11-18-2021, 02:21 AM
LUKA-LESS MAVS FADE IN CLUTCH
A VALIANT BATTLE WAS FOUGHT BY ALL
On the first game of a tough road trip, the Mavericks faced the Western Conference champion Suns. They learned the previous day that their task had grown taller, with the news that Luka is out with knee and ankle sprains. The Suns entered on a 9-game winning streak, and a history of 6 consecutive wins over the Mavs. Our boys fought the good fight, but the Suns’ performance down the stretch was just a little too much to overcome.
GAME NOTES
Luka and Maxi are both on the injured list. Kidd went with a starting lineup of Brunson-THJ-DFS-KP-Powell.
FIRST QUARTER
The first score occurs 90 seconds in — a KP basket at the rim. He follows it up with a steal and transition dunk. Now he has a corner three! Wow! Now Brunson threads his way to the basket and scores. Suns don't get on the board until four minutes in. Mavs have the first 8 points, Suns the next seven. 8-7 6:30
Suns 3-12. Can’t imagine that’s going to last. Bullock comes on for Powell. Timmy hits from downtown ATO. And another three from the Tim-star. THJ takes a charge from Ayton. Bullock bad pass, turns the ball over. Suns take their first lead on a Booker basket. Frankie in, scores right away. DFS draws a blocking foul. The French Prince hits again! Sterling comes in for DFS. Miscue between Willie and Brown. Brown stops on a cut, Willie throws it where he thought Brown was going. 19-20 1:34
Tim getting a breather, looking very intense on the bench. Burke comes in. Burke three from JB!
22-25 after one
Only one FTA in the entire period, and that one was missed. Very close game, so far.
SECOND QUARTER
Brunson-KP unit out there now. Brunson penetrates for a giant-killer. Brunson strikes again! Trey Burke forces a jump ball! KP hits from three. 29-28 10:14
Mavs force a shot clock violation. Burke to the rim. Burke reverse layup! Woo-hoo! JB with a couple of turnovers in a row. Booker tries to back Tim down, Tim stops him. Now KP has the Mavs’ first free throws of the game. Hits both. Ayton causing the Mavs’ small lineups some problems. Frankie again! Jae Crowder just hit from the corner, after going 0-12 in this game and the last. 38-41 4:05
JB three from an offensive board. Hardaway pull-up. Frankie defends Booker well, but Book hits over him. KP from Scottsdale!
46-45 HT
KP leads the Mavs with 14 points, Tim and Frankie have 8 each. Booker, Shamet, and Ayton in double figures for Phoenix. Chris Paul is scoreless — great job, Doe-Doe! Mavs’ three-point shooting keeping them in the game. They’re 8-17 from distance, while the Suns are 5-22. Phoenix has a 22-14 advantage in PIP. Still only 3 FTAs combined for the two teams. Only 7 turnovers total in the game. Both defenses looking good.
THIRD QUARTER
Tim hits from three. Mavs leaving Crowder WIDE open from three. He hits one, misses one. Suns leave Dorian open, he bombs in the three. THJ gets a shot for himself. Powell has an unguarded three! Nope, called a long two. Announcers say review has changed it back to a three. Okay, now that that’s settled. Powell steal from Booker leads to a Hardaway dunk! 59-52 7:29
Crowder hits another wide open three. KP settles, has a massive air ball. DFS from three! Brunson from the sideline! Booker with a sensational spin to the basket. That guy is good. McGee is called for a goal tend on a shot by Frankie. The crowd is loudly unhappy. Mavs shooting 50% from beyond the arc. 67-61 3:25
Coach’s challenge. Goal tend reversed on review. Make that 65-61. Hardaway strips McGee. Bullock gets on the board with a jumper. Suns making a push. Willie blows a layup. 67-65 1:20
Chis Paul gets his first points on free throws. Frankie three to beat the clock! FN steal, but Bullock has his shot blocked. Cameron Payne on the free throw klne. Burke with a buzzer-beating three from Porzingis with the defense collapsing on KP!
