Clippers: Coach Lue wants offense to mix it up against Dallas.
The NBA’s whole makeor-miss thing? Still true.
To open their first-round playoff series against the Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks scrambled to hold one of the NBA’s best-shooting teams, like, ever, to an 11-for40 effort (27.5%) from 3-point range. That was well below L.A.’s regular-season average (and fourth-best mark in league history) of 41.1%.
Dallas’ reward: A Game 1 victory at Staples Center.
“The main thing for us is to not stop on defense and just rotate and keep scrambling because you can’t give them open looks,” Maxi Kleber, Dallas’ defensiveminded forward, said during his team’s media availability after practice Sunday.
“We have great respect for their team, for the way they shoot the ball,” concurred Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, whose team also forced the Clippers into two of their four worst 3-point shooting games in the regular season. “(So) our rotations need to be lightning-quick and on-point, and running the 3-point shooters off the line is only one of the multiple jobs that happens. We’ve got to then scramble and rebound in virtually all those situations.”
Tyronn Lue acknowledged the pressure his shooters were under, but he said he didn’t hate most of his team’s looks at the basket.
However, he would have appreciated more variety — to keep the Mavs honest.
“They did a good job of trying to run us off the line,” Lue said late Sunday
afternoon, after having about 24 hours to digest Saturday’s loss. “So we gotta do a better job of just attacking them, like, driving their closeouts.
“When shots are not falling, they’re pretty low in the league — I think 29th — as far as rim protection, so we gotta mix it up. We gotta take our shots, but we also gotta put the ball on the floor and drive and get to the paint as well.”
Guarding Doncic
Otherwise, the Luka Magic thing? The legend only grows.
The Mavericks’ Slovenian superstar — with a line of 31 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds on Saturday — became the first player in league history to record three triple-doubles in his first seven postseason games, and just the second to record at least 200 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists through his first seven playoff contests, per Statitudes LLC’s Justin Kubatko.
Doncic shot 11 for 24 from the field and 5 of 11 from 3-point range. Of his field goals, six of them came against his fellow Balkan Bro, Ivica Zubac.
Doncic’s eyes lit up every time Zubac switched onto him defensively, the Mavericks’ All-Star lofting a series of deft shots over the fingertips of the Clippers’ 7-foot Croatian center.
Back on March 15, Zubac did have success thwarting Doncic at the rim in the Clippers’ only victory over Dallas this season – a 109-99 result in which Doncic shot 2 for 8 inside the key and took only three midrange shots en route to 25 points.
Doncic changed tactics when the teams met two days later, taking only four shots at the rim and 13 of the midrange variety (of which he made eight), before finishing with 42 points in the Mavericks’ 105-89 win.
On Saturday, Doncic went 3 for 6 at the rim, but otherwise, he pulled defenders all over the court.
Chalk up some of Doncic’s best looks to miscommunication and inattention to the game plan, Lue said, adding that he was “too embarrassed to say what the number was with points we gave up” because of those issues. Whatever the total, the Clippers’ coach knew what he wanted to focus on before Game 2 on Tuesday.
“We didn’t really execute the right way, of really being in the right way of getting Luka inside the 3,” Lue said. “We pretty much just switched a lot, instead of doing the things we were supposed to. So there’s a couple things we can clean up in that regard.”
One possible solution for diminishing Doncic’s scoring impact: Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard — a six-time member of the NBA’s AllDefensive team — guarded Doncic 11 times in Game 1, according to Second Spectrum. Asked why he hadn’t marked Dallas’ best player more, Lue offered: “I think you’ll get what you’re asking for come Tuesday.”