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And I don't think Pop has been outcoached, tbh, he hasn't needed to make an adjustment, yet..
Carlisle has coached a great series, so far, and it's Pop that will need to counter in game 3, making changes for the first time in months..
- Spurs starters were dominant on defense, once again..
Similar to game 1, the Spurs' starters had virtually no problems against the Mavs' half-court offense, tbh.
Dallas shot 4-18 from the field against the Spurs' starting 5-man unit, along with 2 FTs and 1 turnover. Dirk Nowitzki could not figure out Tiago Splitter, as we saw in game 1, as he shot 1-9 from the field against Tiago. Even when Dallas scored, it was mostly FGA's that San Antonio's defense will happily concede, such as Shawn Marion 3s and Dejuan Blair floaters.
While the box score indicates that Marion and Ellis had a substantial impact in scoring the ball, neither did much in the half court against the Spurs' starters tbh.
- The bench got completely annihilated..
The Spurs' bench continues to struggle and looks overwhelmed against a Mavs' defense led by the ty Devin Harris, Vince Carter and Dejuan "inevitable bankruptcy" Blair's fat ass.
The Mavs' shot a ridiculous 17-24 from the field against any Spurs' unit that featured at least 3 bench players, along with 4 FTAs(these units did force 4 turnovers, to be fair). It's going to be difficult to beat a team when they're scoring around 1.5 PPP against a bench that has not been able to counter offensively, outside of Manu Ginobili.
Marco "The Hooptie" Bellineli is one of the worst defensive players in the league, as most Spurs fans are aware of, and the Beli/Diaw pick&roll defense has been getting torched in this series, so far.
I understand Patty Mills' defensive style is relentless hounding and full-court pressure, but his positioning against Devin Harris has been atrocious. We'll see how or if the Spurs adjust in game 3, but I hope they didn't overreact to Harris' fluky 3-point shooting in game 1. Harris shot 30% from 3-point range this season and 33% overall on jump shots. He's not a good shooter from long-range, but he's a decent mid-range shooter, yet the Spurs continue to go over screens and give him the mid-range J.
Mills wasn't the only culprit, as Bellineli and Ginobili made the same decision against Harris.
This leads to a straight drive and floater(I only uploaded this instance of Mills vs. Harris, there are many others that display the same results):
This leads to an easy Harris drive + pass to Blair for the layup:
Same decision by Manu allows Harris to drive, Belinelli is playing way too deep and leaves a 40% 3-point shooter wide open:
To be fair, I doubt Harris will keep this up, as he usually struggles with the floater he's been making in the first 2 games and he's generally just an overall, mediocre player. However, I'd be much more comfortable giving him looks from longer range and going under the screens, rather than the defender constantly trailing him and giving him the J or floater from 10-15 feet.
Another major issue with the bench defense is "the greatest coach of all-time" deciding to cover Monta Ellis(in his athletic prime) with a 36-year old Manu Ginobili(while that 36-year old also has to anchor the offense on the other end of the floor). Ellis all over Manu, as expected, going 3 for 3 from the field, assisting on 2 pick&roll plays, and drawing 2 fouls. To his credit, Manu forced 2 turnovers against Ellis, but why the is Ginobili guarding Ellis in the first place, tbh?
At this point of his career, Manu is better suited to guard opposing SFs, which is something he has excelled at this season. The decision to have him guard Monta ing Ellis, just so you can keep Bellineli on the floor, doesn't make any sense to me. Even with Leonard in foul trouble, there's no reason Danny Green, or maybe even Joseph, can't take the Ellis assignment.
Pop is going to have to make a decision on having Bellineli on the floor IMO.
- Turnovers were the biggest reason for the loss, obviously..
As everybody has pointed out already, turnovers were the reason for the large deficit in this game. The Spurs were below the league average in turnovers this season, while Dallas was the 6th worst in generating turnovers, yet it was Dallas that used the massive discrepancy to their advantage last night, scoring a ridiculous 33 points off turnovers.
Originally, I had thought the turnovers were mostly due to poor spacing, but after watching the game for a second time, it was mostly sloppy passing and poor decisions from the Spurs, tbh.
On this particular play, the play is developing where Boris is going to be wide open for 3, as Dirk chooses to follow Splitter and leave Diaw. Rather than passing it to Diaw, Manu chooses to force it into Splitter, leading to a turnover and Mavs points:
- Manu was stripped way too many times, including 2 plays where he would have had a good look at the rim. He also lost the ball on his own 2 times IIRC
- Parker couldn't make his usual passes between defenders, particularly to Splitter, the Mavs had 3 kick-balls on Parker pass attempts, in addition to the turnovers
- Splitter dropped an easy pass from Tony on the fastbreak
- Diaw had a strange turnover where he drove from the 3-point line and barreled into 3 defenders
- Duncan had the worst turnover of the night, Tragic Johnson on the fastbreak, throwing it right into the hands of Monta Ellis in the Spurs' backcourt
- Danny Green had 2 absolutely awful turnovers in the 1st quarter trying to make passes that weren't available
- Screens were half-assed..
