06-12-2024, 11:22 PM
Well, that was a kick to the nuts.
Boston is a much, much better team. I’m sure we all realize that by now.
I’m still really disappointed that Kidd didn’t have more to challenge them in this series. One of the reasons the Mavericks have made it this far is that Luka is starting to figure out that he needs to share the ball for the team to do well. The ball was moving more and more with each passing series, but all Boston had to do was switch everything (dirkfansince98 tried to warn us) and they are suddenly right back to “my turn, your turn” basketball, where no one besides Luka or Kyrie ever touches the ball or has a chance to get into any sort of rhythm. There is blame to be laid at the feet of the role players, sure, because they are not aggressive enough. But, we need to understand how difficult it is to be aggressive when you literally don’t touch the ball for minutes at a time.
On the other end, Boston has put on a passing clinic through three games. The ball is jumping from side to side, and ALL of their players have a chance to get into rhythm. I mean, they have Xavier Tillman hitting big shots from the corner. The Mavs finally did what I was hoping to see through the whole series tonight… They had Luka back off of the guy he was defending and dare him to shoot without making any passes, and for what it’s worth, I thought those were some of the better defensive possessions of the night, but Boston’s coach is a good one, so they figured it out and adjusted.
I really hope that both Luka and Jason Kidd are learning from this experience, because the way I feel right now it’s tough to imagine Kidd ever being on a championship level with his offensive design, and it’s even tougher to imagine Luka making it through four rounds of playoffs without a team making him play defense the way Boston has in this series. I’m sure I will feel differently in a couple of weeks, and this was a tremendous season, but right now, it’s just so disappointing to see them go out with such a whimper. The Luka hate from the national media is about to reach warp nine, and it’s going to be insufferable.
I am usually not a guy to second-guess rotation choices, because the coach knows 1000% more about the players and situations than we do. However, tonight was just ridiculous. I was OK with the first Hardaway stretch, because Hardy has been really bad in this series, and Exum has been pretty bad for the last few series. But, that Hardaway stretch did not go well at all, and the Exum stretch DID. So, when Luka fouled out, it was INSANE to go to Hardaway there, in my opinion, because the one possible positive to come out of that crisis was that Boston no longer had Luka to pull up in the pick and roll, which has been their entire offensive game plan for the whole series. I guess coach Kidd felt bad for them, because he gave them Hardaway on a silver platter. His 1-on-1 defense was obviously better than Luka’s, but not “must win in the finals” worthy, and considering Kyrie was going to take all of the shots, anyway, I believe any sane person would have played DJJ there. We saw what happens when Boston has to go against the Mavericks’ GOOD defenders, as PJ Washington shut Tatum down two or three times in a row down the stretch. And if you don’t wanna go with Jones, fine, but I thought Exum actually had a pretty damn good stretch earlier in the game. Why not him, at least? Just a completely boneheaded decision by Kidd there, in my humble opinion.
If I squint really hard, I can find some silver linings here, in that Dereck Lively and PJ Washington, both likely to be Mavericks for quite a while, seem to be acclimating to this level of play as the series goes on. This is really good experience for those two young, cornerstone Mavericks. Also, Daniel Gafford has played his part reasonably well, especially given how completely out of place he is in a series against this style of team.
I might need to watch this one again to figure out why Jason Kidd saw fit to completely bench DJJ down the stretch. I really hope it wasn’t just shooting, because we have known he was not a shooter since before they signed him, and he has answered the bell all postseason. To my mind, he has earned some benefit of the doubt, and to be honest, if his shooting is going to get him benched in the fourth quarter of a must win game in the finals, the Mavericks should NOT move heaven and earth to re-sign him.
Josh Green is going to kill me. Sometimes he will do two or three things during a 5-minute stretch that make me feel like he’d be an All-Star with enough minutes, and then there are 10-minute stretches wherein he literally will not look at the rim. That might be OK if he was actually the type of defender this board claims he is, but the more I watch him the less impressed I am with his defense. He’s got the energy for it, and that can come across as intensity to the viewer, but for whatever reason the opposing players look at him like a snack. Hate me if you want, but I am just about ready for him to go.
