GAME 3: POR (2-1) @ DAL (2-1) | 119-121 loss

[ThisIStheYear]

Where did Wright go down the stretch?  He needs to be on the floor in crunch time.  No one’s trying to run him off, but RC had a bizarre approach to close out this game, including keeping his challenge in his pocket.  I would say the officials seemed biased, and the big mistakes did go against the Mavs, but on the other hand, the Mavs lived on the line, so can’t really complain about the whistle. Portland is a middle of the pack playoff team (4-6 seed). Mavs need to beat teams like that on their home court 75% of the time.

[SleepingHero]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. IF Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

Because Kristaps put up 32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks on 11/23 from the field (3/10 from 3 which isn't good, 7/10 from the line which again isn't good)

And Luka put up 29 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals on 8/23 (which isn't good). 


Together they combined for 61 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists on 19/46. 

They were the entire reason why the Mavs were up big. Their efficiency wasn't the best, but it wasn't god awful. All the role players sans Curry disappeared after the first quarter. Maxi started the game with a 12 point effort on 4/5, and ended the game with 14 points on 5/10. 

THJ was 2/7, Brunson 1/6, Kleber 1/5 after the first quarter, DFS, 2/6. Justin Jackson 1/6.

Only Delon Wright, who puzzlingly never came back in the game after 9 minutes left in the 4th shot well with a 3/4 from the night. 

Luka and KP was the team tonight, and they missed some timely free throws for sure. But the Mavs wouldn't have been in a position to lose had any one of their role players showed up, and or if Carlisle played it better.

[dirkfansince1998]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. If Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

They did not chuck threes in the first half.

Luka was gassed in mid of the 3rd, you can blame that on him if you want. Maybe he als tweaked his ankle in the first half, I remember a scene and he was walking it up.

Porzingis shot selection isn't optimal.



All in all Portland played playoffball and it was a good experience for our team.

It's better to lose one early to keep them accountable.

And that´s what I mean. When everything works in the 1st half people are celebrating Luka and KP. When thing go bad in the second half they blame the coach. No one ever mentions RC when things go right but as soon as things go wrong he gets blamed.

[bartlettbear]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. If Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

Of course they can do wrong they were bad shots by KP but they are shots RC encourages if you do not realize that you have not been paying attention the last 10 years.

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Where did Wright go down the stretch?  He needs to be on the floor in crunch time.  No one’s trying to run him off, but RC had a bizarre approach to close out this game, including keeping his challenge in his pocket.  I would say the officials seemed biased, and the big mistakes did go against the Mavs, but on the other hand, the Mavs lived on the line, so can’t really complain about the whistle. Portland is a middle of the pack playoff team (4-6 seed). Mavs need to beat teams like that on their home court 75% of the time.

Yup Brunson over Wright was the big mistake made by RC tonight

[mtrot]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. If Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

They did not chuck threes in the first half.

Luka was gassed in mid of the 3rd, you can blame that on him if you want. Maybe he als tweaked his ankle in the first half, I remember a scene and he was walking it up.

Porzingis shot selection isn't optimal.



All in all Portland played playoffball and it was a good experience for our team.

It's better to lose one early to keep them accountable.

And that´s what I mean. When everything works in the 1st half people are celebrating Luka and KP. When thing go bad in the second half they blame the coach. No one ever mentions RC when things go right but as soon as things go wrong he gets blamed.

Do you really think Stotts or Pop would allow players to keep chucking early shot clock threes in the second half of a close game?  No, they would demand that they drive the lane and try to draw fouls or kick the ball out for good open shots.  It's called coaching.

[dirkfansince1998]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. IF Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

Because Kristaps put up 32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks on 11/23 from the field (3/10 from 3 which isn't good, 7/10 from the line which again isn't good)

And Luka put up 29 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals on 8/23 (which isn't good). 


Together they combined for 61 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists on 19/46. 

They were the entire reason why the Mavs were up big. Their efficiency wasn't the best, but it wasn't god awful. All the role players sans Curry disappeared after the first quarter. Maxi started the game with a 12 point effort on 4/5, and ended the game with 14 points on 5/10. 

