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MAVS BLAST ROCKETS IN HOME OPENER

The Mavs opened their home season against the division rival Houston Rockets. The Rockets are not the juggernaut of old, but have an intriguing slate of players, led by former Mavs assistant coach Stephen Silas. The Mavs were heavy favorites going into the contest. 


GAME NOTES

Your Dallas Mavericks are healthy and raring to go. John Wall is out for the Rox. The entire active roster is introduced. Boban draws massive cheers, lol. KP is rocking an impressive shiner from the Raps game. The AAC is packed. Good times!

FIRST QUARTER

Mavs open the scoring with a lob-dunk by Powell. Luka stuns the Rockets with a beautiful step-back jack from downtown. 10-14 at 6:15. This Rockets team is young, but not to be taken lightly. Luka back to jawing at the refs, lol. DFS doing his best to make life tough for #2 pick Jalen Green. 

THJ looking good with the reverse lay-in. Boban is on the floor! Immediately has a put-back dunk. Loud cheers ensue! Now, the Luka-Boban connection strikes again! Woo-hoo! The crowd is going nuts over Boban, who scores yet again. 22-22 at 2:25. Luka with a block! Luka and Boban combine for 15 points so far. Two scoring machines!

Oh no. Houston has an 8-0 run. Brunson breaks the drought with a score at the rim. Bullock bails the Rox out with a foul under the basket. Maxi from way back! Mavs basket at the buzzer called off for being late. 27-31 after one. Mavs shooting 22% from three. 

SECOND QUARTER

Josh Green on the floor! Reggie hits a PUJIT three! Brunson takes a hard foul under the basket, apparently earns an and-one. 36-41 as Silas challenges the call. Basket good, no foul. 

Bullock with another three! Keep ‘em coming, Reg! Kleber hits again. Now we’re talking! Danuel House limps off the floor and goes to the locker room. Think he stepped on someone’s foot. Maxi again! Hot shooting from the bench! 45-46 at the midpoint. 

Mavs take their first lead of the quarter with a Luka and-one. 48-46. WILD airball from Christian Wood. Mavs closing the half with the starting lineup. Houston retakes the lead with a 10-2 run. 57-60 at the half. 

Starters shooting 1-10 from three. Bench 5-11, with Maxi and Reggie hitting the triples. Overall, Luka is 4-12, KP 1-6. Yikes. Houston’s 11 threes have them in the lead. 

THIRD QUARTER

Looks like Danuel House is out for the rest of the game with a strained foot. Luka with amazing shot over Tate. Big collision under the basket. Powell and Porter. Powell on the ground, gets up, grabbing his neck. Looks like he’s staying in. KP-DP connect! Mavs open up a 12-0 run! 69-60 at 9:32.

Jae’Sean Tate called for his fifth foul. Houston earns its first points four minutes in. Follows with a scoring burst.  73-69 at 6:42. 

They are periodically showing Coach Silas on the sideline. I keep thinking I am spotting a young Denzel Washington. Brunson from the corner! Eric Gordon matches. Hardaway hits from the corner while he’s going down! Way cool! Moses Brown makes his Mavs debut! Moses draws a foul, makes one of two. Frankie enters the court. Moses blocks a shot. Frankie feeds him for a dunk! The crowd loves it! Ball is stuck above the basket. Crowd boos Christian Wood for not letting Bobi come to the rescue, lol. Boban laughing on the bench.  91-88 after three. Eleven-point lead has shrunk to three. Need to get Luka back out there, prolly. Eric Gordon has 15 points in the period.

FOURTH QUARTER

Kidd unsuccessfully challenges a foul on Maxi. An all-bench lineup starts the period. Boban with a little floater. Easy, man, easy. DFS replaces Kleber. Boban again! Be still, my heart! 103-97 at 7:50.  Porzingis doubtful to return with low back tightness. 

Starters back out, with Brunson replacing KP. DFS throws down with authority! KPJ teed up for staring down the official. Brunson takes the free throw. Rockets fighting to the end. Luka upset with an offensive foul call, but controls himself. Starters are wrapping this up. Mavs doing a little showboating now, lol. 

