GAME 4: DAL (3-1) @ DEN (3-1) | 109-106 win

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

About time to bump.the record prediction thread and reset expectations...

A little early.  They look like I thought.  Offensive execution has been piss poor in the 2nd half the last two games.

Some good defense + tired Denver was huge tonight.

[TurkishMFFL]

Don't send DP to the bench after this game. He just came back from a long injury. He will get better in time. Also bringing Kleber from the bench ia better both offensively and defensively. Both players are a nice compelement next to Porzingis, glad to have them both.

[omahen]

Luka was trash tonight

He was not his usual self tonight. No smiles, didn't enjoy the game as he usually does. It looked to me, he is not confident in himself in the fourth, like he was hoping others will do the job offensively. Missed FT.

He actually looks more and more tired every game - his percentage is dropping, his shot selection is getting worse. Fortunately they have 2 days rest till LAL.

[vfromlmf]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but Jokic looks 40 pounds overweight

[embellisher]

MAVS JUST BEAT DENVER ON THE BACKS OF THE BENCH


WHAT A WIN! Mavs had so much going against them. Luka and KP had bad games, Carlisle with the most weird rotations. YET Brunson, Wright, DFS, THJ and Kleber all pulled this game out. Even Curry had a solid game. 

Dirkie to all of them.

Hard to accuse Carlisle of "weird rotations" if you win the game. 

[bin610]

Despite the poor shooting, KP was a beast on the boards and played great defense with Kleber.

[omahen]

Hard to accuse Carlisle of "weird rotations" if you win the game. 

So true! Rotations actually worked excellent. Rotations were not to blame for bad Luka and KP offensive performanse.

[Hypermav]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but Jokic looks 40 pounds overweight

He does look a little fluffy.

[IamDougieFresh]

Correct minutes allocation going forward (subject to change) (trust me I know more than RC  )

Luka (36)
Porzingis (32)
Wright (30)
Curry (30)
Brunson (30)
Maxi (28)
Dwight (22 OFF THE BENCH)

Split the last 32 between THJ/DFS/Jackson depending on who looks like an NBA player that particular night.

---

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but Jokic looks 40 pounds overweight

He does look a little fluffy.

Did you guys see this mans 4 OT game vs POR in playoffs.? Thought they were going to call the ambulance.

[Fuerza1]

MAVS JUST BEAT DENVER ON THE BACKS OF THE BENCH


WHAT A WIN! Mavs had so much going against them. Luka and KP had bad games, Carlisle with the most weird rotations. YET Brunson, Wright, DFS, THJ and Kleber all pulled this game out. Even Curry had a solid game. 

Dirkie to all of them.

Hard to accuse Carlisle of "weird rotations" if you win the game. 

My problem with the rotations is that they're too inconsistent. In order to build a foundation of sustained success, we probably need to stick to a more hardened line-up each game.

[BigDirk41]

I would really like to see Luka drive the ball more often. He's almost unstoppable getting to the bucket. He should try to stick to 5 or 6 threes a game and the rest should be attacking the rim with some mixed in mid range. One bad game doesn't really mean anything at all. It's just not what we're use to with Luka. I'm glad he stopped at 1-6 on 3's tonight. In the past he would have ballooned that up to 2-12. At least he didn't overly force it having a bad game.

[dcon]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but Jokic looks 40 pounds overweight

Yeah.... he looked a little more disheveled than normal..

[LukTheShadow]

That I was talking about. Defense will defeat strong opponents, not offense! So proud here for all guys and RC as well, he made every and each rotation well. Dirkie for all of them, Powell included. After an unfortunate undeserved defeat home team reacted well and took the important win on the road in snowy Denver. I don't know if we are aware how big and important this victory is in light of Mavs this season goals and our wishes... Team is learning and getting better and better, huge smile here

EDIT: mavs, go to learn FT's at once, all of you!

[dirkfansince1998]

MAVS JUST BEAT DENVER ON THE BACKS OF THE BENCH


WHAT A WIN! Mavs had so much going against them. Luka and KP had bad games, Carlisle with the most weird rotations. YET Brunson, Wright, DFS, THJ and Kleber all pulled this game out. Even Curry had a solid game. 

Dirkie to all of them.

Hard to accuse Carlisle of "weird rotations" if you win the game. 

My problem with the rotations is that they're too inconsistent. In order to build a foundation of sustained success, we probably need to stick to a more hardened line-up each game.

That´s going to happen over time but RC needs to find the best rotations before he can stick to them.

[Fuerza1]

Luka was trash tonight

He was not his usual self tonight. No smiles, didn't enjoy the game as he usually does. It looked to me, he is not confident in himself in the fourth, like he was hoping others will do the job offensively. Missed FT.

He actually looks more and more tired every game - his percentage is dropping, his shot selection is getting worse. Fortunately they have 2 days rest till LAL.

This is why I think he needs another playmaker to feed off of; he is actually a terrible pull-up shooter. Brunson is potentially the best facilitator on the team; let Luka ease back a bit on-ball handling duties to lessen his burden and get cleaner, easier shots. 

He is simply doing too much and it will kill him by midseason if nothing changes. Luka played poorly down the stretch last season because he was trying to do it all like he is now. DEN was throwing double teams at him to wear him out too.

[LukTheShadow]

How Luka looked like and and cough at post game interview I would say he is sick

[sefant]

Maybe Luka was drunk or ill (flu)?

Someone saw the post game interview. He looked a little weird (zombie like) in the post game interview. Eyes looked glazed. Small cough in the interview. He honestly looked like me when i was younger, when i played 24 h+ of video games non stop. Not joking


His body language was horrible the entire game, until the end of the 4th. At times i had the feeling he didn't wanted to be on the floor.

[SleepingHero]

MAVS JUST BEAT DENVER ON THE BACKS OF THE BENCH


WHAT A WIN! Mavs had so much going against them. Luka and KP had bad games, Carlisle with the most weird rotations. YET Brunson, Wright, DFS, THJ and Kleber all pulled this game out. Even Curry had a solid game. 

Dirkie to all of them.

Hard to accuse Carlisle of "weird rotations" if you win the game. 

The rotations were weird. He tightened them in the 4th which helped secure the W. But make no mistake the Mavs barely squeaked this one out. If just 1 player didn't show up tonight like they did against Portland this was a loss, and that's more on Luka and KP not showing up. Rotations were a net negative on the whole (I mean cmon how is Wright not starting? Bringing Powell back against Denver?).

But hey the Mavs won. I'm happy. I didn't like how Carlisle played it but he fixed it late in the game and it worked.

[Jym]

How Luka looked like and and cough at post game interview I would say he is sick

If not that he needs some xrays on his ribs. That was a hard collision  he had early around half court 
Hoping he just came in with a cold or something

[TheSportyChannel]

Luka looked annoyed but don’t blame his since the reporters literally asked the same question 50 different ways 

https://twitter.com/foxsportssw/status/1...52354?s=21