Shortstaffed Mavs Fall to Hornets After 32-Point Comeback

Oof! To paraphrase Charles Dickens, it was the worst of times, it was the best of times. Then the worst of times again. Heartbreaking loss for our boys. 


Game Story 

Mavs were missing KP (knee), THJ (hammy), and Broekhoff (fibula).  

Rick's starting lineup was the same as last game -- Barea/Doncic/DFS/Jackson/Powell. They came out with a lack of energy, looking almost like they were taking the game for granted. They hung in for the first half of the first quarter, but fell apart when Luka went out, and didn't recover when he came back in. The home team could neither score nor get stops. The first period ended with Dallas trailing 20-32. The second period was a little better, but still unimpressive. The Mavericks went down a game-high 20 points, before recovering late, to an extent. A Maxi buzzer-beating three reduced the deficit to 44-57 at the half. Not sure when was the last time the Mavs produced a 44-point half. Yikes!

Whatever happened at halftime, Kleber replaced Jackson in the starting lineup in the third, and the Mavericks came out strong, in fact erasing the deficit, putting together a 40-point quarter, and gaining an 84-80 edge at the end of the frame. They started the fourth in similar fashion, and the lead was up to 12 with 9 minutes left in regulation. The advantage was frittered away in a flurry of missed long threes, turnovers, and giving up offensive rebounds. Luka's step-back three for the win rimmed out at the buzzer. To overtime.

The Mavs gave up 20 points in the five-minute overtime period. They also scored 17, but a number of those points were scored when the Hornets gave them two-point shots at several times when the Hornets were up three. The Mavs played the foul game until the bitter end. Seth got the chance to tie the game again with a three at the end, but the Hornets fouled him before he could get a shot off, and he did not try to miss the second free throw with 4 seconds left. The last offensive Mavs play was a desperation heave from 55 feet by Luka. 


Analytics

Statistically, the Mavs looked very good offensively around the basket, shooting 70% on twos and earning 60 points in the paint. They also put up 15 more shots than the Hornets, and 25 more 3PTAs. However, they shot dismally from three (15-50), had an 18-point disadvantage in free-throw attempts, and were out rebounded. At the end of the day, they were +12 on points from threes, -17 on made free throws, and and +2 on points from twos. Period-by-period Mavs scoring was 20, 24, 40, 19, 17. Very uncharacteristic lack of offense by Dallas. Three-point shooting ranged from excellent (Maxi, 6-12) to respectable (DFS, 3-8) to decent (LD, 5-15) to abysmal (rest of team, 1-15). The Charlotte back court flamed the Mavs for 56 points, and got to the basket seemingly at will. 


Players

Luka (43 min) had a monster line (39-12-10), and was entertaining to watch, with his ridiculous passes, crafty finishing, step-back threes, and joyful grins during the Mavs' big run. He broke the franchise's record for triple-doubles in one season, passing Jason Kidd with his tenth such game. Luka denied caring about that, as the big stats came in a loss, and Doncic was, in fact, the only starter in negative +/-, at -5. 

Luka attributed the loss to his own "terrible decisions." While the loss can't be blamed on Luka, as the Mavs would not have been in it without him, one does have to question the game disintegrating into hero ball in the clutch. Several commentators suggested he may have run out of gas after playing long minutes, although he denied it. Cedric noted that Rick was going to Seth at the end, and Luka may have been tired, or else Rick may have figured the Hornets were going to get the ball out of Luka's hands, anyway, so he might as well use the Slovenian as a decoy. It was postulated that Luka may have started settling due to fatigue and/or frustration at not getting calls (6 FTAs all night), although this isn't really a one-game issue. 

Rick remarked before the game that other teams are "beating the s__t out of Luka every game," and that it isn't right. Luka dismissed the concern, saying he just has to keep going (rather than let the officiating get in his head). The Hornets are not an especially physical team, as far as this specific game is concerned, but with KP and THJ out, he was double-teamed to death, and many of his teammates did not step up. 

