11-30-2021, 12:25 AM
MAVS WOODSHEDDED BY CLEVELAND
The Mavericks entered this contest hoping to bounce back from their defeat by Washington. Alas, the game dissolved into a rout.
GAME NOTES
Jalen Brunson returned to the active roster. Frankie remained out with his calf injury. Willie has contracted an illness, so Kidd decided to include Moses Brown in the starting lineup for the first time this season.
FIRST QUARTER
Hardaway is first on the board with a jumper. Luka follows with a step-back jack. Mobley blocks KP’s dunk attempt. Luka with another step-back! Woo-hoo! KP posts up Markkanen. Luka airballs a three, and Moses is called for a loose ball foul on the rebound. Dallas steal results in a DFS dunk. Luka no-look pass goes out of bounds off the hands of Moses. KP drives from the three-point line and posterizes Allen! The crowd is swooning. Powell comes in for Moses. 14-12 6:56
Luka-Timmy transition alley-oop. Luka with another three from way out. Kevin Love on the board with a three. 19-19 4:30
Crazy possession, complete with multiple steals and offensive rebounds, results in a Dorian dunk. Stevens called for two quick fouls, including bailing Luka out on a broken play. Second was on Maxi, who hits both free throws. KP airballs a three. Cavs getting to the rim like they’re on a Sunday stroll. Mavs have missed 13 of their last 17 attempts. Make that 14 of 18.
23-30 after one
Not liking what I’m seeing here, tbqh. We’re back into the zero rim protection mode, and can’t seem to score any more after a decent start. Mavs shooting 36%, Cavs 63%. Mavs out-rebounded 7-12. Yikes.
SECOND QUARTER
KP ends the drought for the Mavs with a basket at the rim. KP forces a turnover by Mobley. Sterling with a rack attack. KP draws a shooting foul. One of two. Jarret Allen put back dunk. Bullock turns the ball over with a bad pass. Markkanen drains a three. Moses going back in, along with Luka and Tim. Another second chance basket by Markkanen. Three-second call on Moses Brown with the Mavs passing up looks for most of the clock. Another paint basket by Cleveland. Luka scores. Then Moses called for an offensive foul. Mavs 3-13 from three, getting badly out-rebounded (12-18). 30-39 6:47
Okuro drives to the basket, gets an and-one. This is turning into a massacre in the paint. Bullock misses the technical free throw on a defensive three-second call. DFS wide open three. Cleveland makes a move on Moses for another basket in the paint. Hardaway pull-up. Luka livid over a no-call when he ends up on the floor. Luka from downtown. Luka grimacing and clutching his hand. Dallas looking fortunate to be down only six. 38-44 2:36
Double-block by KP. Rubio hits from the corner, unguarded. Brunson fouled on a drive. One of two. Garland scores over Bullock. Mobley dunk over Luka. Brunson from Luka on a dive-cut. Markannen sends Luka to the line. Misses both.
41-52 HT
Mavs lost a low-scoring second quarter, 18-22. In the game overall, Mavs shooting very poorly. 11-23 on twos, 5-22 from three, 4-9 from the line. Cavs have 30 PIP, destroying Dallas’ paint “defenders.” Out-rebounded 18-29. Cavs doubling Mavs in FB points (6-12). Mavs have taken 14 more 3PTA than Cleveland, but have only 2 more made threes to show for it. Non-Luka Mavs 1-16 on threes. Woof! Might need some Luka Magic here. Or else some defense, maybe. Possibly a few made open shots. Just grasping at straws here.
