Game 61: Philadelphia 76ers (34-25) vs. Dallas Mavericks (34-26)

[ThisIStheYear]

I am trying to remember some of the early bad losses this year, but this is probably my worst loss of the year.  To come out and play like this at this stage in the season with what they have in front of them against a team short handed is disgusting.  You just can't have these type of performances at this stage. 

Every team has bad games and playing at home after a road trip is always tricky, but it just can't happen like this.

It’s mostly Xs and Os. Maybe a little bit of a lax, permissive culture and players not understanding their roles.  It’s fixable with a real NBA coach instead of an ex player who just rolls the ball out and watches hoping no one dies.

[Jason Terry]

If he plays the next game (12th game in a row) this will be his 2nd longest consecutive games streak he has had since 2017. The longest is 13. I think it´s starting to tell.

This would make sense

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Mavs will be only a half game up for the 8th spot against a surging Warriors team.  What a disaster. This game is nearly a mortal wound.  The Mavs have to play the warriors three times still and they have no chance against them in a road play in situation. They’re toast.

Warriors will probably lose at Boston who's on a 10 game winning streak. But who knows what happens the rest of the way. Mavs can't drop many more they should win.

[SwisherPrice]

Kidd is so bad. But we are in a difficult situation...his job security is directly tied to what Luka and Kyrie think of him and they like him. Kidd has the benefit of being close with both of them and I bet if Cuban/Nico were to ask them if they should make a coaching change, they will say no.

[Knutsen]

What a disappointing loss… Coming back home after a 1-3 road trip and being completely healthy for the first time all season there‘s not much hope left.

[Scott41theMavs]

Didn't get a chance to watch this debacle. I notice from the box that despite his bad shooting game, PJ was one of the few players with a positive +/-. Must have made a big defensive difference. Also, perhaps Maxi isn't as dead as I thought he was. A couple questions:

1) Lively's box is terrible. Was his lack of production and positive impact completely due to the foul trouble, or did he look rookie-esque out there this afternoon?

2) Exum - a stunner to me that he didn't make more of an impact or get more minutes. Did he look disengaged? Hurt? Frozen out?

Re: Gafford: once again, his career production up to this point speaks for itself - they need to figure out how to get his minutes to be positive. That's a matter of practice and coaching, imho.

[BigDirk41]

What has happened to Lively's rebounding?

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

On a lighter note…
Did anyone else catch Tim’s attempt at taking a charge where he whiffed? The player (Maxey?) just went around him but Tim went through the motions and fell down anyway, untouched. Summed up this game pretty neatly. Pretenders.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

This was the game for Kidd to pull everyone and play the bench guys. For the crowd to boo. What a pathetic display. 

Luka showing up his teammates (including Kyrie) on a night where he has like 10 turnovers? He needs to grown the fuck up fast and be a real leader. I’m about as big a Luka fan as you can find but the poor aggrieved pouty boy routine is wearing really thin. This team isn’t good enough to coast for 3 quarters and turn on the jets at the end. That’s a losing, entitled mentality. If this doesn’t light a fire under Kidd then nothing will. 

Also, we really should’ve canned Kidd and hired Nick Nurse. We would be 4 seed with home court at this point I would wager.

[omahen]

Terrible loss in a must win game. Mavs looked nervous from the start. Bad turnovers trough whole game. Even Philly shooting below 30 % from three didn't help (Mavs were good at 39 %). Defense was nowhere to be found.

Luka was +9 in 40 minutes despite not playing his best game.

[SwisherPrice]

PJ starting to get the THJ greenlight from three is not a good sign. I want him using his athleticism and length to get buckets in the paint...if there's an open three within the flow of the offense then shoot it but he's starting to take these early shot-clock threes. Maybe all the talk of being the #3 scorer is getting to his head.

This team is in big trouble...I believe the current lineup has been figured out by opponents. Short-term, the next move would be to start DJJ at SF and then you might see better versions of Green and THJ collectively when they come off the bench together. DJJ is the best overall perimeter defender on the roster so you take that and live with his hot/cold 3-pt shooting. This is a similar lineup they had at the start of the season before injuries forced them to change things up.

But in the end, with Kidd and his staff, this team is headed nowhere fast. Sean Sweeney was the defensive coordinator previously (the defense was never good) and then moved to the offensive coordinator (the offense was not good either). And now they moved him back to defensive coordinator. This coaching staff is just terrible.

[dirkfansince1998]

PJ starting to get the THJ greenlight from three is not a good sign. I want him using his athleticism and length to get buckets in the paint...if there's an open three within the flow of the offense then shoot it but he's starting to take these early shot-clock threes. Maybe all the talk of being the #3 scorer is getting to his head.

This team is in big trouble...I believe the current lineup has been figured out by opponents. Short-term, the next move would be to start DJJ at SF and then you might see better versions of Green and THJ collectively when they come off the bench together. DJJ is the best overall perimeter defender on the roster so you take that and live with his hot/cold 3-pt shooting. This is a similar lineup they had at the start of the season before injuries forced them to change things up.