Rockets fought the good fight, but the Mavs’ superior players eventually won the day, and Dallas cruised to the win in the last few minutes. 116-106


ANALYSIS

This was a fun contest. Kidd ran out all fifteen players in front of the admiring home crowd. 

The Mavs shot only 28% from three. The five starters combined for four treys, but the bench accumulated eight. It was a great night for the bench in general —  they combined for 52 points, 21 boards, and 15 dimes! Wow! 

The Rockets’ 17 turnovers really hurt them, along with three of their starters being in foul trouble (Tate and Porter with five fouls, Wood with four). 


PLAYER NOTES

DONCIC.  Luka put on a show, with 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists, along with 2 steals and a block He looked to be having a high old time out there, which was great to see. Really a pleasure to watch this young phenom. You’re always in it with a player of this quality. Thanks to his teammates, he was able to keep his minutes to a reasonable 34.

DFS. Doe-Doe was second in minutes with 32, and played an important role in defending the athletic young Rockets. He and Luka combined to go 1-11 from three, but we nitpick. Six and six from the Doe-ster. 

THJ. Timmy added sixteen points in 30 minutes of action, on 6-12 shooting. He was second on the team in +/-, at +12, after Luka at +15. He hit some difficult shots, as usual, and operated smoothly with Luka. Had a solid defensive game, as well. 

BRUNSON. Jalen served in a sixth man role again, playing 28 minutes, and shone with 11 points and a game-high 11 assists. Devin Harris revealed before the game that Brunson’s goal at this stage is to be a starting point guard in the NBA, so let’s enjoy our chance to watch him while we can.

POWELL. Dwight had 7 points and 4 boards in 25 minutes on the court, and was part of the closing unit, along with Luka, Brunson, Timmy, and Finney-Smith. He had five fouls, but managed to last out the game. 

PORZINGIS. KP had 9 points and 3 boards. He was limited by back tightness, and was able to eke out only 20 minutes on the court. He was 2-10 from the floor, and was the only starter in negative figures (-4). I imagine his back problems  may have contributed to that. That big black eye gave him a very warrior-like and fearsome visage. Kidd said after the game that KP's back should be okay after some rest. 

BENCH. A glorious night for the reserves. Reggie impressed with 16 points, including four triples. Kidd said that he changed the game for the Mavs, so we'll keep an eye on him as he gets more games under his belt. Maxi went for 9 and 7, and had a very efficient (3-4) night from beyond the arc. Fan fave Boban was 5-5 from the field for 11 points, and delighted the crowd with his presence. Wouldn’t surprise me if he got a cameo in all the home games — such a beloved player!  The other six guys all got a few minutes of burn, and combined for 5 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists. 

ROCKETS. The Rox had five guys in double figures, led by Eric Gordon with 22 points off the bench. Christian Wood contributed 16 points and 17 boards, and Daniel Theis had 15 and 10. The Rockets fans have themselves a feisty young team. I don’t know how many wins they’ll manage, but they should be hella fun to watch. 


OBSERVATIONS

Kidd complimented all the bigs, especially Boban and Moses. The player-council (Luka, KP, THJ) wanted him to play everyone, and he was enthusiastic. The team was informed before the game that they would all play, and Kidd commended them for keeping mum and not spoiling the surprise.  Doesn’t think he’ll be able to play all fifteen guys very often, but thoroughly enjoyed it tonight. 

This game wasn’t the blowout it maybe should have been, but the Mavs were partly playing for spectacle as well as for the win, and we give credit to the young Rockets for making a match of it. A grand time was had by all. 


NEXT. The Mavs host Pop and his boys on Thursday night. Should be a good opportunity to put another W on the board.

It was nice to get a win in the home opener. My hottest opinion coming out of this game is that I don’t think sterling brown is that good. I’d rather see Frank/green get all of his minutes.

(10-26-2021, 11:10 PM)BasketballJones41 Wrote: [ -> ]It was nice to get a win in the home opener. My hottest opinion coming out of this game is that I don’t think sterling brown is that good. I’d rather see Frank/green get all of his minutes.

Yep, disastrous start of 1-9 from three for him this season. If he starts hitting them, that changes things. But generally I would rather develop FN and JG, as I think their ceilings are MUCH higher. 

