Great Gobert Debate: Jazz Intrigued By Small-Ball Lineup vs. Mavs

The Utah Jazz found success going small in Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks. Will they turn to it more in Game 4?

After the Dallas Mavericks established a 17-point lead in the second half of their 126-118 win in Game 3, the Utah Jazz decided to shake things up by going small. For the first time in the series, neither Rudy Gobert nor Hassan Whiteside was on the court. Utah managed to rally back to within one point after the decision. 

By opening up the floor, the Jazz became aggressive in attacking the rim. No longer did they have a non-shooting threat near the paint clogging the lane. Donovan Mitchell made a clear effort to get to the rim using his explosiveness after previously being limited in doing so with a big on the court. 

Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

In the ten minutes that Paschall played the five in the second half of Game 3, the Jazz outscored the Mavericks by a nine-point margin. Utah found success in the scoring department as they shot a staggering 68.8 percent from the floor with this combo. 

“That’s something that we’ll look to capitalize on as the series moves on,” Mitchell said, noting that the spacing and speed of the small lineup gave the Jazz an advantage. “We found something unique that we haven’t really done and we’ll watch the film.”

Mitchell made it a point to attack aggressively when bringing the ball up — sometimes with multiple ball screens to neutralize the Mavericks' defense from sending help. Dallas will need to tighten up how they are engaging him early in possessions to cut down on clean finishing chances. 

The Jazz have relied on pick-and-roll sequences as the fulcrum of their half-court offense, but given Gobert's limitations, it's been neutralized. When going small, Utah can use a shooting threat as a screener, particularly whoever is being guarded by the Mavericks' weakest on-ball defender — like Davis Bertans.

“It’s tough because you want to keep your bigs on the floor,” Jazz guard Mike Conley said. “That’s who we are. We’ve built our team around our bigs and pick-and-roll and when teams try to take that away by spacing us out and driving and kicking, it becomes a cat-and-mouse game. Do we want to go small? Do we want to change it up? It’s tough.”

Knowing the Mavericks will likely look to switch, Mitchell can hunt a matchup he wants. It then becomes a matter of staying in front of one of the quicker guards in the NBA who poses a significant threat as an extended-range shot creator. Dinwiddie was unable to contain Mitchell in one of these situations — requiring help from Powell. 

Another look the Jazz threw at the Mavericks was to play out of the post through Bojan Bogdanovic. This was to counter Dallas zoning them up. By making Dallas have to scramble within the half-court, the goal was to create just one breakdown that can be exploited. Utah benefited from a backdoor cut against ball watching or a baseline drive on an attack off the catch against an X-out. 

Now that it was made clear that desperation levels were running high for the Jazz, and that small ball is the ace up their sleeve, the Mavericks can anticipate what may come at them in Game 4. To combat Utah's small-ball lineup, Dallas' early possession responsibilities need to be on point, unlike on the possession where Bullock was out of position against a Mike Conley ball screen. 

Jazz coach Quin Snyder's decision naturally sparked debate about whether or not Gobert's elite defense made up for his lack of offense. However, Gobert was favorable of the decision — explaining how it was the right call to shake things up against the Mavericks to see how they'd react. 

“I thought it was great, thought it was great to give them different looks,” Gobert said. “It was good for us to see how they’re going to defend against five-out and attack against us switching one through five.”

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

When Luka Doncic is back in the lineup, the Mavericks will face easier circumstances to avoid having to deploy Davis Bertans against the Jazz small-ball lineups. Dallas will have the full green light to go as small as having Finney-Smith at the five. At that point, Utah will be faced with deciding if they can afford to not have any rim protector on the floor against Doncic and Brunson. 

Keep in mind, that the Mavericks have deployed a three-guard lineup at times with Brunson, Dinwiddie, and Doncic. If Dallas is going up against a small unit, they can match with complete spacing around their three guards while having threats on each of the wings to attack off the catch. 

There was much excitement from the Jazz after their free agency signing of Rudy Gay, who was supposed to be the small-ball center option they could turn to in the playoffs. He hasn't logged a single minute of action through three games. The effort they made to plan for this situation has been a failure. Now, it's up to the Mavericks to punish Utah for it if they go small.