GAME 4 DIRKIE: KYRIE!

[KillerLeft]

Who elevated their game to help the Mavericks find victory?

[KillerLeft]

Where to start with this one…I haven’t been this impressed with a Mavs regular season victory in a long time. Second night of a back to back against a premier opponent with a chip on their shoulders and the Mavs in their sights all summer. AND, a career first quarter from that team’s star?

Didn’t matter.

Minnesota came out with the intent of playing more physically than the Mavs, causing near scares on both Gafford and Luka (gulp) but both rubbed some dirt on their injuries and came back out. By the end of the game it was the Wolves, not the Mavs, who seemed shell-shocked by the physical nature of this game. That’s a victory in my early season book, regardless of what the score board reads, but it’s nice that the score validated the effort tonight.

Luka had moments, including some big ones in the 4th, and his ability to fight through the injury on a back to back was huge for the guys, I’m sure. Plus, he competed a little harder on defense in the second half, setting the right example. Overall, though, I’m ready for him to have a signature Luka game from start to finish, and hope we won’t have to wait much longer for one of those.

I thought both Dinwiddie and Hardy were pretty forgettable tonight. Not sure what to expect next, but I’m super interested in how that plays out.

Thompson was ok, but I thought the team was noticeably less in control on defense during his time tonight.

Gafford is off to a strong start this season - I love how assertive he is on offense, in particular, but…while he made a good adjustment on his approach to guarding screens involving Edwards about halfway through the first, his soft coverage had already enabled the youngster to get hot. Damage was done. Maybe it was a mistake by the coaches, not sure.

Lively was AMAZING, despite not having a huge impact on the stat sheet. He doesn’t go for pump fakes. He moves his feet. He deflects passes and rebounds. He alters shots. He is developing a pretty nice touch inside. I’m starting to wonder how good he can actually become.

PJ, Marshall and Grimes were ALL difference makers tonight on defense, and that’s probably what won this game. PJ in the first half literally single-handedly kept the Mavs in it, and the combo of Grimes and Marshall in the third is what built the lead that the Mavs were able to nurse home. You could tell Kidd didn’t want to go away from that third quarter lineup, and I don’t blame him a bit. In fact, I’d have milked it even longer, I think, but I totally get feeling like you have to get PJ back in there, and then Thompson, eventually. Side note: super thrilled to see some shots fall for Grimes tonight, and they were big shots.

But, my Dirkie vote has to go to Kyrie Irving. His offense in the third, along with the aforementioned D from Marshall and Grimes, was the difference tonight. Big time stuff, especially on older legs on a back to back. We were wondering last night if he’d even play tonight, and man-o-man am I glad he did!

[fifteenth]

Where to start with this one…I haven’t been this impressed with a Mavs regular season victory in a long time. Second night of a back to back against a premier opponent with a chip on their shoulders and the Mavs in their sights all summer. AND, a career first quarter from that team’s star?

Didn’t matter.

Minnesota came out with the intent of playing more physically than the Mavs, causing near scares on both Gafford and Luka (gulp) but both rubbed some dirt on their injuries and came back out. By the end of the game it was the Wolves, not the Mavs, who seemed shell-shocked by the physical nature of this game. That’s a victory in my early season book, regardless of what the score board reads, but it’s nice that the score validated the effort tonight.

Luka had moments, including some big ones in the 4th, and his ability to fight through the injury on a back to back was huge for the guys, I’m sure. Plus, he competed a little harder on defense in the second half, setting the right example. Overall, though, I’m ready for him to have a signature Luka game from start to finish, and hope we won’t have to wait much longer for one of those.

I thought both Dinwiddie and Hardy were pretty forgettable tonight. Not sure what to expect next, but I’m super interested in how that plays out.

Thompson was ok, but I thought the team was noticeably less in control on defense during his time tonight.

Gafford is off to a strong start this season - I love how assertive he is on offense, in particular, but…while he made a good adjustment on his approach to guarding screens involving Edwards about halfway through the first, his soft coverage had already enabled the youngster to get hot. Damage was done. Maybe it was a mistake by the coaches, not sure.

Lively was AMAZING, despite not having a huge impact on the stat sheet. He doesn’t go for pump fakes. He moves his feet. He deflects passes and rebounds. He alters shots. He is developing a pretty nice touch inside. I’m starting to wonder how good he can actually become.

