GAME 31: MIL (21-13) @ DAL (15-16) | 95-102 loss

[Kammrath]

@Kammrath, the French Prince seems to play better offense without the afro, tbh.

Man he is missing a lot of good looks at three....2-10....UGH.

[dirkfansince1998]

Good effort but the 3 is failing them again. Story of the season.

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Have to live with some of the mistakes when it comes to the hardship guys. Chriss gave them solid minutes but he definitely is the WCS replacement. Small mistakes prior to fouling out really hurt the Mavs.

[Chicagojk]

Can't complain.  The guys played hard.   Jrue and Middleton were just too good.   I liked the pace and ball movement.  Shooting still stunk, but most of the guys shooting threes are not good shooters.  I hope the pace and movement continues when the real guys are back.   

Don't want to get ahead of myself and want to see more games, but I could sort of see Chriss starting with KP.   Maxi is your first big off the bench 5 or so minutes into the game.  And Powell is your fourth big.  Your energy guy who mucks things up.  It is not ideal, but it could be something that works short term.

[KillerLeft]

My take away from this game is that as great as he is becoming, Jalen Brunson is just not quite to the level he needs to be to headline an NBA offense.

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Man he is missing a lot of good looks at three....2-10....UGH.

Totally, but once again I was amazed at the wide variety of things he attempted very comfortably on offense. A lot of it was successful.

[dirkfansince1998]

My take away from this game is that as great as he is becoming, Jalen Brunson is just not quite to the level he needs to be to headline an NBA offense.

Cannot even create for himself when he is guarded by Jrue Holiday and the entire Bucks team collapses on his drive.

[dirkfansince1998]

Can we talk about the Mavs misses from 3. Is there some kind of stat that keeps track of "quality" of misses? Feels like most of the 3s weren´t even close. A long or short miss (for example most of Maxi´s misses) is a lot easier to fix than the current left/right, barely hitting the rim shooting the Mavs are show casing every single night.

[KillerLeft]

Can we talk about the Mavs misses from 3. Is there some kind of stat that keeps track of "quality" of misses? Feels like most of the 3s weren´t even close. A long or short miss (for example most of Maxi´s misses) is a lot easier to fix than the current left/right, barely hitting the rim shooting the Mavs are show casing every single night.

I think Voulgaris was onto something in his Twitter fight with Cuban, personally. 

I think they are expending a lot more energy on defense than they used to, and I think they are learning a new (inferior?) offensive system that has them expend more energy before the open looks are created. 

I think this is why DFS has been the first to show any sign of adjusting, because he is impeccably conditioned and more accustomed to that level of energy expenditure.

[Kammrath]

I think this is why DFS has been the first to show any sign of adjusting, because he is impeccably conditioned and more accustomed to that level of energy expenditure.

No, no. Luka is in the best shape of his career, this is what I have been told. Luka has adjusted before DFS, who is a sluggard compared to Luka.

[cow]

I'm proud of the fight but this just sheds light on the team building problems the Mavs have struggled with for a long time.  The replacement guys don't seem a lot different from a lot of our roster:

Dwight Powell (11)
Reggie Bullock (9.5)
Willie Cauley Stein (4.2)
Sterling Brown (3)
Josh Green (2.9)
Frank (1.7)
Moses (1.7)
McLaughlin (2w)
Omoruyi (2w)


I might even bee to generous by not lumping Burke and Boban in there but Burke's been useful in his limited role and Boban's role is a lot less about his on the court usage (frustrating in its' own right).  That's a lot of money and roster spots to be squandering.  A lot of our bench has to have an incredibly low VORP.

[Hypermav]

Can we talk about the Mavs misses from 3. Is there some kind of stat that keeps track of "quality" of misses? Feels like most of the 3s weren´t even close. A long or short miss (for example most of Maxi´s misses) is a lot easier to fix than the current left/right, barely hitting the rim shooting the Mavs are show casing every single night.

[SleepingHero]

I really liked what I saw from Chriss this game. 

Brunson played an okay game but was obviously out played by Jrue and showed that he can't be the main engine of an offense when the going gets tough.

Frank played well but missed SOOOOO many good shots. Same with Dodo.

Sterling Brown is a loser and needs to be off this team.

[Borkhan]

So we had another nice defeat with even some positive developments. Personally I prefer ugly win, even with negative developments. If I read correctly the question is simple - either mavs better their 3s or they will never see second round of playoffs or playoffs at all - everything else, defence etc, is secondary. And yes, Luka and all included should do something about it, not coaches, gm, trainers or janitors or the team should bear consequences for millions for which they do not deliver. And there, up till now, is no answer to that

[Mavs2021]

I really liked what I saw from Chriss this game. 

