The Dallas Mavericks were always going to deal with an uphill battle in this second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, the Mavs probably didn’t expect to lose by 22 points to set the tone in Game 1.
Star guard Kyrie Irving gave a lengthy explanation as to why this happened, via Brad Townsend of Dallas Morning News.
“It’s the approach of what we’re going into,” Irving said. “Knowing that they’re going to play four very high-paced quarters. They’re not gonna slow down or get into the half-court too often. We know the plays that they run in the half-court, but when they’re getting out in transition and getting the ball hopping a little bit, and Chet (Holmgren’s) getting into a lot of drag screens or trail opportunities where he’s attacking downhill, those are the things we have to clean up.”
With the Thunder’s youth, it’s no surprise that they like to heavily utilize fast breaks and transitions. Oklahoma City is the second youngest team in the league, via NBA.com. Younger players typically have more energy to run throughout the entire game.
“The attitude and the approach to those things happening, and then also being aware of our adjustments from that,” Irving continued. “If they score on one play that’s one thing, but if they continue to come down and run the same play or run different actions going at different guys, then we just have to be prepared.”
It doesn’t help that the Mavericks had an average-at-best defense during the regular season. Dallas ranked 18th with a 114.9 defensive rating, while the Thunder ranked third with a 118.3 offensive rating.
Will the Mavericks be able to adjust, or will the Thunder continue to blitz them out of the gym?
The Mavericks have their work cut out for them, but don’t count them out