Anyway… Sigh.
Boston is a much, much better team. I’m sure we all realize that by now.
I’m still really disappointed that Kidd didn’t have more to challenge them in this series. One of the reasons the Mavericks have made it this far is that Luka is starting to figure out that he needs to share the ball for the team to do well. The ball was moving more and more with each passing series, but all Boston had to do was switch everything (dirkfansince98 tried to warn us) and they are suddenly right back to “my turn, your turn” basketball, where no one besides Luka or Kyrie ever touches the ball or has a chance to get into any sort of rhythm. There is blame to be laid at the feet of the role players, sure, because they are not aggressive enough. But, we need to understand how difficult it is to be aggressive when you literally don’t touch the ball for minutes at a time.
On the other end, Boston has put on a passing clinic through three games. The ball is jumping from side to side, and ALL of their players have a chance to get into rhythm. I mean, they have Xavier Tillman hitting big shots from the corner. The Mavs finally did what I was hoping to see through the whole series tonight… They had Luka back off of the guy he was defending and dare him to shoot without making any passes, and for what it’s worth, I thought those were some of the better defensive possessions of the night, but Boston’s coach is a good one, so they figured it out and adjusted.
I really hope that both Luka and Jason Kidd are learning from this experience, because the way I feel right now it’s tough to imagine Kidd ever being on a championship level with his offensive design, and it’s even tougher to imagine Luka making it through four rounds of playoffs without a team making him play defense the way Boston has in this series. I’m sure I will feel differently in a couple of weeks, and this was a tremendous season, but right now, it’s just so disappointing to see them go out with such a whimper. The Luka hate from the national media is about to reach warp nine, and it’s going to be insufferable.
I am usually not a guy to second-guess rotation choices, because the coach knows 1000% more about the players and situations than we do. However, tonight was just ridiculous. I was OK with the first Hardaway stretch, because Hardy has been really bad in this series, and Exum has been pretty bad for the last few series. But, that Hardaway stretch did not go well at all, and the Exum stretch DID. So, when Luka fouled out, it was INSANE to go to Hardaway there, in my opinion, because the one possible positive to come out of that crisis was that Boston no longer had Luka to pull up in the pick and roll, which has been their entire offensive game plan for the whole series. I guess coach Kidd felt bad for them, because he gave them Hardaway on a silver platter. His 1-on-1 defense was obviously better than Luka’s, but not “must win in the finals” worthy, and considering Kyrie was going to take all of the shots, anyway, I believe any sane person would have played DJJ there. We saw what happens when Boston has to go against the Mavericks’ GOOD defenders, as PJ Washington shut Tatum down two or three times in a row down the stretch. And if you don’t wanna go with Jones, fine, but I thought Exum actually had a pretty damn good stretch earlier in the game. Why not him, at least? Just a completely boneheaded decision by Kidd there, in my humble opinion.
If I squint really hard, I can find some silver linings here, in that Dereck Lively and PJ Washington, both likely to be Mavericks for quite a while, seem to be acclimating to this level of play as the series goes on. This is really good experience for those two young, cornerstone Mavericks. Also, Daniel Gafford has played his part reasonably well, especially given how completely out of place he is in a series against this style of team.
I might need to watch this one again to figure out why Jason Kidd saw fit to completely bench DJJ down the stretch. I really hope it wasn’t just shooting, because we have known he was not a shooter since before they signed him, and he has answered the bell all postseason. To my mind, he has earned some benefit of the doubt, and to be honest, if his shooting is going to get him benched in the fourth quarter of a must win game in the finals, the Mavericks should NOT move heaven and earth to re-sign him.
Josh Green is going to kill me. Sometimes he will do two or three things during a 5-minute stretch that make me feel like he’d be an All-Star with enough minutes, and then there are 10-minute stretches wherein he literally will not look at the rim. That might be OK if he was actually the type of defender this board claims he is, but the more I watch him the less impressed I am with his defense. He’s got the energy for it, and that can come across as intensity to the viewer, but for whatever reason the opposing players look at him like a snack. Hate me if you want, but I am just about ready for him to go.
Anyway… Sigh.
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