GAME 58: DAL (31-27) @ SAC (32-24) | Dallas lost 133-128 in OT

[Mavs2021]

This is the main reason I didn't hate the JaVale signing in the offseason. Come playoff time Dwight won't cut it.

Cause you like to see a different center, who won´t cut it in the play-offs?

[LukaMVP]

kidd benched his 3rd best player and 2nd best rebounder for the OT just to let the queens score for fun while making his own team's offense go stagnant. he benched wood for defensive reasons i guess, but im afraid even Kidd himself would've hardly done worse than powell out there in D.

[SleepingHero]

I mean we can complain all we want about benching Wood, Luka gave this one away. I counted 3 crucial turnovers that directly let the Kings win. Then he takes probably the most difficult 3 in the world for no reason at the end of OT.

It's jarring seeing Luka make those kinds of mistakes. And I'm not even counting all the other really difficult shots he took late in the 2nd half. He really did give this one away. I hope this sticks with him and he learns from his mistakes. 

On the bright side, Kyrie is one clutch mfer. Green had probably his best game as a Maverick. Wood was pretty amazing on offense in the 2nd, but I wasn't mad at Kidd benching him in favor of defense. Powell made 2-3 really crucial contests at the end of the game but we couldn't secure a rebound.

Also the refs straight up made an incorrect call on that jump ball. It should've been Mavs ball easily, or at worst, a foul on Bullock. But the ref made up some rules and called a jump ball.

This would've been a great one to win, especially on a 2nd night of a back to back. This one stings a lot just because of the horrible mistakes Luka made. Really casual with the ball in crunch time.

[Dundalis]

I mean we can complain all we want about benching Wood, Luka gave this one away. I counted 3 crucial turnovers that directly let the Kings win. Then he takes probably the most difficult 3 in the world for no reason at the end of OT.

It's jarring seeing Luka make those kinds of mistakes. And I'm not even counting all the other really difficult shots he took late in the 2nd half. He really did give this one away. I hope this sticks with him and he learns from his mistakes. 

On the bright side, Kyrie is one clutch mfer. Green had probably his best game as a Maverick. Wood was pretty amazing on offense in the 2nd, but I wasn't mad at Kidd benching him in favor of defense. Powell made 2-3 really crucial contests at the end of the game but we couldn't secure a rebound.

Also the refs straight up made an incorrect call on that jump ball. It should've been Mavs ball easily, or at worst, a foul on Bullock. But the ref made up some rules and called a jump ball.

This would've been a great one to win, especially on a 2nd night of a back to back. This one stings a lot just because of the horrible mistakes Luka made. Really casual with the ball in crunch time.

This type of Luka performance has happened before, it's not the first time and won't be the last. But ultimately, he's still not in great shape and is coming off a heel injury that probably isn't fully mended. I think it's been a consistent theme during his career that his performance, which includes his decision making tails off the more his conditioning catches up to him. It was around this time last season that his conditioning, which was as bad as it's ever been prior, really started to pick up and get better, and his play the second half of the season was significantly better than the first. I think that's probably likely again assuming he doesn't pick up another injury.

Honestly, he was probably better just sitting out till after the all star break, everyone was just desperate to see him with Kyrie.

[LukaMVP]

it's just his first game coming back from injury and also his first game playing with co-star kyrie. he should've played better and it was a game we could've won, but give him a break. i agree it would've been better if he sat past all-star weekend and came back fully healthy, but i guess he doesn't wanna miss the all-star game, so he came back a bit earlier.

[sefant]

I mean we can complain all we want about benching Wood, Luka gave this one away. I counted 3 crucial turnovers that directly let the Kings win. Then he takes probably the most difficult 3 in the world for no reason at the end of OT.

ye his overall boxscore stats look good. But his TO were certainly momentum killing moments in a TIGHT game on a b2b. The Dan legacy rant/post about Luka would been fitting here. He didn't really have many transition problems, unless i haven't been noticing them. Tho that was a step in the right direction. But Luka has ways to go to be a complete MVP with MVP impact every night. You noticed in the first quarter that he is probably not ready for tonight. Lots of 3's. Trouble getting by people and towards the rim. The hallmarks of a "weaker" Luka game. By the 4th quarter/OT he was tired.