But at least this: JRich isn't seeing the court, anything is better than that.   JRich for BOS in 54 mins played is -16.3 (-10.2 defensively). He continues to be a team killer.

Mavs returned to offense as it was last season, first game I can say offense was good and the shots just didn't go in. I liked everyone played.

(10-26-2021, 11:57 PM)omahen Wrote: [ -> ]Mavs returned to offense as it was last season, first game I can say offense was good and the shots just didn't go in. I liked everyone played.

In case anyone cares, the Mav's played two bigs 28 of 36 minutes through three quarters (even while getting all 15 guys in the game).  In the fourth is was the opposite...single big 10 of the 12 minutes.  

I agree with the comments about Sterling Brown so far this season.  Paying him 2 years at $3 million means he was a lottery ticket just like Frank and Moses.  I like the idea of developmental minutes for either Frank or Green.  I think this role is different than the Bullock role as they are trying to get some ball handling from this spot.  Ultimately, there may be a need to fill this role from outside the roster at the TDL if none of Brown, Frank or Green have stepped up.  

The way Bullock gets more minutes is more DFS at PF.  Otherwise, he gets squeezed by the two-center lineups (and THJ and DFS being so experienced and highly regarded).

It will be interesting to see how Kidd uses Moses, Willie and Boban.  All bring a spark in their own way.  Willie seems to be on a very short leash early in the season.

Lineup data is highly skewed at this point because KP is killing the numbers of those he's playing with.  O-Rating of 82 and TS% of .397.  His Box +/- is -6.9.  DFS isn't exactly tearing it up either.  In fact, Finney, KP and Sterling all have negative VORP's

On to SA who plays a beefy center surrounded by perimeter oriented forwards and guards.  Does Kidd stick to his two-center guns or adjust smaller to match?  SA takes more 2's than anyone in the league and makes a high percentage of them.  The bench duo of Vassell and Walker have been good.  I'm a little surprised T. Young isn't playing much.  It wouldn't shock me to see him showcased a bit at some point.

An up and down game.  The Rockets team is not good.  Exciting and some potential but not good.   They stuck around though.   Shooting good from three point range and having Gordon go off in the third helped them stay close.   I was worried the Mavs didn't take advantage of an awful start by the Rockets in the third and were only up by 3 at the end of the quarter.  That is the type of start that you hope to be up by 20 at the end of the quarter.

It was great to see Bullock be aggressive on offense.  I doubt he hits four threes every game but if he can provide some offense it will really help.  I feel we are really dependent on both Hardaway and Brunson scoring.  So having other options to make us not rely on both as much to score would be great.  

KP shot just looks off.  Hopefully they find ways to get him easy buckets....he did miss to dunks at the rim when he was fouled.

I liked the quick glimpses of Brown and Frank.   Although I am not sure they are ready for regular minutes, but it was nice to see production and potential in their short appearance.  On the other hand, Josh Green was invisible in his minutes.   Just run to the corner.  I would love to see some offensive aggressiveness like Tate and Nwaba showed last night.   I know that is not really his role now, but I would just like to see his has that ability.  

I have always like Eric Gordon.   Big salary and hurt a lot but he could help a good team.    Interesting name to watch if he stays healthy.   I think a guy who can just bully to the hoop would really help this team.   But not sure if there is a move to get him to Dallas.   I loved the Wood vs Powell player highlight to start the game on the Mavs telecast.   In the picture, even Dwight looked surprised  the comparison was being made

Luka - THJ - Bullock - DFS - KP

If we absolutely have to have 2 bigs because you are stuck in a 80s mindset then put in Maxi for DFS.

Send Dwight, Green, Burke and Willie to the highest bidder and let’s play ball.

(10-27-2021, 06:54 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]Willie seems to be on a very short leash early in the season.

Agreed. But he is still a defensive game-changer when he is locked in. His whole time with DAL he has been that.

(10-27-2021, 06:54 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]KP is killing the numbers of those he's playing with.  O-Rating of 82 and TS% of .397.

