Christian Wood Showcases Strong Value in Return vs. Trail Blazers
At the forefront of problems to solve from the Dallas Mavericks' perspective is the need to alleviate some of Luka Doncic's workload. Among the methods to do so is to involve Christian Wood more alongside Doncic, given he's the team's only frontcourt scoring threat.
Wood was sidelined for the Mavs' recent two-game road trip, which featured the lowest point of the team's season. Both games ended as a loss with Doncic playing his worst basketball — leading to poor results for the team as a whole.
"We just did a good job. We know their team is very limited outside of him," Kyle Kuzma said of the Washington Wizards' defensive efforts against Doncic in the Mavs' 113-105 loss. "With Christian Wood out — big-time player — the ball was going to be in his hands the whole time. For us, we wanted to make sure, certain situations, whether it was him posting up — making sure we were doubling at the time, making sure our rotations were really crisp.
"When we didn't double, playing him on the perimeter, guard 1-on-1 by ourselves without fouling. Playing on a string defensively, that was huge, especially with a player like that. If you just play 1-on-1 with him on an island, it's going to be a long night. We did a great job, entire team, everyone, came in with attention to detail on the game plan."
During Wood's return to the lineup from his two-game absence, he finished with 19 points and five rebounds in the Mavs' 117-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite an inconsistent level of involvement early, he's averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 57.4 percent overall and 41.9 percent on 3-pointers in 24.7 minutes per game.
“C-Wood did a really good job before fouling out,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “His ability to score, ability to rebound, things we’ve missed in the past, is something I think he brings to the table.”
Wood displayed a growing chemistry with Doncic that featured a real synergy in pick-and-rolls along with the ability to just go and get a bucket without Doncic having to work hard to create it. The Trail Blazers didn't have Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup and had no answer for Wood on the roll.
“It’s huge for us. I think our chemistry between me and Luka [Doncic] is getting better each time we play with each other on the floor. The more minutes we get with each other, the more we’re going to show people what we can do. It’s fun out there, everyone is starting to play together. We had a lot of open 3s today, some didn’t really go in, but the way we’re moving the ball and moving the ball as a team is big.”
The Mavs made it all the more challenging on Portland's defense to contain the Doncic-Wood connection by utilizing some double-drag sequences with Tim Hardaway Jr. as the initial screener. The defense had to stay attached to Hardaway — creating simpler conditions for Wood on the roll.
Not only is Wood an impactful option as a roll man, but what makes his potential with the Mavs so intriguing is that he's capable of scoring against a smaller defender after a switch in ball screen coverage. Teams are increasingly relying on switching to avoid having their big man have to play in a drop. Against Doncic, that's highly prevalent.
Given the importance of having a center that can space out to allow Doncic to go to work without having a crowded paint when teams decide to load up against him, Wood's catch-and-shoot ability is vital. He shot just 1-5 from beyond the arc against the Trail Blazers, but has converted at a 50.0 percent clip on the season.
It's one thing for a big to be able to space out, it's another to be an actual threat turning the corner to attack downhill. Wood has shown repeatedly that he's a threat to make a play when attacking off the dribble from out in space. While Maxi Kleber's shooting was pivotal in the playoffs last season, these are the types of dimension's his game doesn't tend to offer.
Wood has been utilized in inverted pick-and-rolls at times in the Mavs' offense. He had another possession of this nature against the Trail Blazers by receiving a ball screen from Hardaway — resulting in a downhill attack to get to the free throw line. Not many bigs are capable of positive outcomes when attacking in such a way.
Doncic has previously made his appreciation for Wood's skill-set known as well as the need to involve him more. It's still a work-in-progress in terms of integrating Wood more throughout games. The two have been quite effective when sharing the floor together in the early going.
"He's an amazing player," Doncic said of Wood after the win over the Utah Jazz. "I told him last game we gotta use him more, and that's on me. I think we used him a lot more in this game (against the Jazz). He shows what he can do. He was amazing today, and we just gotta feed him the ball more."
The Mavs experienced not having Wood available with teams intensifying their efforts to pressure Doncic. With the threat he brings to the frontcourt, it keeps the opposition honest and he displayed his importance when returning to the lineup against the Trail Blazers.
“Very frustrating," Wood said of having to watch his team from the sidelines. "I always feel like I can be an X-factor, and help this team out, and help this team win games. But, we bounced back and beat a good team tonight.”
The Mavs will get a chance to further integrate Wood into the fold when they take on the LA Clippers on Tuesday in part of a back-to-back that features a matchup against his former team, the Houston Rockets.
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