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

[KillerLeft]

It's nice to see the move Kidd made to start Gafford next to PJW is paying off so far.

Basically, Gafford + PJW is excellent. Gafford + Maxi is very bad.
Then with Lively + Maxi it's excellent. Lively + PJW is bad.
Small-ball is still an excellent wrinkle with Maxi + PJW.




The rotation looks good to me and they still have Green coming back before playoffs but the decision to start Gafford to set up the rest and then keeping Exum in that "Dinwiddie role" off the bench has been perfect. Credit to DJJ for making that decision easier! 

The closing lineup isn't quite set and that's why we've seen different guys close. It's not necessarily a good thing to not have a go-to closing group but the fact that Kidd has options each night, depending on the performance of the "other three" up to that point can be a good thing.

This is the first time in a long time that the Mavs have the personnel to dictate matchups and/or adjust to others.

Yeah, I have to admit that the Gafford part of that exchange is working better than I expected. For one thing, he sets REALLY physical screens, and I think that's setting a tone of physicality early. 

I still don't love it, because I think Lively is the better player and I think he should play the most minutes. Knowing that one of them is often not going to finish games (and sometimes, even the first half), it seems like the guy coming off of the bench is going to get short-changed a bit. Also, I feel like whichever one plays the most with Luka is going to look better with the stats. That could be a case to start either (because Gafford off the bench wasn't really working, imo) but I just hate the idea of stunting anything about Lively's growth. He's so special, defensively.