A Few Thoughts on Mavs 106, Nuggets 107

[mavsluvr]

DFS wasn't supposed to be on Jokic. Powell and DFS failed to execute the desired switch. 

Once it happened, for whatever reason, the other Mavs decided not to help, and DFS chose not to foul. These guys just aren't very good at making decisions when plays go wrong in high-pressure situations.

Right but is Powell any better on Jokic? Even moreso, if the Nuggets got such a favorable switch, then Carlisle should've called an impromtu double off the drive. As soon as Jokic put it down, Powell should've shaded down and forced the double which in turn would've forced Jokic to pass the ball and make someone else beat us. I'd rather have a Murray 3 than a free Jokic layup.

---

RC had Powell on Jokic but Murray screened him and forced the switch.

So in other words, RC failed to tell the team don't switch. It was a massive blunder by RC giving the Nuggets one of the most favorable matchups for them on the last possession.

There weren't any great options, once the play had blown up. Powell could have helped one pass away, and Murray could have gotten an open shot. DFS could have fouled, and taken his chances with Jokic at the FT line. Might have actually been dope if someone would have run over from the weak side. There were alternatives that probably should have been taken, but none of the options were high-percentage choices.

I think the bigger point is not that the Mavs would have done great except for Carlisle screwing up his coaching on this one play. More that, due to inexperience and perhaps lack of specific coaching direction, the young Mavs just don't make good decisions when they have to scramble under pressure. Rick took responsibility for it, but this wasn't just about one bad play. It's about a pattern.

[Dahlsim]

Mavs Let Another One Slip Away

Aargh. What a gut punch. Mavs lead the West's #2 team for most of the game, but surrender the match with another poor performance in the clutch. 

Game Story
…. 

The last two plays pretty much encapsulated the struggle. The Mavs were up 1 with 23 seconds left. Denver had the ball. Powell and DFS switched early, and through either miscommunication or Powell being unable to get through a screen, they failed to re-switch, and DFS was mismatched against Jokic. Jokic backed DFS down for several seconds, and no one came to help, with the other Mavs sticking to their men. Eventually, Jokic put the ball in over the way overmatched Finney-Smith, and Denver was up one with 7 seconds left. 
….. 
Analytics

...
Powell (27 min) was a bright spot on the offensive end, being the second-leading scorer with 16 points and rebounder with 8 boards. He actually did respectable defensive work, drawing much of the duty against Jokic. He made Jokic work for his points, but in the end, was just too undersized to slow down the Denver big man's explosion in the second half. Part of the clutch-time debacle involved his suddenly freezing and looking around in the middle of a play, as if he had heard a whistle, and then having to continue after the defense had collected itself. 

Curry (24 min) provided a scoring punch off the bench with 14 points on 6-10 shooting. Maxi (23 min) had 13 points and 7 rebounds, but was 1-6 from beyond the arc. He shared some of the defensive duties on Jokic with Powell. 

Nuggets. Jokic torched the Mavs with 33 points on 12-20 shooting, including 4 threes, and 26 points in the second half. Dallas didn't have much of an answer for him, other than trying to counter with spectacular offense from Luka. Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee combined for 25 points. The boys in blue struggled trying to keep Denver's burly bigs out of the paint. Could have used Porzee. 


Remarks

….  … 
Nick and Isaac observed that one of the Mavs' weaknesses is being able to defend the league's prime big men, such as AD, Embiid, and Jokic. They don't have anyone who can take these guys on one-on-one, especially without KP on the floor. They viewed this as a hole in the Mavericks' defensive system, and were not sure whether it can be solved schematically, through internal improvement, or must be resolved by beefing up the squad. 

…. 

My impressions. It is no shame to come within a couple of points of beating the Nuggets, who are one of the West's …. 
Before the game, I thought Denver was going to be a very tough out for the Mavs, with their complement of powerful bigs and KP being out. Although the Mavericks were not crisp during the game, they competed better than I feared they would. I suppose the sunny side is that they managed to punch above their weight for the majority of the game..... 


Next.  Lakers, at the AAC on Friday night. Should be a fun match. 

Its almost funny.  Both commentary like this and the Coach's own approach would make you think this guy isn't even on the team?  
Did I miss a trade transaction or something? 


