MAVERICKS DEFEAT MIAMI IN LOW-SCORING GAME
Well, you can win ‘em pretty, or you can win ‘em ugly, but they both count the same. The Mavs conducted a defensive battle with the Heat and lived to tell the tale, winning their first game with under 100 points in almost two years. All the MFFLs who were perched on the edge of the ledge after the Charlotte game can move back to a little safer ground. At least for now.
GAME STORY
The Mavs entered the court looking spiffy in their new gold-and-white City jerseys.
Both teams began the game in unprepossessing fashion, and the score was tied at only 5 apiece five minutes in. A timeout seemed to revive the squads a bit, and Dallas led 20-16 after twelve minutes. The offenses were not on fire, but the Mavs did well to attack when their shots weren't falling. Both teams combined to go 1-14 from deep. Yikes.
James Johnson spent a spell leading the second unit to begin the next quarter. He was the leading scorer in the period, with 8 points. He had two quick threes to jumpstart the frame, a steal leading to a three from Doe-Doe, and a layup from Tim. Luka made the highlight reel with a foray into the paint, where he exhibited some fancy footwork dancing away from his defenders, and added a spin-fake and an up-and-under bucket, putting Adebayo in the blender. He also hit his first three in ages, and looked up at the heavens with an expression of profound relief and deep gratitude to the basketball gods.
The Mavs put five threes on the board, but the Heat missed all of their long-range shots, ending the half 0-14 from three. On the last play of the half, the ref missed Luka getting clobbered at the rim. Luka gave said ref a piece of his mind, resulting in a T. He gave the advertising boarding a vicious kick on his way out of the gym. Woah. At any rate, the Heat managed only 15 points in the quarter, and the halftime score was a ludicrous 46-31.
Doe-Doe was called for his fourth foul about ten seconds into the third, and Powell ended his stint with his own fourth seven minutes in. The Heat came alive a little, and managed to get 22 points on the board, but the Mavs did them a little better with 27. Mavs led 73-53 after three.
The Mavs appeared to tire in the fourth. They were up by 23 points at the 8:32 mark, but a combination of missed shots, turnovers, mistakes, and Avery Bradley laying 12 points on them reduced the lead to 9 with 1:11 left. I was on the verge of an apoplexy with flashbacks of all those surrendered leads from last season, but fortunately, the Mavs salvaged the win. Whew!
NOTABLE POINTS
3. Hardaway. Tim led the team in minutes (39) and +/- (+17). Although his 18 points weren’t particularly efficient (6-18), he did have a nice mixture of threes and paint shots, scoring in both the half-court and transition. He also had a couple of steals, and some good defensive plays. In an unusual move, Rick ran him out for the entire fourth quarter, and his performance fell off some late. I know there are some MFFLs who are not especially admirers of THJ, but, while aspects of his game can be criticized, he is the one of three Mavs who are pretty dependably good for 15 points a night, and he is likely to be a key piece going forward.
4. Doncic. Luka looked much more like the Luka of old than he did in the Hornets game, scoring his first double-double of the season with 27 points and 15 boards, to go with 7 assists. He was 9 of 22 from the field, but who's counting? He would have had an even bigger assist total, had his teammates managed to hit the numerous open looks he generated for them. After the game, he mentioned his happiness when that first three went in, lol. Rick says that his conditioning is improving, and Coach is playing him longer stretches. Tonight, he was able to play 36 minutes, and Rick noted that although he was tired, it will serve to make him stronger.
5. Richardson. Josh had 11 points (5-10), but arguably made his most important contributions on the defensive end. A good part of the Heat failing to make their shots was down to his efforts. A great example of a player not having to pile up a lot of points to make a substantial impact on the game.
6. Powell. I thought Dwight had his best game of the season. He took only one shot, but was the leading rebounder after Doncic, with 8 boards, all in the first half. He also had two steals and an effective defensive game. Good to see him take a step forward.
7. DFS. Doe-Doe had 12 points on 5-8 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. He also defended well, and I think would have had an even bigger impact if he hadn’t gotten into foul trouble in the second and third quarters.
