05-25-2021, 09:49 AM
I rewatched the defensive possessions and saw that KP was doing more switches than I remember, primarily on Kawhi and PG which seemed to work out pretty good. He would switch temporarily until his teammate could recover and then he fell back to try to catch Zubac before he got open near the basket.
I am still disappointed by his lack of hustle attacking the glass but it didn't look as bad as I remembered in the first half. The second half is where I am concerned because the Clips sat Zubac and played a lot of small ball. This forces KP to be caught in no-mans land where he won't really go all the way to the perimeter to close on shooters, but also isn't close enough to the basket to contest anything. Its not really KP's fault in this instance but it basically puts him in a bad spot and makes it easier for the Clips to get to the basket.
On offense it makes the offensive glass much easier for the Mavs when the Clips go small. It also gives KP some mismatches but then we have seen the problem that our offense gets bogged down when we hunt for KP mismatches. He just isn't as good at exploiting them to say the least. If you had Dirk out there was a small on him he would just destroy the team until they had to adjust. Not necessarily true at all with KP.
All that to say if Zubac continues to play then I think its a decent to good matchup for KP on both ends. If Clips run small its going to put KP and the Mavs in a tough spot. We saw Rick sit KP some in the 4th when Mavs played the Nets that first time to deal with their small lineup.
I saw this article - https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2021/5/25/...-the-floor today but I must warn, be careful what you wish for. The Mavs might succeed in pushing the Clips small but then the Clippers can counter with a pretty effective small-ball lineup.
I am still disappointed by his lack of hustle attacking the glass but it didn't look as bad as I remembered in the first half. The second half is where I am concerned because the Clips sat Zubac and played a lot of small ball. This forces KP to be caught in no-mans land where he won't really go all the way to the perimeter to close on shooters, but also isn't close enough to the basket to contest anything. Its not really KP's fault in this instance but it basically puts him in a bad spot and makes it easier for the Clips to get to the basket.
On offense it makes the offensive glass much easier for the Mavs when the Clips go small. It also gives KP some mismatches but then we have seen the problem that our offense gets bogged down when we hunt for KP mismatches. He just isn't as good at exploiting them to say the least. If you had Dirk out there was a small on him he would just destroy the team until they had to adjust. Not necessarily true at all with KP.
All that to say if Zubac continues to play then I think its a decent to good matchup for KP on both ends. If Clips run small its going to put KP and the Mavs in a tough spot. We saw Rick sit KP some in the 4th when Mavs played the Nets that first time to deal with their small lineup.
I saw this article - https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2021/5/25/...-the-floor today but I must warn, be careful what you wish for. The Mavs might succeed in pushing the Clips small but then the Clippers can counter with a pretty effective small-ball lineup.