If We Are Done, Are We Finished?

[Jommybone]

Ok, I probably like Brunson too much. But these Playoff Paul takes on his performance don’t seem grounded in reality to me. 

Yes, his playing time shrunk and so his numbers were proportionately smaller. But that’s largely about Luka’s minutes increasing and erasing most of Jalen’s minutes as his backup. 

And yes, the team wasn’t awesome in Jalen’s time on the floor. But didn’t he play the largest percentage of his minutes Lukaless? In a series in which Luka dominated? I mean, wouldn’t you expect the stats for Luka’s backup to suffer in a matchup like that one? 

Game 6, which is the one that got away, Brunson checks out with 9:16 to go in a tied game. He checks back in with 45 seconds left, down 9. In Jalen’s 15 mins, the Mavs were +9 but lost by 7. So whatever the Clips found to “expose” Brunson in the series, they forgot to employ it in game 6. 

Don’t think there’s any future in which the Mavs get better by declining to extend Jalen’s contract. Also think they know that, and so does the rest of the league.