Interestingly enough, the Sixers went out and tried to get a better backup for Embiid in Kyle O' Quinn and now almost universally they feel they had a better backup, even as a 3rd big, with Boban.  

Not sure why Dallas picked him up, I never thought he would fit well in a Carlisle system. 
Anyway, he's the answer to those points above, but they should really test the trade market for him given the poor fit in Dallas and low minutes even compared to normal for him.

[MrGoat]

Why in the world does Carlisle think he's being smart putting 6'7 210lb Dorian Finney Smith on Nikola Jokic 7'0 255lb Jokic??????


Jokic had been destroying our bigs in the 2nd half, and instead of doubling or throwing in Boban, Carlisle chooses to put one of the smallest/lightest guys on him for the final possession??


I cannot believe the Mavs choked that one away.

Jokic might have been 255 lbs a few hundred twinkies ago. That had to be one of the easiest game winning shot attempts he's ever gotten. Also had a freebie with Wright on him at another point in the 4th

I'm kind of stunned Boban couldn't get any time in this one

This was the kind of game where you get tempted to call Detroit about Drummond's trade price just to get a physical presence on this team

[mavsluvr]

Those 8 missed free throws (out of 24) are really big and will be an under discussed aspect of this loss..

Inexcusable.

[chaparral]

Mavs Let Another One Slip Away

Aargh. What a gut punch. Mavs lead the West's #2 team for most of the game, but surrender the match with another poor performance in the clutch. 

Game Story
…. 

The last two plays pretty much encapsulated the struggle. The Mavs were up 1 with 23 seconds left. Denver had the ball. Powell and DFS switched early, and through either miscommunication or Powell being unable to get through a screen, they failed to re-switch, and DFS was mismatched against Jokic. Jokic backed DFS down for several seconds, and no one came to help, with the other Mavs sticking to their men. Eventually, Jokic put the ball in over the way overmatched Finney-Smith, and Denver was up one with 7 seconds left. 
….. 
Analytics

...
Powell (27 min) was a bright spot on the offensive end, being the second-leading scorer with 16 points and rebounder with 8 boards. He actually did respectable defensive work, drawing much of the duty against Jokic. He made Jokic work for his points, but in the end, was just too undersized to slow down the Denver big man's explosion in the second half. Part of the clutch-time debacle involved his suddenly freezing and looking around in the middle of a play, as if he had heard a whistle, and then having to continue after the defense had collected itself. 

Curry (24 min) provided a scoring punch off the bench with 14 points on 6-10 shooting. Maxi (23 min) had 13 points and 7 rebounds, but was 1-6 from beyond the arc. He shared some of the defensive duties on Jokic with Powell. 

Nuggets. Jokic torched the Mavs with 33 points on 12-20 shooting, including 4 threes, and 26 points in the second half. Dallas didn't have much of an answer for him, other than trying to counter with spectacular offense from Luka. Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee combined for 25 points. The boys in blue struggled trying to keep Denver's burly bigs out of the paint. Could have used Porzee. 


Remarks

….  … 
Nick and Isaac observed that one of the Mavs' weaknesses is being able to defend the league's prime big men, such as AD, Embiid, and Jokic. They don't have anyone who can take these guys on one-on-one, especially without KP on the floor. They viewed this as a hole in the Mavericks' defensive system, and were not sure whether it can be solved schematically, through internal improvement, or must be resolved by beefing up the squad. 

…. 

My impressions. It is no shame to come within a couple of points of beating the Nuggets, who are one of the West's …. 
Before the game, I thought Denver was going to be a very tough out for the Mavs, with their complement of powerful bigs and KP being out. Although the Mavericks were not crisp during the game, they competed better than I feared they would. I suppose the sunny side is that they managed to punch above their weight for the majority of the game..... 


Next.  Lakers, at the AAC on Friday night. Should be a fun match. 

Its almost funny.  Both commentary like this and the Coach's own approach would make you think this guy isn't even on the team?  
Did I miss a trade transaction or something? 


Interestingly enough, the Sixers went out and tried to get a better backup for Embiid in Kyle O' Quinn and now almost universally they feel they had a better backup, even as a 3rd big, with Boban.  

Not sure why Dallas picked him up, I never thought he would fit well in a Carlisle system. 
Anyway, he's the answer to those points above, but they should really test the trade market for him given the poor fit in Dallas and low minutes even compared to normal for him.

Boban is a Schwartz client.

