12-23-2024, 05:42 PM
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.
Game 29: Portland Trailblazers (9-19) vs. Dallas Mavericks (18-10) | 7:30pm CST
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12-23-2024, 05:42 PM
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.
12-23-2024, 09:08 PM
Nooooot a great effort, so far.
12-23-2024, 09:41 PM
Something wrong with Lively? LOOOTTT of Gafford tonight, so far, and Kleber closed out the half at center.
12-23-2024, 09:45 PM
I am grateful Klay is taking those threes and not others that are not here anymore. No offense to them.
12-23-2024, 10:13 PM
Ayton is having a pretty damn good game on offense, but on the other end he is making Daniel Gafford look like prime Shaquille O’Neal.
Have I said lately that I am glad the Mavericks could not get him when they tried?
12-23-2024, 10:16 PM
Best Gafford game I’ve seen since last season.
12-23-2024, 10:17 PM
(12-23-2024, 10:13 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Ayton is having a pretty damn good game on offense, but on the other end he is making Daniel Gafford look like prime Shaquille O’Neal. I was a lot more positive on him than you were but I'm so glad now we dodged that bullet
12-23-2024, 10:17 PM
Haven't been able to watch the game, did something happen with Naji? He's only had 4 mins so far according to ESPN app
12-23-2024, 10:21 PM
12-23-2024, 10:34 PM
12-23-2024, 10:37 PM
Kidd went to the very end of the bench pretty quickly. Seems like he skipped the Dinwiddie/Thompson stat padding step.
Ten full minutes of Gortman and Kessler Edwards?
12-23-2024, 11:34 PM
(12-23-2024, 10:13 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Ayton is having a pretty damn good game on offense, but on the other end he is making Daniel Gafford look like prime Shaquille O’Neal. It´s hard to say, what he´d be here. Some players just work better on contenders like a PJ Washington. Phoenix was pretty toxic with all the blame (rightly or wrongly?) being put on Ayton. Anyway I think the biggest argument against Ayton would be his positional salary. He´s the eight highest paid center behind Jokic, Embiid, KAT, AD, Gobert, Adebayo and Sengun. That´s just not good salary cap distribution. BUT ...we can also not forget that we were still beggars not choosers at the tail end of the Cuban era. The options presented were either start Powell, trade for Capela or trade for Ayton. I´d still pick Ayton from those options, but they choose WISELY and said LIVELY. The rest is history. Drafting doesn´t work, never forget. ![]() ![]()
12-24-2024, 12:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-24-2024, 12:46 AM by SleepingHero.)
(12-23-2024, 10:17 PM)Jym Wrote: I was a lot more positive on him than you were but I'm so glad now we dodged that bullet I will be the first one to admit I was dumb and wrong about Ayton. I just couldn't seriously believe in July after the draft that Lively would be a starter level center on a finals bound team in his rookie year... yet he was all of that and more. Dude is a freaking stud. That's why I was so adamant about an Ayton move as I just couldn't see a better center available for the players we were offering (which iirc was THJ+McGee!). And I will say, I still wouldn't mind Ayton at a fraction of his cost in maybe 5 years to backup Lively. If he isn't out of the league by then.
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.
12-24-2024, 02:18 AM
(12-23-2024, 10:17 PM)Jmaciscool Wrote: Haven't been able to watch the game, did something happen with Naji? He's only had 4 mins so far according to ESPN app FWIW -- Tonight the only ones unhealthy were Hardy and Exum, both at the bottom of the depth chart, so saw a good look at their preferred rotation, at least for now. As for Naji, he was bumped way down the pecking order. When Klay came out, it was Grimes (not Naji) who came in to play SF. Naji was 10th in the game - he subbed for Kyrie (at SG) who was the last starter to sit. But in general his minutes were almost non-existent, and he got quite a few of them in garbage time. The few looks I saw of him in garbage time, he didn't look very pleased to be relegated to that mix, although that's only what it looked like - can't know for sure what he was thinking. It may be that Naji is still ragged (or ailing) from being sick, and has temporarily been re-slotted until he's back up to speed, but it's also possible that Grimes has played well enough to now be regarded as the primary backup wing (SF/SG). Do I smell the start of Nazi+Hardy for DJJ? That's still on my wish list, and my hopes are fueled anytime either Nazi or DJJ is lightly played. Ha!