73-68 after three
Five Mavs in double figures. Dallas’ overall shooting has cooled down (37%), but hitting 52% from long range.
FOURTH QUARTER
Brunson patiently works for a shot, gets it. Bridges has his second bucket. Frankie with an open lane to the basket! Cam Johnson has hit two threes in this period already. KP cross over Ayton for a three! Chris Paul teed up, apparently for pushing KP in the back. KP takes the technical FTA, as well as the personals. Completes all three. Mavs up six, but Bridges answers with a three. Hardaway with a baseline jumper. Paul and Burke get into it, but nothing comes of it. 84-81 7:08
Burke the only ballhandler on the floor for Dallas. He is called for an offensive foul. Ayton dunk brings the Suns within one. Suns take the lead, but DFS gets it back with a corner three. Paul is getting it going, completes one of his signature shots. Ayton over Hardaway. Can’t leave Tim alone to defend Ayton in the paint. Suns have scored on five straight possessions. 89-91 4:18
THJ gets to the rim, gets the bounce and a foul. Three points. Bridges hits from long distance, though. KP over Booker from the top the key. Aargh -- Crowder with a corner three when KP left him. Brunson ties the game with a rack attack. Crowder draws a foul, hits both free throws. Tim closeout prevents a Phoenix three. Ayton scores at the basket, unguarded. Yikes. 96-100 1:27
Closing unit Brunson-THJ-Bullock-DFS-KP. They get Bullock a rim shot, and he misses, Oh, no! Booker with a three. Booker goal tend results in a basket for Dallas. Ayton misses, but Bullock called for a foul on Paul. Looks like this one is over. Suns have scored on every possession but one in the last seven minutes. Clutch! KP turns the ball over. That's all, folks.
98-105 FT
ANALYSIS
The Mavs shot 50% from three, while the Suns were 33%, but the Suns pulled out the win anyway. Point differentials were -12 on points from twos, +9 on points from threes, and -4 on made free throws. The Suns had advantages of 14-6 on FTAs, 40-28 in PIP, and 11-6 in second-chance points. A few of the Mavs’ scorers had high volume, but low-to-moderate efficiency — Tim (9-23), KP (7-20, 2-7 3PTA), Brunson (8-18), Bullock (1-6). Dallas had difficulty scoring inside, going 14-38 in the paint, and drawing only 6 FTAs.
The Mavs were quite competitive in the first three quarters, but it all came down to the fourth, when the Suns laid a 37-25 period on Dallas. Their shooting was ferocious, as they were 70% overall, and 62% from three in the final 12 minutes. The Dallas defense tried various schemes, but just couldn’t stop the Suns' irresistible force. Overall, the Mavs were missing a guy who could limit DeAndre Ayton, and a guy who could match Paul in the clutch.
PLAYER NOTES
HARDAWAY (37 min). Tim led the team in both minutes and scoring, and put up 22 points, despite shooting 9-23 from the field. They needed a big scoring game from him, and he obliged, being very aggressive, providing 4 assists to help with ball distribution getting a couple of steals and taking a charge, and maintaining a leaderly disposition.
BRUNSON (36). Jalen flirted with a triple-double, recording an 18-9-9 line (8-18). The Bally studio crew didn’t think the Mavs could ask Brunson to play any better than he did. The Suns aggressively game-planned for him, and by the end of the contest, just wore him out. Luka is used to that, but Brunson doesn’t encounter that degree of focused defense much, and he should be able to learn from the experience.
DFS (32). Dorian had three triples for a total of nine points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and kept Chris Paul bottled up for most of the night. He was efficient with limited shots (3-6), and I thought exceeded expectations on the defensive end.
PORZINGIS (32). KP had a good all-around game, with a 21-8-7 line (7-20), with 2 blocks and a steal. Although KP missed a fair number of shots, I thought he played very well overall. He accepted his responsibility to take over the offense in Luka’s absence, and was equally engaged on the defensive end. I would give him an A- for this one.
