Game 54: Washington Wizards (9-43) vs. Dallas Mavericks (30-23)

[rocky164]

This game turned around with the Maxi-PJ-Hardy-Kyrie-Luka lineup with Green eventually subbing in for Hardy. Until Lively is back I want to see Green-Maxi-and PJ with Luka and Kyrie. Of course, Luka also decided it was time to start playing real basketball.
Some of the Kidd lineups were real head scratchers. 4 guards. Really? Even if THJ is hot that is not a winning lineup. There will be lots of fooling around with lineups while the new players get acclimated and roles get defined but I can already see that PJ and Maxi works so there is no reason PJ and Lively won’t work. Add Green and the dynamic duo and roll with it.

[BigDirk41]

One thing I’m noticing, and also something I predicted: PJ Washington’s minutes are coming at the expense of DJJ (so far), another forward, not one of the guards. I have no idea why people expected to see otherwise.

Not only is Hardaway still playing, but freaking Hardy and Hardaway are BOTH still in the rotation. Hardy played as much as DJJ.

I'm curious to see which players lose time when Lively and Exum are back. Suddenly this is a very deep team. Also there's no telling with Kidd. He doesn't seem to make a lot of sense with his decisions. Lively, Gafford, Maxi and PJ should eat up all the minutes at the 4 and the 5. Luka and Kyrie demand a lot of minutes (when Kyrie is healthy). I don't really have any predictions, but I'm curious to see how it plays out. Green has earned a lot of minutes imo. Someone or a couple of players will get the squeeze.

[KillerLeft]

5 in a row!

[Jason Terry]

This game turned around with the Maxi-PJ-Hardy-Kyrie-Luka lineup with Green eventually subbing in for Hardy.  Until Lively is back I want to see Green-Maxi-and PJ with Luka and Kyrie.  Of course, Luka also decided it was time to start playing real basketball. 
Some of the Kidd lineups were real head scratchers.  4 guards. Really?  Even if THJ is hot that is not a winning lineup.  There will be lots of fooling around with lineups while the new players get acclimated and roles get defined but I can already see that PJ and Maxi works so there is no reason PJ and Lively won’t work. Add Green and the dynamic duo and roll with it.

Yes. The switch everything lineup worked tonight. It’s good to be able to win in more than 1 way

PJ and Maxi at the 4-5 works well

[omahen]

It wasn't pretty, but we will take it.

If I would just read this board before watching the game, I would have thought Luka was something like 4 of 25, 5 assists, 8 turnovers and -25 on the field

[Jym]

Apparently we've had 3 games this season where we grabbed 50+ rebounds
The past 2 games and another game back in January
And Lively comes back soon

[SleepingHero]

One thing I’m noticing, and also something I predicted: PJ Washington’s minutes are coming at the expense of DJJ (so far), another forward, not one of the guards. I have no idea why people expected to see otherwise.

Not only is Hardaway still playing, but freaking Hardy and Hardaway are BOTH still in the rotation. Hardy played as much as DJJ.

The big thing on my mind is when Exum returns, how much of THJ do we still see?

---

It wasn't pretty, but we will take it.

If I would just read this board before watching the game, I would have thought Luka was something like 4 of 25, 5 assists, 8 turnovers and -25 on the field

Real time I was so mad that Luka wouldn't just put the Wizards away early. We saw how he flipped the switch in the 4th and ended the game, I'm still left feeling annoyed that he didn't just do that from the beginning.

But everyone sucked. 

Very frustrating win.

[omahen]

The big thing on my mind is when Exum returns, how much of THJ do we still see?

I hope as little as possible. I don't think we really still need his offense, unless everyone is ice cold. He contributes very little on defense. 

Unfortunately, we will still see him for 25 minutes on average, imho.

[Dundalis]

The big thing on my mind is when Exum returns, how much of THJ do we still see?

---

Real time I was so mad that Luka wouldn't just put the Wizards away early. We saw how he flipped the switch in the 4th and ended the game, I'm still left feeling annoyed that he didn't just do that from the beginning.

But everyone sucked. 

Very frustrating win.

I actually think it was a great win, a better win than the win against OKC. Precisely because they played like ass for a lot of the game. Despite Washington being a bottom feeder, this is 100% the game we lose in these circumstances more often than not, no matter who it's against. I get we prob lose that game against a better team, but the more I see us play like crap but still come out with the victory, the more I am encouraged, arguably more than when we are lights out and destroy a team, purely because I think the way the team plays under adverse conditions says more about the team's mental toughness than how they do when things are going well. We aren't likely to shoot that badly too often this season.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Not impressed by PJ Washington so far

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Not impressed by PJ Washington so far

Gafford > PJ

He's a slight upgrade over Grant Williams, who ironically had 21 pts in a upset win over the Pacers. For what they gave up to get him, it remains to be seen if it was worth it  A change of scenery could be beneficial to both players.

