MAVS 93, PACERS 106

[mavsluvr]

MAVERICKS WITH ANOTHER LATE COLLAPSE

The Mavericks originally hoped this game would be the much-anticipated first match against their former coach Rick Carlisle; however, Rick had tested positive for COVID and was unable to present himself on the bench. Nevertheless, the show went on, and he reportedly delivered lengthy, detailed instructions to assistant coach Lloyd Pierce on how to deep-six his former players. Dallas put up a pretty good fight for three quarters, but scored only 13 points in the fourth. Sigh. 


GAME NOTES

Sterling Brown (foot) and Willie (personal reasons) were still out. We may have hoped to catch the Pacers at a vulnerable time, as they been the subject of numerous rebuild rumors lately, although Stein said the league has expressed a fair degree of skepticism about that. At any rate, rebuilding opponent or no, Kidd steadfastly continued with his latest effort at a regular starting lineup— Luka-Bullock-DFS-KP-Powell. 

FIRST QUARTER

Luka starts with a defensive play — a deflection. Results in a late-clock rushed three which is missed by the Pacers. Then Luka drives the lane for a basket. KP with a long three! Powell blocks a transition dunk on what looked like a sure Pacers score! Powell OR results in another KP three! KP challenge on Duarte. . . . KP takes advantage of a lucky bounce for a put back on what looked like an empty possession. . . .KP tries to challenge shot, called for his first foul.  10-8 6:51

Pacers tie the game with free throws. Brunson with a leaner from the baseline! Pacers get an OR, but Mavs force a shot clock violation. Luka scores against the league’s leading shot blocker. Mavs making subs, Moses Brown checking in. Sabonis has gone to the bench with two fouls. . . . Luka rolling his eyes over a travel call. Luka answers a Turner three with a drive. . . . .Brunson off the window. …. Moses runs the floor for a slam from Luka! 20-17 2:22

Luka hits two freebies…Brunson over Lamb. Brogdon three, resulting from two ORs. Luka draws a reach-in on a drive, hits both FTs. 

26-22 after one

Mavs shoot 57%, Pacers 37%, Indy is 2-11 from three. Only 4 Mavs have scored (Luka 10, KP 8, Brunson 6, Moses 2). Turner leads Indy with 7 points. 

SECOND QUARTER

Tim puts one in off a KP screen. Then gets a steal and score…A lot of these Mavs players fighting double teams, without Luka on the floor. Maxi draws a foul off a kick-out, makes both FTAs…KP posts up, hits off the window…Maxi has missed some very good kick-outs…Josh Green in for Dallas. Pacers take lead. Brissett then steals and scores. 34-38 7:28

KP fights for a put back. LaVert and Martin with b2b threes. Jalen drive…Green to the hole. 40-44 5:42

Mavs force a back-court violation out of the Pacers timeout…Luka called for another foul, does not appreciate it one bit…Luka overpowers Duarte on a back-down…Luka downcourt pass to a running THJ…KP for a baseline cut from Luka!…Mavs take the lead on a Luka two-for-one. Turner answers with a three. 

54-56 HT

Mavs lose second quarter 28-34.
 
KP (18) and Luka (16) still the only starters to score. Brunson and Tim combine for 16 off the bench. Three Pacers in double figures. Mavs shooting 55%, but are 2-13 from three, with both treys completed by KP. Dallas has given up 9 offensive rebounds, 10 second-chance points, and 8 threes. Only 12 of their 23 made baskets have been assisted. 

THIRD QUARTER

Luka drills a three late in the clock. Turner makes it 9 threes for Indy from the corner. — Sabonis waltzes unguarded to the cup. — Another score at the rim for Sabonis leads to a Dallas timeout. 59-65 8:22

Powell and-one, third foul on Sabonis, misses free throw but it goes out off Indy. Luka goes to the basket, four point possession, but Luka is hurt. Limping down the court. Stays out there. Sabonis scores over Powell. — Sabonis with another flush in transition. Brunson beats the shot clock. But the Mavs give up an easy one to Indiana. Sabonis finally misses against THJ. Then Tim hits over Domantas! Luka stripped, Mavs called for a foul on Sabonis, who hits both FTs. JB draws a foul. Frankie checks in, Brunson slices down the lane. — Moses and-one! Woo-hoo! — Timmy attacks the basket, gives Dallas the lead on a 7-0 run. — Turner with a slam. DFS draws a foul. 74-75 2:11

Dorian takes the lead back with two free throws. Sabonis can’t hit over KP. KP draws a foul, two of two. Hardaway runs the floor off a rebound and hands off to Brunson for a bucket. Sabonis scores over the Mavs at the rim. Lavert three ends the quarter. 

