The Spurs' Perimeter Defense Against James, Wade and Allen

[Chinook]

So after seeing so many comments about how good Leonard was and how bad Green was defensively last night, I decided to run some numbers get a better idea of what happened. I looked at the game and took note of how James, Wade and Allen ended each of their possessions, and which Spurs' player was most responsible for the result of each possession. I will caution that these results only include possessions that were ended by these three players. I didn't chart any assists, even some were definitely the direct result of poor on-ball defense forcing over-helping. Also this doesn't include any sets that were thwarted by good defense (like Leonard forcing James to pass out of the post).

Remember that these data are just what I've compiled, and there is definitely a level of subjectivity (and room for error) here. For example, even though Duncan never guarded Wade directly, I gave Duncan credit for ending some of Wade's possessions, because Wade had beat his man and Duncan had stepped up to prevent disaster. I think I was pretty fair, though:



Wade
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP



Green
4
2
1
0
1.42857



Ginobili
1
3
0
0
0.5



Leonard
1
0
1
0
1.5



Splitter
1
0
0
0
2



Duncan
0
3
0
1
0












Total
7
8
2
1
0.94444












James
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP



Green
2
2
0
0
1.25



Ginobili
0
0
1
0
2



Diaw
0
1
1
0
0.5



Leonard
1
5
0
1
0.28



Duncan
3
0
0
1
1.5



Neal
1
0
0
0
2



Splitter
0
1
0
0
0












Total
7
9
2
2
0.9












Allen
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP



Green
0
0
1
0
3



Ginobili
2
0
0
0
3



Neal
1
1
1
1
1



Parker
0
0
0
0
0












Total
3
1
2
1
2





Some quick notes:

-OMFG! Leonard shut down James by these rudimentary numbers. Even though James was actually inefficient on the whole, Leonard took it to a new level. He really did a lot better than I expected. A mitigating factor was that James took three of his four missed three-point attempts against Leonard which definitely drove his efficiency down, but even that's just a result of Leonard not giving James good looks inside the arch. While I stick to my view that Lebron will be much more successful once he stops trying to pass as soon as he gets the ball on the block, Leonard's defense so far is beyond encouraging.

-Where Leonard struggled defensively was in transition. He was slow a few times, which led to Green having to pick up James on the break. Leonard compounded this by not getting back to guard Green's man (Wade in all three cases of note). Wade made a dunk on the first, got fouled on the second and got blocked by Duncan on the final attempt. Obviously Leonard deserves a pass somewhat for having great defense the rest of the time, but transition is such a big part of Miami's success that the Spurs can't afford to Leonard to make these mistakes often.

-Speaking of Green, I should note that he pretty much gave up higher-than-average efficiency numbers to everyone he guarded. While subjectively I feel Green's defense on Wade and James was better than the numbers suggest, it's definitely something to watch as the series goes on. Wade may not be able to make as many contested mid-range shots next time around (and indeed, he slowed down in the second half). Green was also unfortunate enough to get saddled with the three that James did make.

-On that subject, I disagree that Green played James poorly in the post. James posted up Green on at least four possessions, but he only scored once, and Green actually blocked James on another. James' score looked pretty bad for Green, because James caught him while he was off balance. I think Green's going to have to be prepared for James going harder at him next game and not bailing him out with long jumpers. In general, it seemed like Lebron underestimated Danny throughout the first half, which led to a few interesting moments. Green should definitely remain the secondary James defender going forward.

-Diaw's performance was worse than the numbers suggest. In the regular season, he looked like he could be a legitimate James defender, but he was too slow in Game 1, and he didn't use his size advantage at all. Diaw getting with the program would be huge, as it would allow the Spurs to better withstand foul trouble by Leonard (which is probably going to happen pretty soon).

-Finally, Duncan was great in help defense, but his man defense when switched onto a smaller player was pretty bad. There's no shame in getting beat off the dribble by the best player in the world, but Duncan's lack of mobility is definitely a weak point that the Heat's offense is built to exploit. Splitter seemed a bit better when switched onto smalls, which is to be expected.

tl;dr: Leonard was even more awesome than you think; Green wasn't quite as bad but still pretty bad; Duncan is great in help but not even decent on switches.

If anyone wants me to get the numbers for the other Heat perimeter players, let me know. Also, if anyone has any questions about the methods or data, feel free to say something.

[scramby eggs]

Great analysis. I look forward to your take after game 2

[timvp]

Great job; not sure why this thread was ignored, tbh.

