Game 59 Dirkie Thread: P.J. Washington!

[ballsrchr]

This game was a little choppy for me. I'm not sure why, but maybe because I was focusing on mistakes made. And there were many. I also came up with the idea wondering how many assists Luka would have if some of his team mates would sink the basket. I've always thought that THJ would do better with judicious shot selection...and this game did nothing to allay that thought.

P.J. Washington? I've been sort of underwhelmed by his play in most games. Not sure if his defense should cover for his offense, but it is what it is. In this game his offense wasn't bad. 50% from the floor, 50% on threes. Dirkie Worthy? Don't rush me. I'm still thinking.

Lively is going to be good...IF he keeps improving. And I see no reason why he can't.

Kyrie had a little trouble getting started, but finally did enough to pull out an average game. That's at least what we needed.

Luka had another oh hum, pedestrian night. I'll say it right now--if Luka can stay healthy, takes charge of the team, and becomes the floor general that I think he can be--then he will be the best there ever was. What I'm saying is...he's got a lot more to learn, and more gears to use.

Gafford played nice. Nice enough that he shouldn't deserve some of the things said about him.

OK. I've been thinking. I'm giving my Dirkie to P.J. Washington. Sleep with it tonight my young man...

[MrGoat]

I was very close to pulling it from PJ Washington after he took that terrible early in the shot clock low IQ three late in the 4th to pad his stats before the game was truly over but he at least made it, and with as bad as he's shot for us so far seeing him hit 5 threes still gets my vote. I'll hesitantly vote for PJ

[KillerLeft]

Tough call for me between Luka and Washington tonight. Ultimately went PJ.

Honorable mention to Gafford. He was equal parts good and not good for me tonight, but the good parts were REALLY good.

[SleepingHero]

Decided to go with PJ tonight. His offensive explosion was sorely needed and it was great to see him be confident and shoot!

When he started 3/3 from 3 I figured he was going to go for 40. But then I remembered not everyone is Luka...

The positives is that PJ can DEFEND! He locked up Barnes, Barrett, and even Quickley at times. He makes great rotations and when his shot is falling he's the type of dude you want out there for 48 minutes a night. Great game from PJ!

Luka had a relatively off night for the first 2 1/2 quarters. He seemed a step slow and shots he normally hits were short. 2nd night of a back to back definitely affected him. Then the 3rd quarter happened and Luka showed everyone once again why he's literal magic. The stuff he does on the court at times breaks my brain. It should not be that easy to sleep walk your way to a 30 point, 11 rebound, 16 assist night. Luka you're an animal. Go enjoy your birthday.

Kyrie is similar in the way he just absolutely blows my mind. He might be the most entertaining basketball player I've seen. Just from a pure aesthetic aspect. His moves are incredible. His 2nd half is better than most players career games with 21 points on 9/16 shooting. His effort on defense and willingness to make the best play every time down is still a breath of fresh air. I never really watched Kyrie too closely when he was with the Cavs, Boston, and the Nets. He is an incredible basketball player and I'm glad he's happy here. I hope he continues to be happy here.

Dereck Lively showed flashes of why he's a future DPOY. Sure the 5 blocked shots and 2 steals are nice on paper, but he really tried and contested every thing at the rim. Sometimes the Raptors hit a good shot. Sometimes the Raptors found him a little bit out of position. That's okay. Most of the time he was exactly where he needed to be and his patience defending is his greatest asset. I also thought that Lively kept up well enough on the perimeter. Only once did I think he failed to close out properly on a Kelly Olynyk 3.

Gafford had a great game too. He hustled like crazy all night on the boards and finished spectacularly at the rim. His one finish from a Luka lob got me out of my seat the way he levitated up there. Speaking of close outs, I thought Gafford closed out on the corner 3 pretty admirably this game. Its hard to hit a shot when you have a 6'10 monster with a near 36 inch vertical to get the ball over.

I thought Green had a pretty forgettable game overall. He hit some ok shots but was overall sloppy with the ball and made some questionable passes. One thing to point out to close out February, Green averaged 56/47/93 shooting percentages over the last month. He had 10 shot attempts a game which would be by far a career high if he did that over a season. Just incredible stuff from Green.

Overall the Mavs bounced back as well as they could have given the circumstances and the fact it's the 2nd night of a back to back. The 3rd and 4th quarter really inspired hope from me!

