Game 68 Dirkie: Who will win?

[KillerLeft]

Who elevated his game to win this one for the Mavericks?

[WillE]

Who elevated his game to win this one for the Mavericks?

DJJ

Hustled all night. 6 offensive boards.

[rocky164]

Lu-Ky for the dirkie! The last 26 seconds from those 2 is a perfect example of why we are the best in the league in clutch games and why we are a threat in any playoff game or series.

[dirkfansince1998]

Between Luka, Kyrie and Gafford for me. Luka carried them to the line. Kyrie finished it off. The amount of difficult shots both made today was unbelievable. Gafford wins the "battle of the bigs" today. Defense didn't look good when he was on the bench.
Voting Kyrie. Luka had some crazy game winners but never a hook shot from the FT line.

[Smitty]

Kyrie hit the ridiculous game winner but I’d like to point out that he was damn good on the defensive end today. We got playoff Kai today.

[ballsrchr]

It's actually hard for me to choose a Dirkie Worth candidate. What do I consider? Rebounds? Assists? Overall defense? Overall offense? And of course there is the Luka curse of being so much better than anyone else.

This was a good team win. A few lapses in defense, even more on offense. Rotations maybe were a little wonky. I think I would have some how shoe horned Exum into the closing line up. Kept up the pace on offense. I called them--tried to tell them. They didn't answer.

My Dirkie goes to--damn this is hard--DJJ.

[BigDirk41]

Kyrie because of the craziest game winner I can recall. Left handed hook for the win.

[MrGoat]

The game winner over Jokic cements it for Ky

[soog]

So much that so many did well tonight for the Mavs to win the game while only shooting 25% from 3, but a running left handed sky hook from 20 ft out of Jokic seals it for Kyrie

[SleepingHero]

So I finally get home and just finished watching this Mavs game.

Wow.

What. A. Win.

This Mavs team plays a brand of basketball I don't think we've seen here for years. It's gritty. It relies on rebounding and dunks. Mavs outscore Denver 62-38 in the paint tonight. The previous two times they faced each other in November and December, this Mavs team was outscored in the paint 60-40 both times. Mavs had 23 2nd chance points to Denver's 6. 60 rebounds to Denver's 37. Of those 60 rebounds TWENTY TWO(!!!) of them were offensive rebounds. This is against a team that has Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. I'm speechless at how good the team was attacking the glass. Most notably, Dereck Lively! How can this 20 year old be so good? I mean sure did he have some dumb mistakes and missed rotations? Yeah. But his energy was relentless all game. His presence on the floor created this gravitas that commanded Denver's entire attention. Defensively he stopped Jokic on more than one occasion, which is more than 95% of big men in the league can say. What a game from the young fella.

The Mavs shooting woes continued to haunt them in this game. Outside of Luka and Kyrie, the Mavs shot 0-13 from 3. The fact they won the game is a miracle given that alone. Washington is having a horrendous slump. Despite that, he still found a way to impact the game. I thought he pressured Denver everywhere today. He found a way to stifle Gordon, Murray, and even Jokic on one occasion. That's why I have so much hope for when his shot does start to fall how formidable this lineup will look. Right now today it still works cause his defensive versatility is invaluable. If he can just hit 2 threes a game? We're playing with house money.

Exum is the oil that makes the 2nd unit run. His ability to create for himself and others and just constantly attack the paint gets this team going. His fragility makes me worry. He's wild out there. There is a reason why he has never stayed healthy in the NBA. I was such a big proponent for Dinwiddie for the same reasons. If Exum can just remain healthy he's the perfect combo guard off the bench for this team. If only he could play 35 minutes a game and stay healthy.

Finally, the LuKai duo. We've seen it time and again how lethal these guys are. But today showed why literally no team in the league wants to face them in a 7 game series. It was apparent that Luka was still hampered by his hamstring. Despite that he still scored 23 points in the 1st half alone on 53% shooting and 42% from 3. He found ways to get to the line without falling into the ref trap of baiting the call every time down. He was absolutely locked into the defensive scheme and I thought he played some of the best defense of the year. AND THIS WAS WITH AN AILING HAMSTRING! Luka also just kept doing Luka things. Denver tried everything they could and they still couldn't stop him. And with the game on then line Luka stepped up and hit the game tying 3 with 26 seconds to go. Luka is a monster man. Just stay healthy.

The Batman to Luka Superman, Kyrie freaking Irving. I never gave Kyrie credit before he came to Dallas on his defensive excellence. I didn't watch him enough at all, and I'm kicking myself now that I didn't enjoy this maestro of the sport. Sure he's small. Sure he can get blown by. But his sheer hustle leads him to create SO many deflections. He was incredible defensively tonight. He was everywhere the first half. Diving on the floor for any loose ball, stopping Jokic in the post. He ended up with 3 steals and 1 block on the game. That is coming from our shortest player on the court 99% of the time. Offensively, he had a quiet first half, 9 points on 3 of 8 shooting. Denver did a great job bodying up on Kyrie and forcing him to take a tough mid range shot over and over. But as we've seen over and over, Kyrie in the 2nd half is just a different beast. Opening the 2nd half scoring a quick 10 points with a dazzling display of moves. He caps off this game with probably one of the most extremely unique game winners I've ever seen. Kyrie Abdul Jabbar type of feeling. Literally a well contested left handed 20 foot hook shot to seal the game. What a freaking shot by Kyrie. Given all of that, I had to give him my Dirkie.

What a game by the Mavs. Keep this momentum up!

[SleepingHero]

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[SleepingHero]

@pjwashington

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/miss77ela/status/176...9332604333

So many cute moments in this video. Kyrie getting mobbed. Luka going crazy. Luka also saying hi to Dirk and his family.

[SleepingHero]

@grantafseth

Kyrie Irving thanks Luka Doncic for putting him in a position for the game-winner: "I wouldn't have gotten that shot off without Luka tying the ball game. He was unbelievable tonight and making a lot of clutch plays, getting to the free throw line. So I give a lot of credit to him and getting us to that position and then allowing me to get that game-winner at the end."

[ThisIStheYear]

Sometimes a single play is so great they deserve the award. But Kyrie was definitely a great 2nd option all game and made a number of big plays.

[DallasMaverick]

@grantafseth

Kyrie Irving thanks Luka Doncic for putting him in a position for the game-winner: "I wouldn't have gotten that shot off without Luka tying the ball game. He was unbelievable tonight and making a lot of clutch plays, getting to the free throw line. So I give a lot of credit to him and getting us to that position and then allowing me to get that game-winner at the end."

Luka makes a tremendous decoy.