A Few Thoughts on Mavs 149, Rockets 153

[mavsluvr]

Some noticable tendencies:

- I think force feeding Doncic vs Harden was not the smartest move. When Harden is engaged he is a good defender. It worked in the 2nd and 3rd quarter because Harden was in foul trouble. In the last 5 minutes that´s not as important.

- In total the Mavs had 13 possessions in the last 5 minutes. With a 2-3 possession lead. The clock management was terrible. There is no need for rushed shot attempts with more than 10s on the clock. Especially Lukas step back 3s. Including the made FT from Curry they only scored 4/13 times. Including a terrible 1/6 from 3. With Luka going 0/4 from 3.

- KP was barely involved on offense. One post up. One prayer from 3. One tip in. The Rockets switched the pick and roll and took him out of the game.

- Mavs might have won the rebounding battle but when it mattered most they were asleep. No boxouts at all. Westbrook had multiple opportunities because Doncic did not box out. Maxi missed the crucial boxout that allowed RoCo the tip in to tie the game.

- Don´t know where to start on defense. No energy, no scheme. Has a team ever lost a game despite scoring 139 points in regulation?

Thanks for your detailed summary of the last 5 1/2 minutes above. Very enlightening. 

Also, thanks for identifying some of the patterns that the Mavs need to work on during such periods. 

Agree that the Mavs need to come up with a new plan when the defense repeatedly swarms Luka on every play, other than having him pound the ball while he tries to escape and then having him heave some ridiculously difficult shot. This may be a little on the rad side, but I think Luka could be effective off the ball for some possessions, rather than having things be so predictable. At any rate, something besides forcing him into isolation plays. 

Agree that the team has work to do on clock management, which probably requires more time together than they have in this season. That's a critical skill, and they don't have it down at this point. 

Their three-point shooting prowess melts down in the clutch. Partly it's Luka taking insanely difficult shots, and it's partly just guys missing good shots that they have to make at that time in the game. 

Agree that the Mavs were unable to press their size advantage at these crucial times, due to the Rockets' ability to neutralize KP. This is partly a coaching issue, and is one they need to address. 

The failure to box out and the late rotations are poor fundamentals that are going to continue to cost them games until they get these issues resolved. Unacceptable. 

The mediocre free-throw shooting continues to appall me. Since this is my pet hobby-horse, and I am prone to ranting on the subject, I won't carry on. But they could moot a lot of other stuff if they just made their FTs. Grrr. 

Notwithstanding the frustration, these are all correctable problems, given time. Hopefully, they will work on these, and we will see the team make another leap next season. 

Appreciate the analysis.