DFS (38 min) looked pretty good, with 15 points and 8 boards. He crashed the offensive glass for Dallas, earning 6 ORBs, and had a couple of crowd-pleasing put back dunks to go with his three threes. He had his hands full trying to defend the Charlotte guards, but as the Mavericks' best perimeter defender, he gave it his best shot. He said after the game that the team should have come out with more energy, and should have won in regulation, even without two of their best players. 

Powell (38 min). Powell had a respectable offensive night, putting up 11 points on 5-7 shooting. However, he was unable to protect the rim, and was less than intense on the glass. He did execute three steals, but fouled out on an intentional take in overtime. For stretches, DP served as the squad's only big on the court, and it didn't work out great. KP, with his rebounding and rim protection, plays such an important role in freeing up DP for his screen-and-roll game, and the team missed the big Latvian. 

Maxi (35 min) stepped up offensively, with another career-high scoring night (24 points on 8-13 shooting, including six threes). He was also instrumental defensively, serving as the only Mav big man who was capable of doing so. Carlisle complimented his all-around play, although for all his massive points, he was bottom of the team with respect to +/-, at -12. The Mavs ran some three-point plays for him, which I believe is something new, and reflects his increasing performance beyond the arc. Lot of hard work going on there. 

Barea (33 min) had 11 points, and assisted the Mavs with playmaking, with 9 dimes and only 1 turnover. I don't love the Luka-Barea lineup, as it tends to take Luka out of the play, and is a turnstile defensively. However, there arguably wasn't much in the way of options, as Dallas badly needed a player other than Luka who could create off the dribble. His role should diminish once THJ returns. 

Jackson (29 min) had 6 points and 5 boards, and was 0-6 from long range. He wasn't really up for a starting role, and was overmatched by the Hornets. Rick replaced him with Maxi to start the third quarter. A dubious foul on Justin in the fourth had Carlisle yelling furiously at the ref. Officiating aside, the absences of the stars has a domino effect, and guys like Jackson (necessarily) get asked to fill responsibilities they may not be ready to handle. It is to be noted that Rick continued to play him big minutes, and even ran some plays for him, perhaps hoping it would serve a development purpose. 

Seth (26 min) had 12 points off the bench on 5-8 shooting, but took only two 3-point shots the whole game, missing both. Don't know what was going on there. During halftime, Jet pleaded with Seth to be more aggressive, as the team was unlikely to survive with only Luka and Maxi wiling to step up on the scoring end. 

Brunson (14 min) had two points, and seemed to be neither here nor there. He didn't make any particularly bad mistakes that I can remember, but was mostly invisible. 

Wright played only 7 colorless minutes, presumably because he was still fighting a sore foot. In the Locked on Mavs podcast, they mentioned a report that Carlisle asked him if he could go in the fourth quarter, and he demurred. Too bad, because this was a game in which his talents would have been useful. 

Boban had a disastrous 3 minutes, during which the Mavs went down 8 points. Not really Bobi's fault, he just isn't able to guard the pick and roll very well, due to his lack of mobility. His only stat was 1 foul.


Remarks

Carlisle said the game was lost in the first quarter. (Luka disagreed, opining that the match was lost in overtime). He thought the team got way behind, expended a great deal of energy digging out of that hole, got a lead, and then couldn't make plays when they needed to. Squandering the lead was on the whole team, in Rick's opinion, and he declined to discuss individual mistakes, as he said that every lapse gets magnified in a situation like this, and there were enough to go around without pointing fingers at a particular player. He said you have to give credit to the Hornets for playing so well and never giving up. 

There are a number of things that went wrong in this contest, which the Mavs had been heavily favored to win. The biggest issue was the absence of KP and THJ, both of whom were sorely missed. At least, that problem should be solved before too long, although further injuries are, unfortunately, likely through the rest of a long season. 

The slow home start is puzzling, though not shocking, as this has been a characteristic of the Mavs. One commentator thought this was a trap game, to which I would say that I am not sure the Mavericks are good enough to have trap games. The Hornets have a pretty tepid roster, but they are, for the most part, young guys that play hard, and it is dangerous to underestimate a squad like that. The starting lineup left much to be desired, but Carlisle had limited choices, and I don't think we will see this one again unless injuries require it.