8. Johnson. Rick gave James a shout-out after the game, saying that he had a big impact off the bench with his unselfish play. He revealed that James is still not 100% with a lingering knee injury, but that he is a a “spirit guy,” a veteran leader, and a great addition to the team. James himself was asked to comment on Luka as a leader after the game. After giving it a minute’s thought, he said that Luka is an “emerging” leader, allowing that you can’t be the team leader if you’ve only been in the league for a couple of seasons — you need a veteran for that. Sounds like Rick thinks that James is that leader.
9. Heat. This was a long way from being the Heat’s finest hour, but the Mavs had something to do with that. Adebayo was their most impactful player, with 19 points and 11 boards. While we’re on the subject of the Heat, what’s with the names on this roster? Bam. Precious. Iggy. Sounds like a gol-dang nursery school team.
OBSERVATIONS
Rick was pleased with his team’s “gritty” effort. He said the players are starting to realize that this season is going to be very different from last. They are not going to be setting offensive records right and left, and are going to have to rely on the attention to detail and the going above and beyond that it takes to have a championship mentality. As far as his outlook on the team’s progress, he observed that they have “shown up in two out of five games” and “haven’t done s___,” prompting an apology from the FSSW studio, lol.
This win was far from beautiful, and they are going to have to play a lot better than this to be relevant, but I still liked it, at least sort of. There was a lot of determination and effort in evidence, and the players appeared to be communicating better and playing more as a collective. As Rick pointed out, the key will be maintaining that disposition consistently.
Neither the Mavs nor the Heat is likely to encounter this level of scoring drought very often, and to some degree, this is probably just another oddball result from a goofy early season. It's hard to know how much can be taken away from it. However, I think we saw improvement in several respects, and I like their chances of rounding into a squad that other teams won't want to face.
Next stop, Chicago. Until then!
Well, you can win ‘em pretty, or you can win ‘em ugly, but they both count the same. The Mavs conducted a defensive battle with the Heat and lived to tell the tale, winning their first game with under 100 points in almost two years. All the MFFLs who were perched on the edge of the ledge after the Charlotte game can move back to a little safer ground. At least for now.
GAME STORY
The Mavs entered the court looking spiffy in their new gold-and-white City jerseys.
Both teams began the game in unprepossessing fashion, and the score was tied at only 5 apiece five minutes in. A timeout seemed to revive the squads a bit, and Dallas led 20-16 after twelve minutes. The offenses were not on fire, but the Mavs did well to attack when their shots weren't falling. Both teams combined to go 1-14 from deep. Yikes.
James Johnson spent a spell leading the second unit to begin the next quarter. He was the leading scorer in the period, with 8 points. He had two quick threes to jumpstart the frame, a steal leading to a three from Doe-Doe, and a layup from Tim. Luka made the highlight reel with a foray into the paint, where he exhibited some fancy footwork dancing away from his defenders, and added a spin-fake and an up-and-under bucket, putting Adebayo in the blender. He also hit his first three in ages, and looked up at the heavens with an expression of profound relief and deep gratitude to the basketball gods.
The Mavs put five threes on the board, but the Heat missed all of their long-range shots, ending the half 0-14 from three. On the last play of the half, the ref missed Luka getting clobbered at the rim. Luka gave said ref a piece of his mind, resulting in a T. He gave the advertising boarding a vicious kick on his way out of the gym. Woah. At any rate, the Heat managed only 15 points in the quarter, and the halftime score was a ludicrous 46-31.
Doe-Doe was called for his fourth foul about ten seconds into the third, and Powell ended his stint with his own fourth seven minutes in. The Heat came alive a little, and managed to get 22 points on the board, but the Mavs did them a little better with 27. Mavs led 73-53 after three.
The Mavs appeared to tire in the fourth. They were up by 23 points at the 8:32 mark, but a combination of missed shots, turnovers, mistakes, and Avery Bradley laying 12 points on them reduced the lead to 9 with 1:11 left. I was on the verge of an apoplexy with flashbacks of all those surrendered leads from last season, but fortunately, the Mavs salvaged the win. Whew!
