Luka Exposes OKC’s Defensive Flaw: Mavericks Thunder Game 6 Western Conference Semi-Finals 2024

Luka Exposes OKC’s Defensive Flaw: Mavericks Thunder Game 6 Western Conference Semi-Finals 2024

timeouts left we’ll see if Jason kid uses it or not here’s donic guarded by Dort 10 seconds left donic drives backs him down gets deep gives it up Washington double clutch three no the tip in and they’re going to call a foul on the shot you may wonder why this was ruled a foul and upheld on OKC’s challenge considering Shay gilis Alexander made contact with the ball before the contact with PJ Washington’s forearm in the NBA if you make legal contact with the ball first then any subsequent contact isn’t considered a foul but if you look carefully PJ double pumps his shot the ball is still in his hand as the fou occurs in the forearm and now the contact with the ball first rule doesn’t apply had PJ just tried to shoot it in one motion OKC’s challenge of the call would have been successful and they would have kept their last timeout however there’s a flaw with this approach had the challenge been successful the Mavericks would have gotten the ball back because Kyrie Irving grabbed the missed shot out of the air granting them imminent possession status in hindsight it was not the best idea to risk losing your last time out to challenge this had they won the challenge they’d probably have to follow a good free throw shooter right away and they’re down one with a second and a half left to get a shot on a sideline out of bounds play at half court but if they don’t challenge it at worst they’re down two with 2 and 1/2 seconds left in in from half court giving them a better chance to win it seemed fitting that this game and the whole series was decided on a shot from the deep Corner in all six games the Thunder were willing to give up the corner three if it meant loading up on both Luca donic and Kyrie Irving when they drove to the basket and that’s exactly how Washington got that shot as you can see SGA goes for the steal when Luca spins back to him it was almost an amazing play and worth the gamble but it did put SGA in a tough position where he fils the shooter Luca knew to look in that left corner because in the play before SGA didn’t quite go for the steal but he doesn’t get back into better position once Williams recovers to his man Lively and they dodged a massive bullet with this shot but if we look at the splits for Corner three-point attempts you can see that the Mavs took over three more per game in their wins and even though the percentage is actually lower the increase in corner three-point attempts means their offense was functioning better the best offenses utilizes skip pass better than other teams with a player like Luca who has the size to see over the defense it’s an extreme risk to bring your lowest Defender over to the midline to bump the roll man Luca can make this pass in his sleep and if Dort is going to be walking around out there the Mavs will find success here’s the same rotation they used in game one and Dallas is smart to put Kyrie on the weak side Wing opposite Luca jayd dub is reluctant to leave him even though it has to be his close out giving Josh Greeno shot that’s so wide open he can lick his thumb and check the wind first often times we can catch an OKC Defender one pass away hovering nearby not doubling but not close to their own man this lures the backside Defender to step up and Luca was firing strikes all series long to PJ Washington for three even though they only shot five for 15 from the corners in game six the skip passes they utilized for makes were all crucial parts of the game Lucas skips Wing to- wi to stretch the defense for this hard E3 that helped break up a huge OKC run then in the fourth with the game threatening to be blown open again by the Thunder Chad tries to hedge instead of drop gets beat off the dribble this forces Isaiah Joe to cross the midline leaving no one to rotate to the corner allowing the Mavs to cut the lead to six which began the run that eventually won the Mavs the game this whole game was totally wild with runs back and forth that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me wish I was actually in the arena at the game to feel the energy and that’s where SeatGeek comes in it’s the best app for finding tickets to any concert sporting event or the theater and I use it all the time for years and years in fact I just went to Las Vegas to see you two play in the sphere and I use seik to make sure I was getting the best deal on tickets it was so easy to get the tickets transferred to me they’re guaranteed and I had an absolute blast with some of the most stunning visuals ever seen at a rock concert so you use my new code bball 10 and save 10% off of any tickets you get for a limited time click on the link below use my code bball 10 and find out why every little detail counts in a game like this and when Jaylen Williams does not box out PJ Washington it allows Luca to go to work SGA had to pick up Derek Lively in the scramble but he becomes entranced by Luca’s Drive staring a hole through the ball William senses Lively open underneath and holds his position under the basket Luca doesn’t even have to look at the corner to make the pass to the wideopen Washington and this one was absolutely crucial the thing is this was OKC’s game plan and it’s what made PJ such a huge X Factor 15 of his 23 made 3s came from the corner as he was the second leading scorer on the Mavericks something no one would have predicted when the series started had OKC adjusted how far they were willing to rotate off him and others they might be practicing right now and gearing up for a game seven on the flip side the Mavericks did the same thing with Josh Giddy and it directly contributed to Giddy having the worst onoff splits of any Thunder player in the series OKC’s offense plummeted in efficiency when he was out there as they can put Lively on him even though they force a switch look how much room they can give him to eliminate any threat what could have been a nice inside ball screen for Jay dub is taken away by giddy’s man and when they switch again Kyrie ignores giddy to swipe at Wallace enough to to help influence the offut floater into a Miss they try to use him as a dribble handoff guy but watch how hard he can gamble into the Gap knowing drick Jones Jr is sagging off and in position to help if need be they do generate an advantage out of the other corner but what would normally be a slick pass to an open cutter under the hoop is taken away because giddy’s man ignores him and his catch to release time is slow enough that Jones can recover to contest into a brick battling for the corners is no doubt a key tactic in every series in the play out but with OKC in particular it was a deciding factor both defensively and offensively it’s one thing that separates Luka from SGA the ability to throw the skip pass more often to generate good looks and it’s a big reason why the Mavericks are moving on and the Thunder are going fishing [Music]

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Coach Nick identifies the one area of OKC’s defense the Mavericks were able to exploit to beat them in a tough 6 game series as Luka Doncic led the way.
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