Green's D is one area that can really improve going forward. I thought he was great defensively against the Warriors and Grizzlies. If he can dial it up and make life difficult for Wade, that would really help the Spurs. One thing to note regarding Green's D on Wade was that he was asked to go under all the picks. That took Green out of a lot of plays by design. And I did kinda like him on LeBron. Obviously Leonard is the number one option but Green didn't look too terrible -- and that's a big change from the regular season because he didn't look comfortable at SF defensively prior to the playoffs.

I'm going to have to disagree about Duncan. He forced a lot of passes after getting switched off onto smaller players. Sure, his pick-and-roll defense is the worst part of his game on that end of the court but he's still above average for a center. For a 37-year-old center, he's damn good.

[cd021]

Nice:tu:tu

[xellos88330]

I was thinking that Leonard had James at 2-7, but you most likely took more time to evaluate it. Great work!

[Chinook]

Thanks, everyone for the input. I'll try to do more of this for this an future games.

timvp (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=8) you're probably right about Duncan. As I said at the top, I only looked at possessions that were ended by one of these three players, so I didn't account for passes (both good and bad). Duncan forcing a pass on a switch wasn't accounted for, just like all the times Green actually did prevent Wade from taking a shot or when Leonard forced James to give up the ball.

I also ignored help defense for the most part unless it led to a forced miss by the helper. I didn't want a defender to get credit for a stop if they got blown by and Duncan was there to clean it up. On that same line, I didn't think it was right to penalize Leonard for James' foul at the end of the fourth because he had good position (and Duncan was there to help) and Ginobili free lanced.

In general, this type of analysis tends to sell defenders short since it only looks at shots taken, fouls drawn and turnovers. So much of good defense is about deterring shots by having good positioning and court awareness. A defender playing marvelous defense for 23.99 seconds before having a prayer banked in (ahem...) would get the same score as a player who gave up a wide open layup.

[TE]

What's PPP?

[Mr. Body]

I'd expect Spoelstra to be seeing similar things. Their key would be getting Leonard in foul trouble.

[Chinook]

What's PPP?

Points per possession. Pretty much it takes the points scored and divides it by the combined total of FGA, fouls drawn and turnovers.

[ABC]

Good read. Thanks!

[Chinook]

All right, so here at the numbers I got for Bosh:



Bosh
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Leonard
2
1
1
0
1.25


Duncan
2
5
0
0
0.57


Splitter
2
4
0
1
0.57










Total
6
10
1
1
0.72



Notes:

-Bosh got most of his shots from two plays, a James kick-out and pick-and-pop.

-The Spurs left Bosh open for kick-outs on purpose, and he couldn't make them pay. It's just not the same as Parker having Green and Bonner to spread the floor. Bosh was 6/11 on his attempts from inside 20 feet, while he missed all five of his attempts from 20 and beyond. Bosh was much better when he could shoot from mid-range (4/6 from between 15 and 19 feet) but shooting from there also allows his defender to help in the lane more easily (which definitely happened). If the Heat can't rely on Bosh to space the floor for them, then Miami may have to change their offense.

-Bosh did have some success when the Leonard was forced to switch on him. While Bosh didn't beat Leonard by posting him up, Kawhi was just too short to really contest Chris' jump shots. What's also important about these possessions is that James was also forced Duncan to switch onto him, which as I stated in the OP, led to an iso score more often than not. The Spurs' defense of a Bosh/James pick-and-roll/pop is something to keep an eye on.

-Also, Splitter was pretty awesome when helping on Bosh. He rotated beautifully to prevent a couple of layups. However, because Splitter had to help, the Heat got offensive rebounds on both of these plays.

[siraulo23]

:tu

it's just one game so it's a very small sample size, cant wait for this to be bumped after game 2, and hopefully the figures remain similar

[Budkin]

I'd expect Spoelstra to be seeing similar things. Their key would be getting Leonard in foul trouble.

According to all the ESPN know-nothing Heat Baggers, James just needs to get the ball and steamroll to the hoop because according to them he can get Duncan fouled out of the game very quickly. Also on Leonard, their "analysis" is, "just go around him, because who is Kawee Lenerd?"

[spursfaninla]

Shocking that Manu was the best defender on wade. Perhaps manu guarded him during the 4th quarter mostly, so it is harder to know if it was Manu or if it was wade getting tired/worn down?

Scary that green was so ineffective on defense by these numbers, because I certainly did not get that impression watching. Very interesting work. Not surprising about leonard, though; I think others have crunched the numbers and came to a similar conclusion.