BULLOCK (26). Reggie had 2 points (1-6) and 5 boards, and was included in the closing unit (JB-THJ-RB-DFS-KP). I think he is still in the process of fitting in. Tbh, I have been a little disappointed that he hasn’t hit the ground running, like I expected of the summer’s marquee signing, but I guess it takes time. Meanwhile, it’s frustrating to see him bricking the good looks they create for him, and being less than first-rate in numerous little ways, but it’s only 13 games in, and I’m hopeful that things click for him soon.
POWELL (22). Dwight took only two shots, but he led the team in rebounds (13), dished three dimes, and made some great hustle plays. He is too small to guard the hulking Suns big men, but was high-energy, as usual, and was a monster on the glass.
POINT GUARDS. The backup point guards were the surprise stars of the night. FRANKIE (18) gave the Mavs a lift off the bench, with 13 points on 5-8 shooting (3-3 3PTA). Love his poise and confidence. Stein noted that Kidd badly wanted Frank here, and Frank told Stein that he chose to come to Dallas because he had the sense that the Mavs really wanted him. BURKE (15) also made the most of his rare minutes, contributing an efficient 10 points (4-7, 2-2 3PTA). They wanted Trey to be aggressive, and he was.
MENTIONS. STERLING (14) had a goose-egg stat line, showing only one missed shot and one personal foul. I am not too sure this man is really justifying his spot in the rotation, but it’s way too early to write him off. WILLIE (9) had a rebound and a turnover in his time on the court.
MOSES, BOBAN, and GREEN were DNP-CD. Green celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday, with a super-sized cookie from Brunson. Devin remarked on how much the locker room loves their sophomore.
SUNS. Devin Booker led his team with 24 points and 9 boards. Ayton also tormented the Mavs with 19 points (9-13) and 13 rebounds. Dallas had a tough time defending him. Former Mav Jae Crowder put up 14 points, including 4 threes. Landry Shamet (11), Mikal Bridges (10), and JaVale McGee (10 points, 6 rebounds) were the other Suns in double figures. Chris Paul was limited to 7 points, and was 2-12 from the field, but had the know-how to take his team to a win in the fourth.
OBSERVATIONS
Harp says the difference in the game was having a super-clutch player on the floor at the end. In this case, one Chris Paul.
The Bally crews (Stein and Devin) observed that the margin for error was very small without Luka on the court, and the Mavs did well, considering. The Suns had a huge fourth quarter. The Mavs were desperately defending, but they didn’t have enough organization, missed shots they “shouldn’t have,” gave up some easy ones, and needed a Luka Doncic to pull that one out. They played as well as they could have without Luka, but didn’t have the defensive chops to stop the Suns’ relentless clutch performance.
Kidd also attributed the loss to the Suns’ impressive performance in the clutch. Said his team was having trouble defending a couple of the Suns’ plays, so they tried a zone, but gave up a couple of threes with that strategy, and just couldn’t stop anybody. Would not comment on whether they might have had a chance with Luka, but noted that the Suns had a very special point guard on the floor, and that it didn’t matter how many shots Paul made or missed in the game, because guys like that find a way to win.
Kidd was satisfied with the effort. Said that everyone executed the plan, but we missed some shots at the end, and they didn’t. Everyone in a Mavs uniform was great, and the team played a very hard-fought game. He thinks this match should give his players confidence that they can compete, even without Luka.
I don’t find myself particularly upset at this loss. It’s always a bummer to play well, and then give up a lead at the end, but they were playing the WC champs, and that’s pretty tough opposition. In addition to missing Luka, I think they also felt Maxi’s absence, as they really don’t have much of a way to defend high-scoring bigs. Three-point shooting kept them in it, and the scoreline ended up being respectable. This could have been a lot worse, and I think we can hold our heads high.
NEXT. The Mavs face the Suns again at the Footprint Center on Friday night. They are treating Luka as a game-to-game decision, but I did not detect much optimism regarding his ability to participate among those who commented on the matter. Hopefully, our boys will do themselves proud, put up a good fight, and gain some valuable experience from playing top-level competition.
