I missed this. It's from Ira's mailbag, Feb. 16:
So the zone is a regular-82 thing, huh? I didn't know that. Deary me, that seems short-sighted of Spo. Off Trae Young's half-a-hundred I would give the new, "upgraded" Iggy-driven zone an incomplete.
Q: Are the Heat ever going to stop playing zone. They're getting killed by the long ball. -- Dave, West Palm Beach.
A: An interesting moment in that regard came earlier this season, before the Heat's first game in Philadelphia, when 76ers coach Brett Brown said that for as much as you might see a zone during the regular season, it practically disappears in the playoffs, that he could not recall but a scant few possessions against zone while an assistant in San Antonio during the Spurs' run through the playoffs. In other words, unless Erik Spoelstra decides to reinvent the approach to playoff basketball, there likely is an expiration date coming. But it also could come with an expiration of fourth-quarter minutes for Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro, who have been, to a degree, hidden defensively by the zone. I think what we will see in the interim is if the zone can be upgraded with Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder on the wing. At this point, it's almost as if the Heat will take the approach that makes their defense less bad.
