Pat Riley hugs guard Mario Chalmers, one of the three holdovers from the pre-LeBron era. (Photo by Ronald Martinez, Getty Images)
Mario Chalmers is every bit the player Lakers fans wished Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic would be, and Chalmers was very much a contributor, not a passenger, in Miami’s title drive.
The Lakers have a player who might fill that role in Andrew Goudelock, given the trust of Coach Mike Brown and his patience to live through the growing pains, not evident in the Lakers season just past. It’s important to note the Heat somehow won while incorporating a rookie guard, Norris Cole, in its rotation from the outset.
Pau Gasol, with his outside game, should be just as much a threat from the elbow or the corner as Chris Bosh was against the Oklahoma City Thunder, where the Heat forward also made timely cuts for easy baskets. It’s all a matter of floor spacing, long a Pat Riley staple that Erik Spoelstra learned, and communicated, so well.
Expanding on the latter point, no matter what offense the Lakers choose to run in 2012-13, I can’t see any reason why Kobe Bryant, who can still command double teams at age 32, can’t facilitate somewhat to the degree LeBron James did in Game 5. Kobe has the basketball IQ and passing ability; it’s a matter of the proper spacing, and movement, by the still-talented cast around him.
The Heat won, not because its players stood and watched James or Dwyane Wade wheel and deal, but by being in the right place at the right time to take advantage of their talents. Miami changed for the better when Wade shed his “designated finisher” role, and all the Heat players shared in cutting up defenses.
Miami did not just put the ball in James’ hands in the post, or out front; LeBron was used to set screens that were more of a means than an end, with the result he got the ball in a good spot with the defense adjusted to defend a pick and roll. That is a very creative way to initiate an offense.
The Lakers, who have to contend with the young Thunder nucleus before they’ll ever run up against the Heat in a Finals, should learn much from this series.
They have a strength in a young Andrew Bynum, but Miami showed it could best negate the Thunder’s inside presence of Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka by going small.
It was a lineup that evolved from the desperation of Bosh’s absence in the Indiana and Boston series, and it was the only way to play the Celtics, who went smallish with Kevin Garnett at center with Jermain O’Neal and Chris Wilcox out for the season.
The Miami lineup of James, Wade, Bosh, Chalmers and Shane Battier or Mike Miller reminded me of the days when Riley deployed Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, Byron Scott and Bob McAdoo in the Showtime days. Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, at the latter stage of his career, remained the reliable option when the game turned into a half-court, set-piece affair.
Perhaps that’s Bynum’s future against the Thunder, provided the Lakers have enough wing players to do same-size switches defensively as well as Miami did. Finding someone who plays bigger than 6-4, as Wade always has, might be the most difficult task.
For more, see my Saturday column on LeBron James, in print and on the Web.
Also on the Lakers blog:
Lessons the Lakers can learn from LeBron’s triumph over Oklahoma City is a post from: Lakers blog
