GAME 3 DIRKIE: PJ Washington

[SleepingHero]

[LukaMVP]

Dinwiddie made some big shots in the late third and quenched jazz's moment. this win would have been questionable without his astounding performance. dude deserves a spot in the rotation tbh.

[The Jom]

Dinwiddie for the Dirkwiddie!

[SleepingHero]

Honestly yet another herky-jerky game to open the season for the Mavs. Lots of easy missed shots and generally just a sputtering offense. Tonight's main offender was Luka, who by all accounts had one of the worst games of his career shooting wise. In fact, Luka has only ever had 26 games in his career where he shot below 30% (make that 27 now). What is interesting is that the Mavs are 12-14 in those games (13-14 now). Despite that, Kyrie and Klay carried the Mavs offensively.

Speaking of Klay, yet another solid great game from him. So many high quality looks and with a solid shooting %. I can't believe teams are choosing to leave him open and they are paying dearly for it. First 3 games Klay is averaging 19.6ppg on 48% from the field and 45% from 3.

Kyrie kept he Mavs in it the entire game with his cool efficient shooting. A little sloppy handling the ball with 4 turnovers, but he made up for it with 9 assists and some tenacious defensive moments. Hyper efficient game for him shooting 57% from the field. All around amazing game from Kyrie, if a little bit quiet given his statline.

Lively had such incredible impact tonight on the paint. There was a point where Followill highlighted the Jazz were shooting 45% in the paint tonight (down from a league average of 57%) and Lively was a massive reason why. He asserted himself and shut down multiple attempts from the Jazz. Offensively he was still dunking everything he could lay his hands on, including a rim rocking behind the head jam. He flashed his touch with a beautiful FT-line floater. His only flaw was the lack of rebounding. But that is truly nitpicking. His energy was infectious and he was all over the court. Great game from Lively!

Kidd decided to make the first major subsitution pattern change of the year bringing Dinwiddie as the first guard off the bench instead of Hardy, and truthfully Dinwiddie stepped up majorly. When things got dicey, in the 3rd quarter after the Jazz made a run to cut it to 3, he draws a foul anjd hits 2 FTs. He then goes on to he hit 3 straight 3s to end the quarter as well as passing it to Lively for his reverse dunk He kept the Mavs afloat and restored a double digit lead. That's what Spencer does and he had a great game.

Finally my Dirkie winner. PJ MY MAN! What a game from him. Offensively he had a relatively quiet game. Only 12 points on 6-11 shooting. He didn't hit a 3, but was solid in the paint with multiple dunks. But PJ shone defensively. He singlehandedly took over the game by stifling what felt like every single Utah Jazz shot. No Jazz could score when he was in the game. 4 steals and 2 blocks is just an insane statline. In fact he's only ever had a 6+ STOCK game 5 other times in his career. For his defense alone, along with his rebounding, I have to give the Dirkie to PJ.

Great game from him! Now hopefully everyone can rest before we face the Wolves tomorrow night.

Finally, my prayers are with Taylor Hendricks. Cannot overlook his gruesome freak injury. I pray for a speedy recovery and that he returns to the court sooner than later.

[WildArkieBoy]

Honestly yet another herky-jerky game to open the season for the Mavs. Lots of easy missed shots and generally just a sputtering offense. Tonight's main offender was Luka, who by all accounts had one of the worst games of his career shooting wise. In fact, Luka has only ever had 26 games in his career where he shot below 30% (make that 27 now). What is interesting is that the Mavs are 12-14 in those games (13-14 now). Despite that, Kyrie and Klay carried the Mavs offensively.

Speaking of Klay, yet another solid great game from him. So many high quality looks and with a solid shooting %. I can't believe teams are choosing to leave him open and they are paying dearly for it. First 3 games Klay is averaging 19.6ppg on 48% from the field and 45% from 3.

Kyrie kept he Mavs in it the entire game with his cool efficient shooting. A little sloppy handling the ball with 4 turnovers, but he made up for it with 9 assists and some tenacious defensive moments. Hyper efficient game for him shooting 57% from the field. All around amazing game from Kyrie, if a little bit quiet given his statline.

Lively had such incredible impact tonight on the paint. There was a point where Followill highlighted the Jazz were shooting 45% in the paint tonight (down from a league average of 57%) and Lively was a massive reason why. He asserted himself and shut down multiple attempts from the Jazz. Offensively he was still dunking everything he could lay his hands on, including a rim rocking behind the head jam. He flashed his touch with a beautiful FT-line floater. His only flaw was the lack of rebounding. But that is truly nitpicking. His energy was infectious and he was all over the court. Great game from Lively!

Kidd decided to make the first major subsitution pattern change of the year bringing Dinwiddie as the first guard off the bench instead of Hardy, and truthfully Dinwiddie stepped up majorly. When things got dicey, in the 3rd quarter after the Jazz made a run to cut it to 3, he draws a foul anjd hits 2 FTs. He then goes on to he hit 3 straight 3s to end the quarter as well as passing it to Lively for his reverse dunk He kept the Mavs afloat and restored a double digit lead. That's what Spencer does and he had a great game.

