12-01-2024, 03:22 AM
This was a pretty fun game. The first quarter was a romp. 9 threes, 58% from the field overall, and 11 assists on 14 made shots. Kyrie and Grimes combined for 20 first quarter points on 6-11 shooting. That is the kind of stuff you dream about.
The 2nd quarter...well. yeesh. Not so great. 16 points on 6-22 shooting. Crazy how quick this team can flip from looking unstoppable to barely an NBA team. Its times like that where you're really missing your MVP level scorer who can create a reasonable bucket at any time. Get well soon Luka!
Bright side it doesn't really matter if you have an off-quarter of shooting when you defend at such a high level. This team held Utah to 3 quarters of sub 40% shooting, with the 3rd being the lone quarter where they just hit that mark. That type of suffocating defense allows you some breathing room. And I have to give props to everyone for stepping up. The defense tonight was tenacious. Grimes especially on the perimeter just prevented so many easy looks. And dare I say it, but Dinwiddie had a FANTASTIC defensive game imo. From our bigs, Maxi and Lively were again superb. Never taking their defensive effort for granted, but it's great that I can say it's a routine compliment at this point.
For the Dirkie, there are many candidates. Easy to give it to Kyrie. Once again he played at his pace, slowly picking apart every Jazz defender he saw in front of him. He just kept stacking basket after basket, reminding the Jazz that it's futile to try and stop him. His inevitable 4th quarter offense showed up again with 7 points in 6 minutes, en route to his 4th 30 point game of the season. Kyrie was a +17 in his minutes tonight and it looks like it when he's out there. But not only did he score well, he filled up the rest of the stat sheet, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals! It was a great Kyrie game, and the Mavs wouldn't have won without him, but surprisingly I have to go with another for the Dirkie tonight.
Dinwiddie keeps impressing me. This wasn't a good offensive game from him shooting wise by any measure. 2-9 from the field, and 1-4 from 3 is just putrid anyway you look at it. But despite that he set the table for practically every Mav tonight. He was the only guard in double digit assists with 10 off the bench to go along with ONE turnover! That is massive given the team overall had 15. That type of table-setting for others is exactly what I thought the bench was missing early on in the season. And I love that Dinwiddie leaned into it on a night where his own shot wasn't going. Normally he'd have kept forcing the issue, Re: Miami game. But tonight showed growth. He chose to keep feeding guys, namely Gafford with some beautiful lobs, and got others involved instead of forcing his own shot. Something I think others (*cough* Hardy) could take a lesson from. Great game Dinwiddie! BUT! Not my Dirkie winner!
Yes, my Dirkie winner has to be Grimes. I mean c'mon! 12 first quarter points on 4-5 from 3 was laughably great. He finished off with 24 points for the rest of the night, and though he cooled down significantly as the game went on, his defensive effort was always at 100%. I was so excited when the Mavs got Grimes and the more he plays, the more I'm enamored with his game. I seriously cannot believe the Mavs got him for THJ+2nds. His lone error this game had to be the FTs. Must've been the chilly Salt Lake City air, but I won't hold that against him. Great game from Grimes!
Now onto Portland for a 2nd night of a back to back. They are a feisty team and have been competitive in more games than not. The Mavs should be prepared, and hopefully as rested as possible.
The 2nd quarter...well. yeesh. Not so great. 16 points on 6-22 shooting. Crazy how quick this team can flip from looking unstoppable to barely an NBA team. Its times like that where you're really missing your MVP level scorer who can create a reasonable bucket at any time. Get well soon Luka!
Bright side it doesn't really matter if you have an off-quarter of shooting when you defend at such a high level. This team held Utah to 3 quarters of sub 40% shooting, with the 3rd being the lone quarter where they just hit that mark. That type of suffocating defense allows you some breathing room. And I have to give props to everyone for stepping up. The defense tonight was tenacious. Grimes especially on the perimeter just prevented so many easy looks. And dare I say it, but Dinwiddie had a FANTASTIC defensive game imo. From our bigs, Maxi and Lively were again superb. Never taking their defensive effort for granted, but it's great that I can say it's a routine compliment at this point.
For the Dirkie, there are many candidates. Easy to give it to Kyrie. Once again he played at his pace, slowly picking apart every Jazz defender he saw in front of him. He just kept stacking basket after basket, reminding the Jazz that it's futile to try and stop him. His inevitable 4th quarter offense showed up again with 7 points in 6 minutes, en route to his 4th 30 point game of the season. Kyrie was a +17 in his minutes tonight and it looks like it when he's out there. But not only did he score well, he filled up the rest of the stat sheet, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals! It was a great Kyrie game, and the Mavs wouldn't have won without him, but surprisingly I have to go with another for the Dirkie tonight.
Dinwiddie keeps impressing me. This wasn't a good offensive game from him shooting wise by any measure. 2-9 from the field, and 1-4 from 3 is just putrid anyway you look at it. But despite that he set the table for practically every Mav tonight. He was the only guard in double digit assists with 10 off the bench to go along with ONE turnover! That is massive given the team overall had 15. That type of table-setting for others is exactly what I thought the bench was missing early on in the season. And I love that Dinwiddie leaned into it on a night where his own shot wasn't going. Normally he'd have kept forcing the issue, Re: Miami game. But tonight showed growth. He chose to keep feeding guys, namely Gafford with some beautiful lobs, and got others involved instead of forcing his own shot. Something I think others (*cough* Hardy) could take a lesson from. Great game Dinwiddie! BUT! Not my Dirkie winner!
Yes, my Dirkie winner has to be Grimes. I mean c'mon! 12 first quarter points on 4-5 from 3 was laughably great. He finished off with 24 points for the rest of the night, and though he cooled down significantly as the game went on, his defensive effort was always at 100%. I was so excited when the Mavs got Grimes and the more he plays, the more I'm enamored with his game. I seriously cannot believe the Mavs got him for THJ+2nds. His lone error this game had to be the FTs. Must've been the chilly Salt Lake City air, but I won't hold that against him. Great game from Grimes!
Now onto Portland for a 2nd night of a back to back. They are a feisty team and have been competitive in more games than not. The Mavs should be prepared, and hopefully as rested as possible.
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.
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