GAME 64: SAC (24-42) vs. DAL (39-25) | 114-113 win

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

Just a few notes:

Although it's a straight line dribble, Bertans can sprint! 

Bertans had 2 nice assists, one on a break where he was leading it and another, a touch pass. Just indicates he can make quick simple plays and not just shoot as much like every one expects him too (including me).

JG is a defense first energy guy who some say is fairly too common in the league. Although 3 and D player is the closest player profile type he can be, he has a bit more. Most 3 and D players can't dribble, for some it's by team design, but for others, they just can't put the ball on the floor. JG doesn't have advance handles, but for an SG, he is pretty much in control of his dribble, he can take the ball end to end at high speeds, zig-zagging his way from defenders and would end up in a dunk, a layup or an assist. I wouldn't trust Bullock or even THJ with that. And if you combine JG's athletic ability and decent play making skills, he just doesn't seem like your typical 3 and D guy (assuming he really develops the 3).  A more consistent 3 ball for next season would mean a staring role for JG. Dude is going to be good.

[Branduil]

Agreed to a degree.
I think motivation would have helped him in this game on both sides of the floor. Kind of hard to be motivated, when it seems like he isn't part of the offense. In defense? Even with effort from Holmes, I'm not sure he can keep up on isolations with SD and JB. Luka would have done the same to him. I figured Holmes should have done better than Sabonis, but the eye test says he didn't (they were both eaten alive). We're not sure how much of that is motivation or if our point guards are just too good for Holmes to handle.

I'm not thrilled with Holmes as I was before, but the Mavs need a C and if he doesn't cost too much (just THJ?), I am comfortable with a big man rotation of Maxi-DP-Holmes.

Just last year, Holmes averaged 14/8/1.6 blk. This year he's averaging 11/7.4/1, which is still better numbers than either of our main centers. So yeah, I think the combination of re-signing with Sac on a team-friendly offer, followed by them still sucking, followed by him losing his starting job, followed by them STILL sucking could be demotivating him.


It's hard not to like the potential of him starting next to Luka with this team's defensive and offensive schemes.

[Winter]

JG is a defense first energy guy who some say is fairly too common in the league. Although 3 and D player is the closest player profile type he can be, he has a bit more. Most 3 and D players can't dribble, for some it's by team design, but for others, they just can't put the ball on the floor. JG doesn't have advance handles, but for an SG, he is pretty much in control of his dribble, he can take the ball end to end at high speeds, zig-zagging his way from defenders and would end up in a dunk, a layup or an assist. I wouldn't trust Bullock or even THJ with that. And if you combine JG's athletic ability and decent play making skills, he just doesn't seem like your typical 3 and D guy (assuming he really develops the 3).  A more consistent 3 ball for next season would mean a staring role for JG. Dude is going to be good.

I think dribbling is one thing. Being an offensive threat is another thing. When he has the ball, the opponent has to worry that with his speed he could blow past you. But the opponent doesn't have to worry about great handles, or backing you down for a jumper, or any sort of one-on-one threat in the half court. He's not that, and I don't expect him to be. Nor is he a 3-point threat so far.

I think he's still a "chaos" player with his speed. He won't have the same stats every night until his jumper is reliable. His speed makes him more interesting than, say, Sterling Smith or Frankie, but I don't think he's ever going to be a Desmond Bane. So while I tip my hat to the guy in games like this, I personally don't expect him to be a "good" player in the starter mold.

I personally think he's valuable as a trade piece in a package for a veteran player, but it's nice to know games like this are within his reach. I particularly liked seeing him scrap for rebounds.

[Jommybone]

I think dribbling is one thing. Being an offensive threat is another thing. When he has the ball, the opponent has to worry that with his speed he could blow past you. But the opponent doesn't have to worry about great handles, or backing you down for a jumper, or any sort of one-on-one threat in the half court. He's not that, and I don't expect him to be. Nor is he a 3-point threat so far.

