Mavs 109, Knicks 117

[mavsluvr]

I've said it before as far as 3 point shooting big men.  I love 'em.  

Great to be in their arsenal, but there is a difference between being more efficient overall i.e. 3 point shooting vs being more reliably consistent overall i.e. inside bigs scoring in the paint and also drawing fouls. 




3 point efficiency by nature tends to be streakier than inside the paint.  Even the best 3pt marksmen have a bad shooting game or bad quarter or half then come back and scorch the nets leading a win. 

2 point efficiency especially from big men, think Shaq, Wilt, Embiid, Jokic etc. the efficiency is more reliable.  The team can call on it when in a crunch for buckets.  The Mavs don't have that unless Wonderboy keeps driving to the rim and getting all the pounding that goes along with that.  Watching Luka it looks like his young body is taking a serious wear and tear beating btw. 

I won't say mention the name, B*b*n, because that's a dead horse, Carlisle doesn't run his offense that way period, so there's no big to give the mavs that consistent efficiency inside.  They have to get it from their guard/wings and as feasible as that might seem its not the same thing. 

Just look at the Lakers, they have it all, inside and outside, they can score with the new 3, midrange and score consistently with Big and Bullyball inside.  Porzingis is maybe the only Big inside scorer but then he's not used consistently that way and he's not the body type to really lean into it.

I think there is something to this. 

Huge guys who can dominate the paint, and also score from outside, have been the Mavs' kryptonite. Theoretically, I guess KP could have been that guy for Dallas, but, for whatever reason, has never established a dominant inside presence.