GAME 2: UTA (1-1) vs. DAL (1-1)| 104-110 WIN!!!!!

[cow]

Few thoughts:

1) I think DB is much better on D than reputation.

2) When teams used to hunt Dirk on D it often backfired and I could see the same with DB. It got them out of "good offense" and into obsessive, isolation, one-on-one play.

3) The real issue with DB's minutes in the two playoff games hasn't been the D, it has been the O. The team has scored 100.0 in his 31 minutes which is BAD. Seven of DB's mins have come with JG and JG+DB has an offensive rating of 83.3 (!!!).

As much as I like to dunk on DB and as much as I think you are completely off base on his defensive prowess (he might be the worst defender in the league), I like his confidence, assertiveness and frustration with not being involved on the offense.  He also has the fantastic teammate gene (just last night he raced to help JB up when he was one of the farthest teammates from the fall).  You can't play him though.  The coaching staff has shown they have no idea how to get him quality looks.  He got 1 shot in his eight first-half minutes last night.  I don't think he got a shot in the second half.  You can't suffer through his defense if you aren't taking advantage of his excellent shooting.  

He's also a reason why +/- in small sample sizes is a poor indicator of impact.  He had a good +/- in the first game and a bad +/- in the second game.  His impact wasn't much different.  He and Maxi also had the same +/- in the first half of the game last night and their impact was worlds apart.  I'd say the Mavs are pretty lucky to have gotten away playing him as much as they have and not paid a bigger price for it, especially since they refuse to use his elite skill.

Now that I've said nice things about DB, I need a shower.  Yuck.