But in the end, with Kidd and his staff, this team is headed nowhere fast. Sean Sweeney was the defensive coordinator previously (the defense was never good) and then moved to the offensive coordinator (the offense was not good either). And now they moved him back to defensive coordinator. This coaching staff is just terrible.

DJJ/PJ/Lively is as bad as it gets when it comes to spacing. Either need a stretch five (Kleber) next to DJJ/PJ or replace one of them with a better shooter (Green, current starting five).

Looking at +/- and lineup numbers post all star break:

- Mavs are getting killed when THJ is on the floor
- Same for Green and Lively when they aren't playing with the starters
- Gafford isn't looking good
- Twin tower lineups with Kleber at PF are terrible.
- Kyrie running the offense with Luka on the bench isn't as good as it used to be
- DJJ is featured in the best bench combinations
- Exum is still the +/- GOAT

Mavs have two things that are working. Starting five and small ball with Kleber/PJ. That's it. Everything else is a mess.

[Chicagojk]

Who is going to fire Kidd? His close friends Cuban, Finley and Dirk? The guy that became the GM in a package deal with Kidd...Nico? Kidd isn't going anywhere. Every single decision maker is as pro Kidd as it gets.

It is a major concern.   I agree.   I mean there was a picture of Kidd with Luka in Mexico over the break.    

You don't fire Kidd now, but we will see this summer if this is a serious basketball organization.    I have no idea who makes that decision but the conversation has to happen if this team does not reach the second round (Hint...they aren't).    They used up the mulligan last year.   True, they have had injuries but tough luck.    Even if Kidd is wanted by Luka and Kyrie, you need to make the smart basketball decision.  It needs to be delicate because it could be the next step for Luka wanting out of here.   But enough is enough.   This team is not coached well.    There are other issues that both Nico and Mark have at their feet.   But that is past news.   Is Kidd the best coach to bring a championship here?  if they still think the answer is yes, than i would get rid of all of them.

[Chicagojk]

PJ starting to get the THJ greenlight from three is not a good sign. I want him using his athleticism and length to get buckets in the paint...if there's an open three within the flow of the offense then shoot it but he's starting to take these early shot-clock threes. Maybe all the talk of being the #3 scorer is getting to his head.

That is a good point.  Yeah, several of his threes recently have been rushed or early in the shot clock.  Heck, against Toronto he took one (and made it) when the smart play was taking off 20 seconds of time.   I would like to see the excitement of these launches curtailed a little.   As you said, lets focus on all the other stuff and then hitting those wide open threes that he will get from Luka.   If he shows he can hit them at a decent percentage than we can look at shooting more of these.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

-13 in 8 non Luka minutes.

[Chicagojk]

It is just so frustrating how sloppy they have been.

The defense even when they are active has so many holes in it. I am sure adding new players doesn't help in the middle of the year. But it shouldn't be this bad. There needs to be a better way to design a defense when Lively can protect the rim and your other guys are tight on rotations and limit the wide open threes, right? I am sure it is much more difficult than that, but I am not paid to solve it either.

On offense, it is set up to do whatever Luka and Kyrie can create. Having both is such a treat, but can we not build more off that that doesn't rely on either of them to play great every game?

---

If he plays the next game (12th game in a row) this will be his 2nd longest consecutive games streak he has had since 2017. The longest is 13. I think it´s starting to tell.

That is a good point as well.    Something to monitor.

[Chicagojk]

Lively needs to play and a lot....when he is good this team has been pretty good. Need to put him in situations where he can be productive.
Need to find what is up with Gafford. Some really nice games and some stinkers. He was brought over to be a 20-25 minute player. Why is that not happening and why has it not looked great recently?
Exum needs to get more minutes. He has been a little rocky the last two games. But him playing solid opens up way more with this team. Need to give him room to work out the kinks.
Green needs to rebound. He looks like a role player to me and not a starter longterm. Lets see if he can change that. He was playing really well. Maybe not a guy who is a rock solid starter but was giving some hope he was improving. Lets hope he just has had a few bad games.
How can we win the non Luka minutes. We did it with Jalen. Really frustrating we are struggling so bad at these minutes now.


I have moved on from wondering if this team could do something interesting this year, to know wondering what is next? Maybe it is some frustration speaking in the present, but this was a really bad loss.

[SleepingHero]

This is so crazy. The Mavericks seem scared to shoot. The offensive system is really lacking.

It's hard to call iso ball an offensive system


Seriously Kidd just has these guys dribble around the perimeter with maybe a single screen set and then waits to see what happens


Works when you have transcendent scorers like Luka and Kyrie, but basically fucks everyone else over and makes them rely on the 2 big guys to create everything. I fucking hate Kidd so much.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Maybe we can also put all this Green hype to rest. He's non existent in the grand scheme of things. I say start DJJ at SF, and put Green on the bench. At least he's not afraid and is aggressive.

[SleepingHero]

It's hard to get the bad taste of this loss out of my mouth. Can't believe the Mavs blew it this hard.

The only way Kidd gets fired is if the Mavs miss the playoffs. Not sure if I'm willing to accept those terms