NBA Finals 2011: Can the Mavericks Slow Down LeBron James

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This will be the most difficult situation. Shawn Marion did a great job on Kevin Durant, but Durant—although he plays the same position as LeBron—doesn’t play the same way at all.

LeBron gets to the rim and has much more physicality than Durant. LeBron is also showing his three-point shot is a threat too, so Marion can’t give him too much space.

The issue created here is LeBron will be on the floor 44 minutes a night. The Mavericks can not afford to have Peja Stojakovic guard him. LeBron will blow by Stojakovic every time with ease, get to the rim, and put Dallas’ bigs in foul trouble.

If you look at the Dallas-OKC series, by the end, Shawn Marion was playing about 40 minutes a night. Marion, who often led the league in minutes played, is athletic enough to do this, but it puts pressure on him to also score since Peja’s minutes are now down to single digits. Peja’s point totals in the last three games: 7, 4, 3.
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Before, when Marion would play about 28 minutes and Peja would get 20, Marion could score 16, Peja would get 14 and the Mavs were getting 30 points out of the small forward position. Now, when Peja can only be expected to chip in 4 or 5, Marion has to do what he did in Game 5 against OKC and chip in 25.

Problems here?

Foul Trouble- If Marion gets into foul trouble, that means more Peja on LeBron.

Marion’s Offense- Yes, Marion scored 26 points in the last game, but he also had a 9 point and 7 point outing during the OKC series. Against L.A., when Artest was on him—LeBron’s defense these playoffs has been near Artest levels—Marion scored a grand total of 30 points in four games.

Other Options? With Dwyane Wade, they can throw Stevenson, Kidd, Brewer and Terry at him and have a good chance of slowing him down. With LeBron, after Marion they really don’t have any options defensively.
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I don’t see the Mavericks being able to take LeBron out of games the way they were able to with Kevin Durant. One strategy could be to have LeBron play the role of facilitator and trust their defense on the other four players. The other strategy is realize LeBron’s going to get 30 a game, but try and get a matching 30 or at least 25 from the Marion/Peja pairing.

In 2006, Wade was the Heat’s most dangerous weapon, in 2011 it’s LeBron.