How Brook Lopez Turned Off The Heat
Of all the first-round matchups in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, perhaps none held more intrigue than the 3-seeded Milwaukee Bucks going up against the 6-seeded Miami Heat. After last year’s trouncing of the Bucks, holders of the NBA’s best record, by Miami in the Orlando bubble, there was a lot at stake in this rematch. Both Milwaukee and Miami were new teams this year, but would the ghosts of last year’s gentlemen’s sweep get to the Bucks? Would Mike Budenholzer make the necessary adjustments, or would he stick to his ways, costing Milwaukee the series and potentially Bud his job? And most importantly, who would step up? Would Giannis Antetokounmpo, who struggled mightily before spraining his ankle in the last series, break out of Miami’s defensive scheme and dominate? How about if Khris Middleton or the newest Buck, Jrue Holiday, could step up and control the series? Could Jimmy Butler replicate his performance from last year, in which he averaged 23.4 points per game, including a 40-point outburst? Or maybe it would be Bam Adebayo, the rising star of the bubble, with his incredible defensive versatility and rapidly evolving offensive game? No matter what, everyone expected the series to go the distance, with 7 very entertaining games. But what if I told you it would be the fastest series of the first round? And the best player in the series wasn’t any of the aforementioned stars, but Bucks center Brook Lopez? And that he did it by doing exactly what Budenholzer has done the last 3 seasons?
Well, as it turned out, Milwaukee dominated the series, winning Game 1 in overtime off of a Middleton buzzer beater and never looking back, controlling the series from that point on in a 4-game sweep. Lopez’s fingerprints were all over the dominance on both ends, harkening back to his Nets days with his low post offensive game, but most importantly, destroying the Heat’s offense with the very thing the Heat abused last time around: the deep drop. Miami’s stars were stifled, and the supporting cast was unable to ever get it going. Here’s a breakdown of what Lopez did, how Milwaukee helped maximize the drop, and the effect it had on Miami’s offense.
The Scheme
Major credit goes to Budenholzer for adjusting the defense around Lopez to eliminate some of the faults that have cost them in playoff series past, but enabling his man in the middle to do what he does best. The addition of versatile perimeter defenders like Holiday and PJ Tucker let the Bucks try a number of different looks defensively, including traps and switches, but in keeping Lopez down low, Milwaukee was able to run Miami out of the gym for much of the series. Possessions like this typify the changes Milwaukee made to their defense, while remaining true to their core.
Donte DiVincenzo and PJ Tucker switch the initial action, a handoff from Butler to Duncan Robinson, something that Milwaukee wouldn’t have done in years past. But then, Adebayo sets a screen for Robinson to run off for a 3, but Lopez is in a deep drop, and Tucker has to fight over, resulting in an open 3 from Robinson, which misses. The obvious way to beat this coverage is to capitalize on the open 3s generated, but Milwaukee bet on the rest of their scheme outweighing that advantage, utilizing the rest of the benefits generated with Lopez in the drop (which we will get to), while the perimeter players work hard to make those 3s as hard as possible, and it worked. After hitting 7 3s in Game 1, Robinson would hit 4 for the rest of the series. Milwaukee’s perimeter defenders hounded him, not letting him get open, and as Robinson is Miami’s only truly dangerous 3-point threat, the Heat could never fully capitalize on any open perimeter shots that they could get. Those are the adjustments Budenholzer made that paid off on the perimeter, diversifying the defense and plugging holes that were exposed in the past, while allowing the man in the middle to do what he does best. And as you’ll see, Lopez operating in the deep drop more than paid off.
This transition possession is also very emblematic of Milwaukee’s scheme centering around Lopez in the drop. Lopez pulls over to contain Goran Dragic in transition, while behind him, PJ Tucker and Pat Connaughton provide help for each other while trying to juggle between Jimmy Butler, Dewayne Dedmon and Bam Adebayo down low. When Adebayo finds himself open at the free throw line, Lopez is able to easily rotate right over and protect the rim, eliminating the transition opportunity (Bonus points to Tucker for tagging Adebayo on the drive before the contest, slowing Bam down and letting Lopez get into proper position). Now that we’ve established the basics of how Milwaukee’s defensive scheme with Lopez on the floor works, let’s get into the ways in which he was able to dominate.
