Miami fronting against Duncan..

[HarlemHeat37]

Why has it been so difficult for the Spurs to get the ball to Duncan against the front?..

All I heard against Indiana was that the Pacers are a stupid team and Vogel doesn't know how to coach, but the Spurs are having immense trouble getting the ball to Tim inside..the Pacers had an excuse, they have terrible passers and guards..

The Spurs have Parker and Ginobili, they have great passing bigs, and Kawhi at the 4 should be able to get Duncan the ball if they cheat, too..

Duncan was horrible tonight when he caught the ball too high or in a crowded defense, and he was dominant tonight when he caught the ball in the paint, whether it was in the post, a lower pick&roll, or a baseline seal..

Parker was good tonight, but Duncan is the key to the series..if he continues catching the ball in an uncomfortable setting, he's going to miss shots and turn the ball over..

When he catches it in or near the paint, he has produced virtually every other time, tbh..

Every time Miami fronts, the Spurs have no patience, they opt to run the pick&roll instead of developing a high-low or trying to move it to Duncan on the other side..

[HarlemHeat37]

When he gets the ball on the wing or at the key, he's in a shitty position, and Miami has had an easy time disrupting his movement..

It's frustrating, the Spurs have been playing to Miami's strengths, tbh..playing with fire..

[phxspurfan]

Spurs all of a sudden forgot some fundamentals. Like if the guy gets fronted, swing it around and drive it in.

[TD 21]

I'm shocked and appalled at how they've let the Heat off the hook with this. It's not just against the front, too. There's been plenty of instances where he's posted up, with them playing behind and they (Parker, in particular) either look him off or completely disregard him and instead opt for a pick and roll or they swing it. He needs to lose it on them and demand the ball from here on out.

[Darius McCrary]

We did high low some
Resulted in failure when the going got tough

[m33p0]

it's really mind boggling how the spurs refuse to use their one big advantage over the heat.

[HarlemHeat37]

We did high low some
Resulted in failure when the going got tough

I only remember 1 high-low with Diaw, and it led to Duncan drawing FTs on that play..

Ginobili tried to throw it over the front, but turned it over..

Cory Joseph put Duncan in a horrible position for his 3rd turnover, posting up 18 feet away, which is partly Duncan's fault, to be fair..

[freetiago]

George would just throw it over the trap
Tony cant do that and hes missing wide open teammates a lot to go along with that
the biggest problem to me imo is where Duncan is catching it
he rolls towards the baseline
Hibbert would roll straight down the paint and catch it between the free throw line/restricted area
Duncan is catching it about 3 feet away to the side of the free throw line
huge difference

he needs to roll straight down and not panic when he sees a midget help defender come
Spurs are trying to make the right basketball play and pass but in this instance they need to just catch it, keep it high, 1 or 2 steps and shoot a hook/floater over some <6'6 help defender

F9e1azx8j7c

watch all his rolls to the basket
no reason Duncan cant do this

[HarlemHeat37]

Exactly..

Hibbert actually had similar problems against Miami when he caught the ball on the wing and outside of the paint, particularly in game 7..Miami swarmed him and he was too slow to react..

Most of the time, Indiana did get him the ball in the paint and he dominated..

Duncan has produced at a high level in the paint in this series, compared to horrible production outside of the paint..he needs to be put in a better position, tbh..

[freetiago]

btw expect less than 1 page of replies
in a strategy thread spurfan either wont post or spew cliches that have nothing to do with adjustments
i found it hilarious that they never ever go to Duncan til the game starts getting out of hand in the 4th down 10
then they realize they have a 7 footer who can go to work in the low block
Duncan also needs post up on the right block and do right hand hooks going baseline
his turnaround fadeaways going middle have been garbage
Miami rotates to quickly

[apalisoc_9]

Diaw needs to play more minutes for this to work IMO. Passers needs to play more minutes for this to work..Pop Will continue to play Neal. Making passes like that is not easy tbh and you really only have a couple of players in your disposal that can do that.

I'm not sure if playing ginobili more minutes at this point is a really good idea, but Boris needs to play more and run a a few plays that Indiana, Memphis regularly does to give their bigmen the pass after positioning.

[apalisoc_9]

Diaw needs to play more minutes for this to work IMO. Passers needs to play more minutes for this to work..Pop Will continue to play Neal. Making passes like that is not easy tbh and you really only have a couple of players in your disposal that can do that.

I'm not sure if playing ginobili more minutes at this point is a really good idea, but Boris needs to play more and run a a few plays that Indiana, Memphis regularly does to give their bigmen the pass after positioning.

[hommeaetage]

How do you play against a defense that's fronting your big :wakeup
1. high lows (perhaps playing Diaw more mins)
2. fast ball movement to the weak side and dump it to the low post.
3. The guy being fronted should pin the the defender with a back pick and allow the ball handler to go to the rim (Neal did it when they called that BS foul on Duncan and Bosh Flop)

[TNTDFan]

Timmy needs to demand the ball at this point, Parker is ignoring him when he post. This team is just to locked in to only running pick n rolls.

[HarlemHeat37]

btw expect less than 1 page of replies
in a strategy thread spurfan either wont post or spew cliches that have nothing to do with adjustments
i found it hilarious that they never ever go to Duncan til the game starts getting out of hand in the 4th down 10
then they realize they have a 7 footer who can go to work in the low block
Duncan also needs post up on the right block and do right hand hooks going baseline
his turnaround fadeaways going middle have been garbage
Miami rotates to quickly

Completely agree, tbh..

