[NBA University] Tatum passed out of 61.1% (!) of his drives last night… He only passed out of 25.2% of his drives this season. DAL was collapsing hard on Tatum. He also passed out of a couple drives that could’ve been rim FGA. Monitoring if DAL continues to schematically prefer Tatum passing.
by bryscoon
20 Comments
Man often got triple teamed from Dallas. If that’s how they want to play it, fine. Pretty sure that Jaylen, Jrue, Tingus, White, etc can score on them just fine as well
Tatum should average 30 against double/triple team. He should be able to score against 3 players and it’s better to do that than pass to wide open Derrick white, Jrue holiday, Sam Hauser for three.
r/nba logic
Mav’s approach on defense was kinda head scratching. They helped way too much. I understand that’s their typical style of defense to protect the rim, but it’s like they were surprised that the Celtics have 5 shooters on the floor.
The other part of it was obviously that Celtics were cooking Luka and Kyrie.
It seems to me that Brown also passed out of drives a few extra times. It looked like some kind of game plan to me, but I guess it was as a result of Dallas’ defensive strategy.
It’ll be interesting to see if Dallas stays with that scheme for the rest of the series. It allowed a lot of open shots for other guys. Is that really a better plan for Dallas than letting JT get his?
I liked the gameplan honestly.
It broke Ant and the Timberwolves, so why not try it. It more or less broke Tatum “the iso-scorer” in this game (37.5% w/ 6 turnovers), but Tatum “the willing passer” hockey assisted his way to like 50pts, the highest +-, and a win b/c everyone else was hooping.
The worst thing that could happen to the Mavs is the arrival of “nuclear” Tatum, so that’s the type 1 error with any gameplan imo.
I think they use the same base gameplan in game 2 but be way more physical (foul until they call it), close a lot harder to shooters and run them off 3, and gamble on passing lanes a bit more. See if Tatum is willing to continue making the right plays that don’t show up in box scores & risk not being Finals MVP and all the media criticism he’d get.
Not sure what other gameplan would make sense…and that’s the beauty of this team.
Hope they do. Easy buckets.
bbbbbbut
everybody said he played HORRIBLE
Tatum looked a bit nervous to start and made some bad passes, he’ll settle in the next game and it’ll be a different story
Tatum had 6 turnovers and did not shoot well but I still believe he had an effective game. He was active defensively and rebounded well. He scored at key points. He had 5 assists but he moved the ball continually. He also has the 2nd highest +|- (Holiday +20, Tatum +19) and was far and away the highest plus minus until the game was out of reach well into the 4th qtr.
He’s making the right plays drawing 3 defenders
If the Mavs want to go after Tatum that’s fine. They seemed to have forgotten that he isn’t the only scorer on the Celtics.
Brown, Porzingis, White, Jrue. Have all shown they can make up for it when Tatum isn’t scoring.
There were a few I felt like he beat his man and should’ve taken to the hoop, but it was clearly an emphasis for him to collapse the defense and move the ball, which worked well obviously.
Dallas also really over helped a lot last night, which is what you have to do to cover for Luka and why I don’t wanna hear any more bullshit about how Luka’s actually a good defender. Their whole scheme is designed to protect him.
Yeah the narrative around Tatum playing poorly lastnight is mystifying. I mean I get it everybody wants to hate on this guy for not being MJ every night , but , he consistently makes the right basketball play, defenses focus entirely on him, his passing is great, his defense is great, and he might not be hot shooting but he almost always comes up with timely shots. Both Jays have become elite at making the right play at the right time, shifting and riding momentum, controlling the feel of the game, reading and dictating to the opponent – rather than just reacting.
The beauty of this team as that because anybody can get it going on any night, everyone buys in to all aspects of winning basketball. When everyone does that, it’s expected that everybody is gonna have off nights offensively… but there’s always someone who can step in and pick up that production, so that the off hand can focus on defense, pace, and playmaking
This is really the best sign of Tatum’s maturity. Out of control iso drives was a big problem for him in the playoffs 2 years ago, he is good but not a world class finisher like Lebron or Jocik. Getting the defense in rotation is far better if he can avoid turnovers.
Boston has 6 all stars basically. Doesn’t matter what Dallas does.
I don’t remember all the hate back in 08 with pierce and company. This is the same shit we have 3 legit 20+ ppg scorers in any given night. It’s a team sport as much as we want to think one player can win it takes a team defensively and offensively. Tatum can go 0-16 as long as we win it doesn’t matter
There are Mavs fans on social complaining that he wasn’t doubled and that Celtics fans should stop calling it a double when it was actually their zone defense collapsing.
Like…ok. Whatever you want to fucking call it, you gave up too many open threes and Tatum read you like a book.
Let’s get this fucking chip
Drive and kick is a big threat with him. Everyone has seen how he can get to the rim and finish. Give me a drive and hockey assist over a step back three any day.