HAWKS 113, MAVS 87

[mavsluvr]

MAVS TAKEN TO WOODSHED IN SEASON OPENER

The game started amid much opening-night excitement. The Mavericks had all their players healthy, while the Hawks were missing Gallinari and Lou Williams. 

The Mavs’ bright and shiny hopes for a great start to the season, alas, collapsed somewhere in the third quarter. Despite all those merry pre-season victories, they didn’t look quite ready for prime time. But one game does not a season make, and this might serve as a beneficial reality check for all concerned. 

GAME NOTES

First quarter

The Mavs’ offense started outlooking pretty decent. They weren’t making all their shots, but they were getting very good looks. They were even running a little! THJ just intercepted a pass, and raced downcourt for bucket. Good job battling for rebounds! The Mavs get off to a lead, but the Hawks’ three-point shooting evens the score, and then Atlanta takes the lead off a drive to the basket, completing a 10-0 Hawks run. Oops. Now it's 12-0. THJ finally breaks the drought with a couple of free throws. 

Man, Mavs can’t buy a bucket here, although it’s not for lack of opportunity. Nine shots in a row have come up empty. Luka fires one in from three! WCS restores the lead to Dallas with a dunk. That’s more like it. 17-16 at the timeout. 

Bullock makes his debut for Dallas. Hits a three! Yay! Sterling Brown also in action. 

22-20 Hawks after one. So far, so good. 

Second quarter

Despite the Mavs hitting at only 27%, Kidd says he wants them to keep shooting. JB gets to the rim and ties the score. For a couple seconds, anyway. Cam Reddish with an and-one. KP spins and fades away — cool! KP loses the ball, Huerter takes advantage at the other end. It’s 32-24 Hawks, but still early. KP with an outstanding block! 

Luka’s downcourt pass is intercepted, and Hawks capitalize off an offensive rebound. KP with a transition flush, ending a 9-0 run by Atlanta. He is looking livelier than he did at the end of last season. Still down by 8 at the mid-quarter timeout. 

KP is stripped. Luka protects the rim on the other end. Maxi knocks in a three. Collins with a tough pull-up over Timmy. THJ knocked on his back under the basket on an attempted dunk, hits a couple of freebies. Luka attempts a behind-the-back pass to Powell, but it results in a turnover. Wow, a lob to Capela puts the Hawks up by double digits. Dang. Timeout. 

Brunson with a three from the corner. THJ knocked down by Trae Young. Looked like Trae backed into him, but ref says no. Foul called on Timmy. Down the road a piece, Luka hits two free throws — good sign, hopefully. Timmy’s face being treated on the sideline. Trae Young floater over Luka. Lob from Brunson to Powell — and-one! Luka loses the ball, but Mavs defend at the other end. That makes 10 turnovers for the Mavs so far. JB handling the ball quite a bit in this Luka-Brunson stretch. Another Brunson-Powell lob. Powell misses, and KP rushes in on the rebound! Brunson takes a charge, appears to be in pain. He’s okay. Mavs finish the half with another turnover, but prevent Atlanta from capitalizing on the other end.

51-44 Atlanta at the half. Maybe Kidd can inspire our crew at halftime. Hardaway, who appears to have been headed to the locker room for more treatment/evaluation, leads the Mavs with 11 points. At halftime, Chuck accuses Luka of dribbling too much. Shaq is on the fence about whether the Unicorn has returned. Okay, then. Mavs shooting 32%. Reddish and Hunter performing well for the birds. 

Third quarter

Tim had three stitches in his chin. Kidd says they’re too hesitant to shoot. DFS with a PUJIT for a three. Good job, Doe-Doe! Luka with a steal, but KP blocked on the other end. Hunter fouls Luka, feigns disbelief at the call. Collins-Capela smash. So much for a great third-quarter start, fellas. Luka not happy with a foul called on the floor, but keeps his cool. Powell loses the ball. A Capela flush gives Atlanta its largest lead of the night. 64-49. Yikes. Powell attempts a three. It’s a night at the brick factory. 

Man, Atlanta is just scoring at will, and Mavs are missing everything. Timmy unstops the dam with a three. The Hawks getting into the paint like there is no tomorrow. Also bombing from the arc. Hawks now lead by 21. Mavs look out of ideas. 

