Game 50 Dirkie: Mavs vs. Sixers

[MrGoat]

Which Maverick elevated their game enough to help the team win?

Apparently you need to add the poll after posting this so I'll try it out (yay, figured out how to do it)

[SkenfromLMF]

Somebody want to ask Dennis Smith Jr. what happens after a game like this?

[Reunion Mav]

I vote Kleber. A legitimate big man played good including defense. Welcome back Maxi. Having not played at all I would say he played way above expectations.

[KillerLeft]

I watched only the second half, but Williams played some fine defense and hit some timely threes. He narrowly edges out Kleber for my vote.

[ThisIStheYear]

Green was on his way to a Dirkie win without a curve but tailed off a bit. Maxi would be an excellent choice too.

[SleepingHero]

I voted for Josh.

The 76ers game plan was dialed in from the beginning and it was denying Luka any chance he could get to shoot. Overload his side. Double, triple team if you have to. But they added a caveat and they never took the man guarding Kyrie to double Luka. This forced basically anyone else besides Luka and Kyrie to step up. Josh Green and Maxi freaking saved the day.

Green's hot shooting and timely defense set the tone. I would've been fine sending him in a multitude of trades even a month ago, but his passing and efficient shooting, coupled with his tenacious defense is something we can't just give away for a "maybe". I've come to terms that he will not be a 12-15ppg guy consistently. It's ok. The nights he can give you more than 15 you're probably going to blow out other teams anyways. But the usual 8 a night with his defense is enough to keep you connected. Dirkie for you Mr. Green.

Maxi. Oh man Maxi. I was so dejected that your career was going to end with a whimper. You looked awful playing your way back from injury. Almost unplayable. But these last few games you're playing like the Maxi of old and shutting me and anyone who ever doubted you up. Maxi's even doing more than what he's normally good at. I mean putting the ball on the deck and driving for a layup finishing through contact? Not one but TWO midrange shots? Maxi playing like this is the perfect backup 5. His issue has always been his health. Can we bubble wrap him till April?

Welcome back Kyrie. The Mavs sorely missed him. The first quarter was incredibly ugly as no one could buy a bucket. But as the game went on, you could see the effect just having a guy like Kyrie out there had on the game. He orchestrated the offense and set so many guys up. The 76ers defense focused entirely on Luka and Kyrie made them pay time and again. He had some great defensive moments as well and just let the offense come to him as he cruised to an efficient 23 points on the night.


Now for the stinkers:

Luka had an off game. It was obvious his ankle was bothering him. The 76ers game plan also made it pretty impossible to take anything other than a spot up 3. Hard to get into rhythm with that. Despite that Luka still played well enough and even played D. I'm glad he was able to get much needed rest, which is insane we can say 35 mins is rest for Luka. I guess that's understandable when he was playing almost 45mpg for the last 2 weeks. I hope he has a nice night in New York and gets some much needed rest.

THJ was the worst guy on the court the entire night. He was ice cold. Such is the pendulum that is THJ where he can give you 18 points on 50% from 3 the previous game then go 0-8 the next. He literally couldn't buy a bucket if he had to. I can look past his terrible shooting. Hell I can also look past the fact he missed guys wide open guys tonight several times (Hardy in the corner w/3:22 in the 1st, Green trail 3 w/5mins left in the 2nd, are the two most prominent ones that come to mind). But his defense. Holy shit his defense is non-existent. He might as well have been cherry picking the entire time he was on the court that's how little defensive pressure he had all night. Mavs basically played 5 on 4 while he was out there. I don't have anything nice to say about THJ, so I won't. Moving on.

