2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[dirkfansince1998]

Yeah or they just add a talented playmaker so we won't get totally chrushed on the non-Luka-minutes and keep him fresh for the forth quarter.

The defense might have been bad - but the real problem was, that we couldn't score outside of Luka,THJ and KP (and him only when the Clipps let him a piece of room and forgot to foul him.)

That´s a problem as well but not the biggest one. At least in my opinion. The Mavs should learn from their mistakes and try to find the right balance. Not rebuild the early 00s team. Did not win? Add more scoring. Lose again? More scoring. Took them nearly a decade to realizie that it wasn´t working. Once they switched to a more defensive minded approach they made two finals within five years.

Some interesting numbers. The Mavs offensive rating against the Clippers was better than the playoff O-rating for both teams that made the finals.

1th Blazers 121.6
9th Mavs 115.5
10thSuns 114.7
11th Bucks 112.9

The best offense was eliminated in the first round. The best playoff defense won the championship. A team that had the right answer for any kind of offense. Overall scoring numbers might be higher and the pace is faster but defense still matters. Maybe more than ever. The way offensive schemes evolved in the last couple of years even one defensive liability can be to much. A good offense will hunt the matchup all game long.

Instead of thinking. If they would have made a few more shots they would have won we should focus on the fact that the Mavs couldn´t get any stops. No matter the circumstances. Clippers scored at will. Mavs gave up 61.5% TS and did not force any TOV (10.1 TOV%). And it was the same story in the regular season. Except for the first few games without KP and a small stretch midseason the Mavs ranked among the worst defensive teams in the league. They finished the season with the 20th ranked defense.  In the last 20 years only one team with a similar defensive ranking won a championship. The Lakers in 2001. And that was more about them coasting in the regular season (ranked 1st in 2000). Come playoff time when Shaq actually played some defense they were elite. Second worst defense that won it all was GS in 2018. Ranked 11th in the regular season. Another case of a defending champion coasting and turning it on in the playoffs (ranked 2nd in the previous season).
Bottom line...Need to be at least top 10 in both defense and offense.

By the way. It is the same for offense. Pistons are the only "bad" offense among championship teams in the last 20 years. But the Mavs already have a good offense (finished 1st and 9th in the last two seasons) and with Luka on the roster I would make the good old Dirk case. In a worst case scenario (last season with THJ and KP as the 2nd/3rd option and bad spacing) he will lead them to a top 10 offense. Give him some shooters and a pick and roll partner and top 3 is very likely.

I think the most important part about defense is coaching. Maybe they already made the right adjustments (don´t think so. Kidd´s schemes were horrible when he coached the Bucks). If that´s not the case they need to make some roster changes. Easiest way to fix the defense. Remove the biggest liability (KP). But it is obviously not that simple. We already watched a failed attempt to update the defense last season. They added one way defense players that couldn´t stay on the floor because they tanked the offense. Really hope that they can add some real two-way players this season.