A Few Thoughts on Mavs 103, Celtics 109

[fifteenth]

Would JJB have likely finished the game better in this case than Jalen and THJ?

I think JJB would have given you a better chance to win, for sure!

I think Rick wanted to win. I don't think leaving JB in, or using Delon instead of JJB was conceding the game. No one knows what's going to happen before it hapoens.

So Rick wanted to win, but wanted the young guys to do it rather than JJB. His choice had less of a probability of resulting in a win I think, but he made that choice for development sake.

My theory anyway

[mavsluvr]

Would JJB have likely finished the game better in this case than Jalen and THJ?

I would probably rephrase the question to ask whether JJB would have finished the game better than Jalen and Wright (who actually closed the game). Yeah, probably. 

This one is more dicey I'd say but did Boston really have someone to stop Boban inside when the Mavs could have used a few buckets to hold a lead or stop a run?

Carlisle has made a few comments about using Boban over the season. To the effect that he believes that Boban is useful against big guys who aren't highly mobile and don't shoot threes. And that he can't keep up with a high degree of athleticism and pace. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been tried. Just chipping in a bit of Rick commentary. I get that you are saying he would have been put in for offensive purposes. 

The role I want him to have?  That's a misdirection 15th, the post is me expressing an opinion, in the form of questioning the strategy about this game and this situation.  Its not about me and not even about an overarching role I envision for JJB or for Boban.  You're taking the isolated point and stretching way beyond the scope of the post.  

Jeez! Way to overreact, fif. 

[Dahlsim]

Is there a majority consensus on Brunson? Are people complaining about him?

Apart from the late-game meltdown, I thought there was a lot to like about JB's performance. I hate to cite those ESPN announcers for anything, but they talked quite a bit about how well he was doing. I thought he might have called his own number a little too often (4-13), but that is sort of a nitpick on a one-night basis. For most of the time he was on the court, he managed the game well, especially considering the circumstances. 

JB has been open about wanting to become a starting PG in the NBA. If that is his ambition, he is going to have to learn how to close, but he's a young guy, and I agree that it doesn't happen overnight.

I'm a big fan of Jalen Brunson, was from following his Villanova career and pleased to see Donnie and company identify him as a real value pick in the draft.  He's making them look really good in the scouting department along with a few of the other Maverick development brigade.  

That said, yeah, leaving him in to close against Boston, against Kemba, against a Brad Stevens defense, yeah that's really 'show me what you really got son' stuff right there.  
As I said that's probably why JJB can't get off the bench even when it looks clear that he might have been able to help the team close.  
So Jalen is getting really tested here against the top of the line talent and Boston I thought was very good defensively last night, making everyone work for their buckets. 
 
You could really see in the end the difference between say Jalen and THJ as clutch scorers vs say Kemba and Seth Curry, who showed some ability to put up numbers even against tight defense.
Carlisle must think that Jalen and THJ have a chance to 'get there'.  I include Hardaway Jr. because of the way Rick keeps using him and giving him the green light even when he's ice cold.

---

Would JJB have likely finished the game better in this case than Jalen and THJ?

I think JJB would have given you a better chance to win, for sure!

I think Rick wanted to win. I don't think leaving JB in, or using Delon instead of JJB was conceding the game. No one knows what's going to happen before it hapoens.

So Rick wanted to win, but wanted the young guys to do it rather than JJB. His choice had less of a probability of resulting in a win I think, but he made that choice for development sake.

My theory anyway

And I agree with your theory there.  I wish Carlisle might split it a little differently there, walk and chew gum, maybe give the vets a little opening to help, but its subjective. 

If the young guys grow from the experience, Carlisle will get even more credit for trusting them in the fire all the way.

[SleepingHero]

I saw Brunson fall apart at the end and get benched. Same as everybody else saw. But I sure don’t share what appears to be the majority consensus opinion.

1. Delon appears to be on a minutes restriction still.

2. JJB was a no go for whatever reason.

3. That leaves Seth and Jalen as the creators of offense. And Seth, while en fuego himself, was not distributing and was turning it over.

