11-02-2021, 10:13 PM
HEAT SCORCH MAVS IN SEASON’S FIRST HOME LOSS
The Mavericks hosted longtime rival Miami Heat to open their November schedule. Before the game, Marc Stein admitted that he feared that the Mavs would have an uphill battle, with both KP and Maxi being out, and he turned out to be prescient. Our boys gave it the old college try in what Kidd referred to as a “test,” but couldn’t quite compete against the Heat’s superior talent.
GAME NOTES
Porzingis was sidelined for the fourth consecutive game with back tightness. Maxi (left oblique strain) and Trey Burke (protocols) were also on the injury report. Oladipo was out for Miami. Derek Harper was back in the broadcasting booth. Kidd selected a starting lineup of LD-JB-THJ-DFS-DP, with Brunson in the KP-Maxi-Reggie spot, and DFS moving to power forward.
FIRST QUARTER
Aargh. Heat force a shot clock violation. Hardaway fires one in from three, then makes a defensive play against Bam. Powell with a bounce pass to a cutting DFS for two. Luka loses the ball, dives to the floor to dig it out, and the play ends with a DFS corner three. Luka calls for the ball, hits a long three — I like it. WCS replaces Dwight. Luka gets to the rim. Spo begs for time. 17-7 6:53. Mavs on a 13-3 run. Looking good!
Willie declines a shot under the basket, passes to the corner. I don’t know about that. Reggie in, Frankie enters. Reggie from the corner! Mavs getting good looks off double-teams of Luka. 20-13 3:20.
Frankie hits from the perimeter. S Brown comes in. Luka is leading a bench unit. Butler fouls Luka, his second of the quarter. Boban is on the floor. Brunson replaces Luka to close the period with an all-bench lineup. Lowry on the sideline having a laugh with Kidd and an official. The lead narrowed, but JB bringing them back. 30-24 after one.
The starters have 25 of those thirty points, Miami shooting horribly — 33%, 20% from three. Mavs looking sharp at 45% from long range and 50% overall.
SECOND QUARTER
Josh Green makes an appearance. Lowry hits from long distance. Sterling makes his first two-pointer of the season! Hardaway again. Tyler Herro puts the Heat in front with a trey. 36-37 9:42.
Heat bench really outpacing the Maverick reserves. Mavs trap Bam under the basket, force three-second call. Brunson with another corner three. Whee! Luka puts Dallas ahead again late in the clock. Bam returns the favor with an and-one. THJ baseline jumper keeps the lead on a seesaw. Lowry teed up. Reggie takes and makes the free throw. Luka takes two freebies, while Kyle is still jawing. Luka over PJ Tucker for a very good three. Luka with a beautiful drive and score. 51-57 4:03. Tyler Herro looking very impressive.
Powell draws free throws off a jump hook. Butler earns a free throw and possession for an away-from-the-play foul by the Mavs. Powell scores over Bam at the basket. Bam leaves with three fouls. 62-70 at halftime. Miami has the highest-scoring quarter in the NBA this season, with 46 points. They wrapped up the half with an 11-2 run.
Miami is a VERY talented team with plenty of depth. Their three-point shooting has rocketed up to a stunning 64% (9-14). Herro leads the Heat with 17 points off the bench. Yikes. Dallas is losing the bench scoring battle 8-32. Dallas scored 62 altogether, but no Mav is in positive figures. The two teams have combined for 32 FTAs already.
THIRD QUARTER
Timmy has to foul Butler to stop a fast break. That’s three on Tim. Then he hits from the corner. But, Mavs just cannot stop these guys. They’re getting easy looks in the paint. Scoring, defending, rebounding. Dang. Mavs have had some good plays, but are having a hard time holding off the onslaught. 72-83 6:59.
Bam posterizes Powell. Now Butler over Bullock. Duncan Robinson called for his fourth. Herro comes back. Great. It’s Luka, DFS, and some bench guys now. Heat score over Willie. Tucker draws a charge against Dorian. Mavs try a zone. Doesn’t help. Luka already looking exhausted. 81-93 2:56.
