Did Miami Rope-a-Dope us?

[SHAQATTACK]

I think James is playing a sort of rope a dope game the past month.  The heat are getting their tails kicked for the first two quarters of every game, then playing to pull the game to with in 8-12 points by the end of the third , and then James unleashes all his energy and destroys the opponent .

It is starting to look contrived to me.   He lets the team keep them with in 20 points by half and he coasts.

Turns it on to pull within 10 and then out plays everybody by himself the last quarter for the win.

Maybe I'm just imagining this .  Glade when he is old and gone from NBA

I

[ManUp]

I'm not going to say they let Green go off on purpose. However, they clearly made stopping Pierce more of a priority then stopping Green. Lebron covered Pierce almost exclusively. Green scored on open looks at drives against slow footed 4s. Battier did a pretty good job on him from what I remember.

[CelticG1]

I'm not going to say they let Green go off on purpose. However, they clearly made stopping Pierce more of a priority then stopping Green. Lebron covered Pierce almost exclusively. Green scored on open looks at drives against slow footed 4s. Battier did a pretty good job on him from what I remember.

From what i remember Battier was horrific against him except for the last play of the game. Battier pretty much exclusively covered him

[CelticG1]

If they are rope a doping or whatever it is a very very dangerous game they are playing.

As far as letting someone "go off" it's somewhat possible. I feel like we've played that strategy with Lebron before. Keep his teammates at bay being a recipe for success.

Doesn't really seem to make as much sense with Green though.

[LarBrd33]

I think James is playing a sort of rope a dope game the past month.  The heat are getting their tails kicked for the first two quarters of every game, then playing to pull the game to with in 8-12 points by the end of the third , and then James unleashes all his energy and destroys the opponent .

It is starting to look contrived to me.   He lets the team keep them with in 20 points by half and he coasts.

Turns it on to pull within 10 and then out plays everybody by himself the last quarter for the win.

Maybe I'm just imagining this .  Glade when he is old and gone from NBA

I

I mean if that's what he's doing... it is sort of amazing.  He's beating everyone.  Not even a 27 point lead is safe once LeBron stops coasting and goes for the jugular.  You can get up 3-2 against him in the playoffs and he'll just destroy you the next two games.  Miami will let one of your players drop 40 points and you'll still lose.  It's incredible stuff.

[LarBrd33]

If they are rope a doping or whatever it is a very very dangerous game they are playing.

As far as letting someone "go off" it's somewhat possible. I feel like we've played that strategy with Lebron before. Keep his teammates at bay being a recipe for success.

Doesn't really seem to make as much sense with Green though.

Why is it a dangerous game... only one team has ever had a streak as long as Miami?  They are the defending champions.  Clearly it's a recipe for success.

[ejk3489]

anyone have some quarter-by-quarter splits for LeBron James during this 25 game win streak?  I read a comment in some thread that claimed that LeBron was doing this intentionally... and that he coasts for the first half of the game, miami tries to keep it tight... and then LeBron knows he can completely take over and dominate anyone in the second half.

I don't have the stats, but from the 10-15 games I've watched of their streak, that's exactly what's happened.

It's crazy how LeBron can just switch gears on a dime.

So he's literally conserving his energy and taking over late?  I'd love to see some stat splits by quarter.  Surprised I can't find any.

Lebron's stats by quarter during win streak (Feb 3 to March 22)

1 - 62.9 FG%, 50.0 3FG%, 77.3 FT%, 7.5pts/2.3reb/2.4ast
2 - 67.1 FG%, 36.4 3FG%, 84.7 FT%, 6.1pts/1.2reb/0.9ast
3 - 48.1 FG%, 28.9 3FG%, 67.4 FT%, 6.9pts/2.4reb/2.5ast
4 - 53.6 FG%, 47.4 3FG%, 75.9 FT%, 6.3pts/2.2reb/1.9ast


http://stats.nba.com/playerStats.html?PlayerID=2544&groupFeedtype=splitsGame&GameSegment=&Period=0&OpponentTeamID=0&VsConference=&VsDivision=&Outcome=&Location=&DateFrom=02/03/2013&DateTo=03/23/2013&SeasonSegment=&Month=0&LastNGames=0&PlusMinus=N&Rank=N&splits=Y&PerMode=PerGame

[aporel#18]

It's more like the Celtics can't be consistent on offense. They're infamous for their offensive droughts.

Again, in game 2 of the ECF, in game 7 of the 2010 Finals and in 2nd quarter of the last meeting with the Heat, the opponent's D picked up, our offense went south, and the officiating changed. It's never a single factor.

When we had Leon, Posey, House, those were players who could change the pace of the game, Leon and Posey on both ends. We had those type of players this year in Barbosa and Sully, but guess what, they're out.

If Green, Terry and Crawford can bring some offense to keep those droughts from happening.

[CelticConcourse]

We didn't even feed Green that much late in the game (he was on the bench!) so I'd blame Doc, not the Heat

We fed him alright, he just started missing because the Heat figured out they actually need to play team defense on the penetration.

He was on the bench. How did we feed him when he was on the bench?

