Who elevated their game to deserve tonight's Dirkie?

I can't believe I just lost all my fine pearls of wisdom! Shucks!

Not going to do it all over again.

I'm giving my Dirkie to Exum...not to slight Luka in the slightest...

@GrantAfseth
Dallas Mavericks Injury Report vs. Miami Heat:

Dereck Lively II - available (nasal fracture)
Luka Doncic - probable (right ankle sprain)
Maxi Kleber - probable (left knee soreness)
Olivier-Maxence Prosper - out (G League)
Brandon Williams - out (G League)
Alex Fudge - out (G League)
Greg Brown III - out (G League)

The NBA league pass will scan websites for these links - they tried to shut us down. Please be smart, thank you!

After the trade deadline, it appeared to me that the Mavs had assembled a great 10-man rotation that could hang with any team in the league. Obviously this road trip has revealed some problems, which seem to put the rest of the season in question in spite of seeming good health.

Kyrie-Exum
Green-THJ
Luka-DJJ
PJ-Maxi
Lively-Gafford

Luka and Kyrie - Kyrie's struggles with the Celtics fans' horsecrap last night not withstanding, not the problem. There are issues with all of the other eight - some of which aren't those players' faults.

Exum - still shaking off the rust. Not playing like he was earlier in the season, but he'll be fine.

PJ - I would say it's still a work in progress, but he looks like he's going to be a great fit here by the end of the season - unless the team as a whole starts to struggle even more and he gets dispirited. Chin up, young man!

***Green - His struggles over the course of the road trip have been well-documented. I am still convinced that he's worth his new contract, but perhaps not for the Mavs, and perhaps not in the POA defender role they need him to occupy.

DJJ - This isn't tough. He's a limited player, but does some things really well. The issue is how he is used in rotations at this point.

***Maxi - Looks like his great showing in his first couple of games back was fool's good, and Kidd is playing him too much.

Lively - When he plays, he's a force of nature. I am hoping that his rather baffling limited usage is completely due to a minutes limitation due to what was, after all, a pretty serious injury. Anything short of that would be a fireable offense on Kidd's part.

***Gafford - Wow, the shine has worn off, hasn't it? It's not like we didn't know who he was. IMHO, he's just fine as a 15-20 mpg backup center. However, Kidd seems not to have gotten the memo that we spent a pick swap on this guy and that the FO expects him to play the man. I don't blame any of this on either Nico or Gafford. Gafford is fine. It's Kidd, 100%.

*****THJ - He was always the one question mark for me in the 10-man, and it has since become clear that he is a resounding NO. The Mavs are now in a position where it has become pretty evident that he's essentially unplayable unless they want to tank (they don't). His butt should be sat in favor of Hardy, but for whatever coaching and locker room reasons, that isn't happening.

Bottom line is that 1) due to THJ, Maxi, and possibly Green's issues, this is still a really flawed roster. 2) It's become quite obvious that Kidd isn't the guy to deal with these issues. 

Lots of folks are saying we could win 60-75% percent of our remaining games. I felt that way prior to the road trip. I think it's become pretty clear since that anything north of 50% will be a win in spite of the relative ease of schedule, and that will probably put us in the playin. I would be fine with the playin if it weren't for the refs' hatred of Cuban and Luka. The silver lining to all this is that hopefully it will spell the end of both Kidd and THJ's tenures with the Mavs.