On Sunday afternoon Deron Williams did something no other Maverick had in 20 years.
Williams became just the second Maverick since at least the 1983-84 season to finish with at least 30 points and 15 assists in a game, and the first since Jason Kidd accomplished the same feat in 1996. But at that point, Kidd was just 22 years old. Only four other players in the last 30 seasons have recorded a 30-point, 15-assist game at an older age than Williams (31 years, 268 days), according to Basketball-Reference.
Lost in the recognition and celebration of Dirk Nowitzki’s 40-point masterpiece was Williams’ equally timeless performance — 31 points, 16 assists, four 3-pointers, and three steals.
What stood out more than the eye-popping numbers, though, was just how comfortable Williams appeared behind the wheel of the Mavs offense. With Chandler Parsons out on Sunday with a sore right hamstring, there was a playmaking void which needed to be filled, and Williams stepped in. The Mavericks didn’t miss a beat, as Williams’ 16 dimes generated 40 points. Six of those them went to Nowitzki, as the two-man partnership eventually overwhelmed the Blazers in overtime.
A point guard’s most important job — more than scoring, more than passing, and more than bringing athleticism and quickness to the team — is ensuring his team always finds a good shot. That’s a difficult thing to quantify, as “good shot” can mean so many different things. A Nowitzki one-legged fade is a desirable shot for the Mavericks, but the same shot by any other player in the NBA is more often than not a losing proposition. A contested three-pointer by Stephen Curry is a good shot, but you don’t want many other guys taking the same one. Every player is different and every system is unique, so a point guard must always be aware of his teammates’ strengths and weaknesses and he must know the spots they want to get to on the floor.
Williams certainly hasn’t struggled in that regard this season, as the Mavericks have scored 104.5 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, according to NBA.com. But Sunday he took his ability to create good shots for others to the next level, using a combination of changing speeds, controlling tempo, and dribble penetration to knock the defense off balance.
The Mavericks track a stat called Pace21, which measures how quickly the offense gets the ball across halfcourt. The goal is to do so in three seconds or less (with 21 seconds or more remaining on the shot clock — hence “Pace21”), either by pushing the ball off a miss or turnover, or sprinting up the floor after a basket. The faster you set up in the halfcourt, the higher the odds the defense isn’t ready for what’s coming. This season, the Mavs have scored .08 points per possession more when they get the ball across in three seconds or less than when they do not, according to the team’s analytics. That might not seem like much, but an extra .08 points on 60 possessions a game means five points. That’s the difference between a win and a loss.
Here’s a play illustrating the importance of tempo and how manipulating it can lead to easy buckets. In the play below, Williams races the ball up the floor then slows up to assess the situation. Because he pushed the tempo, point guard Damian Lillard is guarding center Salah Mejri, and Al-Farouq Aminu is defending Williams. Advantage: Williams.
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The point guard acts as if he wants to run a pick-and-roll to exploit the physically over-matched Lillard, but he changes direction and attacks Aminu instead, drawing in Mason Plumlee in the process. That leaves Nowitzki wide-open for a mid-range jumper. The pass is very nice, of course, but what really set that play up was Williams’ control of the pace. He pushed the tempo, then slowed up, then attacked quickly.
Early in the third quarter a similar play unfolded, with the Mavericks running (and completing) a pick-and-roll five seconds into the shot clock. Portland switched everything defensively, which left an off-balance Noah Vonleh defending Williams, who quickly crosses Vonleh behind the back to create even more confusion.
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By now, Williams’ move is almost complete. He crosses over one more time to get past the Blazers big man, then draws the help of a defender, and finds a wide-open Wesley Matthews in the corner for three. In the box score it’s only going to show up as an assist, but on the film you can see he manipulates the tempo, the opposing defense’s switching scheme, and he draws in help defense before finally delivering the stat we see in the paper the next day.
You don’t always have to push the tempo to find a good shot, though. In the play below, Williams attacks Allen Crabbe off the dribble, eventually ending up at the free throw line in acres of space. He then makes a dribble hand-off to Charlie Villanueva, who then drives and finishes at the rim.
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Williams establishing a position at the free throw line is big, here. Villanueva has been very good off the bounce this season, and he’s an athletic guy at the power forward position. But if he receives the ball higher on the floor, it’s not likely that he can beat the defense to the rim in the span of 25 feet. However, because Williams got so low relative to the defense, Villanueva makes the catch practically at the elbow, requiring only one dribble and two steps to get all the way to the rim. No defender can help in such a small amount of time. (Not that any defender could, anyway, as Portland switched yet another screen, leaving C.J. McCollum at the rim and Plumlee at the three-point line.)
Finally, the Mavs found a creative way to get Williams isolated in the post on a smaller defender. Late in the fourth quarter Dallas ran a 1-2 pick-and-roll between Williams and Raymond Felton to switch the smaller Lillard onto Williams, who then easily dribbles down to the block and backs his man down. Watch Williams direct Matthews and Mejri to clear out as he sets up the play.
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The point guard is small enough to back his man down all the way to the restricted area before Plumlee finally offers some help. At that point, all Williams has to do is drop off a pass to the cutting Mejri, who then makes a nice reverse dunk. Again, in the box score this is just going to count for an assist, but Williams made this whole possession happen by exploiting the defense and putting himself — and his teammates — in a favorable position.
The biggest challenge a point guard faces in this league is making his teammates’ jobs easier. Against Portland, Williams not only did that, but he made it look easy. He was aggressive from the opening tip and seemed to embrace the added responsibility with Parsons out of the lineup. Moving forward, Williams will likely assume more playmaking duties within the flow of the offense, which means he’ll be in a position to do these same things the rest of the season. If he can play at the same level he did Sunday against the Blazers — not in terms of output or production, but in command and control — the Dallas offense will be in good hands the rest of the way.
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