Mavs 111, Clippers 126

[Dahlsim]

In game 7 the zone really really didnt work.

Lets put it this way i prefer a mid ranger by Kawhi in man to man defense. Rather than the open 3 pointer by the non functioning zone. Its 3 vs 2 points. When they fall in as they did yesterday you go back to man defense and you try different defenders on kawhi. Personally i think Mavs should have experimented with different personel on Kawhi much like Clippers did with Luka. I wondered for instance whether KP could shut him down or disrupt him at very least.

I think most of time it was DFS or Maxi but sometimrs you just have to try more. One one instance i noticed late in game7  burke and JB giving Kawhi troubles. Why not trying that more or someone else smaller just to give him differrent looks? It was too easy with always same defender. Then you can use the same effective style every time.

Luka got like 1000 different looks he needed to process. Maybe Kawhi archilers heel would have been KP and smaller guys and a mix of different looks and personel. I mean the zone was fine in game 5 came as surprise. But game 7 we needed to go away for it when it stopped working.

Great observation about the zone, but really here it was pick your poison.  
The Clippers could carve them up Man to Man and did so at times during the season or you could go with Zone and if they were shooting well from the 3' they could carve you up there.  

This game came down to the Miss or Make game.  The 3's pretty much tell the difference. 
Luka was a respectable 5 for 11 and DFS stepped up at 4 for 7 but after that its all downhill.   
Unfortunately the Mavs big shooters THJ had a unusually bad night at 1 for 9 and KP had decent lines but from the 3 he was Ofer 5 and throw in Kleber 0-2, Burke chips in with an 0-1 miss. 

Combine that with the Clippers led by Morris scorching 7-9, Kennard 3-5 and Mann 2-3 from triple land you get Clippers doubling up the Mavs on 3 pointers 20 to 10!  
20 Point difference, that's the ball game. 

In game 6 it was scorching shooting from Reggie Jackson then Kawhi in the clutch seals a close game with can't miss shooting, deadly again from 3.  No other analysis really makes a difference, Clippers shot better, way better when it mattered. 

My Props go to Coach Carlisle on his astute attempt to go BIG and counter match up Ty Lue.  I don't see them making it to game 7 and staying respectable in game 6 and 7 without that move.  

The Bigs played well but those guys don't make your 3's.  Boban and KP wasn't bad at all really. Boban as usual shot a strong percentage and rebounded well 10 big boards and KP shot well inside the arc, just couldn't do it from the 3 point line.  
Powell was good but not enough for the Clips. WCS did what he does but again offense is not it and evidently Rick said Kleber was battling through a tough year so some physical issues still implied. 

Luka still needs a legit 2nd Allstar level player, at least 1 in this era with Superteams formed by the players themselves.   

Let's go Mavs!