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Who elevated his game to contribute most to this Mavericks win?

Hardy party.

Lively for me. Let's hope there are many 20 and 10 games in his future.

Hardy and Tim stepped up big tonight.

As their biggest critic on this site...I gotta give it to them tonight.

I have no issues with the way Tim played tonight. Its what pound the drum for...No chucking Tim is better than high volume chuck Tim.

Hardy does have a lot of potential. He didnt turn ball over a lot tonight and made shots. If this was consistent it would be really nice.

Hardy was sensational tonight, and is starting to renew my interest in his future.

Luka had some rough moments, but got it going in the second half and as per usual was clutch down the stretch. Those free throws were HUGE.

Lively was outstanding again. Honestly, I can only remember about 4 games this year when I felt he was outplayed by the opposing center, and that's just such a gift for this team to have a rookie on that level.

I swear it's not because of the bar fight from earlier, but Tim Hardaway Jr gets my vote tonight. He was one of the only people who tried in the first half and went super nova in the 3rd. Once again, he didn't just shoot threes. My dude is DRIVING...layups, runners, he threw a great lob, etc. They 100% don't win without him tonight. It was nice to see him rebound from the past two games, which were rough for him to say the least.

It was a tight race - so many players stepped up since we have 3 rotation players out. I was going to give it to Lively then I saw that Luka was 18 of 21 on fts. That shows me that he was ultra focused on the game so that was the deciding factor for me.

Give me Hardaway. Of course Luka was the best player on court. Really glad Hardy stepped up. Let’s see if he can play multiple good games. But his scoring was mostly in the first half. Hardaway had some really big shots in the second half.

Josh Green was ineffective, but hustled. What else can I say?

Grant Williams? I just feel there is something missing there.

Derrick Lively? Oh yeah...tough, but maybe not tough enough for the Dirkie. Close though.

Streaky Hardaway! Timmie giveth with one hand--and taketh with the other. Good stats. Can be summed up with the comment from Followill during one typical Hardaway sequence that it is up him (Hardaway) to bail out the Mavs. Well...sure. Timmie dribbled around for 20 seconds and then had to bail out the "team."

Vintage Luka. But is that good enough for the Dirkie? I would like to point out that if racehorses are ridden hard too often--they break down.

Maxi was dependable...and there.

Jaden Hardy kept the Mavs in the game durinng the first quarter, or so. And then wasn't effectively used for the rest of the game. I'm going to give him the Dirkie on that stat alone.

Timmy made a few bad Tim plays but he was plus 13 tonight for good reason. He gets us wins every once in awhile and this was definitely one of them.

THJ gets it grading on a Luka curve. Luka was the best of course with an amazing 45, 15, and 9. That dude puts up monsterous statistics. Besides the crucial win, the most important development of the night was Hardy suddenly looking like an NBA player again, and then some.

I voted Lively. Face punch and maybe broken nose and still contributed to the end. THJ and Luka were great. Nice win.

I love the commentary in the Dirkie poll! Might add that to my repertoire....

First things first, Jaden Hardy. He finally had one of his offensive explosions. This resembled the Hardy Party of last season. Dude was on fire the whole night and he created so many great looks for Lively. He flashed a lot of great stuff tonight although he sort of disappeared in the 2nd half. The team didn't really give him many more looks, but because of that I can't give him the Dirkie.

LIVELYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. I kept saying to myself that he looked overmatched tonight during the 1st half. Orlando was getting to the rim with ease and Lively looked a step late consistently. He was finishing a bunch of dunks, but defensively he looked pretty lost. But then the 2nd half started and holy shit. He COMMANDED that matchup zone. He was barking orders the whole half. He fought for EVERY BOARD!!!!!!!!!!! HIS HUSTLE AND ENERGY IS GETTING ME AMPED RIGHT NOW! THE FACT THE MAVS HAVE A YOUNG CENTER WHO JUST GOT HIS 3RD 20/10 GAME IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON IS MAKING ME BURST WITH GLEE!!!!!!!!!!! The dude probably broke his nose and still finished the crazy oop after hitting 2 out 4 from the FT line. Just incredible stuff. Unfortunately in the Dirkie Game of Thrones, the smallest things can disqualify you. And his first half unfortunately weighed him down.

We had a GREAT THJ game tonight. Like fantastic THJ game. Supernova Timmy. His first half was nothing great, but to be honest most of the team looked mentally checked out save Jaden Hardy. Its impossible to stop Timmy when he's hot, and tonight was no exception. He also made a great lob pass to Jaden Hardy. THJ would usually take the shot, but he gave it up for a better one. Kudos to Timmy and I give him full props for carrying the offensive load late in the 3rd and some of the 4th when Luka was gassed.

If I could choose, I'd choose Jason Kidd's halftime defensive adjustment to go to a matchup zone. That swung the entire game and Orlando had no idea what to do. He also got the guys locked in for the end of game. He basically fucked over THJ by not calling a time out at the end, but he stopped ORL from ever getting a chance to win it with his fouling tactics. If Kidd could get these guys to just play consistently though........................

