Dallas, We Have a Problem
The Mavericks are hanging on for dear life after the Warriors 103-99 win last night. Avery Johnson is one of the best coaches in the league, but his failure to find solutions to two major problems has the Mavs on the brink of elimination. The first problem is that they can’t guard Baron Davis. The best way to defend Davis is simply to back off and let him shoot. He’s a streaky shooter at best, and letting him fire 20 footers helps take everybody else out of the offense. Instead, the Mavs are over-aggressively guarding him behind the three point line, and that allows him to effortlessly get into the lane for easy layups or dishes down low. The Mavs are also reluctant to put Devin Harris, their best perimeter defender, on Davis because they’re afraid Davis will repeatedly post him up. I’m not really sure why the Mavs would rather have Davis shooting layups than turn-around 10 footers over Harris, but if they have any hope of winning this series they’re going to have to let Davis shoot.
The second problem for the Mavs is that they have no answer to the Warriors ultra-aggressive overplaying defense. This isn’t a UNC-Greensborough team failing to capitalize on an overaggressive Duke defense–this is the best team in the NBA. They should be able to make the Warriors pay for overplaying. A good place to start would be some backdoor cuts–if the Mavs even know what those are. Perhaps they need Eddie Jordan of John Thompson III to come and school them on how to do it. Mostly the Mavs just need better spacing and better passing. When Jason Terry is triple teamed in the lane, somebody should be open. The Warriors play outstanding help defense, but after four games, Johnson and the rest of the Mavs coaching staff need to find a way to expose it.
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