GAME 68 DIRKIE: Doe Doe! (62.5%)

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/15...6431106055

[KillerLeft]

DFS, for making Tatum just a guy on one end and hitting all the “had to have them” shots on the other.

[SleepingHero]

DFS has to get it today.

His 2nd half was amazing. That kind of DFS makes this team incredibly lethal.

Maxi deserves some praise. His offense is broken, but his defense was game changing. Impacted the game in many other ways other than scoring.

Dinwiddie shone today. He missed a lot of chippies, but there was a clear difference between him and Brunson. He rose to the moment and made key play after key play, while Brunson shrunk.

[Tyler]

DFS had the same number of made shots as Tatum but with 12 fewer attempts. He was absolutely terrific today on both ends.

[MrGoat]

DFS. We needed him to step it up on offense in the 2nd half and he delivered. 

Big honorable mention to Maxi and Luka for playing with a gimpy hamstring, and Spencer for that last shot

[BoredAssistant]

Not sure how to quantify what DFS brings every game.  If I am going to nitpick JB, his passing seems below average lately (maybe I am wrong), and a bunch of reps at pg before the playoffs would help.

[cow]

Not even God King rests on the 7th day.

[ballsrchr]

I really like it when the Mavs win without playing their best basket ball....and they didn't today, but they hung around and finally got it going...a bit.  Enough, anyway.

So...who gets my Dirkie today?  

Dinwiddie, who had a fairly dismal game but did score a 3 pointer when it counted?  No?  No.

Brunson, who had an equally  dismal, or should I say pedestrian, game?  No.

Luka, who played hurt, had 26 points, 8 rebounds, and assists.  Not too shabby.  But...no.

Kleba?  No points, but 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.  Also not too shabby.  But...also no.

Process of elimination only leaves DFS.

So there we go.  My Dirkie goes to DFS.  He also did a not too shabby job on J. Tatum...

[Kammrath]

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/bobbykaralla/status/...0313043970

[Jommybone]

Doncic (39 mins), Brunson (37), and Dinwidde (37) were all big pluses for the game. How can we have won by just 3 when they played more than all the guard minutes and went +7, +8, and +13 respectively? 

Well, they didn’t get all the guard minutes. That’s how. 

From 5:09 to 2:16 in the 2nd, Mavs played without Brunson or Dinwidde and again from 
3:18 to 0:50 in the third. The team was -8 in the first stint (5-13) and -3 in the second (6-9). 

So in the 5 minutes and 21 seconds without 2 of Luka/Jalen/Spencer, Mavs were -11. In the remaining 42:39, +14. 

Oddly, this lineup issue seems to have affected the Mavs’ defense even more than its offense, with 22 of the Celtics 93 points (24%) coming in that 5:21 (11%) of game time.

And the Mavs were outscored 22-11 in those 5 minutes and 21 seconds,

[Jommybone]

https://twitter.com/bobbykaralla/status/...0313043970

For rim protection, there is only Maxi. There is serious layup-line potential when he sits.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Doncic (39 mins), Brunson (37), and Dinwidde (37) were all big pluses for the game. How can we have won by just 3 when they played more than all the guard minutes and went +7, +8, and +13 respectively? 

Well, they didn’t get all the guard minutes. That’s how. 

From 5:09 to 2:16 in the 2nd, Mavs played without Brunson or Dinwidde and again from 
3:18 to 0:50 in the third. The team was -8 in the first stint (5-13) and -3 in the second (6-9). 

So in the 5 minutes and 21 seconds without 2 of Luka/Jalen/Spencer, Mavs were -11. In the remaining 42:39, +14. 

Oddly, this lineup issue seems to have affected the Mavs’ defense even more than its offense, with 22 of the Celtics 93 points (24%) coming in that 5:21 (11%) of game time.

And the Mavs were outscored 22-11 in those 5 minutes and 21 seconds,

Good stuff!

Yeah, this is essentially the Trey Burke minutes.  Put another way, it is the period of time where Dallas tried to survive with Luka, Dorian and the bench (some combination of Maxi, Green, Brown and Burke).  They actually got away with it in the late first as Luka/Burke and three bench guys were +3.  This is where missing just one guy really hurts.  With Bullock available, they don't tend to go as deep into the bench.

Some other notes...

Bertans didn't appear in the second half.  

They tried 2-bigs to start the fourth and gave up 5 points during that 3:20 stretch.  Is it because 2-bigs is bad or because the team was 1 of 5 during that time with Dinwiddie missing two three-pointers and two-FT's?  