12-24-2024, 08:31 AM
(12-23-2024, 10:17 PM)Jmaciscool Wrote: Haven't been able to watch the game, did something happen with Naji? He's only had 4 mins so far according to ESPN app It was a little odd. I think Kidd was trying different things. For instance, I think he made a conscious decision to give Maxi extended run to see if he could gain any confidence on offense. In the first half, he had a pretty long run. He may wanted to see other things as well, so this is why Marshall didn't get a ton of minutes. It brings up an interesting discussion though, how Marshall and Grimes are playing they absolutely deserve minutes. I think Dinwiddie may be included in this as well with his recent play and Kidd's trust in him. Minutes are very tight and someone is going to be disappointed. I would like to see Marshall get some backup 4 minutes. I didn't like when I saw it earlier in the year, but that was during our bad play. If he doesn't play backup 4, I am not sure how you keep everyone healthy. Other notes: Is it real? I said since we traded for PJ, that if he can become a 36% three point shooter he is going to be one of the better non elite 3 and D in the league. He was shooting around 32% most of his time here. With a recent hot shooting, he is at 39%. How awesome if that was real? Lively had a quiet game scoring, but in the first half he had a beautiful floater from Kyrie from around 8-10 feet out. It looked so confident. When we drafted him, I wasn't sure if he would ever have this shot. Much less than a 20 year old. Props to him for working on this. This shot could be a game changer in time. Man, I don't wish anything for Portland fans needing to deal with the downs of a bad team. They are so far off and some youngsters look good at times and at other times they look rough. Tough to see a former #2 pick get mop up minutes and not even stand out there. Scoot has had some moments but clearly has not hit yet. I love Sharpe, but it is weird. He feels like he disappears too much. Klingan is huge and I think he is going to be good. The recent knee injury for a guy so big though is a little concerning. Ayton puts up stats but it is just empty calories mostly. I think we reached the point that him and Grant are just going through the motions.
12-24-2024, 09:01 AM
(12-24-2024, 08:31 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: It was a little odd. I think Kidd was trying different things. For instance, I think he made a conscious decision to give Maxi extended run to see if he could gain any confidence on offense. In the first half, he had a pretty long run. He may wanted to see other things as well, so this is why Marshall didn't get a ton of minutes. It brings up an interesting discussion though, how Marshall and Grimes are playing they absolutely deserve minutes. I think Dinwiddie may be included in this as well with his recent play and Kidd's trust in him. Minutes are very tight and someone is going to be disappointed. I would like to see Marshall get some backup 4 minutes. I didn't like when I saw it earlier in the year, but that was during our bad play. If he doesn't play backup 4, I am not sure how you keep everyone healthy. I was noticing the same - there were even a couple of minutes where we played with PJ, Kleber and I think Gafford next to Kyrie and Luka. And that wasn’t against some kind of twin tower giant line-up of Portland, but against their usual line-ups. I don’t know, maybe they try to up Maxi‘s trade value by putting him at a higher spot in the rotation? I watched Naji on the bench because I thought he might have an injury, he clearly wasn’t happy with his role today. Let’s hope he comes back strong from this disappointment!
12-24-2024, 05:05 PM
I know it was basically garbage time but Omax had two really nice drives finishing with his left hand going left. Also, had some nice moments defensively.
12-24-2024, 07:20 PM
(12-24-2024, 08:31 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: It was a little odd. I think Kidd was trying different things. For instance, I think he made a conscious decision to give Maxi extended run to see if he could gain any confidence on offense. In the first half, he had a pretty long run. He may wanted to see other things as well, so this is why Marshall didn't get a ton of minutes. It brings up an interesting discussion though, how Marshall and Grimes are playing they absolutely deserve minutes. The PF minutes in this game were split between their PFs ie PJ and Maxi (and OMax, their 3rd stringer, got the garbage ones). Nothing odd about that. PJ did sit a bit extra in the first half and Maxi played extra, but for an obvious reason - foul trouble - and when the game ended early, his total looked small. But the game itself dictated the minutes. The PFs played together for about 5 minutes, so one or the other also got time at "SF" while Klay played reduced minutes for some unknown reason..
12-24-2024, 10:29 PM
(12-24-2024, 07:20 PM)F Gump Wrote: The PF minutes in this game were split between their PFs ie PJ and Maxi (and OMax, their 3rd stringer, got the garbage ones). Nothing odd about that. Kleber also played briefly at center, to close out the first half. Maybe two possessions. |
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