02-08-2020, 04:31 AM
Mavs Cough Another One Up in DC
The Mavericks dropped another stinker against a mediocre Eastern team. They were lacking their usual crisp road form throughout, and their poor late-game execution caught up with them at the end. Disappointing.
Game Story
Luka and Powell remained out, but Seth returned and Barea was again available. Rick chose a starting lineup of Brunson/THJ/DFS/KP/Lee, giving Lee his fourth start of the season.
The game was played very close, with 12 ties and 21 lead changes. The Mavs' maximum lead was 8 points in the third quarter, and the Wizards' highest point advantage was four. Neither team looked good, and the Mavs would have little fits and starts, but never seemed to click.
The fourth quarter was especially poor, with the Mavs giving up 11 points on 7 turnovers, and allowing the Wiz an astounding 10 more shot attempts than they earned. Even at that, a DFS three off a great Brunson pass gave the team a 5-point advantage at the 1:49 mark. Then the meltdown began.
Wiz miss a layup. Seth is called for an offensive foul. (Seemed questionable on a first look, but I couldn't bring myself to re-watch, preferring to retain my rosy impression.)
1:20 Ish Smith hits a three with little resistance. Mavs up 2.
1:05 Brunson misses a bad pull-up. Maxi fouls Bertans, who hits both free throws. Tie game. Five point swing in 35 seconds. Mavs take their last time out.
0:32 Bonga blocks KP's shot. Beal misses at the other end. The Mavs have a messy offensive possession, but Bonga bails them out fouling Hardaway. Tim misses the first free throw, makes the second. Mavs up 1. Wiz take their last timeout.
0:018 With less than two seconds left, Mavs allow Bradley Beal a layup with a very poor defensive possession. Wiz up one.
0:002 Mavs do not get their tip-in attempt off. Game over.
Analytics
The Wiz hit 19 threes at a 50% clip, overmatching the Mavs' 40% shooting from deep. In addition, Washington earned 23 points off Mav turnovers, and had 24 fast-break points. Dallas stayed in the game with 7 extra foul line attempts, 15 offensive rebounds, and 22 second-chance points. The boys ended the game -12 in points from threes, +6 in made free throws, and +4 in points from twos. The game plan got the Mavericks a lot of good shots, but poor execution at both ends of the court proved their undoing.
Players
Hardaway (35 min) had 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals, and was arguably the best Mav on the court. However, he was late switching on the last defensive possession, and missed a crucial free throw at the end. Overall, can't complain too much.
DFS (35 min) posted 12 points and 6 rebounds. He had a great clutch corner three, but made some important defensive mistakes, and had trouble staying in front of Beal.
Brunson (31 min) recorded 15 points and 4 assists, and shot pretty well (6-10). Given that he was assigned responsibilities outside his usual job description, he showed a decent game, but he had two bad turnovers and a critical bad shot in the fourth. Maybe you can't expect the guy to be more than he is at this point, but his skills at game management/execution in clutch situations need some work. Hopefully, he won't be on the floor during clutch time in the playoffs.
Seth (29 min) was the team's leading scorer, with 20 points off the bench, but was 6-18 from the field, missing a number of open shots. He also had a crucial turnover with an offensive foul called down the stretch, although I haven't verified whether or not that was real.
Maxi (26 min) had 7 points and 7 boards, and was one of the few Mavs to play some decent defense. Had an impressive block. Not a terrible showing.
Porzingis (21 min) put up 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals, and rescued the team on a number of poor defensive possessions. Unfortunately, he was in foul trouble for most of the game, which severely limited his time on the court. He was also 3-9 from the field, and had 3 turnovers. Not convinced that the refs weren't a little hard on KP, and who knows what might have happened if he had been able to stay on the floor longer. Still, not great.
Wright (19 min) had 10 points and 6 assists off the bench, but the box score may look a little better than the eye test. For whatever reason, he seems reluctant to take threes, and the defense sags off of him, resulting in his getting beaten in too many of his attempts to drive to the basket. He also has a tendency to over-dribble, and his defense on the night was MIA. Maybe the coaches can take a look at the situation.
Lee (17 min) was a surprise start, and I was pretty pleased with his outing. He had 11 points, including three threes, and had a highlight play where he missed a three, dashed in to rebound his own miss, and threw it down. Good hustle. It remains to be seen whether the Mavs plan to use Lee on a regular basis the remainder of the season, or if this was just a one-night flyer. They might be able to upgrade just by integrating Courtney, at least in limited minutes. Stranger things have happened.
Jackson (12 min) did not have much to show for his time on the court (7 points, 3 boards), and had a terrible turnover where he threw the ball from the corner across the court and into the stands. Yikes.
WCS (9 min) was called upon due to KP's foul trouble, and he recorded 6 points, 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal in short minutes. I thought he looked pretty respectable. He had a couple of dunks, and some good passes, and seemed to be staying in front of his man reasonably well. The broadcasting crew thought he might have earned more minutes, and the studio crew highlighted his impact and commented on how much his running hard and dragging the defense along with him helped the overall game when he was in. I guess the minutes are still TBD, but I don't think he hurt his case here.
