NBA
Mavericks at Clippers Game Two Film Review
Looking at how Luka Dončić pulling the threads, is the sweep on the table for the Dallas Mavericks?
The Dallas Mavericks are not pulling any punches in the first game of the series against the Los Angeles Clippers. They won 113–103 in the first game against the team that wanted so hard to play against them, as the Clippers purposely tanked by resting three of their five starters in the last few games of the season so they can avoid the Los Angeles Lakers before the Western Conference Finals. In the second game of the series, both the Clippers and the Mavericks adjusted their game plan and gave each other things they didn’t have the answer for.
Attacking the Paint
Before the second game, the Los Angeles Clippers looked ready to make some adjustments and tie the series before going to Dallas for Game 3 and 4. The Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue reportedly looked to exploit the Mavericks’ defensive presence in the paint, as they ranked 29th from 30 teams in the regular season for defending the paint area. The Clippers did exactly as Lue instructed, as they repeatedly targeted Kristaps Porziņģis with his lack of mobility in the Mavericks’ paint area.
Paul George, who played decently in the first game, started the Clippers’ attack into the area where the Mavericks are hurting the most. In the first three minutes, Paul George attacked the paint three times and came out with six points.
Paul George uses a screen from Ivica Zubac and does a quick step easily to get points over Kristaps Porziņģis.
Few minutes after the play above, Kawhi Leonard, using similar gameplay, drives to the basket using a screen set by Ivica Zubac and gets an and-1 with a floater after Kristaps Porziņģis fails to defend him in the paint area.
Kawhi Leonard gets his 13th point in the quarter with another floater inside the paint after losing Maxi Kleber with his turn.
Driving to the basket has been the Los Angeles Clippers’ game plan in the first quarter to keep up with the Dallas Mavericks, who started the game on fire right from the start with Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. alternately raining Los Angeles with their shots. Kleber finished the first quarter with a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, which includes two 3-pointers, and Hardaway Jr. with 80% field goal percentage with two 3-pointers as well.
In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Clippers continued their game plan to attack the paint area. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were the main actors for the Clippers to charge the Mavericks’ paint area.
Kristaps Porziņģis becomes the main culprit in the Dallas Mavericks’ interior defense inability to stop Paul George. Porziņģis’ slip became the cherry on top for the Clippers when he attempts to stop George’s drive.
The repetitive drives to the basket didn’t only provide points for the Clippers but also accumulated fouls for the Mavericks with Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, and Kristaps Porziņģis all ended up with two fouls each in the first half and the latter got into foul trouble in the mid-third quarter. The Los Angeles Clippers with their urge to charge the Dallas Mavericks’ paint area reap their rewards as they lead 73–71 in the first half. The lead showed how well they kept up with Dallas as the Mavericks made 67.4% of their field goal attempts with a 66.7% 3-point percentage.
The Los Angeles Clippers made good adjustments in the first half of Game 2 but it was not enough for them. Things started to fall apart for the Clippers as the Dallas Mavericks started to answer back to the problems posed by the Clippers.
Dallas’ Defensive Response
The Dallas Mavericks started to contain the Los Angeles Clippers’ drives to the paint area in the third quarter, when unsurprisingly Kristaps Porziņģis was put on the bench due to foul trouble. Willie Cauley-Stein’s presence in the paint and his physical abilities enabled Dallas to keep up with the Clippers.
The video below showed Willie Cauley-Stein’s ability to challenge Paul George’s shot and force George to pass inside, which resulted in a turnover.
In another possession, Willie Cauley-Stein is able to defend Paul George and Ivica Zubac’s pick and roll, and force Paul George to kick the ball out to Kawhi Leonard, who takes a contested 3-point shot.
During the third quarter without Kristaps Porziņģis, the Dallas Mavericks were able to stop the Los Angeles Clippers and made a 17-to-5 run in less than six minutes.
It was also questionable that after cutting their deficit into five points with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Clippers scrapped their game plan to attack the paint area and went with two highly contested shots. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard rushed their offense and messed up the team’s rhythm when they should have kept attacking the basket. In the video below, Paul George is able to isolate Kristaps Porziņģis in a one-on-one situation. But instead of attacking Kristaps Porziņģis, Paul George settled with a stepback 3-point shot and credits to Kristaps Porziņģis, he is able to use his lateral height to make it a contested shot.
