By: Jonathan Han

“Offense wins games, defense wins championships” is a commonly repeated phrase throughout the sports world. Throughout NBA history, man-to-man defense has traditionally reigned supreme. But the Miami Heat take a different approach, drawing the attention of basketball enthusiasts. Miami Heat’s Head Coach, Erik Spoelstra, has found success running zone defense, and it might be Miami’s only hope to win this championship.

Before the 2001-2002 NBA season, zone defense was considered illegal; thus, man-to-man defense was the only viable option. In the league’s developing stages, they wanted to attract as many fans as possible, and one vs. one matchups did just that. However, over time offenses slowed down, and scoring decreased as isolation ball became extremely repetitive. As a result, the NBA eliminated its illegal defense rule ahead of the 2001-2002 season, bringing more variety to the game.

Despite eradicating illegal defense, zone defense remained uncommon for several reasons. Firstly, the game was evolving and growing faster, making it difficult for teams playing zone to keep up with the rapid passing. Secondly, three-pointers were popularized, and zone defenses struggled to mark the three-point line. Lastly, the defensive three-second rule prevented defenders from camping in the paint when they weren’t guarding a player.

For the heat, however, zone defense has allowed the team to hide some of its weaker defenders and match up against taller teams. During the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat forced bad jump shots and trapped Boston Celtic players through zone defense. On Wednesday, in Game 3 of the finals, the Heat ran a 2-2-1 zone press during the second quarter, which led to the Denver Nuggets only having 14 seconds remaining on the shot clock, resulting in a missed shot.

Unfortunately for Miami, the Nuggets managed to pull away with the win, 105-94, as Nuggets star players Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray recorded triple-doubles. During the post-game interview, Coach Spo blamed the loss on a lack of effort. He added, “I think the thing that we’ve proven over and over and over is we can win and find different ways to win.” One of those ways is through their zone defense, but is it enough?

There is a talent gap between the first-seed Denver Nuggets and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. The Nuggets have an abundance of fantastic role players, a rising star in Jamal Murray and a 2x NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic. In efforts to slow the star team down, the Heat tends to switch between man-to-man and zone defense. They allowed 0.937 points per possession during the regular season when playing zone. On the other hand, opponents scored 1.009 points per possession against their man-to-man defense. The Heat play less zone during the playoffs but still allow fewer points than when they play man-to-man defense, which brings up the question: is zone defense enough to stop the Nuggets?