Grant Williams is an enigma. The first half he played some of the most lackadaisical basketball I've ever seen. His BBIQ is in the single digits. He is unable to make the right play consistently. Then the 4th quarter happens and he flashes what he COULD be if he can hit shots. He had some great defensive moments. When his shot is falling I can see the fit. But there were at least 3 occasions I saw Luka visibly glare/yell at Grant for making an incredibly dumb play. Whether it be not passing the ball properly, not being able to rebound a clear ball with no one around you, not rotating and allowing an open dunk???? What else? Not being able to decide whether to shoot an open shot or drive into Mo Bamba and then get swatted into next week? Grant has shown me what a consistent 10ppg guy can do for this team. He isn't even that. We're lauding 14 points from him like he's broken through but I saw a pretty mediocre game that was went from horrific to passable cause of a hot 4th quarter. I believed he could get out of his slump and offered him time in November. We're now in February and he looks just as lost as ever. It's time to move on.

Anyways, kudos to the Mavs finally putting their foot down defensively and getting a win. I hope they're just as prepared to play Brooklyn tomorrow.

[Mavs2021]

I voted for Josh.

The 76ers game plan was dialed in from the beginning and it was denying Luka any chance he could get to shoot. Overload his side. Double, triple team if you have to. But they added a caveat and they never took the man guarding Kyrie to double Luka. This forced basically anyone else besides Luka and Kyrie to step up. Josh Green and Maxi freaking saved the day.

Green's hot shooting and timely defense set the tone. I would've been fine sending him in a multitude of trades even a month ago, but his passing and efficient shooting,  coupled with his tenacious defense is something we can't just give away for a "maybe". I've come to terms that he will not be a 12-15ppg guy consistently. It's ok. The nights he can give you more than 15 you're probably going to blow out other teams anyways. But the usual 8 a night with his defense is enough to keep you connected. Dirkie for you Mr. Green.

Maxi. Oh man Maxi. I was so dejected that your career was going to end with a whimper. You looked awful playing your way back from injury. Almost unplayable. But these last few games you're playing like the Maxi of old and shutting me and anyone who ever doubted you up. Maxi's even doing more than what he's normally good at. I mean putting the ball on the deck and driving for a layup finishing through contact? Not one but TWO midrange shots? Maxi playing like this is the perfect backup 5. His issue has always been his health. Can we bubble wrap him till April?

Welcome back Kyrie. The Mavs sorely missed him. The first quarter was incredibly ugly as no one could buy a bucket. But as the game went on, you could see the effect just having a guy like Kyrie out there had on the game. He orchestrated the offense and set so many guys up. The 76ers defense focused entirely on Luka and Kyrie made them pay time and again. He had some great defensive moments as well and just let the offense come to him as he cruised to an efficient 23 points on the night.


Now for the stinkers:

Luka had an off game. It was obvious his ankle was bothering him. The 76ers game plan also made it pretty impossible to take anything other than a spot up 3. Hard to get into rhythm with that. Despite that Luka still played well enough and even played D. I'm glad he was able to get much needed rest, which is insane we can say 35 mins is rest for Luka. I guess that's understandable when he was playing almost 45mpg for the last 2 weeks. I hope he has a nice night in New York and gets some much needed rest.

THJ was the worst guy on the court the entire night. He was ice cold. Such is the pendulum that is THJ where he can give you 18 points on 50% from 3 the previous game then go 0-8 the next. He literally couldn't buy a bucket if he had to. I can look past his terrible shooting. Hell I can also look past the fact he missed guys wide open guys tonight  several times (Hardy in the corner w/3:22 in the 1st, Green trail 3 w/5mins left in the 2nd, are the two most prominent ones that come to mind). But his defense. Holy shit his defense is non-existent. He might as well have been cherry picking the entire time he was on the court that's how little defensive pressure he had all night. Mavs basically played 5 on 4 while he was out there. I don't have anything nice to say about THJ, so I won't. Moving on.

