Draymond Green breaks down the Mavericks' 117-95 loss to Oklahoma City, pinpointing how bad ball-screen placement left Luka Dončić vulnerable to mismatches. He suggests using Kyrie Irving to initiate screens earlier at half-court and picking up the pace to keep defenses off-balance. Green also argues Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved a closer MVP vote over Nikola Jokic.
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Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Thunder and the Mavericks, 117 to 95 on Tuesday. Kyrie, 20 points, 7 for 14 from the field, 3 assists. Luka, Luka has been struggling. 19 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 6 of 19 shooting, and only 1 of 8 from 3. And who a lot of people believe were the MVP snub, Shea Gildress-Alexander, 29, 9, and 9. 8 for 19, 11 for 13 from the line. Man, I know I told you all I think the Dallas Mavericks are winning this series and they just got mopped. And I've spoken to you all about how hard it is to win game 2 when you win game 1 the way the Thunder did. They won game 1 in the worst possible way you can win it. For yourself moving forward in Game 2. They now gonna have a very upset Luka, a very upset Kyrie, a very upset Dallas Mavericks team, and they gotta hold that off. I still think the Mavericks ultimately will take this series, but I saw something that the Mavericks were doing that I think they really need to, I think they really need to, to, I think they really need to, adjust on the offensive end. And that is a lot of times Kyrie Irving was standing in the corner. Dallas was bringing a guard into the ball screen to set the first screen on Ludo essentially to try to get the switch and off of Luka. And then they were bringing in the big. And what was happening was the big was all the way up at the level of the screen. But even more importantly, the guard who was supposed to switch the initial wasn't switching. He was almost just jumping into a corral and corralling Luka and then letting, and then letting, uh, Lu Dort get through. And now Lu Dort's back into the body of Luka. He's closer to the sideline and you just got that big up at the level. What then proceeded to happen from that point was one of two things. They weren't honoring, number one, they weren't honoring that first guard to say you had Derek Jones setting it, you had Josh Green setting it. They weren't honoring those guys at all. They did not care about those guys setting the screen. That was number one. So then what proceeded to happen was Luka had no other choice but to hit Gafford on the roll. Luka had no other choice but to hit Draymond Green on the roll. And when he's hitting those guys on the roll, oh, excuse me, on the roll, They're, they're, Gafford was just going to the hole trying to finish, but he's catching the ball so far out that it wasn't the type of finishes that Derek Gafford was getting. Excuse me, Daniel Gafford. When Daniel Gafford was making 33 shots in a row and we were hearing about this throughout the season, free field goal attempts in a row, he was getting dunks, he was getting lobs, he was getting rebound putbacks. Now, So what being up at the level of that screen did was it made the pocket higher, meaning Gafford's catching the ball so much further out to where by the time he gets to the rim, OKC's having 3 guys at the rim contesting. And although they don't have much size, it's a lot of bodies to get through and they're in such great position that legal guarding position, if they just jump up, it didn't really matter how much size they had. Because he was jumping from so far out. And so I think, number one, if they're going to continue to hit Gafford in the pocket that high up, Gafford at some point is going to have to look weak side and spray. Now, in looking weak side and spray, you're spraying to Josh Green. This is also where the Mavericks will miss Maxie Klaybur. Nobody wants to talk about Maxie Klaybur being out. That's a big loss for Dallas. They're spraying out to Josh Green. They're spraying out to Derrick Jones Jr. They're spraying out to— Jones Jr. Hand out to PJ Washington. And those guys didn't shoot the ball well at all last game. And so, OKC lived with those guys catching and shooting and it did not work. It did not work at all. Derek Lively, I actually thought was the opposite. He wasn't aggressive enough and was only looking for the skip out. But with his skip out, again, who were you skipping it out? Who were you skipping it out to? And so I think that was really big. And I think if Dallas is going to continue to set that screen, first screen with the guard to try to get the switch. The screen has to be set with Kyrie Irving. And the reason it has to be set with Kyrie Irving is because when Kyrie Irving slip out in college, when Kyrie Irving slip out in space and they're in coverage, Kyrie Irving can now make a play. So guess