I thought his defense was a mixed bag too. He had better games already. Have to improve. Few missed rotations, that people would kill Wood for. But i also give him a break with his injury. He looked a litte slow post injury. He looked like the guy that played yesterday. Not the guy that was "rested".

That counted for the rest of the team as well. They all looked a little flat on a 2nd night of a b2b, and 3 games in 4 nights on a roadtrip.

  the only guy who didn't miss a beat on a 2nd night of a b2b.

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If you wanna be overly harsh towards Hardy/Pinson. Their stretches lost the game. Hindsight is obviously 20/20. And there was also enough opportunities to still win the game. But i also had a bad feeling about this 25 min into the game. When i saw Pinson subbed into the game in the 1st quarter.

Wright -29 on/off
Wood -26 on/off
Pinson -25 on/off
Hardy +11 on/off

the last 4 games




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Was this also the Tim "addition by subtraction" legacy game. Aka a little underrated what Tim is doing on defense this year.

Tim yesterday

on DefRtg 97.0
off DefRtg 131.2

on OffRtg 127.3
off DefRtg 113.2

He is probably the 3rd wing/guard defender on the roster after Green/Bullock at times. As long as Kleber isn't back. As long as Kidd is largly ignoring Frank, maybe Morris too.

Maybe i am bit too heavily influenced by being a number + advanced stats guy. But also my eyetest is telling me Tim has improved on defense compared to previous seasons. He is not the total liability anymore of previous seasons.

Last 4 games. The defense is

- 7.1 better with Kyrie on the floor
- 6.7 pts better with Green on the floor
- 5.2 pts better with Tim on the floor

[MAVS-SLO]

The loss i'm not concerned about.

Back to back games against the same opponent are always hard. Also the first game of Luka and Kyrie together, they are still adjusting.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

we should've closed the game in regular time. we have more superstars than the queens (2 vs. 0), yet we still found a way to lose somehow. i also think that kidd just tanked this game intentionally. it ain't no playoff game so it doesn't matter.

He might not be one, but Fox played like a superstar.

[ItsGoTime]

It was a b2b for both teams, that excuse doesn’t work. Not sure why people are pointing it out.

[Jason Terry]

I thought we played well. Got the kings best effort. Lots of correctable mistakes from Luka and the team that come with the new pairing. Kyrie is already so impressive. It feels like Luka is the one who will need to make the biggest adjustments. We saw glimpses of how easy it will be when they figure it out

I’m most interested in the big man tryouts we’re having 

Wood came out and struggled a bit but i thought his minutes after that were great on both ends. I want to see him in some extended runs of being the solo big. Really test his toughness. Maybe there’s another level to unlock. It’s a pivotal moment in his career and what he delivers over the next few months IMO will be the best stretch of his career good/bad. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities he pulls a Rondo. Though that would be surprising considering his whole career is on the line. I like the position the team is in with him

McGee was not as good tonight. But if this were to be the new “bad” game for Mcgee then i would take it. He is a presence that none of the other 3 bigs bring. We desperately need this tool in our toolbox. Especially with Maxi out. I think McGee sees this and he’s giving best effort

Powell always gives effort and is more than passable in his minutes. He has always been and will always be most effective in 15-20 min. Powell and Kyrie already have great chemistry so it’s possible Powell could be played more minutes without Luka now, but it’s still ideal to keep all the bigs low minute so they’re more effective 

Finding the right times to play these 3 and making it work is something to watch. It ties into the key to our playoff run which is Maxi. If we find a successful way without Maxi it frees him up to guard the other teams best frontcourt player which is the biggest need on the team

[ItsGoTime]

Last night, Sac defended us with Powell in the game by leaving him wide open in the lane when he rolled but having 1 player between him and the rim so as to not give up a completely wide open lay up. In this way, they wanted him to be the player that beat them. He torched them using that strategy by going for 7 pts and 1 assist.