Mavs come out of the timeout with an all-bench unit, except for JB. Markieff Morris called for a foul on Sterling. Spo sneers from the sideline. Brunson has a buzzer-beating three. 88-99 after three. Man, this Heat team is just relentless.
FOURTH QUARTER
Bullock opens with a three. Morris posts up over against one of our smalls, hits. FN answers with a three. Jalen Brunson with a magnificent spin move. He falls down, grimaces, but makes the shot. Lowry with a fadeaway off a broken play. Bullock called for a push on Butler. Kidd challenges. 95-103 7:55.
Challenge is unsuccessful. Crowd boos. Starters back in, with Reggie in place of Brunson. Powell misses both free throws off a shooting foul. Duncan Robinson fouls out, possibly taking Luka’s hand out in the process. Mavs haven’t scored in over four minutes. Luka finally breaks the drought with a drive to the rim. 97-110 4:51.
Mavs force a shot-clock violation. Luka still grabbing his hand and grimacing. Lowry looking like Steph out there. 100-116 3:13.
Starting unit back in. Brunson baseline drive. Luka with a long three. But the Heat pour it on. Down 107-123 with 1:44 left, Kidd puts the deep bench on the floor. Udonis makes an appearance, at age 41! 125-110 FT.
ANALYSIS
The Mavs had a 126-108 advantage in shot attempts, but could not make it count. They continued to struggle from the three-point line, at 33%, while the Heat were 52% from beyond the arc. Dallas also missed 9 free throws (grrr), and had point differentials of -14 on points from twos, +3 in points from three, and -4 on made free throws.
The Heat had substantial advantages in points in the paint (48-38), and fast-break points (19-3), prompting Kidd’s criticism of his team’s transition defense. Miami’s aggressive defense also cost us 14 points off turnovers, whereas the Heat limited the damage from their own giveaways to 4 points. The bench battle bordered on embarrassing, at 21-46.
Just a general beatdown, really, once the Heat overcame their slow start.
PLAYER NOTES
DONCIC. Luka became the 14th all-time leading Mavericks scorer, passing Jason Kidd, with a season-high 33 points, going 10-12 from the line in a team-high 36 minutes. He tried to be aggressive, but was double-teamed all night. He still put up some good numbers, but the Heat was able to take away some of his effectiveness. Luka said he is trying to be more aggressive in every game. Kidd says they just expect teams to do this to Luka, and that the team needs to handle it better.
HARDAWAY put 17 points on the board in 31 minutes, but was 4-13 from three. He had a couple of good defensive plays, but was mostly overmatched on that end. Hopefully, he'll get back in his shooting groove soon.
BRUNSON. Jalen was excellent in his first start of the season, with 25 points and 7 boards on incredible 10-13 shooting in 31 minutes. He was impressive in attack, with good finishing over the trees. Kidd thought Brunson had an excellent game, and that he was able to take some of the pressure off Luka. Luka complimented Luka Jalen for his creating and scoring.
DFS. Dorian had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes. As usual, he was one of the primary defenders, but could only do so much. Having a little trouble scoring so far this season, he confined himself to 6 shot attempts, completing 3.
POWELL. Dwight was somewhat hampered by foul trouble (accumulating 5), and took only 3 shots, but had a team-high 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. None of our big men were any match for the Heat in the paint.
BENCH. Bullock served as the sixth man this evening, and was the only reserve in double figures, with 10 points on 3-7 shooting in 25 minutes. Reggie was the most hyped off-season addition, but may need a little more time to acclimate enough to be a consistent difference-maker. Willie backed up Powell, playing 19 minutes, but didn’t score and had 3 rebounds, one assist, and a turnover. He was woefully ineffective on the night. Frankie and Sterling took advantage of the injury absences to claim 19 and 13 minutes respectively, but neither especially impressed. They combined for 8 points and 6 rebounds.