One thing that will help Leonard keep out of foul trouble is the spurs scheme to keep lebron out of the lane will prevent Leonard from getting foul calls as often. Because 2 or 3 defenders are basically forming a wall to prevent lebron's drives, he can't get enough steam going to the basket for Leonard to end up fouling him. Hopefully that helps keep him from getting into too much foul trouble.

[timvp]

I love Ginobili on Wade. If you put Ginobili on a player that struggles to shoot (like Tony Allen in the Memphis series), Ginobili turns into a beast on the defensive end. Wade isn't going to out-physical Ginobili or bully him when he has the ball. And then when Wade doesn't have the ball, Ginobili is free to roam.

I get much more concerned when Ginobili is on a shooter -- like Ray Allen or even Mike Miller -- because his instincts always tell him to help when at all possible.

[Chinook]

Here are the numbers for Game 2. I stopped keeping track after the Heat took a 15-point lead at the beginning of the fourth. Miami is notorious for running up the score late. I added in Chalmers' numbers since he was the leading scorer.



James
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
5
1
0
0.57


Leonard
2
3
0
1
0.66


Splitter
1
2
0
0
0.66


Parker
0
0
0
1
0










Total
4
10
1
2
0.588235










Wade
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
2
2
0
1
0.8


Ginobili
0
3
0
0
0


Leonard
2
0
0
1
1.33


Diaw
1
0
0
0
2


Duncan
0
1
1
0
0


Splitter
0
1
0
0
0










Total
5
7
1
2
0.67


























Bosh
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Leonard
1
0
0
0
2


Duncan
3
1
0
0
1.5


Splitter
2
3
0
0
0.8










Total
6
4
0
0
1.2










Allen
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
0
0
0
3


Ginobili
1
0
0
0
2


Leonard
1
0
0
0
3


Diaw
0
1
0
0
0


Parker
0
1
0
0
0










Total
3
2
0
0
1.6










Chalmers
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
0
1
0
2.5


Technical
1
0
0
0
1


Parker
4
0
0
0
2.75










Total
5
6
1
0
1.42






Game
PPP
Poss.
Points


Diaw
1
2
2


Duncan
1
6
6


Green
1
14
14


Ginobili
0.5
4
2


Leonard
1.18
11
13


Parker
2.2
5
11


Splitter
0.85
7
6



Notes:

-Green was middle of the pack in his numbers, but that's due to him being incredible on James and Wade and terrible in limited minutes on Allen and Chalmers. Subjectively it looked like Green played much better on defense, and the numbers bear it out. He's not able to guard James too much, as Lebron is just too big for Danny to hold off in the post for long. However, he definitely should continue to spell Leonard. In fact, Pop should try his best to keep one of them court at all times. Green's numbers would have been even better had he not been saddled with three questionable fouls.

-Leonard's defensive flaws should a little bit more this game. He was once again great when locked into guarding James, but everywhere else, he struggled. Once again, he failed a couple of times in keeping up with James in transition, which isn't that bad in general but was compounded by Leonard not knowing who to pick up on the switch. Allen got his score off Kawhi this way. He also was slow coming out to Bosh on switches. It's great to see Leonard able to take on the challenge of defending Lebron, but the Spurs need more from him when it comes to team defense.

-Ginobili was pretty good on defense. Wade was unable to score off him, and besides on miscue, Allen wasn't able to, either. Ginobili can't defend James in the post, though. It will be interesting how Pop sets up his small-ball defense, as neither Green nor Ginobili are great at guarding spot-up shooters.

-Duncan and Splitter each provided good help, however, Duncan's lack of mobility left him unable to close out on Bosh. Incidentally, Bosh moving in to about 17 feet allows him to shoot better and gives James a reliable player to kick to. That shot will probably remain open by design, so let's hope Bosh starts missing more of those, or that Leonard and Duncan can start closing out better.

-For the most part, my critiques have been nitpicky. The Spurs' defense through the first 38 minutes of the game was actually pretty good. Even players like Neal managed to keep from hurting the team too badly. However, Parker was pretty horrible. A lot of the problems were the result of the defense, as Parker was always supposed to help off Chalmers to double James. In this game, Mario just happened to make his shots. However, Parker was also late closing out and didn't fight around screens well enough. I think he let the lack of calls on the other end affect his aggressiveness, and in the Finals that just can't happen.

