Game 28 Dirkie Thread:

[ballsrchr]

I'm not too thrilled with the situational substitutions in this game...or the last 3 or 4 games. I guess that's why I'm not the coach. Since we're way past my bed time I'll refrain from commenting further. We won in overtime. That's a good thing.

Looking at my Dirkie candidates I can see 4 candidates: AD, P.J., Marshall, and Flagg. Flagg and Davis may be playing too many minutes. Flagg can probably get away with it for awhile. I doubt AD can.

Cooper Flagg gets my Dirkie award. AD is a second option, banana, whatever you want to call him.

[KillerLeft]

Nembhard had some good moments, but seemed overmatched on both ends down the stretch in this slugfest. I thought it was a good move on Kidd's part to go with Williams instead. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to hit enough of the open shots he got.

PJW and Marshall were both contributors today. Unsurprising, because they're both physical players and this was an insanely physical contest.

Flagg continues to exceed expectations for any 18 year old, even one who goes #1. In addition to a few clutch offensive possessions, he was amazing as a help defender all night long. He will probably be most people's choice, I'd predict.

For me, it's AD. He wasn't great at times, offensively, but he did come up with some key buckets at crucial times, and man o man was he a presence on defense tonight. I thought he basically controlled the game for pretty long stretches. Seems like a not so trendy thing to like AD's game, but he's got at least one fan on this board. He gets my vote tonight.

[SleepingHero]

I am a bit gobsmacked from this game. I mean the Mavs managed to take out one of the hottest teams in the NBA somehow in a hyper quality win where their #1 pick was by far and away the best player on the court the entire game by sheer impact.

But also, the refs essentially handed them a win on a silver platter. I can't recall a reffing crew being so in favor for the Mavs in my entire life.

At the beginning the Pistons were playing incredibly physical defense and it was working. They quickly got out to a lead early in the 2nd. And then Ausar Thompson decided to bump John Goble and get in his face, a ref that we know has a bad temper (remember the KP 2nd technical against the Clips in the bubble? Yep, same ref!) and that resulted in an instant ejection. From that point on, it felt like the reffing crew had a vendetta against the Pistons.

And it didn't help that the Pistons basically took every single moment to whine to the refs. Over and over incessantly yelling at every ref for every little thing. It fell on deaf ears as the Mavs kept racking up the FTs. At one point the Mavs shot 30 FTs in 3 quarters. Unheard of for a Mavs team! The discrepancy was hilarious. I remember a chyron showing the Mavs having 28FTs to the Pistons 8 at one point.

Tensions just kept growing and growing, to the point it felt like every player for the Pistons had a goal to get a tech and/or get ejected. The game got more physical. And the stage was set for the 4th quarter, where the refs decided to just never blow their whistle. What ensued was the most hilarious, frustrating, and physical basketball game of the year. The Pistons finally got to defend how they wanted and they built momentum. It wasn't until Cooper checked back in with 8 mins remaining did the Mavs regain their composure. Oh yeah about Cooper, lets finally talk about his impact.

At only 18 years old, I struggle to find another player I've watched that is as impactful as he is all around at his age. Cooper did quite literally a bit of everything tonight. Early on in the 1st he barely scored (4 points), but he defended like crazy and pushed the pace. 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and an emphatic block. In the 2nd it was more of the same, 4 points again, but rebounded very well, and defended every possession. He was a +8 that quarter as well. In the 3rd was where he started to cook offensively. He looked for his shot and despite getting smothered he found ways to get jumpers and get to the line.

But when it mattered most, with a minute left and the Mavs down by 3, Cooper calmly comes down, crosses over Stewart and finishes a crazy tough floater over contact to pull within 1. Then AD blocks a layup and the refs somehow call an imaginary 24 second shot clock violation after PJ fumbles the ball. Flagg then, down by one, hits an ice cold pull up jimbo to pull the Mavs ahead. Have I mentioned this dude is only 18? I mean c'mon.

Clear cut dirkie. Fantastic game from him. No other real contenders in my mind. Everyone else had some flashes, but overall spotty game for everyone tonight. Crazy the Mavs pulled through.

Thank you to the Old Driveway Point Guard for making the dirkie thread again!

[GATA]

AD sucks. Get this guy off the team

[KillerLeft]

Apparently, both AD and Marshall had the flu last night. Even more kudos to them fighting in the paint all night!

[Chicagojk]

I think I will give it to Flagg, but a lot of people deserve credit for that physical game.   We will see how the East plays out but NYK, Detroit and maybe Orlando could be some ultra physical series.   It would be really nice for a few more teams to join that conversation in the East.

The pass made by Flagg late to AD was just so beautiful.   Lead creator stuff.

I have backed away from any Giannis comparisons.  Although, recently I have seen some.  Flagg is no where close as dominant as Giannis in the lane, but Giannis wasn't that way either his first few years.   It seems like keeping Flagg out of the lane is sort of similar to when Giannis gets in there.   Giannis typically dunks most of his shots, but Flagg is getting into the lane even when teams aren't concerned about his three.