[Chicagojk]

Deni is good. I do wonder if his average shooting would be exploited here though. I don’t think Washington is looking to trade him though. Outside of Bilal he is one of their few building pieces. They would move him if they were blown away, but I think they prefer to keep him.

I was surprised they didn’t move Tyus Jones though. Supposedly they were offered a lot of second round picks for him. Washington already has a ton of second round picks though. Last night, I am not sure if it was the drop coverage or Green getting lost on screens but Jones was using his floater to cause a lot of damage.

That Poole trade looks horrible. Lesson- don’t expect players to look better once they are traded from Golden state…in most cases

[Winter]

While I share the frustration, I think in retrospect we've just seen the best and worst of the Mavs in two games. However, the game we saw tonight was far more of an anomaly. We do not usually see the Mavs shoot 29% for a half. Nor do we see anything close to the number of turnovers. And we need to remember that Lively too gets yanked when the smaller lineups are being played.

Now that we've won, let's hope Kidd does a deep dive in the film room.

[surfpuckmd]

Not impressed by PJ Washington so far

He is as expected after 2 games.  He's bigger and more athletic than Grant and can make plays on defense that Grant can't.  He makes mistakes though.  Grabbing the rim on the layup attempt for the goaltend is one of the stupidest defensive I've seen this season.  Definitely a Shaqtin a Fool play.   Lower BBIQ than Grant.  

On offense, he can handle, get to the rim and finish better than Grant.  His 3-point shot though isn't as good.  

He has the potential to be much better than Grant Williams but I'm not sure he's much of an upgrade immediately.  I still can't believe we only were able to protect the 2027 pick for the top-2.  Receiving the 60th pick in this upcoming draft doesn't make me feel any better. I'm going to think of him as a really talented prospect who has the potential to become a perfect fit for us if he improves his decisions and effort on defense and recovers his 3-point shooting. If he does both of those, he'll be a top-50 player in the NBA.

Daniel Gafford looks really good though.  I'm happy about that trade.

[Smitty]

He’s crazy talented for how big he is. He is just very dumb. He belongs on a team with Jordan Poole, not Luka Dončić.

And if you need more proof, I heard on the stein podcast that he actually begged Washington not to trade him here. He doesn’t want to play with Luka, probably because he gets to be the main offensive focal point for his team and that’s all he cares about.

Thank you for spreading the good word.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Mavs couldn’t make a shot and turned the ball over like crazy (side note, what’s with all the illegal screens the past two games) and still won. The defense and rebounding looks much improved.

Want to see PJs shot start to drop here pretty soon but his defense has been way better than expected so far.

[Chicagojk]

Kidd gets a lot of heat on rotations and minutes, but I thought he handled Hardaway correctly last night. You want Hardaway to be aggressive. There is a fine line between aggressive and hurting the team. Last night he was not good. He was not in during the clutch moments and only played 22 minutes. Good decision to ride Hardy for a bit until Green came back in.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Kidd gets a lot of heat on rotations and minutes, but I thought he handled Hardaway correctly last night.  You want Hardaway to be aggressive.  There is a fine line between aggressive and hurting the team.  Last night he was not good.  He was not in during the clutch moments and only played 22 minutes.  Good decision to ride Hardy for a bit until Green came back in.

Will be interesting when Exum is back and whether or not Hardaway still gets those minutes at the 3. We always feel so small out there when we do that and now we have the luxury of not having to do that. It’s going to end up creating quite the logjam.

[KillerLeft]

Not impressed by PJ Washington so far

I’m surprised. He’s had a rough start on offense, but his DEFENSE has been 20X better than I expected. He has looked like DFS out there, so far. His defense down the stretch of this game was one of the keys to victory.

[Chicagojk]

I’m surprised. He’s had a rough start on offense, but his DEFENSE has been 20X better than I expected. He has looked like DFS out there, so far. His defense down the stretch of this game was one of the keys to victory.

He is 1-9 so far on threes as a Mav.   I don't feel very confident when he rises up to shoot.  He may be rushing a little too.   

The good thing is that he is he just needs to practice in pretty much 4 spots shooting the ball.