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Old 05-24-2022, 10:42 AM   #43
purplefrog
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Mavs down 3-0 and they need a paradigm shift to make this a competitive series. There are at least of couple of outside the box possibilities:

Bench Powell (this shouldn't be out of the box thinking, but apparently for this coach and FO it unfortunately falls into this category). There are three others who can play the 5 and its time to give it a go. Maxi, Bobi, and Chriss are all better options (note: I did not include Bertrans. I have no idea why Kidd thinks Bertrans can play minutes at the 5. I mean really?) and perhaps JKidd should plan on using all three and try to wear down Looney. It appears that when either Powell or Bertrans are in the middle, Looney can do whatever he wants. A blend of Maxi, Bobi, and Chriss would maybe change things up since each has different strengths which might keep Looney off balance and hopefully bring a modicum of frustration.

Change the focus of the Mavs defense. One obvious strategy would be to play more zone. I am all in favor of trying that to see if it works. But another strategy would be to put your best defenders on Wiggins and Looney. These two Warriors are unexpectedly killing the Mavs. Maybe put Bullock on Wiggins, and DFS on Looney. Luka could be assigned Klay (and hope for the best), Brunson on Curry, and your center of choice on Green. Throughout the game give DFS some time on Wiggins and continue to alternate bodies on Looney with an attempt to slow him down on the boards and hopefully wear him down a bit, so his defense is impacted by fatigue. This leaves the trio of Curry, Thompson, and Poole and you hope that Luka, Brunson, and Dinwiddie can break even or (hopefully) slightly win those overall matchups. You are of course, taking a chance that Curry goes off for 40+ but he has already scored 32 and 31 in the last two games. And that is with Bullock and DFS guarding him. Klay is averaging 16.3 and it is certainly possible he scores 30 against Luka, but maybe you have to take that chance. You can only pray that Poole the stool doesn't score 25-30 (his averaging 18.5 against the Mavs). One big problem with this strategy would be Brunson and Luka having to put so much effort on defense (guarding Curry and Klay), their offense is less impactful. Luka in particular might suffer from chasing Klay all over the court. But on the other hand, this is Thompson's first season back from two major injuries, you would think the fatigue would go both ways.

I am sure these strategies could be modified and improved or something all together different might be a better approach. The bottom line is the Mavs have to be ready to try something very different. It is certainly possible to roll out the same strategy and hope you shoot 45-50% from beyond the arc but, if that isn't working, be ready to quickly move to a never before seen Plan B and maybe even a Plan C.
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