GAME 54 DIRKIE: Luka and MAXI!

[SleepingHero]

[KillerLeft]

My vote, for the second game in a row, goes to the Wall of Wuhrsburg, Maxi Kleber, who’s healthy and rounding into form. When he’s playing like this he is a game changer, and we haven’t even gotten to the point where the three ball is dropping for him. Yet.

[dirkfansince1998]

Basketball knowledge test. If you want to reward defense there is only one option and it's not the player with 17reb and 5blk.

[KillerLeft]

Basketball knowledge test. If you want to reward defense there is only one option and it's not the player with 17reb and 5blk.

He wouldn’t even be my go to from among the new guys for this one. Although he is doing some things to help out there.

[MFFL]

Again I think I deserve some consideration. I couldn't watch the game until the final few minutes and we were down by 11. We made a massive comeback afterwards

[SleepingHero]

By all accounts this game should have been a loss.

The Mavs sleepwalked through the first 40 minutes of the game. They never were down more than 11, but always hovered around being down 6. Tantalizingly in arms reach but never actually putting together a string of stops. Luka, despite nearly having a triple double was playing some of the most sloppy basketball he's ever played and was just taken out with a bloodied chin.

Green and Kyrie had some fantastic moments, especially Kyrie, but they too couldn't will the team to take a commanding lead at any point. It wasn't until Luka checked in with 8 mins remaining and him seemingly realizing that they could seriously lose this game did the team wake up. After that the Mavs flipped the switch and played good basketball the rest of the way and quickly took the lead. And it was their DEFENSE that sealed the game, not their ice cold shooting. Luka came up big in 2 jawdropping moments. The first being an Avdija drive where he crumpled as soon as Luka walled him off and he forced the turnover. Then Luka steals the ball the next possession to effectively end the game. More on this later.

I want to talk about the Landlord. Gafford has flaws. At times he can be frustrating, but I cannot remember for the life of me a Mavs center nearly having a 20pt/20 rebound performance to go along with 5 blocks in less than 25 minutes of playing time. He is an impact player through and through and a needed weapon. He will be eaten alive against more perimeter oriented teams (and if the Mavs other guards don't try for half the game), but it's obvious he does a LOT of good stuff. Helluva game by him. Despite his counting stats though I have to give someone else the Dirkie.

Jaden Hardy...is the runner up. He was a definite candidate. He was the first Mav to have any consistent positive plays. His hot shooting carried the team. He certainly gave this team a spark by attacking the rim and hitting timely threes. Hardy Party had a great game and showed he can be trusted moving forward with more minutes.

The real Dirkie winner is Maxi. Back on defense, it was The Wurzburg Wall who stifled the Wizards in the 4th. Play after play he came up with a great contest. He hit a HUGE three at the end and also put someone on a poster. Maxi what a game! Dirkie for you!

This was a game the Mavs should have lost. They did not at any point deserve to win this one. The Mavs came out flat and didn't care. Kidd let this team play this way for 40 mins. If there was any example of a failed win this was it. Thankfully we have 2 of the best players in the league who woke up and Maxi patrolling the paint.

I hope the Mavs come out WAY more motivated against the Spurs.

[SleepingHero]

"There was a lot of things I missed, coverage things, on the defensive side... but by all star break I'll be locked in. There is a lot of film I still need to go through before I will be fully locked in"- Gafford
Gafford says ALL the right things in his post game interview. Must see TV listening to him not only take accountability for his mistakes, but be so complimentary of all his teammates.

[MrGoat]

I'm very close to voting for Hardy. This team was on the way to blowing a game we had no business blowing and he hit some monumental shots in the 4th. You know what he gets my vote. The refs wouldn't normally let us get away with those "big defensive plays" against a team that wasn't the Wizards.

We survived a lousy energy night (outside of Gafford)

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

I'm a Maxi fan, and I don't have to explain how good he is in D. In this game he did pretty good, but I kinda' expected that. This is what Maxi does when he is healthy.
Green was just one cool customer. Very efficient this game.
Luka of course took over.
Seriously would have gone to Hardy if he hit on more attempts.

I'm voting for Gafford basically because I'm so tired of the Mavs getting bullied in the paint. He kept the Mavs in the game early on, controlled the paint for stretches. The Wizards did a good job in neutralizing him and exploiting him in the third thereby exposing his D, but if not for his contributions early on, the Mavs would have been on a deeper hole to climb out from. Gafford did tie his career best in rebounds, that doesn't happen every game -- so for elevating his game, he gets the Dirkie.

