Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-8) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) | 8:30pm CST

[Chicagojk]

Another turnover.

Luka is moving with more urgency now. Where was this in the first three quarters?

[Mavs2021]

Caruso makes a massive difference.  Not sure how the Mavs can beat these guys but they at least need to avoid them until the division finals. OKC is an injury prone team so no telling how things will look in the spring.

They will need to go small ball, when Hartenstein is not on. Gafford and Lively have been largely useless, being swarmed and dragged out to the 3pt line.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

Why didn’t Kidd challenge?!

[SleepingHero]

At the end of the day, this is just some random game in December so I'm not panicking. The Mavs turned it over a bit too much. Missed a bit too many open 3s. I think this team has what it takes to take down this OKC team pretty handedly.

[Chicagojk]

Sga is so good. To think I didn’t think he was in Luka’s class prior to our playoff series last year. The clear best player in this game.

[SleepingHero]

Sga is so good.  To think I didn’t think he was in Luka’s class prior to our playoff series last year.  The clear best player in this game.

I still don't think SGA is in Luka's world.

But that isn't a knock on him. Clear top 5 player in the league.

[Chicagojk]

We saw this in the playoffs but if Luka is going to guard Dort, you can’t give him wide open looks. Need to be on point. Also can’t let him beat you to lost balls. The Luka vs Dort matchup can’t be a draw.

[KillerLeft]

Sga is so good.  To think I didn’t think he was in Luka’s class prior to our playoff series last year.  The clear best player in this game.

Yeah, I think Luka’s best is still transcendent, but we have barely seen it this year, if we’re all being honest. SGA is consistently at this high of a level.

I hate to say it, but I think he’s a significantly better player than Luka. Right now, at least.

[ThisIStheYear]

It’s more than a random game. I saw playoff intensity. It’s a Cup game. For whatever rea$eon, the players care. In the end, the turnovers were bad, but OKC committed a few too. The Mavs just got out shot and out rebounded.

[KillerLeft]

I still don't think SGA is in Luka's world.

But that isn't a knock on him. Clear top 5 player in the league.

I don’t know, man… You might be right, but I kind of feel like you are comparing the current SGA to the Luka of the past. This version of him is slow and depends on shooting, and he isn’t a very good shooter.

[Chicagojk]

Yeah, I think Luka’s best is still transcendent, but we have barely seen it this year, if we’re all being honest. SGA is consistently at this high of a level.

I hate to say it, but I think he’s a significantly better player than Luka. Right now, at least.

I thought Luka started well. He made the right pass…besides early turnovers.  He just didn’t get aggressive until late.  He took contested threes early.  I think he will realize, he should have attacked more early.

[SleepingHero]

I mean we knew this already but Mavs will never win a game if Naji Marshall is the leading scorer in a game where Kyrie, Luka, and Klay are all healthy.

15 shot attempts for Luka and 14 for Kyrie is puzzling. The Thunder's gameplan worked, but it also looks like the Mavs made little adjustments.

Bright spot, Klay had 19 points on 50% 3pt shooting. OMAx was amazing off the bench. And Luka's defense really wasn't too bad tonight. Contested well, had 4 steals. Right now he's basically given up but before he's been solid.

[KillerLeft]

I thought Luka started well. He made the right pass…besides early turnovers.  He just didn’t get aggressive until late.  He took contested threes early.  I think he will realize, he should have attacked more early.

I think you might very well be correct about this, and I hope you are, but if I’m being honest, my read is that he played as hard as he could the whole game and just couldn’t figure out a way to beat Dort and the help from the other defenders.

I like your theory better, but I am pretty down on Luka these days. At the end of the day, he is a point guard who can’t beat anyone off the dribble. Just make him a power forward already if he’s going to be this heavy.

[Mavs2021]

We actually won the Hartenstein minutes. The swarming small ball line-ups killed us.

Omax has earned a look at the back-up PF minutes.

Thinking we should try

Doncic/Dinwiddie
Irving/Thompson
Grimes/Marshall
Washington/Omax
Lively/Gafford

plus some minutes for Gortman, Hardy (with everybody moving up a position) and Kleber getting some anti-rust minutes, otherwise coddle him toward the post-season.

[Chicagojk]

Oh well. After road trip, Mavs have two important games against the clippers. We won’t win the cup but need to continue to play well.

OKC deserved it tonight. Better team quite Impressive. Mavs didn’t have answers.

[Chicagojk]

I think you might very well be correct about this, and I hope you are, but if I’m being honest, my read is that he played as hard as he could the whole game and just couldn’t figure out a way to beat Dort and the help from the other defenders.

I like your theory better, but I am pretty down on Luka these days. At the end of the day, he is a point guard who can’t beat anyone off the dribble. Just make him a power forward already if he’s going to be this heavy.

Quick, change of pace Luka is my favorite.  We haven’t seen it in a while.  Crazy how productive he can be off grit.  Heck he was just player of the week.  Although it hasn’t been peak Luka.  I hope we see it.  It is the only way we could potentially beat the best in the league.  Peak Luka can just have the game on a string and can just wreck a game.

[Chicagojk]

Dinwiddie has been very good lately and I had to eat crow on him.i am not sure if this is a game for him to play heavy minutes. He has earned a longer leash though. I was actually hoping for a bigger impact,from Grimes tonight. He didn’t bring much.

[Reunion Mav]

At the end of the day, this is just some random game in December so I'm not panicking. The Mavs turned it over a bit too much. Missed a bit too many open 3s. I think this team has what it takes to take down this OKC team pretty handedly.

The Mavs used to look great when their 3 balls were falling but it was all a mirage. This Thunder team is good but tonight doesn’t fool me into thinking they are great. They don’t rebound this well if we have PJ. They don’t get all of those open threes either. This illness needs to go away.

[Chicagojk]

We actually won the Hartenstein minutes. The swarming small ball line-ups killed us.

Omax has earned a look at the back-up PF minutes.

Thinking we should try

Doncic/Dinwiddie
Irving/Thompson
Grimes/Marshall
Washington/Omax
Lively/Gafford

plus some minutes for Gortman, Hardy (with everybody moving up a position) and Kleber getting some anti-rust minutes, otherwise coddle him toward the post-season.

Yeah another good Omax performance.  I wonder if he steals some minutes there.he is at least providing confidence to Kidd.  Hopefully he can continue to build on this.

[SleepingHero]

I don’t know, man… You might be right, but I kind of feel like you are comparing the current SGA to the Luka of the past. This version of him is slow and depends on shooting, and he isn’t a very good shooter.

I'm just comparing everything they've done in their respective careers thus far. 

They're from the same draft and SGA is a year older than Luka, and Luka has cleared SGA in basically every single category. Even last year, Luka was better than SGA. I'm not going to argue against SGA being better than Luka this year thus far. That is true. But ~20 game sample size vs. 400 games for each of them tells a different story.

I'm saying this because there has literally been no one better in terms of a statistical start in NBA history than Luka Doncic if you can believe it. He's passed Lebron pace in terms of scoring, assisting, and rebounding their first 6 years. Has the most triple doubles for anyone his age or younger sans Wilt. Has the highest scoring single game record since Kobe. Tied Bird, Duncan, and the Iceman as the only players in NBA history to have 5x 1st team selections in their first 6 years of their careers.

Luka is literally otherworldly. Comparing anyone next to him and they will come up short.  SGA has been great the last 2 years. Almost at the level of Luka. And again it's not a knock on SGA to say that.