02-18-2022, 12:42 PM
Had a night on the town last night, so just now watching the replay (would highly recommend Naturally 7 if they ever come to your town).
Thank goodness we have a bench again. Bench had a net rating of 6.2 last night (similar to Tuesday's 6.8). It was particularly impactful at the end of the first and the end of the third (and it was the same group of players both times). Dallas went on a 15-5 run with Luka, DFS, SD, Maxi and Bertans to end the first. The same group went on a 14-1 run to end the third. It might be that it was just Luka was killing it. He was +18 in Q1 and +11 in Q3 (and -8 in the 4th). But the most positive segments of those quarters came with Luka and the bench guys.
Unfortunately, Brunson running the bench unit wasn't good at all. There was a -5 stretch in the second and a -9 stretch in the 4th when no one could hit a shot. I'm not sure it is fair to pin the 4th quarter let down on Brunson running the team w/o Luka. The entire team started the ASB 12 minutes early as NO went on a 19-5 run. It started with Luka shot hunting for 50 points and then suddenly no Mav could hit a shot (Imagine that. You barely touch the ball all game and then can't find a rhythm when the game gets tight).
Raise your hand if you saw Dinwiddie getting 30 minutes a night (23 on Tuesday and 30 last night)? We saw 12 minutes of three PG's last night at +9. Luka + SD lineups were fantastic. Brunson + SD lineups without Luka were OK in the first half and a disaster in the 4th quarter as mentioned above. The pairing was a +1 on Tuesday. SD's 3 pointer in the fourth was an important play.
Another good game from Maxi. He was my vote for the Dirkie as I was purposely withholding love from Luka for taking 35 shots. Plus, Maxi's three at the 5:00 mark in the fourth was a momentum killer for NO. It was almost a disaster as he hesitated and made a bad pass to Bertans. Kind of amazed that he hit the shot when DB passed it back to him. Very little overlap between Powell and Maxi this game. In the Miami game, Powell was +1 in his minutes against Bam. In this game he was +3 against JV through three quarters, but was part of that -9 group that started the 4th. Maxi was similar as the solo big against JV through three quarters and had a -7 stint against JV in the fourth. The difference in +/- between the two is Maxi drew all of the non-JV minutes, which were a disaster for NO.
I'm looking forward to Bullock's return. Green has played good D the last two games (and made some nice plays against Miami), but just doesn't have the gravity Bullock has spreading the floor. It looks like we are going to run two of the PG's at almost all times and one of the centers. That leaves DFS, Bertans, Bullock and Green to share the SF/PF minutes (and not all of them since we will see some 3-PG lineups). It will be interesting to see how Kidd keeps everyone happy AND continues to give Green some developmental minutes. I thought SD looked MUCH more comfortable last night. I sure hope our other two guards taking 60% of our shots isn't going to become a thing. SD seems to be trying to fit in, but that is only going to last so long. Eventually he's going to want and deserve a bigger role.
Luka was magical for three quarters last night, but Luka one on five possessions with no passes aren't going to cut it against better teams. The job needs to be getting the new guys comfortable and taking over when necessary. Not taking 43% of the teams total shots and wondering why everyone is ice cold when he sits. I know, I'm criticizing the hero of the game who just scored 49 highly efficient points. But, I really didn't like the version of Luka who takes this many shots. This is the third time in February that he's taken 30+ and the prior two were losses to OKC and LAC. We are 12-4 when he takes fewer than 20 shots. We are 12-1 when he gets 11 or more assists.
Thank goodness we have a bench again. Bench had a net rating of 6.2 last night (similar to Tuesday's 6.8). It was particularly impactful at the end of the first and the end of the third (and it was the same group of players both times). Dallas went on a 15-5 run with Luka, DFS, SD, Maxi and Bertans to end the first. The same group went on a 14-1 run to end the third. It might be that it was just Luka was killing it. He was +18 in Q1 and +11 in Q3 (and -8 in the 4th). But the most positive segments of those quarters came with Luka and the bench guys.
Unfortunately, Brunson running the bench unit wasn't good at all. There was a -5 stretch in the second and a -9 stretch in the 4th when no one could hit a shot. I'm not sure it is fair to pin the 4th quarter let down on Brunson running the team w/o Luka. The entire team started the ASB 12 minutes early as NO went on a 19-5 run. It started with Luka shot hunting for 50 points and then suddenly no Mav could hit a shot (Imagine that. You barely touch the ball all game and then can't find a rhythm when the game gets tight).
Raise your hand if you saw Dinwiddie getting 30 minutes a night (23 on Tuesday and 30 last night)? We saw 12 minutes of three PG's last night at +9. Luka + SD lineups were fantastic. Brunson + SD lineups without Luka were OK in the first half and a disaster in the 4th quarter as mentioned above. The pairing was a +1 on Tuesday. SD's 3 pointer in the fourth was an important play.
Another good game from Maxi. He was my vote for the Dirkie as I was purposely withholding love from Luka for taking 35 shots. Plus, Maxi's three at the 5:00 mark in the fourth was a momentum killer for NO. It was almost a disaster as he hesitated and made a bad pass to Bertans. Kind of amazed that he hit the shot when DB passed it back to him. Very little overlap between Powell and Maxi this game. In the Miami game, Powell was +1 in his minutes against Bam. In this game he was +3 against JV through three quarters, but was part of that -9 group that started the 4th. Maxi was similar as the solo big against JV through three quarters and had a -7 stint against JV in the fourth. The difference in +/- between the two is Maxi drew all of the non-JV minutes, which were a disaster for NO.
I'm looking forward to Bullock's return. Green has played good D the last two games (and made some nice plays against Miami), but just doesn't have the gravity Bullock has spreading the floor. It looks like we are going to run two of the PG's at almost all times and one of the centers. That leaves DFS, Bertans, Bullock and Green to share the SF/PF minutes (and not all of them since we will see some 3-PG lineups). It will be interesting to see how Kidd keeps everyone happy AND continues to give Green some developmental minutes. I thought SD looked MUCH more comfortable last night. I sure hope our other two guards taking 60% of our shots isn't going to become a thing. SD seems to be trying to fit in, but that is only going to last so long. Eventually he's going to want and deserve a bigger role.
Luka was magical for three quarters last night, but Luka one on five possessions with no passes aren't going to cut it against better teams. The job needs to be getting the new guys comfortable and taking over when necessary. Not taking 43% of the teams total shots and wondering why everyone is ice cold when he sits. I know, I'm criticizing the hero of the game who just scored 49 highly efficient points. But, I really didn't like the version of Luka who takes this many shots. This is the third time in February that he's taken 30+ and the prior two were losses to OKC and LAC. We are 12-4 when he takes fewer than 20 shots. We are 12-1 when he gets 11 or more assists.
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