THIRD QUARTER
Dorian makes it 1-17 for non-Luka threes. KP scores inside. Allen reverse layup and-one over Moses. Allen denies Moses at the rim. Moses dunk from KP — Moses’ first score of the game. Allen draws free throws, as Moses is called for his fourth foul. Maxi goes in for Moses. Garland over KP. Luka drains his fifth three. Allen alley-oop finish. Luka hits again from three. Luka draws a foul. Looks like he’s going to try to take over. Misses both free throws again. Defensive three-seconds on Kleber. Mavs force a shot-clock violation. Okoro cuts and scores. DFS responds. Ball bounces out of bounds off Luka. Allen with another oop. Looks like KP lost him. Markkanen corner three. 55-68 6:07
Jarrett Allen oop, for an and-one. Mavs turn the ball over. Love answers with a three. Cavs on an 11-0 run. Kleber a corner three. Okoro answers with the same. Garland hits a three. Dang. Garland-Allen oop. Ugh. The home crowd is booing the Mavs. 58-82 2:59
Luka-Maxi oop. Love swats Brunson in the face, called for the foul. Another Luka-Maxi dunk. Love-Garland connection. Offensive foul called on Luka. Crowd not impressed. Maxi from the corner off a no-look pass from Luka. Luka giving the ref an earful. 65-84 41 seconds
Rubio-Markkanen three. KP limping on the sideline, looks like he might have hurt his knee.
65-87 after three
This has turned into an embarrassment. Mavs lost the third quarter 24-35. Mavs shooting 40%, Cavs 68%. Won’t pile on with the other stats.
FOURTH QUARTER
KP has gone to the locker room. Looks like he stepped on Maxi's foot, causing him to turn his ankle. Maxi draws a foul. One of two. Lauri bombs in another trey. Brunson drive and score. Mavs turn it over. OMG, Mavs give up another undefended dunk. Have some pride, guys. Lauri yanks Maxi, called for his fourth. Luka with another long three. Maxi fouled again. He’s stepping up here. KP has a right ankle sprain, questionable to return. At this point, might as well just ice and elevate, Kris. Markkanen straight-line drive and slam and-one. Misses the free throw, but a lane violation on Maxi. He hits the next try. Sterling Brown gets to the basket. Another Markkanen three. Jarrett Allen soars for another dunk. 73-102 7:56
Looks like Kidd has turned the bench loose. Doe-Doe out there with Burke, Green, Boban, and Sterling. Dorian has another three. Boban stirs the crowd with a basket. Garbage time goes on. Hardaway is on in the last minute. A Boban three draws cheers and chants from the crowd. The bench mob reduced the deficit a bit, but it’s a bad ‘un, anyway you look at it.
96-114 FT
ANALYSIS
The Mavs got up 19 more shots than the Cavs, and 20 more 3PTA. Unfortunately, their shooting was so poor that they couldn’t overcome their massive attempt advantage (earned largely as a result of the Cavs' 20 turnovers). Mavs point differentials were -16 on points from twos, +6 on points from threes, and -8 on made free throws. Luka was 7-11 from three, the other Mavs 5-28, despite getting open looks. Kidd called attention to the zeros from the guys they usually depend on to make shots. KP, Tim, Brunson, and Reggie combined to go 0-12 from distance. Tonight, the Mavs couldn’t even hit free throws (6-15). I don't even know how to address that.
Dallas were shellacked on the glass, losing the rebounding battle 33-48. They also were out-assisted 20-29. The squad was embarrassed inside, once again giving up 60 PIP.
It ultimately came down to not making threes, not making free throws, getting smashed in the paint, poor rebounding, and very little defense. Basically, just a flat-out beatdown.
PLAYER NOTES
DONCIC (33). Luka’s triple-double (33-10-10) and seven threes (7-11) were unfortunately wasted in this blowout loss. Luka had a hard time understanding the poor shooting, saying that they got open looks. Asked whether the bad offense affected the defense, his reply was “100%.” He also could not explain the poor rebounding. Summing up the loss, he opined that “our defense was terrible, and our offense was terrible.” Yeah, that’ll do it.
PORZINGIS (27). KP was 4-11 from the field, had 9 points and 5 boards, and had to leave the game with a sprained ankle. On the plus side, he did have the Mavs’ offensive play of the game, with his drive from the three-point line to the basket for a jam, and he had a few good defensive plays, including his double-block. We hope that his ankle doesn’t keep him out for long. X-rays were negative, and he will be re-assessed tomorrow.
