GAME 48: DAL (29-19) @ HOU (30-18) | 121-128 loss

[dirkfansince1998]

That’s not true. The Mavs has their best stretch of the game with WCS out there. He was a difference maker. In this case the +/- does tell the story because he was second on the team with a +8. 

He appears to be exactly what I hoped, Dwight Powell ++. He does everything Powell did on offense but he also brings rim protection and rebounding.

 
And he nearly fouled out in 11 minutes. So the option wasn´t available for more minutes. Playing Boban wasn´t an option because he cannot defend the perimeter. Maybe more Maxi because he was the only one that played good defense vs Westbrook. But the Rockets scheme heavily relied on forcing switches, driving and kicking it out to an open shooter. And it worked. I think the problem isn´t the lack of minutes for bigman. It is the lack of wing sized defenders. Without Luka the only real wing sized defender the Mavs have is DFS. I actually thought that Broehoff did a good job as well. But that´s it when it comes to wings.
Rest of the minutes go to guards (including 3 guards, 2 bigs, no wing lineups) and bigman. That´s not going to work in a switch heavy league. Mismatches all over the floor.

It worked because we played into their hands. If Boban could not have guarded anyone, no one could have guarded him either.  Why worry only about what your opponent can do? 

At the end of the day going small gave us zero advantage. They were able to score inside and outside.

21-45 on 3s makes 1.41 PPP. 70% + TS. No I don´t think the Mavs could match that with Boban in the paint. I also think that the Mavs defense would give up even more open looks with him on the floor. WCS was able to stay on the floor for 11 minutes and he has solid mobility for a bigman.
I worry because the Rockets were incredible efficient on offense with their scheme. Giving up more open baskets and completly giving up on perimeter defense wasn´t an option.

We have had this debate before and neither of us are changing our stances on that. 

At the end of the day going small gave us zero advantage. They got shots inside and outside at will.   We also try to outshoot other teams all the time from outside the ar. and yet have a poor record against teams over 500. Why don’t they go small against us?  

We just played right into their hands.

I am open to bigger lineups but in my opinion yesterday it would have made things worse. I agree that Maxis lack of minutes hurt the team. But that´s not because he is a big. It´s because he is our best perimeter defender.

We have a poor record against teams over 500 because most of them have more talent. The Clippers play more physical but they don´t have better bigman and go small all the time. The Rockets just beat the Mavs with PJ Tucker as their biggest player. The Bucks don´t play bigger than the Mavs. They just have more talent. The Celtics beat us with small ball. Only teams that actually have success with big lineups are the Lakers and 76ers. They also have more talent than the Mavs.

I think a lot uf us are confusing big lineups with toughness, physicality and defense. That´s what the Mavs are missing against the best teams in the league. Inserting Boban in the lineup won´t change that.