GAMETHREAD: DAL @ DET, Oct 9, 6:00 PM....KP is a "15" in excitement level

[dirkfansince1998]

Brunson amazing balance there.  What is it with the Mavs 3pt defense.

Boban is on the floor and they have to cover for him. Really screws up the rotations.

[SleepingHero]

Brunson amazing balance there.  What is it with the Mavs 3pt defense.

Boban is on the floor and they have to cover for him. Really screws up the rotations.

Boban just doesn't move sometimes. Really puzzling because if he just moved 1 step forward he'd contest so many shots.

[Dahlsim]

Brunson amazing balance there.  What is it with the Mavs 3pt defense.

Boban is on the floor and they have to cover for him. Really screws up the rotations.

If you play Boban, you have to take advantage of his offensive threat or he'll quickly become unplayable.

[SleepingHero]

Our defense really is horrible.

[omahen]

Another bad defense. Maxi can't match up with strong PF/C - a lot of help is needed below which leads to open threes. They were badly outrebounded again. Basically confirms that Maxi is not a starter material. 

Offensively, Luka will need to be more efficient. Only 50 % from free throw line on 10 shots, only 25 % from 3 on 8 shots. He is taking too many very difficult shots which are not necessary - more patient play could lead up to more efficient shot, either from him or someone else. Jackson was non existing today. KP is healthy - his percentage was also not great, but he took clean shots and at this point we can say it was just a bit of a bad luck. I would love to see more activity from Wright. Luka and KP managed 39 points on inefficient shooting. Rest of the starters together managed 10 points on equally inefficient terms. THJ and Brunson were solid, Cleveland had very good 8 minutes.

[TXBamanut]

Good:
1)  Attitude looks good.   Hustle on closeouts was great.
2)  KP was doing great.  He came out like a house on fire.  8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal in the first quarter.  Crossover and shot was amazing to watch.  He's going to be fine.
3)  Luka looks great, and I liked the 3 steals.
4)  2nd quarter Tim Hardaway Jr
5)  13 point lead
6)  Seth Curry's shot.

Bad
1)  KP is as advertised except for one thing...rim protection tonight.  Didn't see him challenge a shot tonight.  I'm confident that this will change.
2)  Luka can't keep up that dribble dribble fall away from deep after not passing the ball at all on the trip down the floor...I don't care if he makes it or not.  Shot selection must be better.
3)  Luka and KP need to work together better...too much ending stuff.
4)  Lots of times tonight one more pass from KP would have been awesome.  He can't be a stopper.
5)  Maxi's outside shot.
6)  The defense all night long.
7)  Seth has to get more shots.

[Kammrath]

Seth has to get more shots.

This is close to the top of the list for me. To not let a basically 45% three point shooter get at least 5-7 attempts a game is STUPID. I do not get why he seems to be buried deep in the rotation. The Mavs desperately need his floor spacing.

[hakeemfan]

Seth has to get more shots.

This is close to the top of the list for me. To not let a basically 45% three point shooter get at least 5-7 attempts a game is STUPID. I do not get why he seems to be buried deep in the rotation. The Mavs desperately need his floor spacing.

Given his injury situation previously with the Mavs, I wouldn't be too concerned about pre-season.  Agreed though that he needs to get more shots as the season goes along.

[SleepingHero]

Seth has to get more shots.

This is close to the top of the list for me. To not let a basically 45% three point shooter get at least 5-7 attempts a game is STUPID. I do not get why he seems to be buried deep in the rotation. The Mavs desperately need his floor spacing.

Given his injury situation previously with the Mavs, I wouldn't be too concerned about pre-season.  Agreed though that he needs to get more shots as the season goes along.

Great to see you finally signed up. Looking forward to your posts! Also I agree with ya. I think the Mavs are easing Curry into the season since they know he's a lethal shooter already. 

But as the season goes along I'd like to see him get at least 8-10 shots a night.

[vikingbis]

Seth has to get more shots.

This is close to the top of the list for me. To not let a basically 45% three point shooter get at least 5-7 attempts a game is STUPID. I do not get why he seems to be buried deep in the rotation. The Mavs desperately need his floor spacing.

I don't think it's a team thing, it comes from him.He has always been that way: he shoots VERY few 3Pts, that's probably why he has such a good FG%. Btw, you can't play him 30' a night because his body won't keep up.The only time he has been a starter was with us and he ended with a stress fracture and one year out !

[reckoner07]

I came to post how in the hell is Seth getting a shot per 4:45?  Looks like everyone has that covered.

---

Seth has to get more shots.

This is close to the top of the list for me. To not let a basically 45% three point shooter get at least 5-7 attempts a game is STUPID. I do not get why he seems to be buried deep in the rotation. The Mavs desperately need his floor spacing.

I don't think it's a team thing, it comes from him.He has always been that way: he shoots VERY few 3Pts, that's probably why he has such a good FG%. Btw, you can't play him 30' a night because his body won't keep up.The only time he has been a starter was with us and he ended with a stress fracture and one year out !

Actually, even though this game was on the end of the spectrum, he's about a shot per 3 min guy over the years, slightly better his 29 min season in Dallas.  So you're right. 

Minutes distribution at guard is going to be fascinating. They will play 2 of them with Luka fairly often I presume, which will help the shortage.

[BigDirk41]

It was awesome to see KP finally play for the Mavs. He looked really good considering how long his layoff has been. I agree that Curry needs more shots. I don't think Maxi can be a starter for us. I hope DP can fill that role, but time will tell. Ovwrall it was just fun the see this group get some minutes together.

