MAVS SALVAGE WIN WITH LATE PUSH
STARS SHINE ON RETURN FROM ASB
Luka and KP put together a good one-two effort, and the Mavs had an encouraging fourth-quarter showing to put away the Spurs.
NOTABLE ITEMS
PERSONNEL. Before the game, Pop revealed that LaMarcus Aldridge was not with the team, and will no longer feature for the Spurs, due to looking for other opportunities in the league. The Mavs were at full strength.
GAME FLOW. Dallas looked a little rusty coming out, and went behind 27-32 after one, as the Spurs put up six threes and the Mavs faffed around in a turnover-fest. The second quarter didn’t go much better, and the home team Mavericks trailed 52-59 at the break. Both teams had runs in the third, and your boys entered the fourth quarter with an 87-86 edge. Fortunately, the guys avoided their usual late breakdowns and instead put their collective foot on the Spurs’ neck for the victory. The Spurs had only 18 points in the final frame, and had a period between 8:23 and 0:53 where their only scores were six free throws.
NUMBERS. Although the Mavs didn’t shoot particularly well (13-40 3PTAs), and neither team got to the line very much, the hosts were a blistering 30-43 (70%) inside the arc and had 46 PIP. Our team rebounded well, winning the battle of the boards 51-30, and they posted 13 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. On the other side of the fence, they lost 15 points to turnovers, and gave up 15 fast-break points to the Spurs. At the end of the day, the Mavs were the better team in the closing quarter.
DONCIC. Luka had his eighth triple-double of the season, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. Although he was only 2-10 from distance and had an insanely low 3 free-throw attempts, he scored well in the paint, and did a masterful job of controlling the game. He did have a hiccup in the second quarter, when he had an amazing shot which was nullified when the refs assessed him with an offensive foul. He shared his outrage with the officials, which resulted in a technical foul and a spell on the bench to collect himself, but, to his credit, he left it behind on re-entering the game. The Spurs were coming at him with multiple defenders almost every possession, and he put on a clinic in adapting to the circumstances. Just another night in the stratosphere for the All-Star.
PORZINGIS. KP had a tremendous offensive game, especially considering his recent struggles, and hopefully this will serve as a foundational performance to build on. He had his second-best score of the season with 28 points, along with a season-high 14 rebounds. The team looked like they were making a concerted effort to get Kris opportunities, and he took due advantage.
Rick gushed over him for a while, praising his shotmaking, rebounding, defense, passing, cutting, moving, and on and on. He thinks Kris is doing a good job adapting to teams guarding him with smaller players and making the defense pay a price. Physically, Rick says Porzee is still not quite where he needs to be. Although Kris is working very hard to get there, some things just take time. But anyway, Rick clearly wanted both the audience and KP to be aware that Rick was pleased with him. I personally didn’t have the benefit of all the backstory prompting that, but I thought Zinger put on a very versatile and polished offensive performance, appeared active and engaged, and battled on the glass. Luka assured us after the game that KP is going to play “way better.” Truth from the mouths of babes? We hope so.
OTHERS. The role players did their parts, with none putting on a bad or good enough show to merit special mention. They collectively did what they needed to do, especially late in the game. Josh, Maxi, and Willie had 12, 11, and 10 points, respectively. Willie did find himself in a contretemps in the fourth when his push resulted in a collision of two Spurs, and he was, after a l-e-n-g-t-h-y review, assessed a Flagrant One, sending Derrick White to the line. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
SPURS. The Spurs have experience this season being rattled around by the Universe, as do the Mavs, but they always come back looking as good as can be expected, and this match was no exception. DeRozan was particularly excellent, torching the Mavs with 30 points and 11 assists. The Spurs had 6 guys in double figures, showing their balanced play. Is De Rozan’s contract up this summer? He strikes me as the very epitome of a Rick Carlisle-type player. But I digress.
OBSERVATIONS
Rick thought the game was a tale of two halves. The first half, his players were disjointed, distracted, and out of rhythm. At halftime, they regathered, and focused on ball security and defense. He was very proud of the adjustments they were able to make in the last 24.
The game was pretty much what you would expect if you pushed a button called Random Game Played On Return From a Long Break. There was a lot of messy stuff, like airballs, miscues, communication problems, and areas of imprecision. Yet, particularly in the second half, after much of that had flown off the fan, you could see the value of the week of rest, with fresher legs and sharper brains imposing themselves in positive ways.
I thought that the strongest takeaway from this game, apart from the obvious joy from the win, was the greatly improved synergy between Luka and KP. They were really clicking out there for a while. If they can keep that up, it will mean great things for the team. The other main takeaway is the team performance when the pressure went up in the fourth. Not only were we not forced to witness a collapse, but we were treated to the band performing like a team that knows how to win, extending their lead rather than losing it. If these two developments are real, that’s BIG, I’m telling you.
The Mavs are now 19-16, still in eighth place, half a game ahead of Memphis, and percentage points behind San Antonio. We have to make this stretch of games count, and this is a great start.
