A Few Thoughts on Mavs 107, Bulls 109

[dmavs4life03]

In addition, however, it seemed to me that he reverted to an extent to forcing the issue and trying to "do it all," rather than trusting his teammates and letting the game come to him against a poor team. The Bulls double-teamed him all night, and he is still adapting to giving the ball up in those circumstances. I guess Rome wasn't built in a day.

Thanks for the recap, however, I can't agree with this part. Luka was forced to try everything by himself because there was not a single other creator available. THJ is trying to extent, although he prefers to solve with a tough shot. The rest were just anemic observers. Barea didn't have his day. Wright is looking worse every game. Really looking forward for Brunson to return. Luka was passing all the time. Actually, he only took 2 shots in the final quarter where Bulls basically left other Mavs completely open.

Yes and no. Sometimes luka gets it set in his head when he feels like he's getting pressed by someone too much that he tries to come at them with equal force not paying attention anymore to the right basketball play but to "owning" the aggressive defender and showing he "can't be stopped 1 on 1". Sometimes the whistle is blown or he makes the shot he "creates' but other times the refs just sorta watch him dribble til a help defender pokes the ball away or he loses it tryna be fancy/draw a foul and then he goes to the refs and lets it sour his mood the next play or two. He might come back down after having turned the ball over and shoot a 3 with barely 5 secs off the clock.

Its on coaching to recognize that and bring it up to him or bench him for a min or too to calm down. Same with taking it to the refs if you feel your guy's getting beat up, same with coaching for someone to go get the ball and create some action that can open up a scoring opportunity in the paint/midrange instead of just looking for open 3s. It doesn't have to be a dribble dribble guard either..... reliable paint touches/finishes or the threat thereof is enough to open things up and lately Currys midrange game adds a dimension where the defense has to pick poison... either a decent midrange touch from someone who can make em, decent paint touches from KP/Boban/Maxi/WCS that's a bucket or a passing clinic around the arc for a 3 from THJ/DFS/KP. 

Part of the reason KP is thriving is he's also a threat to pop the mid range effectively while also banging in 3s or down low. Our offense can sorta make it without KP but the defense goes to pot w/o him. Part of the reason I was thrilled wen we got Tyson back in 2011 and he was healthy was we had legit size to go against the lakers if we got to face em and if we faced the spurs, loading up on JET/Dirk wouldn't be effective because he could CATCH the ball and finish or MAKE FTs unlike brick hands Dampier. And his size helped tapout/rebound so many opportunities for us. We need to make use of the entire roster like we have anytime we went far in the playoffs.... if thats the goal. Just my 2 cents.

Bottom line: The Mavericks let ANOTHER one slip away in an absent-minded 3PT brickfesting effort against one of the Eastern Conference's bottom feeders.