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+--- Thread: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST (/showthread.php?tid=3529)
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - JamesConway912 - 12-10-2024
By far their worst game in a long time. Sucks that it was in such a big matchup. Felt a lot like a playoff game to me, also OKC clearly wanted revenge for the playoff series. They won deservedly so, SGA is an absurdly good player and Jalen Williams has clearly worked on his midrange game. Impressive stuff from them.
SGA by far my favorite for MVP. Denver hasn’t won enough for Jokic to be an option. It’s still early though so a lot can happen.
Luka with the worst start to a season since his rookie year. He needs to play better, it’s as simple as that.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 12-10-2024
17 offensive rebounds by OKC. 7 by Dallas.
20 made three by OKC, 15 by Dallas. Dallas,did shoot over 40 percent.
18 turnovers by Dallas. 13 by OKc. How did the Dallas turnovers feel costly though on giving up points.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - MarkAguirreWrathofGod - 12-10-2024
This is the matchup where we feel the loss of DJJ the most. No one to guard SGA. Grimes wasn’t ready for this one. Naji didn’t seem to slow him much. PJ will get some turns and will help. I would be throwing Omax at other teams best perimeter player for 5 mins ever game to see if he can help.
What’s troubling is we can’t bully OKc with Hartenstein and Cason Wallace is much improved.
The West is going thru OKC for many years. We need to find our “SGA stopper.” Not that that exists. But it was just way too easy for him tonight.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - ThisIStheYear - 12-11-2024
Luka is awesome but I’m not sure he’s ever going too put together such that he has the dominant statistical season with a top seed. SGA stats look better than Luka’s and OKC is better. Done deal. Luka’s MVP chances are very slim this year.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - JamesConway912 - 12-11-2024
We missed PJ‘s athleticism tonight. Omax did a great job making up for him in that department but he didn’t play a ton.
I REALLY hope we prioritize his development now and plug him into the regular rotation. Give him a regular spot for 14-18mpg and see where he’s at in a few months. If it works you have opened up another big tool roster development-wise, if it doesn’t work Kleber is still around to pick up the slack.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Scott41theMavs - 12-11-2024
(12-10-2024, 11:54 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: I'm just comparing everything they've done in their respective careers thus far.
They're from the same draft and SGA is a year older than Luka, and Luka has cleared SGA in basically every single category. Even last year, Luka was better than SGA. I'm not going to argue against SGA being better than Luka this year thus far. That is true. But ~20 game sample size vs. 400 games for each of them tells a different story.
I'm saying this because there has literally been no one better in terms of a statistical start in NBA history than Luka Doncic if you can believe it. He's passed Lebron pace in terms of scoring, assisting, and rebounding their first 6 years. Has the most triple doubles for anyone his age or younger sans Wilt. Has the highest scoring single game record since Kobe. Tied Bird, Duncan, and the Iceman as the only players in NBA history to have 5x 1st team selections in their first 6 years of their careers.
Luka is literally otherworldly. Comparing anyone next to him and they will come up short. SGA has been great the last 2 years. Almost at the level of Luka. And again it's not a knock on SGA to say that.
On the other hand, Luka has been very vocal that he's never going to catch Lebron's records because he's not going to play that long. It might be a cultural thing that he can't overcome - play ball when you're young, eat and drink yourself to oblivion by 30.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Jym - 12-11-2024
a Shai willing and able to hit 3's is so damn scary
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - HoosierDaddyKid - 12-11-2024
You can't leave Dort open anymore either. He's really improved from 3. When OKC gets Holmgren back, watch out. They all play on a string and seem to love playing with each other.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 12-11-2024
Ha. Got a chuckle from Iztok this morning:
Mavs-OKC observations dispatched!
Mavs played it like a playoff game, but unfortunately like their usual feel it out Game 1, while OKC brought the force & thunder!
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - BigDirk41 - 12-11-2024
I wanted to wait and post after digesting last night's game. I think OKC is a clear step above us. They are so good defensively and almost all of their players knock down 3s at a good clip. We didn't have PJ, but they didn't have Chet. SGA is a step above Luka this season. I'm not talking about their careers because that doesn't matter. Right now, SGA is clearly the better player. Hopefully by the playoffs Luka is the best player again. I don't think we can beat OKC in the playoffs unless we have the best player. Everything the team wants to accomplish can still be done, but Luka has to be WAY better against them and Kidd needs to adapt the game plan some. There were way too many open 3s last night. The team has to want to guard the 3 point line. I'm not down or discouraged after last night. It's early in the season, but as of right now, OKC is the clear #1 in the West imo. I think we are the clear #2.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - StrandedOnBeauboisHill - 12-11-2024
Hoping that the last two OMax games can be built on. Lots of chatter of trying to find a Maxi replacement when the longterm PJ backup may already be on this roster and Maxi's expiring can be used elsewhere next season.
DJJ was obviously missed last night but PJ was missed even more. PJ is now out main POA defender for these matchups with Grimes being the second option. Naji is a good defense but isn't really built for these SGA matchups.
Bummer we haven't seen this matchup at full strength yet but I'll take a 1-1 record in OKC before Christmas anyway I can get it this season.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 12-11-2024
OKC is really good. No issue with them being the best team in the west. They look the part.
