GAME 48: DAL (29-19) @ HOU (30-18) | 121-128 loss

[mavsluvr]

Hou may have still lost if the Mavs guarded Westbrook and allowed him to shoot 3s. They may have still lost if the Mavs took advantage of WCS being open many times.  They may still lost if we went with more size with Maxi from the start. 

If they are hit unconsciously from 3 I can understand. In our rush to match up with them and thoughtless defensive rotations we were giving up 3s and 2s

hakeemfan, you make some good points. Just a couple of additional thoughts. 


I note for the record that Westbrook not taking threes is a thing in general, not just against us. Supposedly, no one on Houston's coaching staff told him he had to stop taking threes, he just came to that decision on his own, and has been a better player for it. 

Also for the record, Rick was asked about the super-small approach after the game. He said that he put some big lineups out there, but Houston's ridiculous three-point shooting ultimately did them in, and the bigs weren't able to stop that. His response addressed the defense, but not your question of using bigs as an offensive tool, and going with a different offensive game plan. Said this game plan worked in the last match against the Rockets, but this time, their shooters performed much better. (Realize you may not buy this answer, but I report it as a matter of interest.)

[hakeemfan]

mavsluvr: I appreciate your answer. But it is not just this game. I have seen a trend the last few years where we have rushed to match up with what the other team is doing.

In any case, I am not much upset about yesterday or even care about wins and losses in general. This is not a finished product and Luka is so young. If Luka can get better with his decision making and the coaching staff can figure out how Luka and KP can complement each other offensively night in/night out, this year would be a success.

[ItsGoTime]

You sound like the Mavs should have easily won that game.

How do I sound like they should have easily won that game when I put up a final score of 155-151? Please answer that question. 

Similar to Omahen, I rarely bash RC, but he is showing some flaws this year after a few years of tanking not tanking (not saying that is the reason, just trying to figure it out). He's relying too heavily on analytics IMO (I think this is the biggest reason). Morey has shown where an over-reliance on analytics takes a team and I'd prefer not going that direction.

[mavsluvr]

mavsluvr:  I appreciate your answer. But it is not just this game. I have seen a trend the last few years where we have rushed to match up with what the other team is doing.

In any case, I am not much upset about yesterday or even care about wins and losses in general.  This is not a finished product and Luka is so young.  If Luka can get better with his decision making and the coaching staff can figure out how Luka and KP can complement each other offensively night in/night out, this year would be a success.

I like your logic, hf. My intention wasn't to argue with it, just to throw in a couple of relevant items that I hadn't seen mentioned elsewhere to fill out the discussion.

[dirkfansince1998]

How do I sound like they should have easily won that game when I put up a final score of 155-151? Please answer that question. 

Maybe I misinterpreted what you wanted to say but I understood that you blamed the game plan and thought that the Mavs should have beaten the Rockets despite missing Luka. You wrote:

Make it a 155-151 win, who cares, just win with the personnel you have!

Prior to the game I honestly thought that Houston would easily blow out the Mavs and was suprised by the Mavs fighting spirit. Witout Luka the Mavs had a clear disadvantage when it comes to talent and even the best gameplan cannot overcome a big talent gap all the time.

[ItsGoTime]

Also for the record, Rick was asked about the super-small approach after the game. He said that he put some big lineups out there, but Houston's ridiculous three-point shooting ultimately did them in, and the bigs weren't able to stop that. His response addressed the defense, but not your question of using bigs as an offensive tool, and going with a different offensive game plan. Said this game plan worked in the last match against the Rockets, but this time, their shooters performed much better. (Realize you may not buy this answer, but I report it as a matter of interest.)

Last game we had Luka which automatically gives us more of what is being asked for. Funny how he said he did put big lineups out there and others talk about those times as points where we were coming back on Hou, then he goes back to matching up with them. Hou's ridiculous three point shooting did them in cause we stopped what was working for us. 

So the bigs couldn't stop the 3 point shooting, and the smalls couldn't stop the 3 point shooting, so lets play their game mostly. Their smalls COULD stop our smalls, but that's irrelevant.

[Fuerza1]

Barea had a team worst -18.6 net rating last night. Every shot he defended went in. Glad we could give that young buck essential development time. Furthermore:

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...83397?s=20

Mavs just lost to the 1963 version of the Knicks last night.

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I would also like to praise KP last night. Give credit when it's due; took full advantage of the size difference. He's been struggling against PG's defending him all year. 

One thing I would like for him to stop doing though is driving the basketball. Seems like that's where the majority of his turnovers come from (had 4 last night) or he just badly bricks it.

[omahen]

Barea had a team worst -18.6 net rating last night. Every shot he defended went in.

Let's put him on Young today and call it a game

[mavsluvr]

Last game we had Luka which automatically gives us more of what is being asked for. Funny how he said he did put big lineups out there and others talk about those times as points where we were coming back on Hou, then he goes back to matching up with them. Hou's ridiculous three point shooting did them in cause we stopped what was working for us. 

So the bigs couldn't stop the 3 point shooting, and the smalls couldn't stop the 3 point shooting, so lets play their game mostly. Their smalls COULD stop our smalls, but that's irrelevant.

Yeah, having Luka out put us at a big disadvantage, but there unfortunately wasn't a choice in that respect. 


I understand your point on going small, and it is impossible to know whether a different plan would have been better, the same as, or worse than the one that was implemented. I will say this. The comeback period was a stretch of about 5 1/2 minutes, primarily fueled by Seth going off, and some good rebounding from Maxi and WCS. They didn't stop doing anything in particular when they started sliding in the other direction, just executed horribly. Crazy turnovers, bad shots, poor decisions. 

The offense actually wasn't a real problem, except for the turnovers. They did score 121 points. The defense was highly problematic, and maybe the bigs would have helped, although the only realistic options for additional big minutes were Maxi and Boban. I have wondered why Maxi is getting fewer minutes than usual, and that remains a mystery for now. The Rockets' three-point shooting prevented them from using a zone, and  Boban would have faced a lot of rollers in the pick and roll. Maybe that could have worked, who knows. 

I am all for making more effective use of the bigs. Jet and Cedric also mentioned it on the post-game show. I support that. But as far as whether it would have made a positive difference in the result, it's hard to say. Any time a team makes 28 threes, they're going to be hard to beat. And the Mavs made way too many mistakes. No one really wants to acknowledge the talent differential with Luka out, but it's substantial. 

I think your point about the bigs is fair, and I don't say it is wrong. I just say it's not the whole story.