MAVERICKS LOSING STREAK STRETCHES TO FOUR
TEAM SHOWS A FEW SIGNS OF LIFE IN BLOWOUT
Damn, baby. That was — something else. The final score flattered the Mavs.
GAME STORY
The Mavs were hoping to come out with a little fire after being humiliated in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Maxi was still out, but the rest of the crew was back, and Utah was still missing Favors and Mitchell. Rick and the players had talked about having a more competitive spirit — going after rebounds, collecting 50-50 balls, and being more physical and aggressive.
The ESPN presentation had one of their best broadcasting duos on the call — Mike Breen and the always-excellent Doris Burke. Doris is not one to shy away from dishing some constructive criticism, and we’ll pass a few of her remarks along.
Rick had the same starting lineup he used on Wednesday — Luka, Richardson, Hardaway, Doe-Doe, and KP.
The Mavs failed to begin with the hoped-for competitive spirit, opening with multiple missed shots and turnovers, and giving up all sorts of offensive rebounds, as the Jazz scored on just about every possession. Dallas was down by 12 halfway through the period, and managed to score only 12 points in the whole fricking frame. After one, the scoreline stood at 12-37. Our boys had three made shots in the quarter. I honestly do not remember seeing a worse quarter in a professional basketball game. Ever. I was already wishing the NBA had a mercy rule.
The team surprisingly perked up a little in the second. Luka led the effort with 11 points, and the shooting picked up. Mavs were 12-18 from two, 2-5 from three, and 3-4 at the line. The Jazz gave up 10 points off turnovers, and Dallas chipped 10 points off their deficit. At the half, they trailed 45-61.
I had a little hope that our team could get back in the game when they returned from the break, but the Jazz came out with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. The Mavs did not score until the 9:01 mark. KP was called for his fourth and fifth fouls within the first two minutes. We were in the penalty within the first four. Dallas lost all the ground they had made in the second quarter, and then some. They trailed 68-94 going into the fourth.
Rick started the last period with a lineup of Brunson, Burke, Richardson, Johnson, and KP. Green came in for JRich at about 8:30. Those groups played hard, and eventually got the margin down to 14. Luka went back in for about a minute and a half, but Rick emptied the bench at the 3:36 mark, with the Mavs down 22. The ESPN guys started talking about other NBA teams about halfway through, eventually moving on to the NFL. I found this oddly relieving. Not much of a cliffhanger, to say the least.
STATISTICS
The Mavericks hit 9 of 33 3PTAs (27%), while Utah completed 20 of 48 attempts (42%). The Jazz hitting three-point shots at every rattle out of the box appeared to demoralize the Mavs, as their faces fell and shoulders slumped as those triples kept going in. Doris wistfully noted the loss of Seth Curry, and opined that the shooters surrounding Luka this season tend to be a little streaky. Both teams got to the free throw line for about the same number of attempts, but the Jazz made 92% of theirs, compared to Dallas’ 67%. The Mavs gave up 17 offensive boards, and were out-rebounded 56-40. Just outplayed in every respect.
PLAYERS
DONCIC. Luka carried the team, and put up a 25/6/7 line, along with a steal and only 2 turnovers. He produced numerous gorgeous open looks for his teammates, often to little avail. Doris and Mike gushed over him most of the night, reminding us all of what a smart, mature, and brilliant player he is. No argument here.
After the game, Luka observed that the team is “terrible” now.
"There’s really not much to say. I never felt like this. We’ve got to do something, because this is not looking good. We’ve got to step up and just talk to each other and play way better than this. It’s mostly effort."
He ended by saying he knew his teammates would do this, and that’s all that matters. But - not exactly the words you hope to hear from your 21-year-old superstar. Give that man some help, guys!
PORZINGIS. A really horrible showing from KP. He ended up with a halfway decent line (11/9), but much of his production was in the fourth, when the game was out of reach. After three quarters, he had 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 fouls. He was in foul trouble for almost the entire third quarter, and just went ahead and played with five fouls in the fourth until Rick waved the white flag. He was more energetic in the final frame, doing a fair amount of attacking. But still no presence defensively.
