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Bubble Championship: The NBA Finals between the Lakers hit
Smart, Shiny and Old: This is how the Lakers came to a winning distance from the NBA Championship
Spolstra brought Miami back to the finals, Vogel realized he just needed to copy from his opponent's notebook, and LeBron used all his experience to figure out how to take control of the game.
Assaf Ravitz analyzes, explains how to arrest Davis and who will gain the advantage thanks to the extra day off before Game 5
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NBA
NBA Finals
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Frank Vogel
Assaf Ravitz
Wednesday, 07 October 2020, 14:00
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Before anything else, Miami deserves a huge nose for the fact that in the last two games it has managed to turn the NBA Finals into a real, close and suspenseful series.
It could very well be over in three days, but whatever happens in the fifth game, Miami will be able to come out of this final with a sense that it belongs to the class.
Following the last two games, it is certainly possible to feel that with the full staff the hit could have forced a much more equal series.
Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra can feel very good about the base they built, which could bring them back to the finals in the years to come.
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Took some tricks from Steve Kerr's book.
Eric Spolstra (Photo: GettyImages)
Game 3
Spolstra and his players were able to return to the series in Game 3 thanks to determination, a high level of performance and a series of great matches for the Lakers.
On offense, Jimmy Butler took advantage in the third game of every moment that LeBron James did not keep him to get to the ring.
He's much stronger than the Los Angeles guards and smarter and smarter than the forwards who do not call themselves LeBron or Anthony Davis.
Spolstra also took advantage of the presence of three three-pointers, two of whom know how to score in motion (Duncan Robinson and Tyler Hiro), to take a few tricks from Steve Kerr's book with complex blocking exercises far from the ball that greatly confused the Lakers' defense.
On defense, Spolstra's biggest achievement was in defeating Anthony Davis, who seemed unstoppable in the first two games.
The most impressive part of this was the ability to prevent Davis from getting a ball in the post with the help of front defense - Jay Crowder was between him and the ball and behind him waited help in front of an archery ball.
Davis did have a hard time touching the ball at the start of the game and when he was already touched he encountered a timed double and very dense color that revealed his relative difficulty in delivering and improvising in these situations.
Miami also turned the defensive rebound into a team effort involving all five players, and was able to significantly minimize damage in the field.
The most tactically interesting part of the third game was defending LeBron James and Jimmy Butler, two similar players in their style.
Miami used for Butler during LeBron’s familiar move and brought blockages to force substitutions.
The Lakers, out of habit, allowed these substitutions and let Butler celebrate against Miss Matches (LeBron was very soft in surrendering to the substitution in money time).
The Miami defense, however, insisted on not allowing LeBron to get the replacement he wanted.
Spolstra used an extreme version of help and recover defense, in which a butler guarding LeBron went very far back while the blocker's guard went out very high to LeBron and forced him to stop his movement.
Once LeBron stopped, Butler came back to him and the blocker's keeper managed to get back to his player, it looked almost like a substitution and a replay.
Miami took advantage of the fact that LeBron was so busy trying to force a spare that he did not try to take advantage of the momentary holes in that defense.
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Vogel's double win.
Davis vs. Butler (Photo: AP)
Game 4
Miami's win in the third game was not just a consolation victory against an opponent who downed a 0-2 lead, but one that allowed her to hold on to the series while she waited for the return of her injured.
Bam Adbaio's return to the fourth game provided another wind for the Heat's sails and forced the Lakers to prepare for an opponent other than the one they had encountered in the previous two games.
Both teams came in very determined but also very tense and tired, it was the fourth game in a row with a break of only one day, and the result was a much less polished attacking game that highlighted the defensive qualities of both teams.
After Spolstra's wonderful adjustments, it was Frank Vogel's turn to respond.
At the start of the game it was clear he had come determined to get Anthony Davis on the offensive, with blocking drills designed to clear him of a ball and use him as a picker on a pick n roll, especially in match-ups that would not allow Miami to make a substitution.
But after the first few passes in which it worked, Davis again struggled to get a ball in large parts of the game and barely had a factor on offense until towards the end of the third quarter.
This is a point that could be significant not only for the rest of the series, but also for years to come.
Davis is the first inside player in many years to threaten to be the dominant offensive player in the league, Miami has signaled to itself and the rest of the NBA that the best way to deal with such a player not leading a ball himself is to make it difficult for him to get balls where he wants.
This time he came ready for Miami's unique defense.
LeBron James (Photo: AP)
Vogel's second match was to make Davis Jimmy Butler's main guard.
It is almost impossible to get to the ring in front of Davis, and it is also very difficult to let go of a shot in front of him.
In the first quarter Butler still managed to gain an advantage with the help of Pick N 'Roll, later AD simply prevented him from reaching shot positions.
