Dallas Mavs vs. Portland Trail Blazers: 3 Big Things to Watch
The Dallas Mavericks (6-5) will look to put an 0-2 Eastern Conference road trip behind them when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers (9-3) on Saturday.
There are not many teams that pulled off as strong of a start to the season as the Portland Trail Blazers. They are coming off a 106-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, while Jerami Grant (27) and Anfernee Simons (23) combined for 50 points.
The Mavs reached their lowest point of the season after being defeated 113-105 by the Washington Wizards without Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis available to play. It marked the first time all season that Dallas had lost consecutive games, and Luka Doncic was contained to a season-low 22 points.
With Damian Lillard returning to the lineup on Saturday against the Mavs, they will be all the more challenging of a team to contain. Will Dallas bounce back from recent shortcomings?
Here are three key things to monitor when the Mavs take on the Trail Blazers on Saturday.
3. How Mavs Handle On-Ball Defense
The Trail Blazers have done an effective job of surrounding Lillard with wings that can attack off the catch. If the Mavs' defense gets out of rotation, Portland will exploit it. Dallas will need to execute on a string as a unit.
Jerami Grant is a legitimate, established off the dribble threat, but Josh Hart and Justice Winslow are also capable threats to take a defender to the rim. Given the Mavs' struggles to contain dribble penetration this season, will they have their execution in tune enough to slow them down?
What makes the Trail Blazers so much more challenging of a team to contain now is that a top defender is required to contain Lillard. Someone else has to take on the Anfernee Simons matchups. You still must account for Grant. So, how many teams have three formidable on-ball defenders, particularly equipped for those types of threats?
Could the Mavs look to deploy Frank Ntilikina more to provide the backcourt with some on-ball defensive impact? It remains to be seen what Mavs coach Jason Kidd will choose to do, but the personnel choices he makes will be something to monitor.
2. Will Day Off Help Luka Doncic?
Much of the Mavs' success is determined by the play of Luka Doncic. During the team's two-game road trip, he had a tough time making the difficult plays on drives that he tends to make. He went from shooting 64.7 percent on two-point field goals to just 38.7 percent on the road trip.
To make matters worse, the Mavs weren't getting catch-and-shoot jumpers to drop at a consistent clip. They shot just 14-51 (27.5 percent) on catch-and-shoot 3s during their road trip while also being held to 17-40 (42.5 percent) on drives. Dallas even had almost as many turnovers (seven) as assists (eight) on drives.
While Doncic can't control if spot-up shooters are converting from beyond the arc on spray out passes, it does go a long way when he's able to execute at superstar levels on drives and in short-range with his jumper.
The Mavs also need to start establishing counters to aggressive defensive coverages that opposing teams play. There has been exaggerated nail help along with aggressive low-man pre-rotations without any sort of weak-side decoy actions being utilized. With switching often occurring, it ends up being iso ball resulting in tough shot attempts.
The Trail Blazers are an elite second-half team this season. The Mavs need Doncic to sustain the necessary stamina to close the game out if the situation calls for it in clutch-time. Will the day off help him in that regard?
1. How Will Mavs Utilize Christian Wood?
It was already known but made abundantly clear during the Mavs' two-game road trip that Christian Wood needs to be utilized and embraced as much as possible.
Wood is the only option in the Mavs' frontcourt with the talent to be a threat attacking mismatches after switches. He is also the only threat with the combination of roll man skills that feature lob catching, finishing off two in the paint, catch-and-shoot on the pop, and driving off the catch on the pop. How much of his skill-set will Dallas use?
The Mavs have received entirely underwhelming impact from JaVale McGee on both ends of the floor. He offers seemingly no paint presence as a rim protector or shot blocker. Wood's mobility out in space makes him more of an asset defensively. Why not fully utilize the big man with star potential?
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