Mavs 105, Clippers 100

[Dahlsim]

Officiating of inside vs perimeter players has reached rock bottom. Even foul drawing machines like Embiid, Zion or AD aren´t getting them in the post. Face up/drive or pump fake/jumpshot. Classic back to the basket bigs cannot get a call. Jokic is getting hammered every single game and can be happy if he finishes the game with 5+ FTs.
And it´s not only a problem for bigs. Smaller guards (Young, Morant) are drawing touch fouls.  Bigger wings like Luka or LBJ are getting punished because they can finish through contact.

Yeah, the most frustrating aspect as an 'old school' guy watching the new school NBA is the way certain fouls are called and others are not called.  
On top of everything you noted its also way too selective where certain players can get away with things that other players cannot.  Kawhi, who is an amazing player, also has the luxury many times of simply driving straight into a defender, knocking him out of position then taking the space to drain his shot. 
Some other player tries anything close to that and the charge is called every time.      

Two items I have been pondering --

1. One of the main problems in this game and series has been that the non-Luka units are getting absolutely destroyed. One doesn't expect them to build a lead, but they should be able to at least come close to holding their own, and instead they are hemorrhaging points. The adjustment in this game was to slash those minutes to the bone, with Luka getting only 6 minutes of rest, and THJ only three (!). I'm not sure how long they can keep that up, with only a day of rest between games. Any adjustments, or are they just stuck with the situation?

2.  Luka and Timmy were the only Mavs in double figures. Kenny Smith made the observation that if the Mavs had had five guys in double figures, they might well have lost. The thought being that they made the right decision to give most of the shots to their best scorers. (Tim and Luka combined for 56 of Dallas' 89 shot attempts.) Is he right about this?

High Usage Star Player Dependency Syndrome.   

Seriously it has to do with the fact that a team is built around a guy that dominates the offense so they often don't get to really develop much of a way to play without that guy.  
Tobias Harris talked about how they lost game 4 in Washington because they had to suddenly adjust to playing without Embiid.  It happened during the game so they had to adjust on the fly and couldn't quite get it done.  By game 5 they had a plan and knew how they wanted to play.  Ended up with a win and not a close one. 

What is the pecking order when Luka is out?  Who is the 2nd star exactly and the 3rd option?  
I think the Mavs on paper have guys that can play well without Luka, but they don't have that identity down at all or at least not well enough to adjust to it on the fly.