A VALIANT BATTLE WAS FOUGHT BY ALL
On the first game of a tough road trip, the Mavericks faced the Western Conference champion Suns. They learned the previous day that their task had grown taller, with the news that Luka is out with knee and ankle sprains. The Suns entered on a 9-game winning streak, and a history of 6 consecutive wins over the Mavs. Our boys fought the good fight, but the Suns’ performance down the stretch was just a little too much to overcome.
GAME NOTES
Luka and Maxi are both on the injured list. Kidd went with a starting lineup of Brunson-THJ-DFS-KP-Powell.
FIRST QUARTER
The first score occurs 90 seconds in — a KP basket at the rim. He follows it up with a steal and transition dunk. Now he has a corner three! Wow! Now Brunson threads his way to the basket and scores. Suns don't get on the board until four minutes in. Mavs have the first 8 points, Suns the next seven. 8-7 6:30
Suns 3-12. Can’t imagine that’s going to last. Bullock comes on for Powell. Timmy hits from downtown ATO. And another three from the Tim-star. THJ takes a charge from Ayton. Bullock bad pass, turns the ball over. Suns take their first lead on a Booker basket. Frankie in, scores right away. DFS draws a blocking foul. The French Prince hits again! Sterling comes in for DFS. Miscue between Willie and Brown. Brown stops on a cut, Willie throws it where he thought Brown was going. 19-20 1:34
Tim getting a breather, looking very intense on the bench. Burke comes in. Burke three from JB!
22-25 after one
Only one FTA in the entire period, and that one was missed. Very close game, so far.
SECOND QUARTER
Brunson-KP unit out there now. Brunson penetrates for a giant-killer. Brunson strikes again! Trey Burke forces a jump ball! KP hits from three. 29-28 10:14
Mavs force a shot clock violation. Burke to the rim. Burke reverse layup! Woo-hoo! JB with a couple of turnovers in a row. Booker tries to back Tim down, Tim stops him. Now KP has the Mavs’ first free throws of the game. Hits both. Ayton causing the Mavs’ small lineups some problems. Frankie again! Jae Crowder just hit from the corner, after going 0-12 in this game and the last. 38-41 4:05
JB three from an offensive board. Hardaway pull-up. Frankie defends Booker well, but Book hits over him. KP from Scottsdale!
46-45 HT
KP leads the Mavs with 14 points, Tim and Frankie have 8 each. Booker, Shamet, and Ayton in double figures for Phoenix. Chris Paul is scoreless — great job, Doe-Doe! Mavs’ three-point shooting keeping them in the game. They’re 8-17 from distance, while the Suns are 5-22. Phoenix has a 22-14 advantage in PIP. Still only 3 FTAs combined for the two teams. Only 7 turnovers total in the game. Both defenses looking good.
THIRD QUARTER
Tim hits from three. Mavs leaving Crowder WIDE open from three. He hits one, misses one. Suns leave Dorian open, he bombs in the three. THJ gets a shot for himself. Powell has an unguarded three! Nope, called a long two. Announcers say review has changed it back to a three. Okay, now that that’s settled. Powell steal from Booker leads to a Hardaway dunk! 59-52 7:29
Crowder hits another wide open three. KP settles, has a massive air ball. DFS from three! Brunson from the sideline! Booker with a sensational spin to the basket. That guy is good. McGee is called for a goal tend on a shot by Frankie. The crowd is loudly unhappy. Mavs shooting 50% from beyond the arc. 67-61 3:25
Coach’s challenge. Goal tend reversed on review. Make that 65-61. Hardaway strips McGee. Bullock gets on the board with a jumper. Suns making a push. Willie blows a layup. 67-65 1:20
Chis Paul gets his first points on free throws. Frankie three to beat the clock! FN steal, but Bullock has his shot blocked. Cameron Payne on the free throw klne. Burke with a buzzer-beating three from Porzingis with the defense collapsing on KP!
