to the basket. In fact, the
Pistons are allowing 1.01 points per direct drive, which ranks them towards the
bottom in that category. For comparison’s sake, the HEAT are No. 1 in that
metric, allowing just 0.87 points per direct drive.
This kind of relates to what Coup stated above about Miami being able to take
advantage with its bevy of attackers. Although Detroit doesn’t give up much at
the rim, the HEAT can still do some damage off the dribble in the paint.
Highlights:
Mar. 28 – HEAT at Pistons
Jan. 28 – Pistons at HEAT
Game Notes:
Efficiencies (Rank):
Player: Goran Dragic
Player: James Johnson
Player: Tyler Johnson
Player: Josh Richardson
Player: Dion Waiters
Player: Hassan Whiteside
Player: Justise Winslow
Media Content: http://www.nba.com/heat/preview-miadet-171112
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Miami Heat, Goran Dragic, James Johnson, Tyler
Johnson, Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters, Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Miami
Heat
Media Thumbnail:
http://i.cdn.turner.com/drp/nba/heat/sites/default/files/760×442-dragic2-det-1711
11_0.jpg
Taxonomy: Game Preview
Story Link: http://www.nba.com/heat/preview-miadet-171112