HARDAWAY (27). Tim had a miserable six points on 3-9 shooting. Aargh. Devin thinks THJ will keep shooting and find his niche, but is a little more worried about some of the other guys not getting into a groove. This team needs Tim Hardaway. Hope he breaks out of this funk soon.
DFS (25). Dorian had 14 points (6-10) and a couple of steals, but grabbed only one rebound. Not really able to be a defensive bright spot, with the whole-team collapse on that end.
KLEBER (25). Maxi had a little burst late, and ended up with 13 points on 4-10 shooting, with 1 rebound. Not too bad, graded on a curve.
BULLOCK (23 ). Reggie had a horrible outing, taking only three shots and failing to score. He did have a couple of rebounds, I guess. Why is it that everyone who fills that position seems to have a history of performing on other teams, but falls on his face here? Maybe he’ll pick himself up before too long.
BRUNSON (22). It wasn’t a great night for Jalen, who had 5 points (2-7) and no assists in 22 minutes. These long, lanky opponents are a tough matchup for him.
STERLING (15). Brown had a decent line for 15 minutes -- 4-4-2 and a steal.
MOSES (11). Moses’ first start was a bit underwhelming. He recorded 2 points, 2 rebounds, a steal, 4 fouls, and 2 turnovers, and Jarrett Allen took him to school. Harris hopes that he will learn to be more aggressive defensively, instead of relying so much on fouling. Skin ventured that Moses is just a very young, unpolished player at this point, and this seemed to be a learning experience for him. When Kidd was asked what he thought of Moses’ play, he responded with a shrug and a laugh, and said that, since it is a positive world, Moses was +2, so he’ll say that Moses did great. He went on to note that Jarrett Allen is a tough matchup, but that Moses can learn from that, and that he will get better.
POWELL (8). Dwight played for only 8 minutes, and had a couple of rebounds and a steal.
BOBAN, BURKE, and GREEN enjoyed eight minutes of garbage time.
CAVALIERS. The Cavs totally overmatched us tonight, led by Jarrett Allen with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Unstoppable in the paint. Lauri Markkanen also had an impressive night, with 24 points and 8 boards. The Cavs had four other guys in double figures, including all the starters, who combined for 92 points, and Kevin Love with 10 off the bench.
OBSERVATIONS
Addressing the poor shooting, Kidd hopes that Luka will continue to trust his teammates, observing that Doncic could not be blamed for deciding not to pass anymore, since no one else can make a shot. Said they’re still getting open looks, and just have to continue working. Defensively, he thinks his players got to feeling sorry for themselves, and let the offense affect their defense. Volunteered that the transition defense has “stunk” lately — commented that the other team isn’t going to wait for us to get back on defense while we nurse our hurt feelings over our missed shots.
I confess that I didn’t see this humiliation coming. The Mavs just crumbled under the Cavs’ relentless attack and towering front line. In some respects, this game was like an even worse version of the previous one. Complete inability to defend the paint, can’t score for anything, relying on a bunch of threes, despite being unable to hit.
If I saw anything to be cheered about, I guess it would be Luka’s return to his superstar self. But it also exposed the vast drop in quality between him and the rest of the team. Hope he’s okay rolling with that. As far as the shooting, they really are still getting good looks, and they keep saying that they’ll eventually fall, although at some point that has to actually happen.
The most worrisome thing for me is our lack of ANY ability to defend inside. They were giving up straight-line drives, baseline cuts, offensive rebounds, and all like that, in a mortifying display of ineptitude. And I don’t see a ready path to a solution there. Also a bit alarming was the disappointing play of two guys who had been coming along, KP and Brunson. I have been worried about their ability to stand up under this kind of pressure, and they were both essentially shut down.
Well, I don’t know how to describe this, other than as a humiliation. I would like to believe the team is better than this. Hope they can get up off the floor and give a decent account of themselves going forward.
