03-06-2022, 07:16 PM
(03-06-2022, 02:30 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Not sure if this about KP. Mavs actually had the best defensive stretch of the season when he was in healthy and safety protocols. Agree that the lack of legit defensive bigmen minutes is hurting the team defense. Reminds me a little bit of the Rockets when they played really good defense with RoCo/Tucker at center. Small and switchable lineups work.
Question is if teams and especially the front court players have the energy to do it all season long. Even teams like the Warriors usually have one big body that gives them 20 minutes per game.
Last two games without Maxi were brutal. Chriss is injured. Boban was the only big on the bench. At some point Luka was playing center.
That stretch was also probably sample related. I'm not saying KP was elite defensively, but a team that was top 5 in the NBA was better defensively with him on the court than off. As I mentioned, the bigger issue is that we traded away a starting center and cut two backup centers and replaced all of that with a two-way guy who is currently injured.