They used mostly that same strategy with McGee saying let McGee beat us, and he tried to, but he is not him.

When Wood rolled to the basket, they kept a player on him all the way through and a player at the rim so as to double him (or more) if he did get a pass. He also DID give effort on defense, which is the only criteria needed on this team.

[ItsGoTime]

That was as a team that had 1 game previously to figure it out. Results speak for themselves. In the playoffs, teams are gonna beg for Powell and McGee to beat them…Wood, not so much.

[DanSchwartzgan]

 
I’m most interested in the big man tryouts we’re having 

Wood came out and struggled a bit but i thought his minutes after that were great on both ends. I want to see him in some extended runs of being the solo big. Really test his toughness.  

I don't think we are going to see that test absent some more injuries.  The good news is I think we are likely to get him some help soon.

What people miss in all of this 'Wood is great and Powell sucks' commentary is Kidd is hiding Wood.  He now only plays when the opponents best big is sitting.  It isn't a knock.  That's the role...feast on lesser players when the opportunity presents itself.  The issue last night was Wood/Kyrie couldn't carry Pinson and Hardy.  That will presumably change when Maxi comes back.  It will be Wood, Maxi, Reggie and Kyrie against the opponent bench.  Instead of massive negatives On-Court, we should be seeing net positives.  The starters will be fine and the bench minutes will eventually improve given good health.

I think Green officially graduated to starter last night.  Yeah, he's been starting, but there has been someone out and we weren't quite sure what Kidd would do on a night Luka, Kyrie, Bullock and THJ were all available.  The answer was Green/THJ with a big and two ball handlers.

We spend a good bit of time debating here about what we need to add.  A wing vs. a ball handler vs. a center.  I've tended to lean toward center.  The team seems to think it can develop Green/Hardy into that third ball-handler role.  I'm fine with that largely because if we pay up for such a player, it will block Hardy from developmental time.  Sefant presents good numbers that show the wing minutes are in decent shape between Green, Reggie and THJ.  Would it be nice if one of those guys was bigger...yes (we really missed Dorian's size last night).  But, we have Maxi for that.  The place of biggest need in terms of a starter is center.  Powell and Wood are both fantastic bench bigs.  Neither will hold up against the beasts in the playoffs and neither can stand on their own without a little size next to him.

[ItsGoTime]

So, in my mind, the debate isn’t Wood is great and Powell sucks. It’s that Wood isn’t as bad as many vocals are claiming and Kidd thinks vs Powell getting heaps of praise for all the intangibles and not getting knocked down for the stuff he is horrible at. That recent discussion about Powell being worth an extension or close to MLE money really tilted me and is the biggest reason I was invested in pointing out Powell’s visible negatives.

Wood can’t guard Sabonis, I get it. Why isn’t that a wash with Powell getting the exact same treatment as Wood? Anyone Wood can’t guard, Powell is right there with him (Kevin Huerter made Powell into a traffic cone last night from the perimeter, Wood might have been the same story, except I guarantee if Wood is following Huerter to the basket, he’s keeping that in mind as opposed to Powell, he’s so much an afterthought). Powell constantly gets played with the best players on the team, Wood, even when starting, not so much (so many injuries during his starting stretch). His bench time stats are more about playing with Green than anything else to this point. Green is that guy for this team this year so far.

Really not sure why there is such a blind spot with Wood after the playoff run we just had. Powell played 5-6 mins to start each half in general. When are the players the most energized during a game? The first 5-6 minutes of each half. Maybe that has something to do with his +\- stat? We KNOW Powell is not it after that run. We tried to get a replacement for him as the #1 priority this offseason.

[IamDougieFresh]

This game was strong proof that Dwight can’t get it done in the playoffs as if we needed any more.