I think he's still a "chaos" player with his speed. He won't have the same stats every night until his jumper is reliable. His speed makes him more interesting than, say, Sterling Smith or Frankie, but I don't think he's ever going to be a Desmond Bane. So while I tip my hat to the guy in games like this, I personally don't expect him to be a "good" player in the starter mold.

I personally think he's valuable as a trade piece in a package for a veteran player, but it's nice to know games like this are within his reach. I particularly liked seeing him scrap for rebounds.

I can’t get on board with this take. In my view, those weren’t scrappy rebounds. The Mavs were getting crushed on the boards (both ends) and Josh just figured out he could do the Luka thing and start grabbing them all. 

That’s only a wee bit of exaggeration. Dude checked in at the halfway point of the 3rd quarter and proceeded to grab 10 of the 21 rebounds available (I just counted) before checking out at the halfway point of the 4th. That’s not scrapping. That’s dominating.

[OBX Maverick]

I think dribbling is one thing. Being an offensive threat is another thing. When he has the ball, the opponent has to worry that with his speed he could blow past you. But the opponent doesn't have to worry about great handles, or backing you down for a jumper, or any sort of one-on-one threat in the half court. He's not that, and I don't expect him to be. Nor is he a 3-point threat so far.

I think he's still a "chaos" player with his speed. He won't have the same stats every night until his jumper is reliable. His speed makes him more interesting than, say, Sterling Smith or Frankie, but I don't think he's ever going to be a Desmond Bane. So while I tip my hat to the guy in games like this, I personally don't expect him to be a "good" player in the starter mold.

I personally think he's valuable as a trade piece in a package for a veteran player, but it's nice to know games like this are within his reach. I particularly liked seeing him scrap for rebounds.

I think we have to also remember that JG is only 21. He’s 2.5 years younger than DB and 1.5 years younger than SB. I think he has a lot of growing still left to do as a player. While he might not have point guard handles, I do think he has good vision on the court and has shown he can pass.  I think the shot can continue to improve with work. The speed and energy will always be there. I am definitely enthused about what we’re seeing this year and glad that Kidd is giving him consistent minutes.

[DanSchwartzgan]

I went back and re-watched the game from about mid-3rd til the end focusing off the ball this time through.  The scrambling D was pretty amazing.  Lots of hero's here.  I'd highly recommend watching Brunson on the final possession where Barnes missed the game tying shot.  Sac. has a pretty good play drawn up and Brunson anticipated it brilliantly.  Certainly Green's game has been mentioned a lot and deservedly so.  I personally think he's already a better defender than Bullock (maybe a better player).  I'm just so worried about that huge $141,000 pay raise he's getting next year.  He's just so massively overpaid at $2.957mm.  I can't see any way he lives up to that raise .   

I continue to be concerned that we've lost our highly ranked D since the addition of the two new guys.  Starting with the first game everyone played (Miami), we've given up O-Ratings of 114.6, 125.2, 124.4, 104.5, 108.0, 124.3 and 115.1.  That won't get you in the top 10.  I will say that we always seem to have another gear we can turn on (except maybe the Utah game) for a quarter or so.  Kidd always seems to have a late game wrinkle he hasn't used the entire game that thwarts the other team's best player.  Great regular season coaching, but it won't be a surprise to the opponent in a seven game series.  The good news...our Offense has been brilliant.  The O-Rating for last seven games since the new guys started playing...123.8, 132.6, 118.9, 110.7, 113.2, 124.2 and 116.1.  For reference, Utah has the top rated O this season at 116.1.

I thought Dinwiddie tried too hard to be Luka in the first quarter.  Things went much better for him toward the end of the game.  I love when he attacks in early offense.  His overall numbers here are brilliant.  I'd love to see his 4th quarter numbers in isolation.  They've got to be off the charts.  BTW, since practically no one (besides me and Audiosway) had anything positive to say about Dinwiddie last summer or before the trade, I'll take with a grain of salt all of the prognostications about how Holmes won't fit here.  With the assets we have, trades we make will be for DISTRESSED assets.  You have to make a projection about how said reclamation project might fit on your team.  As we've seen with Dinwiddie, you can't just take numbers in the current situation as gospel.  

