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01-26-2020, 10:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-26-2020, 11:05 AM by ClutchDirk.)
Josh Green is a top 5 Mavs player...
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Excellent analysis but it’s not like Mitchell, Bogdanovich, Ingles and Clarkson are lock down defenders either. Our guys decided to attack the NBA’s premier defender instead of taking wide open shots. Despite this they controlled most of the game on the road and were arguably done in by missing free throws. Mavs will be fine when Luka gets his 3PT stroke back.
But they do need WCS and a wing/forward who can score.
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Still think Mavs will win the championship. No way Luka accepts losing, there is no chance. He will drive the team as far as it can get, and given no other team is dominating, Mavs have a chance.
They came to Utah which i consider second or third best team in NBA after Clippers and Lakers. And they lead them most of the game. If Luka has his FTs better or 3s which is totally fixable as we all know he can do it, this game is a Mavs win.
The key is going to be the trade deadline. They need to shop Wright and get Covington. Covington and WCS makes us far better defensively than before. And not a beat miss on offense. And DFS on bench is better than Wright.
The toughest team to break down will definitely be Clippers, then its either lakers or Utah. And I would rank Milwaukee also along the same line as Utak and lakers.
This team has shown it could beat Utah if this goes in a 7 game series, judging from this game. And perhaps even favourite to come on top of that series. Clippers will be harder, if they manage Clippers, Mavs will win the championship.
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Good catch @ClutchD, dude nailed mavs clutch game!
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Thanks for posting this Clutch. It is indeed good analysis/food for thought. Most Maverick fans, I suspect, have been watching closely for our team to win more of these games. This did a good job of pointing out things we need to get going in our direction.
I for one have noticed significant progress in several different areas. First, I think Luka's decisions, combined with the decisions of our other guys closing games have clearly gotten better. We are not falling making the some of the mistakes we did earlier because guys on this team, lead by Luka himself, have learned very quickly.
Against the Clippers and Jazz this week, it is apparent that these "elite" teams are giving us their best shot. We have earned their respect...with reason. Their best is still consistently beating our improving level of play. But we are improving and losing to these guys are in no way bad losses. They aren't good losses either. They are way to painful to watch for that! But against Utah in particular I was finally able to console myself (and calm down) by remembering how many winning plays we made down the stretch and thru the game.
Free throw huge misses are still a big problem but I think we were very spoiled by Dirk and Nash. These younger Mavs may or not ever be that good at the line. Their 90% shooting was historically good and it was GREAT.
As for hesitation on threes by DFS and others: Yes we need to get better but the pain of these losses and Rick kicking their butts precisely for hesitating they will get better. Guys like DFS, Kleber have improved so massively already that who is to say how good they could become. With Luka and KP, whoever earns closing time out there will get opportunities and they will get better. I say it is likely that they continue to get better pretty quickly.
As for KP needing a go to shot, I think it needs to be the bank shot he did take and make late in this game. I posted a couple of weeks ago how he seemed to miss between the basket and the board. He seemed not to commit to either. It looks like he or his coaches agreed. Especially late in games, I think he could develop Tim Duncan like shots for those clutch points and he could become extremely hard to stop. Plus, being in their on the interior wings, 8-16 feet puts him in position for those monster put backs and other offensive rebounds.
As well on KP, I have seen a few Luka/KP pick and rolls very recently and since Powell got hurt. Bring back the deadly, Dirk/Jet level pick and roll with Luka and KP. I am for that as well and I think both of them could make it work well as a deadly but occasional option.
This Reunion Rowdie says the AAC needs "Luka's Lunatics" for the Luka/KP and gang era.
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One of the things they need to work on is find a way for KP to punish smaller players guarding him. Utah was not the first team who took advantage of this fact as I remember Smart guarded him against Boston. We have a real advantage if a big like Adams or Gobert has to run after KP on the three point line. If they put small player on him and keep rim protector in the paint, the advantage is gone and KP becomes just a 7'3 spot up shooting guard.
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01-27-2020, 07:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-27-2020, 07:50 AM by vfromlmf.)
Every team with a decent big will ice the Luka pick and roll at various points throughout the game. This is nothing new.
https://betterbasketball.com/nba-termino...eblueweak/
It’s why 66.5 percent of Kleber’s catch-and-shoot jumpers this season have been “unguarded,” per Synergy. Among all players — as in, the entire league — Kleber has taken the tenth-most unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers with 93.
If we filter for the top 100 players by unguarded catch-and-shoot attempts, Maxi’s 1.495 PPP ranks seventh in the league.
Kleber was out down the stretch against Utah; and DFS and Wright chose to go at Gobert rather than take the open shot. It’s really as simple as that.
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I thought Gobert was going to block Wright's 3 attempt and he made the right play going to the rim, Gobert just made an all world recovery because he's an insanely good player, and we lost because Utah is a better team than us and they were at home. I think saying we are still 2-3 pieces away is very premature, our 2 best players haven't had a lot of time together, and they are both very young and likely to improve. Iztok seems to be going out of his way to blame everyone not named Luka and I don't think his analysis is constructive or even accurate. And how do we even know KP doesn't have a go to shot if we don't go to him?
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You think we have problems closing out games. Before tonight teams were 0 for 8378, when trailing by 17 points in the last three minutes. Not anymore as the Wolves blew a 17 point lead with 2.49 to play. Some teams are just meant to suck forever.
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(01-27-2020, 07:36 PM)Benskix2 Wrote: I thought Gobert was going to block Wright's 3 attempt and he made the right play going to the rim, Gobert just made an all world recovery because he's an insanely good player, and we lost because Utah is a better team than us and they were at home. I think saying we are still 2-3 pieces away is very premature, our 2 best players haven't had a lot of time together, and they are both very young and likely to improve. Iztok seems to be going out of his way to blame everyone not named Luka and I don't think his analysis is constructive or even accurate. And how do we even know KP doesn't have a go to shot if we don't go to him?
I for one thinks he's dead on. The Mavs have had these deficiencies for some time now and long before Luka and KP were even here. Luka plays with the confidence and the skill of a player beyond his years and unfortunately he's the only one on the floor with that foundation. So they could either hope for more situations to come about to increase their confidence of experience or they can venture out into the market to find players that can do what needs to be done. The trade off may be flexibility for success now or they could wait it out over the course of a year or two or three until their eggs hatch. they can find a way to add a proven shooter/defender, like Redick, that would go miles for Luka and the rest of the team. You can't allow a team to do what Utah was able to do and not make them pay for it. His analysis was dead on.
Utah otoh, is not better than Dallas but they are a better construction of experience. However, that can easily change once Dallas solves a few of it's deficiencies.
