What Luka Doncic & Mavericks MUST DO to return to NBA Finals | Hoops Tonight

What Luka Doncic & Mavericks MUST DO to return to NBA Finals | Hoops Tonight

what’s up everybody thanks as always for supporting the show it would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel and then follow me on social media on Tik Tok Instagram and Twitter so you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball let’s move it to Dallas real quick and then we’ll talk a little bit about uh uh just a little season wrapup and then we’ll get out of here is Dallas close this or last night with Colin coward I pointed out that I did not think that this Dallas Mavericks team was close to winning the championship and I have been getting shredded on Twitter all day long uh for that specifically Mavericks fans are pissed we made the finals how how is it that we made the finals and you’re going to say we’re not close well you trailed by 29 in one of the losses you trailed by 26 in one of the losses you trailed by 21 in one of the losses and you trailed by 14 in one of the losses you trailed 3 in the series and you beat the out of Boston in that desperation game for but you were not close I mean I’m curious if you’re if you’re a Mavericks fan if you do you believe you were close to winning that series I don’t think you were and there were two teams at the top of the league Denver and Boston as we mentioned earlier just in the previous segment like that Denver team was a lot better than what their results this year showed that Denver team if they would have made in the Conference Finals I would have picked them against Dallas I think they would have won somewhat convincingly I don’t think they match up as well with Denver as Minnesota did in terms of their physicality on the front line right and so like I don’t think that Dallas was particularly close to take it a step further Boston did not shoot over their season average for jump shooting a single time in this series Boston got 1.12 points per jump shot in the regular season they were below that in all five games Jason Tatum we discussed earlier was in a massive slump there will be a better version of this Boston team in all lik Hood waiting whoever comes out of the Western Conference next year so this is where it’s about being honest with yourself so for instance guys I’m a Lakers fan the Lakers made it to the Western Conference finals last year I never not even for a single second this year put them in my top tier of contenders I consistently had them in that second tier and I said right after the series they clearly have to get better at XYZ going into the season I’m like they clearly need to make an aggressive deal this deadline to try to put themselves into this conversation they never did and so for me the Lakers never entered into that tier I am a fan of the Lakers who made a deep playoff run and I had to admit they are not close the Miami Heat made the NBA finals last year they did not Trail 3 0 they stole a game in Denver in game two did anybody think after that series that the Miami Heat were close to winning an NBA championship I didn’t I thought it was abundantly clear that they weren’t that they did not have enough Firepower what ends up happening in the NBA every year one of the things I’m learning and we’re going to talk about this more when we get to our to our tactics pod on Thursday but there’s a top tier of teams the real Championship contenders and every year there’s usually two three four teams in that tier right this year there were two but it doesn’t really matter what you do against everyone else everyone else is matchups you happen to catch a Minnesota team in the Western Conference Finals that specifically struggles with Rim protection which was evidenced by the fact that they were 17th in offense in the regular season it was a terrible matchup even their perimeter Defenders were too skinny for Luca they didn’t have a l d or an Aaron Gordon like a big physical specimen to put on to uh to Luca they got barbecued they got their ass kicked right but that was a matchup thing that group all that group all the teams below the Denver Boston tier any of them could have beat any of them based on matchups in my opinion Dallas kind of weaved their way through there and one how did the Lakers make it to the Western Conference finals last year they faced a Memphis Grizzlies team in the first round that had a dribble Drive guard in John Morant and not great perimeter shooting so the Lakers could pack the paint they had Anthony Davis it was a terrible matchup for Memphis the book has been out for how to beat the Golden State Warriors for two years now you got to have athletic size and you need to funnel them into your size in the paint the Lakers kind of put that together with their top locking and forcing the guards to back cut into Anthony Davis that was a bad matchup for the Warriors right so the Lakers good match up against uh uh Memphis win the series good match up against Golden State win the series run into a real Championship Contender get their ass kicked they weren’t close now Dallas beat better teams for the record like I had a lot of Dallas fans like we beat some of the best seeds in the conference you are absolutely right but let’s go through them individually you beat the Los Angeles Clippers who were missing their best player that’s a favorable matchup the Oklahoma City Thunder were a one seed and by the way the Thunder won me over in a big way and I’m sure they won over Mavs fans because guess what that series could have gone either way if if they don’t get that uh last bucket or that last foul on PJ Washington in the corner you’re the Thunder took the lead on the previous possession you were about to go back to Oklahoma City to play a game seven so OKC won me over in a big way in this postseason run but what was I what did I consistently say all season the Thunder are too young and too small to make a deep playoff Run Dallas exposed them for that right a really good team a quality Series win for Dallas but that was not a top tier champion ship Contender that they beat then they faced Minnesota and admittedly I that was the one time I picked wrong against Dallas I picked Dallas to beat the Clippers I picked Dallas to beat Oklahoma City I picked Boston to beat Dallas but I was wrong about the Minnesota series I kind of drank too much of the Minnesota Kool-Aid after they beat Denver just because I respected that Denver team so much but we’re going