Game 63: Miami Heat (35-26) vs. Dallas Mavericks (34-28)

[dirkfansince1998]

Dante Exum is just better than Josh Green in every way

Not really an issue as long as Kidd realizes that Green > THJ.

[WillE]

Maxi with the huge stop on Adebayo.

[Chicagojk]

Lively with a pretty impactful 4 pt 2 rebound game.  He helps when he isn’t putting up ststa

[SwisherPrice]

The team always looks better when Exum is productive because Exum is the best PG on the team. Luka and Kyrie are great scorers who can pass and get assists but let's face it...they're not point guards who can run an offense.

[Chicagojk]

Still think they make it too hard z. Don’t do a lot of stuff that makes winning games very hard. Miami does, but they came up short tonight. It catches up to you though

[donzingis38]

sigh.

We can relax a bit.. for now

[KillerLeft]

Maxi with the huge stop on Adebayo.

Yeah, considering how well lively played tonight, I think it was a pretty shrewd move to go with Kleber to close it out.

[Smitty]

Mavs won because Exum played instead of THJ. Zero minutes for Tim in the 4th.

[KillerLeft]

The team always looks better when Exum is productive because Exum is the best PG on the team. Luka and Kyrie are great scorers who can pass and get assists but let's face it...they're not point guards who can run an offense.

I don’t know if I would go as far as to say that Luka can’t play point guard, but… and I don’t want to stir up any negativity tonight, of all nights, but I think he might care about his stats a little bit more than maybe he should.

[Jason Terry]

Luka
Kyrie
Lively
Exum
Maxi

This closing lineup

Plus PJ and his amazing on ball defense

Those are the guys we can trust end of game

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Lively, Kleber, and Gafford put Bam in jail tonight.

[GATA]

Kyrie -15

[Smitty]

I actually liked the center rotation tonight.

Lively 23 min +17
Maxi 22 min +16
Gafford 21 min 12pts 7rbs, 5-5 100% FG

[Chicagojk]

But a well needed win. Take care of the next two and it will be a 3-2 stretch. A tad disappointing but not season ending. Can’t relax against Chicago and Detroit though

[WillE]

The team always looks better when Exum is productive because Exum is the best PG on the team. Luka and Kyrie are great scorers who can pass and get assists but let's face it...they're not point guards who can run an offense.

Let's not think in positions, but I agree that our offense seems more flexible with both, Luka and Dante, on the court.

Exum brings more movement and ball sharing that helps solve some otherwise tight posessions.

[donzingis38]

As much as I want Lively to be the starting center, I think it's also a pretty good idea to just have him come off the bench. He's still a rookie after all. Even AD didn't start right away. Also, Gafford may not like the idea of backing up a rookie. He has to be better though.

[Jason Terry]

Yeah, considering how well lively played tonight, I think it was a pretty shrewd move to go with Kleber to close it out.

It was Lively plus Kleber to close it. PJ was off the court. I think we could’ve used any of those 6 guys. They were all playing good team defense

[WillE]

Mavs won because Exum played instead of THJ. Zero minutes for Tim in the 4th.

As long es Exum is productive, he can eat a good chunk of THJs minutes.

[Chicagojk]

Feels like we have a hole at SF. Exum probably can’t be counted on for a ton of minutes but he needs to play. We probably need a shooter and scorer but Hardaway has been so bad that he is not the answer now. Green may be done for a while. I hope not but it looks like he may be in his head again. I just don’t think Jones is the answer because with him and PJ we won’t have the shooting. Tough choices

[Reunion Mav]

Defense shows up and shot making happens. That’s what I called for before the game. That’s what happened. More of that please.

Any win against the Heat is a good win.