FILM STUDY: How the Mavericks beat the Nets on one play...

The Dallas Mavericks delivered the Brooklyn Nets a loss in an overtime heartbreaker all by running the same play. The Mavs repeatedly ran two-man action for Luka Doncic with a variety of screeners—Maxi Kleber, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Reggie Bullock—setting picks and popping to three. This produced 9 points in three-straight possessions to open overtime, effectively ending the ball game.

This wasn’t the first time that the 1-4 Nets had trouble guarding pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop action. Four days earlier, the Memphis Grizzlies similarly shredded Brooklyn’s screen-and-roll defense by using Desmond Bane, one of the best three-point shooters in the world, as a screener. Bane largely put up a career-high 38 points because of the Nets’ ineptitude at guarding this specific play.

In this video, we’ll detail what Brooklyn’s pick-and-roll coverage was against Dallas’ overtime pick-and-pop offense, why it was ineffective, and some alternative options for the 1-4 Nets going forward to counteract this type of attack.