PJ, Marshall and Grimes were ALL difference makers tonight on defense, and that’s probably what won this game. PJ in the first half literally single-handedly kept the Mavs in it, and the combo of Grimes and Marshall in the third is what built the lead that the Mavs were able to nurse home. You could tell Kidd didn’t want to go away from that third quarter lineup, and I don’t blame him a bit. In fact, I’d have milked it even longer, I think, but I totally get feeling like you have to get PJ back in there, and then Thompson, eventually. Side note: super thrilled to see some shots fall for Grimes tonight, and they were big shots.

But, my Dirkie vote has to go to Kyrie Irving. His offense in the third, along with the aforementioned D from Marshall and Grimes, was the difference tonight. Big time stuff, especially on older legs on a back to back. We were wondering last night if he’d even play tonight, and man-o-man am I glad he did!

Nice write-up! That's some killer reporting. 

I'm going with Kyrie too. 

My contribution will be short. The Mavs on a back-to-back wanted to beat a really good team, Luka couldn't shoot (except for the dagger), and the Mavs won by playing with composure and force. Right, Rick? 

Also, nice to see the newbies making progress.

[ThisIStheYear]

Mavs finally play some good ball. Great game except for the bogus Luka T. Pure BS. Kyrie is the man!

[SleepingHero]

Where to start with this one…I haven’t been this impressed with a Mavs regular season victory in a long time. Second night of a back to back against a premier opponent with a chip on their shoulders and the Mavs in their sights all summer. AND, a career first quarter from that team’s star?

Didn’t matter.

Minnesota came out with the intent of playing more physically than the Mavs, causing near scares on both Gafford and Luka (gulp) but both rubbed some dirt on their injuries and came back out. By the end of the game it was the Wolves, not the Mavs, who seemed shell-shocked by the physical nature of this game. That’s a victory in my early season book, regardless of what the score board reads, but it’s nice that the score validated the effort tonight.

Luka had moments, including some big ones in the 4th, and his ability to fight through the injury on a back to back was huge for the guys, I’m sure. Plus, he competed a little harder on defense in the second half, setting the right example. Overall, though, I’m ready for him to have a signature Luka game from start to finish, and hope we won’t have to wait much longer for one of those.

I thought both Dinwiddie and Hardy were pretty forgettable tonight. Not sure what to expect next, but I’m super interested in how that plays out.

Thompson was ok, but I thought the team was noticeably less in control on defense during his time tonight.

Gafford is off to a strong start this season - I love how assertive he is on offense, in particular, but…while he made a good adjustment on his approach to guarding screens involving Edwards about halfway through the first, his soft coverage had already enabled the youngster to get hot. Damage was done. Maybe it was a mistake by the coaches, not sure.

Lively was AMAZING, despite not having a huge impact on the stat sheet. He doesn’t go for pump fakes. He moves his feet. He deflects passes and rebounds. He alters shots. He is developing a pretty nice touch inside. I’m starting to wonder how good he can actually become.

PJ, Marshall and Grimes were ALL difference makers tonight on defense, and that’s probably what won this game. PJ in the first half literally single-handedly kept the Mavs in it, and the combo of Grimes and Marshall in the third is what built the lead that the Mavs were able to nurse home. You could tell Kidd didn’t want to go away from that third quarter lineup, and I don’t blame him a bit. In fact, I’d have milked it even longer, I think, but I totally get feeling like you have to get PJ back in there, and then Thompson, eventually. Side note: super thrilled to see some shots fall for Grimes tonight, and they were big shots.

But, my Dirkie vote has to go to Kyrie Irving. His offense in the third, along with the aforementioned D from Marshall and Grimes, was the difference tonight. Big time stuff, especially on older legs on a back to back. We were wondering last night if he’d even play tonight, and man-o-man am I glad he did!

I just managed to watch the full game and SHEEEEESH. This was a great game. 

I wanna echo some of your killer sentiments. This win was incredibly impressive. I'm honestly not quite sure I've seen a win like this in the Luka era (barring the last half of the previous season). 2nd night of a back to back, incredibly physical game, on the road against like you said a premier team with a chip on their shoulder coming in. And somehow they did it.  The team looked the most mature they've ever been in the Luka era. 

Honestly after Ant's 1st quarter barrage and the Mavs were within arms reach, I had a foolish thought that they had a chance. Then the Wolves started to pull away in the 2nd, building the lead to 10.  Then Luka slowly chipped away at the lead, scoring 6 quick points, along with Kyrie and PJ. Every time the Wolves had some juice, the Mavs woke up and reigned them in. 