[mvossman]

ye his overall boxscore stats look good. But his TO were certainly momentum killing moments in a TIGHT game on a b2b. The Dan legacy rant/post about Luka would been fitting here. He didn't really have many transition problems, unless i haven't been noticing them. Tho that was a step in the right direction. But Luka has ways to go to be a complete MVP with MVP impact every night. You noticed in the first quarter that he is probably not ready for tonight. Lots of 3's. Trouble getting by people and towards the rim. The hallmarks of a "weaker" Luka game. By the 4th quarter/OT he was tired.

I thought his defense was a mixed bag too. He had better games already. Have to improve. Few missed rotations, that people would kill Wood for. But i also give him a break with his injury. He looked a litte slow post injury. He looked like the guy that played yesterday. Not the guy that was "rested".

That counted for the rest of the team as well. They all looked a little flat on a 2nd night of a b2b, and 3 games in 4 nights on a roadtrip.

  the only guy who didn't miss a beat on a 2nd night of a b2b.

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If you wanna be overly harsh towards Hardy/Pinson. Their stretches lost the game. Hindsight is obviously 20/20. And there was also enough opportunities to still win the game. But i also had a bad feeling about this 25 min into the game. When i saw Pinson subbed into the game in the 1st quarter.

Wright -29 on/off
Wood -26 on/off
Pinson -25 on/off
Hardy +11 on/off

the last 4 games




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Was this also the Tim "addition by subtraction" legacy game. Aka a little underrated what Tim is doing on defense this year.

Tim yesterday

on DefRtg 97.0
off DefRtg 131.2

on OffRtg 127.3
off DefRtg 113.2

He is probably the 3rd wing/guard defender on the roster after Green/Bullock at times. As long as Kleber isn't back. As long as Kidd is largly ignoring Frank, maybe Morris too.

Maybe i am bit too heavily influenced by being a number + advanced stats guy. But also my eyetest is telling me Tim has improved on defense compared to previous seasons. He is not the total liability anymore of previous seasons.

Last 4 games. The defense is

- 7.1 better with Kyrie on the floor
- 6.7 pts better with Green on the floor
- 5.2 pts better with Tim on the floor

Yeah, that Timmy defensive trend is not just the last 4 games, its been the entire season.  I think Kidd challenged him to play better defense and it seems to have made a difference.  I think we lost this game due to the loss of Timmy and the subsequent big minutes for Hardy and Pinson.  I'm fine with giving Hardy minutes in important games and living with the results (although 17 is too many when he is struggling), but in no universe should we be playing Pinson 10 minutes in an important game.  I'm not a fan of Terrance Ross but I am confident we would have gotten better minutes from him than Pinson.  I hope we find another wing in the buyout market so we don't have to see Pinson on the court again outside garbage time.

[MFFL]

It was a b2b for both teams, that excuse doesn’t work. Not sure why people are pointing it out.

There is a difference between playing a b2b at home vs a team finishing a 5 game road stretch. That's why people are pointing it out.

[mvossman]

I don't think we are going to see that test absent some more injuries.  The good news is I think we are likely to get him some help soon.

What people miss in all of this 'Wood is great and Powell sucks' commentary is Kidd is hiding Wood.  He now only plays when the opponents best big is sitting.  It isn't a knock.  That's the role...feast on lesser players when the opportunity presents itself.  The issue last night was Wood/Kyrie couldn't carry Pinson and Hardy.  That will presumably change when Maxi comes back.  It will be Wood, Maxi, Reggie and Kyrie against the opponent bench.  Instead of massive negatives On-Court, we should be seeing net positives.  The starters will be fine and the bench minutes will eventually improve given good health.

I think Green officially graduated to starter last night.  Yeah, he's been starting, but there has been someone out and we weren't quite sure what Kidd would do on a night Luka, Kyrie, Bullock and THJ were all available.  The answer was Green/THJ with a big and two ball handlers.

