What do the Mavs need to do against the Spurs

[Murphy3]

Offensively:

Dirk did continually pass the ball out of the double teams. The problem was that:
1. no one was cutting to the bucket
2. when the Mavs did pass out of the double team, the shot was routinely missed.

I know that Griff ended up with a couple of opportunities to score near the bucket off of Dirk double teams, but he missed close in shots.

Dirk was 2-7 from the field with 4 points in the first half. He didn't get to the line. Much of this was due to Dirk getting into foul trouble early. He was taken out of the game with 2 fouls in the first quarter. In the second, he wasn't nearly as aggressive.

In the second half, he was 4-8 from the field plus 10-10 from the FT line (I believe). He scored 19 points in the second half.. 9 in the third and 10 in the fourth.

He was good offensively in the second half. I'm not going to say great because some of the points came after the game was decided late late in the 4th. But, he kept the Mavs in it in the 3rd when the Spurs could have very easily ran away with it.

So what do the Mavs need to do? One, they need to continue to use Dirk in the post. No, it won't lead to him scoring when the Spurs continually double, but he does make the correct pass. The Mavs simply have to cut to the basket and/or make the open looks when they are presented. They did not do this against the Spurs. Plus, they need to run more of the high pick and roll/pop with Ter;ry and Harris when he's back. The Spurs had no answer for this. Bowen wasn't leaving Dirk which allowed JET to continually get into the lane. Take advantage of that as often as possible. There's nothing wrong with JET taking 20 shots in a game especially when he's able to get that close to the bucket.

Force Bowen to switch to Terry which will lead to more opportunities to Dirk or just let JET penetrate at will off the pick and roll.

What you don't want to do is force shots. The Spurs defensive plan has two obvious weaknesses. One is the double team. The Mavs have to make them pay. The second is Bowen not coming off of dirk on the pick and roll. JET has to continually burn them.

Dirk will still be the key offensively, but you do have to take what the Spurs will give you. Dirk will still get 10-12 shots. Just make sure that they are not forced. AJ needs to put the rest of the players on the court in position to force the Spurs out of what they want to do defensively. If Pop doesn't decide to double Dirk in the paint and doesn't decide to have Bowen switch on the pick and roll, the Mavs should just continually get the ball to Dirk in the paint and also run the pick and roll. If JET, Stack, Howard, and sometimes Griff do not burn the Spurs playing basically 4 on 3, then there's just not much you can do. The Mavs will lose. But, they're good enough to make the Spurs pay at a efficient rate.

It truly is that simple. Dirk will have to be the key to the Mavs success offensively, but that doesn't mean that he's the one creating the shots. It will mean that he's the one creating the mismatches for other players until Pop decides to change his defensive philosophy.

Yes, there are other ways to counter the Spurs defense....what else do y'all got?

[SpursRuleTexas]

Good Points but if you really want to beat the Spurs, here's what you do:

1. QUIT TURNING THE BALL OVER SO DAMN MUCH. You don't stand a chance if you have more turnovers than the Spurs do (15 turnovers to the Spurs 9 in the last game). If you want to win, you have to take care of the basetball. In the first game, Dallas forced 18 Spurs turnovers. In the second game, turnovers were tied at 10 but......

2. YOU HAVE TO SHOOT A BETTER PERCENTAGE THAN THE SPURS. First game, Mavs shot over 50%. Second game, only 40% and Spurs shot 47%. Third game, again, Mavs only 41% to the Spurs 49%

3. IF THE GAME IS STILL CLOSE, FORCE (AND HOPE) THE SPURS TO SHOOT FREE THROWS. The Spurs are shaky at the line as usual but a tight game can either be won of lost by the free throws.

Just play good defense...if you do that, the offense will take care of itself.

[Murphy3]

#1 is obvious. You can't turn the ball over against a good team if you want to win.

#2, that's pretty much what I'm trying to illustrate..how to get good shots so that the Mavs can be efficient.

#3. I don't necessarily like that strategy. I do like the strategy of making a mediocre FT shooter earn it at the stripe only if need be. If you can play good enough defense to force a tough shot, than that's what you do. But if a mediocre FT shooter is about to get a very high percentage shot, then I have no problem with putting them on the line.

[Murphy3]

defensively...don't double duncan early. play him man up with Diop and Dampier.

[SpursRuleTexas]

The whole Doubling Duncan Early is a Double edged sword. If you want to play Duncan straight up, that's fine cause he never starts the game hot. But when Duncan makes his move in the post, AJ will send another defender. Now the double edge sword will be fouls...That's fine if you want to get your big men into foul trouble but remember that if your big men get into foul trouble....Spurs might be shooting free throws with 7 minutes left in a quarter. Then Pop will realize that and send in the good free throw shooters in to drive the basket and get hacked to get easy points at the free throw line...That problem for the Spurs is that they tend to miss free throws........alot. So it might work out and it might not.

[Murphy3]

Diop and Damp did a good enough job on Duncan to where they didn't need to double at any time the vast majority of possessions. Don't double Duncan and make someone else beat you.