If there were an ‘MVP for the series so far’ award between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks, it would go to Luka Doncic. The second-year guard has been on a tear in the postseason, scoring a whopping 48 points in Game 1 in his playoffs debut, and following it up with a fantastic performance in Game 2 by notching 28 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. Doncic is playing brilliant basketball and the Clippers right now can’t seem to stop him. Doncic is making plays all over the court and has this Dallas offense humming, with the Mavericks recording true shooting percentages of 60.9 and 60.1 so far.

They were the best team in the league on offense this past regular season and are showing why. Dallas is not only designing smart plays and putting their players in positions to succeed: they are also taking advantage of the Clippers defensive mistakes. While the Clippers still may be favored in this series, they cannot keep having these lapses against the Mavericks offense. When looking at the crux of LA’s defensive problems, it all starts with the play of Luka Doncic, and how the Clippers might defend him.

As the spearhead of their offense, Doncic has and will continue to be the lead ball-handler for Dallas. He’s directly involved in everything the Mavericks do on that side of the ball, and rightly has the main attention of any defense he faces. Through the first two games, Doncic has been able to get to any spot he wants to and with relative ease. He made ten baskets inside the paint in game one and, even when he’s not scoring at the rim, he’s making the Clippers pay at the charity stripe. Through the first two games, Doncic has attempted 27 free throws, making 22 of them, and the Clippers have to do a better job limiting this. As good as a scorer as he is, you can’t let him have free points like that. Allowing Doncic a free go into the lane is a recipe for disaster for LA. Their wing defenders need to do a better job of at least staying in front of him and not letting the guard drive right by them. Then it becomes a bit tougher for him to either draw contact or power through for a layup. 

However, Doncic is also hurting LA through the pick and roll, where he’s hunting for the right matchup and then attacking. The success he’s having with this play type is putting the Clippers in a bind. Doncic’s drives are putting everyone in the defense in a difficult spot, not just the player who is guarding him or the big man in the lineup. With the shooters that Dallas has around him, he has options for kick-outs if the defenders crash into the lane for help. Guys like Seth Curry will be waiting for those moments, so the Clippers defense has to trust their guys in one on one situations for the most part. With the perimeter defenders LA has on their roster in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, on paper, it shouldn’t be a problem. However, not helping on the pick and roll creates a pick your poison situation when Doncic is running into the lane with a roll man towards either Zubac or Harrell. LA isn’t making things any easier on themselves either, however when it comes to their style. 

The absence of Patrick Beverley is proving to be an issue too. With their lead guard and defensive specialist not in the lineup, Doncic is having his way on offense. He’s using the Clippers switchability, which usually is a positive, against them. 

In the regular season, it was a huge boost for Los Angeles to have such a versatile defense. They were able to switch on nearly every matchup and be relatively fine. Guys like Leonard, Beverley, and George could guard multiple positions and even if they did have a mismatch, they are good enough defensively as a whole team to cover for it. But the same thing can’t be said for the first two games. The switching has worked the opposite, and, without Beverley, they leave themselves wide open. Despite George and Leonard being there, Doncic has been able to pick his spots and wait for the right matchup. Going away from the constant switching may have to be a temporary solution, because it’s not proving to be working at the moment. Even if they fight through screens and make it a bit tougher for Luka to drive or size up a defender coming off the pick, it could make life easier for the Clippers on defense. If the Clippers can defend Luka Doncic without helping off shooters or giving him mismatches, they might be able to slow him down.

In terms of solutions, other than waiting for Beverley, the Clippers have to find a different guard rotation, because at the moment it’s been rough sledding for Reggie Jackson so far. Even though he scored 11 points, it was a tough defensive matchup for him to go up against Luka. He was giving up four inches in height and struggled to stay in front of Doncic when matched up. There were times when he wasn’t guarding him when they were on the court together, but as mentioned earlier, Doncic was patient in waiting for the right matchup to come along. The Clippers eventually would find themselves switching Jackson on Doncic and he would attack again.

With this in mind, it could be useful for Doc Rivers to make sure Jackson isn’t on the court at the same time as Doncic. Landry Shamet has played a combined total of 26 minutes during the first two games, and despite his defensive struggles so far in Orlando, just having a different player to throw at Doncic is a gamble worth taking. At 6’4, Shamet could make a bit of a difference but until Beverley returns, the Clippers have to keep throwing out new guards to defend Luka Doncic and work with what they have. 

The Clippers defense was one of the best this season and is still very talented. When they are locked in, they can stop any team. The Clippers have solid perimeter defenders and good team defenders, but at the moment their tactics are not working. Not helping matters are that they are missing their best defensive guard and are facing one of the NBA’s rising superstars. Make no mistake about it, Luka Doncic is a special player, and if you give him opportunities, he will make you pay.

The Clippers are having their defensive bread and butter thrown right back in their faces and it’s time to adjust. Until Patrick Beverley is back fully healthy, they will have to deal with the problem of containing Doncic one game at a time. What this means is different rotations and lineups while also being less willing to switch so easily on defense, and letting the matchups play out themselves. With better defenders on the floor and less switching, Luka might be contained just that much better.

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