Overall, Luka again didn't have a great night. He looks a step slow and shots he normally drains are just rimming out. He's also looking like he's adjusting to how teams are playing him, along with utilizing his newest tools.  In fact, Luka ranks 15th(!!!!!) in the NBA in touches per game. A stat he has dominated his entire career, routinely ranking 1st. Further he's 12th in the league in time of possession. What this shows is that Kidd has changed the core tenets of this offense in how they set things up. And I think that, coupled with some lingering soreness, has provided much of the substance why Luka has gotten off to a poor offensive start. But did it matter this game? No. Again, I don't recall ever in the last 7 years a Mavs team looking so well oiled that they could overcome a poor Luka performance against a premier Western Conference team. In the past, sure some guys had heaters and the Mavs pulled a rabbit out of the hat once in a while. But tonight? No. This win was a testament to the high quality of talent this team has, as everyone stepped up and played a key role in securing this victory.

Firstly, I love Grimes. He came in and flashed a bit of why he is going to be so good for this team. 3 threes in this game, including 2 big ones in the 3rd to keep momentum, along with great pestering defense. Once he settles in and the team establishes the chemistry they keep repeating they want to create, I think he's going to look great.

Naji had what I thought a largely forgettable game UNTIL the 3rd quarter. His defense wasn't popping like he was described. He looked a bit lost on offense. Then the 2nd half happened and Marshall started to show what he can bring. He had multiple possessions like you said where he disrupted whatever the Wolves were trying to do. And he had probably the most important steal of the game on Ant, preventing any late game heroics for the Wolves. Just solid game. I really want to see him clean up his shot selection and look a bit more assertive in moving the ball. But solid game from the Knife. 

Gafford had what I thought a fantastic game. Fought through a painful knee hit and made Gobert look so small at times. 14pts on a perfect 6/6 from the field is nothing to scoff at!

PJ kept the Mavs afloat the entire 1st half. He was hitting from everywhere and hustled on the boards. Just overall great game from him. If he can provide this type of offensive firepower every night, then the Mavs are going 81-1 this year. 

Klay had his first "dud" as a Mav, but really I didn't think it was that bad. He had some good looks that just didn't fall, but he provided some solid defense all night. Further, he made some quick passes in the short roll that kept the offensive flow moving. 

Lively is continuing to reset my expectations on how good he can be. His defensive firepower is scary. He just suffocates defenders and swallows up so many mistakes. Offensively he's becoming more polished by the game. Finally his hustle on the floor, snagging offensive rebounds, is becoming a vital piece of this team's game and I can point to being a foundational reason why we win games like these. Just kudos to him. Seriously. Love that Kidd closed the game with him.

Now I touched on it earlier and said Luka did not have a good game. And that's true. He let his emotions get the best of him at times (although it was justified tonight), and he was ice cold for most of the game. But when it really mattered most, he stepped up big. That 2nd quarter run being the first key moment of the game for me (as it stopped any momentum for the Wolves to pull away big), and of course in the 4th quarter. Fighting through what looked like a bad bruise, he dominated the 4th quarter with 11 points, on 5-10 shooting, including a rip-your-heart-out 3 to seal put the Wolves away. Slowly but surely LD!

Now the real Dirkie winner has to be Kyrie. I mean c'mon. He was a magician tonight. Hyper efficient scoring and came through the ENTIRE game. I can't praise him enough for stepping up and carrying this team to victory. 

Overall great win.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/18...9093225861

Luka talking is shit after that 3!

[SleepingHero]

Mark Followill (@MFollowill)
Luka said on our postgame telecast interview "people don't realize how incredible of a win this is." A road back to back, hotel arrival about 2:30am, 6:30 game tonight & the Mavs w/ a hard fought 120-114 win at Minnesota. Mavs go to 3-1 w/ 35 from Kyrie & 11 of Luka's 24 in 4Q.

[SleepingHero]

Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2)
Asked Luka Doncic about making the 32-foot dagger against the Wolves after missing his first seven 3s:

"I don't know how I make those shots and not normal shots...Just gotta get the rustiness out. I didn't play in the whole preseason so I need some time. But we got the win. That's all that matters."

