Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.

After the Mavericks cut the Spurs’ lead to 5 in the fourth quarter, the Spurs answered by going to their best player Tim Duncan.  The Mavs tried to single cover him with Brendan Haywood, but it didn’t work and Duncan was able to work him.

If the Mavericks want to keep Duncan from putting up another 25 points on him, they are going to need to double him.  So how do they go about doubling Duncan?  It might sound strange, but the Mavs should take a page out of the Nets’ playbook.  No, don’t laugh.  I’m serious.  The Nets were able to effectively shut Duncan down by aggressively attacking him on the double.

The key when doubling Duncan is stopping the off the ball movement.  What the Spurs like to do when Duncan gets doubled is send a cutter right through the paint.

If you don’t defend it, there will be a wide open lay-in.  So if the Mavs want to double, they got to make sure they handle things off the ball as well.