12-17-2019, 11:41 AM
(12-17-2019, 11:11 AM)michaeltex Wrote:(12-17-2019, 08:49 AM)StepBackJay Wrote: Man that was vintage Porzingis last night. I don't understand rotations at all especially last night on either side. It seems like KP sits for really long stretches. He is so effective when he's in there. Also I am willing to say he needs to take back to the basket touches out of his game. Back to the basket dribbling is dying and almost extinct anyway. Ya it was nice that Dirk could do it and there are still some guys that do it, it just isn't necessary and KP doesn't have the handles to do it. What happens every time is that these smaller defenders can disrupt his dribble. That doesn't mean he doesn't have handles. I love him getting the ball in space, even if its out on the perimeter he can take bigger guys off the dribble and do some amazing stuff. He can also try more face up stuff holding his dribble for the triple threat. Once he realizes that it's going to be a lot better. Last night he only tried a couple back to the basket touches and it didn't go well. Everything else was great. Man having Luka + KP is so huge, they are great compliments to each other. This team is not far away from contention at all. Think how far we have come so quickly.
Dirk's fadeaway was the reason for his postup success. Didn't do anything fancy with dribbling, but backed you down a bit and could spin out if you over commited to one side. Once the double teams started, he perfected his signature one-legged lean-back that was pretty much unguardable. But that is now one of those 2pt shots that nobody is supposed to take.
Personally, I'm feeling like the Mavs are in contention. Top 4 in the West. Beaten all of the teams around them at least once plus a couple of the top East teams. If they can beat BOS on Wednesday, then the noise surrounding our boys will really ramp up. Great in one sense, but possible distraction in another.
I always like the Spurs publicity. You didn't hear much about them, they just kept winning. Next thing you know, they're a top 4 seed that creates problems for opponents and is a tough out in the tournament.
Young Dirk did a lot of dribbling, in-his-prime Dirk did dribble in the post as you mentioned. I agree it's not fancy but Dirk was able to do it without turning the ball over until late in his career when he would fumble it a lot until he had to subtract it from his game. He would still do post-ups but not with an active dribble.
KP wasn't that good in post-ups statistically in NYK and it's worse now. I am just saying he should not dribble with his back to the basket. He still has an impressive handle overall for his size. It's a real problem for bigs to meet him at the 3 point line where he will either shoot over them or take them off the dribble.