A Few Thoughts on Mavs 142, Warriors 94

[mavsluvr]

Mavs Screw, Glue, and Tattoo the Warriors

The Golden State Supertanker docked in Dallas for this match. The Mavs were favored by 13.5, and a win was expected, but this was a massacre. 


Absences. GSW were without all of their leading lights, including Klay Thompson (ACL), Steph Curry (hand), D'Angelo Russell (thumb), and Draymond Green (soreness). I barely recognized their squad, although I guess they did remind us that Willie Cauley-Stein and Alec Burks are still in the league. Steve Kerr put in an appearance on the bench. Seth Curry was under the weather and out for the Mavs. 


Game Story. The Mavericks jumped out to an early lead, and continued to build throughout the game. The end-of-quarter scores were 44-16, 78-34, 104-64, and 142-94. The starters came out with 3:39 left in the third. The home team Mavs reached a game-high lead of 50 points before GSW made the last bucket of the game. Boo-ya!


Individual Performances. Luka had his seventh triple-double of the season, at 35-10-11, along with 3 steals. KP had his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. The starting lineup was Luka-THJ-DFS-KP-DP. Hardaway took advantage of his starter minutes (22) to put in a notable performance, earning the team's runner-up scoring status with 22 points on 6-7 shooting (including 4-4 threes) and 4-5 FTAs. Everyone on the active roster played except Barea, who evidently opted out of playing in garbage time, but drew laughter from Luka and the crowd when he faked entering the game in the fourth. 


Records. The team and individual players set various niche-type records. Among others, Luka had a club record for points in a first half. Anyone interested can find these on Mavs media twitter, or Basketball Reference, or something of that sort. 


Impressions. We're happy to take the W, but in truth, this wasn't much of a match. I didn't see any point in trying to parse this one closely, so I guess the default alternative is to relax and enjoy the victory!


Next. Cavs on Friday.

[embellisher]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

[SportPsychMav]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

Only happened because THJr started. That guy knows when performance is relevant as he played like it was preseason (check his outstanding preseason numbers)

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

I honestly can't fathom how they blew out Memphis last night. They have a G-League roster, at this point.

[mavsluvr]

Steve Kerr's comment on the loss -- 

"It's tough to lose by 48 points. But a break here and there, and it would only have been 42 points, so that's how we have to look at it."

HAHAHAHAHA


Per Eddie Sefko.

[ItsGoTime]

Steve Kerr's comment on the loss -- 

"It's tough to lose by 48 points. But a break here and there, and it would only have been 42 points, so that's how we have to look at it."

HAHAHAHAHA


Per Eddie Sefko.

That's pretty good. I like it.

[ItsGoTime]

Also, a few thoughts are really all that's needed for this game. Not too terribly much to gleen. Glad we did what we were supposed to do is basically it.

[StepBackJay]

Nice to see Mavs smash a team that deserved to be smashed and wanted to be smashed. It would have been embarrassing to win by anything less than 25 points, so kudos there.

Mavs are starting to solidify themselves record-wise as not just a bubble playoff team but like a tier two not on the bubble playoff team. It's a long season for sure but Mavs teams tend to get better as the season goes along and Rick figures out his rotations. He spends the first few months doing a lot of experimentation to get the analytics set and then works out the rotations from there. Rick has to do this just about every season bc we have so many new players every year.

I put the Mavs just under the 1st tier of teams that are LAC, LAL, ROX, Nuggets. And the tier the Mavs are on might only have 1 other team on it, the Jazz. This tier I call solid but not championship contenders. The Mavs are exceeding expectations in large part bc Luka is just playing out of his mind. I don't really see him falling off either save injury (God forbid).

This is while KP has been figuring things out. KP has been essentially a role player on this team but eventually he is going to be a legit #2 option. I could see this team looking amazing in the 2nd half of the season.

[SportPsychMav]

Nice to see Mavs smash a team that deserved to be smashed and wanted to be smashed. It would have been embarrassing to win by anything less than 25 points, so kudos there.

Mavs are starting to solidify themselves record-wise as not just a bubble playoff team but like a tier two not on the bubble playoff team. It's a long season for sure but Mavs teams tend to get better as the season goes along and Rick figures out his rotations. He spends the first few months doing a lot of experimentation to get the analytics set and then works out the rotations from there. Rick has to do this just about every season bc we have so many new players every year.

I put the Mavs just under the 1st tier of teams that are LAC, LAL, ROX, Nuggets. And the tier the Mavs are on might only have 1 other team on it, the Jazz. This tier I call solid but not championship contenders. The Mavs are exceeding expectations in large part bc Luka is just playing out of his mind. I don't really see him falling off either save injury (God forbid).

This is while KP has been figuring things out. KP has been essentially a role player on this team but eventually he is going to be a legit #2 option. I could see this team looking amazing in the 2nd half of the season.

If Mavs do indeed figure it out and Luka can sustain this performance, they are a top 3 team in the West.

If Porzingis focusses on being the number 1 on defense and a supplement on offense, they can contend for top 3 in the league.