[The Jom]

This game was decided in an 8-minute stretch starting at from the 8:13 mark of the 3Q. The Mavs went from down 4 to up 13. The refs called 7 fouls, 6 of them on the Raps. The Mavs took 6 FTs, the Raps none. Luka scored 11, PJ 5, 3 each for Kyrie, Gafford, and Exum, Lively with 1. The run was 26-9. The scoreboard went from 75-79 Raps to 101-88 Mavs. The 3 memorable full-court passes all occurred in this window.

Green and Lively looked impressive defensively in the early minutes before subbing out. Exum and, towards the tail end, Jones (in for PJ) picked up where Green and Lively had left off.

Hardaway played 6 of the 8 minutes, contributed a rebound and an assist, and went 0-2 on high-degree-of-difficulty field goals. Luka and Kyrie both missed 2 shots as well.

Plainly Luka was the star of this stretch, as usual. But Hardaway being very much himself didn’t stop or even slow the success, on either end. The biggest difference between these 8 minutes of dominance and the rest of the relatively even battle, it seems to me, was the referees.

[ballsrchr]

This game was decided in an 8-minute stretch starting at from the 8:13 mark of the 3Q. The Mavs went from down 4 to up 13. The refs called 7 fouls, 6 of them on the Raps. The Mavs took 6 FTs, the Raps none. Luka scored 11, PJ 5, 3 each for Kyrie, Gafford, and Exum, Lively with 1. The run was 26-9. The scoreboard went from 75-79 Raps to 101-88 Mavs. The 3 memorable full-court passes all occurred in this window.

Green and Lively looked impressive defensively in the early minutes before subbing out. Exum and, towards the tail end, Jones (in for PJ) picked up where Green and Lively had left off.

Hardaway played 6 of the 8 minutes, contributed a rebound and an assist, and went 0-2 on high-degree-of-difficulty field goals. Luka and Kyrie both missed 2 shots as well.

Plainly Luka was the star of this stretch, as usual. But Hardaway being very much himself didn’t stop or even slow the success, on either end. The biggest difference between these 8 minutes of dominance and the rest of the relatively even battle, it seems to me, was the referees.

Some good thoughts.  I don't know that I'd say the difference was the refs--other than that the refs called fouls.  In this block of time the calls went mostly for the Mavs.

I prefer to think that the Mavs, specifically Luka, had the raptors stunned and back pedaling a step too late.  As a result the raptor players were forced to commit fouls.

The reality is that the refs "could" call fouls on both teams on every change of possession--defense or offense.  With 3 of them out there I find it hard how they can miss  so many blatant fouls and then call piddly little things.

[MFFL]

I gave my vote to the birthday boy (and the 30 point triple double)

[SleepingHero]

This game was decided in an 8-minute stretch starting at from the 8:13 mark of the 3Q. The Mavs went from down 4 to up 13. The refs called 7 fouls, 6 of them on the Raps. The Mavs took 6 FTs, the Raps none. Luka scored 11, PJ 5, 3 each for Kyrie, Gafford, and Exum, Lively with 1. The run was 26-9. The scoreboard went from 75-79 Raps to 101-88 Mavs. The 3 memorable full-court passes all occurred in this window.

Green and Lively looked impressive defensively in the early minutes before subbing out. Exum and, towards the tail end, Jones (in for PJ) picked up where Green and Lively had left off.

Hardaway played 6 of the 8 minutes, contributed a rebound and an assist, and went 0-2 on high-degree-of-difficulty field goals. Luka and Kyrie both missed 2 shots as well.

Plainly Luka was the star of this stretch, as usual. But Hardaway being very much himself didn’t stop or even slow the success, on either end. The biggest difference between these 8 minutes of dominance and the rest of the relatively even battle, it seems to me, was the referees.

Love your breakdown of the 3rd quarter. I noticed also that the Mavs went on their biggest run with THJ in the game.

Was left with a feeling that he wasn't really apart of it though. His gravity definitely helped this game, and it was good to see some shots go down for him finally even if some of them were crazy heat checks.

[Chicagojk]

Give me PJ. I hope this isn't a one game out of 6/7 from him that frustrated Hornets fans though. Regardless he is finding other ways to impact games.

That last three though. It went in and is forgotten about. But if he missed that would have looked really bad. Taking 20 seconds off the clock was probably more important than making that three. A small thing and not important because he made it...but still.

[Smitty]

I just think PJ is finally being used correctly on the offensive end the last two games. He’s a versatile offensive player and needs to be in more PnR/PnP actions. He’s a great finisher and willing and able passer out of the short roll.

The worst way to use him is sit him in the corner, like he was the previous 5 games. He’s not Grant Williams or Reggie Bullock offensively.