GAME 65: IND (39-25) @ DAL (39-26) | 109-112 loss

[ItsGoTime]

A team who did not get one single score for almost a half quarter!

One might say that is in part because the refs swallowed their whistles during that time.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Houston's jig is up

Curious why they suddenly stink.  Haven't watched them play, is their small ball figured out by the league?

Harden has been terrible and small ball is exhausting for the players. Tucker and RoCo might be able to battle with bigs for a few games but not for a 1/4 season.
RoCo is still going strong but it feels like Tucker lost his legs.

Harden has lost his legs as well.  He's not getting the lift he usually has, and his 3pt % has plummeted. Russ is still playing strong. He's a freakin robot, seems nothing effects him. They are wearing themselves out, playing big, physical teams.

[omahen]

We might be the only franchise whose fans blame the refs for losing a game in which our team could not score in the last five minutes. Let me say it again. A team who did not get one single score for almost a half quarter!

And that is not the first time this team brain-fart at the end of a game. Before taking it to the ref or blaming any player, how about being fair and talk some about the coach? No matter how bad the team or any player was, they were leading by 5 in the last five minutes.  And then?

It was actually 3 minutes. Than they made a couple of mistakes and missed some shots, 2 of them comptletly open. Indiana also made a couple of mistakes, the only difference was they scored s couple of shots. I really don't understand where RC was outcoached here in your opinion. Should he remove Indiana defense?

Indiana has the luxury of having two bigs who did really well guarding the perimeter even when switched on a guard. Besides, Dallas were missing Seth and KP was just completely cold. It was basically two guys doing all the work on offense. It was a miracle Mavs made it a close game.

[dmavs4life03]

Lee is a way better defender/rebounder than JJ. JJ can bring more to the game offensively when he's finally engaged and whatnot but he's terrible defensively and on the boards. Brokoff was a better team defender/rebounder than him. I love JJ just as much as the next guy but he is an offensive player only who lately has been struggling. 

What I dont get is why we didn't try more Boban or WCS when it became obvious KP was having a rough night as was Maxi. That said.... if we just make our 8FTs we missed, we win tonight. If we had more energy on the boards after forcing a miss and didn't shoot 40+ 3s we win. This team is unfortunately most likely going to be an easy out for whoever we play given that the refs don't seem to be able to recognize fouls against Luka/KP, we cant make FTs, dont create decent midrange shots and knock em down and fall in love with 3s and can't create/knock down consistent shots when the defense tightens up or refs are being blind. Hopefully Curry/KP/Brunson/Delon can fix that as can Boban/WCS/MKG with screening/post play but I'm not sure they'll get used properly.

[SwisherPrice]

Another late game meltdown...which is unfortunate. But on the bright side, good loss for draft positioning! 

[Kammrath]

But on the bright side, good loss for draft positioning!

Yep, back to that 18/19th pick slot.

[mtrot]

That was a rough way to lose. I felt like we weren't gonna win all night as we were just a step slow all night and only luka came to play from jump it seems. Ricks JJB/Boban lineup was awful and it seems this TJ Mconell guy just seems to dance about through the paint on us and we cant stop it.

 THJ and JJ made contributions along the way as did WCS/Boban but we just kept winding up a hair slow to loose balls, rotations in the paint, rebounds you name it. KP's shot was off, refs couldn't see the beating luka was taking and register it as fouls and we shot too many early 3s and pullups in the first 5 secs of several 24sec possessions that were bricks. Lastly....missed fucking FTs. COME ON! Whats the point of complaining about blind refs/ driving and getting contact if you aren't gonna cash in at the line. Also maybe we should have put in Boban or WCS towards the end to change how we try to score inside and to better control the boards?

Nothing we haven't seen before.... just another loss for 3point chucking smallball mavs. Hopefully JJ gets a pickmeup from this game cause he's been ass before tonight.

Yes.  Once we got that 5 point lead towards the end, I would have put in Boban, so as to be able to get the ball in to him and draw fouls since we were unable to score on long jump shots.  And to eliminate so many second chance points for the Pacers.

[Kammrath]

[MrGoat]

Oof, that finish was brutal.

I'm in the minority that wants to avoid playing Denver though so I'm not going to sweat it. Luka's conditioning still needs work and if we're not going to load manage him I really don't like the idea of playing Denver on the road in the playoffs.

KP was due a bad game so I'll just give him a mulligan for this one

[TurkishMFFL]

We might be the only franchise whose fans blame the refs for losing a game in which our team could not score in the last five minutes. Let me say it again. A team who did not get one single score for almost a half quarter!

And that is not the first time this team brain-fart at the end of a game. Before taking it to the ref or blaming any player, how about being fair and talk some about the coach? No matter how bad the team or any player was, they were leading by 5 in the last five minutes.  And then?

It was actually 3 minutes. Than they made a couple of mistakes and missed some shots, 2 of them comptletly open. Indiana also made a couple of mistakes, the only difference was they scored s couple of shots. I really don't understand where RC was outcoached here in your opinion. Should he remove Indiana defense?

Indiana has the luxury of having two bigs who did really well guarding the perimeter even when switched on a guard. Besides, Dallas were missing Seth and KP was just completely cold. It was basically two guys doing all the work on offense. It was a miracle Mavs made it a close game.

Not really trying to make anything out of this but the last field goal came at 04:48 to go.