Finney, Finney, Finney.  Wow.  Fingers crossed that his post trade brilliance is from a permanent move to full time PF (with a little small-ball center mixed in for good measure).  82 games used to split out performance by position.  I'd love to see DFS as a PF vs. DFS as a SF.  Since the new guys joined the lineup, DFS is 14.3 points, 5.5 boards and is hitting .547% of his 3's.  If he keeps that up, we can forget about Collins or Tobias or Grant or (fill in the blank PF).  The position of need is either SF (Reggie) or C (Powell).  Either of those guys are just fine off the bench, but neither is a fourth starter.  Personally, I think we have Reggie's replacement on the roster already.  Anyone notice Finney took 11 THREE's yesterday?  That's surprisingly not a career high.  He's made 12 attempts twice in his career (once last season and once the season before) and he's made 10 attempts twice (once this season and once the season before last).  

We lost the rebounding war yesterday and just got pummeled in the paint.  But, we hit five more threes, had four fewer TO's and made 8 more FT's.  As bad and one-sided as the reffing seemed, we got nine more FT attempts...Thank you Spencer Dinwiddie.  My last mention will be Brunson.  We were falling apart at about the six minute mark in the 4th and SD was exhausted.  He came in, made a bucket and settled things down.  He made some fantastic plays down the stretch.  Now that we finally have this 3 ball-handler rotation, I hope we get to keep it.

[mvossman]

I went back and re-watched the game from about mid-3rd til the end focusing off the ball this time through.  The scrambling D was pretty amazing.  Lots of hero's here.  I'd highly recommend watching Brunson on the final possession where Barnes missed the game tying shot.  Sac. has a pretty good play drawn up and Brunson anticipated it brilliantly.  Certainly Green's game has been mentioned a lot and deservedly so.  I personally think he's already a better defender than Bullock (maybe a better player).  I'm just so worried about that huge $141,000 pay raise he's getting next year.  He's just so massively overpaid at $2.957mm.  I can't see any way he lives up to that raise .   

I continue to be concerned that we've lost our highly ranked D since the addition of the two new guys.  Starting with the first game everyone played (Miami), we've given up O-Ratings of 114.6, 125.2, 124.4, 104.5, 108.0, 124.3 and 115.1.  That won't get you in the top 10.  I will say that we always seem to have another gear we can turn on (except maybe the Utah game) for a quarter or so.  Kidd always seems to have a late game wrinkle he hasn't used the entire game that thwarts the other team's best player.  Great regular season coaching, but it won't be a surprise to the opponent in a seven game series.  The good news...our Offense has been brilliant.  The O-Rating for last seven games since the new guys started playing...123.8, 132.6, 118.9, 110.7, 113.2, 124.2 and 116.1.  For reference, Utah has the top rated O this season at 116.1.

I thought Dinwiddie tried too hard to be Luka in the first quarter.  Things went much better for him toward the end of the game.  I love when he attacks in early offense.  His overall numbers here are brilliant.  I'd love to see his 4th quarter numbers in isolation.  They've got to be off the charts.  BTW, since practically no one (besides me and Audiosway) had anything positive to say about Dinwiddie last summer or before the trade, I'll take with a grain of salt all of the prognostications about how Holmes won't fit here.  With the assets we have, trades we make will be for DISTRESSED assets.  You have to make a projection about how said reclamation project might fit on your team.  As we've seen with Dinwiddie, you can't just take numbers in the current situation as gospel.  

Finney, Finney, Finney.  Wow.  Fingers crossed that his post trade brilliance is from a permanent move to full time PF (with a little small-ball center mixed in for good measure).  82 games used to split out performance by position.  I'd love to see DFS as a PF vs. DFS as a SF.  Since the new guys joined the lineup, DFS is 14.3 points, 5.5 boards and is hitting .547% of his 3's.  If he keeps that up, we can forget about Collins or Tobias or Grant or (fill in the blank PF).  The position of need is either SF (Reggie) or C (Powell).  Either of those guys are just fine off the bench, but neither is a fourth starter.  Personally, I think we have Reggie's replacement on the roster already.  Anyone notice Finney took 11 THREE's yesterday?  That's surprisingly not a career high.  He's made 12 attempts twice in his career (once last season and once the season before) and he's made 10 attempts twice (once this season and once the season before last).  

