How Boston held Luka to just 1 assist! | NBA Finals Game 1 analysis
the Celtics dominated game one of the NBA Finals holding the Mavs to a 97 offensive rating and completely neutralizing Dallas’s deadly pick and roll game with Luca donic so why did this game look so different from the Western Conference finals and what exactly was Boston’s game plan that held Luca and the Mavs in check the first thing Boston did was stick Jason Tatum on Dallas’s Center which meant if he wanted to attack Boston Center in pick and roll Derek Jones Jr would be setting the screen and he’s not a roll threat Boston switches anyway here and Al Horford gets a good contest on Luca’s step back remember this pick and roll connection with dant’s big men torched the wolves in the Conference Finals by playing two on two in the paint where his centers are these big vertical threats to catch lobs behind the defense so so if Luca wants to attack Boston’s Center in pick and roll Jones has to set the screen and when he rolls free even when Luca has Tatum on his hip Jones isn’t a lob threat behind porzingis and the paint is more crowded with Dallas’s Center on the Block bringing an extra help Defender and Chris STS is too big for Jones here’s another one in the third with maxi clra in the game at Center instead of a lob threat so so when Jones sets the screen he has room to roll and it’s a great play by Jaylen Brown to come over and break it up but the play is also below the rim because Jones is smaller and then even when they have a second chance at The Rim Brown stuffs him again now this isn’t some one-off game plan Boston just cooked up they play Dallas like this in their March matchup having a forward guard the MAV Center and having their own Center G of forward to take away Luca’s lob weapons in the paint and they do this all the time so it didn’t matter who it was poor zingis is on PJ Washington here he’s going to drop on the pick and roll but again Horford is also in the paint because Dallas’s Center is parked on the Baseline and they basically ignore Washington on Above The Brak threes this time porzingis is on Josh Green it’s the same drop green pops to the three-point line and Derek white doesn’t even close out to his shot playing the corner shooter instead and green sees a traffic jam and short circuits if the big man is setting the screen then Boston just switches with someone like Jason Tatum the roller can’t run free and JT is good enough to hold his own in isolation against Luca and the Celtics would switch these screens with brown taking away the rle man and then they didn’t really want to help too much on Luca Jaylen stays with Daniel Gafford here and donic ends up with a layup and they wanted to make Luca a score and keep his playmaking in check Drew holiday ignores Jones here to come help on the lob so Brown probably should help but he doesn’t want to leave a lob threat and it’s a tough layup instead the rest of the time Boston was switching all of Luca’s pick and rolles and then mostly playing him straight up and he went after Sam Hower twice in a row in the first quarter and Hower more than held his own poking at this and forcing a turnover and notice how far over Brown is to clog up that driving lane for Luca so even though they weren’t double teaming him they were often shading a Defender toward him pton Pritchard switches this time and holiday just lingers right in that driving line even with Washington one pass away so donic settles for a step back instead this time they let Brown defend him in isolation and porzingis is happy to help off of Jones he can easily recover and contain the drive and again he’s not a roll threat like Gafford or Derek Lively so it’s an easy porzingis block here’s another one isolating against Brown holiday steps in front to stop the drive he sort of lingers near the free throw line but doesn’t double and Tatum is sitting on one block because gafford’s on a shooter Horford’s on the other block guarding Jones and it’s a tough 15-footer for Luca this time Al is on Gafford but when he screens Brown just avoids the switch Horford sits on the roll threat and Luca ends up with a tough Runner and donic actually had some daylight here but holiday l Ling at the ball forces him to pick it up prematurely and shoot it’s the same thing in the second Drew is shading off Kyrie Irving Luca drives but that stunt forces him to pick it up Tatum is lurking white comes off the strong side corner to help and they probably don’t care too much about Washington shooting above the break threes because it’s the same story on this play where donic is looking to pick on Pritchard Drew is one pass away on on Washington but still jumps over to destroy the drive and again it’s a tricky mid-ranger for Luca later in the fourth Pritchard was matched up with donic in transition and an entire side to work with white sees that and spontaneously doubles and then he can stay with Luca after the pass while Boston recovers so when they go back to that isolation Tatum can roam off Jones and it’s a rip through foul on Derek for having arms basically by eliminating Don’s normal pick and roll Partners which then changes the spacing with an extra player in the paint and then ignoring his teammates Luca finish with just one assist that’s the lowest number he’s had in a full game