Dragic struggles vs. Sixers
Philadelphia uses a big man to slow Miami’s All-Star point guard.
Goran Dragic
PHILADELPHIA — has had his struggles against the 76ers this season and it continued in Game 1 of the playoffs.
The Heat’s All-Star point guard is averaging 14.2 points, more than three below his average, on 35.7 percent shooting in five games this season against Philadelphia, which has found success by sticking 6-foot-9 Robert Covington on the 6-3 Dragic.
As a point guard, Dragic is not used to seeing such length.
Going into Monday night’s Game 2, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra acknowledged the difficulty Dragic has against Covington, a fifth-year pro out of Tennessee State who went undrafted in 2013. Covington, who led the NBA with 3.9 deflections per game, is a candidate for the All-Defense team.
“We’re going to try to get him a little more space and get him some opportunities to attack,” Spoelstra said about Dragic. “But they’re pretty committed to containing the paint so we’ll have to make some plays to open guys up
and keep their defense honest. We certainly want Goran being aggressive and in spots where he’s comfortable.”
Dragic scored 15 points on 4-of14 shooting in the Heat’s 130-103 Game 1 setback. He had as many turnovers (four) as assists.
Dragic, 31, made the All-Star
team for the first time in his 10-year career this season. He averaged 17.3 points and 4.8 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field. This season, he led the Heat in scoring 27 times ( Josh Richardson was next leading 13 times ), and in assists 35 times. James Johnson led in assists 24 times.
The solution to combating that size, says Dragic, is crisp, detailed ball movement.
“We need to run action with purpose not just to have one pick-and-roll and then the ball stops,” Dragic said.
“We need to move the ball and try to get great triggers. We watched the video. When we didn’t get a trigger we were in trouble, we didn’t move the ball well. With their size, they kind of forced us to take bad shots.”
The Heat’s 44.9 shooting percent in Game 1 wasn’t awful, but Miami shot just 41.7 and had just nine of its 25 assists in the second half, when it was outscored 74-43.
Dragic was asked what adjustments he has to make against taller defenders.
“Just be more detailed, try to be more focused when the screen is coming,” he said. “Try to lure him in and kind of make separation and then attack from there.”
That theme of better attention to detail and focus applied to the Heat as a group, entering Game 2.
“The playoffs require being who you are,” Spoelstra said. “You better have habits. But they also require doing things better, doing things to coun- teract whatever you’re facing. That’s not exclusive to our series or us or Philly. Everybody has to do that. That’s this time of the year.”
Most of Miami’s issues in the first game of the series came on the defensive end. The Sixers made 18 threes, the most 3-pointers ever allowed by the Heat in the postseason, and put up 130 points, the most points ever allowed by the Heat in the postseason.
The Heat finished the regular season with the seventh-best defensive rating in the league, allowing 104.0 points per 100 posses- sions. Miami gave up 127.8 points per 100 possessions in Game 1.
“That’s our job,” Spoels- tra said when asked about the challenge of implementing the right adjustments. “And that doesn’t mean that we’re always making the right decisions, either. The playoffs are going with what you think is best, what you think you’ve done best over a long period of time. And then what you think you may have to adjust, depending on what’s happening at the current moment. For us, we all really would like to see us play a lot more to our identity. See what happens then.”