All in all, there's nothing here that makes me really worried about the Spurs. The Heat are going to live or die by what Bosh and the three-point shooters do when they get kick-outs. The Spurs just need to close out better and perhaps hope for a more generous whistle. Maybe now that they've lost, Pop can make them focus.

[BillMc]

Here are the numbers for Game 2. I stopped keeping track after the Heat took a 15-point lead at the beginning of the fourth. Miami is notorious for running up the score late. I added in Chalmers' numbers since he was the leading scorer.




James
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
5
1
0
0.57


Leonard
2
3
0
1
0.66


Splitter
1
2
0
0
0.66


Parker
0
0
0
1
0










Total
4
10
1
2
0.588235










Wade
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
2
2
0
1
0.8


Ginobili
0
3
0
0
0


Leonard
2
0
0
1
1.33


Diaw
1
0
0
0
2


Duncan
0
1
1
0
0


Splitter
0
1
0
0
0










Total
5
7
1
2
0.67


























Bosh
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Leonard
1
0
0
0
2


Duncan
3
1
0
0
1.5


Splitter
2
3
0
0
0.8










Total
6
4
0
0
1.2










Allen
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
0
0
0
3


Ginobili
1
0
0
0
2


Leonard
1
0
0
0
3


Diaw
0
1
0
0
0


Parker
0
1
0
0
0










Total
3
2
0
0
1.6










Chalmers
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
1
0
1
0
2.5


Technical
1
0
0
0
1


Parker
4
0
0
0
2.75










Total
5
6
1
0
1.42






Game
PPP
Poss.
Points


Diaw
1
2
2


Duncan
1
6
6


Green
1
14
14


Ginobili
0.5
4
2


Leonard
1.18
11
13


Parker
2.2
5
11


Splitter
0.85
7
6



Notes:

-Green was middle of the pack in his numbers, but that's due to him being incredible on James and Wade and terrible in limited minutes on Allen and Chalmers. Subjectively it looked like Green played much better on defense, and the numbers bear it out. He's not able to guard James too much, as Lebron is just too big for Danny to hold off in the post for long. However, he definitely should continue to spell Leonard. In fact, Pop should try his best to keep one of them court at all times. Green's numbers would have been even better had he not been saddled with three questionable fouls.

-Leonard's defensive flaws should a little bit more this game. He was once again great when locked into guarding James, but everywhere else, he struggled. Once again, he failed a couple of times in keeping up with James in transition, which isn't that bad in general but was compounded by Leonard not knowing who to pick up on the switch. Allen got his score off Kawhi this way. He also was slow coming out to Bosh on switches. It's great to see Leonard able to take on the challenge of defending Lebron, but the Spurs need more from him when it comes to team defense.

-Ginobili was pretty good on defense. Wade was unable to score off him, and besides on miscue, Allen wasn't able to, either. Ginobili can't defend James in the post, though. It will be interesting how Pop sets up his small-ball defense, as neither Green nor Ginobili are great at guarding spot-up shooters.

-Duncan and Splitter each provided good help, however, Duncan's lack of mobility left him unable to close out on Bosh. Incidentally, Bosh moving in to about 17 feet allows him to shoot better and gives James a reliable player to kick to. That shot will probably remain open by design, so let's hope Bosh starts missing more of those, or that Leonard and Duncan can start closing out better.

-For the most part, my critiques have been nitpicky. The Spurs' defense through the first 38 minutes of the game was actually pretty good. Even players like Neal managed to keep from hurting the team too badly. However, Parker was pretty horrible. A lot of the problems were the result of the defense, as Parker was always supposed to help off Chalmers to double James. In this game, Mario just happened to make his shots. However, Parker was also late closing out and didn't fight around screens well enough. I think he let the lack of calls on the other end affect his aggressiveness, and in the Finals that just can't happen.

All in all, there's nothing here that makes me really worried about the Spurs. The Heat are going to live or die by what Bosh and the three-point shooters do when they get kick-outs. The Spurs just need to close out better and perhaps hope for a more generous whistle. Maybe now that they've lost, Pop can make them focus.

These posts and analyses that you have done for both games are really fantastic. Well done!:toast

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

Love this analysis! Please keep it up! Thanks, I really appreciate it.

So regarding rotations, do you think there should be any changes in the amount of minutes each player plays? Do you think Duncan's and Parker's horrible offense in game 2 negatively affected their defense? It seemed like Parker was on the floor every possession and he couldn't get back on defense quickly. I also noticed Leonard's poor transition defense, but his 1 on 1 defense on LeBron has been so good, he needs to play every minute that LeBron is in there, unless if he's in foul trouble.