Finally my Dirkie winner. PJ MY MAN! What a game from him. Offensively he had a relatively quiet game. Only 12 points on 6-11 shooting. He didn't hit a 3, but was solid in the paint with multiple dunks. But PJ shone defensively. He singlehandedly took over the game by stifling what felt like every single Utah Jazz shot. No Jazz could score when he was in the game. 4 steals and 2 blocks is just an insane statline. In fact he's only ever had a 6+ STOCK game 5 other times in his career. For his defense alone, along with his rebounding, I have to give the Dirkie to PJ.

Great game from him! Now hopefully everyone can rest before we face the Wolves tomorrow night.

Finally, my prayers are with Taylor Hendricks. Cannot overlook his gruesome freak injury. I pray for a speedy recovery and that he returns to the court sooner than later.

Dinwiddie teaching the youngsters about JKidd's "Be Ready!" program.

[SleepingHero]

@noahweber00

Jason Kidd on how guys can get minutes:

“They’ve got to be positive…We’ve got too many guys…If you’re positive, you play. Nothing’s changed since day one…We’re in the business of winning, not feelings.”


https://twitter.com/noahweber00/status/1...2162193618


Really suggest watching the full clip to get the whole context cause Noah does leave out stuff in his quote.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/Mavs_FFL/status/1851092351160102946

One of my favorite highlights of the night.

[ThisIStheYear]

PJ gets the Dirkie. Free throw disparity is becoming a concern. The refs just hate the Mavs. They were getting hacked all night. Utah is an absolutely horrible team. They have some talent but play like a pickup team. Mavs should have won by 20 without breaking a sweat.

[Chicagojk]

PJ gets the Dirkie. Free throw disparity is becoming a concern. The refs just hate the Mavs. They were getting hacked all night. Utah is an absolutely horrible team. They have some talent but play like a pickup team. Mavs should have won by 20 without breaking a sweat.

It has been a weird first three games.   I think that is normal for most teams starting the season.    We will see how good the Spurs are but it feels like the Spurs and Jazz game the Mavs relied on a few hot streaks and the rest of the game was pretty uneven.    The Suns game was probably their worst performance but maybe it was because they played their only good team.    It will be interesting to see how they play tonight on a back to back against a team who probably circled this date when the schedule came out.

I will give the Dirkie to PJ with Lively second. It would be nice for PJ to hit some threes consistently though. Big year from him. May not seem a lot, but 30% vs 36% from three means a lot. Really glad to see 10 shots from Lively. He only had 2 against the suns. I know he gets a lot of dunks at the rim, but he should get way more than two shots a game. He has shown he has developed a nice touch in the paint. More looks for Lively please.

[michaeltex]

I really like that Lively is showing such touch in the paint. I think that will be huge as the season progresses. Seems to really be working on owning the paint, like the goals he talked about over the summer.

A Dinwiddie sighting makes us all breathe a little easier. May make it harder for Hardy to get minutes though.

Marshall and Grimes have been disappointing offensively, but they seem to be trying to contribute in other ways. May still be thinking too much about where to be and what to do. A little more time together will help things become more automatic.

MIN should be worried because Luka doesn't have two games in a row with that type of performance.

Really like that PJ didn't try to live on the 3pt line, but took his game closer to the basket and had more success. Plus he seemed to reclaim his defensive balance.

[SleepingHero]

I really like that Lively is showing such touch in the paint. I think that will be huge as the season progresses. Seems to really be working on owning the paint, like the goals he talked about over the summer.

A Dinwiddie sighting makes us all breathe a little easier. May make it harder for Hardy to get minutes though.

Marshall and Grimes have been disappointing offensively, but they seem to be trying to contribute in other ways. May still be thinking too much about where to be and what to do. A little more time together will help things become more automatic.

MIN should be worried because Luka doesn't have two games in a row with that type of performance.

Really like that PJ didn't try to live on the 3pt line, but took his game closer to the basket and had more success. Plus he seemed to reclaim his defensive balance.

+41 on the PJ point. Of course we need him to hit his wide open shots or else he will become a liability, but the fact he made himself useful by not living at the 3pt line means his lack of shooting that game wasn't felt. 

Re: Marshall, this was the first game where he felt like he belonged out there imo. There is definitely a feeling out process and it feels like Marshall is trying to find his niche on this team. He really shines better with guys like Kyrie and Grimes on the floor and not with Luka because it allows him to initiate more things. Something to monitor. 

Grimes also looked more assertive this game. Had one solid look from 3 that just didn't fall and another layup that rimmed out. His perimeter defense was hounding at times. I also think he just needs more time to be integrated.

[fifteenth]

Dinwiddie teaching the youngsters about JKidd's "Be Ready!" program.