[Celtics4ever]

They wish........

[LarBrd33]

anyone have some quarter-by-quarter splits for LeBron James during this 25 game win streak?  I read a comment in some thread that claimed that LeBron was doing this intentionally... and that he coasts for the first half of the game, miami tries to keep it tight... and then LeBron knows he can completely take over and dominate anyone in the second half.

I don't have the stats, but from the 10-15 games I've watched of their streak, that's exactly what's happened.

It's crazy how LeBron can just switch gears on a dime.

So he's literally conserving his energy and taking over late?  I'd love to see some stat splits by quarter.  Surprised I can't find any.

Lebron's stats by quarter during win streak (Feb 3 to March 22)

1 - 62.9 FG%, 50.0 3FG%, 77.3 FT%, 7.5pts/2.3reb/2.4ast
2 - 67.1 FG%, 36.4 3FG%, 84.7 FT%, 6.1pts/1.2reb/0.9ast
3 - 48.1 FG%, 28.9 3FG%, 67.4 FT%, 6.9pts/2.4reb/2.5ast
4 - 53.6 FG%, 47.4 3FG%, 75.9 FT%, 6.3pts/2.2reb/1.9ast


http://stats.nba.com/playerStats.html?PlayerID=2544&groupFeedtype=splitsGame&GameSegment=&Period=0&OpponentTeamID=0&VsConference=&VsDivision=&Outcome=&Location=&DateFrom=02/03/2013&DateTo=03/23/2013&SeasonSegment=&Month=0&LastNGames=0&PlusMinus=N&Rank=N&splits=Y&PerMode=PerGame

TP... Doesn't seem to be obscene lopsidded or anything.

Just dawned on me, though... that a lot of those games have been blowouts.  2 games he didn't even play in the 4th quarter (didn't need to) and he's only averaging 7.6 minutes in the 4th quarter during this stretch.  Probably a hard thing to figure out.  We'd have to look at games that were actually relatively close going into the 4th quarter, I guess. 

[ssspence]

Not likely. They just dont have to play hard until the 4th against a lot of teams.

Its not like they're worried about coming back against the likes of Crawford and Green.  They'd pay to have that kind of opposition in any game.

[ejk3489]

anyone have some quarter-by-quarter splits for LeBron James during this 25 game win streak?  I read a comment in some thread that claimed that LeBron was doing this intentionally... and that he coasts for the first half of the game, miami tries to keep it tight... and then LeBron knows he can completely take over and dominate anyone in the second half.

I don't have the stats, but from the 10-15 games I've watched of their streak, that's exactly what's happened.

It's crazy how LeBron can just switch gears on a dime.

So he's literally conserving his energy and taking over late?  I'd love to see some stat splits by quarter.  Surprised I can't find any.

Lebron's stats by quarter during win streak (Feb 3 to March 22)

1 - 62.9 FG%, 50.0 3FG%, 77.3 FT%, 7.5pts/2.3reb/2.4ast
2 - 67.1 FG%, 36.4 3FG%, 84.7 FT%, 6.1pts/1.2reb/0.9ast
3 - 48.1 FG%, 28.9 3FG%, 67.4 FT%, 6.9pts/2.4reb/2.5ast
4 - 53.6 FG%, 47.4 3FG%, 75.9 FT%, 6.3pts/2.2reb/1.9ast


http://stats.nba.com/playerStats.html?PlayerID=2544&groupFeedtype=splitsGame&GameSegment=&Period=0&OpponentTeamID=0&VsConference=&VsDivision=&Outcome=&Location=&DateFrom=02/03/2013&DateTo=03/23/2013&SeasonSegment=&Month=0&LastNGames=0&PlusMinus=N&Rank=N&splits=Y&PerMode=PerGame

TP... Doesn't seem to be obscene lopsidded or anything.

Just dawned on me, though... that a lot of those games have been blowouts.  2 games he didn't even play in the 4th quarter (didn't need to) and he's only averaging 7.6 minutes in the 4th quarter during this stretch.  Probably a hard thing to figure out.  We'd have to look at games that were actually relatively close going into the 4th quarter, I guess.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. Just took a quick look at a few games that were relatively close (going by the final score), and his stats are a bit more impressive: 

(2nd half stats)

vs. CLE 3/20:  24min, 35.3 FG%, 19pts/10reb/7ast (Final 98-96)
vs. BOS 3/18:  21min, 50.0 FG%, 19pts/4reb/6ast   (Final 105-103)
vs. NYK  3/3:   24min, 61.5 FG%, 19pts/8reb/5ast   (Final 99-93)
vs. SAC 2/26:  20min, 63.6 FG%, 17pts/2reb/6ast   (Final 141-129 2OT)
vs. OKC 2/14: 20min, 53.8 FG%, 16pts/4reb/3ast   (Final 110-100)
vs. HOU  2/6:  17min, 66.7 FG%, 15pts/1reb/2ast   (Final 114-108)
vs. CHA  2/4:   20min, 87.5 FG%, 16pts/5reb/4ast   (Final 99-94)