to talk about that more on Thursday in the tactics pod that to me was a major revealing factor for me just in terms of matchups and like how we can’t overreact to any Series win the only thing that matters is how you match up against your next opponent which Dallas fans just found out as they ran into Boston right but Minnesota was a team that could not deal with Rim protection the I I used to quote those stats during the series like Anthony Edwards was getting to the paint like less than half as often as he was against Denver Dallas loaded up the strong side they played off their Shooters the their non-shooters obviously on the other end of the floor they didn’t have anybody big enough to guard Luca it was a bad matchup so then they run into a real Championship contender in the NBA Finals they Trail by 29 Trail by 26 Trail by 21 Trail by 14 you’re not close that is the literal definition of not close and what do I mean by that that’s not intended to undercut the accomplishment it is a Bonafide NBA Finals run as a Mavericks fan I’m sure you guys had so much fun watching that playoff run what what I’m saying that for is it means they need to improve what that means is they can’t just run it back what did the Lakers do I said right after the Denver’s loss the Denver loss they are not close they have to improve with guard athleticism a legitimate backup center and LeBron and AD had to improve as over the toop Shooters laid that all out immediately after that series they didn’t do any of that they signed Toran prince in the offse they got uh a couple of backup centers and Jackson Hayes and Christian Wood that couldn’t play in the playoffs and then at the deadline they did nothing and then they signed Spencer dwy as a buyout guy right they they ran it back and what happened they ran into the same team and they lost the same way so like that’s what I’m saying I’m not trying to say you’re not close to be a I’m saying you’re not close because it means you need to improve if you run it back if you do what the Lakers did and just say let’s go give this thing another shot if you do what the Miami Heat do did and you just say let’s just give this thing another shot you’re going to lose in disappointing fashion the way the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers did so that’s the next question what do the Dallas Mavericks need to improve on well there were several things that stood out to me I want to start on the offensive end they had just A1 offensive rating in the NBA Finals that is bad bad they had an offensive rating I want to say over 118 against the Minnesota Timberwolves a lot of it has to do with matchups but a big part of it was game plan so one of the things that Minnesota did is they kept Rudy gobear on the lob threats on Gafford and Lively that allowed Dallas to operate with traditional four out spacing meaning they had Shooters in the corners their they’re preferably their Corner three point shooters Derrick Jones and PJ Washington and then they had Kyrie Irving on the opposite Wing then Luca would get the ball screen and he would go downhill as the lob threat was going and they’d both be going into open space underneath the basket that allowed Luca to manipulate Rudy goar into that no man’s land between the two so that he could unlock the lob game Boston put together a game plan that caused a ton of issues for Dallas’s offense they put their forward Jason Tatum onto the lob threat they put their Center onto po above the three-point Shooters what that did is it up the spacing cuz then you had in order to put two Shooters in the corners you had to tuck Kyrie in one of the corners you had Lively and Gafford standing in the dunker spot which allowed Jason Tatum to help on everything underneath the basket and then when if you when when Luca wanted to bring the center into the action to to attack porzingis or Horford it was Derrik Jones or PJ Washington set in the screen if those guys tried to roll they were rolling into all that traffic now that the dunker spot is occupied if they popped where the opening was it was above the break threes and above the break three-point shooting ended up being the Achilles heel of this Dallas offense drick Jones Jr shot 26% on above the break threes in the playoffs Maxi kba shot 26% on above the break threes in the playoffs PJ Washington shot 31% on above the break threes during the playoffs those three guys combined to go 7 for 28 that’s 25% on above the break 3s during the NBA Finals what does that mean why does that matter because this is a copycat League every NBA coach watched the NBA Finals when they watch the NBA Finals they’re all making a little note like oh when we’re guarding Dallas let’s just put our biggest forward on their lob threat have them switch ball screens and then let’s put our Center our rim protector on there above the Breakthrough point shooters that can’t make above the break threes you will see that same coverage a lot moving forward that is exactly what happened to the Golden State Warriors the Lakers put together a game plan which was top blck their Shooters don’t allow them to use their screens force them to back cut and help off of Draymond Green and Jonathan kaminga or whoever their limited three-point Shooters are with your Rim protectors your size keep those guys underneath the rim be super physical on the perimeter that will slow down Golden State’s motion offense and force them to play in pick and role every team does that now it’s a copycat League when a game plan starts to take shape that has an effect on you it resonates among the other 28 teams in the league and so that there’s several things that could that they could do to address this if you’re going to stay with four out those guys have to improve as above the break three-point Shooters they either have to improve or you’ve got to find them uh different players I mean because inevitably you will run into this exact same situation and that is something that didn’t just slow down Dallas’s offense rendered it borderline useless over the course of that NBA final series a 101 offensive rating that’s not just bad that is atrociously bad I I want to say they didn’t cross over 100 points a single time in the series ex maybe except for game five right I think they did it just once in game five actually no I heard the stat last night from uh from our producer with Colin I think he said Dallas failed to score 100 points seven times during the entire regular season and did it four