02-27-2024, 10:50 PM
The Cavs have good 1 on 1 scorers too with Mitchell and Garland but they're not relying on it for almost every possession in crunch time. At least 3 Cavs players are usually touching the ball in their half court sets and almost all of those threes were off assists.
This is the most frustrating aspect of the Mavs, even worse than their defense - the way they resort to Kidd's Luka/Kyrie (or previously Dinwiddie) ISO offense allows the opposing defense to get plenty of rest when the other 4 players are just standing there for 24 seconds. Strus barely had to break a sweat on defense in the last 5 minutes so it's not a surprise he was fresh to make as many threes as he wanted to.
Even if your offense is designed to get Luka/Kyrie as many shots as possible, how about using sets to exploit the opposing team's weakest defender on the floor? Find ways to get the weak link in a favorable matchup for you and then attack them. Instead, the Mavs do the opposite - it's like they are obsessed with making the highlight plays by trying to challenge the opposing team's best defenders every time.
PJ Washington was guarded by the smaller Donovan Mitchell on almost every possession in the last 5 minutes and it didn't matter because the Mavs offense is so predictable. PJ just ended up buried in the corner to "stretch the floor" and never touched the ball. You have a decently-skilled 6'7" player with a 6'2" guard on him and you don't even take advantage of it. Just doesn't make sense but that's Kidd Ball for you.
This is the most frustrating aspect of the Mavs, even worse than their defense - the way they resort to Kidd's Luka/Kyrie (or previously Dinwiddie) ISO offense allows the opposing defense to get plenty of rest when the other 4 players are just standing there for 24 seconds. Strus barely had to break a sweat on defense in the last 5 minutes so it's not a surprise he was fresh to make as many threes as he wanted to.
Even if your offense is designed to get Luka/Kyrie as many shots as possible, how about using sets to exploit the opposing team's weakest defender on the floor? Find ways to get the weak link in a favorable matchup for you and then attack them. Instead, the Mavs do the opposite - it's like they are obsessed with making the highlight plays by trying to challenge the opposing team's best defenders every time.
PJ Washington was guarded by the smaller Donovan Mitchell on almost every possession in the last 5 minutes and it didn't matter because the Mavs offense is so predictable. PJ just ended up buried in the corner to "stretch the floor" and never touched the ball. You have a decently-skilled 6'7" player with a 6'2" guard on him and you don't even take advantage of it. Just doesn't make sense but that's Kidd Ball for you.