Game 3 Dirkie Thread: D'Angelo Russell--Dlo

[ballsrchr]

While watching the game I thought Kidd was playing a very tight rotation.  The stats show that 9 men played meaningful minutes.  Let's see how they did.

AD:  11-14 FG, 0-1 3PT, 10 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 2 BLK, 25 PTS
PJ:  6-14 FG, 1-3 PT, 7 REB, 5 AST, 1 STL, 17 PTS
Flagg:  8-14 FG, 2-6 3PT, 4 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK, 22 PTS
Lively:  2-2 FG, 7 REB, 4 AST, 3 BLK, 4 PTS
KT:  4-7 FG, 2-4 3 PT, 4 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 10 PTS
Marshall:  4-4 FG, 6 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL, 12 PTS
Dlo:  8-18 FG, 2-7 3 PTS, 5 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL, 24 PTS
Christie:  5-8 FG, 3-5 3PT, 2 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 17 PTS

Nobody else played truly meaningful minutes.

I'm wondering about the low usage of Lively.  Are they trying to protect him?  His points total is low also.  Something I'll watch in the future. 

I appreciate the effort shown by all of the team tonight.

AD is good...but still slow.  He certainly filled the stat sheet though.  Maybe he only plays at one speed.

PJ laid it all out there...and he is one of my 3 finalists.

Cooper Flagg is getting more comfortable every game.  In this game he wasn't tasked so much with being a point guard--forward, whatever.  I think that helped him.

Dlo came in and did some good.  The play didn't seem so frenetic when he was out there.  In some of the previous games, without Dlo, the frenzy was more like panic.

Well heck.  No matter who I chose there will be someone he wants to chose a different player...and that's ok!

I'm going to give the Dirkie to Dlo.

I messed this poll thing up, so it will look better in the future...I hope.

[SleepingHero]

This team looks a lot better with a competent point guard.

Not enough to make me super confident in this team but enough to make me think this team wouldn't be the worst team in the league. Great game from DLo.

I really wanted to talk about Cooper. Man oh man. What a game from the young stud. First 20+ point game from him and he looked in total control tonight. He can pass, defend, rebound. Pretty much everything you wanted he did. He looked more aggressive on offense and that was a whole lot of fun.

DLive I thought had a very impactful game in his limited minutes.

I thought AD had a little bit of the opposite. He looks slow out there man. Offensively he picked it up in the 2nd half to the tune of 15 points on 10 shots. But so many of his points just came off standstill dunks set up from our guard play. All the more important why we need an elite offensive creator out there. Flagg has already shown enough flashes that I think he can and will be a great creator but he isn't there yet.

PJ has been the MVP of the season thus far, though its not saying much. Even in a relatively quiet game he still put up a respectable enough stat-line and was everywhere on the court.

Shoutout to Klay for getting out of his shooting slump. Unfortunately he still forced to be an off-the-dribble creator cause this team has none, which just isn't his game at all.

Overall the good: The Mavs finally won a game and looked leagues better than their first two outings.

The bad: 20 turnovers is...not great. This team is filled with guys who can't really dribble or set others up like primary offensive hubs. Having 5 turnovers a quarter is a blowout most nights. Toronto had 30 points off of turnovers alone. That alone is the difference between blowing this team out 109-139 to a closer than it should've been 129-139 win.

This guard-play is a massive massive problem. DLo is good enough to cover some of the issues, but this team needs more. Christie/Klay aren't creators. This team really needs a combo 2-guard.

[SleepingHero]

Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2)
Jason Kidd on D'Angelo Russell: "That's D-Lo at his best. Being able to playmake, score and then find guys. I thought he did a great job, not just on the offensive end but also on the defensive end."

[SleepingHero]

Polymarket Hoops (@PolymarketHoops)
Cooper Flagg tonight:

20 PTS
4 REB
4 AST (0 TOV)

Youngest player in NBA history to reach these numbers in a game.

[vfromlmf]

It's nice to get a win but there are still some obvious major red flags.