Wizards. Bradley Beal torched the Mavs for 29 points and 8 assists, although he was 11-28 on field goal attempts, had 4 turnovers, and missed numerous shots in the stretch. But he did execute beautifully for the winning basket, and he is likely a good bet for an All-Star spot if there are any Eastern Conference injuries. Davis Bertans burned us with 20 points off the bench, including 5 threes, and had 8 rebounds. This team was just about as bad defensively as the Mavs, and can probably consider themselves a little lucky to get out of this one alive. They did play hard.
Remarks
Carlisle was very short in his post-game presser. He admitted the defensive mistakes on the last possession, but thought the game was lost in the first 47 minutes and 40 seconds. Woah. He thought everyone played a part in the loss, including the coaches, and was very disappointed in the performance.
Even the sunny FSSW studio crew had a hard time finding positives in this one, although they did put in some good words for Lee, Hardaway, Seth, and WCS. KP's foul trouble was obviously an issue, and the Wizards' defense tightened up in the fourth. As far as the late game execution, the Mavs shouldn't have played poorly enough in the rest of the game to have had the contest come down to one possession and leaving themselves no margin for error. However, Jet and Skin had to admit that the end-game performance was very bad, and Jet thinks that they have to get that part of their game under control before they can evolve into true title contenders.
The game was reasonably entertaining, but one did walk away with a "same story, umpteenth verse" feeling. The Mavs usually look pretty focused and attentive on the road, and it was puzzling not to see them demonstrate that in this match. They looked disjointed all night, with too many mistakes, and too many good shots missed. Just an all-around failure to execute, no doubt aggravated by Luka's absence and KP's foul trouble.
If one were to look on the bright side, the squad was still in it until the bitter end, despite not having played well. Also, it didn't look like a case of a clearly better team beating them, more a matter of self-destruction, although the Wiz do deserve some credit. We also got to see some pretty good play from some of the lesser-used big men, and that's always fun. It's too bad that they haven't so far been able to take advantage of this supposedly lighter stretch in their schedule, and they may regret that as the season draws to a close. Long term, I think it may be hard to know how much to read into these games while the key players are not fully available.
Next. The Mavs have little time to breathe, facing the Hornets at Charlotte on the second night of the back-to-back. Luka is still projected to be out. Would be a good night for the team to return to their usual road form.
Keep the faith, MFFLs!
The Mavericks dropped another stinker against a mediocre Eastern team. They were lacking their usual crisp road form throughout, and their poor late-game execution caught up with them at the end. Disappointing.
Game Story
Luka and Powell remained out, but Seth returned and Barea was again available. Rick chose a starting lineup of Brunson/THJ/DFS/KP/Lee, giving Lee his fourth start of the season.
The game was played very close, with 12 ties and 21 lead changes. The Mavs' maximum lead was 8 points in the third quarter, and the Wizards' highest point advantage was four. Neither team looked good, and the Mavs would have little fits and starts, but never seemed to click.
The fourth quarter was especially poor, with the Mavs giving up 11 points on 7 turnovers, and allowing the Wiz an astounding 10 more shot attempts than they earned. Even at that, a DFS three off a great Brunson pass gave the team a 5-point advantage at the 1:49 mark. Then the meltdown began.
Wiz miss a layup. Seth is called for an offensive foul. (Seemed questionable on a first look, but I couldn't bring myself to re-watch, preferring to retain my rosy impression.)
1:20 Ish Smith hits a three with little resistance. Mavs up 2.
1:05 Brunson misses a bad pull-up. Maxi fouls Bertans, who hits both free throws. Tie game. Five point swing in 35 seconds. Mavs take their last time out.
0:32 Bonga blocks KP's shot. Beal misses at the other end. The Mavs have a messy offensive possession, but Bonga bails them out fouling Hardaway. Tim misses the first free throw, makes the second. Mavs up 1. Wiz take their last timeout.
0:018 With less than two seconds left, Mavs allow Bradley Beal a layup with a very poor defensive possession. Wiz up one.
0:002 Mavs do not get their tip-in attempt off. Game over.
Analytics
The Wiz hit 19 threes at a 50% clip, overmatching the Mavs' 40% shooting from deep. In addition, Washington earned 23 points off Mav turnovers, and had 24 fast-break points. Dallas stayed in the game with 7 extra foul line attempts, 15 offensive rebounds, and 22 second-chance points. The boys ended the game -12 in points from threes, +6 in made free throws, and +4 in points from twos. The game plan got the Mavericks a lot of good shots, but poor execution at both ends of the court proved their undoing.
Players
Hardaway (35 min) had 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals, and was arguably the best Mav on the court. However, he was late switching on the last defensive possession, and missed a crucial free throw at the end. Overall, can't complain too much.
DFS (35 min) posted 12 points and 6 rebounds. He had a great clutch corner three, but made some important defensive mistakes, and had trouble staying in front of Beal.
