Prized Possession: The Play That Wasn't

We see players experiment on the court all the time.

Every player comes into the league with a skillset, a comfortable range of options that they can step on the floor and utilize, consistently, from the get-go, whether it’s a refined pick-and-roll game or simply an aptitude for boxing out. But in order to add to that skillset, to grow as a player, there is a very specific process of trial and error.

Say a player wants to add a move like Chris Bosh’s turnaround post jumper. First, they spend hours and hours and hours of practice time working on that move, developing the muscle memory and shaking out all the hitches that prevent a smooth execution. Then, after drilling the move thousands of times, the player uses the move once, maybe a couple of times in a game. If it works, it works. But more often than not, something is a little off – whether it’s the footwork or the release of the ball – and it’s back to the lab again, to refine and tinker until it’s time to test again.

Until those moves become fully assimilated into the practical skillset, we only see a small percentage of this process. Sometimes what we’ll see looks uncharacteristically awkward, like watching a ballet dancer trying to learn hip-hop steps on the fly. Sometimes what you see will have you saying, “What on earth was that?”

Coaches don’t quite have the same luxury. When they want to try out a new offensive set, all those hours a player can spend working on a move become hours spent scribbling in a notebook or running through things with assistant coaches, double and triple checking that what they’re drawing makes both logical and logistical sense. Because when a coach debuts what they’re working on, it’s to a team of professionals that expect a certain level of refinement to what they’re expecting to perform. And only when the set passes that level of trials will a coach, possibly, unveil it in a game.

Because when we see a player fail at a new move, however strange it looks, we’re more like to give him credit for working on his game. But coaches don’t get that benefit of the doubt. There’s an expectation for finished products, not jumbled, broken plays that have you saying, “What on earth was that?”

What Erik Spoelstra debuted in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s blowout victory over the Indiana Pacers drew exactly that reaction, but in the best manner possible.

Even though it didn’t work.

After the HEAT push past Indiana’s press, the play begins in earnest when LeBron James saunters to the strong side of the floor and Norris Cole passes off to Bosh at the top of the arc. At the setup, the principles here are similar to those of Miami’s alley-oop set that helped them beat the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two shooters, Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier, spread the floor, clearing the paint so that Cole has space to run to off James’ high back screen.

But Roy Hibbert, who has had the play developing right in front of him, sees the action and before Cole even gets past James, Hibbert has retreated into the paint to cut off the cutter. Here’s where things get interesting.

In one fluid movement, Cole sells the cut with his arm raised, sees Hibbert shading over and quickly changes direction, wheeling around to set a screen on his own defender, George Hill, who was just trying to recover from the initial James screen. Then James initiates his end of the short-lived whirlpool, rolling off his screen and cutting past Cole’s pick.

Count the number of confused defenders. There’s Hill, who just got screened by the very man he was just chasing after. There’s Paul George, who turns to deny the passing lane to James only to run smack into both Hill and Cole. And then there’s Hibbert, who denied the initial non-cut by Cole, returning to cover Haslem and not noticing James running right at the rim.

It works perfectly, it just doesn’t work, as Bosh swings the ball around to Battier on the left side, who is coming off a pick from Haslem. This is when Spoelstra begins to sit down on the bench.

What’s somewhat remarkable is even after missing the open look under the rim, the play develops naturally. Battier curls and hands off to Bosh, then Bosh hands off to James, who doesn’t stop on the play after not getting the pass at the rim. Tyler Hansbrough hedges onto the handoff, stopping James from driving, but in taking away that option, Hansbrough leaves another open.

With Haslem and Bosh left defended by a single defender thanks to Hansbrough’s help, Bosh simply seals Hibbert on the block, and Haslem gets a wide open look.

That’s at least six options: Cole on the first cut, James on the second cut, Battier off the weakside screen, James after the handoff, Haslem on the baseline and Bosh in the paint should the final defender jump out to Haslem. All with bodies moving off the ball and defenders reacting.

No points are scored, but this is undoubtedly a successful experiment by Spoelstra, who is seemingly just trying out a new look with his team up 22 at the beginning of the fourth quarter – there’s little other time to try new things anyways with barely a full practice since Christmas Day. The play was too effective not to be seen again at a more critical juncture, but it might not be for weeks, even months. But the next time you see it, with so much of the set seemingly built around a skilled cutter being able to sell the initial cut, it might be Wade operating the pick-and-pick with James.