THJ was 2/7, Brunson 1/6, Kleber 1/5 after the first quarter, DFS, 2/6. Justin Jackson 1/6.

Only Delon Wright, who puzzlingly never came back in the game after 9 minutes left in the 4th shot well with a 3/4 from the night. 

Luka and KP was the team tonight, and they missed some timely free throws for sure. But the Mavs wouldn't have been in a position to lose had any one of their role players showed up, and or if Carlisle played it better.

Both had a great 1st half and put up big numbers but both also played really bad in the 4th quarter. Both takes are not mutually exclusive. Overall they did not play bad and I would agree with you that in the big picture the role players not making open shots was the biggest reason for the loss.
Nevertheless I can point out that solely blaming RC is wrong when both franchise players had multiple opportunities to win the game. Some of them being as easy as simply making their FTs.
You guys are making a big story out of one potential mistake by RC (not using his challenge). If I start to count mistakes made by Luka and KP i probably won´t be finshed until tommorrow morning.

[ThunderMav]

I did not see game but have a challenge question/comment.  If Mavs had the ball and foul is called on Portland then overturned why wouldn’t Mavs be awarded ball out of bounds?  Since anything that happens after is dead due to whistle the last possession was Mavs.  It just seems logical to me.  Yes Port won challenge but thats only to call off foul not change possession.  A jump ball seems like an NBA copout.  I think the last team to have ball gets it back.

Imagine how dirty refs can use this and call a blatant bad call knowing its overturned only to have a jump ball where a team has a big jumping advantage. To me out of bounds is the better play in overturns.

[dirkfansince1998]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. If Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

They did not chuck threes in the first half.

Luka was gassed in mid of the 3rd, you can blame that on him if you want. Maybe he als tweaked his ankle in the first half, I remember a scene and he was walking it up.

Porzingis shot selection isn't optimal.



All in all Portland played playoffball and it was a good experience for our team.

It's better to lose one early to keep them accountable.

And that´s what I mean. When everything works in the 1st half people are celebrating Luka and KP. When thing go bad in the second half they blame the coach. No one ever mentions RC when things go right but as soon as things go wrong he gets blamed.

Do you really think Stotts or Pop would allow players to keep chucking early shot clock threes in the second half of a close game?  No, they would demand that they drive the lane and try to draw fouls or kick the ball out for good open shots.  It's called coaching.

Remember what happened when RC benched KP against the Pelicans. It was called coaching. This board did not like it. He can demand all he wants. In the end the players need to execute.

[fifteenth]

Yup Brunson over Wright was the big mistake made by RC tonight

Saying that Brunson over Wright is a mistake is just Monday morning quarterbacking. Both of those guys are capable of closing games.

[ClutchDirk]

.

And that´s what I mean. When everything works in the 1st half people are celebrating Luka and KP. When thing go bad in the second half they blame the coach. No one ever mentions RC when things go right but as soon as things go wrong he gets blamed.

Nailed it...it's a board tradition...

[ThunderMav]

As for loss its evident looking at stats you have 2 studs who only played their 3rd game together.  They won 2 and came damn close to winning the 3rd.  It takes time to blend new players together and losses like this will help them grow and work harder.  These 2 match up well against any other 2 in the league.  It should be encouraging how fast they have gelled and doing so well so early.  There will be tough losses but if they learn from it that helps later in season.  Losses drive players to play better.  I really have been impressed with Mavs so far.  Portland has been together longer so although this was a tough loss it bodes well for the future.

[TXBamanut]

Yup Brunson over Wright was the big mistake made by RC tonight

Saying that Brunson over Wright is a mistake is just Monday morning quarterbacking. Both of those guys are capable of closing games.

I get that, but honestly, when you can't stop a guy, you need to put your best defensive guard in there, and Wright has a knack for coming up with a defensive play that Brunson doesn't.  If he had a higher 3pt%, Wright probably would have been in there.

