As expected, the Dallas Mavericks ran trotted out their zone defense against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the Western Conference Finals, and though they didn’t run it as much as they did during the regular season (I personally counted six zone possessions), it was just as effective.  The main reason why the zone was so effective in game one was the same reason why it was effective during the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder settled for jumpers:

This is the first possession where the Mavericks threw the zone at the Thunder, and they just didn’t look prepared for it.  You have guys standing around and pointing, trying to figure out what to do with the basketball.  Eventually, after trying to penetrate, Durant is forced to kick it out to Westbrook on the wing.  The defense drops off of him, and Westbrook settles for the jumper.

The next possession, Westbrook tries to penetrate without making a pass or working the ball around first.  Because there is no passes or no ball movement, the defense is still set in their initial formation, so when Westbrook drives, the defense is able to load up, keep Westbrook from getting to the rim, and force him into a turnover.

On this possession, the Thunder try to screen one of the top defenders on the zone and Eric Maynor uses the screen.  However, instead of probing the defense and trying to get the basketball into the middle of the lane, he pulls up off of the dribble, missing the jumper.

This time, the Thunder actually do a decent job with their ball movement.  Westbrook brings up the basketball, kicks it to the wing, cuts through to the opposite wing as the ball comes back to him.  However, after that, Westbrook makes the catch and just takes a bunch of dribbles, allowing the defense to recover and get set once again.  After three crossovers, Westbrook takes a fall away jumper from the three point line.

There is simply too much settling and not enough ball/player movement when the Thunder see the zone.  In fact, there aren’t even that many passes.  I count four or five of them in five possessions (and three of them take place during one possession).  You can’t beat the zone by dribbling the basketball and not making passes, and these “plays” are a pretty good example of that.

I actually think that the fact the Thunder don’t have a true offensive system really hurts them when they face the zone.  Look at the Lakers for example, they have the triangle, and they are able to execute it against the zone and have success.  The Mavericks’ offense is based on quick ball movement/player movement, so when they face the zone, they naturally gravitate to those actions and they have success.  The Thunder don’t have an offense, so when they face the zone, they don’t really know what to try and do.  Even when they execute what they want, it is essentially four guys standing around with one working the middle.  They need to find something that allows for much more movement, both in terms of ball movement and player movement.

In addition to settling, there was a possession against the Mavericks’ zone where it looked like the Thunder were missing Jeff Green and his skillset:

With Serge Ibaka out of the game, the Thunder had to rely on Nick Collison working the middle.  This time, the Thunder do a great job of moving the basketball around the perimeter quickly, forcing the defense to rotate.  This leaves the middle wide open, and the Thunder hit Collison.  Collison is unsure of what to do, he doesn’t want to take a jumper so he tries to attack and eventually travels.  If this was Jeff Green, that’s a turnaround jumper.

I understand why the Thunder made the trade for Kendrick Perkins, however it is interesting to see Perkins not really needed in this series, while Jeff Green could be useful (and effective).

All things considered, it is a little surprising that the Mavericks didn’t go back to the zone late in the game when Durant went off, but it did prove effective and we should expect to see it more throughout this series.