The G2 of the Clippers and Mavericks is already very close to the form expected in the preview. The Mavericks have improved what G1 didn't do well, and Doncic's performance in this defensive change has improved a lot for three reasons:
First, his single defense has indeed improved, maybe he has studied the video after the game, and the timing and movement of the confrontation are okay;
The second is that the Lone Ranger has given him more support, the assistance defense behind him, and the timely pinching are basically in place;
The third is that the Clippers are looking for his main attacker, and Hajoka has an average shooting experience with the ball.
G2 is a constipation game, the Mavericks are very exaggerated in shrinking the middle to help defense, and the Clippers are doing a good job of pinching ball handlers and forcing role players to handle the ball. Both sides came up with defense. On the surface, the Clippers lost a three-point randomness, but in fact, they did lose the jump shot. But the better-than-expected responses from PJ Washington and Kleber may not have been overwhelming, with the duo combined for 5-of-7 from three-point range, and other than that, the Mavericks didn't have a piece of the puzzle to score a three-pointer, plus a 5-of-11 shot. The Clippers, in turn, combined for 4-of-10 three-point shooting. Both sides of the puzzle were a little trembling after getting the fixed-point opportunity, and they didn't seem to want to give too much of the result of the game to the projection of the puzzle's face.
The gap between the G2 is mainly the feel of the core. After his comeback, Brother Kazi's state was mediocre, George's fishing-level output, Harden's other aspects were okay, and the three points were not accurate. And Doncic is very determined to win this time, and Irving also has a very hard goal.
None of this is the point.
It's interesting to use people.
Kidd still didn't give Gafford much time, and in addition to Gafford's injury again, his performance on the field was indeed not as good as Lively's. Kleber has been reused again, and it works well, but perhaps in a slightly different way than Kidd had intended. There are two main suspense in the Mavericks' employment, the No. 3 position and the No. 5 position, and Kidd's decisive choice is Jones Jr. and Kleber, the latter is a love general, and it is not surprising to use him. Why is the little Jones who chooses G1G2 at the No. 3 position afraid to shoot three points and drag the space to his grandmother's house?
The immediate reason is that other options are even more inadequate. Hardaway was injured, Exum's performance since the playoffs has been disappointing, the attack on George failed in the middle of the second quarter, and the continuous operation of defending Harden to send 2+1 may have made Kidd lose confidence in him. Green is decent and still has a 0 presence on the offensive end. In this case, Jones Jr., who has a better defense, has become the big man in the middle.
Because he didn't dare to shoot three points at all, Jones Jr.'s real position on the offensive end became the No. 5 position, which was jointly certified by the head coaches of both sides - Jones Jr. simply didn't stand at the three-point line in the closing stage, and directly dunked and waited for the cake, and Lu also used Zubac to defend Jones Jr. Looking at it this way, swapping Jones Jr. for Lively or Gafford would only be more effective offensively.
But Jones Jr. has a function that Lively and Gafford can't provide — he can lead the main attacker, and being on the floor can alleviate the huge opposition pressure that the Clippers put on the Mavericks after Kazigo's return. Kidd's only lineup with Jones Jr. has a similar reason to Kerr using Payton Jr. last year, at the cost of Jones Jr. occupying the offensive No. 5 position, which caused the Mavericks to end the game with no better center to protect the basket, but only Kleber, who can stand outside. If they encounter a lineup with both height and space for the Clippers, the Mavericks' interior defense may struggle.
However, this problem was solved with the help of Lew. We'll get to that later.
Kidd used Kleber and had no problems most of the time. Let's not talk about the false five in the closing period, in the time when there is Lively or Gafford in the period, Kleber and Washington cover the whole game in the No. 4 position, providing a co-protective basket in such a constipation game.
Although the total time of Lively and Gafford was not long enough, Kidd's overall squad was very tall. Hardaway's injury and Exum's poor form have led to the absence of two guard rotations, and Kidd has even used the likes of Doncic, Green, Washington, Kleber and Lively in the transition. At the No. 3 position, more than half of the time was spent as a forward, and most of the rest of the time was given to Green. The lineup is large, and it is naturally easy to align and assist in defense.
