LeBron James and the Miami Heat Have to Alter Gameplan Drastically for Game 2 Against the Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls destroyed the Miami Heat 103-82 in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls defense was in championship form and it completely threw off the Heat.
Chicago controlled the boards with a 45-33 advantage including 19 offensive rebounds. The Heat shot 47 percent from the floor?very respectable against a Bulls team that lead the NBA in field goal defense?yet still lost by 21 points.
LeBron James only had 15 points and Dwyane Wade had 18, and both struggled to get in a rhythm on offense. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports talks about how badly the big two struggled on offense:
Those isolation plays for James and Wade were met with resistance on the ball and on the way to the basket. Feet shuffling, hands probing and muscle waiting in the lane. Together, James and Wade missed 20 of 32 shots and never had a chance to steal Game 1 in the fourth quarter. No rhythm caused them to miss shots they often make, and gang defense made them miss contested shots late in the shot clock.
MUST READ: 25 Burning Questions Heading Into the NBA Draft Lottery
Now it's time for the Heat to fightback.
They can't fall into the one-on-one game of Sunday. The key to beat the disciplined Bulls defense is to constantly move the ball until the open man is found. When the offense is stagnant and in the hands of one player for the majority of the shot clock, the Bulls take full advantage with their strong man-to-man disciplined defense.
Running screens for Wade to run off of while James is looking for his shot in the post would be a good start. Having some sort of help off the bench is vital as well. Aside from Mario Chalmers nine, nobody showed up in Game One.
Bench help and move the ball...the two big offensive keys for the Heat in Game Two.
No comments:
Post a Comment