Spo does this shit ALL the time on in-bounds. He's a great all-around coach, voted one of 25 best in association history, but THIS is his speciality. It's like a tackle football coach whose speciality is blocking punts, a very niche thing. When I saw the play this morning I just smh and laughed.
Miami Herald:
"It is extremely difficult to generate an open shot on a side out of bounds, particularly against a team that is well coached, they have great length,” Spoelstra said. “So we were just fortunate. Duncan made a great pass, Niko made a great cut.”
Jovic gave credit to Spoelstra for designing the play.
“Spo had a great play,” Jovic said. “He told me I might have a chance and if I get it, I have to take it. Duncan told me he was going to pass it and Tyler [Herro] told me to shoot it. ..."
And he called the play for a fucking 21-year old who he's been on like the father of a 21-year old. I couldn't believe. I still can't believe it. He won that game. ERIK SPOELSTRA won that game.
“This is the hardest we’ve played in any of the regular-season games this season,” Spoelstra said after Sunday’s victory. “It’s the message we tell our team all the time, that does not guarantee you anything. It doesn’t. ..."
That is right out of The Winner Within. Riley's first season here he did a TV commercial: "Hard work doesn't guarantee you anything, but without it, you don't stand a chance."
This is from NBA.COM, not a home-town rag or some idiot blogger:
"2. The main thing you need to know about that final play is that Erik Spoelstra got Minnesota to take the bait.
[NBA.com or homer, I disageee. Minn. never saw it coming.]
*We’ve seen Spoelstra do this many times over the years*...
[100%]
....but he doesn’t fall into the trap of using only half the court during crucial inbounds plays, even generating free layups for inbounders by overloading the backcourt. Down two, Spoelstra setup all four of his players near midcourt, giving inbounder Duncan Robinson plenty of court to work with, and you can see by the design of the play – dual backscreens, one for Jovic, one for Herro – that the idea was to get someone going downhill on the catch rather than in a static situation.
Minnesota could have kept their defense between the man and the basket, letting the HEAT come to them, but by playing so tightly so far from the rim they left themselves highly vulnerable to a single miscommunication. That’s exactly what happened, Jovic finding a free running lane as Rozier screened for him and nobody executed the switch.
It was as good a look as you’ll ever see a team get,
[It wasn't a "LOOK", it was a peep!, a fucking LAYUP. AND the foul.]
down two with under 10 seconds to play, and it all happened – rather, had a chance to happen – *because of the way Spoelstra moved his pieces around the board,* setting the trap before the ball even left Robinson’s hands. The foul that earned the extra free-throw was just the cherry on top,
["Cherry on top"?! THE FOUL WAS THE WINNING BASKET!]
Jovic (15 points on 11 shots) doing well to finish through contact.
[By the time Ice knew what was happening, they were stone cold dead, Niko was at the basket, the defender was panicked and desperate.]