02-09-2021, 06:10 AM
(02-09-2021, 03:19 AM)mavsluvr Wrote: Part of me wants to say that a win is a win, stay in the euphoria zone, and just refrain from mentioning the elephant in the room. After much reflection, I think we have to present the bigger picture. After a very good beginning, they didn’t sustain their level of play, and lost ground in each ensuing quarter. They scored only 24 points in the third. And in the last five or six minutes of the fourth, you had the Pups raining points while the Mavs put up a collection of missed shots, committed turnovers right and left, and surrendered offensive boards. The usual. Their 23-point lead in the quarter was all the way down to 3 with 50 seconds left. This was against one of the worst teams in the league, missing its two best players. Fortunately, the Pups ran out of time, but the Mavs are going to have to play much better than this if they want to get back to relevance.
This. I was happy with the win but dissapointed by the approach. Perhaps I am too demanding or I value Wolves too low, but I don't think Mavs had a brilliant first quarter. I think that is a realistic quality difference between the lienups each team was able to put on the floor. Pups are one of the worst defensive teams allowing opponents do basically whatever they want against them. OKC, one fo the lowest scoring teams in the league, scored 83 points against them in the first half. Missing KAT and DAR made Wolves also very limited offensively. However, after the first quarter Mavs showed a very typical representation of the Balkan "Lako ćemo" approach ("lako čemo" means approximately "it will be easy"). An approach where you greatly overestimate your own abilities and underestimate the opponent, usually leading to such collapses as presented last night. Mavs need vet leadership!