The Trail Blazers' Defensive Execution Is Still Very Much A Work In Progress

The Blazers had a plan in place defensively against the Mavericks, but all too often fell victim to the slim margins between good and bad execution.

Luka Doncic is tough enough to deal with all by himself. But pairing him with big men who stretch the floor, catch lobs and post-up mismatches makes Doncic even more dangerous, and the Dallas Mavericks – when open jumpers are falling, at least – among the most impossible offenses in basketball to stop.

The Trail Blazers beat Dallas on Friday, deploying their increasingly familiar small-ball lineup in crunch-time to string together just enough stops to come away with a win. At least some of Portland's late-game defensive performance was owed to the whims of shot-making, though. The Mavericks went just 3-of-11 from three in the fourth quarter, their best shooters misfiring on multiple wide-open looks during the game's most critical moments. 

Still, Dallas put up a 126.6 offensive rating on Friday night, well above the Brooklyn Nets' league-leading mark. 

"There's gonna be challenges at times [defensively]," Robert Covington said after the game, "but it's how we weather the storm, and we was able to weather it really well today."

The Mavericks present as many challenges offensively as any team in the league when they're rolling. The Blazers were prepared for some of them, making real-time adjustments in efforts to stymie Dallas' pet sets, prevent Doncic from going at their most vulnerable defenders one-on-one and get into Kristaps Porzingis' legs down low.

But even when Portland knew how to execute defensively, actually doing it with the precision needed to limit an offensive attack like the Mavericks' regularly proved too much.

Dallas uses "Spain" or "stack" ball screens as often as any outfit in the league, leveraging Doncic's supreme blend of court vision and individual scoring ability to manipulate scrambling defenses. Some teams still fall victim to the quick-hitting layers of that ever-popular play call, but not the Blazers. They were ready for Spain on multiple possessions Friday night.

The problem on the trip below wasn't game-planning. C.J. McCollum knew exactly what his responsibilities were as the low man's primary defender. He was just a step late switching onto Doncic, ensuring McCollum's lack of length would make him extra easy prey.

Doncic's best attribute is his otherworldly passing ability. He's also plenty dangerous as a one-on-one scorer, especially when targeting a switching defense's weakest link in the chain.

Portland was fully aware Doncic would be hunting Enes Kanter and Carmelo Anthony on Friday night. But even when a pre-switch was called out loud and clear to avoid putting them in the mix, the Blazers sometimes remained indecisive, giving Doncic the little space he needs to gain an advantage.

That's a surefire preview of what's to come in the playoffs should Portland face Doncic or LeBron James. Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker could go mismatch hunting against the Blazers come the postseason, too.

Pre-switching alone often won't be enough under that microscope, though. The game's smartest ball handlers will find ways to draw their preferred matchup anyway, like when Doncic and his teammates dissected Portland's plan in the second quarter.

The Blazers also schemed special coverage for Porzingis' post touches.

The notion Dallas should come anywhere near feeding Porzingis on the block like he's Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic is foolish. He lacks the base at 7-foot-3 to consistently establish deep position, routinely being pushed out of the post by smaller defenders. There are only so many moves available to Porzingis with his back to the basket when he's met by a defender committed to getting underneath him. Turnaround long twos just aren't efficient shot attempts, either.

Porzingis can certainly make them, though, and is capable of feasting against shorter defenders who don't have the strength to get into his body. Portland protected McCollum and Damian Lillard from that fate on Friday night by occasionally "scram" switching, a gambit that calls for a weak-side defender to bump out a smaller teammate from the block on flight of the post-entry pass. 

Carmelo Anthony knew what to do for the entirety of the clip below, but arrived a bit overzealous while kicking out Gary Trent Jr., resulting in a shooting foul.

When it was too late to scram switch, the Blazers were prepped to double-team Porzingis as he turned over his right shoulder. 

Like Anthony before him, Robert Covington was a bit uncontrolled rotating to the point of attack on this possession from the third quarter.

The Blazers have the pieces in place to live up to Terry Stotts' goal of emerging as a league-average defense once Nurkic returns. It's the type of barely-there margin between Porzingis and Covington that will most decide whether they're able to do it.

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