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How the Mavs took advantage of a small, switching Pelicans defense down the stretch

Luka Dončić was spectacular Friday night, scoring 14 fourth quarter points to bring his career high to 46 in a 13 point Mavericks win over the Pelicans. I wanted to focus on a four minute stretch in the fourth quarter where the Mavs iced the game through Luka after Brandon Ingram brought the Pels back within 12, with 6:10 to go. The Mavericks exploited Zion and Ingram’s weaker perimeter defense through screening actions which switched them onto Luka in isolation, leading to several key buckets down the stretch, extending the lead out of the Pelicans reach.

The first of these possessions came at the 6:10 mark in the quarter, the first Mavs offensive possession after Zion was subbed back into the game. I believe that Carlisle made this adjustment during the timeout a minute prior, as after the substitution the Mavs went into this offensive set for the next several minutes. As seen in the play below, Josh Hart begins the play guarding Luka, as the Pelicans had gone small, taking Steven Adams out of the game in favor of having Brandon Ingram guard KP, with Zion guarding Kleber. The Pelicans are switching 1-5 here, with Ingram the lengthiest defender on the court. However, the Pelicans switch heavy defense allowed the Mavs to switch Zion onto Luka, by bringing in Kleber on screens, usually after an initial screen by KP.

Below I’ve pulled footage of seven possessions which represent this action.

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In this first play however, the Pelicans do not switch, with Ingram fighting over the screen to stay on Luka, after he himself was switched onto Luka via a Porziņģis screen. Dončić is able to keep BI on his hip, drawing contact and getting to the free throw line after he drove to the basket. This is thanks to a great Kleber screen on Zion, as the lane is clear for a Luka drive. While the play didn’t work perfectly, it soon would on the next Mavs possession.

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This time the double screen works to perfection, as Zion is switched onto Luka at the top of the three point arc. Kleber clears out giving Dončić this isolation against Williamson. Luka blows by Zion to his right before attempting a tough finish, but luckily KP is there for clean up duty, getting an easy two points.

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The next Mavs possession Zion plays good defense, preventing a Dončić drive, forcing him to pass out to Richardson, with the possession ending with a tough mid-range shot from KP.

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This time the Pelicans decide to have Zion remain on KP and Brandon Ingram chase Kleber to be switched onto Dončić. After the switch Luka drives into a mid-range which he buries with ease.

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On this possession only a single screen is used, but the result is the same as Zion is playing isolation defense on Dončić. Luka drives into the space before quickly coming to a stop and dancing around the helpless Williamson into an easy layup. This forced a timeout from Stan Van Gundy, and he made an adjustment during the timeout which stifled this action by the Mavs.

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The play begins in a very similar way to the previous ones, with Kleber coming to set a screen, but this time the Pelicans decide to trap Luka, with Zion flying past the screen towards Dončić. This forces an escape pass from Luka to Kleber, with the possession ending in a deep step-back 3 from Dončić. This is a win for the Pelicans, as forcing the ball out of Luka’s hands and attempting to make other Mavericks beat you has to be the goal, especially when his shooting is as good as Friday night.

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This time the trap comes before the screen can occur, with Lonzo Ball helping after a short pass from Richardson, Ball’s man, to Dončić. This trap forces another escape pass from Luka and the possession ending with a Finney-Smith corner 3, which he misses. This is another variation on the trap that the Pelicans used to try and salvage something from this game, but the possessions before the timeout made sure the game was out of reach.

Thanks to both teams playing abysmal defense on Friday, even with the Mavericks up 12 with six minutes to go I still didn’t feel safe, as we have had several poor fourth quarters this season. However, the Mavs took advantage of the Pelicans small, switching defense to give Luka isolations and easy looks which he took advantage of to put the game out of reach late. The fourth win in a row for the Mavs gives them momentum heading into a Valentine’s Day clash with the Portland Trail Blazers, who last played the Mavs in the bubble, with Damian Lillard dropping 61 in a 134–131 win for his side.

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