I have never been sold on Spoelstra as a phenomenal coach, but I always respected his accomplishments. LeBron James cannot be the team’s leader in points, assists and rebounding in addition to being expected to dominate defensively.
This falls on the shoulders of Spoelstra because of the way he has set the offense featuring James having space all over the court. The offense is structured for LeBron to attack and find divers or shooters on the wings.
The problem is this leaves very little room for offensive rebounds.
Chris Bosh, the only true big man in the starting line up, is mainly used as a shooter and the 2nd diver in this offense. The times during the game when Miami was effective were when Chris Anderson and Mike Miller were on the floor.
What that did was give Miami a true big that would play near the basket in Anderson and a great shooter in Allen that could also effectively pass (Shane Battier for all his skills is a poor passer) and contend for rebounds, Allen at this point in his career and Mario Chalmers aren’t effective on the glass.
This is the reason Anderson and Miller had the highest +/- of any Heat players. Bosh shooting jumpers shouldn’t be a primary option. He plays best facing up on the block. Jump shots come naturally for scorers. James doesn’t need to run 1-4 low to have spacing. These things need to occur organically.
With the Heat offense set the way it is, LeBron has to be the facilitator on a team where he and Bosh are the only offensive threats that can thwart the San Antonio Spurs.
Bosh out of his comfort zone on most possessions leaving the Heat to live and die by three-point shots. This strategy leaves LeBron in a situation where he has to force the issue—thus playing right into the Spurs hands.
San Antonio is too strong defensively for low percentage opportunities to be your most dependable source of offense. If Spoelstra makes the proper adjustments for Game 2, look for the Heat-Spurs series to be a long and hard-fought series.
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