In the next minute, chasing Mavericks’ 7-point lead, Kawhi Leonard dribbled the ball and Reggie Jackson’s screen was able to make Maxi Kleber and Luka Dončić switch. However, instead of isolating himself with Dončić in the low block with 18 seconds remaining in the shot clock, Leonard chose to pull up a quick 3-point jumper and ended up with another wasteful possession for the Clippers.
In their next game, the Los Angeles Clippers need to be aware of their shot selection to reduce rushed shots since bad shots are pretty much the same as turnovers.
Luka Dončić
While the Dallas Mavericks were able to contain the Los Angeles Clippers’ attacks in the paint, the Clippers did not have any answer for Dallas’ main weapon, the 22-year-old Luka Dončić. Dončić has been a nightmare for the Los Angeles Clippers since last year when he made a stepback game-winning 3-point shot in the series that ended up as a 4–2 series victory for the Clippers over the Mavericks. This year is no different, after recording 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in Game 1, Luka Dončić became another nightmare for the Clippers in Game 2. Dončić was basically unguardable from the first minute and great at finding his mismatches. He usually gets by easily when guarded by Marcus Morris Sr. or Ivica Zubac. In the video below, Luka Dončić uses the quick screen from Tim Hardaway Jr. to create some space away from Marcus Morris Sr. to make a stepback 3-point shot.
In the video below, Luka Dončić beats Marcus Morris Sr. with the combination of a crossover and quick turn and ends it with a deceleration while stepping for a layup to instigate a foul from Marcus Morris Sr. for a free throw attempt.
Ivica Zubac was also a victim of Dončić’s hunt for mismatches, who made a mid-range jumper into the basket effortlessly.
Luka Dončić also exploited the Clippers favored choice of defender in Patrick Beverley. He uses his size very well to bully Patrick Beverley and keep Beverley on his back to get easy layups.
There were one or two occasions where Beverley was able to steal the ball or stop Dončić but as the game goes, the Luka Dončić-on-Patrick Beverley matchup becomes favorable towards Dallas as they let Dončić to go on isolation and supplied him with the ball every time the mismatch happened.
The Los Angeles Clippers need to rethink their defensive assignment on Dončić as Marcus Morris Sr. or Patrick Beverley were not able to slow him down. They may need to put their best defenders, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, to guard Dončić more often. They may not be able to completely stop Dončić, as shown in the video below, but they will be able to slow him down or at least drain his energy.
According to StatMuse, Luka Dončić with 32 points per game has the second highest points per game by a player in the playoffs before turning 23, with a minimum of seven games played, after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Luka Dončić also averaged 9.5 rebounds per game and 8.8 assists per game. Within these two playoff games this season, Dončić averaged 35 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 9 APG, 1 SPG, and 1.5 BPG on 50.9% field goal percentage and 41.7% 3-point percentage. Luka Dončić’s stats and shooting performance within these two playoff games eclipsed his regular season average.
Luka Dončić is in the form of his life within these two playoff games. As his form may decline a little bit in the next few games of the series, the Los Angeles Clippers have to find a way to slow him down or their season might finish earlier than they expected.
Double-team didn’t Work
The Los Angeles Clippers actually prepared a defensive scheme to double-team Luka Dončić and stop the Dallas Mavericks but Dončić and the Mavericks looked ready for it.
In the first quarter, Paul George and Ivica Zubac try to trap Dončić with a double-team when Dončić, Maxi Kleber, and Tim Hardaway Jr. try to do a Spain pick-and-roll. However, Ivica Zubac, as the defender for the roller, is late to close down the space Dončić’s right side of Marcus Morris Sr., who guards the weak side of the Clippers defense, also comes late as the helper and he becomes a victim of Luka Dončić’s posterizer.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Clippers still tried to double-team Luka Dončić with most of the results not going as planned for the Clippers.
