The NBA playoffs are nothing if not a two-month seminar on the importance of having extra options at the offensive end of the floor.
The NBA playoffs, one could say, are a uniquely American creature because they magnify the blessing this country has afforded to many of its citizens over time: the ability to take many different routes to prosperity. The extent to which the American Dream exists is the extent to which individuals and families can chart their own course in life. The more options available, the more freedom one possesses in the attempt to shape his or her destiny.
Options – they emerge in the pursuit of the good life, and they emerge for anyone who attains a reasonable foothold in this country. If you make a comfortable living, such that you can buy a $5 box of cereal instead of having to get the obscenely large bargain bag of $3 off-brand cereal, you can choose pretty much anything when you go to the local supermarket and its endless oceans of products. America is a land of options to those who can afford them.
The NBA playoffs aren’t very different.
The Western Conference playoffs have something to tell us about the importance of added options, but the Eastern Conference is where this basketball lesson is being conveyed in a more powerful and direct way. After just three games of the conference semifinals – two in Cleveland, one in Toronto – it’s painfully clear how much value a good third or fourth scoring option brings to a team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a number-one go-to guy, LeBron James, but their second through fourth options are quite formidable, as the Atlanta Hawks are (re-)discovering. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and fourth option J.R. Smith are all thriving in these playoffs for a number of reasons.
(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
First, LeBron demands so much defensive attention. Second, the Cavs are moving the ball really well. Third, and instructively, no one player feels he has to do everything when a blended dynamic exists on offense. Fourth, J.R. Smith – when a fourth option and not the second option he was with the 2013 New York Knicks – can focus on what he does best: shoot. He doesn’t have to create off the dribble or get to the foul line, feeling the need to attack a defense in different ways. No, when he’s part of a much deeper roster, he can snugly fit into a larger architecture and follow a very simple plan.
The Cavs’ assortment of riches begins with LeBron, but its value finds its truest embodiment in Smith. Being a fourth option on a team fits his game. When it was largely him and Melo with the 2013 Knicks, the two (then-)individualistic players would sometimes compete for shots. With Cleveland, players don’t feel the need to have to shoot to sustain the offense. They know they’ll get their share from ball movement and the fact that the opponent is stretched in so many directions on defense. LeBron’s natural instincts as a facilitator serve the Cavs well, but Kyrie, Love and J.R. can all wait their turn, knowing they’ll get their share of shots whenever the defense overplays a drive or a cut.
More options create more fluidity and freedom for the Cavs’ offense.
In the Miami-Toronto series, the importance of added options is emerging in a less positive way.
DeMar DeRozan might be a headache to watch, but in Game 1, his typical platter of basketball characteristics – high shot volume, low shooting percentage, bursts of brilliance mixed with agonizing dry spells – was hard to avoid for Toronto. Kyle Lowry’s reticence to attack the basket (even more than his wayward jump-shooting stroke) created a vacuum in the Raptors’ attack. Terrence Ross popped in some threes, but the Raptors’ offense generally lacked third or fourth places it could turn to. The offense bogged down.
Miami’s offense wasn’t much better in Game 1, coming off the heels of a Charlotte series in which the Heat – in Games 3 through 6 – couldn’t recapture the balanced offense they displayed in Games 1 and 2 against the Hornets. The emergence of Goran Dragic – taking pressure away from both Luol Deng and Dwyane Wade – was absolutely essential to Miami’s Game 7 win over Charlotte and its Game 1 win in Canada. That said, Dragic and Wade can’t be expected to do all the work themselves. As this series continues, the Heat will need more from their rookies and playoff newbies. Miami didn’t have more options in Game 1 versus the Raptors; the Heat won frankly because Toronto presented fewer options.
Yes, it can feel like a glass half-full or glass half-empty debate, but the point of emphasis matters. Toronto lost Game 1 more than Miami won. Are we going to see another series in which most games are rooted in the loser’s failure more than the winner’s success? It’s what we witnessed in Toronto’s series against Indiana. The Pacers didn’t have nearly enough surrounding Paul George to help PG-13 make the second round.
Yes, in the West, the depth and versatility of the “next man up” Golden State Warriors is emerging in full relief without Stephen Curry. To that extent, the West affirms the importance of added options. Yet, the Oklahoma City Thunder cut against this notion – even with a first-year coach and some obvious matchup problems, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant can still cover a multitude of sins and win games in San Antonio.
The West is more of a mixed bag, but the East is clearly showing how more options translate into stability and role-player comfort at the offensive end of the floor (Cavaliers)… and how a lack thereof can halt an offense in its tracks (Raptors).
Keep an eye on this element of options as the NBA playoffs continue.
