With Kyle Lowry fouled out and DeMar DeRozan having one of his worst games ever, the Raptors offense was left to come up with points against a Heat defense playing five wings. The Raptors strategy was simplistic: try to exploit Joe Johnson. The plan was foiled by Johnson who came up with huge defensive stops in one-on-one situations.
Nobody but Joseph touches the ball, DeRozan’s screen frees up Joseph from Dragic from distance for half a second and he buries the long-two. Other three guys are stagnant. Heat make a mistake by not switching.
One of the worst possessions in the game. DeRozan wastes the clock and for some reason, it’s Cory Joseph screening him which is an easy decision for the Heat because they switch Winslow on him, who is an equally good defender (if not better) than Deng. It’s like the Raptors high screen was designed to pit DeRozan against a better defender. The resulting shot speaks for itself.
Three spectators and another late shot-clock situation as Joseph uses another high screen to get rid of Winslow, who sticks with him and forces the tough shot. The Heat are using a 5-out lineup and the screen should come from the guy who is 1) your best screener, and 2) being guarded by the worst defender. In this situation, that is Patterson, not Carroll who should be setting the screen.
There’s nothing much to say here, except that the Raptors didn’t even bother setting a screen on the potentially game-winning possession. They literally didn’t do anything other than have Joseph dribble the ball up the court and take a contested shot. So much wrong here.
Good news is that the screen is set by Patterson so we get the switch we want. What I don’t get on this one is that Joseph, despite getting the switch, passes it to Patterson only to receive it back. The ensuing drive is contested well by the Heat, but look at the bottom of your screen and Carroll and DeRozan – they’re standing way too close to each other. Carroll should be coming back to the top of the key to receive a potential pass from Joseph. DeRozan standing at the three-point line isn’t even a factor since nobody respects his jumper, let alone his three.
5-second violation. Patterson needs to come towards the sideline and present himself, and Ross has to be a little less casual.
Once again, they use Patterson correctly to draw Johnson (arguably their weakest defender) on DeRozan, who doesn’t have the quicks to blow by him and gets blocked.
This is a good play given the shot-clock, they get the switch on Patterson and he just misses a relatively easy shot over the shorter Wade.
Yet again, the Raptors use Patterson to exploit Joe Johnson who comes up huge again against DeRozan by stripping him. The Raptors are making a concerted effort to put Johnson in pressure situations, and the guy is simply responding, with the Raptors not showing any Plan B.
Another Patterson screen, another attack on Joe Johnson, this time Cory Joseph makes a tough hook over the taller Johnson. The Heat are very willing switchers and have full confidence in Johnson’s ability to defend anyone off the bounce. The Raptors lack any off-the-ball movement, cutting, and any sort of creativity in their offense, so Johnson is basically defending a guy in front of him, rather than chasing guys around screens, which he is more likely to struggle at.
What you think of this play depends on your appetite for DeMarre Carroll as a scorer. He got the switch on Dragic, but chooses to look for contact and throw up a tough shot. He had had a good third quarter so I can’t begrudge him the shot. What I do bemoan is the pure lack of activity from 3 of the 5 Raptors on the court, who continue to contribute zero to the possession.
DeRozan finally scores one without the help of a screen on Deng. Nice turn by DeRozan to go away from Winslow who would’ve swiped at it if he’d have kept going straight.
LOL.
Here’s all the plays combined:
The core flaw in the Raptors offense is that a defender has to worry about one thing and one thing only. Since the Raptors essentially run a two-man game with three guys stagnant every time, help on any drives is always easy to provide, and the other three defenders don’t have to worry about chasing their own man while the two-man action is happening. We’re letting them off the hook buy not moving without the ball, setting off-the-ball screens, and generally speaking, not putting enough pressure on the defense except from the point of attack.