80-82 after three

Mavs shooting very well inside, but are 3-19 (15%) from three. Sabonis has 21 points, 9-13. Luka with 23 for Dallas. 

FOURTH QUARTER

Sabonis just killing us inside. Draws a foul against a KP-MK double-team. One of two. KP misses at the rim — aargh. Brissett with a put-back. MK misses a late-clock contested jumper. Martin scores off a third-chance opportunity. Rebound, guys! Pacers on a 12-0 run.  80-87 10:11

ATO Luka-Powell oop! — THJ corner three! 85-87 9:11

Luka in the paint ties the game! Martin left alone for a three. Successive turnovers by Dallas and Indy, Pacers foul to stop the fast break. Luka with a runner! Teams exchange four empty possessions, then Brogdon scores at the cup. Luka’s shot rims out. He is called for his fourth foul, shakes his head down the court. Indiana misses a three but the rebound goes off Dallas. LaVert airball over Powell. DFS called for a travel. Brogdon rocks to the basket. Mavs miss two threes, get two offensive boards, and Jalen draws a foul. But Brunson misses the late three. LaVert short pull-up. Indy on a 9-2 run. 89-96 3:58

Mavs have Luka-Brunson-DFS-Hardaway-KP on the floor. Tim misses a corner three. Indy timeout. Use it or lose it, and they used it. 89-96 3:40

LaVert to the hole. KP puts back Luka miss. LaVert with a poor play, then KP with a jumper. Brogdon three. Aargh. KP misses from distance. Brunson called for a blocking foul. LaVert from three. Timeout Dallas. Think that may be the dagger, folks. 93-104 1:40

Luka misses from the corner. Pacers turn it over. Turner blocks KP’s shot. Sabonis fouled, hits both free throws. Brunson misses wide open corner three. Brissett flings himself over Luka, called for a foul. Luka dribbles the ball out. 

93-106 FT

Horrible fourth quarter from Dallas, 13-24.  


ANALYSIS

Very weird scoring and shooting distribution tonight. 

Starters Dorian-Bullock-Powell combined for 6 points. 

Shooters Dorian, Reggie, and Maxi combined for 8 total FGAs. 

Only 4 Mavs had more than 5 points (Luka-KP-Brunson-Tim). Those four combined for 78 points. Three other starters totaled 6. Four other bench players added 9.

The Mavs were 4-29 from distance. Reggie 0-2, Luka 1-8, Brunson 0-1, Hardaway 1-9, Maxi 0-2.

Only 18 of Dallas’ 39 made baskets (46%) were assisted. 

Rebounding was also unusual. Luka led the Mavs with 9 boards. Brunson added 7. The big man rotation combined for 10 out of a total of 38 (KP 2, Powell 5, Moses 1, Maxi 2). Defensive rebounding rates were Mavs 57%, Pacers 69%. Pacers had 19 second-chance points, Mavs 14. 

On the positive side, the Mavs shot 59% on twos (10-17), and 68% in the paint (25-37). Point differentials were +14 on points from twos, -27 on points from threes, and a push on made free throws.

To make a long story short, the game was lost on horrible three-point shooting (4-29), poor rebounding, limited resistance on the defensive end, and a complete collapse in the  fourth quarter. As far as several of the 3&D guys not even taking shots, I am assuming that was not the game plan, particularly with them passing up looks and appearing not to want the ball at certain points in the game. 


PLAYER NOTES

DFS (38 min). Dorian had 4 points (1-3) and 6 rebounds. I know he is on the floor mainly for defense, and that box score stats don't tell the whole story, but he just has to do better than this. 

DONCIC (37). Luka had 27-9-9, but was 1-8 from three. He tweaked his ankle in the third quarter, and it looked like that may have affected his ability to get to the rim. In the first half, he was 7-8 on two point attempts; in the second, 3-9.

BRUNSON (31). Jalen had 14 points and 7 rebounds off the bench, but only 1 assist against 2 turnovers. He was a defensive liability, with Pacers repeatedly shooting over him. Kidd remarked that he was playing at a very high level before he got hurt, and he is working his way back. They are trying to play him with Luka as much as they can, to take some of the pressure off Luka, and that's another adjustment. 

PORZINGIS (31). KP put up 22 points on 9-17 shooting, and scored half the Mavs’ three-pointers, with two, while collecting only two rebounds.  KP ventured after the game that “it sucks to be us.” Looked distressed when asked why they're still losing in the same way. Said he knows they’re still making mistakes, and also shooting catastrophically badly, and that it's hard to win games like that. The only thing he can think of to do is try to clean up the mistakes and put in the work to improve the shooting and get better in late-game situations. Thinks they need to get with Luka and see how they can give him more help. 