Kidd's two timeouts in the third and fourth quarters for Kleber were very interesting. Dongzi saw through Lu's trick this time, when the Clippers center used to change the defense + delay the pinch, Dongzi would rush to shoot before the pinch arrived, and when the Clippers center sank, Dongzi would eat the leader who chased back. Doncic felt good today, and the Clippers hurt a little. Midway through the third quarter, Lue became annoyed and embarrassed, and his strategy was modified to a rough pinch shot, forcing Doncic to play the ball to the center to test their ball handling and outside crosshairs. The Lone Ranger was not surprised not to respond.
Kidd pauses and takes up Kleber. Problem solving.
In the fourth quarter, the plot recurred, and Kidd took back Kleber again. The problem is solved again.
Kleber is so amazing?
Not so.
In fact, Kleber's choice to cover was similarly smooth, and his handling of the ball was not good. The Mavericks were able to solve the problem, in the third quarter because Dongzi retreated and forced the shot against the pinch, and in the fourth quarter, he changed the way he started, falling low or facing the basket one-on-one, and also threw in a semi-fast attack and strong shot. Note that Doncic's two offenses in the fourth quarter:
With Irving in the opposite position, Wei Shao caught Doncic. This choice is too dangerous, and it requires Brother Kazi to follow the rotation immediately. But Wei Shao's choice seemed to be temporary, because he hesitated, and Brother Kazi did not rotate;
Doncic hit Powell at the top of the arc, this time Kazige had no problem with the pinch, George took care of Kleber and Washington, pounced on the former first, the former immediately gave the latter, George was too late to make up for it, and Washington hit.
In fact, in these two rounds, the Mavericks' space has not been substantially improved, because Jones Jr. is dragging on the baseline as a de facto center, and Zubac can stay under the basket to guard. It's just that Doncic changed the way he started, he had the ability to eat the Clippers' outside line, which caused the Clippers to draw nearby forces to attack, the first time he made a mistake and missed Irving, who couldn't be missed, and the two people who missed the second time, Kleber and Washington were both points that the Clippers would have put together.
But because Washington threw in, this game was still a little accurate, which led to the idea that Lu had the idea of "having to go up five small to increase the rotation speed". So, for the first time in this round of the series, Lu took out five small - and then, did not play.
Lu found that if the five small schools want to prevent Doncic from breaking through, they have to collect a bunch of people in the middle, but the result is still to leak the bottom corner;
In turn, Kleber became the highest peak on the court, and the Clippers did not have the finishing and rebounding advantage under the basket.
DAMN！卢悔之晚矣，重新拿回阿祖。
So......
Regardless of the plot, Kidd's employment has an effect, but the effect may not be the same as he imagined. There are four real roles for Kleber:
As a power forward, the basket guard punishes the Clippers' space;
can stand at the three-point line as a fixed-point shooter, let Jones Jr. play the No. 5 position on the offensive end, and then let Jones Jr. play a leading role on the defensive end;
responded to the key point three;
Inexplicably, it triggered Lu's indecisive nervous reaction.
Kidd had to figure out how he won, not "as long as Kleber goes on the offensive and everything will be fine."
In turn, Lu had to figure out how he lost. A few Mavericks puzzle fixed-point three-pointers that the Clippers don't want to see shouldn't make Lu have too many emotional swings, because the Mavericks puzzle three-point shooting is an inevitable thing, and the Clippers can't possibly do everything. Rather than choosing, it's better than Eastern Europe.
In addition, Lu has yet to use his ace lineup. Powell's so-called "crotch pulling" this time is actually not too much of a problem. He only had one corner opportunity in the whole game, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and the main thing he didn't score was a two-point shot, and the strength of the Mavericks to protect the basket in this game, the two-point shot was really difficult to play.
There are three reasons why Powell struggled to get a corner opportunity:
One is that the Mavericks would have also paid attention to Powell's position;
The second is that the Clippers did not put an ace lineup, Powell is not the last point on the outside, and the Mavericks are more likely not to miss him;
The third is the change of formation of the core players, the threat of the center playing downward, and the passing support of Harden, which are the prerequisites for Powell to get the corner opportunity. Pepper basically didn't change the defense this time, and Harden's presence was not as good as that of G1.
If Kidd doesn't go backwards, this game should be the way to win by learning from experience, praying that Kleber and Washington will shoot accurately and score a few more threes in the defensive innings;
And Lu's ace lineup is not hidden.