GAME 54: UTA (35-18) @ DAL (32-22) | 119-123 loss

[Davevoid]

WTF, down 4 and you won't even foul? That's weak, c'mon now.

[hakeemfan]

Rick probably was surprised that the Utah coach didn’t try to match up with small ball whenever RC went small.

[MaxiThreeba]

Rick is sooooo jealous of D’Antoni getting to play without any pesky height on the floor.

[mtrot]

Unacceptable, Gobert with 16 rebounds, and the Jazz with 45.  How do you not play WCS more?

[MrGoat]

Free Willie, nuke the whales

[Kammrath]

MAXI IS NOT A CENTER. HE IS BETTER THAN -31 (his on/off tonight), IF HE IS ACTUALLY PUT IN A POSITION (his natural position!) TO SUCCEED.

UGH. 

[ThunderMav]

WTF this is real?  Never seen this before.

https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/...0284729344

[ThisIStheYear]

Utah was on the road on the second night of a back to back coming off a very stressful game and didn’t play particularly well.  It’s impossible to play well in that circumstance. But, Gobert dominated Zinger and they had enough to beat a Mavs team that’s pretty much exposed and cooked at this point. Luka will return, and I think the Mavs can back in to the eight seed, but this roster needs a major overhaul if its going to be worthy of retaining Luka. At least we’ve learned that during this failed easy stretch in the schedule.

[sefant]

Utah was on the road on the second night of a back to back coming off a very stressful game and didn’t play particularly well.  It’s impossible to play well in that circumstance. But, Gobert dominated Zinger and they had enough to beat a Mavs team that’s pretty much exposed and cooked at this point. Luka will return, and I think the Mavs can back in to the eight seed, but this roster needs a major overhaul if its going to be worthy of retaining Luka. At least we’ve learned that during this failed easy stretch in the schedule.

They lost the game when the bench bottled it once again. Sadly the bench has been a mess with all the injuries. No consistency overall. Or Rick playing Kleber at C, and going for his small ball antics. Playing KP as the only big might work, but not Kleber. At least not in this matchup.

Was a close game, and went back to 17 or 18 in few minutes before the 3rd was over. This was the overall killer. KP finished strangly with +11.

[dirkfansince1998]

WTF this is real?  Never seen this before.

https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/...0284729344

That´s what happens when 7´3 KP is guarding Bogdanovic or Ingles all game long while 6´10 Kleber is getting dominated by Gobert. Sadly RC is never asked questions about things like this in the postgame interview.
I don´t even blame RC even though he ultimately is responsible for matchups and schemes. I blame Mosley. Took over as the defensive coach last year and made a mediocre defense worse. And the personal is no excuse. Even with DFS, Kleber and KP on the floor the Mavs cannot get a stop.
I cannot see a scheme. Especially when it comes to pick and roll defense. Switching, going over, going under. Just random. Remember a few days ago. Last possession. DFS and THJ screwing up the last switch.

[Scott41theMavs]

Utah was on the road on the second night of a back to back coming off a very stressful game and didn’t play particularly well. It’s impossible to play well in that circumstance. But, Gobert dominated Zinger and they had enough to beat a Mavs team that’s pretty much exposed and cooked at this point. Luka will return, and I think the Mavs can back in to the eight seed, but this roster needs a major overhaul if its going to be worthy of retaining Luka. At least we’ve learned that during this failed easy stretch in the schedule.

I think that Maxi, THJ, DFS. Curry, and Brunson are all at or close to the level of 5th-best players on a contending team. It's that lack of a third and/or fourth best guy that does them in. And they flushed their best opportunity to do that down the toilet this summer. Brogdon and/or Bojan would have looked good in a Mavs uni.

[hakeemfan]

MAXI IS NOT A CENTER. HE IS BETTER THAN -31 (his on/off tonight), IF HE IS ACTUALLY PUT IN A POSITION (his natural position!) TO SUCCEED.

Maxi is not a center. He is not a very good starting caliber power forward either if making a deep run in the playoffs is what is needed.

[chaparral]

Free Willie, nuke the whales

Did not watch the whole game - why did WCS only play 5 minutes tonight?

[TurkishMFFL]

Free Willie, nuke the whales

Did not watch the whole game - why did WCS only play 5 minutes tonight?

The reason was Rick. He was staring at the field but was not seeing what was going on. As has been the case recently. It is really tough for someone not to see what Gobert did out there. It was all fine for our coach, though.

Any physical team, whether with a good or bad record, destroys the Mavs. It is that easy.

[Kammrath]

Did not watch the whole game - why did WCS only play 5 minutes tonight?

[philjuan1]

I think RC is losing it. Apparently he said that WCS didn't play because he couldn't shoot 3's. What? So he's worried about his 7 foot defender shooting 3's, and on the other hand, he's okay with Utah having a B-Line to the basket without resistance and okay with Utah getting offensive rebound after rebound.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

Stop worrying about your scoring, which you have plenty of, and worry about this pathetic defense. Just like the Cowboys, you are wasting Luka's rookie contract years with this mess.  If an overhaul of players isn't reached this off-season, we could be doomed with keeping Luka long term.

[hakeemfan]

I might...might...even understand if RC just loves to play a relatively smallball lineup...though again it doesn't make sense against Utah.

But then when the Rockets went to their smaller lineup the last game, RC didn't even start Maxi. He went even smaller. Weird.

[Kammrath]

I might...might...even understand if RC just loves to play a relatively smallball lineup...though again it doesn't make sense against Utah. 

But then when the Rockets went to their smaller lineup the last game, RC didn't even start Maxi.  He went even smaller. Weird.

It is beyond baffling. It is so damn hard to defend his choices on this. Boban and WCS are VERY capable options who are +12 and +6.5 on/off with the team....and yet....?

[MrGoat]

Free Willie, nuke the whales

Did not watch the whole game - why did WCS only play 5 minutes tonight?

Because he's 7 feet tall and might actually try to challenge Gobert on the glass. Can't have that when Rick wants to try to bait the Jazz into matching our small ball

https://media.giphy.com/media/3orif990an.../giphy.gif

[omahen]

Let's not be fooled by a final score, this game was not close. Mavs had no chance of winning. But to be honest, Utah is an extremely good team.

1. Most of you already said it, this small ball line-ups are not working. They just lead to missmatches all the time with our center guarding perimeter and one of the midgets battling with Gobert
2. Defense is bad. Bad pick'n'roll defense, especially bad transission defense. Stupid switches
3. Wright a big dissapointment again. Where is his defense? Offensively I already gave up on him