GAME 4 Playoffs 2024: Los Angeles Clippers (1-2) vs Dallas Mavericks (2-1)

[LukaMVP]

luka may be just tired and a bit overused in this series. how many minutes combined has he rested in the four games so far? about 20 or something? however mavs had to keep him on court because the coach has yet to find a way to keep the team afloat without him.

[JamesConway912]

Well, that's sort of the problem when none of the off-ball guys are shooters. Not much paint to attack. 

The offense, in general, is a problem.

I didn’t watch much of the big win streak at the end of the regular season but from a pure halfcourt offense centric point of view the starting unit is not something that I’d expect to work in the postseason. Just terrible shooters everywhere. Add an absurdly bad cold streak from Luka and you get what you’re currently seeing immediately after every tipoff.

I‘d do A LOT for a guy like McDermott right now. Doesn’t have to be a star, just someone who moves the ball well when he isn’t open and puts the ball into the basket when he is.

For instance: Exum is a big disappointment. If he keeps being invisible I’d cut him in the summer.

[KillerLeft]

Kleber isn't a shot blocker or doesn't deter players from going to the rim.  If PJ is getting beat off the dribble by Harden there is no one to set up to deter him from driving.  

How many drives does Kidd need to see to know that Harden wants to drive when there is no shot blocker in the lane.

Different perspectives. The layups didn't bother me in this one nearly as much as the plethora of open 3's, AND, the Kleber spacing was one of the best hopes they had to create any semblance of offense. Didn't work out, but I'm not sure it was the wrong call.

[SkenfromLMF]

As long as Harden & PG don’t have 2 more halves like they did today we should be ok. Wasted a maestro-esque 3 quarters by Kyrie.

[Chicagojk]

Game of inches. If PJ misses that fadeaway corner three maybe there is a long rebound and Dallas has a break up one. But he made it.

I may be the most vocal Luka frustrations in this game. The plus minus is interesting. I felt he was more of a passenger during that crazy Kyrie run. I didn’t nearly feel the impact he has on most games. The complaining needs to stop too. He takes a lot of punishment but he dishes out plenty too.

[KillerLeft]

As long as Harden & PG don’t have 2 more halves like they did today we should be ok. Wasted a maestro-esque 3 quarters by Kyrie.

Yeah, that part blows. Tough to imagine a better Kyrie stretch than the one we saw tonight during the comeback.

[Scott41theMavs]

For instance: Exum is a big disappointment. If he keeps being invisible I’d cut him in the summer.

That would be completely psychotic given his contract.

[Luka77]

No hate here, but I'm genuinely worried about his health after watching him become a traffic cone on defense in the 4th. He had been defending pretty well in this series until today. The 4th was maybe the worst defense I've ever seen him play.

The foul trouble didn't help Luka defend.

[KillerLeft]

The foul trouble didn't help Luka defend.

Yeah, that was probably a factor, too. Hopefully a bigger one than his knee.

[JamesConway912]

Mavs were -15 in 3 minutes Luka didn't play! Doesn't matter how badly you think he played, Mavs are worse without him. Far worse

He went 0/7 from three at some point, absolutely sucked the air out of the building with his lazy three point „shots“ especially at the beginning of the game. He’s done that every game so far, you can’t expect the rest of the team to pick up the slack every time if the guy with the 35+% usage stinks it up. It’s been an uphill battle all game due to that tonight.

The difference to game 1 was that Kyrie gave them something before it was too late.

[omahen]

He went 0/7 from three at some point, absolutely sucked the air out of the building with his lazy three point „shots“ especially at the beginning of the game. He’s done that every game so far, you can’t expect the rest of the team to pick up the slack every time if the guy with the 35+% usage stinks it up. It’s been an uphill battle all game due to that tonight.

The difference to game 1 was that Kyrie gave them something before it was too late.

Mavs were -15 in 3 minutes he didn't play and +10 in 45 he did play. So it seems he must be getting something right. But yeah, we are all waiting for his 3 point shot to become alive.

[LukaMVP]

luka indeed had some poor shot selections and it's been true for a few seasons. even though he's improved a lot on his 3pt shooting, he like any other player may suffer a cool hand behind the arc once in a while and that's when he should attempt more alternative scoring options or share the ball with teammates more.

[omahen]

Luka shot 2 three pointers in the first quarter against 4 two pointers. He shot 3 three pointers in the second quarter against 3 two pointers. He scored 10 out of Mavs 16 points in the first quarter on 6 shots!