We lost the rebounding war yesterday and just got pummeled in the paint.  But, we hit five more threes, had four fewer TO's and made 8 more FT's.  As bad and one-sided as the reffing seemed, we got nine more FT attempts...Thank you Spencer Dinwiddie.  My last mention will be Brunson.  We were falling apart at about the six minute mark in the 4th and SD was exhausted.  He came in, made a bucket and settled things down.  He made some fantastic plays down the stretch.  Now that we finally have this 3 ball-handler rotation, I hope we get to keep it.

This was great.  You made a ton of points in this post, and I agree with every single one of them.

[dirkfansince1998]

I continue to be concerned that we've lost our highly ranked D since the addition of the two new guys.

Interesting part is that the new guys aren´t the problem on defense. On/off sample size for both is small but Dinwiddie has a +0.7 def on/off. Bertans is actually a net positive on defense (-2.4). Starting five is the problem. But as you mentioned. They find a way to get the job done in the 4th quarter.

[Winter]

Dude checked in at the halfway point of the 3rd quarter and proceeded to grab 10 of the 21 rebounds available (I just counted) before checking out at the halfway point of the 4th. That’s not scrapping. That’s dominating.

You think he can do that every night? I'm guessing probably not. No wing on this team gets double digits in rebounds. Kleber barely gets six a night. Doncic gets the most and he wasn't playing ... so it was a great opportunity and we needed it. But the Josh Green adjectives here are just a bit off the chart. 

JG had a great game, but let's not project him as a starter. The list of players who have had great games is a long one. Trey Burke makes that list about every month. Sterling Brown had big games in Houston and Milwaukee. Let's celebrate his game. That's enough for right now.

[mvossman]

Interesting part is that the new guys aren´t the problem on defense. On/off sample size for both is small but Dinwiddie has a +0.7 def on/off. Bertans is actually a net positive on defense (-2.4). Starting five is the problem. But as you mentioned. They find a way to get the job done in the 4th quarter.

I think part of it was that our defense was not really top 5 to begin with, part of it is typical small sample, and part of it is that we truly are missing a legit starting center.  KP missed a lot of games, but when he did play he provided very valuable rim protection as well as starting minutes.  I think the more games we go without him (or a center that can take on those minutes) the more Powell and Maxi are getting worn down and exposed.

[dirkfansince1998]

I think part of it was that our defense was not really top 5 to begin with, part of it is typical small sample, and part of it is that we truly are missing a legit starting center.  KP missed a lot of games, but when he did play he provided very valuable rim protection as well as starting minutes.  I think the more games we go without him (or a center that can take on those minutes) the more Powell and Maxi are getting worn down and exposed.

Not sure if this about KP. Mavs actually had the best defensive stretch of the season when he was in healthy and safety protocols. Agree that the lack of legit defensive bigmen minutes is hurting the team defense. Reminds me a little bit of the Rockets when they played really good defense with RoCo/Tucker at center. Small and switchable lineups work.
Question is if teams and especially the front court players have the energy to do it all season long. Even teams like the Warriors usually have one big body that gives them 20 minutes per game.
Last two games without Maxi were brutal. Chriss is injured. Boban was the only big on the bench. At some point Luka was playing center.

[Jommybone]

You think he can do that every night? I'm guessing probably not. No wing on this team gets double digits in rebounds. Kleber barely gets six a night. Doncic gets the most and he wasn't playing ... so it was a great opportunity and we needed it. But the Josh Green adjectives here are just a bit off the chart. 

JG had a great game, but let's not project him as a starter. The list of players who have had great games is a long one. Trey Burke makes that list about every month. Sterling Brown had big games in Houston and Milwaukee. Let's celebrate his game. That's enough for right now.