Long season though. I don’t listen to the inside the nba tnt guys for Harford nba analysis but did they totally skip over the Mavs when discussing the Thunder being the clear cut favorites? I was fast forwarding but Chuck mentioned Phx, Memphis being the dark horse, the lakes stink, etc. I didn’t hear him even mention the mavs. It was a 3 pt game at halftime.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 12-11-2024
If feels like in a lot of our losses a common thread is our centers are not impactful. I do expect the minute to align up like they did last night in playoff ball. Lovely at 31 minutes. He did grab 13 boards but felt his impact overall was minimal. It hasn’t happened a lot but it does appear to pop up in our losses.
Also was last night the first time the Mavs were decidedly best. Every other loss has been close, right?
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - StrandedOnBeauboisHill - 12-11-2024
(12-11-2024, 11:34 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: If feels like in a lot of our losses a common thread is our centers are not impactful. I do expect the minute to align up like they did last night in playoff ball. Lovely at 31 minutes. He did grab 13 boards but felt his impact overall was minimal. It hasn’t happened a lot but it does appear to pop up in our losses.
Also was last night the first time the Mavs were decidedly best. Every other loss has been close, right?
Thunder guards did a good job limited the centers in the minutes that Hartenstein was off the floor. Need to be able to capitalize on those. Lots of strips and turnovers trying to feed the ball inside.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - DallasMaverick - 12-11-2024
(12-11-2024, 11:58 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: Thunder guards did a good job limited the centers in the minutes that Hartenstein was off the floor. Need to be able to capitalize on those. Lots of strips and turnovers trying to feed the ball inside.
In the last half of the fourth quarter, after they’d closed to within 8 points, the Mavs must have had 6 turnovers.
And of course, OKC hit a large number of difficult shots.
It could easily have gone the other way, especially if they had played in Dallas.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - F Gump - 12-11-2024
(12-10-2024, 11:58 PM)MarkAguirreWrathofGod Wrote: This is the matchup where we feel the loss of DJJ the most. No one to guard SGA. .
This was my reaction as well. Without DJJ, OKC becomes a much tougher opponent to face.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - Smitty - 12-11-2024
(12-11-2024, 02:55 PM)F Gump Wrote: This was my reaction as well. Without DJJ, OKC becomes a much tougher opponent to face.
*Insert* PJ Washington.
Just 3 short weeks ago the Mavs beat OKC in Oklahoma with PJ Washington
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - MarkAguirreWrathofGod - 12-11-2024
Yeah I mean PJ mitigates that alot. He is also in some ways our best defensive rebounder and an important rim protector, so while it’s more important to have point of attack defense I would say it’s slightly less than ideal having him using all of his energy defending SGA.
I think DJJ was our first choice on SGA followed by PJ last post season. So now it’s PJ + committee approach. Grimes, Naji, Klay (who actually had some really nice moments last night.)
Grimes did not look ready for that atmosphere last night, which is concerning. Only one game, but still, a tad concerning.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - MarkAguirreWrathofGod - 12-11-2024
(12-11-2024, 02:55 PM)F Gump Wrote: This was my reaction as well. Without DJJ, OKC becomes a much tougher opponent to face.
I was so concerned that I started scouting the league for our “SGA stopper,” since, let’s be honest, The West goes through OKC for the foreseeable future. And ironically three of the best SGA stoppers reside on OKC already. And we traded one of them on draft night to OKC. Cason Wallace was who I was hoping we would pick on draft night. That said I wouldn’t change a thing and love D-Live and he is/was the greater need.
If I’m Nico I’m inquiring about every every top tier wing that may or may not be available. Herb Jones as mentioned in another friend is top of the list!
If I’m Kidd I want to find out of these next few months exactly what I have in OMax. Jalen Williams is no slouch and OMax sniffed him out twice on drives left with relative ease. I would have Omax guard the opposing teams best player in every game the rest of the way for at least 5-10 minutes per game to see what we really have in him. He has to learn tendencies of offensive players and earn the refs respect and whistle. To a lesser extent I would want to establish Grimes in the best position possible for his success. It may include the difficult discussion involving bringing Klay off the bench at some point. Grimes may be one of those guys that can only thrive as a starter with a clearly defined role.
RE: Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST - HoosierDaddyKid - 12-11-2024
(12-11-2024, 11:18 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: OKC is really good. No issue with them being the best team in the west. They look the part.
Long season though. I don’t listen to the inside the nba tnt guys for Harford nba analysis but did they totally skip over the Mavs when discussing the Thunder being the clear cut favorites? I was fast forwarding but Chuck mentioned Phx, Memphis being the dark horse, the lakes stink, etc. I didn’t hear him even mention the mavs. It was a 3 pt game at halftime.
Chuck has never repped the Mavs in their discussions on the best teams in the West. Shaq has rolled with them, and Kenny and Ernie are on the fence. Chuck's thing is, he doesn't think Dallas is good enough defending the perimeter. He may have a point. While they have decent defenders in Lively, PJ, Klay, (on occasion), and Grimes, he also looks at Kyrie and Luka as poor defenders. He always harks back to how Boston got and did what they wanted in Finals in a gentleman's sweep.