[TurkishMFFL]

By the way I would gladly like to tell you that Doncic and Porzingis have brought an unbelievable hype in Europe and lots of Mavs games are scheduled by the broadcasting channels.

[robillionaire]

Luka and KP looked really good, the supporting cast is going to have to be there though, THJ is pretty streaky, hit shots tonight but will have on and off nights. Justin Jackson 23 mins 2 pts 0 ast 0 reb yikes

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/ESefko/status/1182137793000001536

“It’s easy to play with him, super-easy,” Porzingis said of Doncic. “The looks he got us and how much attention he draws away from me and everybody else, it makes the game so much easier. I’m excited about us going forward and getting that connection to work at even a better level.”

“I was out for a while,” Porzingis said. “So to be back out there on the floor, it was good. It felt pretty natural. I missed a lot of open looks. But I’m happy about me being out there and now it’s time to get some wins.”

Said Doncic: “He did great. He’s an amazing player.”

“It was a little weird,” Doncic said. “I haven’t played in like, six, seven months. But I feel great. It’s preseason and our first game together and I thought it was great.

“But I can’t make a normal shot. I always make the shots I wasn’t supposed to make. I got to work on that, for sure. I missed three, four layups, I missed free throws, I missed open threes. It’s going to get better for sure. First game in six, seven months. We just got to keep working the next two weeks.”

“I liked the way he played,” coach Rick Carlisle said of Porzingis. “He moved well, the energy is good. Obviously, he’s very excited to be back out there. It was a great start for him hitting three or four shots in a row. The two quick fouls slowed things down a little, but I don’t think he committed a foul after that. So it was good. We got him just about 20 minutes. So a lot of positives.”

“Nothing at all,” Porxingis said when asked if he felt anything unusual in his knee. “I’ve been playing pick-up (games) for so long, I don’t even think about it anymore. I felt different in other ways, felt a little stronger. I was taking it easy, I wasn’t trying to do too much or go to fast. I was kind of pacing myself. And I felt good, comfortable. I just wanted to make more shots. Thanks to Luka, I got a lot of open looks."

“We have a plan for how we want to play and the first preseason game can be a little raunchy looking,” Carlisle said. “I’d rather it wasn’t raunchy, but you’re going to go through some growing pains. We’re still a young team and we’re trying to keep things simple on the one hand but really concentrate on the details on the other hand. And the two do go hand in hand.

“There were a lot of things that we got to clean up that have nothing to do with the number of threes we were taking – things like spacing and running the floor and how we’re getting back and how we’re covering the 3-point line, mistakes we made on switches that can’t happen.”

[MrGoat]

Things I liked:

-Kristaps Porzingis: Hot start, looked pretty solid overall for a guy who's been off as long as he has. I thought he was a little bit too perimeter oriented early on but he mixed it up a little bit in the third and I don't mind him being careful in preseason
-Tim Hardaway Jr.: It went pretty roughly the rest of the season we traded for him. He got hot tonight, particularly in the 2nd quarter. I'm not expecting consistency out of him but that's a good sign that he is indeed usable as a 6th man microwave off the bench
-Our 1st half defense: I was hard on our defense after last preseason game. I thought it was looking better in the first half even if some of that was Detroit's offensive sloppiness
The first quarter: That early start by Luka and KP was magical

Things I disliked:

-Our defense in the 2nd half: Do I even need to say anything. Yes, this is looking like a problem
-Justin Jackson's disappearance: Sometimes you can make a prediction from preseason. Maxi was consistently balling through several games in last season's preseason and it seemed to be a harbinger of a deserved bigger role for Maxi and indeed it was. It was disappointing to see JJ disappear like this on Luka and KP's return
-Playing Delon Wright on a back to back: The guy has seemed almost invisible when out there. Maybe that's the hamstring but if that's the case why the hell did we play him in back to back preseason games?
-Luka's shot: Was hoping it would look better after a lot of offseason work. Yeah he hit a couple of long 3s, aside from that his perimeter bricklaying including at the line made me willing to have him skip the rest of preseason to go to Germany and work with Holger to try to fix this thing by the regular season even though I want to watch him now

[cow]

-Even rusty KP is a monster.   
-I know you want punch off the bench that Seth can provide, but imagine how many open looks he could get if most of his minutes werea alongside Luka/KP.
-Really curious what the starting lineup looks like.  Strong concerns about our defense.
-Drummond looked all world against Maxi.

[IamDougieFresh]

#StartSeth

[Jym]

Wright has by far been the biggest disappointment to me so far. 
Where's the aggression? Not fighting for boards, not doing any hard drives to the basket 
Like it was mentioned if that hamstring is bothering him that much he shouldn't be playing

[omahen]

Some additional thoughts:
First half was actually good. Defense was decent. If Porzingis is defending the opposing centre we don't have a player capable of physically match strong PF like Griffin. So teams playing 2 strong frontocurt players will be a problem for us. A ssomeone said - Bobi is playable only if you utilize his offense. Defensively he is a big hole - reminding me of DAJ. Rebounding is a huge issue - I didn't think they will be this bad.
Third quarter was good till about 5 minutes left. At that point KP was substituted (and didn't return) and the game basically fell apart. They lost 10 point advantage in a couple of minutes. Last quarter was experimenting with reserves, so it is not really relevant.

KP and Luka took 18 shots each. The other three starters combined took 10. I think Luka and KP will have to involve others in a bigger extent, not just an occasional three here and there.