A Few Thoughts on Mavs 114, Kings 110

[mavsluvr]

In the 1st half I was willing to trade THJ and DFS for a bag of chips. Both are probably playing the worst defense of their career right now. Thankfully Luka stepped up and carried the team. He embraced his role as the leader on both offense and defense. Keeping the Mavs in the game with his scoring and setting the tone on defense.

I don´t know if this video is available in all countries and it will probably be taken down soon.





But can someone please explain what THJ is doing at 0:30, 1:08 or 9:20?
First quarter and his lack of effort and awareness leads to 9 points for the Kings. And those are only the plays that lead to points for the Kings. He continued to make similar mistakes all game long. Kings obviously did not score every single time but even if THJ scored 50 it wouldn´t be enough to make up for his all time bad defense.
I always thought that he lacks defensive awareness and is a bad team defender but his effort and on ball D has been solid all season long. Maybe it´s the special situation in the bubble but if the Mavs want to win even one playoff game he really needs to step up.

Sorry to say that the lack of effort/focus was hard to believe in a Rick Carlisle team, and it wasn't just THJ and DFS. Heck, it wasn't even just the Mavs.  I'm at a loss to explain it. I guess the silver lining, if there is one, is that our boys did manage to step up at the end.  

Hopefully, coming through in the clutch will be some kind of springboard. If not, I guess we just enjoy Luka for the rest of the season.