Splitter's screens are usually overlooked and an underrated trait of his game, but I thought his screens lacked physicality and energy in game 2. His screens for Tony against Marion were completely ineffective, Marion went right through most of them and it directly affected the Spurs' offense IMO.
His off-ball screens were also much worse than usual.
Ayres' screens were awful, he had an illegal screen and he couldn't help Mills get open on 2 occasions. If Pop is going to waste minutes on a 4th big, Baynes might be a better option(health permitting), as his ability to set screens is probably more effective than anything Ayres is providing the team.
- Dejuan Blair was the worst defensive big on the floor, as usual..
The Spurs ran 9 plays that directly involved a Dejuan Blair rotation/action, and they scored on 6 of the 9 plays. His rotations were terrible and his pick&roll defense was embarrassing, as usual. Unfortunately, Blair had 2 strips and a deflection(Diaw's fault on the deflection, poor entry pass to Tim) that led to points, but the Spurs should and will continue to exploit Blair when he's on the floor.
- Minute allocation..
It's the playoffs, a regular season rotation is not going to work, tbh. Leonard needs to play 40 minutes per game, he's 22 years old, especially when Monta Ellis is on the floor against the Spurs' bench unit.
Green and Leonard should be playing much, much more.
- Spacing is a huge concern..
The lack of spacing and rhythm on offense currently looks like it did earlier in the season when the Spurs' were slumping. The combination of Duncan/Splitter is eating space in the lane. The problem earlier in the season was not only Green/Leonard not making 3-pointers, but also Duncan's terrible mid-range shooting. The Mavs have taken away the looks from Kawhi and Danny, and Tim isn't even thinking about shooting the mid-range J.
Against other teams, the Spurs could go with Diaw or Leonard at the 4, but Splitter's success in guarding Nowitzki makes him a necessecity for the Spurs' defense in this series. They must deal with the spacing problems with their starting unit, rather than making a rotational switch IMO.
The Spurs opened the game with a nice play to open up Danny Green against a sleeping Calderon:
They did not do nearly enough of this the rest of the game IMO, lazy screens and no energy. They attempted to run 2 more screen plays for Green in the 3rd quarter, but Calderon was able to contest both shots, as Splitter set lazy screens, as I said in my previous point.
As frightening as it may be, Duncan may have to take a few more mid-range jump shots, tbh. His shot has been unreliable all season, but the Spurs' starting unit needs spacing, especially since it doesn't appear that Pop is going to divert from pick&roll Parker-ball.
- Lack of post touches..
Other than turnovers, nothing disappointed me more than the lack of post touches from the Spurs.
The Mavs' defense's worst attribute this season was their post defense, where they ranked 17th in the league. They have struggled heavily against Tim Duncan in the past, including game 1, where they had no answer.
The Spurs had only 7 post touches in game 2. Not 7 shots, but 7 touches(I'm exluding Splitter's 2 post shots, since they were broken plays). Tim Duncan only had 5 touches in the post, with only 1 shot attempt. Out of those 7 post touches, the Spurs scored 6 times.
The first instinct is to assume Duncan was either double-teamed or passive, but after watching the game, that simply wasn't the case. The Spurs were not patient in getting Duncan the ball, opting to go elsewhere rather than waiting for Tim to fight for position. Other than 1 bad turnover, every Duncan post touch resulted in a score or a foul for the Spurs. The Mavs only double-teamed Duncan on 1 occasion, where Tim passed it to Splitter under the rim for an easy layup.
Boris Diaw had 2 post touches, he scored on both.
The Mavs' are clearly content with allowing Duncan, along with Diaw or Splitter, to beat them inside. For some reason, the Spurs didn't comply. I don't think there's any excuse for only 7 post touches against a poor interior defense, tbh, especially in a game where the perimeter creators were unable to get to the rim or set up teammates for easy baskets.
TL: DR
- That many turnovers in a single game, mostly unforced, against the 6th worst turnover-generating team in the league is highly unlikely to occur again, tbh. This was the primary reason the Spurs lost.
- Only 7 post touches all game is inexcusable, I expect the Spurs to run it down low more often in game 3.
- Mavs have been awful against the Spurs' starters in the half-court.
- The Spurs bench play, Pop's minute allocation and the poor spacing is my only concern for the series. I don't believe the Mavs can play much better than they have so far IMO.
Last edited by Malik Hairston; 04-24-2014 at 09:11 PM.
And I don't think Pop has been outcoached, tbh, he hasn't needed to make an adjustment, yet..
Carlisle has coached a great series, so far, and it's Pop that will need to counter in game 3, making changes for the first time in months..