what? They can't stay in coverage. They can't corral because if you hit Kyrie with a man down, remember the big is up the floor already on the opposite side waiting on Luka to come off. Uh, So, and Kyrie Irving, man, is there. Now you got Kyrie Irving coming downhill. Forget the other two shooters. You can bring all three guys in. Kyrie Irving's finishing over three guys, two guys, floater, mid-range, pull-up. Kyrie Irving is finishing that stuff. And so I think they're gonna have to bring Kyrie into more action, more ball screens with Luka and Kyrie setting it for each other. Let's see how they handle that. Now we got the switch. Now you sprint the big into it. Now they're trying to react. Now you got Lou Dort gotta pull in for help. Lou Dort's been all over these guys, right? So once Lou Dort then switches off and he's on Luka or Kyrie, he's not helping off those guys. Now you got that guy coming off to make the play with the big rolling fast 'cause he's came up sprinting. Now you can get into the actions that you want to get into. Now you can have Luka making the reads that he can make. Now Luka won't be 1 for 8 from 3 because he'll be more in a rhythm. And those shots will get easier. It'll soften the defense up. And so I still think Dallas is winning this game. I mean, excuse me, winning this series. OKC looked really good. You gotta give those guys a lot of credit, but I still think I got Dallas taking it. And who's going to have to play better? And he's had a down year. Tim Hardaway Jr. Tim Hardaway Jr. gonna have to play better. He's gonna have to make some shots. If this team is gonna win, like I said, especially without Maxie Kleber, Tim Hardaway Jr. must have a game or two in order for them to win this series because they need the shooting. They really need, really need the shooting. And so Tim, I think Dallas has a real chance of competing to get to the finals. I really do. And Tim is gonna have to play better. And I think J-Kidd does, they gonna have to do some things to loosen up Luka more and not have him operating at the free throw line. I also think they're gonna have to speed their pace up a bit. You speed your pace up, now the defense isn't getting set every time. And if Luke Dort wants to pick up Luka the way he was, start setting that screen up higher. Start setting that screen up at half court. You set the screen at half court, now you got Luka coming downhill at the big. And the whole floor opens up. Now you got Lou Dort chasing the play. Well, guess what? Lucas, Lucas, 6'8", what, 240 pounds? Big body. Once you get behind, he's gonna put you in jail. You're not getting back in front of him. And by the way, if you fight to get back in front of him, welcome to the world of Jaylen Brunson. Step back, 'cause you fighting to recover as opposed to riding the hip.
And so—
And if you ride Luka hip, he's got so much size, he just put you on the hip and like see over you, get the shot he wants. And so I think they gonna need to play with a little more pace as well. Set some higher up screens, free Luka up, and then also get the ball in Kyrie Irving's hands a little more. Uh, 20 points on 7 for 14 shooting, and Luka only took what, 18 shots, 19 shots? Kyrie Irving needs to attempt more than 14 shots. So, As you all know, I got the Mavericks beating the Thunder and I still think it's happening. I'm not getting hellbent over a 22-point loss. It's 1-0 and that's all that means. Uh, before we get out of here, we'll take our questions. Joker, third MVP in four seasons, Shai runner-up. Uh, do I feel it was the correct decision? Here's why. I mean, Joker's great. However, I think the way Shea closed the season, he had a great season all year, but the way he closed the season, the way it came down the stretch of who was gonna get the number one seed, like the number one seed and all that stuff mattered when Joker got the number one seed, but now it don't matter when Shea get the number one seed. I thought the way the season closed out, I'm not necessarily gonna say Shea should've won, I think it should have been a lot closer though. I think the race should have been a lot closer. But a lot of these voters have their mind made up far before they should. You know, guys see it in January, like this is my MVP. Minds made up too early and it's hard to move them off that. And I think, you know, Shai was hit with a case of that. And it's unfortunate, but he got, you know, Shai will continue to get better as he has in this league. And I think his time is coming, but congrats to Joker. Well deserved. You know, the work that he continues to put in, what he continues to do to opposing defenses every night is unmatched and unlike pretty much anything we've ever seen in the league at the way he's going about it from the position that he's doing it. So shout out to Joker. Congrats on another one.
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