The other five active players received a few minutes each, and were unremarkable.
Burke did not show up for his COVID test for the second time this season, and was therefore ineligible. Kidd revealed that Burke has forfeited those two game checks. The coach says they have addressed the issue with Burke, asserting that he has a responsibility to show up on time. What’s up with all this? Is this excusable behavior?
HEAT. Miami had five guys who scored over 20 points. Super-sixth man Tyler Herro led the team with 20 shots and 25 points off the bench. Jimmy Butler followed with 23 points, earning 17 FTAs and completing 15. Bam strutted his stuff, putting up 22 points and 13 boards. Kyle Lowry had 22 points and 9 assists in the starting point guard role. Dewayne Dedmon had 10 off the bench. Dang. So many go-to guys.
OBSERVATIONS
KIDD. Said the team didn't do a good enough job taking advantage of the Luka double teams. We also did a poor job at rebounding, partly as a result of going small. The team generated some good looks that just didn’t go down, per usual. Kidd noticed Luka starting to wear down, and instructed Doncic to let Brunson start bringing the ball up the floor to save Luka's energy. The coach ventured that our transition D was subpar, and that was how the game got away from them. Kidd thinks the Heat are the best team in the league at this point.
From my seat, it appeared that the Mavs were just flat outmatched. Keep an eye on this Miami team — they’re seriously good. The contest wasn’t a bad measure of where Dallas is at this point. And they are still just out-talented against the contenders. Our boys just couldn’t buy enough stops against Miami's skilled and powerful defenders, and were no match for the Heat’s scoring arsenal. The Mavs tried to sign Lowry in the offseason, but dropped the quest pretty early when he made it clear he wanted to play in Miami. Sigh.
NEXT. Kidd is hopeful that KP can play in the next game. Maxi is expected to be out for 7-10 days. The Mavs have a SEGABABA tomorrow, when they will face the Spurs again in the AT&T Center. Shouldn't be quite such a tough match.
The Mavericks hosted longtime rival Miami Heat to open their November schedule. Before the game, Marc Stein admitted that he feared that the Mavs would have an uphill battle, with both KP and Maxi being out, and he turned out to be prescient. Our boys gave it the old college try in what Kidd referred to as a “test,” but couldn’t quite compete against the Heat’s superior talent.
GAME NOTES
Porzingis was sidelined for the fourth consecutive game with back tightness. Maxi (left oblique strain) and Trey Burke (protocols) were also on the injury report. Oladipo was out for Miami. Derek Harper was back in the broadcasting booth. Kidd selected a starting lineup of LD-JB-THJ-DFS-DP, with Brunson in the KP-Maxi-Reggie spot, and DFS moving to power forward.
FIRST QUARTER
Aargh. Heat force a shot clock violation. Hardaway fires one in from three, then makes a defensive play against Bam. Powell with a bounce pass to a cutting DFS for two. Luka loses the ball, dives to the floor to dig it out, and the play ends with a DFS corner three. Luka calls for the ball, hits a long three — I like it. WCS replaces Dwight. Luka gets to the rim. Spo begs for time. 17-7 6:53. Mavs on a 13-3 run. Looking good!
Willie declines a shot under the basket, passes to the corner. I don’t know about that. Reggie in, Frankie enters. Reggie from the corner! Mavs getting good looks off double-teams of Luka. 20-13 3:20.
Frankie hits from the perimeter. S Brown comes in. Luka is leading a bench unit. Butler fouls Luka, his second of the quarter. Boban is on the floor. Brunson replaces Luka to close the period with an all-bench lineup. Lowry on the sideline having a laugh with Kidd and an official. The lead narrowed, but JB bringing them back. 30-24 after one.
The starters have 25 of those thirty points, Miami shooting horribly — 33%, 20% from three. Mavs looking sharp at 45% from long range and 50% overall.
