The Dallas Mavericks' half-court offense should be even better.

We're in a strange world right now – Mavericks crime We need to regain some defensive leeway.

Yes, the Mavericks, led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, need to find a way to score points to give the defense some relief. This is a rare occurrence during the Doncic era, when the Mavericks' offense was typically elite and looked for some semblance of defense to get the team to the goal line.

Dallas also lost 117-95 in Game 1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday night. While the Thunder's offense shot just over 45 percent from three-point range, the Mavericks' defense, for the most part, did what it always wanted to do. OKC struggled at the rim and in the paint, making 15 of 28 shots. He went 4-of-15 in the restricted area and outside the paint.

The reason the Mavericks were able to run down the floor is because their half-court offense once again failed. During the regular season, the Mavericks had the eighth-best half-court offense in the NBA, scoring 103.1 points per 100 half-court plays, according to statistics site Cleaning the Glass. In the playoffs, Dallas ranks 11th out of 16 teams in half-court offense, scoring 93.3 points per 100 half-court plays.

Simply put, the Mavericks without home court advantage will not be able to defeat this athletic and talented Thunder team if the team continues to struggle with a stagnant half-court and unimaginative offense. It's unreasonable to expect a defense to be perfect and consistently defend well when the opposing team doesn't have to get the ball out of the basket and doesn't get multiple transition opportunities. If the Mavericks want to win this series, things need to change.

But what will change? The biggest problem facing the Mavericks is that their half-court offense has plummeted, due in part to Doncic's prolonged shooting slump in the playoffs. Dallas has played in seven playoff games so far, and Doncic has been anemic, shooting 17-of-75 (23 percent) from three games, with a nagging right knee injury affecting his lift and explosiveness. It is clear that it continues to have an impact. Doncic's regular-season rim shot percentage was the lowest of his career, but his career-best 3-point shooting led Doncic to lead the NBA in scoring. So even when Doncic was healthy, he wasn't getting to the rim as often as he did earlier in his career. Now that his knee is giving out, Doncic's touch in the paint is diminished and his 3-pointers look lifeless.

Doncic had only two attempts in the restricted area in Game 1 of the Thunder, and both were successful. Irving himself only had two and made one. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was individually limited in shots and attempts than the two Mavericks stars combined. This is important because near-the-rim shots are the best in basketball and the easiest, most consistent, and reliable shots in the NBA. Those shots could open things up for Doncic and Irving, and could make the Thunder reconsider when and where to send relief. If Doncic and Irving can't get easy games, they'll have to play harder games. Irving is creating a difficult game so far, but Doncic is not.

The playoffs are a different beast, but what the Mavericks are doing now in the half court is night and day different than what they will be doing in the final month of the season. Dallas ran the offense in the high post with starting center Daniel Gafford feeding backdoor cutters who would normally get free on screens from Irving or Doncic. That set appears to have been abandoned, as neither Doncic nor Irving set many screens in the playoffs, and very few in Tuesday's Game 1 loss. Derrick Jones Jr. hit just two 2-point shots in Game 1, but that has changed since the first round against the Clippers. Dallas keeps high screen-and-rolling Gafford or Derek Lively, and from there you just have to stand and watch. Jones sat in the corner without much movement for most of Game 1, but the Thunder were willing to take advantage of that by using his man to meet center early and take easy paint points and lobs. I made use of it.

In Game 1, Gafford and Lively combined to go 6-of-15 from the floor. Jones and P.J. Washington need to be more aggressive cutters, and the Mavericks need to trust their stars to work a little harder instead of just standing back and watching their opponents take control. ball. Jones played almost nine minutes in the third quarter and had zero shot attempts. The My Turn, Your Turn offense plagued the Mavericks vs. Thunder, but it didn't matter which star was leading the show, the other star was mostly camped in the corner and barely moved. It wasn't. Doncic had zero screens on Irving in Game 1 and has almost never done that in the playoffs, but Irving has only screened Doncic a few times. In Doncic's case, there's at least some logic. Maybe it's because the coaches don't want Doncic to endure unnecessary contact with his knee. Not much for Irving, especially when the Mavericks showed late in the season how deadly Irving was as a screener for Doncic during pick-and-pops and trying to force Doncic into better matchups. It made no sense.

Having a player like Irving stand in the corner to give him space isn't the worst idea in the world, and Doncic attempted more catch-and-shoot threes in the regular season than in any previous season. The problem is, those two people are standing in the corner. I didn't shoot. Irving made four 3-point attempts Tuesday and made three. All four attempts were pull-up threes. Irving averaged 3.3 catch-and-shoot threes per game during the regular season. The Thunder nailed him off the ball, and that's where the coaching staff needs to get creative. If OKC is clinging to Irving, use that to your advantage to brush defenders off screens or cut backdoors. Dallas' five key perimeter players who played in Game 1 combined for 19 shots in the paint, and OKC's six key perimeter players in the rotation combined for 28 shots. Ta.

Dallas needs to find a way to make their players look better. If Doncic is physically unable to do more than drop bombs from 3 and hope for the best, there may not be much for the Mavericks to adapt. Doncic has to shoot better, but the Mavericks need to put all their cards on the table to make it look easy for him and his teammates. The Mavericks can't rely on simple high screens and two center roles, especially when the option to play Maxi Kleber and five outs is toast with Kleber's injury. Dallas had center P.J. Washington at their mercy for brief moments in the second half, but perhaps that's one way to shore up the offense and give Doncic and Irving better passes to the paint. The Mavericks still have time to play in this series, but adjustments must be made quickly.

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