Game 75: Dallas Mavericks (45-29) vs. Golden State Warriors (40-34)

[Chicagojk]

Not disappointed in the result. It would have been nice to steal one though. Mavs on a last game of a long road trip. They were playing a motivated team and the Mavs did not have their A game. I thought Golden State was a tad better yesterday. I thought their bench unit was the key to the game.

But Dallas kept fighting and stayed close and tied the game late. Made it a 50/50 game. You do t always win those. Any good team who is going to make a long playoff runs need wins like this. Playing on the road against a good team and not playing Aplus ball. Find a way to stay close and steal one at the end. Dallas has done this several times post trade. Last night Golden Stste made the finishing plays and Dallas did not.

I will warn though that typically the first game back after a long road trip can be dangerous. Hopefully we come out strong against the Hawks

[Chicagojk]

I felt the loss of Lively last night. Would it made it a win? No idea. But having those two big bodies really helps…especially when one is not thriving. I think Lively would have been more impactful that Gafford was last night.

Jones D was very good and PJ D continues to be good. But I think any good playoff D will be fine with PJ taking 10 3s in a playoff game. They will also be fine with multiple Jones threes too. If we can get hot from threes with an average amount of threes from our wings, we will be tough for anyone to beat.

[MFFL]

Mavs on a last game of a long road trip.  

This being the make up game made it a brutal road trip. 3 West coast teams then fly home to play the Rockets right before 3 home games. But inserting that trip and forcing the Mavs to travel BACK to the West coast and then travel home again was bad.

I'm impressed the Mavs played so hard.

[BigDirk41]

The Mavs need to have someone from the bench hit Steph Curry in the face, harder, in response. The Warriors take too many liberties against the best player on the opposing team through Draymond Green... trying to injure them, get them ejected, etc... while they count on Curry's "likability" and the sportsmanship of the other team to not do the same to Curry.  When the Warriors do this, then other teams need to ignore Draymond and should not think about not responding because they want to portray a certain image, but should immediately take out Curry. Tit for tat is the only way to deal with teams who do sneaky unsporting stuff like this. You wanna mess with our best player, then we'll take out your best player too. Or, you can play the game sportingly, and we'll do the same too.

This is why Morris should play next game. He sure be in there to hammer Steph, Klay and Draymond 6 times.

[RGP1981]

This is why Morris should play next game. He sure be in there to hammer Steph, Klay and Draymond 6 times.

I think it's better to ignore Klay, Draymond, or whoever is the instigator... because taking them out won't impact the game as much. Save the flagrant foul 2 to take out Steph and hard, i.e., if they're trying to do similar. That also sends the most direct message. We're not going to be distracted by the instigator, it's going to be pure tit for tat.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

Dray and Luka seem to genuinely like and respect one another. I don’t think he was trying to hurt Luka. There is certainly a time and place for retaliatory actions (like Marcus Morris going after Luka in the playoffs) but I don’t think this is one of them.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I think it's better to ignore Klay, Draymond, or whoever is the instigator... because taking them out won't impact the game as much. Save the flagrant foul 2 to take out Steph and hard, i.e., if they're trying to do similar. That also sends the most direct message. We're not going to be distracted by the instigator, it's going to be pure tit for tat.

If you deliberately try to maim Steph, you're gonna have problems, from everybody. Not a smart thing to do.

[myconsumerclub]

What we need is a Boban type a 300 pound goofy big guy that accidentally moves and maybe he steps on your feet and now you are out for a week or 4. You send him in just to let them know that they are about to have an accident when they run into him and fall down. Then someone goes up for a shot and they land into the side of the mountain and fall down and go boom. Not his fault if they run into him. A big rookie to snag in the offseason is Zach and if he falling in the 2nd then that would be a nice pick up to get an enforcer type who can actually play as well.

[The Jom]

If you deliberately try to maim Steph, you're gonna have problems, from everybody. Not a smart thing to do.

Deliberately try to maim? Nope. Hit him hard in the head and knock him to the ground next drive to the bucket when that’s what the other team just did to your star? Yep.

[ballsrchr]

I believe in telling one of your far bench players to play hard and tight and that I expect him to foul out with hard fouls against an opposing player...but I would never, never, advocate injuring that player. Any win done that way...is not a win. I guess I'm old fashion.

That's what I wanted done when UNM Lobos played Georgetown (Patrick Ewing) many years ago. Alas...it wasn't. The Lobos lost in a close game and Ewing said nice things about the Lobos.

[SleepingHero]

I don't think it's unreasonable to have an enforcer knock around the opposing team with force. But there's a respectful way to go about it.

Dirty plays shouldn't happen. Plays meant to injure another definitely shouldn't happen. But a strong screen or a hard foul where Curry takes a tumble and is put off his rhythm is fine in my book. Basketball should and is a contact sport. So lets play with some physicality!

[RGP1981]

If you deliberately try to maim Steph, you're gonna have problems, from everybody. Not a smart thing to do.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have an enforcer knock around the opposing team with force. But there's a respectful way to go about it.

Dirty plays shouldn't happen. Plays meant to injure another definitely shouldn't happen. But a strong screen or a hard foul where Curry takes a tumble and is put off his rhythm is fine in my book. Basketball should and is a contact sport. So lets play with some physicality!

I fully agree that dirty plays should not happen. 

What I'm saying only applies to teams like the Warriors, who consistently use Draymond to either injure the opposing team's best player or get them ejected, (and I believe it's done intentionally with the blessing of their team as a whole). For example, the stomp to Sabonis' chest, the finger straight into Jokic's eye, the shove into Donovan Mitchell's back... these are just some of many incidents. If the Mavs and Warriors face off in the playoffs, you know he's going to try doing the same to Luka.

So, if and when they use Draymond to do stuff like this, then in response only, the other team should ignore Draymond and take the Warriors' best player fully out of the game too. Winning is all that should matter in this situation, and your chances of winning go down considerably if they take out your best player while you only take out Draymond in return.

That's all I'm saying.