KP has looked so bad lately that I wonder if he is nursing some kind of lingering injury. Doris remarked that he looks like a shell of himself. She offered the suggestion that maybe he should not worry about trying to do so much offensively, and throw himself into defending and rebounding. After the game, he was not made available to the media, which is unusual. I am thinking that either he just wasn’t up to coming out and facing them, or the team didn’t want him out there talking about how the Mavs don’t know what they’re doing on the court. Either way, not great.
RICHARDSON. Josh had a scant 6 points in 25 minutes and missed all his threes. He did have a notable moment, though, when he drew an offensive foul by Joe Ingles. Ingles tapped him on the chest, and Josh careened to the floor, flailing and clutching his head as if he had received a major blow there. Coach Snyder challenged the call, and JRich’s acting stood up even on review, lol. Reminded me of our little buddy, JJ Barea. See you at the Oscars, Josh!
POWELL Dwight appeared for 14 minutes, and I thought had his best game of the season. He scored only 6 points, but led the bench with 5 rebounds, and played like he cared, which is not a given from everyone on this team at the moment. Doris was very complimentary of him, saying he was a key to the Mavs getting back into the game in the second quarter, provided a burst of energy, was changing the angle of the screens to make it easier on Luka, and was boxing out and hitting the glass. Also that he was “all over” the defensive possessions, and was making the right switches every time. It was a bright spot to see Powell look more like his old self, and it was nice to have a guy out there who could switch in the PNR.
OTHER MENTIONS. A forgettably flat night from Hardaway. He took only 5 shots in 26 minutes, and put up a mere 2 points. Dang. I thought Jalen had a pretty solid night off the bench, leading the reserves with 13 points and doing a competent job of running the offense. DFS looked like he was going to have another bad night from deep, but he ended up 3-8, and at least made a defensive effort. Johnson had a decent evening with the second unit, and could be heard guiding his teammates on the floor when they seemed uncertain what to do. Burke missed all four of his three-point shots. WCS had 3 rebounds in 9 minutes, and Green got a nice little run-out in the fourth.
JAZZ. Carlisle said before the game that this Utah group has the makings of a championship team, and is playing some of the best basketball in the league. I would concur. Just an extremely well-balanced and skilled squad, very good defensively, and with the power to score in numerous ways. If the Mavs had played with more spirit, I wouldn’t have held this loss against them. Sometimes, you run into a better team.
OBSERVATIONS
Doris thought that Rick would be quite disappointed in this performance, and based on their pre-game convo, thinks that he really expected his men to play better in this one. Rick himself said that they are going through a very rough stretch, and the important thing now is to stick together and fight through it. He lamented the lack of practice time available, observing that he has to use every resource available to address short-term issues, and it’s a real struggle to be able to look past the next game or the next day. I sense a high level of frustration from the coach, not necessarily directed at anyone in particular, but in being under so many restrictions in his efforts to get this squad on track.
Doris and Mike summarized the team’s circumstances, and ventured that we don’t really have any idea who the Mavs are at this point. Breen thinks there is no reason that Dallas can’t still make the step forward they expected to take this season, the problem being that it may well be March before they’re cooking with gas again, and they might have a fair amount of ground to make up at that point. While they had a view that you can only get by on excuses for so long, they also pointed out that the Mavs are having some REALLY bad luck. Trying to integrate a bunch of guys who have missed half the season, including some who are still recovering from injury or may still be experiencing long-term effects from a respiratory virus, at high altitude, against one of the best teams in the league, with the second game of a back-to-back arriving in about 16 hours, pretty much has an L written all over it for any team.
Despite the bad loss, I didn’t come away feeling quite as depressed as I did after Wednesday’s game. A few good things happened. If they hadn’t been so abysmally atrocious in the first quarter, they might have even had a chance. They won the second and fourth periods, and outscored the Jazz by six points in quarters 1-3. We know it’s tough to address chemistry issues (both personality-wise and in respect to familiarity on the floor), due to limitations imposed by the virus situation, but to the extent that there are problems, I hope they can get them sorted out.
The squad is expected to arrive in Dallas around 3 AM, and then face Phoenix at 8 PM. Just a hellish schedule. These guys are due for a break. I can kind of understand why they seem so beat down. Seems like they badly need a chance to catch their collective breath.
Okay, folks, that one’s in the books. Maybe we can take a step forward against the Suns. Hasta la vista, MFFLs!