NEXT. The Mavs face the Pelicans on Wednesday at the AAC.
The Mavericks entered this contest hoping to bounce back from their defeat by Washington. Alas, the game dissolved into a rout.
GAME NOTES
Jalen Brunson returned to the active roster. Frankie remained out with his calf injury. Willie has contracted an illness, so Kidd decided to include Moses Brown in the starting lineup for the first time this season.
FIRST QUARTER
Hardaway is first on the board with a jumper. Luka follows with a step-back jack. Mobley blocks KP’s dunk attempt. Luka with another step-back! Woo-hoo! KP posts up Markkanen. Luka airballs a three, and Moses is called for a loose ball foul on the rebound. Dallas steal results in a DFS dunk. Luka no-look pass goes out of bounds off the hands of Moses. KP drives from the three-point line and posterizes Allen! The crowd is swooning. Powell comes in for Moses. 14-12 6:56
Luka-Timmy transition alley-oop. Luka with another three from way out. Kevin Love on the board with a three. 19-19 4:30
Crazy possession, complete with multiple steals and offensive rebounds, results in a Dorian dunk. Stevens called for two quick fouls, including bailing Luka out on a broken play. Second was on Maxi, who hits both free throws. KP airballs a three. Cavs getting to the rim like they’re on a Sunday stroll. Mavs have missed 13 of their last 17 attempts. Make that 14 of 18.
23-30 after one
Not liking what I’m seeing here, tbqh. We’re back into the zero rim protection mode, and can’t seem to score any more after a decent start. Mavs shooting 36%, Cavs 63%. Mavs out-rebounded 7-12. Yikes.
SECOND QUARTER
KP ends the drought for the Mavs with a basket at the rim. KP forces a turnover by Mobley. Sterling with a rack attack. KP draws a shooting foul. One of two. Jarret Allen put back dunk. Bullock turns the ball over with a bad pass. Markkanen drains a three. Moses going back in, along with Luka and Tim. Another second chance basket by Markkanen. Three-second call on Moses Brown with the Mavs passing up looks for most of the clock. Another paint basket by Cleveland. Luka scores. Then Moses called for an offensive foul. Mavs 3-13 from three, getting badly out-rebounded (12-18). 30-39 6:47
Okuro drives to the basket, gets an and-one. This is turning into a massacre in the paint. Bullock misses the technical free throw on a defensive three-second call. DFS wide open three. Cleveland makes a move on Moses for another basket in the paint. Hardaway pull-up. Luka livid over a no-call when he ends up on the floor. Luka from downtown. Luka grimacing and clutching his hand. Dallas looking fortunate to be down only six. 38-44 2:36
Double-block by KP. Rubio hits from the corner, unguarded. Brunson fouled on a drive. One of two. Garland scores over Bullock. Mobley dunk over Luka. Brunson from Luka on a dive-cut. Markannen sends Luka to the line. Misses both.
41-52 HT
Mavs lost a low-scoring second quarter, 18-22. In the game overall, Mavs shooting very poorly. 11-23 on twos, 5-22 from three, 4-9 from the line. Cavs have 30 PIP, destroying Dallas’ paint “defenders.” Out-rebounded 18-29. Cavs doubling Mavs in FB points (6-12). Mavs have taken 14 more 3PTA than Cleveland, but have only 2 more made threes to show for it. Non-Luka Mavs 1-16 on threes. Woof! Might need some Luka Magic here. Or else some defense, maybe. Possibly a few made open shots. Just grasping at straws here.
