A Few Thoughts on Mavs 97, Clippers 111

[mavsluvr]

Mavs Head Home After 2-4 Series
We’ll always have Game 4

Your shorthanded Dallas Mavericks finished the season with a competitive series against the Clippers. They played with heart, fought until the end, and gave us many memorable moments.


Game Story

Game 6 got off to a competitive start. Marcus Morris was ejected after one of his punk dirty plays on Luka. Bobi had to restrain Luka from going after Morris. Doc, of course, took the view that it was just a “reputation” foul. The Mavericks had a 5-point edge after one, but slipped to a 6-point deficit by the half. 

In the third quarter, the wheels came off the bus, and the Clippers built a 23-point lead. Dallas refused to put their heads down and fought back to within 11 after three. They made a mini-run in the fourth, whittling the deficit to 6 at one point, but the Clips eventually took over and sealed the series. 

Luka was excellent and very driven. It was a bad night for the shooters to fail to show up. Bobi was a team-high +16 in 17 minutes. Turnovers, rebounding, and missed free throws continued to show up as areas for the team to work on in the coming months. 


Observations

Rick was very proud of the guys, and said Game 5 was the only disappointment in the series. He emphasized how tough it was that so many guys were missing, for one reason or another. Together with the rigors of the bubble and the social justice situation, he believes his men fought their way through a number of adversities with courage and grit. 

This series was much more competitive than I expected it to be when it began. The Mavericks gave themselves a chance in at least 5 of the 6 games, and even managed to win a couple. Provided they can stay healthy, I look for them to make a deeper run next season. 

What a wild, weird, crazy season this has been, wrapped in one of the most unusual years in history off the court. The Mavs had their struggles, but exit their season with their heads held high. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what the team does in the off-season, and cheering them on in the next campaign. 


Next. Thanks for joining me for another season of postgame recaps. I’ll post some of my impressions from the season in the next day or so. 

[LukTheShadow]

What a wild, weird, crazy season this has been, wrapped in one of the most unusual years in history off the court. The Mavs had their struggles, but exit their season with their heads held high. 

Nothing to add.

Shorthanded Mavs during all season with mybe 2,5 legit nba starters jumped from lottery to competitibe opponent in PO's against one of the best.

Super fun season.
Super bright future.
Super proud here.

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@"mavsluvr"
I've changed all text colour before posting into dark blue and so text could be well seein in dark and light theme.

[mtrot]

Thanks again for all your great synopses!  Great job.

"Turnovers, rebounding, and missed free throws continued to show up as areas for the team to work on in the coming months."

Yes, as I've lamented throughout the season, the failure to execute such fundamentals of the game continues to sabotage the Mavs' chances, and that just drives me crazy.  Is there any way the Mavs could pick up a new or different assistant coach who could work specifically on improving the Mavs' execution of those things?  Seriously, the Mavs could have won several additional games during the season simply by being able to shoot ~80% on FTs and would not have even faced the Clips in the first round! 

That said, the Mavs delivered an exciting season for the fans, and hopefully can build on the success of making the playoffs by adding some needed additional talent in the right positions. 

[Dahlsim]

Thanks again for your great work and dedicated game threads.  Way to work the bubble ML!   

 Bobi was a team-high +16 in 17 minutes.

Sigh.  I've harped on this all season and even before as far the post-championship Rick Carlisle Mavs.  
Its really a 2 edged sword.   Coach Carlisle operates like a genius with a big blind spot.  

I created a thread on this subject predicting that Carlisle's Mavs would fail to capitalize on their one big advantage in the Match up with the superior Clippers, Size with KP, Boban and of course Luka the big guard. 

KP was playing great, despite the fact he probably played injured some of that time.  Big props to the Unicorn and to the Coach C. for the way the Mavs looked with their big TWO intact.  Very hopeful for Dallas future. 

