Game 41: New Orleans Pelicans (24-17) at Dallas Mavericks (24-17)| 120-125 WIN

[KillerLeft]

Lots to complain about from this game, but I do not care. The Mavericks needed this win, and I am going to take it.

at least we know they are better than the Cowboys.

[dirkfansince1998]

Ugly offense. All out hero ball. No way to stop the Pelicans in the paint. No way to defend without fouling. Not sure how they won this.

[Chicagojk]

Wow...I turned the game off at halftime to get caught up on work and turned it back on when they were down by 7 with 6 minutes left. Some huge plays by Grant, Lively, Timmy, Josh and Kyrie. This team is something else. What a roller coaster.

[Winter]

Looking at the stats...

Hardaway was 10-10 on free throws. Irving was 13-15.

[KillerLeft]

Ugly offense. All out hero ball. No way to stop the Pelicans in the paint. No way to defend without fouling. Not sure how they won this.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Didn’t watch. You guys are welcome.

40 burger for THJ. Guess I can’t complain about him for at least two weeks.

[youzigizag]

Josh Green looked fantastic first quarter.

[Winter]

Also we out-rebounded them. Lively had 12 including a whopping 7 offensive rebounds. Irving had 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Even Kleber had 5 rebounds in limited minutes. Good team effort.

[BoredAssistant]

That was nuts. Yeah Kleber just being a body for 10 minutes is important.

[Reunion Mav]

Both teams played with a whole lot of want to and clutch play. It was a great game to watch. Our very good finish the game skills this year came through again.

[ThisIStheYear]

I don’t want to be that guy. It was great performance by THJ, Kyrie, DLive and some other guys down the stretch. But, Kidd’s late game substitutions, decision to run two critical late game possessions through Grant (I mean WTF. Led predictably to two bad shots and 0 points), and the intentional foul to put Zion on the line up only two were suspect as Hell. I honestly can’t believe it worked out. Credit to the players for overcoming that coaching shit show.

[loki]

I don’t want to be that guy. It was great performance by THJ, Kyrie, DLive and some other guys down the stretch. But, Kidd’s late game substitutions, decision to run two critical late game possessions through Grant (I mean WTF. Led predictably to two bad shots and 0 points), and the intentional foul to put Zion on the line up only two were suspect as Hell. I honestly can’t believe it worked out. Credit to the players for overcoming that coaching shit show.

Up two? Intentional foul. Up three? Let them shoot. At least it was just a comedy and not a tragedy today.

[dirkfansince1998]

Up two? Intentional foul. Up three? Let them shoot. At least it was just a comedy and not a tragedy today.

Post game show mentioned a scoreboard error. Kidd/Mavs thought that they had a foul to give.

[loki]

Post game show mentioned a scoreboard error. Kidd/Mavs thought that they had a foul to give.

Good to know. I actually thought he had lost his mind this time.

[Chicagojk]

I saw the first quarter (and second quarter) and the last 6 minutes. So, I felt like I saw all of Lively's rebounds. 7 offensive boards...wow. I just feel like there are games where he is close to getting 20 boards. Nothing to sneeze at getting 12, but I just feel like he has a real chance in the future to be at 15 rebounds pretty consistently.

I really think Jaden is playing better team basketball over the past few weeks. The issue though is he is not shooting well. He is not making threes off a lot of good looks, he is really bad finishing at the rim and he doesn't get to the free throw line. He has not had the jump I was expecting. I am not throwing in the towel though, but he has not done enough to get consistent minutes when everyone is healthy. Neither has Seth.

Hardaway gives me major cringe on some rotations and his heat checks. But I think he has to be put in the category right after Luka and Kyrie that he deserves heat checks.

It is just me or over the past few weeks has Powell really had some advanced assists. He has made some nice passes in past years, but it feels like this year he is making them more often.

[mvossman]

It is just me or over the past few weeks has Powell really had some advanced assists.  He has made some nice passes in past years, but it feels like this year he is making them more often.

He has basically doubled his assist rate, so probably not just you.

[MrGoat]

Ok this is kind of hilarious. I've heard from someone who saw the Pelicans side of the broadcast and there announcers explained what happened to me on that intentional foul on Zion. There was a record keeping error on the number of team fouls in the quarter and the Mavs saw a different number than the refs had so Kidd and Maxi thought it was our 4th team foul of the quarter when he fouled Zion up 2. The Pelicans broadcast thought the Mavs had a foul to give because they must have been looking at the same place the Mavs were.

I thought something was weird when we were willing to intentionally foul up two but then let Ingram get a 3 point shot off when up three with even less time left. Ending up working well in the end though

[omahen]

Post game show mentioned a scoreboard error. Kidd/Mavs thought that they had a foul to give.

Seems like it was a planned decision

Eddie Sefko on X: "Kidd said the plan was to play the percentages with scant seconds left and foul Zion Williamson before he could make a move to the basket. Put him on the line and if he makes both, still Mavs' ball with 15 seconds to go. He missed one and it worked out great for Mavs." / X (twitter.com)

[SweetFidelia]

Took my 17 year old son to his first Mavs game. My first in person Mavs game since 2000. Seeing Kyrie in person is something to behold. He’s just freaking unbelievable. My son was in awe. Sad that we didn’t get to see Luka. Without Lively, this thing is a complete mess. Would have lost by 30. It was a layup drill…literally. The way Grant played in the second half was really impressive save that last really bad 24 second violation. Sort of a quasi point forward. Green, too, in the second half. Dwight Powell is terrible and much worse in person. I did catch Kidd’s plan on fouling Zion. Was pissed at first, then he missed. So, genius I suppose. First time all game Kidd showed a pulse. All in all, a great time. The AAC is nice. All my previous Stars / Mavs experiences were in Reunion.

[The Jom]

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say good coaching. The plan wasn’t (probably) foul down 2, don’t down 3. The plan was (probably) foul Z, don’t foul Ingraham. Look at their FG% for the game and that makes mucho sense.