THIRD QUARTER
Dorian makes it 1-17 for non-Luka threes. KP scores inside. Allen reverse layup and-one over Moses. Allen denies Moses at the rim. Moses dunk from KP — Moses’ first score of the game. Allen draws free throws, as Moses is called for his fourth foul. Maxi goes in for Moses. Garland over KP. Luka drains his fifth three. Allen alley-oop finish. Luka hits again from three. Luka draws a foul. Looks like he’s going to try to take over. Misses both free throws again. Defensive three-seconds on Kleber. Mavs force a shot-clock violation. Okoro cuts and scores. DFS responds. Ball bounces out of bounds off Luka. Allen with another oop. Looks like KP lost him. Markkanen corner three. 55-68 6:07
Jarrett Allen oop, for an and-one. Mavs turn the ball over. Love answers with a three. Cavs on an 11-0 run. Kleber a corner three. Okoro answers with the same. Garland hits a three. Dang. Garland-Allen oop. Ugh. The home crowd is booing the Mavs. 58-82 2:59
Luka-Maxi oop. Love swats Brunson in the face, called for the foul. Another Luka-Maxi dunk. Love-Garland connection. Offensive foul called on Luka. Crowd not impressed. Maxi from the corner off a no-look pass from Luka. Luka giving the ref an earful. 65-84 41 seconds
Rubio-Markkanen three. KP limping on the sideline, looks like he might have hurt his knee.
65-87 after three
This has turned into an embarrassment. Mavs lost the third quarter 24-35. Mavs shooting 40%, Cavs 68%. Won’t pile on with the other stats.
FOURTH QUARTER
KP has gone to the locker room. Looks like he stepped on Maxi's foot, causing him to turn his ankle. Maxi draws a foul. One of two. Lauri bombs in another trey. Brunson drive and score. Mavs turn it over. OMG, Mavs give up another undefended dunk. Have some pride, guys. Lauri yanks Maxi, called for his fourth. Luka with another long three. Maxi fouled again. He’s stepping up here. KP has a right ankle sprain, questionable to return. At this point, might as well just ice and elevate, Kris. Markkanen straight-line drive and slam and-one. Misses the free throw, but a lane violation on Maxi. He hits the next try. Sterling Brown gets to the basket. Another Markkanen three. Jarrett Allen soars for another dunk. 73-102 7:56
Looks like Kidd has turned the bench loose. Doe-Doe out there with Burke, Green, Boban, and Sterling. Dorian has another three. Boban stirs the crowd with a basket. Garbage time goes on. Hardaway is on in the last minute. A Boban three draws cheers and chants from the crowd. The bench mob reduced the deficit a bit, but it’s a bad ‘un, anyway you look at it.
96-114 FT
ANALYSIS
The Mavs got up 19 more shots than the Cavs, and 20 more 3PTA. Unfortunately, their shooting was so poor that they couldn’t overcome their massive attempt advantage (earned largely as a result of the Cavs' 20 turnovers). Mavs point differentials were -16 on points from twos, +6 on points from threes, and -8 on made free throws. Luka was 7-11 from three, the other Mavs 5-28, despite getting open looks. Kidd called attention to the zeros from the guys they usually depend on to make shots. KP, Tim, Brunson, and Reggie combined to go 0-12 from distance. Tonight, the Mavs couldn’t even hit free throws (6-15). I don't even know how to address that.
Dallas were shellacked on the glass, losing the rebounding battle 33-48. They also were out-assisted 20-29. The squad was embarrassed inside, once again giving up 60 PIP.
It ultimately came down to not making threes, not making free throws, getting smashed in the paint, poor rebounding, and very little defense. Basically, just a flat-out beatdown.
PLAYER NOTES
DONCIC (33). Luka’s triple-double (33-10-10) and seven threes (7-11) were unfortunately wasted in this blowout loss. Luka had a hard time understanding the poor shooting, saying that they got open looks. Asked whether the bad offense affected the defense, his reply was “100%.” He also could not explain the poor rebounding. Summing up the loss, he opined that “our defense was terrible, and our offense was terrible.” Yeah, that’ll do it.
PORZINGIS (27). KP was 4-11 from the field, had 9 points and 5 boards, and had to leave the game with a sprained ankle. On the plus side, he did have the Mavs’ offensive play of the game, with his drive from the three-point line to the basket for a jam, and he had a few good defensive plays, including his double-block. We hope that his ankle doesn’t keep him out for long. X-rays were negative, and he will be re-assessed tomorrow.