Unfortunately, Rick doesn't have playing BIG in his bag of tricks any more and at times that what Dallas absolutely needed.  Rick just hasn't been able to leverage the 5 position inside, really at any time since the Championship Mavs lost their great BIG Center rotation that won the franchise's only NBA championship.  

Why did Boban go +10 in the first half in limited minutes only to be on the bench during the entire fateful crushing 3rd quarter?   How does that make any basketball sense? 

That said, Rick is untouchable in Dallas, I think we all know that so you MUST continue to give him a roster that fits his approach.  When they had a fully healthy roster you could see a roster that might go far within a Carlisle led system.  
Dwight Powell was on fire at one point, a promising young Brunson looked good backing up Luka and then the Unicorn emerging along with strong runs by THJ and Seth makes a case that a healthy run (which is never promised) could take Dallas far sooner rather than later.

[fifteenth]

Dahlsim, good sir, you're always an enjoyable read, whether I agree with you or not. May I offer an alternative theory to your take on Bobi and Rick? 

It's possible that Boban's success comes in small doses because his success must come in small doses. It might be that Boban's enourmous frame can't handle much more than the minutes he gets, and also, that too many minutes exposes him and to adjustments that will come from the oposing coach. It just might be that more Bobi would yield diminishing returns, and that Rick is playing him just the right amount. 

I know you probably have a reason why this suggestion is off base. But I'd just like to enter these thoughts into the public record.

[Dahlsim]

Dahlsim, good sir, you're always an enjoyable read, whether I agree with you or not. May I offer an alternative theory to your take on Bobi and Rick? 

It's possible that Boban's success comes in small doses because his success must come in small doses. It might be that Boban's enourmous frame can't handle much more than the minutes he gets, and also, that too many minutes exposes him and to adjustments that will come from the oposing coach. It just might be that more Bobi would yield diminishing returns, and that Rick is playing him just the right amount. 

I know you probably have a reason why this suggestion is off base. But I'd just like to enter these thoughts into the public record.

Thanks 15th.  You know I always enjoy discussions with you whether we're on the same side of an issue or in a debate on different sides.  Its all good. 

I can't say you're off base and in fact those points have been put forth by others in the past about Boban. 
The reason I could never say its off base is because we can only speculate what would have happened has Boban played more minutes. 
Since we're usually talking about games where he doesn't get the chance to play those minutes and/or the offensive usage when he does, the assumption that he could not handle it or be effective can only be speculation. 

In the rare times where he has gotten extended run, we're seen some strong suggestion that he could produce just as he did in the shorter minutes.  How quickly we forget the MONSTER game Boban put up against these very Clippers this very season, when he was given the minutes and the opportunities. 

That much isn't speculation, which is why I suggest what I do. Its small sample sizes so that leaves plenty of room for speculation. 
What we also have seen consistently is MONSTER numbers in the limited minutes like we saw again in this playoff series. 
So we just find a way to give Coach Carlisle the benefit of any doubt if he chooses NOT to play an evidently productive player.  That's why I said he's untouchable as a Dallas coach.  If he doesn't decide to do something then by definition the MFFL assumes his reasons had to be right.

[Benskix2]

Thanks for being here this year Mr. Mavsluvr.  Been a weird one for everyone, having your recaps brought us back to a simpler time, when men were men and the Dallas Mavericks employed the best basketball player on the planet.  Hope you have a great off-season and see you back in a few months for the start of the next one!

[hakeemfan]

@"mavsluvr" Thanks for your game synopses. Looked forward to it after every game and thoroughly enjoyed the analysis and discussions.

Looking back at this season and what happened against the Clips, this old school, inside out basketball guy is ready to embrace a small ball skilled , athletic team around Luka. Need a couple of 6’8” athletic, Swiss Army knives. Not even looking for greatness. That and one professional scorer off the bench should be the priorities.

[duboh7]

Thanks, Mavsluvr.  I always read, first, your recounts of each game.
I remain hopeful for next season.  Maybe the addition of one player who is impactful.  Wouldn't it be great if each individual player had as much improvement next year, as the delta improvement they showed this year!