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When I first saw the series of passes that led to this Goran Dragic dagger in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, two thoughts flashed through my brain:
No. 1: Why are the Boston Celtics trapping Jimmy Butler in this pick-and-roll with Bam Adebayo? Boston closed with its top-five lineup of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. You play in a lineup to switch every two-man action that doesn’t involve Walker. Why not get Tatum and Hayward, sturdy and similarly sized defenders, switch here? Why let one of the best big men in the world pass with ease in 4v3? Ducking under Butler’s screens, something Boston is barely doing, though Miami sets up some of those actions in ways that make sinking more difficult than this total bombardment.
The Celtics played that lineup just five minutes in Game 4 after going over-13 in the seven minutes they deployed it in Game 3. They haven’t had consistent responses for Adebayo running like crazy on the pick-and-roll. They’ve adjusted their coverage since Game 2, helping more from specific venues, including some unconventional ones, and even daring to pounce on Duncan Robinson on the weak side when there’s no better option. Nothing has worked for a long time.
I wonder if changing more might be his default answer in Game 5. Extending this top-five group would allow for that. Daniel Theis, the outsider in this group, managed well to trade both Butler and Dragic at the end of Game 4; Boston could choose to increase its changes even with Theis on the floor in more traditional lineups.
Alternatively, the Celtics have hidden Theis away from Adebayo, aside in a spot-up type: Jae Crowder, maybe Andre Iguodala. But sliding Theis there removes a hiding place for Walker. Boston has risked putting Walker on Tyler Herro in an effort to keep him out of Miami’s pick-and-roll game, and the Heat finally exploited that showdown with the right level of cruelty in Game 4. (Brad Stevens pivoted toward Walker in Iguodala midway through the fourth quarter, too late).
No. 2: I’ve seen the same Iguodala pass before in deciding time: that inside-out touch, spinning in the air, full-body touch, pass, bar, push from under the rim to the arc. That is such a difficult pass. The speed with which Iguodala twists her body and releases the ball in one motion indicates that she knew what she was going to do, what options were available, and which was the best, even before she touched the ball.
Iguodala is one of those spatial sages who sees everything with a rhythm before everyone else. When picking up the ball in transition, he sometimes jumps mid-dribble, eyes wide and head tilted in a specific direction, pleading with a teammate to make a cut that said teammate has not even recorded as a possibility.
Cutting may not unlock a shot for the cutter. That cutter might not even touch the ball. That cut could distort the next layer of defense in a way that opens up a shot for another teammate, a progression of events only Iguodala sees.
Check out this clip from last season, in which Iguodala in mid-flight signals Stephen Curry to drift to the top of the 3-point arc because he knows he will draw in defense and free Alfonzo McKinnie for a layup. Iguodala points to Curry after McKinnie’s basket, acknowledging Curry’s selfless act:
Iguodala in those moments vibrates with hyperactive impatience. He sees something that you don’t see, and he For real needs you to see now.
He was probably prepared to redirect the ball to Dragic the second Boston caught Butler.
It turns out that I had seen a very similar Iguodala pass in an even bigger postseason moment: the final minute of Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto last June.
It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close. Iguodala jumps to receive Curry’s pass in the air, a method of getting more oomph in what is basically a long-distance inside-out bunt pass to Draymond Green. You only jump like this if you know where you are going with the ball before it hits.
“That’s what Andre does,” Klay Thompson told me after the game.
Iguodala was the headliner in Miami’s deadline deal with the Memphis Grizzlies, but Crowder has emerged as the most important player for the Heat so far. It has felt at times as if Iguodala never quite settled in with Miami after being away for most of the season, never making his mark. He played 14 minutes combined in Games 2 and 3 of the conference finals.
The impact of Iguodala can be easy to miss. It doesn’t score much. Sometimes it seems that she considers the punctuation indecent, that she almost disregards the points and their obviousness. It’s as if you want your contributions to be harder to notice, so you won’t get too much attention.
But its impact is always there: a quiet background noise. He is always doing something useful. You know their defense. (Iguodala is close to another Finals clash with LeBron James, a possible fifth head-to-head meeting between their respective teams in six seasons.) Spot transition opportunities and run down the court. When he doesn’t have the ball, he stands in the right places and slides into the most profitable ones when the defense isn’t looking. Even when he lets go wide-open triples, Iguodala turns those instances of frustrating non-aggression into the next positive steps: clever passes, a crafty give-and-take, the transfer that turns into a screen, a ticking float if the watch launch demands it.
The lineup with which Miami closed Game 4 – Dragic, Herro, Butler, Iguodala and Adebayo – played zero minutes together in the regular season. It includes three minimal threats from the 3-point range, an alignment construct Spoelstra has mostly avoided.
He’s now 23-plus in 42 postseason minutes, according to NBA.com. Pristine spacing isn’t everything, although it certainly helps against elite defenses. That lineup includes five high-IQ playmakers who move well off the ball. The collective feel and intelligence can make up for the general lack of shots. That is Iguodala to perfection.
Miami prior to Game 4 had started to look like a six-man team, its five starters, plus Herro. Spoelstra in Game 4 benched three regular backups – Kendrick Nunn, Kelly Olynyk, Derrick Jones Jr. – and even dug up Solomon Hill. Iguodala gave them a seventh man, enough for another win, one game closer to an unlikely return to the Finals. If Miami advances, it will need this Iguodala, the one the Heat traded for, even more.
NBA Schedule: Game 5, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN and the ESPN app