Become a great rebounder every night? Yep. Think he just figured that out right before our eyes.

Grab nearly 50% of available rebounds? Of course not. That’s what made it a great night. 

Project him as a starter? Not this season. But he is shooting 35% from deep, a steep improvement from the 16% he shot last year. So if Bullock goes down to injury, maybe so.

[SwisherPrice]

Green fits this team perfectly on both ends of the floor. There's a reason why this team is 12-4 when he plays 20+ minutes and 19-6 when he plays 15+. He's definitely a rotation player now and could be a starter in the future.

DFS was 24 at the end of his rookie year...Green is still 3 seasons away from that. If his career peak is DFS then I'd gladly take that but I think he has even more upside than that. He had a game with 10 assists earlier and now has a 10+ rebound game...out of players on this roster, I think only Luka and Brunson have done that

[mvossman]

Not sure if this about KP. Mavs actually had the best defensive stretch of the season when he was in healthy and safety protocols. Agree that the lack of legit defensive bigmen minutes is hurting the team defense. Reminds me a little bit of the Rockets when they played really good defense with RoCo/Tucker at center. Small and switchable lineups work.
Question is if teams and especially the front court players have the energy to do it all season long. Even teams like the Warriors usually have one big body that gives them 20 minutes per game.
Last two games without Maxi were brutal. Chriss is injured. Boban was the only big on the bench. At some point Luka was playing center.

That stretch was also probably sample related.  I'm not saying KP was elite defensively, but a team that was top 5 in the NBA was better defensively with him on the court than off.  As I mentioned, the bigger issue is that we traded away a starting center and cut two backup centers and replaced all of that with a two-way guy who is currently injured.

[Chicagojk]

Green fits this team perfectly on both ends of the floor. There's a reason why this team is 12-4 when he plays 20+ minutes and 19-6 when he plays 15+. He's definitely a rotation player now and could be a starter in the future.

DFS was 24 at the end of his rookie year...Green is still 3 seasons away from that. If his career peak is DFS then I'd gladly take that but I think he has even more upside than that. He had a game with 10 assists earlier and now has a 10+ rebound game...out of players on this roster, I think only Luka and Brunson have done that

I am so glad he is getting playing time and playing well.  It is the easiest way to see jumps in your game...when you actually get real playing time.   I think he is a really good guy too who I believe works really hard.  In some ways, he is following the Dwight Powell model.    Play hard all the time, be a great teammate, limit the mental errors, and leave your ego at the door.  Like young dwight, you can see the guys really like Josh.   That is important..   I think Josh has higher upside than Dwight though. 

My main concern is him being able to finish at the rim.  I mentioned this a lot, but his athleticism doesn't match when he is going to score on a drive (outside of the flying fast break dunks).    The last piece is being able to make a quick moves, get separation, and explode at the rim.   I am actually more concerned about this part of his game than his shooting.

[SleepingHero]

Just last year, Holmes averaged 14/8/1.6 blk. This year he's averaging 11/7.4/1, which is still better numbers than either of our main centers. So yeah, I think the combination of re-signing with Sac on a team-friendly offer, followed by them still sucking, followed by him losing his starting job, followed by them STILL sucking could be demotivating him.


It's hard not to like the potential of him starting next to Luka with this team's defensive and offensive schemes.

Holmes has also been grieving the death of an extremely close cousin (or so said from Kings fan in their subreddit). He also hasn't been able to get into any sort of rhythm after a nasty eye injury, COVID, and then losing his starting job. 

I think Holmes is a prime buy low candidate.

[mvossman]

Holmes has also been grieving the death of an extremely close cousin (or so said from Kings fan in their subreddit). He also hasn't been able to get into any sort of rhythm after a nasty eye injury, COVID, and then losing his starting job. 

I think Holmes is a prime buy low candidate.

This is really good to know.  If you are buying for the upside, how much do you give up?  Bullock?  Maxi?  THJ/Bertans + 22 first?