DALLAS — Through the first three games of the Western Conference finals, the Warriors were thoroughly winning the defensive battle against the Mavericks. Through a combination of looks, which included a hedge-and-recover man scheme, a little switching, some box-and-one and a good deal of zone, Golden State held Dallas to a 106.3 offensive rating from Games 1 to 3, an elite mark. Leave it to Mavs coach Jason Kidd to turn those schemes into a positive:
“The biggest compliment we’ve gotten is that they have to play zone because they can’t guard us 1-on-1.”
Dallas was finally able to take advantage of the Warriors on Tuesday, recording their first win of the series as it heads back to the Bay with the Dubs still up 3–1. The Mavs’ 119–109 win in Game 4 came on the strength of their outside shooting, as their threes finally started to drop like the rain through the leaky roof of Dallas’s arena. After shooting only 32.6% on threes in the first three contests, the Mavs connected on 20-of-43 Tuesday night, good for 46.5%. For an example of how stark the turnaround was, in Game 3 Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith combined to shoot 2-of-12 from deep. In Game 4, they shot 10-of-17.