KP said that the team is actually doing a lot of shooting drills, but it hasn’t translated to games. He didn't blame guys for not getting to the rim -- said they try to get to the paint and kick out to open shooters, and it’s on the shooters to make those looks. Harris and Dameris thought it was a good sign that KP talked in terms of helping Luka, rather than complaining about his role or about how his touches.

HARDAWAY (30). Tim led the bench with 15 points, being 6-6 inside the arc, but 1-9 outside. He was in the closing unit, along with Luka, Brunson, DFS and KP, but did not score in the clutch. 

POWELL (22). Dwight had 2 points and 5 rebounds in his role as starting center. The Bally crew did not fault him for taking only one shot, as he “didn’t get many opportunities.” He had a couple of important offensive boards, but was not able to match up with the Pacers’ multi-talented big men. 

BULLOCK (21). Reggie's only stats were two missed shots, a rebound, and one turnover in a starting role. Such a poor performance. The Bally guys speculated that the downside for guys like Reggie of playing with guys like Luka or Harden is that they might hit you with a pass literally anywhere on the court, so you don’t know where your shots are coming from, and it’s hard for some of these players to get used to that and be ready to shoot from any location. I only sort of buy that. This guy was supposed to be ready to hit the ground running, wasn't he?

MENTIONS. MAXI (13) had two made free throws, three missed shots, two rebounds, and an assist. That’s just not good enough, even in only 13 minutes. I wonder if Maxi is playing with an undisclosed injury or something of the like. He has really faded of late. MOSES (9) had another energetic appearance, with 5 points and 1 rebound. GREEN and FRANK combined for 9 minutes, 2 points, and 1 rebound. 

BURKE and BOBAN were DNP-CDs. No word on the return of STERLING or WILLIE. 

PACERS. For a team that is rumored to be on the verge of blowing it up, they looked pretty darned good. LaVert led his team with 26-6-5. Sabonis torched the Mavs with 24 points, 9-13 shooting, 10 boards, and 7 assists, leading our boys on a merry chase in the paint. Local product Myles Turner had 17 and 7. Malcolm Brogdon did not shoot well (5-15), but got hot late and put up 12 points to go with 8 assists. 


OBSERVATIONS

Bally. The crew looked at several factors in the loss. 

-- Very poor three-point shooting, obviously. 

-- Very poor clutch play, with the Mavs being outscored 14-4 in that period. Indiana is one of the worst clutch teams in the league, but totally outplayed the Mavs, who were passive, avoided shooting, and provided little resistance at the rim. 

-- Poor defense and rebounding. They observed that Rick apparently adjusted the game plan, knowing that the Mavs are weak at interior defense and rebounding, and the Pacers ended up with 19 second-chance points. Not only were the guys not shooting, they weren’t doing the other things to contribute, like rebounding and getting back on D. 

-- Very poor shooting.  They opined that DFS, Bullock and Maxi just can’t be out there for all those minutes and take only a couple of shots each. Devin commented that shooting drills are helpful, but they really don’t replicate game conditions. With some of the role players trying to diversify their offensive games, they don’t have the opportunity to just stand in one spot and wait for a pass any more. Cuban has been atwitter lately with the idea that the new ball is responsible for his team's poor shooting. Dameris, Harris, and Stein pooh-poohed that theory, commenting, among other things, that Steph seems to be managing just fine with the new ball. (Ouch!)

-- Rumors. The Bally guys also speculated that the Pacers may have had a little extra motivation, as a result of being rumored to be available in a fire sale.


Kidd. Kidd summed up the loss by saying that the Pacers were aggressive, picking Luka up early the whole game, and as usual, we couldn’t shoot threes. Noted that, at some point, the guys have to take responsibility for making shots. He felt that the missed shots were often followed by the team not getting back in transition, making matters even worse. Sounding frustrated, he said that the guys are doing well in practice, and sometimes it’s a mental thing in games. 

He rejected the suggestion that they try to take fewer threes. They can’t stop making the kick-out pass. That would only result in tougher twos, getting blocked at the rim, etc. He noted that they are very successful at creating open looks, but after this many games, they have to start knocking them down. 


This was a reasonably entertaining game, at least up until the second half of the fourth quarter, with the Mavs earning only 4 points on 2 made baskets in the last six minutes. Going in to the contest, I really thought this was a game we could win, and I found it frustrating and a little bewildering to see them fall apart in just the same way they usually do. I sometimes feel like these game analyses are just the same song, umpteenth verse, over and over and over.

Mavs drop below .500 again, at 12-13. 


NEXT. We face OKC on Sunday. SURELY, that’s a game we can win. 

Isn’t it?