Smothering the Pick & Roll
When people talk about Brook Lopez’s career revival in Milwaukee, the most commonly brought up change in his game is the 3-point shot which, while certainly vital to his game and an incredible development, probably isn’t the most impactful improvement he’s made. Lopez went from a notorious defensive liability in New Jersey/Brooklyn and Los Angeles to one of the best defenders in the NBA as a member of the Bucks, anchoring one of the all-time great regular season defenses in 2019-20 and earning a Second Team All-Defense nod along the way. And while Milwaukee’s defense took a step back in the regular season as they experimented with new schemes, Lopez remained good in the drop, and it was on another level in this series. With Lopez on the floor, Milwaukee posted an 87.0 defensive rating, an outrageously good number. Much of this success came in the pick & roll, where a lot of Miami’s perimeter players like to get into the paint, pull up or kick out to shooters. Lopez guarded the pick & roll masterfully all series, putting Miami’s guards in a really tough place.
In these two plays, Dragic runs a pick & roll with the intent of getting downhill and attacking the basket. The perimeter defenders (Donte DiVincenzo and Jrue Holiday, respectively) do well enough to prevent the initial pull-up, but die on the screen, putting Dragic in a 1-on-1 with Lopez in the drop. Notice where Lopez is positioned: close enough to stop Dragic from accelerating to the rim, and planting his body squarely in the driving lane. Both times, Dragic gets a really good screen, has room to operate on the drive, and winds up having to settle for an awkward, contested midrange jumper because Lopez is so good at positioning his body in the exact right place when defending the pick & roll. This is textbook bad offense, and it all has to do with Lopez’s ability to contain the drive and contest in the drop.
Stupidly Locked Up
But Goran Dragic isn’t the only player on the Heat who loves to operate in the pick & roll. The Heat’s best player, Jimmy Butler, generates a lot of offense for himself and his team in the pick & roll, and it’s a major part of his attack. The Bucks, led by Brook Lopez, completely shut that, and him, down. In the 4 game sweep, Butler averaged 14.5 points per game, shooting a horrid 29.7% from the field. Much of that has to do with how the Bucks guarded him in the pick & roll, and how Lopez in particular shut down the paint.
When Jimmy comes off of the pick, he’s slow and methodical, telegraphing that he’s driving to pass. Both Giannis and Lopez pick up on it instantly, and play the drive in a way as to stop the pass to Bam, with Giannis on his hip, arms out, and Lopez containing the drive on the left, discouraging a difficult pass and finish, and goading Butler into a shot he never intended on taking. Butler should have finished this play, but he has a tendency to decide before a drive whether he wants to pass or score, something the Bucks took advantage of all series, putting him in uncomfortable positions.
On this play, Giannis has much worse position off of the screen, so Lopez has to do much of the work himself. Notice how again, Butler is slow off of the pick, letting the defense know that he’s going to pass to Bam. When containing Butler’s drive, Lopez is almost guarding Bam just as much as he is Jimmy, keeping himself in position to contest the pass he knows is coming. With no Giannis in the way, Jimmy dishes to Bam, and Lopez hardly has to move to contest, forcing a miss. Brook was there when Jimmy looked to score, too. Considering 60% of Butler’s field goals came within 10 feet during the regular season, this went about as well as you’d expect:
Lopez’s presence in the paint deterred Butler from doing the things he normally does, too. The paint presence of Lopez discouraged Butler from driving, lowering the percentage of his field goals from less than 10 feet from 60% to 40.8%. That’s a huge drop, and Lopez can be attributed to a good chunk of it. To replace some of those shots in his diet, Butler started taking more 3s, an unequivocal win for the defense.
The Heat run a Horns set here, with Adebayo and Trevor Ariza each setting a screen for Butler, with Adebayo intending to roll to the rim and Ariza planning on popping to the 3-point line. Lopez understandably plants himself on the side of Adebayo, to contain both Bam’s roll and Butler’s drive. Jimmy sees Brook waiting for him in the paint, and he is very hesitant to make a move with the ball. Giannis preemptively runs under the Adebayo screen, and Jimmy takes that space and pulls up from distance instead of driving. Butler’s 3-point attempts increased in the playoffs from 2 per game to 3.8, including 9 attempts in Game 1. Considering Butler was a 24.5% 3-point shooter this season, the defense wins that math every time.
There are a number of reasons that Jimmy Butler had the worst playoff series of his career. Questionable decision-making and shot selection plagued him all series, and the perimeter triumvirate of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday gave him fits outside with their length and tenacity, both on the ball and in help. But Brook Lopez’s presence at the rim altered every decision he tried to make, took him completely out of his comfort zone, and utterly smothered his attempts to make his mark in the series.
