PLAYOFFS ROUND 2: #1 PHX (3-4) vs. #4 DAL (4-3) | DAL advances to WCF!

[Chicagojk]

Something else I got right.  Of course you are supposed to lose on the road to the best team in the league.  Thankfully we righted the ship last night.  None of it will matter if we don’t get Game 4 (gentleman’s sweep if we don’t).  

Before I get too self congratulatory, in the same post I quoted a stat I heard on “Locked on Mavs” that Phoenix gives up 1.8 PPP to the roll man in the PnR.  Obviously, that hasn’t been our experience.  In fact, Powell is now essentially a bench player who happens to start and plays long enough to get Maxi the right number of minutes.  His energy was really helpful to start the 3rd.  In fact, the Phoenix starters were -5 when they sat in the first quarter and -9 when they sat after starting the 3rd.  But, you can’t play Powell alongside Frank or Josh until one of them develops a 3.  That’s why we get the Bertans cameo in the second.

Personally, I think Luka should worry more about getting 10+ assists than getting 30 points.  He has to do a certain amount of driving to get the points in the paint we need.  But, ball movement is the key to winning and last night we seemed to have more of it.

I prefer start of games where we get passing Luka.  I also like when others start the game handling the ball a little.   Now, the others have to show up, but it is my favorite type of starts.   Last night, Jalen missed his first 3 or 4 first shots.  I was thinking "Oh great, here we go again".  But he kept at it and got more opportunities rather than waiting in the corner.   Luka and JB need to keep on attacking.

Din is a little concerning for me.  He has been strangely quiet in these games.   A lot of dancing behind the three point line.  Last night he only played 24 minutes.  When Luka got 5 fouls there was a stretch when Din wasn't on the court when Luka was out.  I thought that was weird to go with 1 and half (Frankie) ball handlers in the fourth. 

Luka and Jalen hit some really tough shots last night.  I think we are going to need regular season Din to put some paint points up in this series....probably the next game.