GAME 9: DAL (6-3) @ MEM (2-7) | 138-122 win | Mavs NBA best 4-0 on road

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/11...1000179713

[omahen]

They have to win this one, no excuses. Another team with very long players (similar to Orlando), will be interesting to see how Mavs will face them. Good thing is, they are both on back to backs

[SportPsychMav]

Interesting to see how they will react to the crapfest against the Knicks. This is a huge chemistry test. I felt like this gives beef after the game. It's good if they overcome it. A loss like this can bring wonders if they talk about it all openly. Plus they have the immediate chance to redeem themselves.

They started the game like crap and could not recover.

[Mak]

LIFT


THE

CURSE


KAMMBRO


(It’s easier than deleting all of my posts)

[SleepingHero]

LIFT


THE

CURSE


KAMMBRO


(It’s easier than deleting all of my posts)

BUT I LIFTED IT? DID KAMMBRO UNRIGHT THE SHIP?

[Mak]

LIFT


THE

CURSE


KAMMBRO


(It’s easier than deleting all of my posts)

BUT I LIFTED IT? DID KAMMBRO UNRIGHT THE SHIP?

Thread title still declares co-Dirkies.
There was no co-Dirkie. Barea is the sole Dirkie winner. 

I could “fix” it but from my understanding of curses, they can only be uncursed by the one who originally cast the curse. 

LIFT THE CURSE KAMMBRO DO THE RIGHT THING 

LOVE > HATE

JJ EARNED HIS DIRKIE

[MrGoat]

Bam, voted Grizzlies to win. I am starting to think I am right about my superstition about the majority of us voting for the Mavs to win so I did my part

[Mak]

If / when the Mavs win, I would like to log a early-Dirkie vote for JJ Barea. 


As a protest vote for the RIGGED AND CORRUPT actions which have cursed this team. 

If they can rig the polls to take away the Dirkie from Barea, try to delete all the posts which bring up the fact that the poll was rigged, and then try to silence you to the troll cave, they can do it to anyone. 


WE DEMAND JUSTICE. AWARD BAREA HIS RIGHTFUL DIRKIE KAMMBRO. 

[j0Shi]

Keys:

• Lineup fluidity: After last night's loss there were plenty discussion about the fluidity of lineups. Bowe also posted an excellent piece about the topic on MMB today, which I couldn't agree more with. The juggling is fine as long as it works, but you can make a point that this team has been winning without getting into any sort of rhythm internally. Also, why mix and match against literally the worst team in the league? We should have an advantage and be using the lineups we want to use and are our best. Long story short: Get in some consistency.
  
• Starting lineup: That said, let's start games with our best possible lineup of Luka, KP, Wright, Seth, and Maxi. Ideally you want to have two of Luka, Wright, Brunson on the court at all times and when KP in when Luka sits. It's not rocket science. Then bring THJ for Seth, Powell for Maxi, and one of Dodo or Jackson for Wright. We still have a stretch of relatively easy games ahead. Use that to give these lineups some consistency.
  
• Powell: Like mentioned above, he should be taken out of the starting lineup until he's looking better. As of right now his rim-running advantage doesn't outweigh his lack of energy and defense. He allowed 10-for-15 shooting vs. the Knicks. Maxi 1-for-11. WOW!
  
• The opponent: I might sound like a broken record, but the Grizzlies are another team Mavs are supposed to beat. -4.5 fav, plus we've been better on the road so far. They're on a b2b as well. We should win.
  
• Ja and their bigs: Ja Morant has been stellar so far for Memphis and easily is their best offensive player. Him and their two versatile bigs in Valančiūnas and JJJ present another challenge for the Mavs (lack of) interior defense. Powell could struggle again, but like I said I don't think he should start anyway.
  
• Will KP play? It's the first b2b for the Mavs and KP being rested is a real possibility. In that case use Boban instead of Powell.
  

[Scott41theMavs]

If KP sits, hard to see how this can be a win. We'll see.

[omahen]

Looks like KP sits this one out

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1193219377052737538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1193219377052737538&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fdallas-mavericks

[BigDirk41]

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I don't expect us to win without KP, making last night that much worse. The team most likely knew KP would sit tonight and took last night for granite.

[dirkfansince1998]

If KP sits, hard to see how this can be a win. We'll see.

Not sure if this is true. Going by the numbers KP has been the biggest negative among all rotation players. I actually think that Kleber returning to the starting lineup would be huge. Obviously would prefer to see him replace Powell but I am okay with him repacing KP as well.
KPs on/off is a mindblowing -23 right now. Rest of the starters that play regular minutes with him are negative as well. Bench is a big plus. That´s not saying that KP is the worst player right now but that he still hasn´t found his rhythm or role. I don´t expect an improvement before christmas. His situation is comparable to Georges or Haywards. Both struggled in their comeback season but returned even stronger in year 2.

We all have to remember that we aren´t even 10 games into the season. RC is still trying to find the best rotations and I don´t blame him for it. Kinda hard to figure it out with a roster that has one clear leader, a 2nd (maybe only a 3rd) option and a bunch of role players that are usually the 6th or 7th best options on a playoff team.

[BigDirk41]

https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2019/11/9/...seth-curry

This is a very interesting article about our rotations compared to the rest of the teams.

