GAME 26: DAL (18-8) @ MIL (24-4) | 120-116 win

[Dundalis]

Rick tried to piss the game away down the stretch with this strategy of letting Giannis go full court in 4 seconds for uncontested dunks, but the Mavs eked out the win anyway.

When you crap out diarrhea like this, you lose all right to request crow-eating and apologies from me, thank you very much. I'll eat crow in general, but not for you, buck-o.

I knew you'd say that.  But what about my point?  Can you explain to me the strategy of not fouling Giannis out on the floor and force him to make free throws rather than a four second full court dunk?  Serious question.  I don't get it. I would have fouled him every time down the stretch, as he's a 57% free throw shooter.  If you let him run the court, it's a 100% chance he get two points.

True, true, true. But your comment - not to mention several from other posters which were a lot more incendiary - ring pretty whacky after what happened the rest of the game.

It strikes me that when your generational player can't play, your other past All-Star is recovering from a long-term injury, and the entire rest of your roster consists of players who would not start for any other contender or pretender in the NBA, and you come close to (a and of course ultimately pull off) ending the 18-game winning streak of one of the league's 2 best teams, that might have a little bit to do with your coach. As in, in literal terms, nearly everything to do with your coach.

I feel like you don't give our guys enough credit, and possibly give Luka too much credit.  I think Seth, Wright, THJ, and Maxi could start for another team.  Also, I love Luka, but I also think the Mavs often become too Luka-centric, and that he sometimes scores a lot, but at the same time makes it easier to beat us.  Case in point, Giannis scores 48 tonight, but still loses.  This is a team sport.

You just don't understand the concept of spacing and how that opens the game for everyone on offense. Luka has gravity, which means other players have a lot more space to operate and find open looks. Dallas hit a LOT of heavily contested shots today. If you think that's indicative in any way of something sustainable, I have some fool's gold to sell you.

The Mavs issue has nothing to do with having a historic offense WITH Luka, it has to do with being better than league average defensively. Which is an area Luka needs to clean up. There is nothing wrong with the Luka led offense though, and convincing yourself the Mavs can sustain the shooting percentages they did today moving forward given the lack of space guys had because the Bucks didn't have to pay extra attention to Luka is not really understanding what's happening.

The number of times our offense completely stagnated to right to the end of the shot clock, because no one could create their own offensive look, only for a ridiculously tough shot to go in is not something you want for a team that wants to contend consistently against the best teams. We will lose this type of game way way more often than we win.

I am out of words, Guys. This team is special and the core is young and will get better. Please, MBT; no trades.

I agree when it comes to the typical non shooting big men linked with us. A genuine, high level 3&D wing becomes available that is clearly better than what we have though, and you have to seriously consider it.