interesting article scott brooks should consider

Dallas would not have won last year's NBA Finals without their daunted Zone Defense. Scott Brooks has to consider rethinking his strategy because he's playing against two of the best penetrators in the game.

http://hoopspeak.com/2011/05/why-dallass-zone-defense-will-decide-finals/

While continuing their near flawless offensive execution will be paramount to the Dallas Mavericks’ hopes of winning an NBA Championship, limiting the Miami Heat attack will be just as important. It won’t be easy.

Miami has already beaten two of the best defenses in the NBA in the 2011 playoffs, defeating both the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics, teams that are readily accepted as having superior defenses to Dallas. The Mavericks, however, have the benefit of the best zone defense in the league, one they have used with tremendous success against the Heat in the past.

In two regular seasons with the Mavs this year, Miami faced a zone defense on 56 offensive possessions or about one-fourth of the time. On these plays, the Heat shot 13-of-45 from the field (28.9%), resulting in an offensive efficiency of .55 points per possession – both marks are well below their season average. It’s a limited sample size to be sure, but given the success Dallas has had with short spurts of this approach and the manner in which Chicago pestered Miami with their quasi-zone in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Mavs will likely show flashes of this defense throughout the series. Furthermore, Dallas has been much more liberal in their use of the zone against Miami. During the regular season they went to the zone look a little more than 10% of the time as compared to nearly 25% against the Heat.

After watching footage of Dallas’ zone against Miami on Synergy Sports two things become readily apparent: the Mavs limit the Heat’s dribble drive game and force the ball out of the hands of their primary scorers.

Of the 45 shots the Heat attempted in these two games, just 10 were in the paint, surprising when considering that a majority of these touches came in isolation and pick-and-roll sets. This isn’t to say players like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade aren’t able to penetrate against this zone look, but rather the swift rotation of the Dallas frontcourt forces them to kick and settle for perimeter jumpers. This could prove to be a double-edged sword for Dallas in the Finals. Certainly forcing a team into settling for long two’s rather than shots at the rim is good in theory, but Miami has been making these in the postseason and the Mavs potent lineup of shooters leaves something to be desired defensively. Still, any team would likely rather take their chances with James and Wade settling rather than attacking.

Dallas has also managed to force the basketball into the hands of Miami’s role players much more frequently when defending with the zone. During the regular season the Heat’s Big Three accounted for just over 64% of the team’s total possessions. This mark drops to 55% when facing the Mavs’ blanketing zone approach. This may not seem like a significant change, but based on the Heat’s pace of play, it works out to a difference of more than eight possessions per game that the ball is going to say Mike Bibby or Mike Miller rather than James, Wade or Chris Bosh. Over the course of a seven game series that expects to be hotly contested, this is pretty significant.

Overall Miami hasn’t struggled significantly against zone defenses – but there has been a noticeable drop-off. The Heat ranked second in the NBA in offensive efficiency while shooting 48.1% from the floor, they were just 15th against zone defenses on 38.8% shooting.

Given the excellent adjustments that Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra has made throughout the playoffs there’s no question his team will be versed on the Dallas zone when the teams take the floor later tonight for Game 1. The question is, can they execute against it?

The data indicates that the Heat will need their role players – specifically their perimeter shooters – to step up and make shots. The traditional marquee matchup putting two great superstars against one another will occupy headlines, but ultimately a form of defense considered unfit for the rigors of the NBA may be what truly decides this year’s Finals.

