(06-05-2021, 01:20 AM)mavsluvr Wrote: MAVERICKS A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT
SERIES TIED 3-3
A hard-fought battle that looked promising for the Mavs for much of the game sputtered in the last few minutes. Dang.
GAME STORY
Rick decided to stick with his super-sized starting lineup of Luka-THJ-DFS-KP-Boban. Ty Lue also stayed with his starting unit of Jackson, PG, Kawhi, Morris, and Batum.
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Good stuff ML. A tough loss to sit through. Glad your thread is here if for nothing else than venting.
Yes there is some small, very small consolation in the Mavs giving what looks like a very championship capable LA team all they can handle but the frustration is that the game was very winnable. Quote:Rick decided to stick with his super-sized starting lineup of Luka-THJ-DFS-KP-Boban.
The way I summarize the Game Story is that Rick decided to stick with his super-sized starting lineup BUT he could not bring himself to close with his super-sized lineup despite the fact that this was the lineup that gave the Mavs the best scoring opportunities and gave the Clippers defense the most trouble to defend.
The KP-Boban tandem was easily the most difficult challenge for the Clippers to defend other than Luka himself.
Did anyone else hear Mark Jackson say toward the end of the 4th when the game had just started to slip away with Dallas struggling to score, "I would get Boban back into the game, it was clearly having success."
The 5 of 13 line is very misleading for Marjanovic because it includes at least 5 (ill advised) missed tip-in attempts.
I count at least 5 of those to be missed tip-in attempts.
Then add to that the absurd 4 point swing where Boban's arm was literally hooked and held by Morris as a point blank put back attempt was gifted to LA as a foul on Bobi and 2 bogus free throws for the Clippers! The video replay was obvious and the TV Announcers called it out as a flat out bad call. Can someone explain to me why Rick Carlisle didn't challenge that call? A 4 point swing + a bogus foul? Thats a big play if you can get it overturned at any point in the game.
Notice also that Ty Lue felt forced to put his absolute best defender, Kawhi Leonard on Boban in the post several times which VanGundy noted as well.
Fortunately for Lue Rick Carlisle did not keep that pressure on him. Why not?
Who is the big man coach for this Dallas team? I'm calling him out if such exists. KP did something similar on his meager 7 shot attempts for the game, taking a tip-in or difficult lob conversion attempt where he could have simply secured the ball, kept it high and took his time then went up and simply slammed it.
The Dallas offense was absolutely volatile with too many lower % high difficulty attempts when it did not need to be.
The fact that the Mavericks only found a way to get Kristaps Porzingis 7 meh shot attempts is almost criminal misuse of talent in my book.
No wonder his post game comment was something like "It is what it is".
This guy is your other super star salary slot. He's being used more as a DECOY than a star talented offensive force.
I get it to some degree but with your team struggling to manufacture points, on track all game for low scoring output and all you can use your 2nd most talented scorer for is as a DECOY?
Ok maybe THJ is your #2 but he has to get good looks generated for him from somewhere and he's most effective as a 3 point guy, live or die.
I could argue that Boban is in your top 4 at least in terms of talented offensive creators but putting that aside, what are you going to do with KP?
He can't be consigned to permanent decoy and expect to win anything. Can you imagine Kawhi being used as primarily a DECOY or Paul George settling for 7 shots in the close out?
The high-powered offense sputtered at the worst possible time, in a huge close-out game. The offense generated high degree of difficulty shots and open 3 point shots from your lesser 3 point shooters at clutch time when buckets were most essential.
Luka Magic did not get good looks against the double teams in the crunch as clearly he went into trust my teammates mode until the game was out of reach.
Those teammates in the crunch did not include the KP-Boban pairing he started with so LA has to be ecstatic to match shot Attempts from Kawhi against long shot attempts by Maverick others at winning time.
Ty Lue out coached Rick Carlisle when it mattered in game 6 because Lue's offense generated solid looks for their best player in 1 on 1 defense down the stretch (ugh!).
Kawhi Leonard gets shot after shot and you can't force the ball out of his hands the way LA got it out of Luka's hands?
The Clippers absolute BEST player, easily one of the top 3 offensive forces in the entire league is allowed to beat you?
I score this one for the LA coaching staff.