Joe Mazzulla And His Celtics Had Luka Doncic All Figured Out In The NBA Finals

Luka Doncic is not an easy player to guard. The Dallas Mavericks superstar can practically create space from anywhere on the floor and also execute an insane pull jump shot.

But, Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics had him all figured out in this NBA Finals matchup. So much so that they forced him to hit rock bottom in one aspect of his career that he has never reached in his career.

It was the first time that Luka Doncic was only able to dart less than three assists for a night, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. He only managed to get a single assist which also means that it was the first time in this postseason that he did not get two dimes.

The Celtics shut off all passing and driving lanes that he usually had access to. No cross-court passes were made nor were those easy short rolls. More impressively, Joe Mazulla has taken away the lethality of the Mavericks when it comes to the lobs on the dunker’s spot. Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, or Jrue would always get their first. This meant that the production from guys like PJ Washington, Dereck Lively II, Derrick Jones Jr., and Daniel Gafford were only limited.

True enough, those four above-mentioned Mavericks players only did not have much impact on offense. Only PJ Washington was able to score double-digit points. Even then, he went five for 11 from the field. The wing was even forced to shoot three very contested jumpers for just 14 points. Those were very different from the shot diet that was given to him by Luka Doncic back in the Minnesota Timberwolves series.

There was not much that the Mavericks could do except rely on Doncic’s playmaking. Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics coaching staff read their playbook from cover to cover. Now, it looks like they need to adjust a lot of their schematics. If not, Doncic will have to carry the offense like he did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The Mavericks superstar got a game-high 30 points. But, every single bucket was earned. He went 12 for 26 on the field in 38 minutes of action. The usual threes that came very easy for him? Well, his outside stroke had the ball going in a meager 33% of the time. It was a struggle all throughout for Doncic and the Mavericks. They were forced to play isolation ball or just make plays up on the fly. This was because the Celtics had effective coverage for each of their schemes.

A huge piece of evidence for the fact that the Mavericks were playing so much iso ball was their assists. They only had nine dimes for Game 1 of the NBA Finals because of how clogged every passing and driving lane was. This was dwarfed by the Celtics who got 23 of them throughout this matchup.

Jason Kidd will have of adjustments loaded up. One way or another, the Mavericks are going to need a way to lob up to their big men. Thankfully, Coach Mazzulla is one of the best at recognizing shifts in the opponents’ schemes and adapting to them mid-game.