Jimmy does not pose a threat for outside shooting, so when the ball is not in his possession Davis allowed himself to stay close to the ring in a assist position, making this defensive team a double win for Vogel.
Davis and LeBron's help ability in color allows the rest of the players to go out with a Miami player or two for threes and avoid almost entirely their free throws.
Tonight AD provided a rare defensive display, he neutralized the opponent's star and changed dozens of color shots from other players.
In the second half Vogel gave up Dwight Howard and moved on to his high-half lineup with Markif Morris alongside Davis and LeBron.
Markif provides a big enough body on Bam on one side and a threat to shoot from the outside on the other side, he has become a very important player in the Lakers rotation.
Who would have believed he would be the more significant twin in this playoff.
Vogel felt that Dwight's advantage on the rebound failed to materialize because of Miami's team effort in the field.
In the end, those who took the crucial rebounds on offense in the final quarter were the Lakers ’outfielders, who took advantage of the Miami players’ contraction to get first to a few distant rebounds.
You don't have to be smarter than Spolstra, you just have to be just as smart.
Frank Vogel (Photo: AP)
At one point in the third quarter LeBron and Butler tried to take control of the game, which again highlighted the defense of both.
This time LeBron came prepared for Miami's unique defense.
Sometimes he got a block on the side instead of in the middle and the blocker rolled into a three from the corner that was much harder to get help in front of (occasionally it also forced the Miami players to make the substitution they tried to avoid).
But mostly, LeBron started attacking himself at the moment of the second substitution, in which his guard tries to get back at him.
Twice he scored a three in this situation, once again he took advantage of the moment to penetrate between the two guards moving in opposite directions.
After an unfocused game and a half, King James found a way to take control of the second half of the fourth game.
On the other hand, Vogel's big surprise was in his lack of originality: he used exactly the same extreme help and recover defense that Spolstra used against LeBron.
That’s how the Lakers avoided the substitutions they made in the previous game and that’s how they caught Butler and Miami unprepared.
Compared to LeBron, Butler completely refrained from attempting to go up to a three-pointer in those situations, and the Lakers' help was good enough to prevent his blocker from also being released for a three-pointer.
It was Vogel's brilliance that made it clear he understood exactly what his role in the final was: he should not be smarter than Spolstra, he just needed to be equally smart to allow the quality of the stars to dominate the games, and if he had to copy from the opponent's notebook he would do it.
Came thanks to the agent and became a worthy complementary player for many years.
Cantabius Caldwell Pop (Photo: AP)
The Lakers sub-players also had a similar goal, they too mostly wanted to equal the Miami sub-players to let the stars win.
This is not an easy task, because Miami has a quality assist team even without Goran Dragic, led by Tyler Hiro who continues to forget in the last quarters that he is a rookie and that is the final.
Los Angeles needed a roll player to rise on its side, and got the rise from Cantabius Caldwell Pop.
Coming to KCP his moment in the spotlight, until the last game his contribution was not appreciated enough.
Throughout the playoffs he scores his threes in good percentages (2.1 threes at 38.5 percent), does a little more of everything on offense, makes no mistakes (0.7 turnovers per game) and integrates great into the team defense.
He is in the Lakers mostly because he is signed to LeBron's agency, but it could be that the Lakers have earned a worthy complementary player for many years.
After Vogel and the assist team managed to create a fairly equal field, the Lakers stars did dominate the game.
LeBron was the sharpest attacking player on the floor in the second half, he used his endless experience to take advantage of every little hole in the defense, while Butler had a very hard time creating shot situations for himself this time.
Davis found a way to get cheap points and took control of the game on defense, while Am was much less dominant and limited in minutes due to a return from injury.
The size of the Lakers in color makes it difficult for Bam to get to the shots he likes (this was also noticeable in regular season games), his pick n 'roll game is almost completely neutralized.
Another important advantage of the Lakers star pair over that of Miami is that they score threes, and tonight a few of their scheduled threes made the difference.
Will Miami earn more from the day of rest?
Goran Dragic (Photo: GettyImages)
Game 5
The next game will be the first in the final to take place after a longer rest, it is very difficult to know how it will affect both teams.
It can be assumed that the attacking game will be smoother and comfortable shots will come in at higher percentages, both teams have proven throughout the playoffs that they can catch a shooting day where it is very difficult to beat them.
The extra day of rest could increase Goran Dragic's chances of returning.
If the Slovenian returns with something close to full competence, he is capable of being the equalizer of the assisting team.
The fourth game was the first in which Dragic's disadvantage seemed particularly noticeable, precisely because the game was largely equal and much because Miami's offense got stuck quite a few times.
The rest will also help Bam get back to business, and I believe we will see a lot more effort to run it in Pick N 'Roll, especially if Markif Morris keeps it.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if the biggest gainer from the extra rest day would be LeBron James, who knows his really big show probably won’t leave Miami a chance and close out the season.
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