7 missed fga from there. Guess what? All of them were 3s. We also had two turnovers and one missed and one made free throw.

All things aside, that is not the type of offense you would expect from an above average team particularly when the game is that close. Sometimes I really wonder if we do have a real game plan apart from the variations to find someone behind the arc.

[Mavs2019]

Guess that did not help our 27th ranked clutch offense. Giving up 17 points in the last nine minutes is pretty standard in the NBA. # defense. Only scoring one point in the last 4.40 minutes....eh.

[omahen]

7 missed fga from there. Guess what? All of them were 3s.

Not true. Since 4:48, there were 1 missed layups and another 2 layups blocked (Mavs ball both times). Other than that, all shots came after a drive in the paint, which was clogged, so a pass out was somehow logical. 

All things aside, that is not the type of offense you would expect from an above average team particularly when the game is that close. Sometimes I really wonder if we do have a real game plan apart from the variations to find someone behind the arc.

Again - the paint was full of Indiana players. Not many other options but to kick the ball out to an open player. Not really much different offense than usual.

[bartlettbear]

Lee is a way better defender/rebounder than JJ. JJ can bring more to the game offensively when he's finally engaged and whatnot but he's terrible defensively and on the boards. Brokoff was a better team defender/rebounder than him. I love JJ just as much as the next guy but he is an offensive player only who lately has been struggling. 

What I dont get is why we didn't try more Boban or WCS when it became obvious KP was having a rough night as was Maxi. That said.... if we just make our 8FTs we missed, we win tonight. If we had more energy on the boards after forcing a miss and didn't shoot 40+ 3s we win. This team is unfortunately most likely going to be an easy out for whoever we play given that the refs don't seem to be able to recognize fouls against Luka/KP, we cant make FTs, dont create decent midrange shots and knock em down and fall in love with 3s and can't create/knock down consistent shots when the defense tightens up or refs are being blind. Hopefully Curry/KP/Brunson/Delon can fix that as can Boban/WCS/MKG with screening/post play but I'm not sure they'll get used properly.

There is not a single stat that backs up Lee is a better rebounder his best per 36 was 4.5 Jackson career per 36 is 4.8.
This year Jackson is avg a rebound more a game.

Lee is awful defense just watch he can't stay in front of anyone Jackson solid defender on wings but he as to guard 4 most of the time.

[Dundalis]

Dallas is an average team. A very long way from being a contender.

Meh. This is a 50 win a season team due to Luka alone from now on, just like it was with Dirk. We're on track for 49 without our two best players being near their prime. Regular season don't matter other than getting in, and we will be for the next decade. Once that happens anything can happen, ala 2011.

All we'd need this season, is come playoffs time, to get healthy, Luka and KP to hit their stride, and I see no reason why this team couldn't have a deep run. Luck would have a play a massive role, but who cares how it ends. This team has as long a window to contend as any team in the league. Find me some perimeter defense without compromising the offense, and this team wins multiple rings before Luka and KP are done easy.

[embellisher]

Mephis

Broussard, is that you?

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bartlettbear pid='29420' dateline='1583719912']Mephis

Broussard, is that you?

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embellisher pid='29483' dateline='1583787619']

Mephis

Broussard, is that you?

---

Mephis

Broussard, is that you?

Oops! Wrong meme.

[dmavs4life03]

Lee is a way better defender/rebounder than JJ. JJ can bring more to the game offensively when he's finally engaged and whatnot but he's terrible defensively and on the boards. Brokoff was a better team defender/rebounder than him. I love JJ just as much as the next guy but he is an offensive player only who lately has been struggling. 

What I dont get is why we didn't try more Boban or WCS when it became obvious KP was having a rough night as was Maxi. That said.... if we just make our 8FTs we missed, we win tonight. If we had more energy on the boards after forcing a miss and didn't shoot 40+ 3s we win. This team is unfortunately most likely going to be an easy out for whoever we play given that the refs don't seem to be able to recognize fouls against Luka/KP, we cant make FTs, dont create decent midrange shots and knock em down and fall in love with 3s and can't create/knock down consistent shots when the defense tightens up or refs are being blind. Hopefully Curry/KP/Brunson/Delon can fix that as can Boban/WCS/MKG with screening/post play but I'm not sure they'll get used properly.

There is not a single stat that backs up Lee is a better rebounder his best per 36 was 4.5  Jackson career per 36 is 4.8.
This year Jackson is avg a rebound more a game.

Lee is awful defense just watch he can't stay in front of anyone Jackson solid defender on wings but he as to guard  4 most of the time.

Lee is decent defensively... saying he got lit up by ingram shouldnt be a surprise also as he was tossed on him late and cold off the bench if I recall. Also getting scored on by someone you giveup size/weight on is also to me about the team rotation never helping and recovering. It happens sometimes to Maxi who's probably our best 1v1 defender.

 Also Lee and delon are the only to players on our team that pick the passing lanes and force TOs. I agree Rick does JJ no favors playing him at 4 but even at the 3, Lee seems to have better instincts going for boards and is a threat to make quick smart decisions....( shoot the open 3, pass or drive and pass) where JJ sometimes is hesitant to shoot and passes just a second too late when he decides he cant get off a floater or whatever. Just my eye test opinion...I dont have stats. I do wish rick would not play our SGs like Delon/JJ/Curry at SF.... its bad both on offense and defense.... especially since we wont play a 5.