Defensive Strategy on Doncic

[aefgogreen]

Make him work defensively.

I’d give you more than one Tommy point if I could. The biggest advantage we have is all of our offensive fire power. Whoever he’s guarding, will have the opportunity to score, so go at him and either get the basket, get him in foul trouble, or wear him down.
 

[Vermont Green]

I agree that we need to produce a balanced offensive attack so that everyone has to play defense, including Luka.  We don't want to let him just stand in the corner.  But I think we also need to be careful not take ourselves out of our regular offense because we are trying to match up hunt to make Luka work.  If we work our offense, work our sets, that should be enough to force everyone to play defense.

On any given possession, we may be better off attacking Kyrie for example, or getting a 3 for Porzingis or Horford (making Gafford/Lively come out).  There may be times that we want to attack Luka, maybe have Brown take him down low, but don't let that get you out of what you need to do.

We should be the better, more balanced team.  We should do what we do and force them to adjust.  It tends to backfire if you start changing.

[Kuberski33]

Expect lots of switching and different looks as the coaches compile a database of what works vs what doesn't. At key moments as the series progresses, they'll rely on that data to go with the best matchups/defense and hope they can keep Luka from beating them when the game is on the line.  Of course Kyrie presents his own problems.  Either one of those guys can get theirs vs any defending so you're just trying to hold them to slightly below their averages.

If they exceed their averages, then you're in some trouble, espeically if both are on at the same time.

A big part of the strategy I think will be to make both of them guard someone.  I think you can exploit Luka that way more than Kyrie.

[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.

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.

Lebron is being inconsistent then, because his opinion from yesterday's segment of that show directly contradicted this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KLpb4hlLBo

I don't know why LBJ had the change of heart.  I do think we probably switch more than anything else since that's what our defense is most comfortable with (though I really don't want to make a hobbled KP defend in space, so I'd avoid that matchup as much as I realistically can), but it's hard to ignore the numbers in this instance and I do think we should considering blitzing more than we typically do. 

[Vermont Green]

It is not one size fits all.  Generally speaking, we should switch and take our chances, as we have done all season.  But that could change if the switch results in Porzingis on Luka or Kyrie.  In that case, it is probably not the best thing to let Luka isolate on Porzingis.

But DAL will keep doing screens until they get Porzingis on Luka.  That is the chess match.

[Moranis]

Holiday needs to do whatever he can to stay with Luka on screens . And yes I think Holiday should be his primary defender

[jbpats]

Let Doncic do his thing and make the rest of the team beat us. I honestly think that is the strategy to win this.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Holiday needs to do whatever he can to stay with Luka on screens . And yes I think Holiday should be his primary defender

I agree, but I think Brown and Tatum in stints could be effective as well.

[Vermont Green]

How about we try the WNBA Caitlin Clark defense on Luka; yo [female dog], and body check him to the floor?

[mobilija]

Release the Springer!

I’m joking….sort of….at some point in the series there will be a 2 minute period where Springer is sent in to hound either Luka or Kyrie when the other is off the floor. It will be a pivotal defensive stand to get Boston back in a game.