People are amazed that Luka was not doubled. But there is more to that story, and it is about the adjustments that Mavs have made over previous games, starting where Wood entered the starting lineup. On almost every Luka double since that time, Luka has used Wood as a quick outlet. The play where Wood starts with the screen and the double on Luka is made, instead of waiting for Wood to attack the paint, instead Luka passes the ball over to Wood quickly at foot height between the two doubling defenders. Why is this so effective? It is effective because Wood is a player that from this position and because of Luka doubled being essentially completely unguarded at least initially, has the ability to dribble and attack the rim, and finish efficiently when the help arrives at the rim. This is exactly what Sabonis is also good at and why I hoped he would be the guy filling the role here. Instead it is Wood and it is enhoyable to watch this occur and that the squad has a player with this particular skillset!
I didnt manage to vote in the dearkie thread, but my vote actually goes to Wood. Wood is the player (and Kidds doubling adjustments on Luka) that ensured less Luka doubling. This is not to say Wood played better in the last game, it was arguably Lukas best performace to date or one of them. Wood is having a huge impact on this team, on both ends of the floor.
We have two SKILLED players other than Luka. We lost one in JB. That is SD and Wood. These are players you dont leave alone, players that can both shoot but also attack the rim and score in myriad of different ways, that you just cant gameplan from. Multidimensional players like these are the key in making the offense multidimensional and prevent Luka doubling, and what will take this team to a championship. The remaining core of our players have considerably less ability in penetration/finish/passing (in addition to shooting), we see some skills from time to time from THJ and from DSF and from Green. But its not close to the level of SD/Wood and not good enough to completely eliminate double teaming from even being a thought of the opponents coaches.
Nevertheless, proper use of Wood and SD has made the double teams considerably less efficient tactic for opponents ever since Wood started and since he was starting to be used as that quick outlet option immediately after the double.
More complicated doubling will occur in playoffs and require more skills also from the two other positions and will require more passing/penetration/finishing from also THJ and DSF and others.
So far so good, Im relieved to see that the team uses Woods skills properly. But this is just the beginning. Our team will find more ways to incorporate Wood, he is a lot more skilled than what he is performing at the moment. We will see games where Luka gets doubled and where he and SD will explode.
Finally, becoming more a team now again. We took a huge step back with Brunson leaving, and it was no coincidence that doubles started to work again. But i finally feel we made the transition and Wood is replacing Brunsons skills. That being said, we need two more SKILLED players like SD/Wood to win the title. It puts 100% pressure on outside shooting to work otherwise. But using the space to attack the rim, pass, make the ball movement is much more safe way to use the space that is left from doubling Luka than is just outside shooting. Deep in playoffs, pure outside shooting i wouldnt trust too much on. I hope the team makes another acquisition of a player with multidimensional offensive skillset. Preferably using THJ and Bullock for such a trade. There is nothing worse for an offense than the pure 3&D player that can only shoot from outside, as the ball will always end there and with the shot and kill the ball movement of the offense, and the space is used for shooting, and not for attacking the rim which is much more efficient when space is present. When one such player is present, it is bearable somehow, but when there are multiple, it kills the flow. No wonder that the ball movement has increased significantly now that we have 3 players in the lineup that are not only outside threat for shooting, but can penetrate, finish, pass which moves the ball.
IMO to win the title, it is essential to acquire 4th player that is multidimensional on offense. It would be acceptable that the 5th is a 3&D player like DFS. this would make the offense EXPLODE.
I didnt manage to vote in the dearkie thread, but my vote actually goes to Wood. Wood is the player (and Kidds doubling adjustments on Luka) that ensured less Luka doubling. This is not to say Wood played better in the last game, it was arguably Lukas best performace to date or one of them. Wood is having a huge impact on this team, on both ends of the floor.
We have two SKILLED players other than Luka. We lost one in JB. That is SD and Wood. These are players you dont leave alone, players that can both shoot but also attack the rim and score in myriad of different ways, that you just cant gameplan from. Multidimensional players like these are the key in making the offense multidimensional and prevent Luka doubling, and what will take this team to a championship. The remaining core of our players have considerably less ability in penetration/finish/passing (in addition to shooting), we see some skills from time to time from THJ and from DSF and from Green. But its not close to the level of SD/Wood and not good enough to completely eliminate double teaming from even being a thought of the opponents coaches.
Nevertheless, proper use of Wood and SD has made the double teams considerably less efficient tactic for opponents ever since Wood started and since he was starting to be used as that quick outlet option immediately after the double.
More complicated doubling will occur in playoffs and require more skills also from the two other positions and will require more passing/penetration/finishing from also THJ and DSF and others.
So far so good, Im relieved to see that the team uses Woods skills properly. But this is just the beginning. Our team will find more ways to incorporate Wood, he is a lot more skilled than what he is performing at the moment. We will see games where Luka gets doubled and where he and SD will explode.
Finally, becoming more a team now again. We took a huge step back with Brunson leaving, and it was no coincidence that doubles started to work again. But i finally feel we made the transition and Wood is replacing Brunsons skills. That being said, we need two more SKILLED players like SD/Wood to win the title. It puts 100% pressure on outside shooting to work otherwise. But using the space to attack the rim, pass, make the ball movement is much more safe way to use the space that is left from doubling Luka than is just outside shooting. Deep in playoffs, pure outside shooting i wouldnt trust too much on. I hope the team makes another acquisition of a player with multidimensional offensive skillset. Preferably using THJ and Bullock for such a trade. There is nothing worse for an offense than the pure 3&D player that can only shoot from outside, as the ball will always end there and with the shot and kill the ball movement of the offense, and the space is used for shooting, and not for attacking the rim which is much more efficient when space is present. When one such player is present, it is bearable somehow, but when there are multiple, it kills the flow. No wonder that the ball movement has increased significantly now that we have 3 players in the lineup that are not only outside threat for shooting, but can penetrate, finish, pass which moves the ball.
IMO to win the title, it is essential to acquire 4th player that is multidimensional on offense. It would be acceptable that the 5th is a 3&D player like DFS. this would make the offense EXPLODE.