We spend a good bit of time debating here about what we need to add.  A wing vs. a ball handler vs. a center.  I've tended to lean toward center.  The team seems to think it can develop Green/Hardy into that third ball-handler role.  I'm fine with that largely because if we pay up for such a player, it will block Hardy from developmental time.  Sefant presents good numbers that show the wing minutes are in decent shape between Green, Reggie and THJ.  Would it be nice if one of those guys was bigger...yes (we really missed Dorian's size last night).  But, we have Maxi for that.  The place of biggest need in terms of a starter is center.  Powell and Wood are both fantastic bench bigs.  Neither will hold up against the beasts in the playoffs and neither can stand on their own without a little size next to him.

I think its a tough call between a center and big wing.  We need somebody who can guard big wings.  You mentioned Maxi, but as he gets older I'm not sure his best use is to be the primary defender on guys like Lebron and Leonard.  If we get a legit center, who are we playing at power forward?  If we are putting Maxi in the starting lineup I would rather it be as a 5 with a quality defensive power forward.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Also have consider how Maxi is going to look after coming off a torn hammy. Nobody is mentioning that. He's already on the wrong side of thirty. He's going to have a tough time guarding fleet, quicker wings. He more adept guarding centers IMO.

[Jason Terry]

I don't think we are going to see that test absent some more injuries.  The good news is I think we are likely to get him some help soon.

What people miss in all of this 'Wood is great and Powell sucks' commentary is Kidd is hiding Wood.  He now only plays when the opponents best big is sitting.  It isn't a knock.  That's the role...feast on lesser players when the opportunity presents itself.  The issue last night was Wood/Kyrie couldn't carry Pinson and Hardy.  That will presumably change when Maxi comes back.  It will be Wood, Maxi, Reggie and Kyrie against the opponent bench.  Instead of massive negatives On-Court, we should be seeing net positives.  The starters will be fine and the bench minutes will eventually improve given good health.

I think Green officially graduated to starter last night.  Yeah, he's been starting, but there has been someone out and we weren't quite sure what Kidd would do on a night Luka, Kyrie, Bullock and THJ were all available.  The answer was Green/THJ with a big and two ball handlers.

We spend a good bit of time debating here about what we need to add.  A wing vs. a ball handler vs. a center.  I've tended to lean toward center.  The team seems to think it can develop Green/Hardy into that third ball-handler role.  I'm fine with that largely because if we pay up for such a player, it will block Hardy from developmental time.  Sefant presents good numbers that show the wing minutes are in decent shape between Green, Reggie and THJ.  Would it be nice if one of those guys was bigger...yes (we really missed Dorian's size last night).  But, we have Maxi for that.  The place of biggest need in terms of a starter is center.  Powell and Wood are both fantastic bench bigs.  Neither will hold up against the beasts in the playoffs and neither can stand on their own without a little size next to him.

Green/Hardy getting the minutes behind Kyrie/Luka i think is the way forward. Yes we will need Dragic-lol or another vet min capable PG in the offseason. Right now though these guys getting these minutes is invaluable. Especially the playoffs minutes. We don’t want anyone blocking this from happening with Hardy. Yes Hardy will make stupid mistakes, but this team needs to live with that and coach him up rest of season………Green is the 3rd best player. He is untouchable. His current trajectory is near max rookie scale player if we were to make the finals. That good. Bigger leap: Brunson last year or Green this year? 

I agree that center is the biggest need for starter. I just don’t see where we get that in buyout(it wasn’t really there in trade either). Is Noel a starter? I don’t know. We could try. I would still want Wood to get some more looks to try to improve defensively even if it’s just a backup plan. I don’t which ones of our current guys will be able to play in the playoffs. Maxi is Plan A but we need alternatives. Utilizing Luka as a big is a strong option. He scores best in the paint. If Kyrie runs the show we can dominate the paint with Luka and i think this will free up his energy for defense and rebounding. He’s been guarding bigs his whole career 

We could also go small against certain teams with Maxi only. Stanley Johnson is interesting in this big wing role we’re missing. If something like that worked out i could see him getting burn as the small ball 5 until Maxi gets back