KP's offense has been an abomination so far.....not what he or the Mavs were wanting. His D this season has been MOSTLY way better, though glimpses and segments where he looks like last year. He really needs to get his back healthy and start producing or his career might end up permanently in the dumpster.

(10-27-2021, 06:54 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]In case anyone cares, the Mav's played two bigs 28 of 36 minutes through three quarters (even while getting all 15 guys in the game). 

They have, but the difference was KP was mostly spacing the floor, not posting up like he had first 6 quarters of the season. Doncic was running high PnR with Powell.

(10-27-2021, 06:54 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]It wouldn't shock me to see him showcased a bit at some point.

I don't think they need to showcase him. League knows who he is and what he can do. I think it is much more important that he doesn't get injured.

(10-27-2021, 07:08 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: [ -> ]But not sure if there is a move to get him to Dallas.

Trade KP for Wood and Gordon But the way KP is playing, Dallas would need to add some assets. He is for sure running out of excuses.  

(10-27-2021, 07:08 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: [ -> ]I was worried the Mavs didn't take advantage of an awful start by the Rockets in the third and were only up by 3 at the end of the quarter.  That is the type of start that you hope to be up by 20 at the end of the quarter.

I was surprised Kidd had guts to play reserves in the third while game was still totally open. But I think it was the right move, they need to develop the young guys. I think this game Mavs really had good looks and couldn't convert while Houston was on fire shooting a lot of difficult shots. If those percentages would normalize, I think Mavs win would be comfortable.

BRUNSON. Jalen served in a sixth man role again, playing 28 minutes, and shone with 11 points and a game-high 11 assists. Devin Harris revealed before the game that Brunson’s goal at this stage is to be a starting point guard in the NBA, so let’s enjoy our chance to watch him while we can.



===> If he plays well throughout the season but walks in FA, would you guys consider this a decent way of handling his contract situation? 

(10-27-2021, 09:04 AM)JamesConway Wrote: [ -> ]If he plays well throughout the season but walks in FA, would you guys consider this a decent way of handling his contract situation?

That would be horrible management of assets, imho.

(10-27-2021, 09:04 AM)JamesConway Wrote: [ -> ]BRUNSON. Jalen served in a sixth man role again, playing 28 minutes, and shone with 11 points and a game-high 11 assists. Devin Harris revealed before the game that Brunson’s goal at this stage is to be a starting point guard in the NBA, so let’s enjoy our chance to watch him while we can.



===> If he plays well throughout the season but walks in FA, would you guys consider this a decent way of handling his contract situation? 

Um, no. He's got to go at the deadline if we aren't going to extend him.

@Scott/Oma: Couldn’t agree more just trying to get a feel for the expectations.

Does anyone have a source for the Devin Harris/Jalen Brunson starting thing?

(10-27-2021, 11:21 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone have a source for the Devin Harris/Jalen Brunson starting thing?

It was part of the pre-game show.

(10-27-2021, 06:54 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]The way Bullock gets more minutes is more DFS at PF.  Otherwise, he gets squeezed by the two-center lineups (and THJ and DFS being so experienced and highly regarded)

Thanks for your great comments, as usual. 


Per the reporting of Lauren Gunn, Kidd said that Reggie will get more minutes than 17 per game, and that we should trust him on that. Jokes that reporters have him on the clock with Reggie.

@"mavsluvr" I love your synopsis of the game as always. It must have been a blast calling this one. It was actually a pretty fun game.

(10-27-2021, 12:10 PM)mavsluvr Wrote: [ -> ]Per the reporting of Lauren Gunn, Kidd said that Reggie will get more minutes than 17 per game, and that we should trust him on that. Jokes that reporters have him on the clock with Reggie.

Yeah, no way they brought RB in to play him so little.

1) I think Kidd is seeing what he has and what the "old" Mavs have first.

2) It feels like this roster was built with a trade in mind....is Dragic for DP the root of that? Or is it something we aren't thinking? KP? JB? DFS?

(10-27-2021, 12:28 PM)audiosway Wrote: [ -> ]@"mavsluvr" I love your synopsis of the game as always. It must have been a blast calling this one. It was actually a pretty fun game.

Haha, I see what you did there. 

The game was fun. A rare party atmosphere!