[SleepingHero]

Mavs PR (@MavsPR)
P.J. Washington Jr. tallied a season-high 17 points (7-13 FG, 3-6 3FG) to go with 8 rebounds and 3 assists in tonight’s win at Minnesota.

The Mavericks improved to 3-0 this season (15-5 all-time) when Washington Jr. scores in double figures.

[OBX Maverick]

Mavs finally play some good ball. Great game except for the bogus Luka T. Pure BS. Kyrie is the man!

Bogus??? Luka dropped an F-bomb on the ref! He actually drops it regularly because, I guess,  he thinks it’s cool to do so? I don’t know…..  However, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more this season as I’ve heard him yell it more than a few times where refs and fans both could hear it. 

As i watched tonight with my son (who is now 22) after Luka hit the dagger 3 near the end, he let loose another profanity-laced yell at the fans, mostly because he was fired up about the shot, the game, etc. I said to my kid, is “that crap really necessary? Can you imagine Jordan or Dirk doing that after a huge shot? Minnesota fans must absolutely hate him!”

I love Luka, but he still has a hell of a lot of growing up to do. Was hoping this might be the season we see some maturation, considering what he went through in the payoffs and some of the negative press he received about all the whining. However, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little while longer.

[fifteenth]

While we're sleeping a hero stops by the forum to provide the post-game Mavs news we need.

[omahen]

Bogus??? Luka dropped an F-bomb on the ref! He actually drops it regularly because, I guess,  he thinks it’s cool to do so? I don’t know…..  However, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more this season as I’ve heard him yell it more than a few times where refs and fans both could hear it. 

As i watched tonight with my son (who is now 22) after Luka hit the dagger 3 near the end, he let loose another profanity-laced yell at the fans, mostly because he was fired up about the shot, the game, etc. I said to my kid, is “that crap really necessary? Can you imagine Jordan or Dirk doing that after a huge shot? Minnesota fans must absolutely hate him!”

I love Luka, but he still has a hell of a lot of growing up to do. Was hoping this might be the season we see some maturation, considering what he went through in the payoffs and some of the negative press he received about all the whining. However, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little while longer.

"F-bomb" is a very common curse word in Slovenian. We all say "F..." all the time and is not considered a strong curse word. Of course Luka should know better living in US for so long now. Still, I agree with the first poster this tech was very quick.

[The Jom]

Face it, comrades, we are not the good guys. We’re the villains. Ant is a good guy. A real American hero. So is Steph. And young/old (but not Miami years) LeBron. Our stars are the Swearing Slovenian and Flatmandu. Our owner donates to Trump. Our coach wears wife beaters. It’s not Minnesota’s fans who hate us. It’s everyone. They all hate us. And that’s 100% fine by me.

Cuss em out, Luka. Go right ahead. Before, after, and during that dagger in the ribs.

[KillerLeft]

Face it, comrades, we are not the good guys. We’re the villains. Ant is a good guy. A real American hero. So is Steph. And young/old (but not Miami years) LeBron. Our stars are the Swearing Slovenian and Flatmandu. Our owner donates to Trump. Our coach wears wife beaters. It’s not Minnesota’s fans who hate us. It’s everyone. They all hate us. And that’s 100% fine by me.

Cuss em out, Luka. Go right ahead. Before, after, and during that dagger in the ribs.

I know this is a bit tongue in cheek, but I actually think you're onto something here.

[KillerLeft]

Mavs finally play some good ball. Great game except for the bogus Luka T. Pure BS. Kyrie is the man!

Here's a couple of interesting tweets from Hollinger related to that technical foul. 

https://x.com/johnhollinger/status/1851419433819926554

https://x.com/johnhollinger/status/1851426891330118054

I actually recommend his entire series of tweets from last night's game. There's some good stuff in there.

[fifteenth]

Face it, comrades, we are not the good guys. We’re the villains. Ant is a good guy. A real American hero. So is Steph. And young/old (but not Miami years) LeBron. Our stars are the Swearing Slovenian and Flatmandu. Our owner donates to Trump. Our coach wears wife beaters. It’s not Minnesota’s fans who hate us. It’s everyone. They all hate us. And that’s 100% fine by me.

Cuss em out, Luka. Go right ahead. Before, after, and during that dagger in the ribs.

That's not a bad case you make. Are we the bad guys now? Interesting.