since his rookie season here’s that one dime of the night so even when he had the matchup he wanted with Lively setting the screen and porzingis in a drop Jones’s man can help un Lucas’s drive a guard is lurking to stab at the basketball so porzingis can sit on the lob and this one’s a foul on the pass here it’s Horford guarding a big man but they’ll just switch the screen when he’s involved and he’s so wly that he can block Luca’s step back so despite his Advanced age Big Al is still Nimble enough to switch these screens and hold his own out in space they’ll even switch these on all softball actions and he stays with this so well that he almost ends up with a clean steel and one of the reasons he can play donich like this is because he knows he has some help behind him porzingis is roaming off Jones so when Luca gets a step white is cheating off his man and it’s a great pass but porzingis his glutes Force the turnover unlike Horford the Celtics try to keep porzingis out of the pick and roll with Dallas’s big he tells Hower to pre- switch here so we can roam in the paint and again that puts extra bodies in the lane holiday is ready to help on a drive and that just makes life easier for Sam in isolation and here’s one late in the game where KP ends up on lively but he tells Pritchard to switch into the action instead white just never leaves donic and picks his pocket from behind and that leads to a run out and an easy layup in his first game back in more than a month poringa had a big night protecting the rim and in the first quarter alone he blocked three shots including this masterpiece in transition and on offense his spacing had a massive effect opening up the lane because he can bomb like this from way downtown here’s that exact same play only this time instead of hitting Christ staps they throw it to Tatum and Luca doesn’t want to leave porzingis Shooters are spaced everywhere so JT can attack his mismatch without any help this time it’s Drew holiday in transition and again the shot blocker stretched out to porzingis instead of clogging the lane and Drew just plays a game of one-onone bullyball and I love this away from the ball where Lively’s chasing KP at the three-point line so when Tatum beats his man Luca helps but he’s not a shop blocking threat and it’s an easy layup Boston spacing in general might be the best we’ve ever seen Lively is out on porzingis here and the lane is just wide open when he drives it and this was apparent on the very first play of the game where Gafford tries to cheat over off Horford but when they swing it back around him in the corner the Mavs are stretched too thin so the up fake sheds the shop blocker and it’s a red carpet dunk the Celtics also do crafty stuff like stick a guard on the Baseline while spacing a big man to the perimeter so there’s less shot blocking near the hoop and that created enough space on this play where Brown left Luca in the dust and just punched it on the Finish Jaylen and Company hunted Luca a ton throughout the game and he had a hard time staying in front of the ball as the game wore on well on the other end Brown held up well in his matchup against donic containing the point of attack against Dallas the Mavs finish with just nine assists as a team their lowest of the Year by far in the fourth fewest in a Finals game in the shot clock era so now it’s back to the drawing board for Jason kid and the Mavs to see what kind of answers they can come up with for this Boston machine because after roaring through the regular season the Celtics are now just three games away from an NBA title if you want to work in basketball I have the place for you it’s Sports business 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How did the Celtics shut down Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks? Why was their gameplan so successful, and what made this game so different from the Western Finals? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores Coach Mazzulla’s approach to the Boston defense, how they defended the pick-and-roll, and why their matchups and spacing were so critical in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
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46 Comments
it might help if dallas moved a little off ball with how tight boston was defending. they are just spotting up while two guys move like 28 other teams do.
That play @ 4:22 jus casually being called easy š yea maybe more so than big ass LobGoblins but that's a helluva turn to deny even the adjustment by djj. There are ppl CP3's size in the league that couldn't have turned & react in enough time to even foul homiešlet's give what was SUPPOSED to be an injured KP some credit outchea
Well we'll well. I'm not surprised this clown Ben makes a video after the mavs lose. Dude went a rant crying how mavs fans were mean to him on his podcast. Ben if you see this know, you are a clown, fraud and one of the biggest puesdo intellectuals in the basketball space
Finally Dallas met a team that doesn't allow them to crowd the paint and leave ppl in the corners. It really felt like they had a bit of luck with how badly OKC was shooting and how well Luka was shooting againts the Wolves. But that was probably also because Wolves didn't attack Luka that much so he was saving a lot of energy on defense.