With two minutes remaining, Tim Hardaway Jr. pushes the Clippers to switch on defense, so Patrick Beverley guards Luka Dončić and Paul George guards Hardaway Jr. Then, Beverley and George initiate the double-team but Hardaway Jr., who anticipates the double-team, slips away from George and makes himself open to receive a pass from Dončić. As soon as Hardaway Jr. receives the ball, the three Clippers players who are defending the zone try to rotate. But the Mavericks already make their move and have two passing options with Dorian Finney-Smith open in the corner and Kristaps Porziņģis driving inside the basket behind Kawhi Leonard who tries to rotate. Hardaway Jr. passes to Porziņģis for two easy points for Dallas.
In the next possession for the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Clippers try another double-team where Luka Dončić is guarded by Patrick Beverley and also trapped by Paul George on the left side of the Mavericks’ offense. The steal by the Clippers ends with a quick two points for Los Angeles from the fastbreak.
In the next possession for Dallas, the Clippers try another double-team but this time with the wrong angle. The Clippers’ double-teamed Luka Dončić in the middle of the court near the logo, differing from the previous one when Dončić was closed off in the corner. Not only is the angle quite wide, this time the Dallas Mavericks are ready to break the Clippers’ double-team. Dorian Finney-Smith slips into the key, Tim Hardaway Jr. slips into the 3-point line and there is also Kristaps Porziņģis on the left elbow creating three passing options for Luka Dončić. Dončić chooses to pass to Finney-Smith in the key and he directly passes into Hardaway Jr. who is open at the 3-point line and ends up with Hardaway Jr. putting a dagger on the Clippers. If Hardaway Jr. chooses to not shoot, there is also Maxi Kleber in the right corner ready to make another open 3-point shot.
The Mavericks actually already figured out the Clippers’ double-team since Game 1 with their well-drilled set-plays wreaking havoc on Los Angeles’ defensive plan. Since the Mavericks proved they were able to break the Clippers’ double-team, it will be interesting to see what other moves Tyronn Lue can conjure in Game 3.
Role Players Played Important Roles
Beside the Los Angeles Clippers’ inability to stop Luka Dončić, they were also not able to stop Dallas’ role players like Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. Maxi Kleber ended up with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, and 83.3% field goal percentage while Tim Hardaway Jr. recorded 28 points, five assists, one steal, and 64.3% field goal percentage and 75% 3-point percentage. Tim Hardaway Jr., who was once deemed as a salary dump in the Kristaps Porziņģis trade, now turned out to be an important player in the playoffs. The on-fire duo helped coach Rick Carlisle to rotate his players’ minutes so no Mavericks player touched 40 minutes of on-court time in Game 2.
For the Clippers itself, their role players were quite disappointing. Marcus Morris Sr., who is expected to be the third scorer, only recorded nine points and two rebounds with two turnovers and 33.3% field goal percentage. Patrick Beverley also ended up with only three points, three assists, one steal, and one block but with a paltry 25% field goal percentage. He was also unable to stop Luka Dončić, which was his main assignment on the court. Since Tyronn Lue needs another man outside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to step up, he may need to give more minutes to Terance Mann. Mann, with only 15 minutes in Game 2, was able to record eight points, five rebounds, with 60% field goal percentage. Mann is the man the Clippers media hyped during the end of the regular season and his performance within 15 minutes in Game 2 deserves him a larger share of playing time in Game 3 as he was able to give more energy and defensive presence when on the court.
The Dallas Mavericks may currently lead the series with two wins but the series could be far from over. The Los Angeles Clippers may have more secret weapons under their sleeve and have the capabilities to tie the series. It is impossible for a side who chose to be a 4th seed in the Western Conference and avoid their neighbor the Los Angeles Lakers to end up getting swept by Dallas Mavericks, the opponent that they deemed to be easy to defeat.
Faiz Ramadhan is a sports enthusiast. He spends his spare time watching, reading, and writing about sport especially soccer and the NBA. Manchester is his heaven. He follows Premier League religiously and recently watches Bundesliga frequently. He is also a Football Manager geek, and has been bandwagoning Luka Doncic fan from day one.
You can follow him on Instagram: @faiz_rmdn and on Twitter: @faizrmd for his random rambles.
