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'Protect Luka': Mavs Seek To Stop Suns Hunting Doncic

The Phoenix Suns have made it a point to attack Luka Doncic on defense.

The Dallas Mavericks experienced a fourth-quarter meltdown in their 129-109 Game 2 loss to the Phoenix Suns. The 40-point frame from the Suns put the problems the Mavericks face front and center. 

The priority for the Suns on offense was clear: attack Luka Doncic. 

Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns
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Whoever Doncic was guarding, the Suns made it a point to bring up his man to set a ball screen and expect a switch to be made. With a fully spaced-out floor, Chris Paul took full advantage, scoring 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter.

"It's not just protecting Luka. He's got to participate. He's got to play defense," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "There's no secret — they're going to put him in every pick-and-roll. They did the same thing with Dirk until Dirk participated and stuck up for himself.

"You can always ask for help, but you've got to participate. Luka has done that for us in this journey, and so he's going to have to do it tonight. He's going to have to defend. If they score, they score, but we don't want it to be on their terms. And the other thing is his teammates have to do a better job helping."

The Suns scored a staggering 1.81 points per possession on the 19 possessions that Doncic was the big defender making the switch on a screen. It's the worst production of any defender who guarded at least 15 of such possessions within a single game over the last three seasons. 

The simple solution would be ask Doncic to do a better job of containing at the point of attack on defense. He agreed after Game 2. 

"I've just got to play better defense," Doncic said. "That's it."

While it's admirable for Doncic, who scored an efficient 35 points in Game 2, to even admit he could be better defensively, it's not that simple. By the time the fourth quarter rolls around, Doncic has shouldered the offensive load. For Doncic not to be as fatigued, someone else has to step up. 

“He should be tired,” Kidd said. “He played 36 minutes and he played his heart out. He’s tired every night."

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Jalen Brunson was the main source of help in the series against the Utah Jazz. Brunson even had a 41-point game without Doncic in the lineup. He's gone from averaging 27.8 points and 4.2 assists in the first round to averaging of 11.0 points and 2.5 assists on poor efficiency through two games of the Western Conference semifinals.

“He plays hard, but we’ve got to get other guys involved to help him," Kidd said. "Right now it’s just been him. We’ve got to get Brunson and Spencer (Dinwiddie) going, and (Dorian Finney-Smith). We’ve got to keep those guys on the floor.”

“But I think we’ve got to trust ourselves better,” Doncic said. “I think the way we did in Utah, obviously it’s not the same team, but I think we trusted ourselves better against Utah.”

A tough playoff matchup against an elite foe will expose a team's deficiencies and shortcomings. The Mavs are experiencing this firsthand.