Brunson (31 min) recorded 15 points and 4 assists, and shot pretty well (6-10). Given that he was assigned responsibilities outside his usual job description, he showed a decent game, but he had two bad turnovers and a critical bad shot in the fourth. Maybe you can't expect the guy to be more than he is at this point, but his skills at game management/execution in clutch situations need some work. Hopefully, he won't be on the floor during clutch time in the playoffs.
Seth (29 min) was the team's leading scorer, with 20 points off the bench, but was 6-18 from the field, missing a number of open shots. He also had a crucial turnover with an offensive foul called down the stretch, although I haven't verified whether or not that was real.
Maxi (26 min) had 7 points and 7 boards, and was one of the few Mavs to play some decent defense. Had an impressive block. Not a terrible showing.
Porzingis (21 min) put up 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals, and rescued the team on a number of poor defensive possessions. Unfortunately, he was in foul trouble for most of the game, which severely limited his time on the court. He was also 3-9 from the field, and had 3 turnovers. Not convinced that the refs weren't a little hard on KP, and who knows what might have happened if he had been able to stay on the floor longer. Still, not great.
Wright (19 min) had 10 points and 6 assists off the bench, but the box score may look a little better than the eye test. For whatever reason, he seems reluctant to take threes, and the defense sags off of him, resulting in his getting beaten in too many of his attempts to drive to the basket. He also has a tendency to over-dribble, and his defense on the night was MIA. Maybe the coaches can take a look at the situation.
Lee (17 min) was a surprise start, and I was pretty pleased with his outing. He had 11 points, including three threes, and had a highlight play where he missed a three, dashed in to rebound his own miss, and threw it down. Good hustle. It remains to be seen whether the Mavs plan to use Lee on a regular basis the remainder of the season, or if this was just a one-night flyer. They might be able to upgrade just by integrating Courtney, at least in limited minutes. Stranger things have happened.
Jackson (12 min) did not have much to show for his time on the court (7 points, 3 boards), and had a terrible turnover where he threw the ball from the corner across the court and into the stands. Yikes.
WCS (9 min) was called upon due to KP's foul trouble, and he recorded 6 points, 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal in short minutes. I thought he looked pretty respectable. He had a couple of dunks, and some good passes, and seemed to be staying in front of his man reasonably well. The broadcasting crew thought he might have earned more minutes, and the studio crew highlighted his impact and commented on how much his running hard and dragging the defense along with him helped the overall game when he was in. I guess the minutes are still TBD, but I don't think he hurt his case here.
Wizards. Bradley Beal torched the Mavs for 29 points and 8 assists, although he was 11-28 on field goal attempts, had 4 turnovers, and missed numerous shots in the stretch. But he did execute beautifully for the winning basket, and he is likely a good bet for an All-Star spot if there are any Eastern Conference injuries. Davis Bertans burned us with 20 points off the bench, including 5 threes, and had 8 rebounds. This team was just about as bad defensively as the Mavs, and can probably consider themselves a little lucky to get out of this one alive. They did play hard.
Remarks
Carlisle was very short in his post-game presser. He admitted the defensive mistakes on the last possession, but thought the game was lost in the first 47 minutes and 40 seconds. Woah. He thought everyone played a part in the loss, including the coaches, and was very disappointed in the performance.
Even the sunny FSSW studio crew had a hard time finding positives in this one, although they did put in some good words for Lee, Hardaway, Seth, and WCS. KP's foul trouble was obviously an issue, and the Wizards' defense tightened up in the fourth. As far as the late game execution, the Mavs shouldn't have played poorly enough in the rest of the game to have had the contest come down to one possession and leaving themselves no margin for error. However, Jet and Skin had to admit that the end-game performance was very bad, and Jet thinks that they have to get that part of their game under control before they can evolve into true title contenders.
The game was reasonably entertaining, but one did walk away with a "same story, umpteenth verse" feeling. The Mavs usually look pretty focused and attentive on the road, and it was puzzling not to see them demonstrate that in this match. They looked disjointed all night, with too many mistakes, and too many good shots missed. Just an all-around failure to execute, no doubt aggravated by Luka's absence and KP's foul trouble.
If one were to look on the bright side, the squad was still in it until the bitter end, despite not having played well. Also, it didn't look like a case of a clearly better team beating them, more a matter of self-destruction, although the Wiz do deserve some credit. We also got to see some pretty good play from some of the lesser-used big men, and that's always fun. It's too bad that they haven't so far been able to take advantage of this supposedly lighter stretch in their schedule, and they may regret that as the season draws to a close. Long term, I think it may be hard to know how much to read into these games while the key players are not fully available.
Next. The Mavs have little time to breathe, facing the Hornets at Charlotte on the second night of the back-to-back. Luka is still projected to be out. Would be a good night for the team to return to their usual road form.
Keep the faith, MFFLs!
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/26xBQSVMbdZCRctri/giphy.gif)