Mavs fans, OKC and the Thunder await!
STARS SHINE ON RETURN FROM ASB
Luka and KP put together a good one-two effort, and the Mavs had an encouraging fourth-quarter showing to put away the Spurs.
NOTABLE ITEMS
PERSONNEL. Before the game, Pop revealed that LaMarcus Aldridge was not with the team, and will no longer feature for the Spurs, due to looking for other opportunities in the league. The Mavs were at full strength.
GAME FLOW. Dallas looked a little rusty coming out, and went behind 27-32 after one, as the Spurs put up six threes and the Mavs faffed around in a turnover-fest. The second quarter didn’t go much better, and the home team Mavericks trailed 52-59 at the break. Both teams had runs in the third, and your boys entered the fourth quarter with an 87-86 edge. Fortunately, the guys avoided their usual late breakdowns and instead put their collective foot on the Spurs’ neck for the victory. The Spurs had only 18 points in the final frame, and had a period between 8:23 and 0:53 where their only scores were six free throws.
NUMBERS. Although the Mavs didn’t shoot particularly well (13-40 3PTAs), and neither team got to the line very much, the hosts were a blistering 30-43 (70%) inside the arc and had 46 PIP. Our team rebounded well, winning the battle of the boards 51-30, and they posted 13 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. On the other side of the fence, they lost 15 points to turnovers, and gave up 15 fast-break points to the Spurs. At the end of the day, the Mavs were the better team in the closing quarter.
DONCIC. Luka had his eighth triple-double of the season, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. Although he was only 2-10 from distance and had an insanely low 3 free-throw attempts, he scored well in the paint, and did a masterful job of controlling the game. He did have a hiccup in the second quarter, when he had an amazing shot which was nullified when the refs assessed him with an offensive foul. He shared his outrage with the officials, which resulted in a technical foul and a spell on the bench to collect himself, but, to his credit, he left it behind on re-entering the game. The Spurs were coming at him with multiple defenders almost every possession, and he put on a clinic in adapting to the circumstances. Just another night in the stratosphere for the All-Star.
PORZINGIS. KP had a tremendous offensive game, especially considering his recent struggles, and hopefully this will serve as a foundational performance to build on. He had his second-best score of the season with 28 points, along with a season-high 14 rebounds. The team looked like they were making a concerted effort to get Kris opportunities, and he took due advantage.
Rick gushed over him for a while, praising his shotmaking, rebounding, defense, passing, cutting, moving, and on and on. He thinks Kris is doing a good job adapting to teams guarding him with smaller players and making the defense pay a price. Physically, Rick says Porzee is still not quite where he needs to be. Although Kris is working very hard to get there, some things just take time. But anyway, Rick clearly wanted both the audience and KP to be aware that Rick was pleased with him. I personally didn’t have the benefit of all the backstory prompting that, but I thought Zinger put on a very versatile and polished offensive performance, appeared active and engaged, and battled on the glass. Luka assured us after the game that KP is going to play “way better.” Truth from the mouths of babes? We hope so.
OTHERS. The role players did their parts, with none putting on a bad or good enough show to merit special mention. They collectively did what they needed to do, especially late in the game. Josh, Maxi, and Willie had 12, 11, and 10 points, respectively. Willie did find himself in a contretemps in the fourth when his push resulted in a collision of two Spurs, and he was, after a l-e-n-g-t-h-y review, assessed a Flagrant One, sending Derrick White to the line. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
SPURS. The Spurs have experience this season being rattled around by the Universe, as do the Mavs, but they always come back looking as good as can be expected, and this match was no exception. DeRozan was particularly excellent, torching the Mavs with 30 points and 11 assists. The Spurs had 6 guys in double figures, showing their balanced play. Is De Rozan’s contract up this summer? He strikes me as the very epitome of a Rick Carlisle-type player. But I digress.
OBSERVATIONS
Rick thought the game was a tale of two halves. The first half, his players were disjointed, distracted, and out of rhythm. At halftime, they regathered, and focused on ball security and defense. He was very proud of the adjustments they were able to make in the last 24.
The game was pretty much what you would expect if you pushed a button called Random Game Played On Return From a Long Break. There was a lot of messy stuff, like airballs, miscues, communication problems, and areas of imprecision. Yet, particularly in the second half, after much of that had flown off the fan, you could see the value of the week of rest, with fresher legs and sharper brains imposing themselves in positive ways.
I thought that the strongest takeaway from this game, apart from the obvious joy from the win, was the greatly improved synergy between Luka and KP. They were really clicking out there for a while. If they can keep that up, it will mean great things for the team. The other main takeaway is the team performance when the pressure went up in the fourth. Not only were we not forced to witness a collapse, but we were treated to the band performing like a team that knows how to win, extending their lead rather than losing it. If these two developments are real, that’s BIG, I’m telling you.
The Mavs are now 19-16, still in eighth place, half a game ahead of Memphis, and percentage points behind San Antonio. We have to make this stretch of games count, and this is a great start.
Mavs fans, OKC and the Thunder await!