7:19 Tingus Pingus glutes playing more d than Kyrie.
Feels bad for Jones…. multiple highlights with his orange shoes and getting blocked…
Big AL better defender against luka than gobert š
Mavs lost, better post a video
One thing I do not understand: the role players had so much open 3s, what they made in previous games against other teams. This time they didn't hit, but if the would hit it would be a complete other game.
Imagine now if Luka starts playing freaky basketball and he freaks all over Tatum's gyatt on skibidy
They really listened to KG
coach wat are the adjustments for dallas?
Its because they didnt ice the screen and slide their feet
Tatum is reading a lot better but of course, this Mavs D is incomparable to the full strength Miami Heat D several yrs back & last yr. that caused so many TOs from both Js.
Best, least bias analysis Iāve seen on YouTube. Subscribed, canāt wait to tune in after each finals game
I really don't see how Mavs wins this series. Boston may have the best starting 5 from a balance pov we have ever seen. Everyone is a 2 way player, everyone's a shooting threat, everyone's got size. It's absolutely masterful how they built that team.
Let's give some credit for Joe Mazzulla. I'm aware that he's known for Mazzulla Ball offense, and then some of you are watching Awful Coaching's video, but Mazzulla is one of the best defensive coaches in the league, probably the most creative one. You gotta understand that in NBA, you can't stop everything. What you can do is find something to takeaway, and that Game 1 defensive performance seems everything falls into the Celtics defensive gameplan.
No offense to the Wolves, but Celtics has the best defensive ceiling in the league too. Then you gotta worry about how you will stop them too.
Iām on the fenceā¦. Part of me says Celtics are clearly betterā¦. Part of me says western conference is MUCH better. I feel like it would be more fun to watch the nuggets vs Celtics. Perhaps the āwestern conference is harderā narrative is flawed? Luka is amazing of course, I am just scratching my head, Dallas is the western conference champ? Wow. If the Celtics continue to dominate this way I am going to have to rethink some things!
Gaffordvand Lively should get more playing time.
I can see a sweep incoming
I guess you need the clicks.
Excellent Breakdown š
What if dallas just plays the 2 big men at once
Ben Taylor loves being pegged.
Anddd.. where is Kyrie? Oh.. in the fucking clouds š
Yes the Celtics played well. But what I get the most here is Mavs playing awful. Sure Celtics is the #1 team heavy favourite for the championship etc and stats blah blah. A lot of wide open shots just not going in. A lot of good passes just turns into bad/no baskets at all. The fact that Mavs still able to cut the lead to 8. Well it's still Game 1 at the end of the day. If this still goes on in Game 2, well the Mavs are in big trouble. But then again, a series is not over until 1 team gets to 4 so.
Wolves fan here. I've been saying this is how we had to play the Mavs. Just switch and rotate. Instead for some reason, Coach Finch has our guys fighting through the screen like their lives depend on it, or we blitz and it gives the Mavs an easy basket. Boston is amazing. Joe Mazulla really cooked.
Tatum on Gafford is a really smart move. As usual, a very insightful analysis š
Fluka donshit cant guard a parked car and dribbles like a 3rd grader
Mavs have too many weak links.
ahhhh seeing luka fans crying has me cheesing
Defintion of unlucky 7:17, this pretty much sums up the game
looks fairly obvious. the wolves have a great lineup to stop a Big Man centered offense like Denver but lost to a Guard centered offense in Dallas. Boston has a much better time stopping 2 great guards and if Luka and Kyrie dont show up Dallas is done.
The best matchup woild have been Boston vs Nuggets
Surely this means they start gafford and lively together with washington as the SF – Kleber coming off the bench? – Or start kleber with gafford
Get jokicās meat out your mouth
Tatum played insanely well as a second option next to Brown
Maybe i am dumb but almost every pick Jones threw looked like it was egregiously moving.
I'm sorry, Jones is ABSOLUTELY a "lob threat." He can go get any ball that a Dallas center can.
