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- Against the Charlotte Bobcats, The Miami HEAT had an assist percentage of 57.9. Against Brooklyn, that number has dropped to 48.1%.
- Brooklyn has been dominating the second chance points battle, scoring 32 second chance points to Miami's 17 in the series.
- Many are calling for Rashard Lewis to be removed from the rotation (myself included). Interestingly, he has a net rating of +21.3 despite shooting 31% from the field and a ghastly 16% from three this postseason.
- I'd argue that the 2nd unit lineups that feature four substitutes and LeBron succeed in spite of Lewis. In the game 3 loss, Rashard had a net rating of -31. He is no longer the floor spacer he was reputed as and only makes three pointers from the right corner with any sort of accuracy. He offers little else on both ends beyond his length.
- Fan favorite James Jones continues to make a case for minutes. He is sporting an offensive rating of 134.1 and is shooting 50% from three point range this postseason.
- The Heat finally unveiled a lineup without a traditional point guard during game 3. The 5-man unit of Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, James Jones, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh had an offensive rating of 154.6. The sample is microscopic, but during the days of Mike Miller, Miami could afford to use such lineups and may lean towards them in the future to get more optimal floor spacing.
- For the series, Brooklyn is shooting 45% from beyond the arc and making 11 threes per game. Some of that is inflated from Game 3, but nonetheless, Miami is getting torched from beyond the arc against a team loaded with perimeter threats.
- Mirza Teletovic is rising back to his averages and Miami is paying the price for his timing. Against Toronto, Teletovic shot an awful 25% from three on 4.6 attempts. Against Miami he is shooting a mind-boggling 57.9% from three on 6.3 attempts a game. This would put him at 37.3% from downtown on the postseason. His regular season three point percentage was 39%, so if he continues to trend upward, expect one more big game from the Bosnian big man.
- Chris Bosh has upped his rim defense this postseason, blocking 1.4 shots per game and allowing just 46.2% at the rim. Opponents are challenging Bosh over 7 times per game with little success.
- "Birdzilla" has been even better, allowing just 37.8% at the rim this postseason while being challenged over 5 times a game.
- Miami has simply been excellent at clogging the lane as every player other than the rarely used James Jones has been allowing under 50% shooting at the rim.
- The postseason leader in this stat (minimum 4 FGA at rim per game) is the immortal warlock we mortals refer to as Tim Duncan, who has been a stone wall, allowing 33.7% at the rim with over 10 attempts a game.
- Chris Bosh's rebounding has significantly improved as the time has gone along this postseason as he is up to securing 67.2% of rebounds that are available to him.
- Bosh is securing 32.6% of contested rebounds, which doesn't sound nearly as good, but for comparison, Zach Randolph pulled down 34.6% of contested rebounds this postseason and the similarly svelte MVP Kevin Durant is only getting 27.5% of contested rebounds. A contested rebound is defined as a rebound "where an opponent is within 3.5 feet."
- LeBron continues to be a terror whenever he drives in, shooting 76.5% this postseason on an average of 4.9 drives per game.
- A bit disheartening is that Dwyane Wade is only at 48.4% on seven drives per game this postseason compared to 54.6% on a similar 6.8 drives in the regular season.
- Bosh continues to be a catch and shoot savant, shooting 50% from on catch and shoot threes and 56% overall.
- Ray Allen, Norris Cole, and James Jones are also at or above 50% on catch and shoot threes.
- Shane Battier has struggled in this regard, shooting a paltry 28.6% on catch and shoot threes and oddly, so has LeBron, who is at a pathetic 23.6% (on 2.7 attempts a game) and 29.2% overall.
- In a strange twist, LeBron is making pull up threes at a 45% clip this postseason at over 1.6 attempts a game.
- LeBron has shown to be a better long range shooter when his feet are set so this is a bit perplexing. Hopefully he gets his mechanics in order and these numbers should rise back to their averages.
- Per Tim Reynolds of the AP: Heat opponents are 6/6 on threes with :00 or :01 left during ‘14 playoffs. With :02.4 or less left, they're 7/8.
- It's difficult to quantify the "of course" shot (or my seething rage), but it has to stop eventually right?
All stats obtained from NBA.com/stats and SportVU
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