GAME 50: DAL (28-22) @ HOU (14-37) | 93-102 loss

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Embarrassing loss. May come back to haunt them.

[BigDirk41]

It would have been nice if Luka would have stopped shooting 3's. What a atrocious loss. I'd say this one is on Luka and JRich sucking this game.

[Lucky Luciano]

This is beyond frustrating. We can dominate a fully healthy Utah and then look this awful against a Rockets team?

Reminds me of the tank seasons. I guess we want to stay in 7th

[SwisherPrice]

Looks like these Rockets are this year's Knicks. Bad matchup for the Mavs...throw out the records, they know they can beat us

[StepBackJay]

This is beyond frustrating. We can dominate a fully healthy Utah and then look this awful against a Rockets team?

Reminds me of the tank seasons. I guess we want to stay in 7th

Stuck in that gravitational pull

[omahen]

Mavs deserved this loss. Thought Houston will just give it up. Horrible offensive performance by Luka and terrible showing by KP on defense.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

This is beyond frustrating. We can dominate a fully healthy Utah and then look this awful against a Rockets team?

Reminds me of the tank seasons. I guess we want to stay in 7th

Human nature. They had that Utah game circled on the calendar for a long time. Huge letdown after that big win. Still expected them to get it together at halftime and win this one though.

[SwisherPrice]

You just have to live with these Luka shooting games, for better or worse. He is always going to be streaky. As long as he has those hot shooting nights like vs. Portland a few weeks ago and vs. Utah on Monday, he will keep taking the same threes and sometimes it will result in awful games like this.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Luka didn't look quite right to me. Looks like he has a hitch in his giddy up walking down the court. Still no excuse for the L though.

[BolsDamols]

you can't win them all guys, lets move on

[Mavs2021]

Mavs deserved this loss. Thought Houston will just give it up. Horrible offensive performance by Luka on offence and terrible showing by KP on defense.

Loss is not that big a deal, but I feel like Carlisle did not want to play Porzingis in the 4th.

We were down 64-75 at the start of the 4th. Cut it to 80-84 with seven minutes to go, when Porzingis came back.

[ThisIStheYear]

Definitely the worst loss of the season. Late in the year and fighting for the playoffs, a game and a half out, is the wrong time to drop one to a 13 win team.

[omahen]

We were down 64-75 at the start of the 4th. Cut it to 80-84 with seven minutes to go, when Porzingis came back.

What is so strange about that? That is his normal rotation. He plays almost whole first and third quarter and comes back middle of second and fourth.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

you can't win them all guys, lets move on

Yeah, the Bucks are waiting for them at the hotel. This is the type of game you needed to get.

[cow]

Trap game.

[hakeemfaan]

Pokusevksi and Maledon combine for 50 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists, 10 made 3s, shooting 50/50/100.

Why do we have to suck so much at drafting. Can´t Cuban just pay Presti $20M a year?

Poku would have got zero minutes under RC.

[hakeemfaan]

You just have to live with these Luka shooting games, for better or worse. He is always going to be streaky. As long as he has those hot shooting nights like vs. Portland a few weeks ago and vs. Utah on Monday, he will keep taking the same threes and sometimes it will result in awful games like this.

^^^This.  I used to hate it but I have made peace with it now.  He is not a bad shooter. Plus you don’t want your main guy to ever be gun shy. Only hope is that he reduces the volume a bit but in any case it is fine. Have to take the good with the bad and his good is very, very good.

[soog]

This is beyond frustrating. We can dominate a fully healthy Utah and then look this awful against a Rockets team?

Reminds me of the tank seasons. I guess we want to stay in 7th

Consistency is what separates the “elite” from the “good” in any field.  This is true whether it is sports, medicine, or finance.  Anyone can look good some of the time, it is only the best in class who look good all of the time. 

I expect to have games like this.  The key is using this as a learning experience and working to see fewer and fewer of these sort of performances as the team develops.

[cow]

This is beyond frustrating. We can dominate a fully healthy Utah and then look this awful against a Rockets team?

Reminds me of the tank seasons. I guess we want to stay in 7th

Jingles and Mitchell had bad games for Utah.  You can credit some of that to our defense but I wouldn't expect performances like that from them again.

This Mavs team is weird.  Most of our convincing wins come against good teams and we tend to keep it close with bottom feeders.

[omahen]

Most of our convincing wins come against good teams and we tend to keep it close with bottom feeders.

I think it is because Mavs are simply not good enough to afford to give less than 100 % on most nights. We have very bad deep bench that can't really step up when we miss guys. And guys are not experienced enough to routinely win against bad teams. First rule against those - never give them hope. You have to immediately establish you are way better and then game might get easy. Bad teams usually stop hustling when it feels it is over. If you give them hope by not giving your 100 % (which Mavs obviously didn't give tonight), they get a feeling they can win and start flying up and down the court.