 

It seems the best front court for the thunder is having both collison and ibaka on the floor at the same time. collison to take the charges, rebounding and mobility...ibaka is likewise a mobile big man and will provide the help defense against the gifted offensive player who forces the drive to the rim.

this is also an interesting article where thunder say they won't play zone defense its not their identity.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/06/17/thunder-say-zone-defense-is-not-a-viable-option/MIAMI — With Shane Battier draining nine 3-pointers through two games, it seems like an odd time to bring it up. But it is worth discussing:
Zone defense.
As the NBA Finals shift to Miami, I can’t help but remember last season: The Dallas Mavericks utilized all their parts and all of their schemes in an attempt to slow down the fast and powerful offense of the Miami Heat. If even for a string of possessions at a time, the Mavs made use of the league’s best zone defense in order to take the Heat out of rhythm during crucial stretches on their way to becoming 2011 NBA Champions.
Most notably, the Mavs decided to deploy their defensive weaponry early on in Game 6 – just after LeBron James started 4-of-4 from the field. The move took James out of his rhythm and helped to contribute to a 21-4 run over the course of 5-plus minutes that helped give Dallas a 40-28 lead toward the middle of the first half.
Yet for all of Dallas’ success just a year ago, the thought of playing a zone defense during this series doesn’t seem to have crossed the Oklahoma City Thunder players’ or coaches’ minds.
“Personally, as players, we don’t think about that,” said Thabo Sefolosha, one of the Thunder’s best on-the-ball defenders. “Right now the concept is to play them straight up man-to-man and get help. If we make a change, we make a change, but right now we don’t really think about that.”
“We have the toughness, length and athleticism to match up with them,” emphasized Harden, implying that man-to-man was the way to be. We have long and athletic guys on our team. That’s our advantage. We’re long, athletic, tall and strong, and we’re trying to use that to our advantage.”
When discussing the subject Saturday at American Airlines Arena with players and coaches from both teams, it seems that the reasons for the Thunder not playing any zone during this series are more complicated than the one might assume.
First and foremost, identity plays a huge role in the initiation of zone defense. A team like Oklahoma City doesn’t use zone regularly and isn’t likely to pull it out of their back pocket during the most crucial stretch of the season.
“Each team has to play to their identity,” said Ron Rothstein, a longtime Miami Heat assistant coach. “If you try to do something that you’re not familiar with and isn’t something that got you there, it’s usually not going to work.”
“That’s not something we do,” said Mark Bryant, a former NBA veteran forward and current Thunder assistant. “We’re a defensive oriented team. We like to cover the elbows and blocks. We like to have our hands up – pick-up defense, like right above the 3-point line.”
Oklahoma City’s identity, much like Miami’s, is playing high pressure man-to-man defense so that they can dictate where their help defense comes from and, ultimately, force bad shots and turnovers so that they can create fast-break opportunities.
“If they turn you over, forget about it,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “It’s two or three going down the other end.”
The problem with this, however, is that when you are playing against one of the game’s biggest, strongest, and potentially greatest driving/creating/playmaking forwards of all time, that task can wear on defenders (no matter how good they are) over the course of a series.
It’s true that the Thunder have the ever-improving Kevin Durant and the excellent defensive specialist Sefolosha to guard Miami’s James and Wade, but thus far in the first two games they have been spread out during the first two quarters by Battier (13 points and 9 points during first halves) early and diced up by James (14 points and 14 points, respectively) often. In Game 1 Nick Collison came off the bench and gave the Thunder a nice lift with 8 points and 10 rebounds (plus-13 in 21 minutes), but perhaps most importantly, he ensured that Serge Ibaka could be roaming the perimeter on players like James and Battier, whom he started the first two games on. In Game 2, Collison was +8 in 15 minutes on the floor without scoring a point – a true sign of his value.
It’s clear that the Thunder will have to make a decision about how they are going to divide minutes between Ibaka, Collison and Perkins. In order to keep up with Miami’s small starting lineup of Chalmers, Wade, Battier, James and a healthy Bosh, it might be best to start the versatile Collison so that he can roam the perimeter on Battier and Ibaka can bang in the middle with Bosh.
Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that unlike Dallas, the Thunder will not be trying to confuse the Heat with a zone defense — unless they are playing possum.
“With Dallas, they were different like that,” explained assistant coach Bryant. “We’ve talked about it, but it’s just not something we’d do. We have long and athletic guys on our team. That’s our advantage. We’re long, athletic, tall and strong, and we’re trying to use that to our advantage.”
“We have the toughness, length and athleticism to match up with them,” Harden said. “We haven’t thought about playing zone. Maybe the coaches did, but as players right now we don’t think about that. Our plan is to play straight up man-to-man. That’s what it’s going to be for now and if we make a change, we make a change.”

