‘Other’ Mavs who could give the Utah Jazz trouble: Dorian Finney-Smith
Dorian Finney-Smith is the Mavericks’ ultimate role player. He is problematic for opposing teams because of what he does on both ends of the floor.
At 6-foot-7, Finney-Smith has proven that he’s comfortable guarding positions 1-5. He’s also spent more possessions guarding the other team’s highest usage players than anyone else in the entire league.
As someone accustomed to taking on the toughest defensive task, Finney-Smith will likely guard the Jazz’s top two scorers, Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic, throughout the series.
While the Virginia native has always been a factor on defense, his improvement offensively is what makes him a real threat in this matchup. The Mavericks are 11-1 when “DFS” scores 16 points or more, so his production is usually a good indicator of who’s controlling the game.
He averaged a career-high in points this season at 11.0 per game and shot a very respectable 39.5 percent from three. Finney-Smith thrives on knocking down open threes from the corner and wings off of drives and kicks.
Despite his growth offensively, the best way to limit his offensive impact is to make him put the ball on the deck. His shooting percentages dip drastically when he has to take more than two dribbles. If Utah can run him off the 3-point line and funnel him to Rudy Gobert in the paint, Finney-Smith won’t be able to leave too much of an imprint on the series.
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