Finally Luka. Its become customary to count his stats. I mean he's made a 45 point, 15 assist, 9 rebound night sort of... pedestrian? He has probably forever altered my perception of a good game. However, the little things Luka did this game really stood out to me, especially defensively. He was SO locked in after the 1st half. He was barking orders to basically everyone, getting people in position. He contested all of ORL's midrange shots and forced the misses. He boxed out and rebounded. He was gassed basically the last 5 minutes of the game and he still stepped up and sealed the win. He hit 18/21 FTs. I'm astonished Luka managed to close out a game by playing defense and hitting free throws. So Luka gets my vote. THJ a close 2nd. Kidd a honorable mention cause as he's said many times "I'm not playin, just watching"

Potential future Maverick Wendell Carter Jr took to twitter to apologize to DLive after the game:

@wendellcarter34
@DereckLively
My bad bro ! Hate seeing players hurt, especially when it was my fault.


DLive responded in kind:

@DereckLively
All good just lookin like Pinocchio over here

Aaaaaaaand Luka had to make sure everyone knew he is the master of nicknames:

@luka7doncic
Stop using what i called you

Hardaway has one of these games every 35 games. Hardy was sensational.

Noah Weber (@noahweber00)
Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic on his defensive leadership:

“I try to talk even more [and] try to give energy to the team. If I do it, then it’s gonna inspire everybody to do it. I just got to do it more.”

I am giving it to Luka for really stepping up in the second half on both ends of the floor. His energy lifted everyone else imho. All this after playing 45 minutes per game the last three

Just finished watching the DVR, most stressful game of the year to watch. This is a very tough one. It's really hard to not give it to someone putting up 45 and 15 but there are other serious candidates here. Lively had a 20 10 and had to finish the game with a busted up nose, outstanding. Jaden Hardy was the only reason this game wasn't over at halftime, his best performance of the year. But on seats for soldiers night I think I'll lean Tim, his mother was in the military and he put on a show for her and the crowd.

The traveling call that opened the door for Orlando at the end was Kidd's fault for not calling timeout when he got trapped so I won't hold that against him, Kidd should have been fired on the spot if Wagner hit that shot at the end

The elephant in the room is that the true winner of the Dirkie is Jonathan Isaac for having a minutes restriction, but kudos to Lively, THJ, Hardy, Luka, and even Kidd for taking advantage of it.

I still cant believe Luka scored 45...the guy is a force. He looked like he hardly contributed first half...and came out with 45...smh.

I liked that Luka let the teams energy play out in first half. Luka was getting mobbed by Isaac and not able to do much...but he let Hardy and Timmy take the lead. I dont know if I have ever seen Luka look so average in the first half. I like that he let Hardy and Tim do their thing without killing the vibes by trying to do his own thing.

Loved Tim's game last night. No forced shots that were highly contested. He took good shots last night that didnt seem like heat checks. I wasnt screaming at the tv that he was killing offensive possessions with too early of shots. Would love love love this Tim to show up more.

Hardy. I gripe about his game like THJ's here...but last night he looked so damn good. He has the potential but always makes bad decisions or turnovers. He didnt have that problem last night and looked good. He has an issue with making bad passes that get intercepted or fumbling his dribble into a turnover too often. Last night, though...he looked crisp.

Lively is going to be good in a couple of years.

Is Isaac snatchable?

(01-30-2024, 10:26 AM)Scott41theMavs Wrote: [ -> ]The elephant in the room is that the true winner of the Dirkie is Jonathan Isaac for having a minutes restriction, but kudos to Lively, THJ, Hardy, Luka, and even Kidd for taking advantage of it.

You beat me to it.  His D on Luka was suffocating.  If Orlando ever had him at full strength...

Got to see this one in person.  Luka's 45 kind of snuck up on you as did the assists.  

Lively's most impressive stat, in a night of impressive stats, was 40 minutes.  He didn't get his 4th and 5th foul until the last 3 minutes.

I'm tempted to vote for THJ.  On a night when Irving was missing and Green and Williams had nothing, we certainly needed the offense.  He also made one of my favorite plays.  It doesn't look that fantastic in the highlights...I looked.  But live, that alley-oop to Hardy at full speed was really impressive.  But, I have two bones to pick with him.  Early in the second when Hardy had scored a ton, Timmy decided to go shot hunting.  He couldn't stand that the young fella was on a heater and he was going to put up a shot no matter what.  Yep, contested pull-up 3....clang.  There was a time in the second half where he and Hardy were in front of the Orlando bench and both had gotten a little loose with the ball.  Hardy had it and was about to drive and Tim gave him the "give me the damn ball" hand motion.  This time he made a big 3 and all was quickly forgiven.  My other issue with THJ was  his play in that zone we ran in the first half.  He and GWill and Luka all got lost at times and Orlando killed it.  It was super sloppy and I was amazed we stuck with it and executed it so well in the second half.

But, I went with Hardy.  As others have said, this game would have gotten away from us if not for him (it almost did anyway).  He looked so comfortable.  I loved the assists inside.  Hitting shots always makes a player look good, but I thought he made a lot of good decisions on drives and it all felt like it was in rhythm.

I will give Maxi an honorable mention.  The D just worked when he was in the game and it didn't seem to work as well when GWill was in the game.  I told my son before the game that our challenge will be beating Orlando's bench.  They are usually strong.  Our bench was basically Hardy and Maxi and we won the minutes when they were in.  Hardy's contribution was obvious, but Maxi was part of it and did it with a 1-1-1 line.