Film Study: How Mavs Leveraged Christian Wood & Horns Sets For Lift vs. Spurs

The Dallas Mavericks utilized Christian Wood often in Horns sets to gain a needed lift in overtime against the San Antonio Spurs.

LOS ANGELES — In a tightly contested matchup against the San Antonio Spurs without either Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving available to play, the Dallas Mavericks were able to rely on Christian Wood as the focal point of the offense. 

After the Mavs had some head-scratching blunders on the final few plays of regulation, the game was tied at 121 apiece, requiring overtime to settle it. Dallas proceeded to outscore the Spurs by a nine-point margin after putting 16 points on the board. 

One of the greatest benefits of having a superstar player is the ability to rely on them to make tough plays in pivotal moments. The approach doesn't have to be complicated in that situation. It can be as simple as running a high ball screen, attacking in isolation, or receiving post touch, then everybody else gets out of the way. More creativity is needed otherwise. 

Without Doncic or Irving to rely on, the Mavs relied on Wood to be a featured threat on offense. It was common for them to utilize multiple bigs in their lineups in this game, which naturally gravitated the offense to deploy Horns sets. The setup involves two players high usually near the elbow with two shooters spaced in the corners. 

For the Mavs, the advantage in using such an approach is the ability to control the spacing and quickly get into actions that create advantages. By involving Powell in a set and not having him stationed in the dunker's spot, there is more of an outlook to utilize him to make it easier for Wood. 

"It creates so many options. Dwight's a good passer. Maxi's a good passer. So to have that, it helps a guard out a lot — you can slip, come off it, and they're going to roll hard to the rim every single time," Mavs wing Josh Green said of the benefits to using a Horns set. "It creates a lot of options. If the corner pulls in, it's a 3 in the corner, too..." 

The Spurs were giving up size by having Keldon Johnson guard Wood, while remaining persistent to have their biggest player stay attached to Powell. With that being the case, Powell setting multiple ball screens with the last being for Wood enabled him to attack going to his right with space, setting up the spin middle into a floater. 

The approach was simple for Wood on the next possession. With him still being guarded by Johnson, there was still a major size advantage for Wood to use to his advantage. While playing bully ball was his approach on the previous play, Johnson was anticipating a ball screen from Powell, so Wood took advantage of the separation he was given by getting into a mid-range jumper.

Wood wasn't the scorer in the next use of a Horns set, but Johnson was clearly more focused on not giving him space before potentially catching the basketball. Jaden Hardy ran a ball screen with Powell as the screener. The play broke down a bit, but Josh Green's secondary playmaking led to an open 3-pointer for Reggie Bullock. 

The Spurs had to account for Wood given he had already scored a high volume of points and has a mismatch against the base matchup assigned to him. When he used a ball screen from Powell, Wood drew two defenders — setting up a lob pass opportunity to hit the roller. 

"Being able to go big-big in the pick-and-rolls was kind of old school. With C Wood's [Christian Wood] ability put the ball on the floor and pass," Kidd said of the Mavs' success utilizing Horns sets with Wood and Powell. "I thought being able to get to the rim, then also when he couldn't, DP [Dwight Powell] rolling and being able to find him. I thought it was a great combination and we rode that in that overtime pretty much the whole time."

With the Spurs switching against Powell's back-screen for Green on the cut through, both defenders involved in guarding a ball screening action with Wood as the ball handler and Powell as the screener were smalls. After Wood had turned the corner, he was able to lower his shoulder into Johnson with momentum, resulting in him drawing a shooting foul. 

"If they can't guard a certain thing, you keep going back to it," Green said of featuring Wood in Horns sets. "If it's working, it's working — for anything. No matter when in the game it is — first quarter or overtime."

Powell knew there was no need to set a screen for Wood on the next possession since Wood already had a major mismatch guarding him with it being a small guard, Devonte' Graham. Powell stationed himself in the dunker's spot as Wood gained an empty corner isolation touch. He drew two defenders and the pass sailed by Green on a 45-cut, but it found Bullock on the weak-side for a made 3-pointer. 

The final possession featured Hardy putting the final stamp on the game for the Mavs' offense. Once again, Wood was being picked up by Graham to start the play, so he played the role of decoy knowing he was going to quickly draw a double team. Hardy received a ball screen from Bullock, resulting in a soft switch with Doug McDermott being brought into the action. Hardy made quick work of the situation by getting into a step-back 3.  

As the Mavs proceed with the stretch-run of their season, it will be important to monitor how they continue to leverage lineups with multiple bigs. They don't have the traditional heavy, slow-footed center, so it affords them different options and play styles to utilize. 

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