73-68 after three
Five Mavs in double figures. Dallas’ overall shooting has cooled down (37%), but hitting 52% from long range.
FOURTH QUARTER
Brunson patiently works for a shot, gets it. Bridges has his second bucket. Frankie with an open lane to the basket! Cam Johnson has hit two threes in this period already. KP cross over Ayton for a three! Chris Paul teed up, apparently for pushing KP in the back. KP takes the technical FTA, as well as the personals. Completes all three. Mavs up six, but Bridges answers with a three. Hardaway with a baseline jumper. Paul and Burke get into it, but nothing comes of it. 84-81 7:08
Burke the only ballhandler on the floor for Dallas. He is called for an offensive foul. Ayton dunk brings the Suns within one. Suns take the lead, but DFS gets it back with a corner three. Paul is getting it going, completes one of his signature shots. Ayton over Hardaway. Can’t leave Tim alone to defend Ayton in the paint. Suns have scored on five straight possessions. 89-91 4:18
THJ gets to the rim, gets the bounce and a foul. Three points. Bridges hits from long distance, though. KP over Booker from the top the key. Aargh -- Crowder with a corner three when KP left him. Brunson ties the game with a rack attack. Crowder draws a foul, hits both free throws. Tim closeout prevents a Phoenix three. Ayton scores at the basket, unguarded. Yikes. 96-100 1:27
Closing unit Brunson-THJ-Bullock-DFS-KP. They get Bullock a rim shot, and he misses, Oh, no! Booker with a three. Booker goal tend results in a basket for Dallas. Ayton misses, but Bullock called for a foul on Paul. Looks like this one is over. Suns have scored on every possession but one in the last seven minutes. Clutch! KP turns the ball over. That's all, folks.
98-105 FT
ANALYSIS
The Mavs shot 50% from three, while the Suns were 33%, but the Suns pulled out the win anyway. Point differentials were -12 on points from twos, +9 on points from threes, and -4 on made free throws. The Suns had advantages of 14-6 on FTAs, 40-28 in PIP, and 11-6 in second-chance points. A few of the Mavs’ scorers had high volume, but low-to-moderate efficiency — Tim (9-23), KP (7-20, 2-7 3PTA), Brunson (8-18), Bullock (1-6). Dallas had difficulty scoring inside, going 14-38 in the paint, and drawing only 6 FTAs.
The Mavs were quite competitive in the first three quarters, but it all came down to the fourth, when the Suns laid a 37-25 period on Dallas. Their shooting was ferocious, as they were 70% overall, and 62% from three in the final 12 minutes. The Dallas defense tried various schemes, but just couldn’t stop the Suns' irresistible force. Overall, the Mavs were missing a guy who could limit DeAndre Ayton, and a guy who could match Paul in the clutch.
PLAYER NOTES
HARDAWAY (37 min). Tim led the team in both minutes and scoring, and put up 22 points, despite shooting 9-23 from the field. They needed a big scoring game from him, and he obliged, being very aggressive, providing 4 assists to help with ball distribution getting a couple of steals and taking a charge, and maintaining a leaderly disposition.
BRUNSON (36). Jalen flirted with a triple-double, recording an 18-9-9 line (8-18). The Bally studio crew didn’t think the Mavs could ask Brunson to play any better than he did. The Suns aggressively game-planned for him, and by the end of the contest, just wore him out. Luka is used to that, but Brunson doesn’t encounter that degree of focused defense much, and he should be able to learn from the experience.
DFS (32). Dorian had three triples for a total of nine points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and kept Chris Paul bottled up for most of the night. He was efficient with limited shots (3-6), and I thought exceeded expectations on the defensive end.
PORZINGIS (32). KP had a good all-around game, with a 21-8-7 line (7-20), with 2 blocks and a steal. Although KP missed a fair number of shots, I thought he played very well overall. He accepted his responsibility to take over the offense in Luka’s absence, and was equally engaged on the defensive end. I would give him an A- for this one.
