MavsBoard

MAVS INCINERATE BLAZERS AT MODA CENTER

The Mavericks avoided a season sweep by firing the Trailblazers from Rip City into the atmosphere, leaving nothing but ashes falling to earth in Portland. 


NOTABLE ITEMS

GAME FLOW. The first quarter looked like it was going to be a normal game, with the Blazers maintaining a small advantage and wrapping up the period with a 30-27 lead. Toward the middle of the second, the Mavericks took off, closing with a 21-10 run and going into halftime with a 65-54 edge. Dallas began the second half with a sensational 19-0 run, reaching a 30-point lead in the first half of the quarter, and finishing the period at 103-69. Terry Stotts emptied the Portland bench to start the fourth, and Carlisle soon followed. The biggest lead was 45.  Incredible. 

STATS.  By the end of the third quarter, the Mavs had racked up 17 threes, and the Blazers had only 6. That’s really all that needs to be said. Another positive was that the Mavericks buried Portland on the boards, with a 39-21 margin. After a heavy-minutes game for the rotation on Friday, all players recorded fewer than 30 minutes. 

DONCIC.  Luka had another phenomenal game, with 37 points on 13-19 shooting, with an amazing 8-9 performance from three, dropping 8-8 before missing the last attempt. If Luka’s three-point shooting becomes as otherworldly as the rest of his game, the NBA had better look out!

STARTERS.  J Rich had an excellent game, putting up 21 points on outstanding 8-11 shooting. Brian Dameris alluded to Josh’s finally recovering from “lingering issues from COVID” as a partial explanation for his elevated play these days. Josh himself said he wanted to atone for playing “like ass” on Friday, and I do believe he accomplished that. Doe-Doe had a lovely evening, perhaps inspired by his new little one. He provided his usual steady defensive performance, won the DPOG belt for holding Dame to 19 points, and also had 13 points of his own, going 4-8 from the field. Maxi had 8 points and 7 boards, and KP had 12 and 8, along with a couple of exciting blocks. 

BENCH. The bench had 17 points through three quarters, but the team didn’t really need their scoring punch on a night like this. THJ and Powell led the reserves with 11 points each. The What-a-burger Play of the Day was a Luka-Powell alley-oop. 

TRAILBLAZERS.  The Blazers didn’t look like an NBA team. I think Portland must have exhausted their supply of juice with the win on Friday. Their legendary back court combined for 32 points, and Carmelo added 13 off the bench. The three sharpshooters combined to go an unlikely 0-16 from deep. 


OBSERVATIONS

Rick credited Mavs assistant coach Jamahl Mosley for making the proper defensive adjustments and selling the players on them, asserting that the visitors had something to do with the hosts’ poor night. He thought Luka was phenomenal, but what else is new? Devin Harris credited Luka’s having gotten into shape for his “fluency” on the court in the last few weeks. 

Richardson attributed part of the offensive success  to the team's getting the ball out quicker and getting shots up faster. Asked to comment on Luka’s performance, he could only shake his head admiringly, having no words.

There just isn’t much to analyze about this contest, and other than the joy of watching the Mavs’ dominant performance, it wasn’t much of a match. I don’t know what accounted for the Blazers’ flat outing, but the game was a statement win for Dallas, especially after an insipid night on Friday. 

Your boys get a rare couple of days off before facing the Timberwolves on Wednesday. The schedule lightens up a bit from here on out, so hopefully the Mavs can sustain, and will have a chance to climb out of the play-in bracket. 

Until Wednesday, pals!

(03-22-2021, 12:13 AM)mavsluvr Wrote: [ -> ]DONCIC.  Luka had another phenomenal game, with 37 points on 13-19 shooting, with an amazing 8-9 performance from three, dropping 8-8 before missing the last attempt. If Luka’s three-point shooting becomes as otherworldly as the rest of his game, the NBA had better look out!

Yes, the Threes are a great sign.  Even if I cringe sometimes when he shoots some.  It is something I think we just need to live with.  It is incredible how his percentage has improved this year.   

For me though, what would scare me if I was another team is his postups.   You may not want to use this too much in the regular season, but come playoff time I hope this is a core part of our offense.   Luka passing from the three point line is legendary already, but having him post up guards is going to create so many problems.   I think he is too big for most small forwards as well.

Quote:DONCIC.  Luka had another phenomenal game, with 37 points on 13-19 shooting, with an amazing 8-9 performance from three, dropping 8-8 before missing the last attempt. If Luka’s three-point shooting becomes as otherworldly as the rest of his game, the NBA had better look out!

No one appreciated your singing voice, Mark.

Also, that GIF works better complete:

After a very convincing W I don't want to be the party pooper but Luka's domination is not sustainable in the playoffs. Luka's a nightmare for any defense - he needs to get doubled and I fear this is what is going to happen in the playoffs. Also some playoff opponents have guys like LeBron himself or Kawhi to throw at you (show Luka's greatness when only those to come to mind). I agree that Luka can punish almost anybody on the inside and he should do it. But when he gets doubled consistently, we are in trouble. We saw this to some extent already in the regular season. Boston did it for example.

That's why you need a second star at least, and that's where KP comes into play. I like him as a player and I was sure he had sueprstar potential whilst in New York. I still see it, but I don't think it is going to be in Dallas. He still feels like a foreign body in our offense - even if he's on fire (don't get me wrong, his play is okay for his standards right now and I see signs of improvement still) and drops 25+ it doesn't feel natural. it's him hitting difficult (and sometimes awkward feeling) shots. If he does, great, if he doesn't, he gets you 12, like last night.

He just does not seem involved, he just doesn't fit somehow and why is a mystery to me. On paper, he should complement Luka almost perfectly, yet he is not involved most of the time.

In another thread, Kamm and Killer were talking about how maybe Luka does not feel that he is good enough to justify more consideration in the offense. Luka will make the play and find the open man. You only change that it you have a better option per se (e.g. star player x) than player y being in a good position.

I think there is some truth to this and coaches seem to be unwilling to impose something else on Luka (like special treatment for KP). Theri two-man-game got a little better over the last couple of weeks but they don't use it consistently as it looks out of sync.

I don't mean to be a downer but that's what I see and it's a huge red flag.

Other guys really improving lick JRich for example, Timmy getting his rhythm back and I think Maxi has just been amazing as a role-player.

The three adds so much volatility to basketball. We’re seeing it in the NCAA right now. It’s fun to watch what the Mavs can do when the shots are falling. Lots of reason for optimism. But its the defensive improvement that excites me. 

I’m also optimistic about Dwight regaining his bounce. Anybody else seeing that? Week by week, he’s looking more and more like old Dwight (er, young Dwight I guess).