Also, Luka has to recognize the moment of the game and not do those step-back threes when we need a quality shot.

[Hypermav]

I wouldn't paint the game thread opinions as consensus or monolithic on anything.

[dirkfansince1998]

Of course they can do wrong they were bad shots by KP but they are shots RC encourages if you do not realize that you have not been paying attention the last 10 years.

I would bet a lot of money that RC does not like some of the shots Luka and KP are taking and I already mentioned that I don`t like contested early shot clock 3s. But shouldn´t a great player realize that those shots aren´t helping the team.

[fifteenth]

I'm voting df98 by a landslide in this discussion! Even though it hurts me to go against SleepingHero. But hey, Hero, you got bartletbear's support! :-)

The deal is. Luka's gotta realize that it's time to go to the basket when the 3 isn't falling. Working inside and using Seth got the lead! Shouldn't have gone back to the step back 3s.

[Mak]

Yup Brunson over Wright was the big mistake made by RC tonight

Saying that Brunson over Wright is a mistake is just Monday morning quarterbacking. Both of those guys are capable of closing games.

I think Wright is the better overall player and would have played him over Brunson but ultimately Id place the majority of the ‘blame’ for this loss on the Mavs not being at full strength (DP).

[SportPsychMav]

I'm voting df98 by a landslide in this discussion! Even though it hurts me to go against SleepingHero. But hey, Hero, you got bartletbear's support! :-)

The deal is. Luka's gotta realize that it's time to go to the basket when the 3 isn't falling. Working inside and using Seth got the lead! Shouldn't have gone back to the step back 3s.

I think he was just tired, same as Porzingis. It explains bad shot selection and missing free throws.

The guys with the lower load chucking like Brunson were more of a problem.


All in all they were the better team talent wise, that will change once Nurkic is back.

Conditioning will hopefully improve as the season goes or they learn to manage their energy better.
McCollum played close to 41 minutes.


Stotts played a playoff rotation.
The refs were not biased folks. Portland was just a rough and tough physical opponent wearing our guys down.

In the end they won. Would have slept better with a win also. Still no need to rage. But if you need to vent go ahead .

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

To sum it up...KP and Doncic can do no wrong and if they make mistakes we blame the coach instead.
Wonder why no one was complaining in the first quarter. Team was coached by RC for the whole game. One not used challenge vs tons of mistakes from the players.
Of course RC can try to influence the game from the sideline but he cannot make a shot or freethrow himself. If Porzingis and Luka make their freethrows the Mavs win the game. Wonder why that isn´t the topic right now.

They did not chuck threes in the first half.

Luka was gassed in mid of the 3rd, you can blame that on him if you want. Maybe he als tweaked his ankle in the first half, I remember a scene and he was walking it up.

Porzingis shot selection isn't optimal.



All in all Portland played playoffball and it was a good experience for our team.

It's better to lose one early to keep them accountable.

And that´s what I mean. When everything works in the 1st half people are celebrating Luka and KP. When thing go bad in the second half they blame the coach. No one ever mentions RC when things go right but as soon as things go wrong he gets blamed.

Do you really think Stotts or Pop would allow players to keep chucking early shot clock threes in the second half of a close game?  No, they would demand that they drive the lane and try to draw fouls or kick the ball out for good open shots.  It's called coaching.

You must've missed the first 7 years of Lillard and McCollum's careers.

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Yup Brunson over Wright was the big mistake made by RC tonight

Saying that Brunson over Wright is a mistake is just Monday morning quarterbacking. Both of those guys are capable of closing games.

I think Wright is the better overall player and would have played him over Brunson but ultimately Id place the majority of the ‘blame’ for this loss on the Mavs not being at full strength (DP).

Nurkic >>> DP

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https://twitter.com/DorothyJGentry/statu...73824?s=19

[SportPsychMav]

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https://twitter.com/DorothyJGentry/statu...73824?s=19

Great acknowledgement, he takes the blame shields the team, good leadership.

[robillionaire]

tough loss, shooting efficiency was a big factor