A Look At Some Game 2 Adjustments Every Losing Team Needs To Make If They Want To Even Up Their Series

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No matter who you asked I think the general consensus among NBA fans was that this postseason was going to be incredible. Pretty much every first round matchup is awesome, the league has never been more wide open, and with how entertaining the regular season and play in tournament was, this wasn't exactly a hot take. 

Well now that we've gone through all of the Game 1s, safe to say those takes are looking pretty good. These playoffs have already been awesome and the beauty is we're just getting started. We're now at the stage of the postseason where hot takes are flying left and right for better or worse. If your favorite team won their opener, you are loving life right now and are trying your hardest to tell your brain there is a long way to go and the series is not over. If your favorite team didn't come away with the win, it's not time to panic but it's certainly time to make some adjustments. That's the beauty of the playoffs in my opinion. I'm fascinated to see the adjustments one side makes and then how the other team counters. Success in the playoffs can often come down to who can get the most out of these adjustments and who can effectively counter them. 

So as we prepare for a slate of Game 2s today, I wanted to take a look at some adjustments I'm looking for each losing team to make. They might not guarantee a win or anything, but if any of these teams that sit 0-1 have hopes of evening up and potentially winning their series, these are things I think we need to see.

Atlanta Hawks (0-1)

I don't know if you can really have schedule losses in the postseason, but the Hawks were pretty close in their blowout loss to the Heat. Going from a game Friday night to an early tip on Sunday is a tough draw, but that's what you get for being a 9 seed. So while on some level you can understand why the Hawks lost the opener, that doesn't mean they don't need to make some pretty immediate adjustment if they want to make this a series. Remember, when they beat the Cavs many people thought they'd be able to give the Heat some issues, and that was NOT the case yesterday.

First and most importantly, they need to get Trae Young going. This was a bit of a nightmare Game 1 for Trae 

That's….not going to cut it. It goes without saying that if the Hawks want to have a chance in this game, they need Trae to be Trae. A big adjustment that shouldn't be hard to make is simply making the Heat defense have to make a choice defensively. The Hawks do that by getting Trae into the paint. Look at his shot chart from Game 1 and tell me if this is an effective way to use Trae offensively

Only 2 FGA in the paint? So much of what makes the Hawks tough to guard is that when Trae is able to live in the paint, it's a bit of a pick your poison. If you play drop and sag off, he's going kill you with his floater. If you play up too much, he'll just throw the lob. Too often they waited for a mismatch before really getting going offensively, and against the Heat you can't do that. They are too good defensively. This is not the same team as the Cavs in a sense that when the Hawks force a switch, now they are dealing with Bam compared to Lauri Markkanen. That's obviously going to make Trae's life hell.

So what should they do? Why not try moving Trae off ball and look to get him going that way? Getting him coming off screens is a good way to counter the aggressive Heat defense. Young ranked in the 97th percentile coming off screens during the year while shooting 70.6% from the floor. You prevent some switching/trapping by doing that which is a key to what makes the Heat defense go. That makes the secondary playmaking/ball handling even more important, but at this point the Hawks should give it a try.

Dallas Mavericks (0-1)

Hard to say the Mavs didn't let a prime opportunity slip. Winning games is hard enough to do without Luka so the fact that the Mavs had a chance late in Game 1 was a bit of a prayer. On the defensive end, they did hold UTA to 99 points which is pretty good and expected given how solid the Mavs are on that end. 

So when it comes to adjustments, it sounds pretty simple but honestly….just make more shots. The Mavs shot just 38/28% in this game and nearly pulled off the miracle, so you would think now that the nerves are a little better and they are still playing at home that the shooting should come around. Also, make your FTs. The Mavs went 26-34 from the line in a game they lost by 6 points. 

This was not a case of the Mavs having system issues against the Jazz defense, they just shot like shit. That happens. In terms of their lineup and rotations, this is where I think we see Jason Kidd switch stuff up. They were killed on the glass 53-34 and a large part of that was the decision to go small. I can understand the appeal there because it increases your chance to pull Gobert away from the rim and put him on the perimeter, but you have to be selective with that. If they want to stay small, then they are going to have to be much better in terms of collective rebounding. If they aren't going to shoot well, you cannot allow the Jazz to dominate the glass like they did in Game 1.

Memphis Grizzlies (0-1)

By all accounts this Game 1 lived up to the hype and then some. You should have expected that going in since they split the season series 2-2, and I see no reason why this series can't go the distance.

The first thing the Grizzlies need to make sure to do is not panic. Losing the opener is tough, but this is a resilient team that was dominant all year long. They can win on the road, so you don't want to start freaking out just yet. If you want to tell me that they were a little rusty heading into this game, I'll buy it. The Grizzlies have earned that benefit of the doubt in my opinion. 

If they are going to even this thing up, they need to get back to defending without fouling. Steven Adams, Dillon Brooks, and JJJ all had to deal with foul trouble, committing a total of 14 fouls between them. That's way too many. That made Adams a non factor which took away one of their best advantages which is rebounding. That matchup against KAT was a bit of a nightmare for Adams in Game 1, so he needs to be much better there. 

Much like the Mavs, the easiest adjustment the Grizzlies can make is simply to hit their outside shots at their normal clip. They finished just 7-27 (25.9%) which is pretty terrible, but now that these young guys have a taste of the playoffs chances are they bounce back. You know what Morant is going to give you, you know how he's going to be able to attack the paint, so when he draws that attention guys need to step up and hit shots. I'd like to see Bane get more spot up looks to help build his confidence and you just have to hope that if defenses collapse on Ja in P&R, that someone like JJJ won't go 0-5 again from deep.

