A Few Thoughts on Mavs 114, Kings 110

[mavsluvr]

But can someone please explain what THJ is doing at 0:30, 1:08 or 9:20?

I will try. Mavs are used to switch everything when there is a screen. So in the first and third case THJ is going for a switch, but the other player is not. Therefor a Sac player was left completely open. Lack of communication and generaly bad defense. I noticed several times in this game Mavs are switching even if a screen is just faked, leading to mismatches.

Second case is an example of bad Mavs PnR defense. Center never goes up to help the guard fighting through a screen. This time THJ decided to go below leading to a wide open shot. If he would go above the screen, he would come behind his player leaving KP defend two guys. I said before, our PnR defense is bad. JaVales of the world always look monsters against Mavs.

Thanks for this analysis, omahen. 

As you mention, these aren't isolated issues. What do you see as the best big-picture solution for these problems?

The defensive strategies aren't very good? Players need to be taught to communicate better? Players need to be taught to make better decisions? The scheme is the best they can do, given the roster, but they aren't going to do much better without higher-quality defensive personnel? Players have already been trained up, but they're just ignoring instructions/not paying attention? Some combination of various factors?