Brunson comes out of the timeout with a bucket off a pass from Luka. DFS loses the ball under the basket. Brunson hits from the corner! Collins returns the favor. Luka to the rim! Trae matches. The Dallas “rim protection” leaves a lot to be desired. Trae Young runs into DFS, but gets the call. Boo. Luka looking embarrassed and frustrated. Trae has really come to life in this quarter. Reddish waltzes to the basket and scores over Brunson with Mavs not back on D.  A lot of confusion about whether Brunson should take shots on a foul. Ultimately takes it out on the sideline. 

86-64 Hawks after three. This has turned into an absolute butt-whupping. I have strong fears that this is not going to end well. 

Fourth quarter

Of the ten players opening the quarter, KP is the only starter. Jalen puts two points on the board. I guess that’s the good news, so far. Luka back in after a few minutes, hits a three. Hawks scoring from everywhere. KP, who thought he had a putback dunk, is called for basket interference. Cuban shaking his head in his seat. Doncic hits from way downtown. 96-73 Hawks with around seven minutes to go. I think we can call this one a night. Mavs look really outmatched. 

Cam Reddish with an undefended three from the corner. Good, good. Four minutes to go. The deep bench has filed onto the floor. Atlanta follow suit. Third-string Hawk begins his NBA career with a deep three. Yep. Burke brings the game to a close with a three. Mavs manage to scrape together 23 points in the fourth, including garbage time. 

113-87 Hawks. Man, what a stinker. Young speaks after halftime, complains that the Hawks don’t get enough respect. I’m sawing away on my mini-violin. 


NUMBERS

The first number of note is that the Mavs managed to put only 87 points on the board. Yikes.  We need look no further than the shooting column to discern a primary reason for the blowout. It was a horrendous shooting night for most of our boys. DFS 2-12. Powell 1-5. KP 4-13. Luka 6-17. Maxi, Bullock, WCS, and S Brown combine to go 4-17. Really? The Hawks, on the other hand, shot well. We probably don’t need to spend any more time on the gory details. I have to say that I was not impressed so far with the plan to do all this midrange shooting, but I don't judge it after only one outing.   

With shooting not up to stuff, the assist totals were going to be down as well, and the Mavs totaled a miserable 16 dimes for the game. The Hawks had 9 blocks, compared to 3 for Dallas. Fouling was kept to a minimum by both teams, who combined for only 22 free throws. The Mavs, who have had a recent history of struggles at the stripe, completed 12 of their 13 attempts. Turnovers were not terrible, with 15 giveaways and a loss of 9 points.  

The Atlanta defense looked really sharp, and held the Mavs to 26 points in the paint on 13-33 production. The Hawks, in contrast, pretty much waltzed their way to the rim as the whim hit them, or played target practice at the three-point line for grins. Dallas was pretty much outplayed in all aspects of the game.
 

PLAYER NOTES

The only Mav to exceed 30 minutes on the floor was Luka, at 35. DFS, KP, and THJ followed with 28-29 apiece. Jalen was on the floor for 25 minutes, while Powell was limited to 20. 

Luka was 18-11-7, with 5 turnovers. KP had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers (yuck). Brunson (17) and Hardaway (14) also scored in double figures. 


OBSERVATIONS

This was such a beatdown that I’m not sure it even merits a lot of analysis. The Mavericks were close to holding their own in the first half, but really let the game get away from them in the third quarter. From my seat, they didn’t look anywhere near the fine-tuned machine that the Hawks presented. The obvious weaknesses appeared to be the same ones we have been talking about ad nauseam, together with an off shooting night. 

Hopefully, this match will appear as an aberration on the season calendar. Atlanta is a very strong competitor, and the Mavs just didn’t look ready. It’s only one game, and there is certainly plenty of time to smooth out some of the rough edges. 

The TNT studio crew admitted to being “a little disappointed” with the Mavs’ opening effort, and believe that KP is going to have to be better. Hard to argue with that, really. Luka admitted that they played a “terrible game,” but he still looks toward the future with optimism. 

Well, guys and gals, this was far from the effort we were hoping for, but there are still 81 potential victories on the horizon. I firmly believe they’ll do better than this. They have to, don’t they? The season should give us more information on whether this roster really has enough talent/depth to compete, and hopefully, they can at least give a good regular season showing in the end. 

Onward and upward, Mavs fans. We’re not gonna let this get us down, are we? Next game, Saturday night at Toronto. 

[Kammrath]

I'll repost my game observations here....


