LUKAAAAA MAGIC!!!

After watching his team squander an 11-point lead over the course of three minutes, Luka hit two audacious contested step-back threes from Mexico to steal a win for the Mavs! OMG! What a thrill!


GAME STORY

Porzingis (lower back tightness) and Maxi (sprained ankle) were both out for the Mavs. Marcus Smart and Romeo Langford were on the Injured list for Boston. 

Rick brought out a new starting lineup of Luka, Josh, DFS, Johnson, and Powell.  The game was played very close throughout the first three quarters, and the Mavs entered the fourth with an 80-76 lead. 

After Boston tied the game at 7:24, the Mavs went on a run, and were up 11 at 3:12. 

Then--

Kemba hits a three. Brunson fouls him on the shot. Kemba completes the four-point play. Mavs +7.

DFS misses open three. 

Jason Tatum three. Mavs +4.

Luka misses jump shot. 

Kemba Walker three.  Mavs +1.

Brunson offensive foul turnover. 

Walker missed three. 

Brunson bad pass turnover. Luka steals the ball back. Brunson badly missed three. 

Jalen Brown pull-up. Mavs -1.   38 seconds. 

Luka step-back three!  Mavs +2.  16 seconds. 

Brown layup.  Tie game. 9 seconds. 

Luka step-back three! Mavs +3.   .1 seconds. Game over!

It wasn’t pretty. But this is what generational talents do!


STATS

The Mavs shot 39% from three, with Luka and Brunson combining to go 11-15 between them. The team had only 15 free-throw attempts, but hit 13 of them. Dallas was out-rebounded 38-46 and gave up 14 fast-break points, but they capitalized on 13 Boston turnovers to the tune of 18 points. They had a scoring drought of over five minutes in the third quarter, but the Celtics were unable to take advantage. Rick went with a closing unit of Luka, Brunson, Hardaway, DFS, and WCS. The meltdown in the last few minutes was salvaged by Luka’s heroics. 


PLAYERS

DONCIC.  There shouldn’t be any question about who gets the Dirkie for this one. Luka had a 31/10/8 line and was a scintillating 6 of 8 from deep. During the second half, the Celtics intensified their efforts to keep the ball out of his hands, and had some success with that approach. Luka was making the right passes, but when that measure was not proving fruitful at the end, the young star took it upon himself to save the win with two unlikely game-winning shots! Luka! We are not worthy!

BRUNSON.  Jalen had 22 points off the bench in a sixth-man role. He was 5-7 from long range, and 5-5 at the line. He was habanero hot in the fourth quarter, with 16 timely points. He had the TNT game callers raving until late in the fourth. He was an intelligent game manager and shot very well. However, having said all that, his performance in the finishing lineup was decidedly mixed. After scoring 10 straight points to take the team to 3:12, he then fouled a three-point shooter, committed two turnovers, and missed a three. 

GUARDS.  Hardaway scored in a variety of ways, and was on the highlight reel with a double-clutch two-handed slam in the second quarter. Josh and Timmy combined for 30, and all four guards amassed 83 of the Mavs’ 110 points. The Mavericks smalls are really getting it together offensively! 

BIGS. Although Powell started the game, he played only 11 minutes, and was not on the floor at the end. Johnson also started, played 28 minutes, had 8 points, and held his own on the court. WCS had 24 minutes and did a few good things. The shortage of big men brought on a couple of Bobi sightings, and he made an impact with 10 points and 8 rebounds in 13 minutes, as well as boasting a game-high +13. After the first quarter, Coach Stevens allowed that his team had been attacking Marjanovic a little too much, and it might be time to try something different, lol. The TNT announcers declared that they could think of no more beloved player than Boban in the league, and I wouldn’t argue the point. The squad's four largest players combined for 27 points and 17 boards. 

BOSTON. Although I was of course glad for the win, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the Celtics’ performance. While the Mavs deserve some credit for their limited display,  some of their failure to thrive seemed attributable to a lack of quality. Their three stars — Tatum, Brown, and Walker — combined for 78 of their 107 total. Not an impressive effort, and this win put them below .500. 