BULLOCK (26). Reggie had 2 points (1-6) and 5 boards, and was included in the closing unit (JB-THJ-RB-DFS-KP). I think he is still in the process of fitting in. Tbh, I have been a little disappointed that he hasn’t hit the ground running, like I expected of the summer’s marquee signing, but I guess it takes time. Meanwhile, it’s frustrating to see him bricking the good looks they create for him, and being less than first-rate in numerous little ways, but it’s only 13 games in, and I’m hopeful that things click for him soon.
POWELL (22). Dwight took only two shots, but he led the team in rebounds (13), dished three dimes, and made some great hustle plays. He is too small to guard the hulking Suns big men, but was high-energy, as usual, and was a monster on the glass.
POINT GUARDS. The backup point guards were the surprise stars of the night. FRANKIE (18) gave the Mavs a lift off the bench, with 13 points on 5-8 shooting (3-3 3PTA). Love his poise and confidence. Stein noted that Kidd badly wanted Frank here, and Frank told Stein that he chose to come to Dallas because he had the sense that the Mavs really wanted him. BURKE (15) also made the most of his rare minutes, contributing an efficient 10 points (4-7, 2-2 3PTA). They wanted Trey to be aggressive, and he was.
MENTIONS. STERLING (14) had a goose-egg stat line, showing only one missed shot and one personal foul. I am not too sure this man is really justifying his spot in the rotation, but it’s way too early to write him off. WILLIE (9) had a rebound and a turnover in his time on the court.
MOSES, BOBAN, and GREEN were DNP-CD. Green celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday, with a super-sized cookie from Brunson. Devin remarked on how much the locker room loves their sophomore.
SUNS. Devin Booker led his team with 24 points and 9 boards. Ayton also tormented the Mavs with 19 points (9-13) and 13 rebounds. Dallas had a tough time defending him. Former Mav Jae Crowder put up 14 points, including 4 threes. Landry Shamet (11), Mikal Bridges (10), and JaVale McGee (10 points, 6 rebounds) were the other Suns in double figures. Chris Paul was limited to 7 points, and was 2-12 from the field, but had the know-how to take his team to a win in the fourth.
OBSERVATIONS
Harp says the difference in the game was having a super-clutch player on the floor at the end. In this case, one Chris Paul.
The Bally crews (Stein and Devin) observed that the margin for error was very small without Luka on the court, and the Mavs did well, considering. The Suns had a huge fourth quarter. The Mavs were desperately defending, but they didn’t have enough organization, missed shots they “shouldn’t have,” gave up some easy ones, and needed a Luka Doncic to pull that one out. They played as well as they could have without Luka, but didn’t have the defensive chops to stop the Suns’ relentless clutch performance.
Kidd also attributed the loss to the Suns’ impressive performance in the clutch. Said his team was having trouble defending a couple of the Suns’ plays, so they tried a zone, but gave up a couple of threes with that strategy, and just couldn’t stop anybody. Would not comment on whether they might have had a chance with Luka, but noted that the Suns had a very special point guard on the floor, and that it didn’t matter how many shots Paul made or missed in the game, because guys like that find a way to win.
Kidd was satisfied with the effort. Said that everyone executed the plan, but we missed some shots at the end, and they didn’t. Everyone in a Mavs uniform was great, and the team played a very hard-fought game. He thinks this match should give his players confidence that they can compete, even without Luka.
I don’t find myself particularly upset at this loss. It’s always a bummer to play well, and then give up a lead at the end, but they were playing the WC champs, and that’s pretty tough opposition. In addition to missing Luka, I think they also felt Maxi’s absence, as they really don’t have much of a way to defend high-scoring bigs. Three-point shooting kept them in it, and the scoreline ended up being respectable. This could have been a lot worse, and I think we can hold our heads high.
NEXT. The Mavs face the Suns again at the Footprint Center on Friday night. They are treating Luka as a game-to-game decision, but I did not detect much optimism regarding his ability to participate among those who commented on the matter. Hopefully, our boys will do themselves proud, put up a good fight, and gain some valuable experience from playing top-level competition.