Game Observations

1) Luka is overweight and looks a step slow. Not as bad as the first part of last year, but not in good enough shape. I am becoming seriously concerned about his long term weight. He is the tide that lifts all boats. Without elite Luka (and he MUST be in shape for that) this team will only be average.

2) KP looks MUCH better defensively. He still doesn't have "it" offensively, but I am hoping he can figure it out.

3) DFS needs less minutes. I would like to see Bullock get more of his.

4) The Mavs missed a lot of good looks.

5) I thought the Mavs looked much better than last year defensively in the first half, but just lost heart when they couldn't get buckets in the second half.

6) ATL is damn good and their continuity is really paying off.

7) ATL's defensive closeouts and rotations were incredible AND they have good length and athleticism.

8) I think the NBA will be better by not calling fouls on the non-basketball moves. But I think the refs swallowed their whistles too much at times.

[wmffl87]

Nothing about Jkidd go figure

[TXBamanut]

No one could throw it in the ocean until the game was out of hand and they, once again, let some utterly baffling, "prison rules" officiating get under their skin.  One bright spot was that early on, they seemed to show signs of powering thfough it, but ultimately, it got them mentally shook.

Throw this one away and come back next game.

[Jommybone]

The 25 non-superstars who got playing time shared 13 FT attempts among them. This in a very physical game that featured 187 FG attempts. On a per-whistle basis, zebras didn’t earn their paycheck. Not sure why Mavs have never valued having an enforcer on the roster. Could’ve used one tonight.

[burekemde]

The main difference was Capela. Once Luka got into the paint past Hunter, he released his man and protected the paint. Great defensive team effort from Hawks in these situations to switch around. With an elite blocker (and we have seen this stragegy before also with how  Zubac was used) that waits for Luka in the paint, its hard to score for Luka inside with an elite blocker waiting there. Luka correctly passed it out of the paint for the open shooter in these situations. But we didnt take advantage of that with the opens spaces, the cuts and shooting from outside that this left. There was plenty of room to take advantage of this agressive defensive strategy. The energy was not there in this game from Luka or anybode else perhaps. The whole team didnt look up to full speed.

I hate that we dont have Seth Curry anymore. With an elite shooter this strategy was often quickly changed and Luka was not doubled in the paint.

Also missing Carlise in addition to Curry, before at least I see anything good from Kidd.

On defense, KP looks better. But still Capela destroyed us in the paint. Two seasons ago we saw Maxi and KP play physically and protect the paint. Since then, both of them have not been able to protect the paint. This is key to going far and doing well. We just need better inside presence. Hoping that will change in next game. They need to be more physical inside on both ends of the floor.

Besides Luka, overall talent from hawks was clearly visible. They added much better FAs and also better draft picks other than Luka. Hunter is a great player and is consistent. Capela, Collins, Bogdanovic, Gallinari, all would be major upgrades over our starters.

[ItsGoTime]

Besides Luka, overall talent from hawks was clearly visible. They added much better FAs and also better draft picks other than Luka. Hunter is a great player and is consistent. Capela, Collins, Bogdanovic, Gallinari, all would be major upgrades over our starters.

That could happen if our owner would decide to spend money to go over the cap on more than just a superstar.

[Chicagojk]

The main difference was Capela. Once Luka got into the paint past Hunter, he released his man and protected the paint. Great defensive team effort from Hawks in these situations to switch around. With an elite blocker (and we have seen this stragegy before also with how  Zubac was used) that waits for Luka in the paint, its hard to score for Luka inside with an elite blocker waiting there. Luka correctly passed it out of the paint for the open shooter in these situations. But we didnt take advantage of that with the opens spaces, the cuts and shooting from outside that this left. There was plenty of room to take advantage of this agressive defensive strategy. The energy was not there in this game from Luka or anybode else perhaps. The whole team didnt look up to full speed.

 It is just one game and the Mavs did not play well but the Hawks looked really good.  What I keep coming back to is the positions of Powell and DFS in this game.   The Hawks have Capela play the same way as Powell plays.  He is just a superior defender and rebounder.   The difference really showed last night.

Same with Hunter and DFS.  Hunter is bigger than DFS but provides more offense.   We posted DFS 2-3 times last night.  While he had Trae on him, I counted those possessions as lost as soon as DFS got the ball.  I would think most teams would love it when the Mavs runs plays for DFS in the post.  Hopefully we don't see much of that.   

