Game 11: New Orleans Pelicans (5-6) vs. Dallas Mavericks (8-3) | 110-131 loss

[IamDougieFresh]

Just like the losses to the Nuggets and Raptors, they got whooped against a team that played a big lineup with size/length and got dominated in points in the paint. The teams that have these skilled frontcourt forwards are going to give them problems all season.

Denver: Aaron Gordon, MPJ
Toronto: Siakam, OG
NO: Jones, Ingram

I wonder if Tim playing 28% of his minutes at PF has anything to do with this

[SleepingHero]

That was one of the worst games I've ever seen Luka play, and I'm shocked Kidd didn't bench him.

I've never seen him look so disinterested, slow, and downright careless. Fucking embarrassing. He literally gave up as soon as the refs didn't give him what he wanted. 8 turnovers in 26 minutes is inexcusable. 6 turnovers in 9 minutes in the first quarter alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a miracle the Mavs weren't down 25 going into the 2nd.

It's times like this where I wish we had Luka's old Madrid coach who would have absolutely chewed him out in a profanity ridden lecture.

Disgusting.

[ThisIStheYear]

It was just a low key big game. Second most important of the season. These NBA teams are giving near playoff level intensity for the in-season tournament games. To see the Mavs mail it in like they just partied the night away on Bourban Street is a bad look.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/GrantAfseth/status/1...5325039628

Luka Doncic after the Dallas Mavericks' blowout loss vs. New Orleans Pelicans: "People don't understand it's 82 games in the NBA season. Of course, there will be a bad night, you know? It's the NBA; you have another chance tomorrow." 

I hate this response. Sure it's a long season, but does that mean you can just mail it in and play like absolute ass? Take that kind of mindset into every game and you are missing the playoffs.

I'm so so soooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in Luka tonight.

[SleepingHero]

Just going to post postgame interview stuff here from everyone.

Here's Luka's reply in regards to playing on the Pelicans In-Season tournament court:

---

Tim Hardaway on the color schemes of the in-season courts: "It doesn’t matter what I say. They’re going to do whatever they want at the end of the day. Court. Outdoor court. Windy conditions. Doesn’t matter. Basketball is basketball. They just kicked our ass."

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Just going to post postgame interview stuff here from everyone.

Here's Luka's reply in regards to playing on the Pelicans In-Season tournament court:

---

Tim Hardaway on the color schemes of the in-season courts: "It doesn’t matter what I say. They’re going to do whatever they want at the end of the day. Court. Outdoor court. Windy conditions. Doesn’t matter. Basketball is basketball. They just kicked our ass."

Right. No excuses. N.O. had to play on the same court.

[Dundalis]

https://twitter.com/GrantAfseth/status/1...5325039628



I hate this response. Sure it's a long season, but does that mean you can just mail it in and play like absolute ass? Take that kind of mindset into every game and you are missing the playoffs.

I'm so so soooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in Luka tonight.

I think we are beyond the potential expectation of Luka eventually acting like a seasoned pro night in night out. Everyone of Luka's teammates says Luka acts like a little kid all the time. I have a feeling it's not him "acting" his age, and more it's just straight up him. Maybe by his late 20's the stuff changes, but I get the feeling his overall attitude to the game is kinda kid like, and that includes both the positives that come from that but also the negatives. And this is the most extreme example of the negative.

I think it's potentially gonna be a Draymond like situation, where you either accept the cons that come with him or you don't accept him at all. Hope I'm wrong. Either way, thankfully these types of outings, despite being more common than we would like aren't that common, especially when the team is doing well.

[Mavs2021]

I think we are beyond the potential expectation of Luka eventually acting like a seasoned pro night in night out. Everyone of Luka's teammates says Luka acts like a little kid all the time. I have a feeling it's not him "acting" his age, and more it's just straight up him. Maybe by his late 20's the stuff changes, but I get the feeling his overall attitude to the game is kinda kid like, and that includes both the positives that come from that but also the negatives. And this is the most extreme example of the negative.

I think it's potentially gonna be a Draymond like situation, where you either accept the cons that come with him or you don't accept him at all. Hope I'm wrong. Either way, thankfully these types of outings, despite being more common than we would like aren't that common, especially when the team is doing well.

I don´t know whether a night out is the explanation for the performance, but if it was, then Luka wasn´t alone. The whole team played drunk. The reaction times, the errant passes, the horrible decisions. There was so much unusual behaviour, not just bad play. Once sequence at the start of the 3rd quarter an errant pass by the Pelicans hit DJJ on the hip. By the time DJJ finally reacted to it, the ball had slowly rolled six feet around the court, before getting into a ping-pong contest between three other Mavs players and some Pelicans players before finding it´s way to another Pelicans player for another three.

[DanSchwartzgan]

That 40 minute shitshow was almost worth it to see Holmes and Omax play well for the last eight.

Thanks for this.  I didn't get home until after the game was over.  So, I only watched the last 8 (made my Mav's watching experience much better than what the rest of you experienced).  It was encouraging to see a flash or two from OMax and have him not look totally lost like he had on some previous occasions.