NOTABLE POINTS
- Defense and Rebounding. The Mavs looked pretty good tonight, getting up into the Heat players, closing out on shooters, forcing turnovers, swarming, getting deflections, and securing rebounds. Rick said the team had concentrated solely on attention to defensive detail over the past two days, and thinks it paid off.
3. Hardaway. Tim led the team in minutes (39) and +/- (+17). Although his 18 points weren’t particularly efficient (6-18), he did have a nice mixture of threes and paint shots, scoring in both the half-court and transition. He also had a couple of steals, and some good defensive plays. In an unusual move, Rick ran him out for the entire fourth quarter, and his performance fell off some late. I know there are some MFFLs who are not especially admirers of THJ, but, while aspects of his game can be criticized, he is the one of three Mavs who are pretty dependably good for 15 points a night, and he is likely to be a key piece going forward.
4. Doncic. Luka looked much more like the Luka of old than he did in the Hornets game, scoring his first double-double of the season with 27 points and 15 boards, to go with 7 assists. He was 9 of 22 from the field, but who's counting? He would have had an even bigger assist total, had his teammates managed to hit the numerous open looks he generated for them. After the game, he mentioned his happiness when that first three went in, lol. Rick says that his conditioning is improving, and Coach is playing him longer stretches. Tonight, he was able to play 36 minutes, and Rick noted that although he was tired, it will serve to make him stronger.
5. Richardson. Josh had 11 points (5-10), but arguably made his most important contributions on the defensive end. A good part of the Heat failing to make their shots was down to his efforts. A great example of a player not having to pile up a lot of points to make a substantial impact on the game.
6. Powell. I thought Dwight had his best game of the season. He took only one shot, but was the leading rebounder after Doncic, with 8 boards, all in the first half. He also had two steals and an effective defensive game. Good to see him take a step forward.
7. DFS. Doe-Doe had 12 points on 5-8 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. He also defended well, and I think would have had an even bigger impact if he hadn’t gotten into foul trouble in the second and third quarters.
8. Johnson. Rick gave James a shout-out after the game, saying that he had a big impact off the bench with his unselfish play. He revealed that James is still not 100% with a lingering knee injury, but that he is a a “spirit guy,” a veteran leader, and a great addition to the team. James himself was asked to comment on Luka as a leader after the game. After giving it a minute’s thought, he said that Luka is an “emerging” leader, allowing that you can’t be the team leader if you’ve only been in the league for a couple of seasons — you need a veteran for that. Sounds like Rick thinks that James is that leader.
9. Heat. This was a long way from being the Heat’s finest hour, but the Mavs had something to do with that. Adebayo was their most impactful player, with 19 points and 11 boards. While we’re on the subject of the Heat, what’s with the names on this roster? Bam. Precious. Iggy. Sounds like a gol-dang nursery school team.
OBSERVATIONS
Rick was pleased with his team’s “gritty” effort. He said the players are starting to realize that this season is going to be very different from last. They are not going to be setting offensive records right and left, and are going to have to rely on the attention to detail and the going above and beyond that it takes to have a championship mentality. As far as his outlook on the team’s progress, he observed that they have “shown up in two out of five games” and “haven’t done s___,” prompting an apology from the FSSW studio, lol.
This win was far from beautiful, and they are going to have to play a lot better than this to be relevant, but I still liked it, at least sort of. There was a lot of determination and effort in evidence, and the players appeared to be communicating better and playing more as a collective. As Rick pointed out, the key will be maintaining that disposition consistently.
Neither the Mavs nor the Heat is likely to encounter this level of scoring drought very often, and to some degree, this is probably just another oddball result from a goofy early season. It's hard to know how much can be taken away from it. However, I think we saw improvement in several respects, and I like their chances of rounding into a squad that other teams won't want to face.
Next stop, Chicago. Until then!