[Chinook]

Love this analysis! Please keep it up! Thanks, I really appreciate it.

So regarding rotations, do you think there should be any changes in the amount of minutes each player plays? Do you think Duncan's and Parker's horrible offense in game 2 negatively affected their defense? It seemed like Parker was on the floor every possession and he couldn't get back on defense quickly. I also noticed Leonard's poor transition defense, but his 1 on 1 defense on LeBron has been so good, he needs to play every minute that LeBron is in there, unless if he's in foul trouble.

Thanks. I do think Green and Leonard should get more minutes. Pop's trying to get Ginobili going, though, so I understand why he kept putting him in. Really, all four of the wings were pretty good on defense, except they left shooters open too much. That comes from Pop not changing up his defense and constantly bringing doubles. He needs to trust Green and Leonard one-on-one more. They both made some really good plays when they didn't have help, at least besides from big men. Splitter needs to play more or Diaw's minutes.

Duncan wasn't that bad on defense; he just doesn't have mobility. In Game 1, that led to James blowing by him a couple of times. Last game, it meant he couldn't close out on Bosh fast enough. I think Miami will continue to attack Duncan even more as the series progresses, and Tim will need to score and rebound more to make up for it. I agree on Parker. He was flummoxed the whole game. Pop needs to go retro on Tony and force him to focus more on scoring every time he shoots the ball and forcing a miss every time his man shoots.

Leonard just needs a little coaching. He's playing well, but he's not seeing the whole game; he's got tunnel vision on Lebron. If he's not going to be able to sprint down the floor to keep up with James, Leonard needs to see who picks Lebron up and then find the appropriate man. That's something that can be fixed during a time-out.

[hater]

yup I been saying it. Leonard and Green need to play 40 minutes

Parker too. Sit Neal and Manu play him only 15 or less.

[-21-]

This is an awesome thread. Your work is appreciated.:toast

I agree with your analysis. I think they are doing the best they can against LeBron and it's gone pretty well. Closing out on everyone else looks like the biggest thing they have to work on. Hopefully Bosh, Chalmers, Allen, Miller, and Battier will have a tougher time hitting those shots in SA. The Heat will go as far as their shooters take them. The problem is the Spurs have had trouble with shooters, like Golden State with Curry and Thompson, only they didn't have a LeBron.

[Hoops Czar]

Good analysis. With that said, basing one's defense on missed shots is a little vague for me. You could pose the greatest defense and stilled get burned by a player making difficult shots. Conversely, you could be playing terrible defense and the opposing player could be missing shots.

In Game 1, Leonard scored a defensive rating of 102 while green's was a 103. Game 2 was a train wreck defensively and mostly due to the porous 4th quarter defense when the Spurs just quit. With that said, Leonard led the starters with a defensive rating of 121 and Green's was a 127. I thought the Spurs defense in general was pretty solid with just a few lapses ( uncontested layups and three pointers) for 3 quarters and then turned sour in the 4th.

[Chinook]

Good analysis. With that said, basing one's defense on missed shots is a little vague for me. You could pose the greatest defense and stilled get burned by a player making difficult shots. Conversely, you could be playing terrible defense and the opposing player could be missing shots.

In Game 1, Leonard scored a defensive rating of 102 while green's was a 103. Game 2 was a train wreck defensively and mostly due to the porous 4th quarter defense when the Spurs just quit. With that said, Leonard led the starters with a defensive rating of 121 and Green's was a 127. I thought the Spurs defense in general was pretty solid with just a few lapses ( uncontested layups and three pointers) for 3 quarters and then turned sour in the 4th.

I don't disagree at all. I think I said somewhere in this thread that looking only at shots ignores most of the work before, such as positioning and rotations, that really shows who's a good defender. There are also things such as help defense that really affect the numbers. If Duncan gets a block off helping Leonard but gets a foul from helping Green, Green's numbers would suffer. Hell, even players hitting their free throws affects PPP. That said, I think looking at this still gives a picture of how the Spurs guarded players individually. Even though I try to add a little more analysis beyond the numbers, they'll usually bear out accurately given a large enough sample. And I think there's little question Green was significantly better in Game 2 than in Game 1.

I'll say this about defensive rating, though. It has the same issues as plus-minus, in that it can be misleading for individuals unless calibrated for teammates. When Leonard is guarding James, chances are that he has Green next to him to switch and Duncan behind him to help. When Green's on James, he almost never had Leonard with him, and usually had either Duncan or Splitter out. I'm not saying that explains the numbers you gave, but it's something I'll look for when analyzing this game.