TEAM SHOWS A FEW SIGNS OF LIFE IN BLOWOUT
Damn, baby. That was — something else. The final score flattered the Mavs.
GAME STORY
The Mavs were hoping to come out with a little fire after being humiliated in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Maxi was still out, but the rest of the crew was back, and Utah was still missing Favors and Mitchell. Rick and the players had talked about having a more competitive spirit — going after rebounds, collecting 50-50 balls, and being more physical and aggressive.
The ESPN presentation had one of their best broadcasting duos on the call — Mike Breen and the always-excellent Doris Burke. Doris is not one to shy away from dishing some constructive criticism, and we’ll pass a few of her remarks along.
Rick had the same starting lineup he used on Wednesday — Luka, Richardson, Hardaway, Doe-Doe, and KP.
The Mavs failed to begin with the hoped-for competitive spirit, opening with multiple missed shots and turnovers, and giving up all sorts of offensive rebounds, as the Jazz scored on just about every possession. Dallas was down by 12 halfway through the period, and managed to score only 12 points in the whole fricking frame. After one, the scoreline stood at 12-37. Our boys had three made shots in the quarter. I honestly do not remember seeing a worse quarter in a professional basketball game. Ever. I was already wishing the NBA had a mercy rule.
The team surprisingly perked up a little in the second. Luka led the effort with 11 points, and the shooting picked up. Mavs were 12-18 from two, 2-5 from three, and 3-4 at the line. The Jazz gave up 10 points off turnovers, and Dallas chipped 10 points off their deficit. At the half, they trailed 45-61.
I had a little hope that our team could get back in the game when they returned from the break, but the Jazz came out with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. The Mavs did not score until the 9:01 mark. KP was called for his fourth and fifth fouls within the first two minutes. We were in the penalty within the first four. Dallas lost all the ground they had made in the second quarter, and then some. They trailed 68-94 going into the fourth.
Rick started the last period with a lineup of Brunson, Burke, Richardson, Johnson, and KP. Green came in for JRich at about 8:30. Those groups played hard, and eventually got the margin down to 14. Luka went back in for about a minute and a half, but Rick emptied the bench at the 3:36 mark, with the Mavs down 22. The ESPN guys started talking about other NBA teams about halfway through, eventually moving on to the NFL. I found this oddly relieving. Not much of a cliffhanger, to say the least.
STATISTICS
The Mavericks hit 9 of 33 3PTAs (27%), while Utah completed 20 of 48 attempts (42%). The Jazz hitting three-point shots at every rattle out of the box appeared to demoralize the Mavs, as their faces fell and shoulders slumped as those triples kept going in. Doris wistfully noted the loss of Seth Curry, and opined that the shooters surrounding Luka this season tend to be a little streaky. Both teams got to the free throw line for about the same number of attempts, but the Jazz made 92% of theirs, compared to Dallas’ 67%. The Mavs gave up 17 offensive boards, and were out-rebounded 56-40. Just outplayed in every respect.
PLAYERS
DONCIC. Luka carried the team, and put up a 25/6/7 line, along with a steal and only 2 turnovers. He produced numerous gorgeous open looks for his teammates, often to little avail. Doris and Mike gushed over him most of the night, reminding us all of what a smart, mature, and brilliant player he is. No argument here.
After the game, Luka observed that the team is “terrible” now.
"There’s really not much to say. I never felt like this. We’ve got to do something, because this is not looking good. We’ve got to step up and just talk to each other and play way better than this. It’s mostly effort."
He ended by saying he knew his teammates would do this, and that’s all that matters. But - not exactly the words you hope to hear from your 21-year-old superstar. Give that man some help, guys!
PORZINGIS. A really horrible showing from KP. He ended up with a halfway decent line (11/9), but much of his production was in the fourth, when the game was out of reach. After three quarters, he had 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 fouls. He was in foul trouble for almost the entire third quarter, and just went ahead and played with five fouls in the fourth until Rick waved the white flag. He was more energetic in the final frame, doing a fair amount of attacking. But still no presence defensively.
