Gonna be clipping Mavs-Spurs over the next couple of hours here.

Rick Carlisle bullied LaMarcus Aldridge in this game. Simple drag screen in early offense to get Luka in space against him. LMA has absolutely no chance in space against anyone with even league average wiggle/torso deception imo.

Luka is just unfairly good. Mavs try their usual 21 action to get Luka a switch. Lonnie manages to stay attached to him and Mills covers well too. Walker mirrors all of his moves here but it doesn't matter, he's too powerful and stable on the interior.

Nice play here from Dallas. Iverson action to get Brunson a read and react situation to either pull up for three or attack the empty side for a layup. Brunson remains very efficient on the interior on the year, in the 96th percentile.

This is Rick Carlisle's strategy whenever a team tries to 'hide' a defender. He simply sticks the player they're assigned to in a ball screen. Look how Aldridge is desperately trying to switch the assignment. SA communicate quite well but Brunson just pops for 3. LMA too slow.

Nice SLOB play from San Antonio. Vassell comes off a double screen to pull defenders away and then Mills trails him. Great execution and a great look from three.

I'm going to write a player dev piece on this, but Luka Doncic just BULLIES help defenders. Watch him manipulate Devin Vassell, forcing him to lift with the shooter instead of helping on the backside lob. Even in drop, LMA can be exploited.

Good stuff from Luka here. Splits Mills who is coming to help while in the process of chasing Burke to the perimeter. Wraps a nice dump-off pass to Cauley-Stein. The Gravity he can create from nowhere is easy to note.

Not everything has to be complicated. Simple pick and pop game gives Porzingis an easy jumper. Would ideally like to see him take more threes.

Jalen Brunson is one of the better finishers in the NBA. Part of this is the agility he shows going to the rim, he's able to create space at the last seconds of his drive.

There are times when sticking your drop center on a low usage player can hurt. This was one of those times. Poeltl anchored to the paint so when Brunson drives, Hardaway's man (Rudy Gay) rotates with him, leaving the open three after the ball movement.

Man, you just can't play drop coverage against the Mavs. Simple stuff again but this demands a lot from the guards/on-ball defenders when Poeltl is that deep.

Nice way to exploit how tight Vassell is playing Luka. Throw into the big man and run a pitch play for a downhill attack. Gives Luka more separation than he'd get from just a stand still entry into a PNR. Rotation comes and Burke hits the 3.

I've seen this as a zone beater type play. The guards create a lane by screening the 'two' at the top. Porzingis ghosts in for the backside lob.

Spurs try to hide Poeltl on James Johnson this time. This isn't a great idea because JJ is capable of running offense, he's got good ball handling for his size. Nothing overly fancy here, Dallas just runs some minor action at the top and KP posts up a smaller defender.