[rmt]

Pop needs to play both KL and DG over 40 minutes. Don't see why not - they're young.

[therealtruth]

I think they need to put Green on Chalmers if the Heat go with Lebron/Chalmers pick and roll. Definitely also try to match Manu and Wade's minutes.

[Chinook]

Game 3 numbers below. As with the last game, I only counted the first 38 minutes of the game, even though I rewatched the last 10 several times.

I looked at Miller, too, because people might have been worried about him going off.



James
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
3
2
0
1
1


Leonard
2
5
0
1
0.63


Splitter
0
1
0
0
0


Ginobili
1
0
0
0
2


Duncan
0
3
0
0
0










Total
6
11
0
2
0.68










Wade
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
2
6
0
1
0.44


Leonard
1
0
0
0
2


Ginobili
2
1
1
0
1.5


Duncan
0
0
0
1
0










Total
5
7
1
2
0.8










Bosh
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Green
0
0
1
0
2


Leonard
0
0
0
1
0


Splitter
2
4
2.1

0.63


Duncan
1
1

0
2










Total
4
5
3
1
0.923077










Allen
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Ginobili
0
0
0
1
0


Neal
1
0
0
0
2


Total
1
0
0
1
1










Miller
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Parker
1
0
0
0
3


Green
1
0
0
0
3


Leonard
1
0
0
0
3


Neal
1
0
0
0
3


Bonner
1
0
0
0
3










Total
5
0
0
0
3










Chalmers
Makes
Misses
Fouls
Turnovers
PPP


Parker
0
2
0
1
0


Green
0
0
0
1
0


Joseph
0
1
0
0
0


Duncan
0
2
0
0
0


Leonard
0
0
0
0
0










Total
0
5
0
3
0



Notes:

-Leonard was again rock solid on James. Kawhi's length is starting to really bother James, and for some reason, Lebron is staying ground-bound more than he usually has. If James isn't going to try to elevate on his shots in the post, Leonard's long arms are going to continue to make life extremely difficult for him. I love that Leonard started to be more assertive on James. That steal over him at the beginning over the second half is going to stay in Lebron's thoughts any time he gets ready for an entry pass.

-Leonard remains weak in transition. He got caught sleeping on the break again, leading to two scores. The Spurs in general have been great in transition so far, so let's hope they continue to cover for him.

-This was an interesting game for Green. For the first time all series, Danny got good numbers against Wade. Green's length started to bother Wade, and him giving Dwyane space as forced a lot of bad shots, which this time didn't happen to do in. Green was once again terrific in transition, which helped cover up for Leonard being poor in it. The two starting wings are working together beautifully so far.

-Green was the unfortunate beneficiary of most of James' mini-run at the end of the third. I thought Green played fine defense on all of those shots, and James was just bound to hit a few here and there. In general, Danny is doing the best job (in my opinion) at getting into James' head. While he lacks Leonard's length and fundamentals, Green's instincts against Lebron are top notch. It doesn't even seem like Green is reacting against James; it just seems like he knows what Lebron is going to do before he does it. While Leonard's the hammer that keeps pounding the rock, I think Green is the dynamite that keeps blowing it open.

-Ginobili was better on defense than his numbers may suggest. Wade happened to make his difficult jumpers on Manu instead of Green. He's still getting it done on that end, especially with another ailing two-guard opposite him. It's on offense where he needs to improve.

-Despite Parker's complaint, Neal wasn't even remotely bad on Mike Miller. In fact, as the number show, no one really was. Miller just happened to catch someone sleeping once and capitalized on it. Once Miller beat them, no player gave him another open look. I thought Neal actually played pretty good defense, his close-outs on Miller and Allen worked well. If Neal can play this well on defense for the rest of the series, he should get a lot of Ginobili's minutes.

-Mario Chalmers was the anti-Miller in Game 3; everyone took turns beating up on him. The Spurs' switch of defense on him made a pretty big difference, but really, he was left open a number of times (especially by Parker) and just couldn't hit the shot. For the Heat, that's about the worst news they could get outside of an injury.

-Cory Joseph looked good against opposite points. His defense was fine, even though his offense was shaky. I'd rather Neal start at the point if Parker has to sit out, but I think Cory should remain the back up. I loved how him competed when switched onto bigger players. He ate James alive on one possession to break one of Miami's plays. If he can do what George Hill did defensively in the ECF, he'll really help the second unit.