His hook bank shot has been dominant in this series, I don't know if he has even missed one in this series..

Miami swarms him when he goes middle, though, like you said..

I'm just annoyed by the lack of aggressiveness in getting him the ball, along with keeping him on the perimeter and the poor pick&roll positioning..

[freetiago]

McGrady>Ginobili tbh
id like to see if he can get Duncan the ball in the paint on the pick and roll
or even Kawhi Leonard would have been a nice option if the Spurs ever tried to develop his offensive game

not sure Miami would respect a Diaw/Duncan pick and roll enough
and the Duncan baseline has one good thing going for him
its been getting him the ball with a midget on him in good post position
hes been passing up the shots though
had Miller on him on a rotation and kicked it out to Parker
run the pick and roll and if he catches baseline, he tells everyone to back up and posts up
people need to call the baseline doubles hes getting also since hes not use to those anymore
he looked worse then Hibbert when the doubles were sent

[Darius McCrary]

Parker isn't springy or long enough to get that pass to Duncan against this defense.

Manu, pains me to even type his name, is MANU

Miami has been swarming and focusing on Duncan in the paint at the beginning of games since game 1.
At the very beginning of this series, first few plays, we're running normal spurs offense were Tony is trying to blithely pump fake and get the ball into Tim. Didn't work. Even after adjustments, we just cant get it to him.

After game 2 I was just resigned to Tim doing garbage work and cleaning up on Heat misses/mistakes.

It's not easy for Parker to get that pass to Tim, especially now that he's obviously hurting.

[mercos]

The Spurs have not went to Duncan nearly enough this series. I thought tonight should have been his night. The pick and roll has been kind to us, but if I'm not mistaken Miami is one of the best teams in the league at guarding it. Definitely could have used some more Duncan post ups.

[Seefourdc]

Edit add: Darius hit it on the head with his first sentence.

Parker can't make that pass. It takes consistent, regular practice to make that drop pass and have the rhythm between 2 players like Stockton-Malone and teams rarely front in the NBA anymore so why dial this in to perfection? It has to be crisp or you are in the worst possible situation with backside help... sandwiched between 2 players you get stripped at a high percentage.

That's why Parker ignores it, he knows his limits. Parker by play style is more of a shooting guard with a really good pick and roll bounce pass.

[Budkin]

I have no doubt Pop and Timmy will figure it out. You're going to see Duncan possessed next game. Book it.

[TheGreatYacht]

One would think that after watching the Heat vs Pacers series, Pop would get an idea that Duncan can be huge for this series. The Spurs have gotten too reliant on pick n rolls. They don't even attempt to get the ball into the hands of Timmy so that he can work in the post.

Apparently Pop thinks that the Spurs should try to win by doing what got them there, which is to pick n roll and move the ball around. The Spurs weren't even moving the ball around for this game btw. The Spurs are at their best when they start swinging the ball around like a hot potato. Looks like Pop is ok with the TP and Manu not wanting to establish Duncan otherwise we would have seen an adjustment by now where Duncan would be more involved.

Pop should try to go to Timmy early on in the game. Allow Duncan to do his work on the post. Doing so will slow pace for the game which favors the Spurs and open up the perimeter for our shooters. This is the type of series where Dunan has the opportunity to turn back the clock and dominate those midgets of the Heat. Duncan should be having a Kareem type of series where he won the NBA finals MVP at an old age.

[TheGoldStandard]

Parker went into Hero mode for a spell because nobody else was doing anything. He missed Danny twice at the 3 point line. Duncan needs to work to get into the paint more and be aggressive especially if miller is on him, they need to swing the ball more. Yes, I agree more diaw or even McGrady someone with size who can pass the ball and can make an easy basket if they run high low or screen pick n roll stuff.

They had energy in the 1st quarter and then it just went away.

[Seefourdc]

Seriously seriously seriously. Duncan isn't going to take over any games in this series, he's 37.

And stop comparing Duncan to Hibbert. They have totally different skillsets and now that Duncan lost weight in the offseason Hibbert really outweighs him by a good bit. Duncan is a better player, yes, but he can't bully the Heat like Hibbert did and he doesn't have the height/practice on the baby hook like Hibbert does. Duncan is getting pushed around by Haslem and he can't even back Bosh down. His lateral movement is slow and he's getting mugged on the entry passes. He's old and too light to bull his way in.

Your advantage lies in dribble penetration and 3 point shooting. Better cross your fingers that Manu/Parker are ship shape because that's the key to everything.

[RD2191]

Seriously seriously seriously. Duncan isn't going to take over any games in this series, he's 37.

And stop comparing Duncan to Hibbert. They have totally different skillsets and now that Duncan lost weight in the offseason Hibbert really outweighs him by a good bit. Duncan is a better player, yes, but he can't bully the Heat like Hibbert did and he doesn't have the height/practice on the baby hook like Hibbert does. Duncan is getting pushed around by Haslem and he can't even back Bosh down. His lateral movement is slow and he's getting mugged on the entry passes. He's old and too light to bull his way in.

Your advantage lies in dribble penetration and 3 point shooting. Better cross your fingers that Manu/Parker are ship shape because that's the key to everything.