OBSERVATIONS

This contest was a bit of a slog for the first three quarters, and it seemed like neither team was going to be able to make any kind of decisive charge. The Mavs managed to get over that hump in the fourth quarter, only for their habitual late-game collapse to rear its ugly head. I think TNT was probably glad to have shown this match, as it was very close, and the outcome was in question down to the last few seconds. Considering that it was the second night of a B2B, with KP and Maxi out, maybe this was a pretty decent performance, and it was super exciting to get to watch Luka at his other-worldly best at the end. We’ll take it!

This victory brings the Mavs back to .500 at 15-15. They stand at ninth place in the West, 1/2 a game ahead of Memphis and 1 game back of Golden State. They have a tough one coming up at Philadelphia on Thursday. Let’s savor this win!

Onward and upward, MFFLs!

Who elevated his game above normal to help the team win?

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/13...6284301318

MAVS CRUISE PAST GRIZZLIES IN RETURN TO AAC

After an 8-day layoff, the Mavericks posted a wire-to-wire win over Ja and the Grizz. 


NOTABLE ITEMS

GAME FLOW.  Both teams got off to a relatively slow start, but the Mavs recovered quickly, thanks to 20 points in the first quarter from JRich and THJ. Our team did not have an outstanding scoring quarter (26 points), but they held Memphis to an embarrassing 13. In the second period, THJ and Brunson hit 21 of the team’s 26 points, and the home team were able to add a few points to their lead, carrying a 54-36 advantage into halftime. 

      The Mavs’ hot shooting cooled off in the third (0-7 from deep), but Memphis was unable to capitalize, and our boys led 81-62 after three. We more or less hung in for most of the fourth quarter, then allowed the lead to shrink to 10 in the last three minutes. Game, set, match. 

LINEUPS.  Porzingis was out with back stiffness, and Rick elected to go with Dwight Powell in the starting lineup. He used a big rotation of Maxi (27 min), Powell 27, and Willie 21. The three combined for 12 points and 15 boards. Rick played his usual 8.5 man rotation, with Burke getting a 10-minute runout. Maxi exited the game with a sprained ankle in the fourth quarter. The finishing lineup was the same as the starters, but with Tim in for Maxi.

STATS.  The Mavs completed 15-41 of their threes (37%), as compared to their opponents' putrid 6-31 (19%). Dallas led in fast-break points 24-2 and bench points 52-36, while the Grizz stayed in the game with 56 PIP and 13 offensive rebounds. 

LATE GAME MELTDOWN.  The last three minutes were ugly, with the Mavs committing three turnovers, giving up 5 offensive boards, and taking some bad shots. Rick said the offending parties have been spoken to. 

GUARD PLAY. It was very much the Night of the Guards, with Luka, THJ, Brunson, and Josh combining for 86 of the team’s 102 points. Timmy went supernova, scoring 20 points in the first half and leading all scorers with 29 points, including a blistering 7-11 from deep. Brunson added 19 points and 7 rebounds off the bench, going 7-11 from the floor. Josh got the Mavs off to a good start with an 11-point first period, and contributed a solid 17 points and 7 boards. Luka got off to a bit of a slow beginning, with 7 points in the first half, but ended the night with a 21/7/5 line, and would have continued his 25+ point scoring streak had it not been for a head-scratching 2-9 effort from the line. 

GRIZZLIES.  Ja Morant led his team with 22 points and 9 assists, and Jonas Valanciunas did most of his damage inside with 11 points and 15 boards. The Mavs got a little lucky that Memphis missed some open shots, but overall, the visitors gave a decidedly underwhelming performance. 


OBSERVATIONS 

Rick thought this was one of the team's best defensive games of the season. He complimented Maxi for his efforts on that end, and raved over Timmy. Coach commended Hardaway for being an edgy competitor, playing like a winner, always looking to play the right way and make an impact, and showing improvement in the defense and rebounding areas. Per Carlisle, Tim is “my kind of guy.”