HARDAWAY (27). Tim had a miserable six points on 3-9 shooting. Aargh. Devin thinks THJ will keep shooting and find his niche, but is a little more worried about some of the other guys not getting into a groove. This team needs Tim Hardaway. Hope he breaks out of this funk soon.
DFS (25). Dorian had 14 points (6-10) and a couple of steals, but grabbed only one rebound. Not really able to be a defensive bright spot, with the whole-team collapse on that end.
KLEBER (25). Maxi had a little burst late, and ended up with 13 points on 4-10 shooting, with 1 rebound. Not too bad, graded on a curve.
BULLOCK (23 ). Reggie had a horrible outing, taking only three shots and failing to score. He did have a couple of rebounds, I guess. Why is it that everyone who fills that position seems to have a history of performing on other teams, but falls on his face here? Maybe he’ll pick himself up before too long.
BRUNSON (22). It wasn’t a great night for Jalen, who had 5 points (2-7) and no assists in 22 minutes. These long, lanky opponents are a tough matchup for him.
STERLING (15). Brown had a decent line for 15 minutes -- 4-4-2 and a steal.
MOSES (11). Moses’ first start was a bit underwhelming. He recorded 2 points, 2 rebounds, a steal, 4 fouls, and 2 turnovers, and Jarrett Allen took him to school. Harris hopes that he will learn to be more aggressive defensively, instead of relying so much on fouling. Skin ventured that Moses is just a very young, unpolished player at this point, and this seemed to be a learning experience for him. When Kidd was asked what he thought of Moses’ play, he responded with a shrug and a laugh, and said that, since it is a positive world, Moses was +2, so he’ll say that Moses did great. He went on to note that Jarrett Allen is a tough matchup, but that Moses can learn from that, and that he will get better.
POWELL (8). Dwight played for only 8 minutes, and had a couple of rebounds and a steal.
BOBAN, BURKE, and GREEN enjoyed eight minutes of garbage time.
CAVALIERS. The Cavs totally overmatched us tonight, led by Jarrett Allen with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Unstoppable in the paint. Lauri Markkanen also had an impressive night, with 24 points and 8 boards. The Cavs had four other guys in double figures, including all the starters, who combined for 92 points, and Kevin Love with 10 off the bench.
OBSERVATIONS
Addressing the poor shooting, Kidd hopes that Luka will continue to trust his teammates, observing that Doncic could not be blamed for deciding not to pass anymore, since no one else can make a shot. Said they’re still getting open looks, and just have to continue working. Defensively, he thinks his players got to feeling sorry for themselves, and let the offense affect their defense. Volunteered that the transition defense has “stunk” lately — commented that the other team isn’t going to wait for us to get back on defense while we nurse our hurt feelings over our missed shots.
I confess that I didn’t see this humiliation coming. The Mavs just crumbled under the Cavs’ relentless attack and towering front line. In some respects, this game was like an even worse version of the previous one. Complete inability to defend the paint, can’t score for anything, relying on a bunch of threes, despite being unable to hit.
If I saw anything to be cheered about, I guess it would be Luka’s return to his superstar self. But it also exposed the vast drop in quality between him and the rest of the team. Hope he’s okay rolling with that. As far as the shooting, they really are still getting good looks, and they keep saying that they’ll eventually fall, although at some point that has to actually happen.
The most worrisome thing for me is our lack of ANY ability to defend inside. They were giving up straight-line drives, baseline cuts, offensive rebounds, and all like that, in a mortifying display of ineptitude. And I don’t see a ready path to a solution there. Also a bit alarming was the disappointing play of two guys who had been coming along, KP and Brunson. I have been worried about their ability to stand up under this kind of pressure, and they were both essentially shut down.
Well, I don’t know how to describe this, other than as a humiliation. I would like to believe the team is better than this. Hope they can get up off the floor and give a decent account of themselves going forward.
NEXT. The Mavs face the Pelicans on Wednesday at the AAC.
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