DALLAS – For a copycat league, NBA teams use different terminology for the same concepts. When a player is traded, understanding a new playbook is more like learning a new language, another dialect, for the same actions and ideas that his previous employer described differently. The playoffs, for example, are full of All-Stars calling for ball screens, forcing a change of defenders, allowing the star to isolate himself against his preferred matchup. The Mavericks call this an “elephant hunt,” as these Western Conference champions often found ideal opponents for Luka Dončić or Kyrie Irving to ambush in the Isles in the first three rounds of this postseason.
Rudy Gobert was one of those victims, the “elephant” that Dončić hunted at the end of Game 2 in Minnesota. And as the NBA Finals returned to Dallas, with the Mavericks facing the same 2-0 deficit in which Dončić’s dagger sank the Timberwolves, Dallas was sure to prioritize picking certain Celtics defenders in every perimeter pick. Dončić and Irving. and dribbling.
“We were trying to put Al Horford on it, any other elephants, and try to get the mismatches,” Mavericks center Dereck Lively II said Wednesday night after a 106-99 Boston win that left the Celtics up 3-0 and within earshot. of the franchise’s 18th championship. “Getting space and taking the photos we like.”
These elephants may also be the smallest members of Boston’s list. “When you have Luka facing Payton Pritchard or [Derrick] White in the post, someone else in the post, we feel really good about that,” Irving said.
The biggest problem for Dallas, the elephant at the American Airlines Center, is that Dončić presents himself as a target for Boston’s ball handlers. For all his gifts, for all his magic in orchestrating the Mavericks’ offense, for his no-look dishes and his triple step-backs, Dončić lacks the foot speed and awareness of many defensive possessions that opened the floodgates for the Celtics stable. of gunners. It tested the limits of what the NBA’s one-sided brilliance can truly achieve, and now Dallas is failing its toughest exam. His final two fourth-quarter fouls on Wednesday night, the fifth and sixth that disqualified him from a postseason game for the first time in his playoff career, came when Dončić failed to keep Jaylen Brown in front of him two times within 26 seconds. “Yeah, he definitely has a target on his chest,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said of Dončić.
There were enough instances in Game 2 on Sunday – of Dončić’s man exploding with his lackluster stance, of the All-NBA superstar getting lost in space, not knowing which Celtic to defend – to compile 73 seconds of lowlights. Throughout Game 3, Dončić was again targeted and played with by Brown, Jayson Tatum, White and whoever else the 6-foot-1 guard ended up scoring. “They’re putting him in every pick-and-roll and iso,” Kidd said. The Celtics have also been masterful at forcing Dončić to fight through off-ball screens while coaxing smaller defenders like Irving to stand sentry under the rim, so when Boston’s drivers get past Dončić there is little resistance left on the basket.
“When you have these guys making decisions, playing with high IQs, they’re going to make you pay for your mistakes,” Irving said.
Dončić handles one of the biggest offensive loads in the league. He dragged a bad leg and knee with the Los Angeles Clippers, before adding a sprained ankle to his medical record in the Mavericks’ second-round win over Oklahoma City. And then Dončić was listed as questionable before Game 2 in Boston with a “thoracic contusion,” a chest bruise that, according to ESPN, required a painkilling injection for Dončić to play. The Mavericks scored 9 points in minutes when Dončić fell to the court on Wednesday in a game Dallas only lost by 7 points. And yet, he was resigned to watching the final 4:12 of the contest from the sideline with those six fouls, while his complaints about the officiating continued throughout the night and during his new postgame conference.
When asked by Yahoo Sports about his perspective on being the elephant Boston is hunting, and what responsibility Dončić can take for his defensive deficiencies, he again pointed out the whistles before acknowledging his own responsibility. “Every time they draw, [the officials] basically call a foul,” Dončić said. “I try to be better. So, I have to improve. Later, when asked about the fouls committed against him in the fourth game, Dončić deflected his role in the matter. “We couldn’t play physically. I don’t know. I don’t want to say anything. You know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, basically I’m like this…” Dončić gestured with his palms outstretched. “Come on man. Be better than that.”
He has proven that he gets up when he is motivated to drag his feet. Dončić stayed with Brown on the left wing late in the Game 2 comeback to force a crucial save. He blocked White at the start of Game 3. But there is many more examples de Dončić stranded in no man’s land, too far away to contest a clearance, with his head and body turned to allow the weak-side cutters free tickets to the edge. Boston also doesn’t plan on letting him off the hook anytime soon. “I don’t think he gets tired,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “It looks really cool out there. I think we could do a better job at times of being intentional on offense with spacing, but I don’t see him getting tired at all.
Perhaps this series could be a turning point in Dončić’s development. These Celtics have certainly swallowed their lumps and learned the lessons of their fall to Golden State in the Finals two years ago and their 3-0 loss to Miami in last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals. Dončić is just 25 years old, having led the Mavericks to the Western Finals twice in three years and to this stage of the championship with a young squad that, outside of Irving, has little playoff experience. Lively is just a 20-year-old rookie. Acquisition Deadline for Acquisition PJ Washington has never reached the postseason at this point. Daniel Gafford has seen just five playoff games with the Wizards in 2021.
These weaknesses in the Dallas franchise, however, are nothing new. They follow him in the FIBA game, where Dončić was ejected from Slovenia’s quarterfinal against Canada in last September’s World Cup thanks to two technical fouls. Dončić could have been available for the final stretch of Game 3 if he hadn’t committed a silly foul early in the third quarter, 27 yards from the Mavericks’ basket, out of frustration at his own non-call. He caught Pritchard full court, only to be called for another foul. For Dallas to avoid a sweep, for Dallas to do better the next time they make the Finals – if there is a next time in this league’s current landscape where nothing is guaranteed – Dončić’s defense and his approach to all that implies may be the biggest obstacle left to climb.
“It’s not the first time a team has tried to target Luka on defense,” Irving said. “So for us, we’re just trying to put a great defense around not just him but the rest of the team.
“He needs to be able to defend himself and understand that we are there to protect him and help him if he is defeated,” Kidd said.