The poor performance in the clutch is very Mavs-like. They have lost 11 of their last 12 overtime games, lost all of them this season, and are 28th in the league in offensive rating in clutch minutes, scoring 90 ppp. Yuck. Rick seemed unfamiliar with that stat, but said he would take a look at it and see if he could come up with an answer. If they don't find an answer to closing out games, especially when they have a substantial lead in the fourth quarter, they aren't going to make much noise this season. The failure to rebound or get stops killed the team down the stretch, along with too much settling for very long threes and turning the ball over in pressure situations. The frustrating part is that these games usually don't play out as a superior team dominating Dallas in the last eight minutes -- rather the collapse of the Mavs into a lot of unforced errors and poor decision-making. Same song, umpteenth verse. I have to think some of these issue recede once the team is fully healthy. 

Defense continues to be so-so, and was not helped by the small lineups and lack of rim protection. 

The good news is that the potential answers to a lot of the Mavs' problems were sitting on the bench in suits. Also, that even without the two stars, Dallas was able to come back from a 20-point deficit and gain a double-digit lead in the fourth. Most teams that rely heavily on three-point shooting are inevitably going to be a little on the streaky side, especially with two of the better shooters out of action. 


Next. The Bulls, on Monday. Chicago has the 5th best defensive rating in the league, so we'll see if the Mavericks' vaunted offense can get the better of them. 

Get well, injured Mavs!

http://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status/...50785?s=20

Shorthanded Mavs Sink Nets

The Mavericks ended their two-game losing streak with a decisive victory to begin their home stand. Much improved performance, especially in the final quarter. 


Game Story and Analytics

Porzingis (sore knee), Hardaway (hamstring), and Broekhoff (broken fibula) were all on the Mavericks' injured list. The Nets were missing a couple of stars of their own in Kyrie and KD. 

Carlisle started a lineup of Barea-Luka-DFS-Jackson-Powell, in an effort to counter the Nets' small unit. It didn't go well, and your Dallas Mavericks soon found themselves 10 points behind. They gradually worked back into the game, and managed to gain a 31-30 edge to finish the quarter. After amassing a 7-point lead in the second, the squad unravelled, allowing Brooklyn to go on a 17-2 run. DFS had a thundering put back jam off a Luka missed three to reduce the first-half deficit to five. 

Rick started Maxi instead of Powell in the third period to take better advantage of DeAndre Jordan's weak perimeter defense. That unit came out with a bang, and the Mavs were soon back in it. Luka had to exit early with foul trouble, and the Nets were back on top late in the quarter, but Dallas managed to tie the game going into the fourth on the back of a 15-point quarter from Seth. The Mavs ran away with it in the fourth, with Luka going off for 15 points. The boys in blue achieved a double-digit lead at 4:24 and never surrendered it. 

Statistically, this game came down to the Mavericks' superior three-point shooting. Dallas shot a blistering 46% from long range, led by Luka and Seth with five triples apiece. Their hot shooting helped make up for giving up 56 points in the paint and 19 second chance points to the Nets. In truth, the home team didn't look to be much more than hanging in for much of the first three quarters, but they got it together with an excellent final frame. 


Players

Luka (34 min) started the game off the ball and didn't look 100% for some time. But he came back and delivered in the fourth, looking bouncy and refreshed to the end. He ended the game with a 31-13-7 line, and provided some much needed rebounding from the point guard position. 

After the Thunder game, Jason Terry mentioned that Luka looked to be wearing down. Carlisle gave some insight into this, taking responsibility for the "mistake" of playing Doncic for 40 minutes in that contest, leaving him out of juice when Chris Paul went off. He said Luka has been playing too many long stretches of minutes, and it has been affecting him late in games. Tonight, he took corrective measures with a new substitution pattern, and thought Luka looked "spectacular" down the stretch. 

