How the smallest of coverage decisions and mistakes allowed the Mavericks to punish the Warriors

The Mavs did just enough to edge a defensive battle.

Trying to find consistent sources of offense was definitely the number-one problem tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. In several ways, tonight served as proof that perhaps the best defense is a functioning offense.

This is a “duh” statement, but the Golden State Warriors’ offense simply does not function as well without Steph Curry in there to function as its fulcrum. Add the absence of Draymond Green and the Warriors were faced with a massive mountain from the get-go against the Mavs, who had Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving at their disposal.

Despite the absence of Green, the Warriors did an excellent job limiting the Mavs to an offensive rating of 102.1 — the equivalent of the best defense in the NBA. But they failed to take advantage of their stops on the other end, as evidenced by their even-worse offensive rating in the first half: 89.4.

There’s only so much they can do without Curry. Ballscreen actions for Chris Paul are low-hanging fruit, but the Warriors aren’t built to be a ballscreen-heavy offense. Klay Thompson can generate advantages himself, especially off the ball on pindowns and staggered screens, but his limited on-ball value places a limit on his ability to be the first or even second option, especially if teams sit on the advantages he tries to create (as the Mavs were able to do tonight, to their credit).

Jonathan Kuminga can score himself, but his ability to do so still banks on a spaced floor — and the Warriors without Curry simply don’t present much of a spacing threat in half-court situations.

As much of a problem as offense was tonight, I want to focus on defense, specifically on coverage decisions the Warriors made against Dončić and Irving. While the numbers in the first half painted a picture of an elite defensive showing, the Mavs alsoposted great numbers on defense that sort of canceled things out.

When both teams are stopping each other on defense, the minute details become much more important: coverage decisions, advantages created, and help rotations that are forced because of them (or aren’t forced). While both teams did a good job defending each other in the first half, it was the Mavs who did slightly more on offense to get the edge.

The first possession that caught my eye: the Warriors deciding to place two defenders on the ball against Dončić around a ballscreen, which means he’s forced to give up possession of the ball — at the expense of opening up the short roll, creating a backline advantage (or disadvantage from the Warriors’ point of view), and forcing help decisions:

The Warriors are comfortable with this coverage because of Trayce Jackson-Davis being the low man. He probably needed to be pinched in earlier to dissuade Daniel Gafford from getting to the rim easily; not pinching in defeats the purpose of his role and why he was tasked to guard Derrick Jones Jr. in the corner. But this is what happens as a consequence of the coverage choice up top — when you choose to put two on the ball, you’re forced to shore things up behind it.

Contrast the possession above with this one:

When the Warriors put two to the ball against Irving, watch Paul. He pre-rotates — pinches in early to cover the Dereck Lively II roll. He then is able to recover back toward the corner when the swing-swing pass finds its way to Josh Green. A soft contest is made, which is enough to force the miss.

But possessions above felt more the exception than they were the norm. The Warriors’ were forced to make decisions on the ball and live with the consequences — and while the Mavs weren’t able to make them pay as much as they wanted to, they did just enough to gain the edge.

Even something as minute and nuanced as the on-ball defender not being able to navigate a ballscreen and falling ever so slightly behind on the action can have major consequences — and puts pressure on the low man to decide what to do:

Brandin Podziemski falling behind on the screen navigation compels Kevon Looney to step up against Dante Exum — which opens the lob to Dereck Lively II. Moses Moody gets into the paint and considers helping on the roll — possibly “tagging” Lively — but decides to recover toward his man in the corner. Consequence: Lively gets an uncontested dunk.

Switching — particularly switching bigs out on the perimeter to defend — was also on the menu for the Warriors. While that can flatten out an opponent’s half-court offense, it also has consequences baked in.

What if the big switched out on the perimeter isn’t capable of keeping the ballhandler in front? That defeats the purpose of keeping things flat — which isn’t possible if the action up front can’t be contained:

Other times, switching was a matter of execution. This was one of the better defended possessions by the Warriors against the Mavs’ double-ballscreen action into a “Stack” or “Spain” pick-and-roll, which involves a backscreener setting the pick on the roll man’s defender:

This is a switching masterclass by everyone involved — but watch Andrew Wiggins in particular. He goes from switching off of Dončić, switching onto Irving (the backscreener), and making sure to fight over the screen and stick to Irving in order to switch back onto Dončić. He then successfully defends the Dončić isolation.

That is a stark contrast compared to this possession in the second half — a poorly executed switch with Wiggins being on the wrong end of Gafford’s roll, that results in another alley-oop:

The Warriors finished the game with a 111.3 defensive rating — which is the equivalent of the second-best defense in the league without garbage time included, per Cleaning The Glass. But that defensive rating doesn’t mean much compared to what they were able to muster on offense (a paltry 102.1 offensive rating).

If there ever was a game serving as proof that the best defense is a functioning offense, this was it. While the Warriors were able to keep the Mavs contained, they themselves were even more contained — and the Mavs did slightly more to create offense against the Warriors’ coverage decisions on defense.