This game was decided in an 8-minute stretch starting at from the 8:13 mark of the 3Q. The Mavs went from down 4 to up 13. The refs called 7 fouls, 6 of them on the Raps. The Mavs took 6 FTs, the Raps none. Luka scored 11, PJ 5, 3 each for Kyrie, Gafford, and Exum, Lively with 1. The run was 26-9. The scoreboard went from 75-79 Raps to 101-88 Mavs. The 3 memorable full-court passes all occurred in this window.
Green and Lively looked impressive defensively in the early minutes before subbing out. Exum and, towards the tail end, Jones (in for PJ) picked up where Green and Lively had left off.
Hardaway played 6 of the 8 minutes, contributed a rebound and an assist, and went 0-2 on high-degree-of-difficulty field goals. Luka and Kyrie both missed 2 shots as well.
Plainly Luka was the star of this stretch, as usual. But Hardaway being very much himself didn’t stop or even slow the success, on either end. The biggest difference between these 8 minutes of dominance and the rest of the relatively even battle, it seems to me, was the referees.
Green and Lively looked impressive defensively in the early minutes before subbing out. Exum and, towards the tail end, Jones (in for PJ) picked up where Green and Lively had left off.
Hardaway played 6 of the 8 minutes, contributed a rebound and an assist, and went 0-2 on high-degree-of-difficulty field goals. Luka and Kyrie both missed 2 shots as well.
Plainly Luka was the star of this stretch, as usual. But Hardaway being very much himself didn’t stop or even slow the success, on either end. The biggest difference between these 8 minutes of dominance and the rest of the relatively even battle, it seems to me, was the referees.
Pessimism doesn’t make you smart, just pessimistic.
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