12-15-2019, 08:01 PM
(12-15-2019, 05:34 PM)mtrot Wrote: Folks, the Mavs will play a lot better than they did last night. Chins up. The loss of Luka threw them for a loop last night, and they dang near won the game, actually would have won the game with a couple more made free throws. They just have to come out even more aggressive than they have so far with Luka at the helm.I'm all for positivity, but there's no way the Mavs win more than 1 of the next 4 and I'm 99% sure they'll lose all 4. The flip side of what you're saying is now teams can game plan for a non Luka team. I will be very surprised if we play as well as last night again until we face the Spurs. If we go 2-2 the next 4 games, I'll come back and apologize.
This team won't be very good until Luka is healthy. That's just the new reality. The hope is to limit the losses best we can until he returns. The Spurs and Warriors games are very winnable without Luka. If Luka is out later, no way we beat the Lakers and we may or may not win in OKC. They are playing better than expected and will be at home.
If we can go 3-5 over the next 8 assuming Luka doesn't return until early January, I would consider that successful. 4-4 would be outstanding. The good news is we'll be really good again once Luka returns. This will probably kill our chances of winning our division, but we'll still make the playoffs if Luka is healthy going forward.