 

Actually was able to watch the replay of Game3 and the Thunder were able to build a lead in the third quarter (around 10 pts) after switching to the zone defense. They just made crucial turnovers and played Derek Fisher too many minutes with old man fish forcing ugly shots on offense and useless on defense. They haven't played collison and ibaka often as well.

They were just new to the zone defense which is why they fouled after rotating on the three point shooter. I think it would be irresponsible for a coach not to have a plan B on defense.

 

After watching the third quarter of game 3 just now and watching the thunder build a ten point lead with the zone defense its impossible for the coaching staff to miss this, the thunder have a pretty good chance of winning the next game playing zone more often as long as the zone busters dont get hot and they limit Derek Fisher's playing time. It is mind-boggling how Derek Fisher gets to play extended minutes after forcing up so many dumb shots.

It is shocking how Derek Fisher played 28 minutes compared to 22 minutes for Serge Ibaka. How many more shots could Ibaka have altered and/or blocked given extended minutes or playing in Fisher's place? Its the finals scott brooks!
After realizing the shift to zone defense lebron had to drive to the rim in transition before the defense could set up. It will be interesting to see if Lebron can still put up monster numbers if the thunder play zone defense from the get go.

 

I'll venture to say after watching the third quarter of game three that OkC has figured this out and they'll win the NBA finals

 

Maybe a combination of talent, strategy and luck will decide the series. Lets compare year's Dallas Mavs to this Year's thunder in terms of defensive capacity. Jason Kidd< Russell Westbrook; Jason Terry< Kevin Durant; Sean Marion< Thabo Sefolosha; Dirk Nowitzki< Serge Ibaka; Tyson Chandler< or = Kendrick Perkins.

The Dallas players playing man to man would have been dismantled, destroyed, or demolished playing man to man against Wade and Lebron. The zone set the stage for Lebron to choke. Its easier to choke when you're shooting contested mid range fade-aways than driving strong to the bucket.

 

The heat don't want the thunder to use zone.

"Each team has to play to their identity,” said Ron Rothstein, a longtime Miami Heat assistant coach. “If you try to do something that you’re not familiar with and isn’t something that got you there, it’s usually not going to work.”

 

the thunder started playing zone in the third quarter. Jeff Van Gundy was commentating on the telecast and he expressly mentioned this in the third quarter when the thunder switched to zone and built the ten point lead.

they're just not well-acquainted with it. in the first half when you saw lebron and wade driving unimpeded to the rim they were playing man to man.

 

The reason it would be difficult for Lebron to dominate and dribble all the way to the rim unimpeded in a true zone defense is something like this: In a zone , one defender will be guarding him very close outside and force him to drive. There will be a second defender in the distance guarding the second zone waiting for the charge and still if he forces the drive against the first two there is a third defender waiting for the block. In this scenario, unless you shoot a fadeaway it would be very difficult for the superstar to dominate. It is like group defense instead of one on one individual man to man defense.

The key is to force him to make the long passes out of the zone and to rotate quickly. With the mobility of the thunder big man , they have a good shot.

There were way too many drives to the rim unimpeded to the rim after Lebron blows by the first man owing to the man to man structure of the defense.

 

They played zone when they built that ten point lead in the third quarter but i agree just when they were doing well on defense they couple this with poor offensive execution with derek fisher, among others, forcing tough shots.

The turnovers on offense caused a lot of fastbreak and transition baskets for the Heat before the zone could be set up.