GAME 7 DIRKIE: Winner Barea (44%) & Runner-up Luka (40%)

[dirkfansince1998]

To be fair. I think we all are actually happy about any kind of contribution from THJ but he is shooting 37% FG and 32% from 3 for the season. Expectations are low and him not going 0-5 from 3 or 2-8 from the field is counted as a good game. Not really sure if any other player would be praised for consecutive 4/11, 5/12 and 4/11 performances with mediocre defense ( I know that he he forced a crucial charge against Gordon but overall he is an average onball defender that misses more rotations than any other player on the roster).

Last night probably wasn´t the right moment to call out THJ because other bench players had really bad games (Brunson, Wright) but the general point about him getting minutes over Seth Curry still stands.
I am not sure where Justin Jackson fits into this discussion because even in his good games I barely notice him on the floor. Don´t think it makes a difference whether it´s him or THJ on the floor.

To sum it up. THJ is not a good bball player but I don´t see any alternative options so the Mavs might as well play him for a few minutes every night. Keep using him if he is hot. Bench him ASAP if he is not. And most importantly don´t reduce Currys minutes in THJs favor.

To be fair, I agree with 98% of this. The only way I diverge is that players' minutes are best judged as trends. I have no problem with a minutes change up in a game where Rick wanted to get JJB some burn and where, for some reason, in this particular game, the coach thought THJ gave the team something it needed. I'm a Seth fan. I want him to have a much larger role than THJ. I want Seth as a closer, and I'm leaning towards liking him as a starter. But I'm not going to get bent out of shape about anomaly games.

Agree. I think games like last nights one fall into the category of "might as well give him minutes". Rest of the usual rotations guards had off nights and even JJB was resurrected.
Mavs were losing and nothing worked. Cannot fault RC for changing things up and the result speaks for itself.