[Nowitzki Way]

Thanks for this.  I didn't get home until after the game was over.  So, I only watched the last 8 (made my Mav's watching experience much better than what the rest of you experienced).  It was encouraging to see a flash or two from OMax and have him not look totally lost like he had on some previous occasions.

It was a terrible experience for those that watched it from the beginning .

But on the OMax topic. I know its early, but I'm a little skeptical about his long term prosepcts. But we'll see. He looked good on his 3 point attempt. He was confident and didnt hesitate. Lost is the word i keep seeing when describing his minutes, and its exactly what he looks like. Lost. He just looks awkward out there.

[dirkfansince1998]

It was a terrible experience for those that watched it from the beginning .

But on the OMax topic. I know its early, but I'm a little skeptical about his long term prosepcts. But we'll see. He looked good on his 3 point attempt. He was confident and didnt hesitate. Lost is the word i keep seeing when describing his minutes, and its exactly what he looks like. Lost. He just looks awkward out there.

Hard to tell because he is only playing garbage time minutes. Without any structure or system. For the most part just Hardy chucking away on offense. No one even trying to defend. Super high pace because both teams are firing away from 3 early in the shot clock.

[Nowitzki Way]

Hard to tell because he is only playing garbage time minutes. Without any structure or system. For the most part just Hardy chucking away on offense. No one even trying to defend. Super high pace because both teams are firing away from 3 early in the shot clock.

This game, yes. But even in summer league and pre-season. He looked lost and awkward.  

But you're totally right about last night's garbage minutes. That was just Hardy shooting everything he could touch.

[meistermatze]

Really not sure if I have EVER watched a game played this badly overall by a Mavericks team. That was just disgusting and a total embarassment. Sad to say that Luka was the absolute worst in every regard. 8 TOs and 2 assists? Come on, man. Usually I would laugh everybody out of the room if they tried to explain a collective effort like this with them being "drunk" or "hungover" but in this case it really would make a lot of sense.

Sure, we should forget about it since it is a long season but whatever the players did before the game, even if it was just not getting their mindset ready, they should never dare to do like this again. Getting beat like this is just inexcusable end everybody who was a part of it should be ashamed by themselves. That is not an overreaction, we are 8-3 and I am very happy with the team all around. My words should just tell you how bad this game actually was.

[fifteenth]

Was that Luka's worst game ever? He just fell down the whole game. Dribble up to Hornet player, Hornet player reaches for ball, Luka falls down and throws his hands in the air. It was like a SNL skit.

If his agent sent that game tape to China teams to try to get him a job, they'd pass.

I'm guessing New Orleans night life was the culprit.

[ItsGoTime]

Partying with Zion, only when Zion took a drink, he threw the drink behind him.

[omahen]

Game was terrible, not much to say. First game they should have won but didn't. As long as this doesn't become a habit, I accept the "long season and things happen" explanaiton. Todays game is a nice opportunity for them to redeem themselves. No excuses otherwise

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Game was terrible, not much to say. First game they should have won but didn't. As long as this doesn't become a habit, I accept the "long season and things happen" explanaiton. Todays game is a nice opportunity for them to redeem themselves. No excuses otherwise

Yep, just got to bounce back tonight.  Most of the rotation got to sit the 4th so the back to back shouldn't be as bad now at least.

If we don't get this one then a 4 game skid very much comes into play.

[SleepingHero]

I think we are beyond the potential expectation of Luka eventually acting like a seasoned pro night in night out. Everyone of Luka's teammates says Luka acts like a little kid all the time. I have a feeling it's not him "acting" his age, and more it's just straight up him. Maybe by his late 20's the stuff changes, but I get the feeling his overall attitude to the game is kinda kid like, and that includes both the positives that come from that but also the negatives. And this is the most extreme example of the negative.

I think it's potentially gonna be a Draymond like situation, where you either accept the cons that come with him or you don't accept him at all. Hope I'm wrong. Either way, thankfully these types of outings, despite being more common than we would like aren't that common, especially when the team is doing well.

I agree with you. I don't think Luka's cons are nearly as bad as Draymond though. In 5 years how many times can we say Luka gave up? I can probably count maybe 4 or 5 and it all occured in the regular season. It should be never, but he's human and allowed to have off-nights. 

I was so mad last night that I probably went a bit overboard in my reaction but like everyone else here said the team played like drunkards. 

As a clarification I don't question Luka's willingness to win. He is as competitive as they come. But his immaturity at times is so poor that it shocks me he even had the discipline to become this good to begin with.

I'm a Luka stan. He's my favorite player in the NBA by a longshot and I'm so happy he's on the Mavs, but sheesh dude if he could just get a little more "Tim Duncan-esque" in his system I'm not sure he'll ever lose a basketball game again.

[SkenfromLMF]

Was that Luka's worst game ever? He just fell down the whole game. Dribble up to Hornet player, Hornet player reaches for ball, Luka falls down and throws his hands in the air. It was like a SNL skit.

If his agent sent that game tape to China teams to try to get him a job, they'd pass.

I'm guessing New Orleans night life was the culprit.

I believe it was Vin Baker who lost (beginning of the end) his career when Milwaukee had a layover in New Orleans on a holiday (New Years IIRC)...
Not just the court that has HEX-agonal values down there.