I'll give the Dirkie to Flagg for a great game with 0 turnovers.

[SleepingHero]

It's nice to get a win but there are still some obvious major red flags.

I'll give the Dirkie to Flagg for a great game with 0 turnovers.

It does make you wonder how this team would look if Kyrie was healthy.

One of Kyrie's biggest strengths is knowing the flow of the game. He has an intrinsic sense of getting the ball to the right spot at the right time, and knowing when he needs to take over.

It's what this team really needs.

[ballsrchr]

It does make you wonder how this team would look if Kyrie was healthy.

One of Kyrie's biggest strengths is knowing the flow of the game. He has an intrinsic sense of getting the ball to the right spot at the right time, and knowing when he needs to take over.

It's what this team really needs.

I agree.  But Kyrie can't play big minutes--especially coming off an injury...say 25 to 30 minutes max.  This is just one more reason I'd like to see Nembhard getting some meaningful minutes.  Yes...he's short...but he moves great, scores, and involves the rest of the team in play.  Kind of like another short player named, oh who is that guy?...Jalen Brunson.  Hot damn!  Brunson is 6' 2" (I don't believe that).  Nembhard is 5' 10"  (I believe that).

[KillerLeft]

I'm tempted to give the Dirkie to either Flagg or Russell, both of whom were amazing in this game.

For all the complaining about AD (he is moving a little slower than normal, to be fair, but we knew the eye injury messed with his summer routine, so I don't know why it's a surprise) he was extremely efficient on offense, made some good, clutch defensive contributions in the second half, and if you asked the players/coaches, I'm pretty sure they'd say to a man he was the team's best player last night. I should've predicted this, but I admit I'm a bit surprised that he seems to be suffering from fan backlash related to the trade (still), despite it not being remotely his fault in any way.

Ultimately, my Dirkie goes to Lively, who was an absolute STUD on defense, sparking pretty much every run the Mavs were able to go on with suffocating rim defense coupled with an uncommon ability to make the correct outlet pass.

[fifteenth]

I'm tempted to give the Dirkie to either Flagg or Russell, both of whom were amazing in this game.

For all the complaining about AD (he is moving a little slower than normal, to be fair, but we knew the eye injury messed with his summer routine, so I don't know why it's a surprise) he was extremely efficient on offense, made some good, clutch defensive contributions in the second half, and if you asked the players/coaches, I'm pretty sure they'd say to a man he was the team's best player last night. I should've predicted this, but I admit I'm a bit surprised that he seems to be suffering from fan backlash related to the trade (still), despite it not being remotely his fault in any way.

Ultimately, my Dirkie goes to Lively, who was an absolute STUD on defense, sparking pretty much every run the Mavs were able to go on with suffocating rim defense coupled with an uncommon ability to make the correct outlet pass.

I can own this correction. If I make comments based on watching highlights, then I may get things wrong. The highlights really did have AD standing in the lane with an arm up, 10 ft away from the shooter, multiple times, which looked pretty crazy. And he does look slow and pudgy compared to the guy I've seen in the past. 

However... if he's playing great, then good for him. And good for the Mavs, if we can actually win a descent number of games.

[KillerLeft]

I can own this correction. If I make comments based on watching highlights, then I may get things wrong. The highlights really did have AD standing in the lane with an arm up, 10 ft away from the shooter, multiple times, which looked pretty crazy. And he does look slow and pudgy compared to the guy I've seen in the past. 

However... if he's playing great, then good for him. And good for the Mavs, if we can actually win a descent number of games.

Depends on what moments you're noticing, tbh. 

There are times when he has seemed slow, in transition and rotation, and there have been times he was unjustifiably featured on offense (though not in this game). 

It's also true that he has led the defense through 3-4 truly dominant stretches already during this young season, and in this latest game I thought he did a great job of letting the game come to him on offense, resulting in a crazy efficient night for him.

[cow]

D'Lo which is saying something considering how much I hate him. AD was great too.