4. Meanwhile, Jalen had 10 assists to just 1 turnover by the middle of the 3rd quarter. Sure, he turned it over twice more and had some sad-finish drives to nowhere as the game got physical during the 4th. And there's no doubt he played his way to a seat on the bench. But there were more than flashes of top-shelf play for much of the game. And that 10/7/11 stat line, even with 3 turnovers, is nothing to complain about.

Seriously now, on a night when 3 of 5 starters basically no showed, we're complaining about the sub for our injured star? When that sub is our 2nd leading rebounder and posts an 11:3 assist to turnover ratio?

Strong post.
After taking the night I realized I was a bit harsh on Brunson. He really did play a good game for basically 28 of his 31 minutes. 

With that said, I think it was undeniable that he played a large part in why the Mavs weren't able to win. I felt he took way too many shots, especially when he was having an off night. He was 4/13 from the field, which isn't much worse than the 4/17 clunker THJ put up. Hard to win any game when your backcourt goes a combined 8/30.

And yet the Mavs were right there, and Brunson essentially threw it away with 2 incredibly bad back-to-back turnovers, and then a forced drive that went nowhere in the final minutes. It was so egregious that Rick pulled him. 

However regardless of how Brunson played near the end, he still managed to distribute effectively and fought for rebounds. He had some fantastic defense against Kemba in the 2nd, though that disappeared near the end as well.

All I can say is that Brunson has some serious flaws, and on a winning team right now he's best suited to be played off the bench for less than 20 minutes a night. BUT, he's only a sophomore, and terrible late game choices aside, he's overall stepped up his production and is averaging 13.7 ppg/ 6.0 rpg/ 10.0apg on 39.5% from the field (yuck) 42.5% from 3 (amazing) and 83% from the line. Which is incredible and are remarkably similar to Kyle Lowry's numbers.

[Dahlsim]

Would JJB have likely finished the game better in this case than Jalen and THJ?

I would probably rephrase the question to ask whether JJB would have finished the game better than Jalen and Wright (who actually closed the game). Yeah, probably. 

This one is more dicey I'd say but did Boston really have someone to stop Boban inside when the Mavs could have used a few buckets to hold a lead or stop a run?

Carlisle has made a few comments about using Boban over the season. To the effect that he believes that Boban is useful against big guys who aren't highly mobile and don't shoot threes. And that he can't keep up with a high degree of athleticism and pace. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been tried. Just chipping in a bit of Rick commentary. I get that you are saying he would have been put in for offensive purposes. 

The role I want him to have?  That's a misdirection 15th, the post is me expressing an opinion, in the form of questioning the strategy about this game and this situation.  Its not about me and not even about an overarching role I envision for JJB or for Boban.  You're taking the isolated point and stretching way beyond the scope of the post.  

Jeez! Way to overreact, fif. 

I think you're right on the head about Boban, which is why I found it a little puzzling when they decided to pay him and bring him in anyway.  

I think he could be used a little more effectively than Rick apparently does but then I also remember Salah Mejri famously saying "The only person that can stop Salah Mejri is Rick Carlisle" after Mejri would finally get playing time and have a big game only to get sat down again and blacked out for the next match up.

I just thought it a little strange to bring Boban in knowing that Carlisle doesn't use the slower centers much.  He wants the Powell, Kleber and KP types.  
Now Woj is reporting the Mavs are looking for big body?
https://clutchpoints.com/mavs-rumors-dal...via-trade/

Well I guess if names like Drummond, Harrel and Griffin are what they have in mind, then uh, yeah that makes some sense.

[mavsluvr]

I think you're right on the head about Boban, which is why I found it a little puzzling when they decided to pay him and bring him in anyway.  

I think he could be used a little more effectively than Rick apparently does but then I also remember Salah Mejri famously saying "The only person that stop Salah Mejri is Rick Carlisle" after Mejri would finally get playing time and have a big game only get sat down again and blacked out for the next matchup.