[ClutchDirk]

https://media.giphy.com/media/QJY1wHkJNhUUE/giphy.gif

[SleepingHero]

Luka's 35 point triple double in 25 minutes. Kristaps with his 4th straight double double. THJ only missing a single shot and getting 20 points in the process.

From every which way this game was the absolute destruction of the Warriors. But is it even fair to call them the Warriors when not a single player from their reign of terror was on the roster?

I wish we could trade for Green, but all signs point to the Warriors running it back next year.

[mavsluvr]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

I was proud of the team for just taking care of business against a terrible team.

[mavsluvr]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

Only happened because THJr started. That guy knows when performance is relevant as he played like it was preseason (check his outstanding preseason numbers)

I guess you're being sarcastic now. Fine. But I thought the guy played well in this one. I don't see anything wrong with celebrating a struggling player's having a good game. Maybe he'll never do it again. Or, maybe he will.

[mavsluvr]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

I honestly can't fathom how they blew out Memphis last night. They have a G-League roster, at this point.

I thought about that, too. What the heck?

[mavsluvr]

Also, a few thoughts are really all that's needed for this game. Not too terribly much to gleen. Glad we did what we were supposed to do is basically it.

Yeah, it seemed like there just wasn't that much to learn from this one. If we're being brutally honest, it wasn't even that interesting, except for Luka's pyrotechnics. Glad to get the W, though!

[SportPsychMav]

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

Only happened because THJr started. That guy knows when performance is relevant as he played like it was preseason (check his outstanding preseason numbers)

I guess you're being sarcastic now. Fine. But I thought the guy played well in this one. I don't see anything wrong with celebrating a struggling player's having a good game. Maybe he'll never do it again. Or, maybe he will.

I'm just hyperbolic in this case.

[mavsluvr]

Nice to see Mavs smash a team that deserved to be smashed and wanted to be smashed. It would have been embarrassing to win by anything less than 25 points, so kudos there.

Mavs are starting to solidify themselves record-wise as not just a bubble playoff team but like a tier two not on the bubble playoff team. It's a long season for sure but Mavs teams tend to get better as the season goes along and Rick figures out his rotations. He spends the first few months doing a lot of experimentation to get the analytics set and then works out the rotations from there. Rick has to do this just about every season bc we have so many new players every year.

I put the Mavs just under the 1st tier of teams that are LAC, LAL, ROX, Nuggets. And the tier the Mavs are on might only have 1 other team on it, the Jazz. This tier I call solid but not championship contenders. The Mavs are exceeding expectations in large part bc Luka is just playing out of his mind. I don't really see him falling off either save injury (God forbid).

This is while KP has been figuring things out. KP has been essentially a role player on this team but eventually he is going to be a legit #2 option. I could see this team looking amazing in the 2nd half of the season.

This appears to be a good year for a young team trying to break into the playoffs. The Western Conference doesn't seem as strong as usual.

[mavsluvr]

Nice to see Mavs smash a team that deserved to be smashed and wanted to be smashed. It would have been embarrassing to win by anything less than 25 points, so kudos there.

Mavs are starting to solidify themselves record-wise as not just a bubble playoff team but like a tier two not on the bubble playoff team. It's a long season for sure but Mavs teams tend to get better as the season goes along and Rick figures out his rotations. He spends the first few months doing a lot of experimentation to get the analytics set and then works out the rotations from there. Rick has to do this just about every season bc we have so many new players every year.

I put the Mavs just under the 1st tier of teams that are LAC, LAL, ROX, Nuggets. And the tier the Mavs are on might only have 1 other team on it, the Jazz. This tier I call solid but not championship contenders. The Mavs are exceeding expectations in large part bc Luka is just playing out of his mind. I don't really see him falling off either save injury (God forbid).

This is while KP has been figuring things out. KP has been essentially a role player on this team but eventually he is going to be a legit #2 option. I could see this team looking amazing in the 2nd half of the season.

If Mavs do indeed figure it out and Luka can sustain this performance, they are a top 3 team in the West.

If Porzingis focusses on being the number 1 on defense and a supplement on offense, they can contend for top 3 in the league.

It would be great if one of those scenarios takes place. 

But if they don't, I hope the fans don't react with a lot of outrage about what "chokers" they are, etc. It's a lot to ask of a young and newly put together group.

[mavsluvr]

Luka's 35 point triple double in 25 minutes. Kristaps with his 4th straight double double. THJ only missing a single shot and getting 20 points in the process.

From every which way this game was the absolute destruction of the Warriors. But is it even fair to call them the Warriors when not a single player from their reign of terror was on the roster?

I wish we could trade for Green, but all signs point to the Warriors running it back next year.

Yeah, they'll likely be much better next year, although their era of dominance may be behind them. Will be interesting to watch.

---

Nice to finally get a blowout against a bad team. We so often play down to the level of our opponents.

Only happened because THJr started. That guy knows when performance is relevant as he played like it was preseason (check his outstanding preseason numbers)

I guess you're being sarcastic now. Fine. But I thought the guy played well in this one. I don't see anything wrong with celebrating a struggling player's having a good game. Maybe he'll never do it again. Or, maybe he will.

I'm just hyperbolic in this case.

Ah. Well, fair enough, then, lol.