[TheCustodian]

Even if KP sits, I think this will be a win. We responded really well after our loss to the Lakers, and I consider that loss to be more disheartening than last night's loss. I expect us to bounce back and have more production from our rotation guys. 


Things I'd like to see: 

- Wright is playing his former team and he had a not so noticeable game last night. I'm hoping he has a bounce back game. He'll have his hands full with Morant so hopefully he locks him down and effects his efficiency. 

- Less Dwight. Dwight's defense since returning has been pretty bad. I don't particularly like the matchup of Valanciunas vs Dwight. He's going to get out muscled down low and will probably get out-rebounded. With KP sitting, Dwight will have to get playing time, but I would hope Rick plays Boban 20-25 minutes and  stay away from going small ball. 

- I'm expecting Brunson and THJ to have better games than yesterday. THJ needs to stay out of his head and just play basketball. He's thinking a bit too much out there but understandable so since he just played his former team (that he had 2 tenures with). I wasn't thrilled with his performance yesterday but I'm hoping he'll revert back to taking good shots and not forcing anything like we've seen in a couple games this season. 

- Consistent rotation. Its tough for guys to stay hot/relatively in their groove when they could start a game and not see the floor until the 4th (i.e. Curry vs Magic). I understand Rick is tinkering with the lineups to figure out who's best paired with who for a late season playoff run but we don't have room to lose games. We need to win our games against teams like Memphis. Logically, the rotation change-ups make sense, but they need to be somewhat consistent. I don't see a reason to not be playing JJax, Curry, our guards. They're deferring to THJ minutes wise while Lee starts some games, but neither of them are long-term pieces.

[donzingis38]

If Lee starts again.... Im gonna be on Fire Carlisle bandwagon.

KP sitting out means opportunities for other guys. Hopefully we see Boban and Barea tonight. I expect Curry to get more touches too.

[JamesConway]

I'm not overly mad about last night's game. We're a few steps away from being legit & losses like the one against NYK are great every once in a while to keep everybody from falling in love with this unfinished roster and its current payroll structure. The front office has plenty of work to do over the next year's regardless of if we'll win 39, 41, 43 or 45 games this season. We won't ever win an NBA title with three players like Powell/Seth/DFS/Delon in the starting lineups.

Team chemistry won't win us a title if the talent level isn't there as well.

[omahen]

Memphis also resting.

https://twitter.com/MFollowill/status/1193245027738308608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1193245027738308608&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fdallas-mavericks

[Mak]

If KP sits, hard to see how this can be a win. We'll see.

Not sure if this is true. Going by the numbers KP has been the biggest negative among all rotation players. I actually think that Kleber returning to the starting lineup would be huge. Obviously would prefer to see him replace Powell but I am okay with him repacing KP as well.
KPs on/off is a mindblowing -23 right now. Rest of the starters that play regular minutes with him are negative as well. Bench is a big plus. That´s not saying that KP is the worst player right now but that he still hasn´t found his rhythm or role. I don´t expect an improvement before christmas. His situation is comparable to Georges or Haywards. Both struggled in their comeback season but returned even stronger in year 2.

We all have to remember that we aren´t even 10 games into the season. RC is still trying to find the best rotations and I don´t blame him for it. Kinda hard to figure it out with a roster that has one clear leader, a 2nd (maybe only a 3rd) option and a bunch of role players that are usually the 6th or 7th best options on a playoff team.

Yep. 
Integrating KP into the mix has been a underrated, significant struggle this season but doesn’t get much press because most of us expect it to smooth out eventually. Plus, KP is super talented. Even if for some odd reason things just don’t mesh, we’ll likely look to move a bunch of other players before KP. But I expect things to get much better even with this same roster. 


The criticsms of Carlsile here and his rotations have some validity to me but they are so small in size compared to other issues in terms of the impact they make, I don’t really see them as anything which will change things in a major way. 

The top 3 things this team needs to focus on in order to improve IMO (in no particular order):

#1. Talent. 
More specifically, a trade / signing which injects more talent into the roster. Not much can be done about this right now, aside from helping determine what areas of the roster most need to be addressed. 

#2. Chemistry / Health. 
KP is of course the biggie here. But other players have been out too which hasn’t allowed for Carlisle to get more consistent lineups on the floor and comfortable with each other. This is especially significant on defense. 

#3. Youth improvement / development. 
This one is relativey self explanatory. The team will improve as the young players improve  . It starts at the very top with Wonderboy / KP and goes all the way down to Ruby Roby. The main (and maybe the only) significant critique I have regarding RC’s rotations / minutes is not enough Delon Wright. I’d start DW and increase his minutes too. He seems to be the clear player for the future we plan to install in the starting 5, might as well help him start developing some chemistry with Luka and KP. I was disappointed he wasn’t named a starter from day 1.

[Scott41theMavs]

#2. Chemistry / Health.
KP is of course the biggie here. But other players have been out too which hasn’t allowed for Carlisle to get more consistent lineups on the floor and comfortable with each other. This is especially significant on defense.

I see what you did there.

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Memphis also resting.

https://twitter.com/MFollowill/status/1193245027738308608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1193245027738308608&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fdallas-mavericks

So you're saying there's a chance!