MAVS NEWS: Luka Is Hurt, But is Trudging On | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[mvossman]

I was busy whole day, so I will just post my observations here, before reading the actual game thread. Mavs won, although the overall performance was not that impressive. Defense, especially first half, was terrible. Offense remains three point heavy, which is ok as long as the teams shoots well. 31 % was far from impressive, but enough for SA.

Lively was of course awesome, far above anything it was expected in the summer or preseason. Hope he can keep it up. Maxi being terrible made him look even greater. On the Maxi topic - wasn't it established long ago, that Maxi as the only big on the floor just doesn't work?

DJJ "experiment" (predictably) failed in the first instance, although his pairing with Maxi makes way more sense than with Lively. Defense was terrible even with him on the court at game start and he doesn't bring much (anything in this game) to offense. Personally I still firmly believe any team should start 5 best players and rotate afterwards. Green is the clear starter as the second guard and the only possible alternative (imho) that could be considered is THJ.

Green was basically himself. Always active and still passive offensively. Five shots in 30 minutes is just meh. Its great that he hits most of those, but Guys like THJ have zero problem launching almost every time they touch the ball, while Green is the definition of opposite. If he wants to earn big money anytime in his career, he will have to step it up. Good things do happen when he is on court, the question is if that is good enough for a starter spot on a contender.

GW was efficient and is quick to pull the trigger. The rest were around at what is expected from them. Kyrie was not terribly efficient, but we can expect this is more of a one game thing.

Looks like Mavs don't intend to play Holmes, as he didn't saw the floor even with Powell out and Maxi being bad. I wish some minutes would be found for OMax.

I agree with most of this, but Maxi as the only big was a big part of our WCF run.  The problem is he doesn't look like the same player right now.  I'm worried this is the new Maxi, and if that is the case that contract is not good.  I will give it more than one game, but it is a concern.