Luka had 30 because Boston wanted him to have the 30-piece. That 1 assist lost them the game
Going into this series, I said Boston should aim to wear down Kyrie and make Luka primarily a scorer. I think the common sense view was that Luka and J-Kidd might need a game or two to try to find adjustments to Boston turning pick-and-roll matchup-hunting upside down. I wasn't sure if Boston's boom-bust 3 pt reliance would lead to some nervy moments where Dallas' execution advantage in clutch-time would make a difference. I think I underestimated how much Boston's defensive execution and gameplanning would give them a different kind of clutch-factor down the stretch. White, Holiday, Porzyngis, Horford, and bench all also seem 100% optimized for playmaking within their skillest and context of their role. I have doubts about Mazzulla but can't deny how perfect their defensive gameplan was executed. Meanwhile, Jrue, who I think lacks as a 100% offensive initiator point guard, was absolutely brilliant at swinging every mini-game-within-the-game to his side. He absolutely killed it in transition and scramble-mode touch pass offense to get ahead of the defensive rotations…. while being the defensive beast both on-the-ball and in the help-zone that we know him to be. What an incredible 5-out player…. As a LBJ guy, man, I wish we had tried to get him in the trade market.
People think its an anomaly and mavs always lose game 1 and come back strongā¦ but this shows they didnāt learn from the in season beat down, match ups are key to winningā¦ also playoff brown is now activated and upgraded to finals brown, they also have the super 6th man in porzingis!! Line up versatility is key to boston winning so many games in the playoffs, and the strategy and schemes from their coaching staff also vastly improved this season, case in point the pre switch when luka hunts for bigs, and tatum guarding the bigs are legit strategy. I think boston line up versatility might be a big factor for this version or line up of dallas. Honestly if they continue to let boston play like this and if boston gonna be aggressive to attack the paint (as they have the luxury of 5 out) and keep defense on them and lively in foul trouble this is gonna be a short short series, Boston abuse them in their last game in the season for what 28? Game 1 in the finals for 18, people who saying boston canāt replicate this aināt watching them play this season. Cause this is who they are this season they different and that is why theyāre historic this season including the playoffs ā¤
Porzingis and Horford together is dangerous lmao..
Mavs have arguably the best player (I myself have always preferred tatum because of his 2 way ability)…but clearly boston has the better team. Even their finals MVP may be debatable. That hasn't been the case for any finals team in recent memory
I think Dallas needs to rethink the dunker spots behind the backboard. I think that's a viable strategy with 7 footers, but not 7'4" Porzingis. The dunker has to try to slide their dunk under the backboard but somehow over Porzingis, and if Porzingis only has to reach 9 ft high to block a dunk attempt, that means Porzingis can cheat out like 8 feet.
If instead of the dunker spot, the dunker made sure they never step behind the backboard, sure it messes with spacing and makes for a slimmer passing lane, but at least Porzingis now has to defend REAL vertical spacing.
I'm not saying that anyone's going to dunk over Porzingis regularly neither btw… but in addition to the backboard playing defense, it's also helping Porzingis with the whistle. If you set up in front of the backboard for a dunk instead of behind it, Porzingis is still going to meet you at the rim much of the time, but 1- you have a chance at getting by over or through his hand, and 2- you have a chance of the refs blowing the whistle.
I'm not delusional though. The fact is… with Porzingis' arrival in good health, the Mavs' plans of dominating the paint are pretty well over. At best, the paint is now just a war zone. The Mavs need to start thinking of their offensive pressure in the paint as a spacing measure, not a viable scoring strategy. By all means, take the dunks when they're there, but understand that the dunks are not going to be there until the Mavs make some 3's and punish the drop-coverage.
Speaking of… Kleber played 18:40 and he took ZERO SHOTS (just 1 layup). That is spacing POISON. He was -15 (worst per minute of anyone on the court). The Celtics were DARING Kleber to shoot the 3 and he won't oblige.
If his shoulder isn't confident enough to shoot when he's alone at the 3, he can't be on the floor. He is ruining the spacing for everyone else.
Finally Dallas met a team that doesn't allow them to crowd the paint and leave ppl in the corners. It really felt like they had a bit of luck with how badly OKC was shooting and how well Luka was shooting againts the Wolves. But that was probably also because Wolves didn't attack Luka that much so he was saving a lot of energy on defense.