SECOND QUARTER
Josh Green makes an appearance. Lowry hits from long distance. Sterling makes his first two-pointer of the season! Hardaway again. Tyler Herro puts the Heat in front with a trey. 36-37 9:42.
Heat bench really outpacing the Maverick reserves. Mavs trap Bam under the basket, force three-second call. Brunson with another corner three. Whee! Luka puts Dallas ahead again late in the clock. Bam returns the favor with an and-one. THJ baseline jumper keeps the lead on a seesaw. Lowry teed up. Reggie takes and makes the free throw. Luka takes two freebies, while Kyle is still jawing. Luka over PJ Tucker for a very good three. Luka with a beautiful drive and score. 51-57 4:03. Tyler Herro looking very impressive.
Powell draws free throws off a jump hook. Butler earns a free throw and possession for an away-from-the-play foul by the Mavs. Powell scores over Bam at the basket. Bam leaves with three fouls. 62-70 at halftime. Miami has the highest-scoring quarter in the NBA this season, with 46 points. They wrapped up the half with an 11-2 run.
Miami is a VERY talented team with plenty of depth. Their three-point shooting has rocketed up to a stunning 64% (9-14). Herro leads the Heat with 17 points off the bench. Yikes. Dallas is losing the bench scoring battle 8-32. Dallas scored 62 altogether, but no Mav is in positive figures. The two teams have combined for 32 FTAs already.
THIRD QUARTER
Timmy has to foul Butler to stop a fast break. That’s three on Tim. Then he hits from the corner. But, Mavs just cannot stop these guys. They’re getting easy looks in the paint. Scoring, defending, rebounding. Dang. Mavs have had some good plays, but are having a hard time holding off the onslaught. 72-83 6:59.
Bam posterizes Powell. Now Butler over Bullock. Duncan Robinson called for his fourth. Herro comes back. Great. It’s Luka, DFS, and some bench guys now. Heat score over Willie. Tucker draws a charge against Dorian. Mavs try a zone. Doesn’t help. Luka already looking exhausted. 81-93 2:56.
Mavs come out of the timeout with an all-bench unit, except for JB. Markieff Morris called for a foul on Sterling. Spo sneers from the sideline. Brunson has a buzzer-beating three. 88-99 after three. Man, this Heat team is just relentless.
FOURTH QUARTER
Bullock opens with a three. Morris posts up over against one of our smalls, hits. FN answers with a three. Jalen Brunson with a magnificent spin move. He falls down, grimaces, but makes the shot. Lowry with a fadeaway off a broken play. Bullock called for a push on Butler. Kidd challenges. 95-103 7:55.
Challenge is unsuccessful. Crowd boos. Starters back in, with Reggie in place of Brunson. Powell misses both free throws off a shooting foul. Duncan Robinson fouls out, possibly taking Luka’s hand out in the process. Mavs haven’t scored in over four minutes. Luka finally breaks the drought with a drive to the rim. 97-110 4:51.
Mavs force a shot-clock violation. Luka still grabbing his hand and grimacing. Lowry looking like Steph out there. 100-116 3:13.
Starting unit back in. Brunson baseline drive. Luka with a long three. But the Heat pour it on. Down 107-123 with 1:44 left, Kidd puts the deep bench on the floor. Udonis makes an appearance, at age 41! 125-110 FT.
ANALYSIS
The Mavs had a 126-108 advantage in shot attempts, but could not make it count. They continued to struggle from the three-point line, at 33%, while the Heat were 52% from beyond the arc. Dallas also missed 9 free throws (grrr), and had point differentials of -14 on points from twos, +3 in points from three, and -4 on made free throws.
The Heat had substantial advantages in points in the paint (48-38), and fast-break points (19-3), prompting Kidd’s criticism of his team’s transition defense. Miami’s aggressive defense also cost us 14 points off turnovers, whereas the Heat limited the damage from their own giveaways to 4 points. The bench battle bordered on embarrassing, at 21-46.
