A Few Thoughts on Mavs 99, Clippers 114

[mavsluvr]

The Clippers may have put down the blueprint for defending KP by putting a smaller player on him

The rights to these go to Houston already, as Harden was guarding KP for extended period of time. In offense KP has only been dangerous as a spot up shooter so far. He did get at least one offensive rebound over the smaller player though. His post up play is limited to turnaround jumpers which are horribly inefficient at the moment.

I didn't consider Houston as a blueprint, since the plan didn't work for them. KP had his best game as a Mav against Houston. Of course, the difference between the Clippers defenders and James Harden is a gaping canyon. Of course, it doesn't matter who gets the bragging rights, but it does go to show that a team has to have the personnel to execute the defensive strategy. 

Agree that KP didn't have a good night against LA, but I think he is more than just a spot-up shooter. He's pretty good at the rim, he rebounds, and he's a competent passer. Believe we are all in agreement that his post game needs some attention. 

But please, Clippers team is ELITE. They have 2 of the top 10 players in the league. They have 3 former all NBA defense team members. They have the multiple 6th man of the year. They have 4 guys averaging over 15 points per game. 

Mavs have one top 5 guy and one other good player (hopefully he can get to all star level again). None of them has been in the defensive player of the year conversations.  Only one other guy has the average over 10 points per game. It is clear Mavs are realistically not capable of competing with Clippers. Not yet!

Since it is becoming clear that none of the non Luka or KP bunch can reliably step up on a nightly basis, we need an upgrade to become a true contender. But we can afford to wait till summer as we are probably good enough to make playoffs this year.

Agree. Mavs don't have the horses to compete with the Clippers. Yet. 

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Chucking 3 pt offense is going to kill this team

What else can they do when facing a serious team playing defense? We don't have the quality. Our centers have 0 post up game. Half of every line-up we put on the floor is not really dangerous from three which enables oponents to prevent Powell rim runs. Only Luka and Brunson are capable of creating their own shot or for others. To some extent Seth and THJ. Wright looks affraid to look at the basket half of the time. It is not my intent to be overly critical, let's just be realistic what we have on the roster. It is good and will work greatly against teams letting them, but our limitations will be exposed against strong defenses. Especially ones capable of throwing several big bodies at Luka.

I don't have a problem with the Mavs taking threes per se, but they might consider having the patience to work for better shots. They have a tendency to rush those threes, rather than pass or reset and get a more advantageous look. In this particular game, I wondered if they might have been so rattled by the Clippers defense that they thought their best bet was to get a shot off as soon as possible. In addition, they weren't having much look with 2PTAs either, missing 14 of their 29 attempts in the paint.

Agree that the Clippers did a good job of sussing out the Mavs' weaknesses and limiting their strengths. Which provides a lot of useful information, to look on the bright side.