Seth (31 min) was scorching, earning 25 points on 9-13 shooting, including going a perfect 5-5 from beyond the arc. Rick thought his play was "great," and complimented Curry for his shotmaking, playmaking, and solid defense. The guard saved the Mavs' bacon when they were struggling in the third period, putting the team on his shoulders with a scoring burst. Rick also mentioned that Seth's teammates had been good about finding him all night, and that the coach's challenge was to keep Seth rested enough that he could finish the game. Excellent job!

Maxi (31 min) had another excellent game, and impressed on both sides of the court, putting a career-high 18 points and a career-high-tying 3 blocks on the scoresheet. Kleber has been making good progress all season, and may be taking his game to a new level. Stepped up well in KP's absence. The man from Wurzburg said that he has been doing a lot of work on his three-point shot, especially on a quicker release. He had three threes in this contest, and it looks like the reps are paying off. 

DFS (28 min) flies so under the radar that it can be easy to miss his consistent play, but he had another quietly good performance here, and got onto the highlight reel with his dunk to end the first half. He remarked on stepping up in the absence of the team's key rim protector and rebounder, and said the team hopes to improve its home record by "taking care of the crib."

Barea (21 min) was the starting point guard, and put up 10 points and six assists. Rick wanted Barea to start in order to take advantage of his playmaking, to give Luka an opportunity to play off the ball, and to match up with the Net's transition offense. The veteran always provides a steadying hand to his teammates.

Boban (13 min) had an outing in KP's absence, and had 10 points and 7 rebounds in his limited minutes, along with keeping the Nets away from the basket. The gentle giant earned some praise from Rick, who thought he did well. I love it when Bobi just stands there and puts the ball in the basket without even moving his feet off the floor, lol. What a morale-crushing move!

Josh Reaves (1 min) made his NBA debut. Luka ran a play for him. His shot didn't go in, but Luka retrieved the game ball to give to him. Nice moment!

Jackson (26 min) had a starting role and extended minutes, and Rick thought he was "great." It was a bit of a rough night for Powell (23 min), who was two of eight from the field and collected only one rebound. Wright contributed five assists and performed serviceably in 18 minutes. Brunson (11 min) got some late run, and Rick complimented his performance on both ends. Lee had a three-minute cameo. 

Bench. The bench was the story, providing a massive 62 points, led by Seth, Maxi, and Bobi, who were all in double digits. 


Random Observations

This was Harry Potter Night, and there were a lot of costumes in the crowd, along with a sprinkling of Luka Magic on the court. It was also the 20th anniversary of Mark Cuban's acquisition of the team. 


Remarks

Rick said this was a very hard game, having to contend with the absences of Porzingis and Hardaway, and he thought his players stepped up. The first three quarters were especially difficult, and Coach thought it was all going to come down to whether the squad could put together one good defensive quarter. He told the huddle going into the fourth that they needed to limit the Nets to 20 points, and the team cooperated, winning the final period 30-18. He said there was a "lot going on" in the game, including some very aggressive play and a lot of points being scored. The Mavs were struggling with defense, rebounding, and loose balls until they finally got it together to seal the game. He gave off a sense of relief in the postgame presser. 

This was a bit of a strange game, what with the absences and new combinations of players. The match had the atmosphere of throwing a lot of stuff against the wall to see what might stick, and almost had a pick-up game feel at times. But it came together at the end, and proved to be an admirable bounce-back from a couple of lukewarm performances in the last two games. As the bard said, all's well that ends well, and we'll take the W!


Next.  Charlotte, on Saturday at the AAC. 

Go Mavs! 

Who was the "player of the game" that elevated his game to help the team get the win?

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1212219169808306176

https://twitter.com/MFollowill/status/12...7738189827

https://twitter.com/ESefko/status/1212220530968932352

http://twitter.com/bobbykaralla/status/1...8071620608

Mavs Lose Heartbreaker in OKC

The depleted Mavs lost a late-game lead again. I guess the good news is that they had an opportunity to win right down to the wire. 


