A Few Thoughts on Mavs 142, Warriors 94

[mavsluvr]

Nice to see Mavs smash a team that deserved to be smashed and wanted to be smashed. It would have been embarrassing to win by anything less than 25 points, so kudos there.

Mavs are starting to solidify themselves record-wise as not just a bubble playoff team but like a tier two not on the bubble playoff team. It's a long season for sure but Mavs teams tend to get better as the season goes along and Rick figures out his rotations. He spends the first few months doing a lot of experimentation to get the analytics set and then works out the rotations from there. Rick has to do this just about every season bc we have so many new players every year.

I put the Mavs just under the 1st tier of teams that are LAC, LAL, ROX, Nuggets. And the tier the Mavs are on might only have 1 other team on it, the Jazz. This tier I call solid but not championship contenders. The Mavs are exceeding expectations in large part bc Luka is just playing out of his mind. I don't really see him falling off either save injury (God forbid).

This is while KP has been figuring things out. KP has been essentially a role player on this team but eventually he is going to be a legit #2 option. I could see this team looking amazing in the 2nd half of the season.

If Mavs do indeed figure it out and Luka can sustain this performance, they are a top 3 team in the West.

If Porzingis focusses on being the number 1 on defense and a supplement on offense, they can contend for top 3 in the league.

It would be great if one of those scenarios takes place. 

But if they don't, I hope the fans don't react with a lot of outrage about what "chokers" they are, etc. It's a lot to ask of a young and newly put together group.