Toronto Raptors (0-1)

Is there anything the Raptors can adjust for Game 2? I dunno, things are a little different with Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr, and Thad Young all expected to be out. Whatever you might have wanted them to do after getting the shit kicked out of them in Game 1 is a bit out of the window given those players won't even be on the floor.

We know they can't stop Embiid because nobody can stop Embiid. So that means their adjustment has to be finding ways to be A SHIT TON better at limiting the Sixers supporting cast. Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey were the difference, especially from deep. Once the bench came in, it was more of the same. If the Raptors aren't going to defend the 3 point line (16-32) they have no shot. I know that's a lot to ask for since you have to pay so much attention to Embiid, but they have to figure out something. You can't let the Sixers walk into so many open looks. If that means you don't double Embiid and force him to score every time then so be it. But whatever we saw defensively in that Game 1 is not going to cut it.

It also goes without saying tat they have to be better at defending without fouls. A total of 26 fouls led to 34 FTA for the Sixers. If you aren't going to guard the perimeter and you aren't going to defend without fouling, that's how you get blown out by 20+ points and it really wasn't even that close.

Maybe there will be some shooting variance in Game 2, but not if the Raptors don't show up on that end.

Denver Nuggets (0-1)

Is praying that Jamal Murray and MPJ magically come back an option? That would be a pretty great adjustment but sadly I do not see that happening. To have that type of Game 1 loss where Steph only played 22 minutes and went 5-13 is tough because the margin of error for DEN is already so thin. So for Game 2 they need to do the following:

Get Aaron Gordon and Monte Morris going. Guys like Jokic and Barton held up their end of the bargain, but given the talent difference the Nuggets cannot afford to have no shows from those two guys. Gordon going 3-10 is brutal, so they need to find way to get him more plays at the rim. You can't trust his jumper, so I don't need him taking 3 3PA. I need everything he does to be at the rim and force the Warriors rim protection to come through without fouling. 

They also can do Jokic a huge favor in simply slowing down. The last thing you want to do is get into a track meet with the Warriors, especially when your best player is a 7 foot kinda chubby center. You could tell how gassed Jokic was given everything he has to do in this game, so I say slow the game down. Go deep into the shot clock, and make the Warriors defend for 24 seconds. They are the deeper team, but when you rush against GS and maybe aren't the most efficient basketball team, that is how they kill you. They score in 2 seconds, it's usually a dagger three, the crowd starts to go nuts and things can get out of hand quickly. If you slow down and take care of the ball you can limit their possessions which might help limiting the overall offensive production.

Chicago Bulls (0-1)

For a while there it looked like the Bulls were going to pull off the upset. To only lose by 7 points despite shooting 32/18% is rather impressive. At the same time, this might be the worst the Bucks play this series, so that's a little unfortunate. The Bulls did do a good job weathering the early storm and they were locked in defensively, so really Game 2 comes down to their three best guys. When you have

DeRozan: 6-25

Vucevic: 9-27

LaVine: 6-19 (2-10)

You're not going to beat the defending champs. As a team the Bulls shot 7-37 from three which when you combine with missing a ton of layups, that's how heartbreakers happen. That's why I really don't think the Bulls have to change too much about their approach

You're not going to tell DeRozan to suddenly stop taking midrange shots when he's the best midrange shooter not named Kevin Durant in the league. I guess maybe you want LaVine to not settle as much and be more aggressive, but that's an easy fix. It really just comes down to their trio of stars all not laying an egg in the same game. If they can avoid that and still look like they did defensively, they can get back into this series no problem.

The only issue there is the Bulls have kind of stunk for like 3 months so who knows if they can actually do it.

Brooklyn Nets (0-1)

Part of me says you don't need to do much if you lost a game at the buzzer by a single point. It's not like anything the Nets can do defensively is going to change, they stink on that end and don't have the lineup versatility to handle the bigger Celtics wings. They also aren't going to get a better Kyrie performance than we just witnessed.

So for me, the adjustment is pretty clear. It comes with KD. The Celts used a page out of the old Memphis Grizzlies playbook and were super physical with KD off ball. No catch was easy, when he did catch it they sent multiple guys at him and helped force 6 TOs. I think we saw the adjustment in the second half where KD was able to get much cleaner looks in areas where we know he can kill you. 

I think they'll be much better at finding ways to get Curry/Mills going, if you remember Curry was pretty lethal early in this game coming off a high screen into a little midrange jumper. Theis was playing drop, so that shot will be there if the Celts stay with that strategy. 

Much like the Nuggets, the Nets should also do their best to slow this game down. The Celts owned them in transition and the easy solution there is to simply take better care of the ball. You limit your turnovers, guys can't get out and run. They also didn't really punish the Celts with their size, and while part of that was Drummond getting in foul trouble, we really didn't see any Bruce Brown P&R action which was so huge against the Cavs. 

At the end of the day though, the adjustment that truly matters is just letting Durant figure shit out, because chances are he will.

New Orleans Pelicans (0-1)

I loved the fight the Pelicans showed in Game 1. They got down big and actually made this a bit of a game in the fourth quarter. I'm just not going to sit here and tell you they can make any sort of adjustment for Game 2 that increases their chances at winning. This is the goddamn Suns we're talking about here. They aren't even real. No team in the NBA plays as flawless on both ends as consistently as the Suns and that's not stopping anytime soon.

So what can they do? I dunno, pray? Crazier things have happened but from a basketball standpoint I can't see them doing anything that would work. You have to just pray the Suns have an off night. 

As I said, this is when these series start getting good. Adjustments and then adjustments to those adjustments. It's a chess match and things are only going to get more intense as we get deeper in each series. Just because you're down 0-1 doesn't mean you're screwed, but it definitely means you have to switch something up before things get out of hand.