03-14-2022, 12:14 PM
(03-14-2022, 06:46 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Good stuff!
Yeah, this is essentially the Trey Burke minutes. Put another way, it is the period of time where Dallas tried to survive with Luka, Dorian and the bench (some combination of Maxi, Green, Brown and Burke). They actually got away with it in the late first as Luka/Burke and three bench guys were +3. This is where missing just one guy really hurts. With Bullock available, they don't tend to go as deep into the bench.
Some other notes...
Bertans didn't appear in the second half.
They tried 2-bigs to start the fourth and gave up 5 points during that 3:20 stretch. Is it because 2-bigs is bad or because the team was 1 of 5 during that time with Dinwiddie missing two three-pointers and two-FT's?
It was really a game of runs. Boston had an 8-0 run against our starters in the 1st and a 9-2 run against the same group in the 3rd. Boston also had a 15-5 run in the 2nd in that period of time you identify in your post. Dallas had a 15-3 run in the third to retake the lead 64-62. We held our own to the end of the 3rd thanks mainly to the Dinwiddie buzzer beater and then gave up the lead early in the fourth. In fact, the fourth quarter was basically a bunch of mini-runs. Boston 7-0, then Dallas 5-0, then Boston 5-0.
Dallas finished the game with two 6-0 runs in the fourth and that was basically the game. Luka, SD and Dorian made their shots going 6 of 8 from the 8:40 mark on (when Luka and DFS came back in). Tatum, Brown and Smart went 2 of 12 during that same period. Wow!
Interesting about the starters giving up those runs. But in a defensive battle with lots of 3 attempts, you have to expect scoring to be a bit lumpy.
I would add this: Mavs were so good on defense for the game that I’m not gonna second guess what they did in any short stretches. But I wonder if the lack of a second handler/distributor on offense in the no Jalen/Spencer minutes resulted in fast breaks. I might have to go back and watch those minutes to see.