[omahen]

First three pointer in the first quarter was against Zubac and he was open on the second one. One of his three three pointers in Q2 was also open

[omahen]

Mavs had 16 TO, Luka only contributed 3. Kyrie contributed 7 of them. Mavs were 4 of 16 in the first quarter with Luka 3 of 6 (rest of team went 1 of 10!!!).

I totally admit Luka is not shooting great, but this complaining against him is not warranted imho.

[Knutsen]

Mavs had 16 TO, Luka only contributed 3. Kyrie contributed 7 of them. Mavs were 4 of 16 in the first quarter with Luka 3 of 6 (rest of team went 1 of 10!!!).

I totally admit Luka is not shooting great, but this complaining against him is not warranted imho.

The thing is, we‘re expecting Luka to turn it up and play his best basketball when it‘s go-time in the postseason. And the reason is that he has delivered crazy postseason performances before. This season was by far his most efficient shootingwise and therefore it‘s astounding that he‘s had 4 of his most inefficient games in a row against the same opponent, seemingly without figuring things out. The reaction is criticism on here, because that’s the only thing we can do on a message board - we can‘t help him with his shot or psychologically!

[mvossman]

Mavs were -15 in 3 minutes he didn't play and +10 in 45 he did play. So it seems he must be getting something right. But yeah, we are all waiting for his 3 point shot to become alive.

Looking at a player's net rating in a single game has limited value to begin with, and ironically its even less useful when that player plays almost every minute of the game.  You basically have 3 minutes of sample.  Luka was not good and I am worried they are running him into the ground.  Hopefully the upcoming rest does him some good.

[omahen]

The thing is, we‘re expecting Luka to turn it up and play his best basketball when it‘s go-time in the postseason. And the reason is that he has delivered crazy postseason performances before. This season was by far his most efficient shootingwise and therefore it‘s astounding that he‘s had 4 of his most inefficient games in a row against the same opponent, seemingly without figuring things out. The reaction is criticism on here, because that’s the only thing we can do on a message board - we can‘t help him with his shot or psychologically!

I totally agree he has not been great according to his standards. But he has also not been as bad as some are trying to picture it. I don't think he is playing any differently than through regular season. His shots are just not falling. I rather keep positive knowing he is not intentionally missing his shots than criticize him. Not sure why criticism could be the only reaction.

[myconsumerclub]

Top 5 Point leaders Luka 29 Ky 40 DJJ 14 Lively 8 PJ 10 all deserve to be honored
Hardy not in long enough and did not score but at least he had a positive plus minus at + 1 like Luka +10. Lively +4 & DJJ +7
Green, Exum, Gafford, and Kleber were all less effective and had a negative plus minus

Coach gets an F. Slow start shows he has no skill at coaching his team at all and only wins because that star talents can win on their own a lot without his coaching them so what is a coach needed for he is no positive influence at all. Just fire him and bring in an x's and o guy.

Stars that can win it need to have a balanced team around them that can defend and the reason we made it this far was because this year we made a return to using a big that could defend the middle to keep teams out of driving in and getting easy layups.

So what does Kidd do he opens the middle up by benching our current best big Lively giving up the middle and playing putting a team out there that played complete shit with zero interior defense at the end of the game.

Now either Kidd is brain damaged or he is a moron. Having a team with a center now is why we won the 5th seed this year without him we miss the playoffs and I am wondering why would anyone think that we should try to win without playing any defense inside and just letting the clips have a field day with Harden driving into the paint?

Hindsight Report: Lively needed to play in crunch time to keep Harden out of the paint. That was super obvious to everyone and that is a firable offense for Kidd if this series is lost. Also Kidd did not play Morris at all to send a message about anyone taking cheap shots at Luka. You go after our star we take out yours if you even try to hurt him we take out your star and the next best guy as well. This is the way.

Kidd is trash. do not give me that we almost came back to win it BS. Ifyou say that you are a loser we lost because kidd is trash at coaching and getting his players motivated to start games with the right attitude to get up on the other team and stay on top and he has poor rotations and strategies. It really looks like he was outcoached to me and the other coach made him pay for not playing Lively so that was a very easy win thanks to Kidds inability to think worth a damn.

[Luka77]

Different perspectives. The layups didn't bother me in this one nearly as much as the plethora of open 3's, AND, the Kleber spacing was one of the best hopes they had to create any semblance of offense. Didn't work out, but I'm not sure it was the wrong call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6IrBn8hp-Y

Watch the clip above.  All of these are with Maxi playing the 5.  So just give up a plethora of layups that can easily be convertible at a high percentage by NBA players instead of a lower percentage three?

The small ball lineups are valuable if you are able to defend at high level while bombing in three's at an above average level. None of those two were occurring with Maxi playing the 5.