Just a general beatdown, really, once the Heat overcame their slow start.
PLAYER NOTES
DONCIC. Luka became the 14th all-time leading Mavericks scorer, passing Jason Kidd, with a season-high 33 points, going 10-12 from the line in a team-high 36 minutes. He tried to be aggressive, but was double-teamed all night. He still put up some good numbers, but the Heat was able to take away some of his effectiveness. Luka said he is trying to be more aggressive in every game. Kidd says they just expect teams to do this to Luka, and that the team needs to handle it better.
HARDAWAY put 17 points on the board in 31 minutes, but was 4-13 from three. He had a couple of good defensive plays, but was mostly overmatched on that end. Hopefully, he'll get back in his shooting groove soon.
BRUNSON. Jalen was excellent in his first start of the season, with 25 points and 7 boards on incredible 10-13 shooting in 31 minutes. He was impressive in attack, with good finishing over the trees. Kidd thought Brunson had an excellent game, and that he was able to take some of the pressure off Luka. Luka complimented Luka Jalen for his creating and scoring.
DFS. Dorian had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes. As usual, he was one of the primary defenders, but could only do so much. Having a little trouble scoring so far this season, he confined himself to 6 shot attempts, completing 3.
POWELL. Dwight was somewhat hampered by foul trouble (accumulating 5), and took only 3 shots, but had a team-high 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. None of our big men were any match for the Heat in the paint.
BENCH. Bullock served as the sixth man this evening, and was the only reserve in double figures, with 10 points on 3-7 shooting in 25 minutes. Reggie was the most hyped off-season addition, but may need a little more time to acclimate enough to be a consistent difference-maker. Willie backed up Powell, playing 19 minutes, but didn’t score and had 3 rebounds, one assist, and a turnover. He was woefully ineffective on the night. Frankie and Sterling took advantage of the injury absences to claim 19 and 13 minutes respectively, but neither especially impressed. They combined for 8 points and 6 rebounds.
The other five active players received a few minutes each, and were unremarkable.
Burke did not show up for his COVID test for the second time this season, and was therefore ineligible. Kidd revealed that Burke has forfeited those two game checks. The coach says they have addressed the issue with Burke, asserting that he has a responsibility to show up on time. What’s up with all this? Is this excusable behavior?
HEAT. Miami had five guys who scored over 20 points. Super-sixth man Tyler Herro led the team with 20 shots and 25 points off the bench. Jimmy Butler followed with 23 points, earning 17 FTAs and completing 15. Bam strutted his stuff, putting up 22 points and 13 boards. Kyle Lowry had 22 points and 9 assists in the starting point guard role. Dewayne Dedmon had 10 off the bench. Dang. So many go-to guys.
OBSERVATIONS
KIDD. Said the team didn't do a good enough job taking advantage of the Luka double teams. We also did a poor job at rebounding, partly as a result of going small. The team generated some good looks that just didn’t go down, per usual. Kidd noticed Luka starting to wear down, and instructed Doncic to let Brunson start bringing the ball up the floor to save Luka's energy. The coach ventured that our transition D was subpar, and that was how the game got away from them. Kidd thinks the Heat are the best team in the league at this point.
From my seat, it appeared that the Mavs were just flat outmatched. Keep an eye on this Miami team — they’re seriously good. The contest wasn’t a bad measure of where Dallas is at this point. And they are still just out-talented against the contenders. Our boys just couldn’t buy enough stops against Miami's skilled and powerful defenders, and were no match for the Heat’s scoring arsenal. The Mavs tried to sign Lowry in the offseason, but dropped the quest pretty early when he made it clear he wanted to play in Miami. Sigh.
NEXT. Kidd is hopeful that KP can play in the next game. Maxi is expected to be out for 7-10 days. The Mavs have a SEGABABA tomorrow, when they will face the Spurs again in the AT&T Center. Shouldn't be quite such a tough match.
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