A look at the ‘curveball’ that remains effective weapon for Heat. Also, Butler out vs. Kings
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra introduced his version of the 2-3 zone to the NBA in December 2018. It has been a consistent part of the Heat’s defensive system ever since.
Zone was again a big part of the Heat’s plan in Tuesday night’s 116-109 win against the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors at FTX Arena. The Heat used the 2-3 look for a large chunk of the fourth quarter to limit the Warriors to just 15 points on 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) shooting from the field and 3-of-15 (20 percent) shooting from three-point range in the period.
The Heat entered the fourth quarter trailing by eight points, but won the quarter 30-15 to complete the comeback win with the help of its zone defense that Warriors coach Steve Kerr said “stifled us in the last five minutes.”
“We’ve played in [zone] a lot throughout my time here,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings at FTX Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) to close another back-to-back set.
“So the principles, I think everybody is comfortable with and on board with. It’s just a matter of building that connectivity on that end. It’s the same thing with any sort of defense. It’s a good curveball that we’ve used periodically. Then when you have a game like this where it’s kind of messing with them, then you just kind of run with it.”
The Heat ran zone on 41 possessions during Tuesday’s victory, including 13 possessions in the fourth quarter, according to Second Spectrum. Golden State scored just 0.97 points per possession against Miami’s zone compared to 1.22 points per possession against its man-to-man defense.
The Heat’s 41 zone possessions against the Warriors represent the most used in a game by any team this season. It would have been the ninth-most zone possessions used by a team in a game last season.
“I think it just allows us to change the speed of the game, especially with a team like [the Warriors] when their offense is so fast and it’s all ball movement and playing off us messing up switches or messing up a defensive coverage,” Heat forward Max Strus said. “I think with that, it just kind of slows down their offense and makes them just pass around it and shoot a lot of threes. ... I don’t know what it is, but I think we’re just pretty good at it and we have a good flow as a group together in it.”
Warriors star Stephen Curry explained the effect of the Heat’s zone this way: “It’s designed to take you out of your patterns and make you take shots you’re not really as comfortable with because it’s out of your normal offense.”
While the Heat’s zone defense was effective at slowing the Warriors, it’s usually not the best sign. That’s because Spoelstra typically breaks out the 2-3 look when the man-to-man defense isn’t producing positive results or some of the top defenders are out because it allows the Heat to hide some of its lesser defenders.
Other than guard Victor Oladipo, who has yet to play this season because of a knee injury, the Heat had its best defenders available against the Warriors. But Miami’s defense had been struggling early this season, as it entered Tuesday’s win with a defensive rating ranked 18th among the NBA’s 30 teams.
“I think guys are comfortable because you know exactly where your help is going to be in your rotations,” Heat wing Jimmy Butler said of the zone. “You get an opportunity to put your hands on the basketball and get a lot of deflections, get you into the open floor. Not everybody works against zone in practice. So I think that’s also a reason why it plays to our advantage.”
Whatever the circumstances surrounding the zone were, it worked Tuesday. And it clearly remains a weapon for the Heat, which has closed each of the previous three seasons ranked among the NBA’s top three in zone usage.
“A lot of people don’t run it in the NBA,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “We run it. We’ve executed it at a high level and it gives teams problems.”
BUTLER OUT, BUT HERRO WILL PLAY
The Heat announced just about 90 minutes prior to tipoff that Butler will miss Wednesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings at FTX Arena because of left hip tightness. Butler was a late scratch, as he was not on Wednesday’s injury report before the announcement.
Butler played in Tuesday’s win over the Golden State Warriors, finishing with 23 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting on threes, six rebounds and eight assists in 37 minutes. But Butler will not play on the second night of the back-to-back.
This marks the first game that Butler has missed this regular season, but the internal belief is the hip injury is a minor issue that shouldn’t keep him out for long.
The Heat will have Tyler Herro available for Wednesday’s game after he left Tuesday’s win midway through the second quarter and not returning because of a left eye contusion. Herro is not on the Heat’s injury report for its matchup against the Kings.
“It’s better now,” Herro said as he stood in front of his locker after Tuesday’s victory. “It just took some time, honestly. I probably could have gone in. I was sitting here at my locker watching the game. In the fourth quarter, I probably could have played. But just needed a little bit more time for the blurriness and the vision to get back. But I’m good.”
Along with Butler, the Heat will also be without Jamal Cain (G League assignment), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle impingement) on Wednesday.
The Kings ruled out guard De’Aaron Fox because of a right knee bone bruise.
A SUCCESSFUL CHALLENGE
A successful challenge helped push the Heat past the Warriors on Tuesday.
With 1:39 to play and the Heat ahead by three, Butler was called for a foul on a Curry three-point attempt. But officials reviewed the play following the Heat’s challenge and ruled that Butler “made contact with the ball and then made incidental high-five contact with Curry”, overturning the call to give Miami the ball “due to imminent possession” instead of three free throws for Curry that could have tied the score.
“I trusted Jimmy,” Spoelstra said of listening to Butler’s plea to challenge the late-game call. “I’ve obviously been through this a lot of different times, and you have to earn a level of trust with guys. Jimmy usually doesn’t look over to the bench and give me the signal. I always laugh when people tell me to challenge something in the first quarter. Really at that point, it can be a very big momentum swing. So he and Kyle [Lowry] both looked over. I was waiting to see from the bench, but couldn’t really tell. So just kind of went on a leap of faith and fortunately it turned out for us.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 10:40 AM.