[ballsrchr]

This is a trap game. One that the Mavs should easily win. The Mavs played with little energy for the first 3 quarters. Only in the fourth did they show signs of life. So...who earns the Dirkie?

Streaky Hardaway reared his ugly head. No.

Gafford with 17 rebounds, 2 ast, 2 stls, 5 blks, and 16 points. Damn sure deserves consideration. All done in 24 minutes.

Kyrie was off at first but played hard.

Luka was asleep during the game--until the haymaker woke him up. I was actually hoping something would wake him up.

Josh Green keeps up the good work.

Hardy...was off a bit, but he did hit some very timely buckets. He has no fear of trying to score. As long as he doesn't become "streaky Hardy" I don't care.

Maxi Kleber. Ok...the Wall of Wuhrsburg. He does not pad the stats. He sometimes forgets to look at the basket (we know he can score). But he does so many other things to help the team. I'll give Maxi my Dirkie--just because I want to.

[SleepingHero]

[dirkfansince1998]

I'm a Maxi fan, and I don't have to explain how good he is in D. In this game he did pretty good, but I kinda' expected that. This is what Maxi does when he is healthy.
Green was just one cool customer. Very efficient this game.
Luka of course took over.
Seriously would have gone to Hardy if he hit on more attempts.

I'm voting for Gafford basically because I'm so tired of the Mavs getting bullied in the paint. He kept the Mavs in the game early on, controlled the paint for stretches. The Wizards did a good job in neutralizing him and exploiting him in the third thereby exposing his D, but if not for his contributions early on, the Mavs would have been on a deeper hole to climb out from. Gafford did tie his career best in rebounds, that doesn't happen every game -- so for elevating his game, he gets the Dirkie.

You have failed the test

[SleepingHero]

I also want to give some props to PJ

He had this incredible drive late in the 4th to keep the Mavs ahead and my first thought was "we haven't had ANYONE like that at his position be able to do that"

And this was a relatively quiet game where he didn't get very many looks at all. PJ still played through it and hit that timely shot and played pretty spectacular defense.

Him and Maxi look like a formidable switching duo.

[The Jom]

You all make great points about WW Kleber. But he didn’t surprise me like Hardy. In a game in which no one was efficient, he was +9 in 13 mins. When no one could hit a 3, he went 2 for 4. In the early 4th quarter, when offense was wholly eluding us, the kid scored 8 points in a 2-minute stretch, drawing the Mavs to within 1 at the 6:55 mark. (During that stretch, according to the worldwide leader in sports, the Wiz went from an 86.8% chance to win the game to just a 52% chance.) I even saw some defense outta the kid.

By the way, I’ve been on the Kleber bandwagon for years. But this is my first time to get excited about the Party Boss.

[dirkfansince1998]

"There was a lot of things I missed, coverage things, on the defensive side... but by all star break I'll be locked in. There is a lot of film I still need to go through before I will be fully locked in"- Gafford
Gafford says ALL the right things in his post game interview. Must see TV listening to him not only take accountability for his mistakes, but be so complimentary of all his teammates.

Good to see that he recognizes his mistakes. Gives me hope that isn't a Drummond/Whiteside level boxscore chaser and just needs to find his role.

[SleepingHero]

Maybe this is why this game felt cursed.

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

You have failed the test

That's okay, you guys are the basketball geniuses anyway. 
I'm just a casual Mavs fan 

[KillerLeft]

Him and Maxi look like a formidable switching duo.

I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but this was the takeaway of the game for me. The defense is quick and athletic with those two out there. It won’t be a great rebounding lineup, but they can get stops.

[SleepingHero]

Good to see that he recognizes his mistakes. Gives me hope that isn't a Drummond/Whiteside level boxscore chaser and just needs to find his role.

https://x.com/noahweber00/status/1757261...28959?s=20

Noah Weber (@noahweber00)
Daniel Gafford on battling adversity:

“It’s a long basketball game. You’ve got to stay locked in. Sooner or later, if you do it the right way you can take a step into the right path. That’s what we did tonight. We stayed together, we pushed each other throughout the frustration.”


Here's his full answer to my paraphrasing I wrote earlier. Very next question he talked about how long he'd need to be locked in and by the ASB he expects himself to be ready.

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

I also want to give some props to PJ

He had this incredible drive late in the 4th to keep the Mavs ahead and my first thought was "we haven't had ANYONE like that at his position be able to do that"

GW tried.
Hilariously, but he tried.