What the Playoffs Mean: Tactics

As a serious tactics nerd, a guy who loves just getting waist deep in statistics, strategy and—most importantly—tactics, the NBA Playoffs are a delight to take in on a nightly basis.

The possibility that two teams could face each other—and only each other—for seven games in a row, offers the unique opportunity for coaches to plan and build a tactical scheme, night-in, night-out. It is the truest test of tactical acumen. It highlights why basketball is the sport most influenced and affected by tactics.

Smart tactics, and a team is hoisting the trophy at the end of the season, spraying champagne over one another, smoking cigars.

Poor tactics and it's Vinny Del Negro, sitting at his laptop updating the ol’ resume.

“Former NBA Player, Coach and Avid Fan. Looking to sink my teeth into the most ambitious of basketball-related projects.”

Wherein some consider the NFL the most tactical of all games (a team can literally do a fake field goal every play if it wants, i.e. tactics), the NFL playoffs are all one-offs. The coach has one shot to get his tactics right and then either wins or loses. The winner develops entirely new tactics for an entirely new opponent. It is tactical, sure, but not as tactical in the sense that the tactics in the NBA remain critical over the course of a potential two weeks.

It is tactics in the NBA, living and breathing tactics, tactics forever shifting and growing, tactics.

Baseball is not really a tactical game in that the only tactical decisions that are made is whether or not to hit-and-run, bunt or bring in a left-handed relief pitcher. Are these tactics? Sure, but baseball is a sport of one-on-one battles and then a group of defensive players doing their best not to make a mistake.

“Oh boy, he really should have caught that ball. Well, that’s baseball, Susan.”

No tactics there.

Does deciding whether to creep a third baseman forward to protect a potential bunt count as tactics? Unequivocally, no. Not when compared to figuring out how the hell to stop the 6’8” 260-pound perfect specimen that is LeBron James over the course of seven games.

Hockey, the sport furthest from the sphere of anything that even closely resembles tactics, is a sport wherein the players do their best to dump the puck in the opponent’s zone. That’s about it. No tactics there. Even if there were tactics (and just to be clear, we've established that there are not tactics), it is impossible to see the puck on TV so how would anyone even be able to tell? Bring back the mid-90s Fox broadcast where the puck was lit up. Those are some tactics by Fox right there.

Soccer is tactically driven, yes, but again the playoff competitions are almost always one-offs or two-offs, so it follows a similar pattern to the NFL: set the tactics before the match, maybe make a substitute or two (mostly bringing on a defender if a team is winning or an attacker if the team is losing) and then move on to the next match. Yes, there is a difference between playing a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-3-1, but it is not different like apples and oranges are different.

There are absolutely zero tactics in lacrosse, wherein the only foreseeable tactic is to win ground balls and then work the ball around the outside of the attacking zone until the best player either goes one-on-one or shoots from distance. No tactics in that. Maybe some tactics in the “fo-go” ("face-off, get off"), the player that specializes in face-offs and then promptly leaves the field. There is a spattering of tactics there, but that’s more of a position than anything else. Good try on the tactics there, lacrosse.

No tactics in beach volleyball: Bump, set, spike!

Are there any other team sports?

The individual sports? “Fa-get-about-it!” No tactics in boxing: punch the other person until they collapse in a heap of brain damage. No tactics in tennis: hit the ball where the opponent cannot get it! No tactics in golf: Give that little white dimpled ball a real whack! No tactics in wrestling: “Take him down, Eddie!” No tactics in track: run faster than the person next to you who is also running fast. No tactics in swimming: Swim faster than the person next to you who is also swimming fast.

Nope, the tactics—the truest of tactics—come in the NBA playoffs. Take, for instance, this fascinating Eastern Conference series taking place. Roy Hibbert has been giving the Heat fits all series, so what does Miami do? Tactics! Double Hibbert when he’s high in the paint and force the big to make a decision. That’s tactics. Love those tactics.

The rub here is that over the next 48 hours, the coaches and players will watch the tape of the game probably four or five times, discuss at length what worked and what did not, and come up with an entirely new set of tactics.

Should the Pacers protect the three-point line? Tactics. Should they deny LeBron the ball? Tactics. Should they play through Hibbert? Tactics.

The tactics are everywhere in the playoffs.

Foul a three-point shooter with a three-point lead at the end of a game: Freaking tactics right there. Pick-and-rolls, double-down, transition defense, spread the floor, isolation, ball movement: Jesus, Mary and Joseph! My head is spinning with all these NBA Playoff basketball tactics.

So, as the Playoffs continue into June, know that the tactics are everywhere. Know that the players have a clear tactical goal in mind, acutely and meticulously discussed and planned by their coaching staff for hours and hours and hours and hours.

Like Daniel Day Lewis, in the NBA Playoffs, there will be tactics.