MAVS NEWS:

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

I thought Game 3 was Kidd's best job yet. The rotations were exactly what I thought they should be. Great lineup combinations and matchups. The overall minutes distribution was spot on. He was more vocal in this one from the start and the Mavs showed more urgency and intensity from the tip.

The starting 5 have now played 24 minutes together. 6 minutes in Game 1, 8 minutes in Game 2, and 10 minutes in Game 3. 107.4 ORTG 103.7 DRTG 3.7 NETRTG

The second most used lineup is the one above, that I've been tracking early on. It's now at 14 minutes. 121.9 ORTG 77.4 DRTG 44.5 NETRTG

And one that's creeping up and showing out, features Coop at the 4 and DLive at the 5, so a Non-PJ/AD lineup:
DLO-Max-Naji-Flagg-Lively in 11 minutes 134.6 ORTG 75.0 DRTG 59.6 NETRTG

Overall, last night featured a 8.5-man rotation, with Martin being the half.

Flagg 14 | DLO 29
Klay 20 | Max 25
PJW 32 | (Flagg 15)
AD 10 | Naji 25 | Martin 12
Lively 21 | (AD 25)

I thought DLO looked really good in this one. He got off to a rough start shooting but finished 8-18 with 24p & 6a and +26 +/-. His 29 minutes where right where they should be (25-30)
Klay played his best game so far. His 20 minutes were right where they should be. (16-20)
Max continues to play well. His 25 minutes were right where the SG split should be with Klay. (25-30)
PJ has been the Mavs best player so far. His 32 minutes are where they should be. (30-36)
Flagg is getting better each game. So fun to watch. I love the way he runs the floor. His 29 minutes are right where they should be. (28-34)
Naji has been noticeably better defensively this year. His ability to create some offense has helped when DLO isn't in. 25 minutes is where it should be. (22-28)
AD looks slow so far. Still he's averaging 25/12 in 35 minutes.
Martin is alive. No threat offensively, but he looked ok in his 12 minutes.
DLive with his best game of the season also. He was a difference maker defensively, which is what his role is. His 21 minutes are right where they should be. (18-24)


The only time "Twin Towers" is being used is with the starting group. It will be interesting to see how different the rotations look when Gafford is back. So far, I've enjoyed AD at the 5 way more than I have with him at the 4. Maybe it can work once AD gets in shape and looks more like the AD we're used to seeing.

It took Kidd until Game 3 to get there, but again, I thought he did an excellent job last night!

What's frustrating is that his rotations do kind of feel like a message to Nico about what Kidd actually thinks about this roster.  That it has 3 good centers and no real PG.  The rotations he ran last night make sense but there's going to be an odd man out when Gafford is back and all 3 centers are healthy (feels like Lively is already losing minutes due to this issue and that's only going to get worse).

Unless Klay bounces back quickly, this backcourt needs to be DLo/Max ~30 minutes a night to balance the roster and win games it seems.  That is definitely not Nico's vision.