Those two positions between the two teams are glaring for me....at least in this one game.    Add to the fact of the scoring ATL has off the bench and those are the biggest differences between those teams.   I may venture to guess that Dallas would be the favorite for a title if you added Capela and Hunter to our team replacing DFS and Powell.

[sefant]

The main difference was Capela. Once Luka got into the paint past Hunter, he released his man and protected the paint. Great defensive team effort from Hawks in these situations to switch around. With an elite blocker (and we have seen this stragegy before also with how  Zubac was used) that waits for Luka in the paint, its hard to score for Luka inside with an elite blocker waiting there. Luka correctly passed it out of the paint for the open shooter in these situations. But we didnt take advantage of that with the opens spaces, the cuts and shooting from outside that this left. There was plenty of room to take advantage of this agressive defensive strategy. The energy was not there in this game from Luka or anybode else perhaps. The whole team didnt look up to full speed.

I hate that we dont have Seth Curry anymore. With an elite shooter this strategy was often quickly changed and Luka was not doubled in the paint.

Also missing Carlise in addition to Curry, before at least I see anything good from Kidd.

On defense, KP looks better. But still Capela destroyed us in the paint. Two seasons ago we saw Maxi and KP play physically and protect the paint. Since then, both of them have not been able to protect the paint. This is key to going far and doing well. We just need better inside presence. Hoping that will change in next game. They need to be more physical inside on both ends of the floor.

Besides Luka, overall talent from hawks was clearly visible. They added much better FAs and also better draft picks other than Luka. Hunter is a great player and is consistent. Capela, Collins, Bogdanovic, Gallinari, all would be major upgrades over our starters.

I mean they literally played into Capela strength. Play 5 out, Bullock in for Powell. KP the 5. Its not like Powell offered any resistance at the rim either. DFS/KP, Bullock/KP, Kleber/KP are all superior choices against that matchup. Keep the floor spread. Wouldn't made any difference with the way the Mavs shoot the ball, but it would been the right game plan. Maybe you can get Luka going. Maybe you hit a few shots, and get hot.

Rick played different (starting) lineups against teams based on matchups. Remains to be seen, if Kidd stick to a lineup. Force feeding the ball inside against a team with strong rim protection is probably not the way to go. Can the coaching staff alter the game plan going forward.

[HAguiar95]

Our bigs looked pathetic and SOFT.

DP was manhandled by Capella multiple times, not to mention getting boxed out by Bogi on multiple ocasions.

WCS played with a concearning lack of energy. Really diappointed in his closeouts and movement overall.

Maxi also played bad, getting destroyed by Reddish and co.

KP started well, but can't really take advantage of anyone in the post. Even in face-ups, he rushed a lot of easy looks. Way better defense than last year at least.

A lot of different plays called that we didn't expect, like DFS posting up (trying to abuse Trae). It's nice and all to have more versatile plays, I just don't think our squad is skilled enough to execute them besides Luka.

[ItsGoTime]

Our bigs looked pathetic and SOFT.

I've been wanting a big enforcer type for such a long time. Someone big bodied enough to take on the other big bodies of the NBA. They are out there on almost every team but ours. This ship has been so rudderless for so long all because of big name hunting. 


The players we have on this team are near perfect for a 3 superstar team, unfortunately we only have 1. If we built up our rotation with better players, we'd start seeing the ability to trade for that superstar when they ask out...

So many on here are so invested with making Powell, DFS, Kleber and the rest out to be more than they are. They're good bench players, that is all.

Either bring in players who push this lot down a notch in the pecking order, or start over and build from scratch.

[Kammrath]

I am in shock that there is almost no conversation about how poor Luka looked. 

Am I crazy? Did I not see reality last night? I'm confused.

[KillerLeft]

I am in shock that there is almost no conversation about how poor Luka looked. 

Am I crazy? Did I not see reality last night? I'm confused.

I didn't see much opportunity for him to shine, other than simple "beat his man" and hit pull up shots, 1-on-1. The paint was PACKED with Hawks all night because Dallas' offensive spacing was pretty rough, imo. Looked like the 2011 offense, not the 2021 offense. 

Not saying it was a particularly good game from him and that there was no way he could've overcome the situation, don't get me wrong. We've seen him overcome situations wherein the defense shuts down the team's plans before, and I agree that he didn't do that last night. 

