After the Golden State Warriors’ 132-122 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on December 30, Steve Kerr questioned Luka Dončić’s performance. Dončić scored 39 points on 14-of-29 shooting and dominated the Warriors’ defense. 

Here’s what Kerr said:

“We tried to mix it up on him,” Kerr said. “We single covered him, we switched, we hit (doubled) him. We tried a lot of different things, but he’s a brilliant player, had a phenomenal game. I thought the mistakes we made defensively in the first half especially were on our switches. We weren’t communicating. We had some good stretches where we were getting stops and our switches were good, and then our communication broke down. We started getting two on the ball and he picked us apart. He was fantastic tonight.”

Kerr used a variety of looks against Dončić that night, relying heavily on switches. The rationale behind switching is to keep half-court plays flat, rely on Dončić’s shots, and hope that the Mavs lean too heavily upon isolation, rather than getting everyone else involved.

 

Depending on who is being switched onto Dončić, the method may be somewhat challenging to borderline impossible. Dončić’s 684 solo possessions have resulted in an average of 1.108 points per possession, including assists to teammates who finished the possession. According to Synergy, that ranks seventh among 63 players with at least 100 isolated possessions this season.

 
He’s also an effective pick-and-roll ballhandler (with 1,424 possessions). The Mavs rank 7th among 52 players with at least 500 pick-and-roll ballhandler possessions this season, with Dončić or a teammate scoring 1.113 PPP.