Not having Bosh hurt Miami more than us missing Bradley. Now if you factor Green and Wilcox into the equation, then you have something that's a bit more even.
I think Green really is the X-factor in such a series. Miami is essentially the reason that Danny traded for him, because regardless of who Miami starts, they are going to run lineups quite a bit that feature
Chalmers
Ray
Wade
LeBron
Bosh
The good news is that a lineup of
Rondo
Bradley
Pierce
Green
KG
matches up with it quite nicely. Green size wise is about as good of a fit as anyone in the NBA to guard LeBron. PP actually presents problems for Wade with his size. And Bradley and KG are essentially the perfect defensive responses to Ray and Bosh.
Now that doesn't mean that we win, but Danny put us in a good position to try.
In that matchup, I'd seriously consider keeping Bradley on Wade and PP on Ray. Bradley can give Wade fits by staying in front of him.
I'd also seriously consider swapping in Terry for either PP or Green. Put Terry on Ray and have either PP or Green cover Bron.
The best part of that matchup would be that there's really no one Miami could cheat off of while playing D. Go to Ray's man as much as possible in that lineup and expose his decreasing defensive skills.
Unless Pierce's anger at Ray is going to make him run much faster, PP isn't keeping up with RA. I'd put Lee on him if you really want Bradley on Wade.
Or even Bradley on Ray and Lee on Wade. I'd love to see Bradley stuff Ray the way he did to Wade last year.
I tend to agree with this notion.
Bradley's ability to "shut down Wade" is somewhat overstated. He's done a nice job, but it's not like he's holding him to 3 ppg or anything.
I personally think that Bradley can shut down Ray, though. Ray struggled the most last year with quick players who stuck to him and didn't give him room to get off his shot. That's Bradley to the T.
He could essentially take Ray out of the game.
Then I like the PP/Wade matchup too. Wade was never that quick, and he's lost some of the quickness he once has. A lot of what he does now is muscle weaker guards up and elevate over smaller guards. He couldn't do either against Pierce. And he'd have his hands full trying to guard the bigger Pierce on the other end.