I'm not sure, though. We may, in the public consciousness, still be the little Mavs, the team of Dirk, the try hard, sometimes good, underdogs, with the annoying but harmless owner (does the general public even know that Cuban sold the team?). And Luka seems to be still well liked, though the complaining does annoy people some.   

I could be completely out of touch though. 

Otherwise, I agree with your final conclusion. Destroy them, Luka!

[KillerLeft]

Still basking in the glow of this victory the next day. There have obviously been bigger regular season wins during Kidd's tenure, but I am hard pressed to remember one happening so early in the season. There's a lot of rust on the team to start, particularly on offense, but they seem to be better equipped to start the season than they were the past few years. Also, it's just nice to see that the team recognized the importance of not allowing Minnesota to get "we can beat these guys" into their heads.

[michaeltex]

KL and SH have summed up the performances exceedingly well, hats off to both.

I would add that this game is encouraging because it is a B2B win on the road without Luka playing at an MVP level. It shows the growth of the overall team that, even when missing an important piece, they can still compete (and win!) against a high level opponent with the factors stacked against them. This should be a warning to the rest of the league.

I know Slovenia is Luka's home and he obviously likes going back to his roots in the off season, (I think he's buying a farm there?), but I wonder what would happen if he chose to spend a bigger chunk of the summer in DAL working with the coaching staff and teammates to refine their play styles and prepare for a potential championship run. No disrespect intended for out Slovenian board members. I don't know what his summer schedule was like, but the little news I heard was from there and I have the impression Luka arrived just in time for training camp. My apologies in advance if I'm mistaken.

[KillerLeft]

I know Slovenia is Luka's home and he obviously likes going back to his roots in the off season, (I think he's buying a farm there?), but I wonder what would happen if he chose to spend a bigger chunk of the summer in DAL working with the coaching staff and teammates to refine their play styles and prepare for a potential championship run. No disrespect intended for out Slovenian board members. I don't know what his summer schedule was like, but the little news I heard was from there and I have the impression Luka arrived just in time for training camp. My apologies in advance if I'm mistaken.

The question for me has become this:

Is this a Dirk-like situation, wherein, despite lacking the MJ, Kobe "serial killer" level of commitment to competing right out of the gate, Luka will continuously mature and be more mindful of how to keep his body operating at a high level, OR, is Luka simply another example (regardless of how talented) of an Eastern European NBA player who limits their own potential due to a culturally different lens on what his job actually is? Vlade Divac and Hedo Turkoglu were both GREAT players. Not as great as Luka, but far above average, even by NBA standards. Both would've been even better had they made lifestyle sacrifices the way the best-of-the-best American athletes do. 

In a way, their (the Euro guys') approach is healthier, from a macro view, as I think one has to have basically a singular focus in life from an inappropriately young age to "make it" here as an athlete. The filter system just has so much more competition along the way over here, whereas (I think) making it to the NBA from over there is more about true talent, love for the sport, etc (in the most general of senses). But man, to my American-conditioned sensibilities, it's hard not to view some of those guys' careers as missed opportunities, rather than the success stories they are, in reality.

[SleepingHero]

Bogus??? Luka dropped an F-bomb on the ref! He actually drops it regularly because, I guess,  he thinks it’s cool to do so? I don’t know…..  However, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more this season as I’ve heard him yell it more than a few times where refs and fans both could hear it. 

As i watched tonight with my son (who is now 22) after Luka hit the dagger 3 near the end, he let loose another profanity-laced yell at the fans, mostly because he was fired up about the shot, the game, etc. I said to my kid, is “that crap really necessary? Can you imagine Jordan or Dirk doing that after a huge shot? Minnesota fans must absolutely hate him!”

I love Luka, but he still has a hell of a lot of growing up to do. Was hoping this might be the season we see some maturation, considering what he went through in the payoffs and some of the negative press he received about all the whining. However, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little while longer.

Is talking trash necessary? No. But it's fun and it's apparent it gets Luka going. All NBA players swear like sailors. Garnett used to say the most outlandish stuff. 

Can I imagine Dirk swearing at a crowd after a game winner? I don't have to imagine! I've seen it multiple times! Example:



Game winner starts at 1:30, his trash talk fittingly occurs at 1:41. Clear as day he tells a fan to "shut the f*** up and sit yo ass down". 

Jordan routinely swore at anyone and everyone on the court.

What Luka did was baller last night. Hit one of the craziest shots of the game and quieted the crowed while reminding him that's exactly what he does!