Defensive Strategy on Doncic

[jmen788]

What do folks think... give Brown the assignment? A mix of folks? I think this is a big part of the series. I am really confident with D White and Jrue Glue on Irving. How do we stop Luka and lob city?

[Phantom255x]

Primarily Jaylen with a mix of Tatum/Holiday depending on rotations.

Jaylen has typically taken the assignment on Doncic. Doncic will usually still get his but he'll have to work for it but also, on the other end he's gonna have a real tough time defending our guys and won't be able to hide like the other series. I wonder if that might also affect his offense slightly.

[Who]

I would think #1 Jaylen #2 Jrue #3 Tatum.

Jaylen should have the best mix of height, strength and length to bother Luka. More so than D White or Jrue. Jrue the next best with his strength.

Tatum might be the best overall defender to put on Luka but you don't want to tire him out or get him in foul trouble. So I have him as 3rd choice. Tatum is bigger than Jaylen. Even more height, length and strength. A different look for Luka.

[Who]

I was watching a video of Cuttino Mobley giving out about Minnesota not blitzing Doncic in the PnR to force the ball out of his hands. I don't know about that.

Dodgy to leave Kyrie on the weakside in a 4-on-3 scenario. Kyrie one of the most lethal ball-handlers, shooters & scorers in the league.

Blitzing Luka is what you would want to do but it is tough to do with Kyrie there. Maybe a good tactic to use when Kyrie is on the bench and it is guys like Josh Green or Tim Hardaway out there instead.

[jmen788]

Primarily Jaylen with a mix of Tatum/Holiday depending on rotations.

Jaylen has typically taken the assignment on Doncic. Doncic will usually still get his but he'll have to work for it but also, on the other end he's gonna have a real tough time defending our guys and won't be able to hide like the other series. I wonder if that might also affect his offense slightly.

Good point! Because Kyrie will get TOASTED by us on defense... or at least he should. I honestly know nothing about Doncic on defense but as long as D White isn't trying to huck 3s nonstop and clanking them as has been the case lately...

[Goldstar88]

Doncic has said that he believes Jrue is the best defensive guard in the league, so I’d go with him. Let D-White guard Kyrie.

[celticinorlando]

Make him work defensively.

[#1P4P]

I would start Jaylen on Luka.

I would actively bait him into taking isolation possessions against Al for the first 3 quarters. Then give him a steady diet of Jaylen and Holiday, while making him and Kyrie guard the actions on offense as often as possible in the 4th.

Great players like Luka are only deterred by fatigue and that would be the strategy to implement.

Al is a good, physical defender. He holds up well unless the ball handler is shooting after the pick.  His worst matchup came in the last 2022 Finals with Curry shooting off the Draymond handoff. Luka’s not Curry as an outside shooter and Al has the ability to stay with him on drives.

He’s also one of our lowest USG players. Luka wants to go one on one against Al, while freezing out the rest of the Mavs and letting the rest of our team stay fresh for offense? Let him. We’ll see him on the other end of the court as well. He’ll be worn out at the most decisive moments of the games and running on fumes by game 3.

[Atzar]

Keep switching up primary assignments (probably Brown and Jrue mostly, save Tatum for crunch time) and screen coverages and do as well as we can. 

Statistically the best option is to blitz the pick and roll.  We don't do that much traditionally, probably time for that to change.  I'm legitimately less concerned about Lively or Gafford making ball decisions on the short roll in a 4-on-3 situation than I am about Luka toasting a 70% KP in iso on the perimeter (pre-switching somebody like Tatum might be an option at times though), and the drop is only slightly better.  But Luka will adjust to anything with enough reps, so there's no single magic strategy that we can use every single trip down the court.  Wish it was that simple. 

Our help defense will have to be timely and smart.  We have the personnel to make life hard for them, but I'm a touch concerned that we'll try to coast by with our B effort until go time like we did in the Indiana series.  It worked against Nembhard and Siakam.  It won't work against Luka.  We need to be locked in from the start of every game. 

[jpotter33]

Keep switching up primary assignments (probably Brown and Jrue mostly, save Tatum for crunch time) and screen coverages and do as well as we can. 

Statistically the best option is to blitz the pick and roll.  We don't do that much traditionally, probably time for that to change.  I'm legitimately less concerned about Lively or Gafford making ball decisions on the short roll in a 4-on-3 situation than I am about Luka toasting a 70% KP in iso on the perimeter (pre-switching somebody like Tatum might be an option at times though), and the drop is only slightly better.  But Luka will adjust to anything with enough reps, so there's no single magic strategy that we can use every single trip down the court.  Wish it was that simple. 