times in this series so like it was a major issue so obviously finding role players that are comfortable taking and making above the break threes because that is a vital part of your spacing right secondly it might be worthwhile to explore more five Out Concepts on offense the one of the big advantages here is Derrick Lively Derrick Lively was wildly impressive in this playoff run as a screener and as a decision maker right he even he knocked down a three-pointer in game four right so like I and I’m not even in five out five out does not mean five Shooters now for Boston it does but all five Out means is that all of the action is taking place on the perimeter and the paint is not occupied unless it is for a postup as part of the play or on a roll what that means is The Bigs operate out at the three-point line as dribble handoff guys and they roll and then they come back up and run another another dribble handoff and they roll and they come back up and run another dribble handoff they primarily operate from the perimeter they roll into empty space and then they come back so the paint is vacant except when someone’s rolling or driving or cutting or posting right so basically what that means is instead of dribbling the ball up the floor and having this guy stand in the corner and this guy stand in the corner and come set a ball screen and we’re just going to spread and attack have it actually function more with everybody involved more ball and player movement one of the things I like is I think that because of Lively’s development there because PJ Washington can put the ball on the floor a little bit because you have Kyrie Irving in Luca as long as you get basically a better version of Derrick Jones a player like Derrick Jones that can actually make more plays off the bounce and honestly he might be able to do it if you just open training camp with it and run that as your base offense but I just want to see like I think five Out Concepts are more resilient to playoff matchup issues the four out offense it took one switch the center and Tatum switching to completely bog down the spacing on everything whereas if it was five out and there was tons of ball and player movement as you’re cycling from side to side and everyone’s involved it lessens Luca’s usage it has a better chance of keeping guys like PJ Washington Derrick Jones Josh Green Dante XM whoever it is in Rhythm throughout the game it uh opens up more space on the backline like again if Tatum has is up at uh if getting engaged in a switch on a dribble handoff and then all of a sudden it’s back on the other side of the floor and then it’s coming back this way and there’s three dribble handoffs on the same possession it don’t really matter what Boston’s base game plan is all of a sudden the entire team is being asked to do more on every possession defensively and so I’d like to see them kind of explore that a little bit just to make them more resilient as an offensive team in the playoffs they they ran some five Out Concepts they ran some a stack pick and roll they ran some double stagger stuff they it’s not like they don’t do any of that but more often than that more often than not they dribble the ball up the floor they set a guard screen for a switch they go to their four out spacing and they call for a ball screen it’s just a little too rudimentary it’s a little too predictable and it’s one of those things that I think puts a ceiling on their offense in the playoffs remember I’m I had to learn the hard way about this and we’re going to get into more detail with this when we get to uh our tactics pod on Thursday but like the Lakers were a four-out team last year and then they adopted five out it was ugly as all hell for half the season but it like clicked in January and suddenly they were one of the best offenses in the league and and they had a much better offensive showing against Denver in that first round series than they did the last year right so like I I’m a big believer in they’ve won me over this is a b this is a modern basketball concept that I was too late to to buy into and and I do think that Dallas uh would be would be served well by trying to tilt their offense a little bit more in that direction the last piece Luca needs to be able to function as just a part of a championship level defense so again this is something we talked about a lot after game three but I would love to see Luca come into next season at just an entirely different level of physical conditioning by virtue of that he can handle higher usage he can handle those defensive responsibilities he can handle more physical defensive uh matchups in the in the postseason without fatiguing and without losing some of his efficiency just to put it simply every NBA player has to have some sort of humil ating moment in order to reach their ultimate ceiling Jaylen Brown last year gets embarrassed in the Conference Finals wins Finals MVP the next year LeBron James in 2011 gets embarrassed in the NBA Finals wins back-to-back MVPs and finals MVPs Luca donic got embarrassed in a lot of ways especially on the defensive end of the floor in the series I thought it was the worst defensive performance by a superstar I’ve ever seen in the NBA Finals so like I’m hoping that he just takes that to heart takes it personally makes the necessary improvements and brings that next level when he comes into next season again as I mentioned before the West will be better Memphis is going to join this picture next year Houston could very well join this picture like I said one of the Lakers Warriors or Sons they’re going to get their together there’s going to be something that that makes this more complicated next year and I think Step One is self-awareness admit you’re not good enough step two address your needs step three go out and execute give yourself a chance to win [Music]

Jason Timpf discusses what Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks must address in the offseason, draft, and free agency in order to get back to the NBA Finals during the 2024-25 NBA season. Jason breaks down what went wrong for Dallas against Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics and shares the biggest obstacles standing in the Mavs’ path to a championship.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/V23LsIjnKQE

Timeline:
00:00 – Are Mavericks close to winning title?
08:42 – How Mavs can improve
16:52 – The big change for Luka Doncic

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