Brunson played an okay game but was obviously out played by Jrue and showed that he can't be the main engine of an offense when the going gets tough.

Frank played well but missed SOOOOO many good shots. Same with Dodo.

Sterling Brown is a loser and needs to be off this team.

Based on what? I think he´s making a strong case, we should trade Bullock.

Last two games 35 MPG,  11 PPG, 12 RPG, 3 APG, 52/40/- shooting, +4 (team +5)

That´s basically what you were hoping for from Bullock. 

Btw Kemba Walker just had a 44/9/8 game, +4 in the Knicks loss. If the Knicks want to get rid of him so desperately, I´d not hesitate to put Bullock on the table, maybe throw WCS or Boban in with our 2022 2nd round pick. If they prefer capspace, Kemba also fits into our TPE.

Those are the kind of small moves, you need to pull off. You basically pay Brown/Kemba $12M instead of Bullock $10M. That´s an increased cap allocation of 1.6%, but I´m pretty sure the team performance increases more.

Marquese Chriss also makes a strong case for limited bench minutes at the minimum, maybe even a two-way contract. He´s a cost-effective replacement for Boban/WCS.

We simply pay too much for the Powell/Bullock/Burke/Boban/WCS group. That´s $30M, when in reality it can be replaced by five players earning a combined $12-15M. $15M would have paid for Markkanen this summer.

[hakeemfaan]

I think Voulgaris was onto something in his Twitter fight with Cuban, personally. 

I think they are expending a lot more energy on defense than they used to, and I think they are learning a new (inferior?) offensive system that has them expend more energy before the open looks are created. 

I think this is why DFS has been the first to show any sign of adjusting, because he is impeccably conditioned and more accustomed to that level of energy expenditure.

Bullock, Ntiilikina, Sterling, DFS missing many good looks cannot be explained away by having to play defense. These guys were supposed to be good defenders.  

The reality is that none of these guys are consistent 3 pt shooters. Bullock before last year seemed to be going down. Maybe last year was an outlier. Same with Sterling Brown. DFS was trending upwards and when all is said and done might be back to his career average. 

Also as I have said previously many times our so called superior offense laid an egg in a home loss to the Clippers with a chance to win the series. Our so called superior offense was so good that RC was throwing sht on the wall with Burke and Boban once he realized that the Clips could do small ball better than us. 

Instead of comparing the past and the present offenses let us start with a realistic evaluation of the shooters on this team and the answer is clear as to why this team struggles. There is not one in this group who any GM in the NBA will categorize as a deadeye shooter. Seth is still shooting above 40% while playing for a coach whose offensive schemes have been questioned before. Let’s say these guys don’t play a lick of defense and I had a choice to pick someone to make a 3 with my life was on the line. Even in that scenario even if they were shooting close to their careeer averages there are many I would pick ahead of any of these guys. 

[KillerLeft]

Bullock, Ntiilikina, Sterling, DFS missing many good looks cannot be explained away by having to play defense.

Phew! Good thing that's not what I suggested, then!

[ThisIStheYear]

It’s not like the Mavs are world beaters even with a healthy roster. This is just a borderline playoff team that would probably be better off tanking for the lottery and regrouping in the off-season. They don’t really have any other paths to add real talent.

[SleepingHero]

Based on what? I think he´s making a strong case, we should trade Bullock.

He makes losing plays on the regular. That pullup 3 with 2 minutes to go when the Mavs had the momentum was such a low IQ play it obliterates anything good he did previously.

Further it's not like Brown has been a good player this year. He's been on par (arguably worse) with Bullock who you've been so desperate to get rid of. 3ppg on 36.4/28.6 splits is BAD. That is with his 2 games where he's scored double digits.

[cow]

He makes losing plays on the regular. That pullup 3 with 2 minutes to go when the Mavs had the momentum was such a low IQ play it obliterates anything good he did previously.

Further it's not like Brown has been a good player this year. He's been on par (arguably worse) with Bullock who you've been so desperate to get rid of. 3ppg on 36.4/28.6 splits is BAD. That is with his 2 games where he's scored double digits.

Brown has really sucked this year.  He might have had one decent game prior to playing with the G-League squad.

[MrGoat]

I blame not putting Charlie Brown in the game for this result. Speaking of, I will sue Kammrath if the image in the Christmas game gamethread against the Jazz isn't Charlie Brown related

[Borkhan]

I blame not putting Charlie Brown in the game for this result. Speaking of, I will sue Kammrath if the image in the Christmas game gamethread against the Jazz isn't Charlie Brown related

And with Lucy again flipping the ball from Charlie... that scene reminds me of some team