Game 67: Dallas Mavericks (38-28) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (45-20)

[DallasMaverick]

More trolling.

Yessir.

[Smitty]

We have to hope.   PJ is shooting 26% since arriving in Dallas.  Down to 30% for the season.   With the #'s of threes he shoots that is no where high enough.   He is helping the team in other ways, but I believe if not improved it will become brutal in a playoff series watching clank after clank in a tough series.    He is 1-13 the last two games.  In the last 8 games he has had one game over 50% from 3 (4-8).  The rest are not good.   I hope he is not that streaky shooter who has one game where he shoots a excellent percentage and the other games way below league average.  We really need him around 36% from three with hopefully only 3-4 attempts per game.

We have seen Maxi go in long droughts in the past.   He has had moments where he will have a stretch where everything is working though.   I just don't know you can count on him.  Therefore I hope this offseason, we find a 3/4 type.  DFS would be perfect to fill in at both the 3 and 4.   They are hard to find though.   This way Maxi can be a nice wild card.  Where you can ramp him up when needed.    Not with the expectation that you need him to be productive.   We will see though.  A week when Maxi shoots 40% from three can change things pretty quick.  I think we know what we have though.   A solid rotation player who can be valuable in certain matchups if he is on his game.

PJ is the definition of a streaky shooter. I just wish the coaching staff would do some things that play to his strengths more often. I don’t know the numbers but it seems like over half of the half court sets he just sits in the corner. That is literally the worst use of his skill set. I don’t think you change your whole offense for the 3rd-4th guy but it’s frustrating for the fact that the FO traded assets for a player that the coach doesn’t know how to use.

As for Maxi, I still think he’s an important player for the Mavs and will prove his value even more so in a playoff series on the defensive end but he isn’t the same Maxi of old. I wish this team had 4 or 5 Maxi’s (at his best)

[Scott41theMavs]

PJ is the definition of a streaky shooter. I just wish the coaching staff would do some things that play to his strengths more often. I don’t know the numbers but it seems like over half of the half court sets he just sits in the corner. That is literally the worst use of his skill set. I don’t think you change your whole offense for the 3rd-4th guy but it’s frustrating for the fact that the FO traded assets for a player that the coach doesn’t know how to use.

How about getting a coach intelligent enough to know how to use any player?

[Chicagojk]

How about getting a coach intelligent enough to know how to use any player?

It is one of my frustrations with Kidd the coach and honestly something Luka hasn't really mastered yet.   Kidd was great as a player about feeding the hot hand or getting good looks for guys who are struggling.  He may have been one of the best ever doing it.   Luka really doesn't do it.  He makes the best play on how the defense is playing him.  He is a savant like that.   

I love when Luka starts a game and reads the room and can begin games getting others involved.  Personally I believe early game rim runs and non Luka threes are great ways to get the team off to good starts.  I would like to see more complex plays run that leads to PJ curling in the lane or something like that to get him in the paint looks.  We will do this for Hardaway to get him a good look at three, but I would like to see Kidd develop some plays where the main focus is getting a player like PJ, who is struggling shooting, some decent looks and realize plays are being run for him.   For instance, we are going to run two plays for PJ in the first 5 minutes of a game to get him going a little.   


BTW, the more I thought of it, that lose may have been more impressive than any of the games in the recent stretch.   I expect this team to lose more games.    It was nice to see them fight against OKC.  The Mavs were down their best player and lost a key reserve early.  They were coming off a tough game the previous night and played a healthy, good OKC team.   OKC played well too.   And the Mavs were in the game and it may have been much closer if they didn't turn the ball over as much.   Two months ago, this game is probably a 20 point game where Dallas just runs out of steam.   I guess Indy and Boston this to them recently too.  Let's hope they continue to fight even if they may lose some of these fights.