[Dahlsim]

Mavs Let Another One Slip Away

Aargh. What a gut punch. Mavs lead the West's #2 team for most of the game, but surrender the match with another poor performance in the clutch. 

Game Story
…. 

The last two plays pretty much encapsulated the struggle. The Mavs were up 1 with 23 seconds left. Denver had the ball. Powell and DFS switched early, and through either miscommunication or Powell being unable to get through a screen, they failed to re-switch, and DFS was mismatched against Jokic. Jokic backed DFS down for several seconds, and no one came to help, with the other Mavs sticking to their men. Eventually, Jokic put the ball in over the way overmatched Finney-Smith, and Denver was up one with 7 seconds left. 
….. 
Analytics

...
Powell (27 min) was a bright spot on the offensive end, being the second-leading scorer with 16 points and rebounder with 8 boards. He actually did respectable defensive work, drawing much of the duty against Jokic. He made Jokic work for his points, but in the end, was just too undersized to slow down the Denver big man's explosion in the second half. Part of the clutch-time debacle involved his suddenly freezing and looking around in the middle of a play, as if he had heard a whistle, and then having to continue after the defense had collected itself. 

Curry (24 min) provided a scoring punch off the bench with 14 points on 6-10 shooting. Maxi (23 min) had 13 points and 7 rebounds, but was 1-6 from beyond the arc. He shared some of the defensive duties on Jokic with Powell. 

Nuggets. Jokic torched the Mavs with 33 points on 12-20 shooting, including 4 threes, and 26 points in the second half. Dallas didn't have much of an answer for him, other than trying to counter with spectacular offense from Luka. Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee combined for 25 points. The boys in blue struggled trying to keep Denver's burly bigs out of the paint. Could have used Porzee. 


Remarks

….  … 
Nick and Isaac observed that one of the Mavs' weaknesses is being able to defend the league's prime big men, such as AD, Embiid, and Jokic. They don't have anyone who can take these guys on one-on-one, especially without KP on the floor. They viewed this as a hole in the Mavericks' defensive system, and were not sure whether it can be solved schematically, through internal improvement, or must be resolved by beefing up the squad. 

…. 

My impressions. It is no shame to come within a couple of points of beating the Nuggets, who are one of the West's …. 
Before the game, I thought Denver was going to be a very tough out for the Mavs, with their complement of powerful bigs and KP being out. Although the Mavericks were not crisp during the game, they competed better than I feared they would. I suppose the sunny side is that they managed to punch above their weight for the majority of the game..... 


Next.  Lakers, at the AAC on Friday night. Should be a fun match. 

Its almost funny.  Both commentary like this and the Coach's own approach would make you think this guy isn't even on the team?  
Did I miss a trade transaction or something? 


Interestingly enough, the Sixers went out and tried to get a better backup for Embiid in Kyle O' Quinn and now almost universally they feel they had a better backup, even as a 3rd big, with Boban.  

Not sure why Dallas picked him up, I never thought he would fit well in a Carlisle system. 
Anyway, he's the answer to those points above, but they should really test the trade market for him given the poor fit in Dallas and low minutes even compared to normal for him.

Boban is a Schwartz client.

Ahh, so Boban's presence on the team is just an agent favor?  

[hakeemfan]

2 years ago Justin Patton was who I wanted in the draft. Injuries have set him back. Still has rare combo of size, athleticism, and touch. Would love for the Mavs to find a way to get him.

[DirkFan9]

Maybe some of you would like to watch the last 3 minutes of the game.

https://www.facebook.com/DallasMavsMFFL/...390170231/

[mavsluvr]

But Powell really doesn't deserve the snipes he's getting regarding last night.  As to the final play, Denver game planned to switch off of Powell.  The coach decides whether to play it straight up or to have someone double off of someone (Murray wouldn't have been the logical place to double from).  The best passing big in the league has the ball 10 feet from the basket on a small guy and he is surrounded by marksmen.  That was a low success rate scenario for Dallas no matter what.  The issue came in our inability to score the final two minutes, not in defending the play Denver called.

Agree. I actually thought Powell looked pretty decent on defense, considering everything.

[ItsGoTime]

Agree. I actually thought Powell looked pretty decent on defense, considering everything.

For most of this game I agree. I actually liked his drives to the basket as well. Overall, really good game from Powell.