Wow! Your Team Looked Good!

[omahen]

Actually this is something I've thought might happen. With Luka they weren't playing fast and the ball movement got stagnate. If you notice Klay and the other guys looked happy. Don't get me wrong, I love Luka and wouldn't have traded him. But I have wondered if we are moving into a more team driven movement with this current cap situation in the league. It's what we've seen with OKC for the most part. Yes Shai is a great player but that's a very solid team they have. Also, Boston actually doesn't have a real superstar. They have some all stars and a deep cast.

So many things simply not true. 

Luka changed his game a lot in last couple of seasons. Mavs used to be one of the slowest teams, because they didn't have personel to play fast. They were 21st fastest team in 2022/23 (really bad team), but this improved to 7th in 2023/24. With Luka. This season they are 12th and were playing faster with Luka on the court than they are now. Pace with him would put them as the 5th fastest team this season. 

Luka also reduced his usage a lot this season to adapt to more offensively capable teammates compared to previous seasons. 

Klay is shooting 11,3 shots per game on average in games Luka didn't play. He was shooting 12,3 shots per game when he was playing with Luka. His shooting percentage with Luka is 43 % and without Luka 40 %. He had an awesome game against Boston, but data simply doesn't support theories that it was Luka "holding him back". Klay had less than 10 points in half of last 10 games. 

Shai and Luka have more or less same number of shots per game this season. Shai usage rate this season is 33 %, while Luka has 31 %. Based on this I am not sure why you think Dallas with Luka had less of a team driven concept than OKC. 

Sometimes it seems to me people stopped watching Mavs two seasons ago and base their comments on how they played at that time, with a totaly different supporting cast.