Welcome to "One Play!" Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, our TSN staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal their bigger meaning.
Today, the Jazz's defense takes the spotlight.
Context: The Mavericks bounced back from their Game 1 loss to the Jazz in a big way.
Led by Jalen Brunson's 41 points, the Luka Doncic-less Mavericks defeated the Jazz to even the series and avoid going to Utah down 2-0. Maxi Kleber added 25 points off the bench in the win, and Spencer Dinwiddie overcame a rough shooting night to make some big plays down the stretch.
There was one particular way Brunson, Kleber and Dinwiddie hurt the Jazz to secure the victory.
You know what that means — to the film room!
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The play:
Breakdown: Reggie Bullock rebounds a missed layup from Donovan Mitchell and immediately gives the ball to Dinwiddie.
The three other Mavericks on the court are Brunson, Kleber and Dorian Finney-Smith. As Dinwiddie brings the ball up, the three of them and Bullock space the floor by parking themselves along the 3-point line — Brunson in the left corner, Kleber in the right corner and Bullock and Finney-Smith on the right wing.
That gives Dinwiddie all the room he needs to work his magic.
Dinwiddie was one of the most efficient one-on-one scorers in the league this season. He appeared in only 23 games with Dallas, but he generated a fifth of his offense on isolations in a Mavericks uniform and scored at a rate of 1.15 points per possession, ranking him in the 94th percentile.
Particularly for guards, Dinwiddie's size makes him a tough cover on an island, but Mitchell doesn't offer much resistance.
Dinwiddie blows by Mitchell and gets into the paint, forcing Rudy Gobert to rotate off Kleber.
Ideally, Bojan Bogdanovic would cover for Gobert by rotating onto Kleber, but Dinwiddie fools him with a no-look pass, making him think that he's going to kick it out to Bullock instead.
That gives Kleber all the time he needs to knock down his eighth and final 3-pointer of the game.
Why it matters: The Mavericks haven't downsized to the extent the Clippers did in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, but with Kleber at center in place of the rim-running Dwight Powell, they're looking to do the same thing by playing five-out. All five players on the perimeter are shooting threats, opening up the floor as much as possible.
It's easy to place the blame on Gobert in those situations, but Utah's shaky defense at the point of attack puts him between a rock and a hard place as the only rim protector on the court. (Gobert has made his, uh, discontent with the team's perimeter defense pretty clear in the past.) The same breakdown as the one above happened several times down the stretch of Game 2.
The Jazz had no answer for Brunson, who became the latest guard to record a career-high against them in the playoffs with 41 points on 15-for-25 shooting from the field.
Brunson cooked any defender who stood in front of him, whether it was Bogdanovic...
Mike Conley...
or Jordan Clarkson.
Whenever Gobert rotated over to make Brunson's layup and floater attempts a tad more difficult, Brunson simply kicked the ball out to the player Gobert was defending.
First, Kleber on a pick-and-pop.
Then, Finney-Smith on a spot-up.
Dinwiddie also got in on the action, diming up Kleber and making an important basket over Mitchell.
Granted, the Mavericks shot the lights out in Game 2, setting a new franchise postseason record with 22 made 3-pointers. Kleber was responsible for many of those, and he connected on only 32.5 percent of his 3-point attempts this season. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the Jazz were willing to test him, especially given the way he's been shooting since the All-Star break.
The problem is the bulk of Kleber's (and everyone else's) 3-pointers were wide open. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the Mavericks made 17 uncontested 3-pointers in Game 2.
Sounds like a lot, right? It's the most by any team in the last 10 postseasons.
Perhaps the Jazz will be more locked in the rest of this series, but we've seen this story with them before. Plus, there's a chance that Doncic will return soon, perhaps as early as Game 3.
We'll have to see what he looks like coming off a calf injury, but Doncic isn't going to make slowing the Mavericks down any easier.
