Heat s key ball tactics: elevator door + back screen

On November 11, in the last 0.4 seconds, the Heat once again played the same tactic that Butler used to beat the Rockets a few years ago. The use of elevator doors and back screens has always been a common foul ball tactic used by Spoelstra and his coaching staff in the final moments of the game.

Elevator STS Lob

Hiro and Butler were separated near the free throw line. Strus made a fake lateral cross screen from near the baseline and quickly passed through the middle of Butler's Hiero to attract the defense. At this moment, Hiero immediately provided a back screen for Butler and cut into the basket to complete the alley-oop.

The core content of this tactic actually lies in the attention of Butler's opponent Herro. Once the first elevator played for the shooter is chased by his teammates, it will easily cause the concentration of other players to decrease, and the second screen provided by Herro to Butler is the real execution content.

Back to today's game between the Heat and the Cavaliers, Jovic served an inbounds ball. Powell used the screens of Mitchell and Wiggins from the baseline area to pass to the top of the arc. Mitchell provided a back screen for Wiggins, who cut in to complete the 0.4-second kill.

This time also tested the defensive understanding and concentration of the two Cavaliers players at the free throw line, but what is more puzzling is that they left Merrill on the court in the last defense. When Mitchell was covering, Hunter was completely unable to pursue Wiggins, and Mobley under the basket was also taken out of the penalty area by Hux, which contributed to this buzzer beater.

In addition to these two times, Spoelstra's Heat team has also been making full use of the confusion between shooters and threats under the basket on inbounds, combining elevator doors and back screens to set up key ball tactics. Let's take a look:

Adebayor used a screen for Dun Luo under the basket to form a defense change, and switched Harrison Barnes to the top of the key to follow Dun Luo. At this time, Dragic decisively lobbed the ball to Adebayor under the basket to complete the tie.

This time it was a lateral elevator from the baseline area. Strus used the screen of Adebayor and Butler to run to the bottom corner to catch the ball. However, the timing of the screen and the movement were not completely consistent this time, which increased the difficulty of the shot.

Strus first used Adebayor to cover, and then the two of them simultaneously provided stagger screens for Hiero to complete the three-pointer.

It was another elevator cooperation. Struth used the screen to the strong side corner for the first time as a feint attack. When he was about to reach the goal, Hiro passed through the two to catch the ball and completed the key three-pointer.

SOB Rip

This time it is the use of back screens for key balls. All four players of the Heat stood outside the three-point line. It seemed to be an obvious RUN inbounds tactic, but Rozier did not run forward but directly provided a back screen for Jovic. At the same time, you can notice that Love behind him also covered Hiero. In this round, Jovic and Hiero are the only ones. At the receiving point, Rozier's first screen had already disrupted the Timberwolves' defense, so Dunro passed directly to the basket to complete the connection.