GAME 65: PHX (36-29) vs. DAL (33-32) | 130-126 loss

[Mavs2021]

We need a defensive center that has some quick jump. So many defensive and OFFENSIVE rebounds that we give aways despite the gravity of Luka/Kyrie. We had five offensive rebounds (two of them by Kyrie, one by Green) and nobody outside of Luka had more than four defensive rebounds. They took 12 more shots than us. There were a lot of crucial rebounds we lost out on, the putback by Booker on the missed FT. That just can´t happen.

And for the love of f****** god not another old guy like McGee. Get a young hungry guy with a motor that will play for his life, cause he wants to eat.

Paul Reed, RFA 23 years old, 8th in blocks per 36, 18th in rebounds. Stuck behind Embiid and Philly already has 150M committed for next season. You challenge them.

Richards and Hayes are other RFA to look at. UFA market including Mo Wagner from the Magic and Metu from the Kings.

[omahen]

Good game. After a while I am not upset with Dallas. Phoenix talent is insane.

[SleepingHero]

Honestly it wasn't a bad game at all.

Luka wasn't at his best the whole night and he barely missed that game tying shot. Unlucky. Rebounding is still the biggest issue.

[omahen]

Mavs have Utah, NO and Memphis twice (games 4 and 5 after the Ja suspension, so he is likely back) in next four. Hugely important stretch and Mavs need to win at least three of these to make it top6 imho.

[Knutsen]

Honestly it wasn't a bad game at all.

Luka wasn't at his best the whole night and he barely missed that game tying shot. Unlucky. Rebounding is still the biggest issue.

It was a really good and entertaining game. Had Luka played up to his normal standard we probably would have won. There were a couple of moments where we had the chance to go up by double digits, but we never were able to pull away unfortunately (I know we learned no lead is safe anyways). 

I think our best shot to fix the abysmal rebounding is playing Wood and Kleber together. That would mean only one of Bullock and Green (or Holiday) plays next to Kyrie and Luka, which makes the perimeter defense even more challenging with Kleber having to check Durant or Booker. 

I hope all those close loses don’t break the moral of our team but instead knit them together to get over the hump.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Would have been worth it to deck Booker. Luka lives in his head, you can see it.

He must not have been in his head too much. Still had 36.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1632...20359?s=20

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1632...31586?s=20

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...13249?s=20

https://twitter.com/ReggieBullock35/stat...48064?s=20

[Chicagojk]

Hardaway was great in the first half and Wood was great to start the fourth...both on offense.   Can't really comment about their defense.  But offensively if they are putting those points up, we are more than well on offense.  

Green just needs to show more in his 28 minutes.  He did have tough defensive assignments but he needs to find a way to get more than 2 shots up and 3 rebounds.    He just needs to be involved more.  I am sure teams scouting are paying attention to him and not leaving him wide open but he just needs to be more visible out there.  Good experience and about the minute range I want.  

I think I would put a healthy PHX team right with Denver.  I may pick them over Denver but I would need to see how the rest of the year plays out.   I also had the Clippers in this grouping but that may not be the case.   They just haven't shown it for sustained stretches.

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Also, the Mavs went right at Ross every time he was on the floor.   So for a day at least Holiday > Ross.

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Also I like how these two teams don't like each other.  Makes it more fun.   Let them have the laughs now, we will get our laughs in the  playoffs.  Well, I really wish they didn't have Durant though.  That is the chess piece that makes it borderline unfair.

[ThisIStheYear]

Just like all season and in the WCF last year, Mavs were beaten up on the boards and lost a winnable game.

[LukaMVP]

not a bad game despite the loss. we put up a good fight against an elite team and only lost by four. durant was unstoppable and booker was also on fire. we could have won it if luka had shot better from downtown. ayton bullied our bigs supposedly, as a team the suns grabbed 10 more rebounds than we did. and don't forget we played the game at home. games like this are solid examples to show that we have little chance to beat the suns in a playoff series.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

not a bad game despite the loss. we put up a good fight against an elite team and only lost by four. durant was unstoppable and booker was also on fire. we could have won it if luka had shot better from downtown. ayton bullied our bigs supposedly, as a team the suns grabbed 10 more rebounds than we did. and don't forget we played the game at home. games like this are solid examples to show that we have little chance to beat the suns in a playoff series.

Denver neither. Maybe even the Kings.

[LukaMVP]

sincerely from perspective of basketball itself I would rather tank the rest of season and get our pick back than become first round fodder. jarace walker is a great talent, dude has jumped from late 1st round to lottery zone in mock draft with solid performances recently. if we got a top 10 pick we would have a legit shot at him. walker is quite a presence on both ends of floor, probably a significant upgrade over DFS.

but on the other end I guess cuban would suffer financial losses with the team not making playoffs so he always tries his best to keep us in the playoffs range, despite that we ain't nowhere close to being a contender.

[Jym]

sincerely from perspective of basketball itself I would rather tank the rest of season and get our pick back than become first round fodder. jarace walker is a great talent, dude has jumped from late 1st round to lottery zone in mock draft with solid performances recently. if we got a top 10 pick we would have a legit shot at him. walker is quite a presence on both ends of floor, probably a significant upgrade over DFS.

but on the other end I guess cuban would suffer financial losses with the team not making playoffs so he always tries his best to keep us in the playoffs range, despite that we ain't nowhere close to being a contender.

Can't really tank since this is our one year to make a run before Kyrie walks because we don't want to pay him 50 million a year. I'm just not even sure what the plan going forward will be. Like the who the hell will even be left next year? That Luka one-man show may be ramped up by 10 next year

[Time Machine Dirk]

not a bad game despite the loss. we put up a good fight against an elite team and only lost by four. durant was unstoppable and booker was also on fire. we could have won it if luka had shot better from downtown. ayton bullied our bigs supposedly, as a team the suns grabbed 10 more rebounds than we did. and don't forget we played the game at home. games like this are solid examples to show that we have little chance to beat the suns in a playoff series.

Wait a second. By how much have we lost? 20? 30? The game didn't almost go into overtime, right? With Durant just being automatic all game long and Luka having an off game. Must have dreamed all of that....

[loki]

Tough loss. I hope they're just being careful with Maxi because he could have made the difference in this game.

[DallasMaverick]

sincerely from perspective of basketball itself I would rather tank the rest of season and get our pick back than become first round fodder. jarace walker is a great talent, dude has jumped from late 1st round to lottery zone in mock draft with solid performances recently. if we got a top 10 pick we would have a legit shot at him. walker is quite a presence on both ends of floor, probably a significant upgrade over DFS.

but on the other end I guess cuban would suffer financial losses with the team not making playoffs so he always tries his best to keep us in the playoffs range, despite that we ain't nowhere close to being a contender.

I think Cuban paid $285mil when he bought the Mavericks?

And the Milwaukee Bucks just sold for $3.5 billion?

I think Cuban is doing just fine, thank you.