GAME 2: DAL (0-2) @ LAL (1-1) | 115-138 loss

[loki]

Schroder sure looked a lot better tonight than the 3 Mavs draft picks.

[donzingis38]

I miss this Luka, the way he moves here vs today is just night and day difference..

Thats unfair. Last year, they had a full summer of training+preseason.

Maybe lower your expectations a little bit. Give him a healthy KP and this game could've had a different result. He needed help, simple as that.

[Kammrath]

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...7273041921

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/CallieCaplan/status/...5173679104

[Kammrath]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucQ5Eu-L1mU

[BolsDamols]

Thats unfair. Last year, they had a full summer of training+preseason.

Maybe lower your expectations a little bit. Give him a healthy KP and this game could've had a different result. He needed help, simple as that.

I hear ya, I guess with a player like Luka, expectations will always be through the roof.
Wasn't really expecting a win, just wished the team in general had shown more fight, especially on the glass
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron after last year's game - That's a bad mother****** right there
Lebron after tonight's game - That's a fat mother******* right there 

[audiosway]

Realistically, Dallas got a bad run of schedule to open a very odd season. Very little training camp, no fans, etc. They are working on Defense first right now. That's all about communication. They just aren't communicating out there yet. They don't seem to have a D leader on the floor. That working on D first is wearing them out. No stamina. That will correct itself. You can tell by guys taking easy quick jumpers on offense trying to catch their breath.

Luka is a little out of shape likely due to the lack of a real camp. He'll get into shape pretty quick. I'm not worried about that at all. Normally they would have had him in the weight room for the offseason. There really wasn't much of an offseason nor much of a camp. You can tell this even by the way that LeBron totally air balled a free throw.

Vets will fair much better because they know what to expect an offseason to look like and what to work on. Luka is still only 21. Even though he's been pro a long time it's different with the NBA offseason. They focus more on athletics than on skill in the offseason. Euro focuses more on skill and less on athletics.

The Lakers are ridiculously loaded while the Mavs are a building young team. The Mavs are currently missing KP which is huge. It throws off everything they do. Powell is 100% but you can tell he doesn't fully trust it yet. That's to be expected. Then add on them trying to add a new starter into the rotation. It's a lot of adjustment. Just give them 10-15 games.

Rick will get them worked out. I really like seeing Luka better at the line and much better on shot selection. He's missing a lot at the moment but it's conditioning. Once he is in ball shape he'll look fabulous. Give him another couple of weeks there and he'll be back to himself. Another kink right now is that the Suns and Lakers both threw constant new defenders rotating at him all game. They also were quick to double and triple even. Once his conditioning catches up he'll make them pay for doing that.

No need to worry after just the 2nd game. Clippers will likely be a loss as well. Then, they should start getting on track.

All in all, I see Richardson, Johnson, and the draft picks this year all being very good pickups. J Rich will be a perfect fit. I like his offense so far. I wasn't expecting that. I was mainly expecting the man defense. These guys are building something great.

[KillerLeft]

Realistically, Dallas got a bad run of schedule to open a very odd season. Very little training camp, no fans, etc. They are working on Defense first right now. That's all about communication. They just aren't communicating out there yet. They don't seem to have a D leader on the floor. That working on D first is wearing them out. No stamina. That will correct itself. You can tell by guys taking easy quick jumpers on offense trying to catch their breath.

Luka is a little out of shape likely due to the lack of a real camp. He'll get into shape pretty quick. I'm not worried about that at all. Normally they would have had him in the weight room for the offseason. There really wasn't much of an offseason nor much of a camp. You can tell this even by the way that LeBron totally air balled a free throw.

Vets will fair much better because they know what to expect an offseason to look like and what to work on. Luka is still only 21. Even though he's been pro a long time it's different with the NBA offseason. They focus more on athletics than on skill in the offseason. Euro focuses more on skill and less on athletics.

The Lakers are ridiculously loaded while the Mavs are a building young team. The Mavs are currently missing KP which is huge. It throws off everything they do. Powell is 100% but you can tell he doesn't fully trust it yet. That's to be expected. Then add on them trying to add a new starter into the rotation. It's a lot of adjustment. Just give them 10-15 games.

