04-24-2021, 02:59 PM
(04-23-2021, 02:06 AM)mavsluvr Wrote: WCS. Willie had a huge evening, as he was called upon to step up with Maxi out, and KP’s time cut short. He played 31 minutes off the bench and had 11 points and 8 boards to show for it, along with boasting a team-high +/- of 18. The most athletic of the Mavs' big men made impressive use of that talent on the night.
Man I wish we got this version of Silly Willie every night. When he plays like this, he is the perfect complement to KP.
PORZINGIS. KP was having a solid showing, with 19 points and 6 rebounds in the 29 minutes he was able to play. Mavs fans got a scare when he went down on all fours on the court, unable to participate in the ongoing defensive play, having taken a knock to his privates. He recovered from that, but then suffered a turned ankle that sent him back to the locker room for the rest of the game, and we can only hope the injury is not serious.
Sure hope KP is ok. He has been looking really good the past few weeks, on both ends of the floor. The last thing e need is for an extended absence by him getting him out of rhythm, with the playoffs coming up.
STARTERS. Dorian had another double-digit scoring night, with 10 points on 4-5 shooting, and also boasted three steals in a team-high 37 minutes
Doe Doe looks like he is finally coming out of an extended shooting slump, and his D has gone up a level recently too.
Richardson put up 13 points, albeit on 5-11 shooting, and made his way back to the closing unit. He was knocked to the ground early in the third, an event that the referees chose to ignore, and to add insult to injury, was assessed a technical foul for complaining. The announcers predicted that the NBA would rescind the T on review.
That was a weak T. And he definitely had a good case.
Redick made an impression with 7 points in 11 minutes. He was part of the star-less unit to start the fourth, and he stepped up with a no-look pass to Brunson, put up a spectacular three, and followed that by freezing his defender with a pass fake and driving to the basket for a layup. In addition to his shooting accuracy, he is demonstrating great activity off the ball, along with good passing.
Loving me some JJ! He's brought much more than his famous shooting in limited minutes. I love the way he moves off the ball, and the whole team seems to move more when he's on the court. Hopefully his veteran savvy will influence some of the younger guys to move and cut more.
It was their starting back court of Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that really put the hurt on the home team, combining for 54 points on 18-30 shooting. Schroder fouled out near the end of the game, with Vogel unsuccessfully challenging the call.
Looks like KCP is questionable for tonight.
Davis, who recorded only 4 points, was on a minutes restriction, and all of his 16 minutes were played in the first half.
Wonder if AD will be on another minutes restriction tonight?
With this victory, the Mavs pull even with the Blazers record-wise, although Portland owns the tiebreaker. We’ll see if they can climb above the play-in territory as the season starts to wind down!
With the Portland loss last night, we are now up a half game on them. I hope we can continue our winning ways and stay ahead of them, you know they'll be on a tear when Dame gets healthy. A win tonight might even get us on our way to passing the Lakers. It's unlikely, but if we could get the 5 seed, we would get Denver in the first round, which IMO is the most desirable opponent for us among the top 4.