Game Story and Analytics

Ryan Broekhoff and Tim Hardaway were listed as out when the roster was submitted. Porzingis was a last-minute scratch with a sore knee. Roberson was missing for the Thunder. 

The Mavs got off to a hot start, and built a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter. In the second period, the Mavericks started injecting a little crazy into their game, taking super-long threes and flinging long passes. The Thunder ended the half with an 8-0 run, leaving Dallas with a 51-50 advantage. Danilo Gallinari messed with the Mavs' minds in the third, but the boys in blue hung in, entering the fourth with a 1-point edge. Our guys were up by 7 with 2:42 left in the game. Chris Paul was in the process of taking over the game, and scored 13 points in the last 4:40. In the last 2:42, OKC went on a 14-2 run. With ten seconds left, Maxi missed an open three, Seth grabbed the offensive board, and Luka missed another open three. Guess it just wasn't their night. 

The Mavs were undone by very poor shooting (35%) and lukewarm rebounding, although they did have a presence on the offensive glass (17), especially toward the end of the game. They were +27 on points from threes, -2 on made free throws, and -30 on points from twos. I'm not sure what the deal is with the Mavericks and free throws, but they missed 7 of their 27 tries. 


Players

Luka (40 min) had a monster night, with 35 points, 10 boards, and 7 assists. He had his usual array of spectacular plays, but in the end, it wasn't enough to get the team over the hump. I hate to critique the young superstar, but it did seem to me that he was taking an awful lot of very difficult shots -- very long threes, midrange attempts with one or more guys in his face, etc. I didn't go back and check to see how many of those were at the end of the shot clock, but it may be that he could be a little more patient in working for a better shot. Just a thought. He also had an unfortunate turnover at the end of the game. On the plus side, he nutmegged Steven Adams with a gorgeous pass, resulting in a Curry three in the middle of the fourth. 

Maxi (35 min) had an excellent game, stepping in for KP. He had 14 points, including four threes, and a career-high 14 boards. He was the most effective Mav at defending the rim, and Steven Adams was limited to 10 points, being in foul trouble much of the game. Admirable performance by the young German. 

Powell (29 min) and Brunson (23 min) were just okay. The bench was decimated by the advancement of Maxi and Brunson to the starting unit, and only managed to put 28 points on the board (compared to 40 from OKC's second unit). Seth was 3 of 13, but produced two threes and an offensive board in the fourth. Wright had three turnovers, including a critical lost ball down the stretch. Boban was sighted for 11 minutes. He grabbed 6 boards, and had a team-high plus-minus, at +8.


Remarks

Neither Ced nor Jet seemed particularly disturbed by the game, noting that the Mavs were on the road in front of a rambunctious crowd, and missing two starters and Broekhoff. Rick Carlisle was having none of these excuses. He noted that the team had not defended Paul well, and weren't consistent enough in any area of the game. It was a physical game, with a lot of dinged up guys, but they have to do better. Rebounding and penetration were problematic the whole game. The Thunder's playmaking was exceptional, and the Mavs didn't do a good enough job staying in front of them. Notwithstanding all that, the team was in position to win, but couldn't take advantage of their chances. Rick was clearly disappointed with the performance. 

Jason Terry said he is a little discouraged by one thing. He is afraid that Luka is starting to wear down. He played a season-high 40 minutes, and Jet is of the opinion that his teammates need to give him more help.

It appeared to me that the Mavericks were clearly missing Porzingis and Hardaway. Each of those players is good for 10-20 points per night, and KP is the team's best rebounder. With the subs in, the team's rhythm seemed to be thrown off, and Luka had to shoulder a very heavy load. But even at that, they were seven points ahead with less than three minutes to go. I guess they are going to have to go through a certain number of these late-game struggles before they become proficient in clutch situations. It's not the worst loss in the world, but disappointing nonetheless. Hopefully, 2020 will bring better days. 


Next. The Mavs begin a home stand against Brooklyn on Thursday. 

Hope all you MFFLs have a very happy New Year!