I thought Luka played really hard on defense in the first half - liked seeing that.

[burekemde]

I am in shock that there is almost no conversation about how poor Luka looked. 

Am I crazy? Did I not see reality last night? I'm confused.

I agree. I think it was mainly the gameplan, but later down the game he was also mentally and physically drained. As sefant writes above, and I fully agree on that, the gameplan was actually designed to favour Capela sitting in the paint waiting for Luka. We have seen it before with Clippers and Zubac, whenever we had DP and not played 5 out, Zubac would wait around the paint for Luka and deisrubt his inside game completely, and there is nothing to say to that, basically Luka is doubled in the paint. Basically every time Luka got past Hunter, he entered a trap with Capela in front of him and Hunter being behind him. Completely disrupted Lukas rhytm. Luka passed the ball out to wide open players, yet the space was not taken advantage of regularly at least. Later Luka started forcing things against this type of double team, and Capela was too good for that. Zubac did the same thing before, and Carlise always got around that issue by playing 5 out. Then it was Luka single team either against someone else or even worse switching to Zubac, and it was game over basically. Same should have been done here, but Kidd didnt adjust. If Luka got Capela one on one we have seen before against Houston what he did to him. Kidd will learn. Or he will keep on with this gameplan and lose and get fired.

The gameplan Kidd made, for this is essential that there is a better player inside than DP and Maxi etc. Or that the opponent doesnt have a Capela type of player. We are not dominant inside, so to be effective we need to go wide and this ensures Luka will not be doubled. Unless we find another playmaker in addition to Luka that will give more dimensions to our game.

Luka looks sligthly bigger and out of shape, exactly how he looked in the beginnings og all previous seasons - No worry. But a huge worry if Kidd is a coach that can adapt the gameplans properly to different situations. He absolutely needs to take advantages of double teams on Luka, one way or another.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I am in shock that there is almost no conversation about how poor Luka looked. 

Am I crazy? Did I not see reality last night? I'm confused.

Hunter had a lot to do with that if you're honest with yourself.  He defended Luka better than anyone else I've seen so far.

[hakeemfaan]

Capela is a very good player and a difference maker. The demise of the Rockets can be traced to him. This is why one can’t get obsessed about the modern game.  You still need folks who can play with force as RC used to say.  No matter what the scheme or position. Capela plays with force

[burekemde]

Hunter had a lot to do with that if you're honest with yourself.  He defended Luka better than anyone else I've seen so far.

Only because Capela helped Hunter. He is a great player Hunter, but Luka would destroy him one on one, and he did that previous seasons in one on one matchups. If Capela didnt wait in the paint, Hunter would stand no chance. I remember the same with Hunter and Reddish in previous games. This is 90% gameplan, and then 10% Luka forcing it against the double team in the paint when we were down 20+ points.

[KillerLeft]

Capela is a very good player and a difference maker. The demise of the Rockets can be traced to him. This is why one can’t get obsessed about the modern game.  You still need folks who can play with force as RC used to say.  No matter what the scheme or position. Capela plays with force

For sure, and the Mavs did absolutely nothing last night to even attempt to make him uncomfortable and take him out of his comfortable strong suits. 

This was NOT the offense that Carlisle designed the first time Powell and Porzingis started a season together, which was amazing.  They were literally BOTH in or near the lane constantly, and the perimeter players were often shooting from the mid-range, just feet away from the paint. That is an approach custom made to get the most resistance possible from the opposing bigs.

[hakeemfaan]

For sure, and the Mavs did absolutely nothing last night to even attempt to make him uncomfortable and take him out of his comfortable strong suits. 

This was NOT the offense that Carlisle designed the first time Powell and Porzingis started a season together, which was amazing.  They were literally BOTH in or near the lane constantly, and the perimeter players were often shooting from the mid-range, just feet away from the paint. That is an approach custom made to get the most resistance possible from the opposing bigs.

It is a new coaching staff and they are getting used to the players too. Schemes and rotations will be different as the season evolves.  The good thing is that this is a full season.

[KillerLeft]

It is a new coaching staff and they are getting used to the players too. Schemes and rotations will be different as the season evolves.  The good thing is that this is a full season.

Oh, for sure. I'm not jumping off of a ledge just yet. It will take time. But, for one game, I thought the gameplan (or at least the execution of it) was a noticeable step back from recent years. 

For all we know right now it might have simply been an off-game, nothing more.