Grant Williams is an enigma. The first half he played some of the most lackadaisical basketball I've ever seen. His BBIQ is in the single digits. He is unable to make the right play consistently. Then the 4th quarter happens and he flashes what he COULD be if he can hit shots. He had some great defensive moments. When his shot is falling I can see the fit. But there were at least 3 occasions I saw Luka visibly glare/yell at Grant for making an incredibly dumb play. Whether it be not passing the ball properly, not being able to rebound a clear ball with no one around you, not rotating and allowing an open dunk???? What else? Not being able to decide whether to shoot an open shot or drive into Mo Bamba and then get swatted into next week? Grant has shown me what a consistent 10ppg guy can do for this team. He isn't even that. We're lauding 14 points from him like he's broken through but I saw a pretty mediocre game that was went from horrific to passable cause of a hot 4th quarter. I believed he could get out of his slump and offered him time in November. We're now in February and he looks just as lost as ever. It's time to move on.

Anyways, kudos to the Mavs finally putting their foot down defensively and getting a win. I hope they're just as prepared to play Brooklyn tomorrow.

The fact that we both remember that play is already a sign. Unlike a cold shooting night, that´s the thing I can´t overlook, cause it builds bad habits with Hardy. He´s also a young scorer and he´ll just try to "get back" at THJ for not making the right play. Instead of having two guys making the right play, you now have two guys shot hunting their own.

I swear there are some patterns that seem to repeat every trade deadline. Green plays extra well, so he does not get traded (I assume) and THJ plays extra awful, so he does not get traded.

I think removing THJ from the roster could be addition by subtraction. Green is forced to take more responsibility and it opens regular minutes for Hardy, who also seems to need them. He´s not a plug and play 12-14 MPG guy. He´s young and needs reps. Without THJ I think he can more easily get the minutes and evolve his game.

More and more I´m liking a simple THJ for Harris/Goga deal. Our interior defense could really use that upgrade right now.

[MrGoat]

Personally I voted for Kleber because I found it more surprising that he had another good game right after the last one. Josh Green has been on a heater lately so I wasn't as surprised

I almost sarcastically put THJ on the poll for only taking 8 shot attempts. I knew it wasn't going to be his night when I saw him pass up some open threes early to drive. Obviously he had a bad practice session or something before the game and was completely off.

[ballsrchr]

Kyrie and Luka both put up relatively pedestrian games. Luka, I think, because he has been a horse ridden too hard and put up wet too many times. Kyrie because he had to knock off a bit or rust.

Grant Williams stats aren't bad, but it still seems like something is off.

Jaden Hardy is an enigma. He's just right on the cusp of greatness and G-league. Both big G's of the same spectrum. I think he has a coaching problem.

Josh Green is edging toward being a really good player. Dirky Worthy? Ahh..probably, but I chose another on this night.

Maxi! If you watch him you'll see that he does a lot of work that helps some of the others play better. If he can stay healthy he'll be very important down the stretch and in the playoffs. My Dirkie goes to Maxi.

[DanSchwartzgan]

I watched only the second half, but Williams played some fine defense and hit some timely threes. He narrowly edges out Kleber for my vote.

You might have voted differently had you watched the first half.  It wasn't pretty 

I think there is a good argument for Maxi this game.  His best play came during the team's best run.  I'm not a fan of playing him 34.6 minutes on the front end of the back to back.  But, it was probably necessary.

I think Green was the winner.  More points, very efficient, more help value (assists + boards + steals + blocks) and all of those assists were really great plays.  The kicker for me is he spent the most time on Maxey holding him to 6/16 from the field.  Green has been a starter for 15 games since coming back from his injury.  He's 12/4.3/2.6 with .543 FG% and .459 3%.  He had some stinkers in those first few games on low shot attempts.  If you do the last 11 games the scoring average moves to 14 points on 9.8 attempts per game (1.43 points per shot attempt is VERY good).

[Winter]

Green because of an all-around game. He looked like he belonged in the starting lineup. I'm curious how this plays out when Exum returns.

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

Green because of an all-around game.  He looked like he belonged in the starting lineup. I'm curious how this plays out when Exum returns.

I think Exum should come from the bench, not because he is better than Green, but because the Mavs can always have 2 PGs in the game at all times.

The question for me would be -- who closes the game?

Note: Exum is the better player, but the Mavs need to keep Green as Exum might be made of glass.