Biggest Adjustments Mavs, Celtics Must Make In NBA Finals

With the exception of the hints of life the Dallas Mavericks showed in the third quarter, the Boston Celtics dominated most of their 107-89 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

And now, the chess match that series often become will really start to heat up. There are multiple tweaks the Mavericks can implement to make this matchup closer. And there are some anticipatory things Boston can do if and when that happens.

The biggest adjustments for both sides can be found below.

Luka Dončić took 26 shots in Game 1, which was tied for his playoff high (somehow, he’s now gotten 26 exactly six times). He also had his highest usage percentage of the postseason on Thursday.

And yet, it still felt like Dallas could’ve leaned even harder on him. Luka only got five free-throw attempts and seven assist opportunities in Game 1. His averages for the postseason in those two columns are 7.2 and 14.6.

But the Mavs need more creative ways to get Dončić back to his normal levels.

He’s one of the best isolation and pick-and-roll creators and scorers the NBA has ever seen. He’ll get solid numbers with a steady diet of those play types against just about anyone. So, this isn’t a plea for Dallas to throw that out entirely.

Heliocentrism will always be a part of Luka’s game, but it wouldn’t hurt to get his creation going from some different starting points.

An occasional post-up might not hurt. Boston might live with his one-on-one opportunities there, but Luka is among the league’s biggest and strongest guards and one of its best finishers, regardless of position. A couple buckets inside could cause some defensive collapses, which would give his teammates a little more room on kicks to the outside.

The more realistic path to less conventional creation might be simply putting the ball in Kyrie Irving’s hands (again, occasionally). Let him break down the first line of defense, get to the paint, force help and kick out to Luka. From there, Dončić could have opportunities to attack closeouts or rotating defenders. If all that gets him is an extra half step on those possessions, it’d be worth it.

Luka and the Mavs made it too easy for Jaylen Brown to just defend him straight up (he spent a team-high 33-plus possessions guarding Dončić). They need to get the ball and players moving more. Make the Celtics defense move and rotate side to side. And force at least a few switches or scrambles that Luka can go after.

Again, think of the slides relating to the Celtics more as preemptive measures. They controlled the majority of the contest, and keeping the gameplan more or less the same makes sense.

That includes bringing Kristaps Porziņģis off the bench. He was dominant in the super-sixth-man role, and the starting five has probably developed some continuity with Al Horford since KP went down in late April.

But Porziņģis was arguably Boston’s second best player this season, and the energy he brought to the second unit could help the Celtics get off to even quicker starts.

And of course, throughout the regular season, Al Horford playing plenty of minutes with Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser means there’s plenty of chemistry between him and the reserves, too.

Given Porziņģis’ recent calf injury (and a pretty robust injury history, in general), it might be smart to just sort of keep this adjustment in the back pocket. But it’s there. If the Celtics have a game or two in which they look sluggish or slow to start, they can easily return KP to his old role.

All three of the Mavericks centers, starter Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and Maxi Kleber, were big negatives in the plus-minus column Thursday.

And a fear of foul trouble may be one reason to keep bringing Lively off the bench, but his playoff-long on-off splits suggest starting him could jump start the team.

This postseason, Dallas is plus-10.6 points per 100 possessions when Lively is on the floor. That’s the highest net rating on the team, which is minus-4.7 points per 100 possessions when Lively is out.

He and Gafford are both stellar rim-runners and lob finishers, but Lively is a bit more active on the boards and far more dangerous as a passer.

With Boston doing a good job of shutting down the Mavs’ alley-oop-generating actions, a big who can make the catch on the run and then make the right read and pass when the dunk isn’t there will be important.

Boston almost never double-teamed Luka in Game 1, and the approach obviously worked.

Guarding him one-on-one and staying a bit more attached to his teammates led to every Mav not named Luka shooting 39.7 percent from the field (and that includes Lively and Gafford’s 4-of-4).

There’s certainly a chance that leads to some massive scoring stretches from Luka, though. And when those get going, the Celtics shouldn’t be afraid to switch up their approach.

Few teams are better equipped to throw an extra body at a star. Each of their top six players are stellar in rotations and can hold their own when caught in out-of-position matchups.

But as is the case with the Porziņģis adjustment, the Celtics certainly don’t need to do this now. Playing him straight-up worked fine in Game 1. This is another “break glass in case of emergency” move.

Playing NBA defense is hard, especially against a team that often plays four creators in Brown, Tatum, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday together.

Boston can attack from just about anywhere, and that dynamism makes it pretty much impossible to “hide” Luka on anyone (with the possible exception of Horford).

Holiday and White can probably break him down on the perimeter. Porziņģis should be able to shoot over him inside. But all of those options are better than him trying to stop the Celtics’ top two scorers.

In Game 1, Luka spent more possessions on Brown than he did on anyone else. Tatum was the player he defended the second most.

Those two are big, physical and offensively prolific wings. And trying to slow them down is almost guaranteed to take a little extra out of Dončić on that end.

Going forward, the Mavs have to work to keep him off of Brown and Tatum, even if that means scrambling out of cross-matches when getting back on defense.

Luka will have to be spectacular on offense for Dallas to keep pace in this series, and burning up energy to try to slow down either of the Celtics’ top two scorers will make that harder.