It was really a game of runs. Boston had an 8-0 run against our starters in the 1st and a 9-2 run against the same group in the 3rd.  Boston also had a 15-5 run in the 2nd in that period of time you identify in your post.  Dallas had a 15-3 run in the third to retake the lead 64-62.  We held our own to the end of the 3rd thanks mainly to the Dinwiddie buzzer beater and then gave up the lead early in the fourth.  In fact, the fourth quarter was basically a bunch of mini-runs.  Boston 7-0, then Dallas 5-0, then Boston 5-0.  

Dallas finished the game with two 6-0 runs in the fourth and that was basically the game.  Luka, SD and Dorian made their shots going 6 of 8 from the 8:40 mark on (when Luka and DFS came back in).  Tatum, Brown and Smart went 2 of 12 during that same period.  Wow!

[Jommybone]

Good stuff!

Yeah, this is essentially the Trey Burke minutes.  Put another way, it is the period of time where Dallas tried to survive with Luka, Dorian and the bench (some combination of Maxi, Green, Brown and Burke).  They actually got away with it in the late first as Luka/Burke and three bench guys were +3.  This is where missing just one guy really hurts.  With Bullock available, they don't tend to go as deep into the bench.

Some other notes...

Bertans didn't appear in the second half.  

They tried 2-bigs to start the fourth and gave up 5 points during that 3:20 stretch.  Is it because 2-bigs is bad or because the team was 1 of 5 during that time with Dinwiddie missing two three-pointers and two-FT's?  

It was really a game of runs. Boston had an 8-0 run against our starters in the 1st and a 9-2 run against the same group in the 3rd.  Boston also had a 15-5 run in the 2nd in that period of time you identify in your post.  Dallas had a 15-3 run in the third to retake the lead 64-62.  We held our own to the end of the 3rd thanks mainly to the Dinwiddie buzzer beater and then gave up the lead early in the fourth.  In fact, the fourth quarter was basically a bunch of mini-runs.  Boston 7-0, then Dallas 5-0, then Boston 5-0.  

Dallas finished the game with two 6-0 runs in the fourth and that was basically the game.  Luka, SD and Dorian made their shots going 6 of 8 from the 8:40 mark on (when Luka and DFS came back in).  Tatum, Brown and Smart went 2 of 12 during that same period.  Wow!

Interesting about the starters giving up those runs. But in a defensive battle with lots of 3 attempts, you have to expect scoring to be a bit lumpy. 

I would add this: Mavs were so good on defense for the game that I’m not gonna second guess what they did in any short stretches. But I wonder if the lack of a second handler/distributor on offense in the no Jalen/Spencer minutes resulted in fast breaks. I might have to go back and watch those minutes to see.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Interesting about the starters giving up those runs. But in a defensive battle with lots of 3 attempts, you have to expect scoring to be a bit lumpy. 

I would add this: Mavs were so good on defense for the game that I’m not gonna second guess what they did in any short stretches. But I wonder if the lack of a second handler/distributor on offense in the no Jalen/Spencer minutes resulted in fast breaks. I might have to go back and watch those minutes to see.

I went back and watched that final 8:40.  It wasn't nearly as impressive as I remember in real time.  Boston missed about six 3's in a row while we were sputtering.  Then Boston scored at will driving to the basket.  The only time they didn't score was on the Maxi block (which was really the only truly impressive defensive play of this stretch).  Smart and Tatum both missed jumpers at about the FT line and there was another missed 3.

Meanwhile, we made some bad plays offensively down the stretch, but when it came to winning time, Luka, SD and Dorian all hit massive three point shots.  Not taking anything from the win, but sometimes long jumpers go in and sometimes they don't.

[Hypermav]

Could not join the fun here yesterday and luckily got the chance to watch the last 6 minutes of the game real time.  I gave it to Dinswishie because he hit the game winner.

[KillerLeft]

Dinswishie

Love this. 

There has been a lot of talk about how he can't keep this up. I actually believe this offense (space to drive) is custom made for his game, now that I'm getting to see it consistently. I think he'll continue to drive, score and dish effectively. Pretty confident about that. 

His three point shooting, however...I think he's currently on the mother of all hot streaks and I'm pretty worried that's going to fade at the worst possible time. Especially those stepbakcs and pullup 3's. I'm not at all confident about that part of his game.