Game 5: Indiana Pacers (0-3) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-3) | 7:30pm CST

[mvossman]

This was a nice comeback by the Mavs and a very surprising one. In the second quarter I was ready to turn it off. Not because we were down, but because we played no offense at all. Just bringing the ball up and one guy driving or chucking a shot (unless we turned it over before that). It was ugly.

Somehow they found their footing even with Davis out. Powell played great, and to Killer's question: Powell is hated because he had to play against a lot of starters in his career, where he is simply outmatched and looks bad, even though he does everything right. Against 2nd or 3rd tier competition he’s a great player, as we saw yesterday.

I’m really unsure what to root for: total implosion (AD injury, trading him for nothing, firing Nico, maybe even Kidd) and a fresh start around Cooper, or hoping for AD to stay healthy, Kyrie to come back strong, and the team to surprise everyone. Both are possible, but the first is more likely. Everything in between will be rough to watch, but I’ll watch anyway.

Powell got overexposed playing starter minutes but the real issue is he looks worse than his actual on court impact.  He is a poor rebounder given his effort and does not block shots like you expect from your center.  But he does the more subtle things well.  He plays with a high IQ and his mobility allows him to guard more effectively in space than many centers.  His net rating is always better than you would expect over many years of sample.