Rick will get them worked out. I really like seeing Luka better at the line and much better on shot selection. He's missing a lot at the moment but it's conditioning. Once he is in ball shape he'll look fabulous. Give him another couple of weeks there and he'll be back to himself. Another kink right now is that the Suns and Lakers both threw constant new defenders rotating at him all game. They also were quick to double and triple even. Once his conditioning catches up he'll make them pay for doing that.

No need to worry after just the 2nd game. Clippers will likely be a loss as well. Then, they should start getting on track.

All in all, I see Richardson, Johnson, and the draft picks this year all being very good pickups. J Rich will be a perfect fit. I like his offense so far. I wasn't expecting that. I was mainly expecting the man defense. These guys are building something great.

More from you, please.

[FunkBoreland]

Clippers will likely be a loss as well

If theres a game where Luka and the Mavs want to win, it will be this game. The last thing they want going back to Dallas is getting to be 0-3.

[Omega_Supreme]

Wanna hear something funny

Dwight Powell went 4-4 with 11 points but only 3 rebounds and 2 fouls

First off, I have 3 issues with Powell's stat line

1. 4-4 FG means Rick is going to keep running him out there
2. 3 rebounds in 23 minutes
3. 2 Fouls

As our starting center he only got 2 freaking fouls against Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol. Something does not seem right to me.
I can understand him playing low minutes but seem to me he should have at least 4 fouls if he is playing hard.

[Thukydides]

My take aways:

1) Johnson needs to play more. He was the only solid player not named DFS,Burke and Luka.

2) Our big men rotation is abysmal and there is nothing we can do about that until KP returns. Still with KP back DFS is BY FAR our best rebounder. That´s not going to cut it.

3) I don´t know what is wrong with Brunson. Hard to watch him coughing up ball after ball.

4) Trey Burke was solid and needs to handle the ball more.

5) Kleber is just ridiculously bad. I don´t even know what´s up with him. He´s overwhelmed.

6) I liked Luka getting more post ups. 

7) In the end we have talked about the issue a few times last season. KP might be more important to this team than Luka. I have high hopes that we´ll look totally different with him.

[ItsGoTime]

I mean, the excuses of a shortened offseason have GOT to stop. IT IS THE SAME FOR EVERY TEAM!

[StepBackJay]

Wanna hear something funny

Dwight Powell went 4-4 with 11 points but only 3 rebounds and 2 fouls

First off, I have 3 issues with Powell's stat line

1. 4-4 FG means Rick is going to keep running him out there
2. 3 rebounds in 23 minutes
3. 2 Fouls

As our starting center he only got 2 freaking fouls against Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol. Something does not seem right to me.
I can understand him playing low minutes but seem to me he should have at least 4 fouls if he is playing hard.

I wish we would try Johnson in that 5 spot. If we are going to try small-ball lets at least try it with someone who get give you 5 out + some point forward stuff. Pair Maxi with Powell off the bench.

[ThisIStheYear]

The chemistry on this team is a complete mess. The first two games remind me of Luka’s rookie season. Luka was a very good player, but not yet a star (though he was probably better then than he has been so far this year). The roster that surrounded him had some decent pieces who generally played for themselves rather than complimentary basketball. It may be that the contracts coming due soon have created financial flexibility but also a side effect of me first play. The ball movement is gone. The fundamentals lost.

[BigDirk41]

I mean, the excuses of a shortened offseason have GOT to stop. IT IS THE SAME FOR EVERY TEAM!

Absolutely agree. The excuses for Luka and others is just biased. Luka is a MVP candidate, a generational talent and 21 years old. There is zero excuse for him to not be in top shape. I love Luka. I think if healthy, he'll finish among the all time greats. We simply don't know what we have because Luka isn't himself and the bigger issue is we don't have KP yet. I really hope Luka can be in shape within the next 2 weeks or our record could look really ugly. 

With all that being said, I had us as a 4-6 seed prior to the start of the season and I don't see that changing. It's just going to be more of a battle than I thought. This isn't doom and gloom. We will be fine, but I'm not going to make excuses for Luka. He's the leader of this franchise. Dirk stayed in shape year round and Luka should be expected to do the same.