I just thought it a little strange to bring Boban in knowing that Carlisle doesn't use the slower centers much.  He wants the Powell, Kleber and KP types.  
Now Woj is reporting the Mavs are looking for big body?

Iirc, that article was misleading, and Woj was speculating as to what the Mavs might be looking for, rather than reporting from a source. 


On Boban, the only thing I can think of is that Carlisle knew that he planned to use Boban only situationally when he was acquired.

[fifteenth]

Jeez! Way to overreact, fif. 

---

Well I guess if names like Drummond, Harrel and Griffin are what they have in mind, then uh, yeah that makes some sense.

No Mavs sources in that article. It's just the hosts throwing out some guesses.

---

On Boban, the only thing I can think of is that Carlisle knew that he planned to use Boban only situationally when he was acquired.

[mavsluvr]

Jeez! Way to overreact, fif. 

Awwww. Just joshing you, buddy. LOL

---

Well I guess if names like Drummond, Harrel and Griffin are what they have in mind, then uh, yeah that makes some sense.

No Mavs sources in that article. It's just the hosts throwing out some guesses.

---

On Boban, the only thing I can think of is that Carlisle knew that he planned to use Boban only situationally when he was acquired.

[ItsGoTime]

Just had a thought after thinking about all the upsettedness from officiating. I wonder if refs watch the games as fans and say what we're saying about the officiating?

[mavsluvr]

- Seth Curry clear path foul (yeah it was debatable but I think it was the right call) where Kemba hit them both then they scored 2 more points
- Defensive 3 second on KP - Kemba made
- Technical on THJ - Kemba missed this one
- Technical on DP - Kemba made

Those technicals were a little strange. After Dwight got his, he kept jawing about it for a long time. Carlisle yelled at him to let it go, and had to pull him when he kept talking. Believe that, in both cases, the players were mad about non-calls. 


As for the three-second call, I read in a statistical study that players often take chances with the three-second rule because it isn't called very often. No idea whether that was the situation in this case. 

Agree that they gave the Celts a little too much help on the foul line. One of the broadcasters said that these players aren't good enough to be squandering points on technical fouls. Don't know if he was talking about THJ and DP, or the Mavs as a whole. I understand why the players are hot when they get hit and don't get a call. But. . . .

[LukTheShadow]

Finally found some time to watch BOS game replay.

I didn't like:

- watching replay of this game knowing result and relative poor game from both teams - that was not fun
- air balls both side ??
- mavs bad rebounding
- team management of the home field burden
- some refs decisions I just can not feel ok with

I liked:

- mavs team effort in D thru most of the game
- 7 TO's only
- growth of KP's game
- Seth's game
- Jalen's game with individual scoring efficiency and crunch time unreliability exceptions
- Delon's "stealth" efficiency
- competitive mavs even on bad day
- see LD with the team with signs of fast recovery
- Kemba and his joy playing if I may..

I missed:

- JJB, but not in crunch time, in 3rdQ when BOS was running 16-5, to break that run somehow, José Juan know well how to do it
- home crowd support in mavs vacuum moments

I hope:

- to see better mavs tomorrow evening hopefully not on replay
- to have more fun watching W game us Bucks replay

[mavsluvr]

It looked to me like BOS worked on slowing the game down and it seemed like it took a rhythm away from DAL. As the game went on, I kept expecting DAL to make a big run to pull away with some cushion, but it never happened and the energy level never reached the critical point necessary to make such a run.

This actually felt more like a playoff type game. Not the hype, but the grinding style of play that it devolved into. I was actually surprised to see some reach the 100 pt. mark after watching most of the game.

Agree that it never looked like the Mavs got into a rhythm for any sustained period of time. Boston had a lot to do with that. As did the Mavs' poor shooting. They weren't able to use their defense to spur their offense as much as we have seen them do. And the Mavs did it to them, too.

[mavsluvr]

Just had a thought after thinking about all the upsettedness from officiating. I wonder if refs watch the games as fans and say what we're saying about the officiating?

could be, lol