KP has looked so bad lately that I wonder if he is nursing some kind of lingering injury. Doris remarked that he looks like a shell of himself. She offered the suggestion that maybe he should not worry about trying to do so much offensively, and throw himself into defending and rebounding. After the game, he was not made available to the media, which is unusual. I am thinking that either he just wasn’t up to coming out and facing them, or the team didn’t want him out there talking about how the Mavs don’t know what they’re doing on the court. Either way, not great.
RICHARDSON. Josh had a scant 6 points in 25 minutes and missed all his threes. He did have a notable moment, though, when he drew an offensive foul by Joe Ingles. Ingles tapped him on the chest, and Josh careened to the floor, flailing and clutching his head as if he had received a major blow there. Coach Snyder challenged the call, and JRich’s acting stood up even on review, lol. Reminded me of our little buddy, JJ Barea. See you at the Oscars, Josh!
POWELL Dwight appeared for 14 minutes, and I thought had his best game of the season. He scored only 6 points, but led the bench with 5 rebounds, and played like he cared, which is not a given from everyone on this team at the moment. Doris was very complimentary of him, saying he was a key to the Mavs getting back into the game in the second quarter, provided a burst of energy, was changing the angle of the screens to make it easier on Luka, and was boxing out and hitting the glass. Also that he was “all over” the defensive possessions, and was making the right switches every time. It was a bright spot to see Powell look more like his old self, and it was nice to have a guy out there who could switch in the PNR.
OTHER MENTIONS. A forgettably flat night from Hardaway. He took only 5 shots in 26 minutes, and put up a mere 2 points. Dang. I thought Jalen had a pretty solid night off the bench, leading the reserves with 13 points and doing a competent job of running the offense. DFS looked like he was going to have another bad night from deep, but he ended up 3-8, and at least made a defensive effort. Johnson had a decent evening with the second unit, and could be heard guiding his teammates on the floor when they seemed uncertain what to do. Burke missed all four of his three-point shots. WCS had 3 rebounds in 9 minutes, and Green got a nice little run-out in the fourth.
JAZZ. Carlisle said before the game that this Utah group has the makings of a championship team, and is playing some of the best basketball in the league. I would concur. Just an extremely well-balanced and skilled squad, very good defensively, and with the power to score in numerous ways. If the Mavs had played with more spirit, I wouldn’t have held this loss against them. Sometimes, you run into a better team.
OBSERVATIONS
Doris thought that Rick would be quite disappointed in this performance, and based on their pre-game convo, thinks that he really expected his men to play better in this one. Rick himself said that they are going through a very rough stretch, and the important thing now is to stick together and fight through it. He lamented the lack of practice time available, observing that he has to use every resource available to address short-term issues, and it’s a real struggle to be able to look past the next game or the next day. I sense a high level of frustration from the coach, not necessarily directed at anyone in particular, but in being under so many restrictions in his efforts to get this squad on track.
Doris and Mike summarized the team’s circumstances, and ventured that we don’t really have any idea who the Mavs are at this point. Breen thinks there is no reason that Dallas can’t still make the step forward they expected to take this season, the problem being that it may well be March before they’re cooking with gas again, and they might have a fair amount of ground to make up at that point. While they had a view that you can only get by on excuses for so long, they also pointed out that the Mavs are having some REALLY bad luck. Trying to integrate a bunch of guys who have missed half the season, including some who are still recovering from injury or may still be experiencing long-term effects from a respiratory virus, at high altitude, against one of the best teams in the league, with the second game of a back-to-back arriving in about 16 hours, pretty much has an L written all over it for any team.
Despite the bad loss, I didn’t come away feeling quite as depressed as I did after Wednesday’s game. A few good things happened. If they hadn’t been so abysmally atrocious in the first quarter, they might have even had a chance. They won the second and fourth periods, and outscored the Jazz by six points in quarters 1-3. We know it’s tough to address chemistry issues (both personality-wise and in respect to familiarity on the floor), due to limitations imposed by the virus situation, but to the extent that there are problems, I hope they can get them sorted out.
The squad is expected to arrive in Dallas around 3 AM, and then face Phoenix at 8 PM. Just a hellish schedule. These guys are due for a break. I can kind of understand why they seem so beat down. Seems like they badly need a chance to catch their collective breath.
Okay, folks, that one’s in the books. Maybe we can take a step forward against the Suns. Hasta la vista, MFFLs!