01-01-2021, 01:11 PM
(12-31-2020, 02:44 AM)mavsluvr Wrote: MAVERICKS HUMBLED IN HOME OPENER
Whoo-ee. That was brutal. Just brutal. Did not see that coming.
The young Hornets humiliated the Mavs on their home floor on a night where pretty much nothing went right for Dallas.
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OBSERVATIONS
Rick termed the contest an “ugly game” and a “disappointing loss.” He thought his team got dominated in the first three quarters, and was proud of their fight back in the fourth. His takeaway was that you can’t play for 12 minutes of a 48-minute game and expect to win. He noted that the Mavs didn’t match the Hornets’ aggressiveness and physicality, and didn’t adjust by attacking the rim when their threes weren’t falling. He was very defensive of Luka, and I got the impression he was very much not enjoying the interview.
I don’t want to make any excuses for this lukewarm performance, and I don’t. I do note, however, that there is a lot of this going around the league. Lower-tier teams decisively beating favorites, blowouts everywhere you look, and very little consistency. I think, from an overall league perspective, this may just be what you get with a very short training camp and almost no offseason. A lot of bad basketball, as teams play their way into shape.
This was a disappointing loss, and although we should take it seriously, I don’t think we should overreact and go jumping off bridges over it. The team looked very good just a few days ago, and that is something to build on. It is clear from the first four games that this group are a ways off from having settled into an identity at this point, and over the next few weeks, we’ll be a witness to seeing them become who they are — a process that usually takes place behind the curtain in pre-season.
I don’t take too much away from this game, one way or another. Better times are coming. They have to be.
The Mavs play the Heat next, on Friday. Meanwhile, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the MFFLs!!!
Thanks again ML especially for always giving solid coverage even of a bad Mavs performance.
Good point about the uneveness of the games around the link. You see a lot of teams get blown out one game and turn around and blow out another team the next game and it seems to be almost without regard to the real quality of the opponents involved.
It shows you how training camps and full preseasons ultimate really do affect teams abilities. Players and coaches are clearly affected and on court strategies are more simplified than usual.
Teams haven't put in their full bag of tricks to adjust to various changes from game to game such as what to do when one part of the offensive attack isn't working or specific defensive adjustments to slow down hot opponents.
As an aside, as a long time League Pass subscriber I've been in the odd position of not getting FoxSW on my cable subscriber (Frontier). I know some of the workarounds but been kinda too busy to implement one yet I like or I just don't want to cough up another $100 a year just to watch the home team I should already be able to watch. NBA is picking up my geography btw despite VPN so league pass India hasn't worked yet. I could try harder but its easy enough for now to watch games free later from various online sources.
Catching your wrap up is a very nice supplement.