Solid work, "Hairston". The Spurs are used to coasting through the first round of the playoffs. I think the best thing for them is to face a coach smart enough to point out their weaknesses.
on the analysis
Great analysis! Loved reading it, thanks for writing that up! Seeing your post about the lack of touches Duncan got may be the reason for his poor body language. I just feel that Duncan is simply tired of having teammates that lack aggression and are afraid of playoff basketball.
I agree..what would you do about the bench defense, tbh, particularly Beli/Mills?..and the spacing?..
Although I''m not fan of his, your boy Joseph could be useful in this series..
Can I ask why you're a Malik Hairston fan? I'm a huge duck fan, born and raised and currently finishing grad school at the UofO. I was and am still extremely disappointed it didn't work out for him at SA.
I agree with most everything else, but I don't agree with this.
Nowitzki has played like the first two games. Carter hasn't turned in anything to write home about either. And yet it took a last minute flurry to secure game one, and game two was a downright embarrassment of offensive basketball.
The question now is who is going to wake up first...Dirk, or the Spurs bench?
Great read MH, you broke that down like a boss!
Excellent Analysis
Harlem with the goods as usual
Bruno and you are the only posters takes I bother to read and Bruno has a since everyone was ting on the frenchies on the team
Im hoping Pop plays Tiago the way he did Bowen matching him minute for minute with Dirk since all Dirks field goals come vs Diaw even if they were fade aways
the biggest thing everyone is crying about is how the Spurs arent moving the ball and playing regular season ball
The Spurs broadcast especially last night was getting cringeworthy with the incessant wining by Elliott
Spurs just have to take what the defense gives them and if they want Dirk guarding Tony on the perimeter then Tony has to abuse that matchup
you would think he of all people would have no problem heroing like everyone on this forum thinks he does but hes been passive
when the switch occurs they cant let Dalembert switch his guy with the guard on Tim and have to abuse that matchup
Spurs have had no problem overall scoring against the D and its basically all been Devin Harris and the bench who are winning this matchup for Dallas
Pop has to go to the starters more like the GS series as you pointed out and Leonard has to stop picking up stupid fouls, hes been in foul trouble in both first halfs this series and hes a passive player so he has to get going early otherwise he can pull a 2013-2014 playoffs James Harden tbh..
The turnovers probably wont happen at that level again since Dallas isnt a defensive force or athletic team
really just have to find a way to contain Harris and its over for Dallas
Belenelli just cant play much this series since Carter has abused him all year long
defensively I think they have to have Tiago guarding the Mavs PF not named Brendan Wright
when Tiago is guarding Wright and he steps up to guard Harris he just lobs it over to him
If hes guarding the other screener he can step up and Boris can contain Wright easier since he cant do much but dunk
basically just keeping a man on Wright at all times and having Tiago cutting of the mid range area from Harris or switching if he needs to like the Mavs have done this series
playcojo has been a necessity since game one. Can't keep having mills getting burned when we already have so many holes on the defensive end coming off the bench.
Good right up, but I'm surprised you didn't dedicate a whole section, or even mention the fact that Jeff Pendergraph checked into the game, at a point where there was still hope.
The best thing to do is take out one of Beli and Mills and play Green more. I liked what Joseph has done in the series so far, so I would also like Cory to replace Mills. Patty's defense has been awful, and Cory can run an offense as a secondary or tertiary ball-handler better than Mills can. Ginobili should not be on Ellis, and with the ball movement suffering, Mills' spot-shooting is not a huge asset.
The Spurs should also try going small from time to time.
I'd also consider bringing in Manu for Leonard instead of Green. Danny can check Ellis until Carter comes in, after which point Leonard can come back in. I like Kawhi on Vince more than anyone else. It would also give Leonarda chance to play with the bench without Parker and Duncan hogging the ball.
The Spurs always seem to get utterly blown out at least once every year in the playoffs. Hopefully, Game 2 was the only time.
Good .
22 year old playing 29 minutes
Pop and his stupid ass micromanagiing
Perhaps he wants to go with the regular season rotation that way if they somehow pull it off everyone would be calling him the greatest of all time...
great writeup... much appreciated
Solid write-up, Harlem/Malik.
Kawhi screwed himself with idiotic fouls in the first half, IMHO. He would have gotten 35+ minutes otherwise, probably. Not that he was playing worth a damn, in any case...22 year old playing 29 minutes
Pop and his stupid ass micromanagiing
Perhaps he wants to go with the regular season rotation that way if they somehow pull it off everyone would be calling him the greatest of all time...
Oh so now people wanna play CoJo? all y'all. Tbh.
I wouldn't mind sending out a no-PG lineup, tbh. Cojo is garbage. Maybe Manu/Belli/Green/Diaw/Splitter could work, though Manu would probably turn the basketball over too much and Belli has been sucking as bad as Patty... I don't know.Oh so now people wanna play CoJo? all y'all. Tbh.
How many minutes did he play in game 1 again?
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