Pistons playing like imposters
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago
Who were those imposters wearing Pistons uniforms?
They couldn't have been the team that prides itself on smooth, unselfish offense and belligerent defense. The impersonators who lost Game 3 in Miami 98-83 were strictly second-raters.
On offense, the ersatz Pistons were stagnant. Except when Rasheed Wallace was stationed a step above the 3-point arc in the middle of the court, the Pistons seldom reversed the ball. But even when they did, Detroit gained no real advantages because when the ball moved, the players didn't. And vice versa.
Also, for the past several seasons, their money play has been some variation of Rip Hamilton cutting or curling off a perpetual sequence of screens — yet this series was employed only eight times in the first half. The yield was five points and two turnovers. In the second half, Hamilton's pet sets were not attempted at all.
The Heat totally foiled the several attempts by the Pistons to establish a post-up game by simply using a fronting defender. Detroit's putative feeders helped this tactic succeed by trying to make the entry pass from on (or near) the baseline — thereby creating a disadvantageous angle.
Here's how to overcome a fronted pivot: The passer should be positioned so that he, the pivot man, and the basket are all in a straight line. The weak side should then be totally cleared out. Most passers make the error of trying to flip the ball just over the head of the fronter. Instead, the ball should be tossed to the nearest corner of the backboard so as to lead the pivot man to the hoop. If vacating the weak side fails to establish the required spacing, the posted player has to seal off his defender while another big cuts to the foul line, and a shooter cuts to the weak side corner. Once the ball is delivered to the big at the stripe, either he, the pivot man, or the corner shooter is bound to be open.
The Pistons, however, tried none of these remedies and, more often than not, the original passer either got stuck with the ball in the corner or made a useless pass out to the perimeter.
Back to the drawing board.
Rather than their habitual ball- and player-movement generating good looks in their half-court sets, too many of Detroit's points were the result of Chauncey Billups isolating his defender of the moment — Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton and especially Jason Williams. In all, Billups scored 22 of his 31 points on isos, plus another digit when Miami was whistled for illegal defense, and he bagged the resulting free throw.
Hamilton likewise resorted to one-on-one play, tallying six of his 20 points in this manner. Tayshaun Prince was 0-3 in isos and was only responsible for four total points on 1-of-7 shooting.
All of these point-making strategies were very uncharacteristic.
Moreover, the Heat had their bigs show aggressively on all screen/rolls, then when the ball-handler was forced to back up, the bigs retreated into the paint. Occasionally, Billups was able to clear the traffic and keep his dribble alive long enough to launch a trey (he was 4-of-5 from downtown). Otherwise, the Pistons' S/R attack was nullified.
The only Piston who was true to form was R. Wallace — and only because he reverted to his psycho-mode. He was so upset about not getting sufficient post-up opportunities that during a second-quarter timeout, he sat on the scorer's table while, 30-feet away, the rest of his teammates gathered around Flip Saunders. Shortly thereafter, when Rasheed was summoned to the bench after picking up his second foul, he angrily waved off his coach's proffered hand. When he finally took his seat, Wallace complained to a teammate about the injustice of being yanked so early with so few fouls. Then, just before the second half commenced, Rasheed loudly cursed the referees.
No surprise, then, that Rasheed was mostly interested in hoisting 3-pointers (1-for-5), was disinterested in playing defense, and was a total non-factor. The dude wearing Antonio McDyess' uniform passed when he should have shot, and vice versa. And Lindsey Hunter's double had a game full of mistakes.
Meanwhile, Miami also had their way on offense. Shaq was either played one-on-one by Ben Wallace, or else doubled too late when he'd already brought the ball into the middle of the lane. Maybe that's why Shaq looked so young and sprightly — 11-15, 12 rebounds, and 27 points.
In Game 1, Detroit had more than a modicum of success when they doubled Shaq on the catch and forced him to be a passer — which is a highly overrated aspect of his game.
Back to the drawing board.
The vaunted Pistons' defense was nowhere to be seen. Antoine Walker got into the lane at will — 5-of-11, four assists, 11 points. But it was D-Wade who almost single-handedly dismantled the shreds of Detroit's defense.
For sure, the Pistons big men were reluctant to help on Wade's penetrations, lest Shaq be left unguarded and an easy target for lob passes. (Which he was, to the tune of at least five dramatic dunkers.) Even so, there's no excuse for the fact that Wade tallied 24 of his 35 points on one-on-one ventures into the paint. (To say nothing of the two assists he also accumulated in so doing.) Hamilton was Wade's primary patsy on these maneuvers, but Billups and Tony Delk were also victimized.
The Pistons' front court must provide meaningful aid to keep Wade away from the ring. The nearest big has to step into Wade's path, while his partner has to race to the rim and either challenge the inevitable pass into Shaq, or else foul the Big Fellow.
Perhaps Wade has to be two-timed as soon as he crosses the 3-point line, or aggressively doubled whenever he approaches a screen. (In truth, Wade favors brush-screens; and his technique is to fake using them, then shifting his line of attack to the paint.)
In all, the masquerade was in effect for 43 minutes. It was only at the start of the third quarter that the real Pistons deigned to make an appearance — for the next five minutes they went on an 11-0 tear, before reverting to their presto-chango vanishing act. (Some genuine comedy relief, however, was provided by a bevy of jesters going through short-lived Hack-A-Shaq and Bop-A-Ben routines.)
Hey, you guys! You phony Pistons dressed in motley. Is it rough enough yet? Or will it take a 3-1 deficit to finally get it right?
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