Out With A Bam
We’ve come all this way discussing Brook Lopez’s defensive imprint on this series without mentioning his matchup, Bam Adebayo. And to say Adebayo struggled in this series would be an immense understatement. For the first 3 games of the series, Bam was a total non-factor, and a lot of that has to do with Brook Lopez. Adebayo averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 45.6% from the field, both way down from his regular season averages (18.7 points on 57% shooting), and for most of the series felt more like he was drifting on the floor than a centerpiece of Miami’s offense.
Watch how far back Lopez is from Bam for this entire possession. By asserting himself at the rim and maintaining position, Bam was never able to get to the rim effectively as long as Lopez was around. And for all his talent, Adebayo is only 6’9. Lopez, at 7’0, is much bigger and stronger, discouraging Bam from really trying to get into him. The result is awkward floaters and push shots like these.
While Bam made major strides as a midrange jumpshooter this season, the Bucks were more than content to dare him to take and make those shots, instead of asserting himself at the rim, and sure enough, when the shot stopped falling, Adebayo’s offensive impact fell off a cliff. Bam already has a tendency to play too passive for stretches, even whole games, and Lopez took complete advantage of that. Per NBA.com’s matchup data, Lopez guarded Bam by far the most of any Buck, and he limited Bam to 38.5% shooting, a bad number for any player, but abysmal for a center. By playing off of him and goading him into his worst tendencies, Lopez completely took Bam out of the series. His defensive impact was immense for every player, but the fact it’s so tangible for both of Miami’s stars is telling of just how incredible he was, and how critical of a role he played in Milwaukee’s sweep.
A Vintage Performance
I also want to highlight here Lopez’s offensive performance in this series. When people think of Lopez’s offensive role in Milwaukee, the first thing that comes to mind is his 3-pointers, stretching the floor for Giannis and the rest of Milwaukee’s offense. However, it’s important to note that Lopez has shot fewer 3s each year in Milwaukee, from 6.3 in 2018-19 to 4.0 in 2020-21. An adjustment Budenholzer has comfortably made for a couple of seasons now is to allow Lopez to attack any mismatches on the floor as a result of either switches or the opponent going small, giving Lopez an expanded role in Milwaukee’s offense. In this series, that was incredibly apparent. Lopez only took 4 3-pointers once in this series, in Game 1, and took fewer and fewer as the series progressed, finally taking 0 in the Game 4 victory, in which he scored 25 points to lead the Bucks. Lopez was a presence in the paint on both ends all series, abusing Miami’s lack of size and switch-heavy defensive scheme, harkening back to what made him an All-Star in Brooklyn.
As you can see, Lopez attacked every size mismatch Miami gave him. When a wing was switched onto him, he would either shoot right over them or mash them in the post, utilizing his elite post skills. When Miami trapped Milwaukee’s perimeter players, Brook would play in the short roll, like in the last clip, where the low man (in this case Duncan Robinson) was just too small to put up a fight. In a series where Giannis Antetokounmpo largely struggled to generate efficient offense for himself, stepping up offensively in this manner was huge for the Bucks, and it kept them in both Game 1 and Game 4, the only relatively competitive games of the series. Even when Adebayo was on Lopez did he score with ease, with the same logic applying to Bam’s struggles against Lopez applying on the other end of the floor. Lopez was simply too big for Bam to put up a fight down low.
According to NBA.com’s matchup data, Lopez shot 60% from the floor when guarded by Adebayo. He was simply too big and strong to handle. As integral as Lopez was to Milwaukee’s success on the defensive end, his offensive contributions deserve to be mentioned, as they kept Milwaukee in the more competitive parts of the series. That he did so in a way so counter to how he’s been perceived for years now is not only very fun, but another way in which Mike Budenholzer made the proper adjustments to maximize his roster.
After Milwaukee’s loss to the Toronto Raptors in 6 games in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, the Bucks came under scrutiny for not making the necessary adjustments to win the series. So when they came back next year doing exactly what they did but better, putting together an all-time great regular season, only for it to be exposed in an even greater way vs. the Miami Heat in the playoffs, people rightfully wondered if the Bucks and Mike Budenholzer were ever going to change anything. This season, they finally started to diversify their defense, using the regular season to experiment rather than dominate. They started switching and trapping and trying new things, encouraging fans and pundits alike. And in this series, several adjustments were made. The Bucks would switch 1-4. Giannis Antetokounmpo got the Jimmy Butler assignment. This was not the same defense as last year. But there’s real irony in the Bucks’ defensive success all starting from Brook Lopez manning the middle in a drop, which is exactly what he’s done for 3 seasons. Major props to Budenholzer for adjusting the defense around Lopez to diversify the perimeter defense while letting his center play his best style. The results speak for themselves.