Mavs 108, Rockets 133

[dirkfansince1998]

Their system just falls apart without his spacing, particularly when two non-shooters are on the floor for the Mavs. 

This. With Iwundu and Johnson on the floor the Mavs basically play 3vs5 on offense. Add an non shooting big like WCS and it turns into a 2vs5. With Luka/THJ/Burke/Brunson trying to create of the dribble. Taking difficult pull up shots or driving into a clogged paint.
The Mavs only had 25 3PA. That´s a season low. Not a suprise that THJ and Burke combined for 1/10 from 3. Without any other floor spacer on the court Houston could run them of the 3-point line. Rest pf team is not a threat. Most of them refuse to take an open 3 (Johnson,Green).

Lineups data is really telling the story in this case: 8 worst two-man combinations >50min

Iwundu-Doncic: -36 in 126 min
Johnson-Doncic: -33 in 163 min
Powell- DFS: -30 in 101 min
Burke-Iwundu: -28 in 89 min
Burke-WCS: -26 in 141 min
Iwundu-Johnson: -20 in 90 min
Johnson-Burke: -20 in 195 min
Iwundu-WCS: -32 in 103 min

Even more obvious in three-man combinations: 7 worst

Powell-DFS-Doncic: -34 in 71 min
Burke-Iwundu-Doncic: -34 in 55 min
Johnson-Iwundu-Doncic: -32 in 55 min
Burke-WCS-Iwundu: -32 in 46 min
Johnson-WCS-Doncic: -26 in 73 min
Johnson-WCS-Iwundu: -25 in 32 min
Johnson-Burke-Doncic: -23 in 110 min

Not possible to have solid spacing with a bigman and Iwundu/Johnson on the floor. Luka is looking a lot worse next to them because the paint is clogged. Not to mention that no one can take advantage of open catch and shoot opportunities. it´s not like Luka isn´t creating for his teammates. Last season he had 8.8ast vs 16.5 potential ast. This season he averages 9.5 ast vs 19 potenial ast. One of the worst ratios among high usage players.

For comparisation:
Luka 9.5/19
Jokic 9.6/15.1
Harden 11/17.6
Young 8.7/17.1
CP3  9/17.9
Westbrook 11.3/19.3


Something to look at in the coming weeks. With the return of the missing guys and KP the spacing should improve. I don´t think any of the current net negative guys will be a part of the rotation when everyone is healthy.