Film Study: Luka Doncic's Mavs Display Intriguing Defensive Potential vs. Suns

The Mavs displayed intriguing defensive potential against the Suns, leveraging the versatility of their frontcourt rotation alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

DALLAS — Throughout the Dallas Mavericks' 123-113 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, the team cycled through various lineup combinations, helping to continue a recent trend of solid defensive results. With quality defense and historic play from Luka Doncic, the Mavs have won seven consecutive games. 

"I think we have an amazing team, and seven in a row—it hasn’t happened for a while," Doncic said. "I’m really happy with the guys we have on our team.”

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The Mavs can now deploy multiple shot blockers in Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford throughout the game flow while also being able to go with a small ball option in Maxi Kleber. When the team wants to play bigger, Kleber can be deployed alongside Lively or Gafford to provide spacing and defensive versatility. 

When going with a smaller group, the Mavs have succeeded with P.J. Washington playing next to Kleber. Dallas has gone to Kleber at center to close out games lately, enabling the team to switch everything in ball screen coverages. With superstars like Doncic and Kyrie Irving to set the tone, the Mavs can punish opposing teams by spacing out on offense while having options to protect their superstars on defense.

After halftime, the Mavs pulled off a 16-0 run to create separation, with both shotmaking and defensive execution being the driving forces. Irving attributed this success to locking into the defensive game plan more and bringing over help defenders more to help contain drives. 

“Yeah, we just started locking into the game plan, and we stopped giving up a lot of easy baskets and started bringing over the help side a little bit more," Irving said.

Suns' Kevin Durant Has Major Praise for Mavs' Luka Doncic: 'He's Mastered the Game'

Mavs coach Jason Kidd highlighted how they are trying new approaches with their defense, including playing out of a zone with one defender while the rest of the unit makes the necessary rotations — seeking to maintain a paint presence. 

“We’re looking at something new defensively, and the guys did a really good job of doing that,” Kidd said. “We’re (rotating) around one person. That’s what we’re looking at doing right now is, you know, we’ll pick someone that we’re going to rotate around, and that one person will be the help at all times, and we’ll just rotate around that one person we choose.”

Devin Booker still managed to have a dynamic performance, scoring an efficient 35 points and dishing out eight assists. However, Kevin Durant had an off-night en route to his 23 points. In the era of explosive offenses, the Mavs did enough to slow down Phoenix to where their offense would be the difference. 

Watch the in-depth breakdown of the Mavs' defense displaying potential against the Suns on my YouTube channel. You can check out the Mavs' press availabilities, and other content can be viewed there throughout the season. 

The Mavs begin a four-game road trip on Sunday when they face the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse before facing the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, and Boston Celtics in other stops.