Mavs’ Luka Doncic Dissected Raptors Defense in 1st Matchup; Can He Do It Again?

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic had many different defensive coverages thrown his way in the team's win over the Toronto Raptors.

The Dallas Mavericks are set to take on the Toronto Raptors on Saturday in part of a three-game Eastern Conference road trip. For a Mavs team that has yet to win multiple road games, achieving a victory would be a significant potential boost in momentum.

In their previous matchup earlier this season, the Raptors tried about every defense scheme one can imagine when trying to slow down Luka Doncic and the Mavericks' offense on Friday. The three-time All-NBA First-Team guard still finished 35 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in the Mavs' 111-110 victory. 

 “Luka’s playing chess at a very high level,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s what he does. He has seen everything, he enjoys the defense that can be changed on the fly to help with his creativity. And he had some dump-offs, too, where we had some weak-side threes that didn’t (go in). It makes him special.”

When adding up all of the schemes that Toronto deployed, there was about a dozen of them thrown at Doncic. Before the game, Raptors coach Nick Nurse shared his thoughts on the game-planning process that goes into preparing for having to defend a superstar like Doncic. 

"It's really been impressive first of all. It takes a lot of game-planning," Nurse said. "Lots of schemes — deciding what you're going to do with him as far as who will cover him. They're very good at getting who they want him to play against to guard him (forcing switches). That's one of the big scheme things you have to try to figure out.

"Certainly a lot of face-up basketball. A lot of pick-and-roll. He's taking into the low block. I don't know for sure, but it seems more than ever to me as well, either on post-ups or just taking it down off the dribble. So there's another scheme: what do you do when he starts backing you down? Then who is going to guard him? So it's multiple schemes, and it's multiple defenders, then you have to try to execute them."

The Raptors started the game by having the big defender in ball screen coverage play in a drop, but not a deep one. Instead, the big was 3-4 feet from the level of the screen to be in a position to protect the paint deep on a potential drive from Doncic. With the Raptors being a defense that gives up the most opponent corner 3s in the NBA, they tend to aggressively rotate the low-man to help protect the paint. 

On the play below, Doncic used a jab step to reject the ball screen, neutralizing Scottie Barnes early in the play. Christian Koloko had to engage Doncic on the drive and Pascal Siakam made a low-man rotation after Doncic got deep on the attack. Instead of forcing a tough layup, Doncic made a late spray-out pass to Dorian Finney-Smith, who was wide open in the corner. 

The Raptors had Koloko switch in ball screen coverage at one point. Trusting any big man to hold their own against Doncic out in space is a lot to ask. When considering Koloko's inexperience as a rookie, Toronto didn't stick with switching for very long as he quickly fouled Doncic on this drive. As what occurs in the play below, Kidd explained that when the opposing team does decide to switch in ball screen coverage then stay home on shooters, the main counter to that is to draw fouls to get to the free throw line.

The Raptors attempted to pre-help at the nail — prompting Doncic to utilize some side ball screens. To add further difficult to these sequences, Toronto also tried to trap him along the sideline to put him in a tough spot without a great place to go with the basketball. Doncic pulled off one of his top career highlights by using a spin move to split the two defenders before throwing a no-look pass to an open shooter in the weak-side corner. 

The Raptors tried to have the big defender play at the level of the screen before retreating after having the on-ball defender engage Doncic quickly after crossing half-court. The Mavs had a great counter with Maxi Kleber using a 'Gortat' in the paint to seal off the big defender from protecting the paint — resulting in an easy finish for Doncic after driving across the paint. 

There was a point when the Raptors deployed a 2-3 zone and the Mavs countered by having Spencer Dinwiddie initiate the offense — allowing Doncic to being on the side of the floor. Doncic received a middle direction ball screen to stress the top of the zone before getting the ball to Dinwiddie on the wing for a catch-and-shoot jumper. 

Doncic initiated a possession where he quickly went turned his back to the basket after seeing a double-team developing along the sideline. After inviting the pressure from the defense, Doncic quickly gave the ball up to Dinwiddie, who then drove down the middle of the floor — setting up a spray-out pass to Finney-Smith for an open catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. 

There was a possession that featured the Raptors attempting to catch Doncic by surprise at midcourt by using next defense — sending the nearest help defender to pressure the ball. If a ball handler isn't paying attention, it can result in a live ball turnover. Doncic instead lofted the ball to Dinwiddie before crashing to the ground — ending in a made 3-pointer. 

When the Mavs ran their Delay Chicago handoff set to start the third quarter, the Raptors hedged to prevent the drive for Doncic then double-teamed. When he draws multiple defenders high, he tends to manipulate the backline defense to create an advantage. He stares down Finney-Smith on the wing to draw Gary Trent Jr. to commit to him — creating a no-look pass to Powell in the paint for an easy finish. 

There was an attempt from the Raptors to switch the ball screen followed by a late double-team. Doncic took advantage by driving hard right when he identified OG Anunoby coming over to trap. After a bounce-bass along the baseline, the ball made its way to Christian Wood with Toronto's defense now being out of rotation. 

The rest of the execution on the play was determined by the weak-side floor spacers and it played out well. Wood made the extra pass to Tim Hardaway Jr. on the wing, who then used an intriguing approach to put his shooting gravity to use. Hardaway paused on the catch to force a fly-by, then forced another closeout on the reload. He then passed out of a "shot" to give it to Wood, who was left open in the corner. 

As tends to be the case when the Mavs face the Raptors, there is some use of a box-and-one zone. In such a situation it becomes important for Doncic to become a decoy and he did in the play below — spacing from the corner. The rest of the unit managed to work the ball around having a 4-on-4, leading to a pass to Powell in the dunker's spot for a finish. 

The Raptors went back to deploying a zone, but this time, they utilized a 1-3-1 scheme. Giving up all of that space for Doncic to operate proved to be a mistake for Toronto. Doncic drove hard hard knowing there'd be a rim protector in position to pressure a finish, so he used a stride stop to get to a turnaround jumper. 

The Raptors wanted to force the ball out of Doncic's hands down the stretch and sent a trap when he received a middle floor ball screen from Powell. Since there is a real trust in Powell's decision marking on the short-roll, the Mavs capitalized. As Powell draws a commitment from a help defender, Finney-Smith makes a 45-cut and gets the ball on a bounce-pass for a dunk. 

It was a good test for the Mavs to see all of the different defensive schemes and techniques the Raptors deployed early in the season. While the group of players that returned from the Western Conference Finals run saw a lot of different defensive strategies deployed against them, there are newcomers getting acclimated to the team, along with some returning talents playing new roles. Dallas can now use this game film and experience to build on.

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