It was a bit disconcerting to hear that KP was on the injury list after a week off, but perhaps the Mavs were just resting him on the first night of a B2B. I debated with myself about admitting this, but one of my first thoughts on seeing this was to wonder whether the team would put in a better defensive performance without him. I don’t want to have to think like that. At any rate, Dallas did a good job in his absence against an offensively challenged Memphis team. 

The team looked fresh and ready, and I liked the sense of urgency, minus maybe the last few minutes. Rick said the team needed to concentrate better at the end, but didn’t want to dwell on that, due to his desire not to “make a win feel like a loss.” I can dig that philosophy. 

Overall, not the most suspenseful of games, but a solid performance from our team, which looked much the better for their days off. Speaking of, I hope all the MFFLs have recovered from the weather disaster in Texas. The Mavs, Cuban, Cynt Marshall, and several of the players joined to contribute $1.25M to the relief effort. Dwight Powell led the charge among the players to chip in to alleviate the suffering in their state. Kudos to the civic-minded individuals and organization!

Last but certainly not least, Luka is to be congratulated on being voted an All-Star Team starter, edging out Damian Lillard on a fan vote tiebreaker. He is the only Maverick ever to be voted in as a starter in consecutive years. Doncic, ever the picture of graciousness, said that he wasn’t expecting to be a starter, that Lillard probably deserved it a little more than he did, and that in a couple of years, no one will remember who started and who didn’t. 

The Celtics are up next, on Tuesday evening. 

Be well, Mavs fans!

Who was the player of the game that upped his game to help the team win?

This week's outbreak is not at all unprecedented for the DFW area.  In December of 1983, we had a cold wave that lasted for about three weeks, and the temperature did not get above freezing for 10 or 15 days.  It was so cold for so long that White Rock Lake froze completely over!   People were even driving cars on the lake. We were really lucky that there was not precipitation involved with that one. Here I am standing on White Rock Lake in 1983.



We found a block of wood and some sticks and played ice hockey.  You can see that the lake was completely frozen over.  Were any of you guys around for that one?  

The Mavericks defense has fallen off a cliff this season. Numerous analysts are trying to get to the bottom of the situation, which I am sorry to believe is severe and complex enough to merit its own thread. 

Iztok of MMB has broken down the elements of the drop-off in the linked article, which has verbal description supplemented by videos. 

Main takeaways --

The defense is in deep trouble.

The defense was highly rated in the first weeks of the season. Was that a fluke? Yes. Breaking it down, the defense was not all that good. Bit of a lucky streak. 

KP, DP, and WCS are all fouling at a much higher rate than they did last season. 

The Mavs are very bad at protecting the rim. 

The Mavs' drop coverage in the pick and roll is not working. This is not limited to Dallas. It's the case league-wide. Offenses have figured out how to overcome that defense. The Mavs realize that, and have tried different coverages. But KP does not have the mobility to show, hedge, trap, or switch. 

KP does not communicate well on defense. This may be because he is not sure what he is supposed to be doing himself, let alone instructing his teammates. Trying to run aggressive pick and roll coverage with KP just results in miscues. 

KP is not the only problem. Maxi and Dwight also look substantially worse than they did last season, possibly because they haven't fully recovered from the virus, and in Dwight's case, injury. 

However, KP is by far the biggest problem. His rim protection and help defense aren't what they used to be. Carlisle is using WCS and Powell as more mobile defenders in the PNR. Willie is the most mobile defender, but plays limited minutes for good reasons. 


Solutions

Short-term. Do everything possible to help KP recover his agility and explosiveness. KP's performance on defense will define the team's ceiling.

Long-term. If this is the permanent version of KP, that's a real problem. Teams are targeting KP defensively. With Luka as the main piece of the puzzle, the second star can't be one that has to be hidden in some type of defensive scheme.  

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TYRELL TERRY

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