Our help defense will have to be timely and smart.  We have the personnel to make life hard for them, but I'm a touch concerned that we'll try to coast by with our B effort until go time like we did in the Indiana series.  It worked against Nembhard and Siakam.  It won't work against Luka.  We need to be locked in from the start of every game.

I think with it both being the Finals and the Mavs having two elite level, well-known players like Luka and Kyrie that we won't take them for granted like we did some of the East opponents. I'm thinking we'll see a locked in Celtics team from the get-go, realizing that they can't just coast against someone like Luka.

[liam]

We have a bunch of guys that can guard him but I wouldn't rule out Tillman getting some minutes on him.

[SparzWizard]

Just don't switch everything and end up with Horford or Zinger on Luka or Kyrie.

[Vermont Green]

I see three tiers of strategy on defending Doncic.  Who starts out on him is only the first tier.  My guess is that Holiday will be on him the most, but Brown and White will probably start some possessions on him as well.

The second tier of the strategy is the man that is brought into the play by the screener.  What DAL will want to do is have Porzingis or Horford on Gafford or Lively, and than that will be the screen combination.  If we switch, Doncic ends up with Horford or Porzingis.  What the Celtics have been doing so far in the playoffs is putting Tatum on the guy that is most likely to be the screener.  You may see Tatum on Gafford and Horford on Washington, for example.  Then if Gafford screens for Doncic, Tatum can just switch.

The other nuance to getting the screen combo the way you want it is that DAL can do an off ball screen to try and get Tatum off of Gafford, to get that match up the way they want it, before coming to screen for Doncic.

The third tier of the strategy is whether to switch, blitz, double, drop, whatever, at the point of attack.  This will depend on who the defender is that gets pulled into it by the screener, as much as it is about how is on Doncic to start.  I think the best way to handle this is switch unless it is Porzingis and maybe Horford, and if it is a big, just drop and take your chances that Doncic takes a 3.  That is better than letting Doncic into the lane where he has the triple option of shoot, pass, or get fouled or be iso'ed on a big.  But you need to prepare so that you can change it up.  You probably aren't going to do the same thing all game or all series.

[ozgod]

What do folks think... give Brown the assignment? A mix of folks? I think this is a big part of the series. I am really confident with D White and Jrue Glue on Irving. How do we stop Luka and lob city?

Whoever it is will be screened off immediately. So unless they plan to fight over screens all the time, to me it's really who they put on the big who will be doing the screening, who will be switched on to Luka. I think they will have KP or Horford guarding one of the wings, like Lively or Washington, and have Tatum on Gafford. That way whoever the screener is will have to be one of the wings if they want Luka on to a big.

EDIT: What @Vermont Green said 

[ozgod]

Keep switching up primary assignments (probably Brown and Jrue mostly, save Tatum for crunch time) and screen coverages and do as well as we can. 

Statistically the best option is to blitz the pick and roll.  We don't do that much traditionally, probably time for that to change.  I'm legitimately less concerned about Lively or Gafford making ball decisions on the short roll in a 4-on-3 situation than I am about Luka toasting a 70% KP in iso on the perimeter (pre-switching somebody like Tatum might be an option at times though), and the drop is only slightly better.  But Luka will adjust to anything with enough reps, so there's no single magic strategy that we can use every single trip down the court.  Wish it was that simple. 

Our help defense will have to be timely and smart.  We have the personnel to make life hard for them, but I'm a touch concerned that we'll try to coast by with our B effort until go time like we did in the Indiana series.  It worked against Nembhard and Siakam.  It won't work against Luka.  We need to be locked in from the start of every game.

There's an article about LeBum talking to JJ on his podcast about how he thought the worst mistake Minny did was blitz Luka on pick and rolls because of that reason you mentioned, he will find open shooters and they do have good shooters. Or he will find Lively or Gafford in the dunkers spot.

LeBron James advice on guarding Luka Doncic
Don't blitz Luka Doncic
LeBron gave his thoughts on the best way to guard Doncic during his Mind the Game podcast. The number one piece of advice he gave was to avoid blitzing him.

"I don't understand it, especially with the shooting they surround him with. It doesn't make sense," LeBron told his co-host JJ Redick. "He's going to make every read."

The Wolves' decision to blitz Luka was not novel. He was the most blitzed player in the league by far, because teams will do anything to get the ball out of his hands. The Lakers also tried blitzing Luka earlier in the year, much to the chagrin of LeBron. "Dante Exum hit five or six 3's," he noted.

The Celtics may end up taking LeBron's advice. They are one of the least frequent blitzing teams, depending on their players to fight over screens quickly and recover instead.

https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/luka-doncic-defensive-coverage-lebron-james-celtics-should-try/d548a28e92722f8d11e7d372

I think they will stick with what has worked for them all season, which is switch almost every screen. The decision will be if they go drop coverage with KP there or switch him too and just send help at that point.