Game 25: Dallas Mavericks (16-9) @ Portland Trail Blazers (6-18) 131-120 WIN!

[MFFL]

Lets go Mavs!

Beat the Blazers!!!

[ItsGoTime]

This rash of posters starting the game thread is awesome! Thank you to those who are helping out!

[Chicagojk]

May be a trap game. Blazers lost last game with Simons and Sharpe having bad/quiet games. Mavs may be feeling some fumes about being short handed. Need to find more rest for Luka.

Hopefully they take care of business but I predict a tough game.

[Mavs2021]

Grant auditioning for the Mavs by sh****** on Grant.

[Reunion Mav]

At a party. Why does Lively only have 6 minutes?8

[DanSchwartzgan]

At a party. Why does Lively only have 6 minutes?8

Ankle sprain

[Reunion Mav]

Does it look bad?

[DanSchwartzgan]

Does it look bad?

Done for the night.  Hard to tell how serious.

[Reunion Mav]

Just what we need. Thanks!!!!

[Mavs2021]

Does it look bad?

Yes Powell looks done. Should not play anymore. 

Oh you mean Lively´s ankle.

[surfpuckmd]

Yes Powell looks done. Should not play anymore. 

Oh you mean Lively´s ankle.

I'd rather have Dwight Powell on his current contract than Deandre Ayton on his.

[Chicagojk]

Ayton was bad. Few quick buckets to start the game and then nothing. I mentioned in the offseason that I was up in the air on him. I really though he wound come into the season with a chip on his shoulder. Very passive. Mavs may have dodged a bullet there.

I mentioned a few games ago that Morris wasn’t an nba rotation player any longer. The last few games he has looked very good. He will be a deep bench piece when everyone is healthy but I don’t think we win tonight if we finished the fourth with Powell. That is not a slight at Powell either but he wasn’t very good out there. Morris just made a lot of plays on offense.

Another good game by Exum. Sort of surprised he was not in the closing lineup over Grant. Grant another questionable performance.

[omahen]

Another win in a must win game, good job. Despite no Irving and not a great shooting game, offense was still great. Luka scores almost at will if they are defending him man to man. If they are doubling, the rest executes well the 4 against 3.

Grant was cooking us offensively and it would be good to have him. Mavs are just too small at PF. Simons is a very good player.

[dirkfansince1998]

Ayton was bad.  Few quick buckets to start the game and then nothing.  I mentioned in the offseason that I was up in the air on him.  I really though he wound come into the season with a chip on his shoulder.  Very passive.  Mavs may have dodged a bullet there.

I mentioned a few games ago that Morris wasn’t an nba rotation player any longer.  The last few games he has looked very good.  He will be a deep bench piece when everyone is healthy but I don’t think we win tonight if we finished the fourth with Powell.  That is not a slight at Powell either but he wasn’t very good out there.  Morris just made a lot of plays on offense.

Another good game by Exum.  Sort of surprised he was not in the closing lineup over Grant.  Grant another questionable performance.

Powell gave them a couple of extra possessions on the offensive board but 5-out was the better option when the Blazers started to trap Luka as soon as he crossed half court. Morris made good decisions in the resulting 4vs3.

I wonder why Exum didn't close the game. 2nd best player on the team right now. Had high hopes that he would replace one out of Grant/DJJ in the starting five when Kyrie returns but it seems like Kidd isn't there yet.
Speaking about Grant Williams. He has too many games like this. Mediocre/bad defense and no contribution on offense. Bulky Reggie Bullock.

DJJ with another big game. In the mentioned 4vs3 situations a cutter like DJJ can create easy looks for himself. Back door for the lob from Morris or attacking a wide open lane from the perimeter.

THJ with the usual Timmy gives it...Timmy takes it away performance. At times he carried the Mavs offense. At times he was shooting them out of the game.

[DanSchwartzgan]

I wonder why Exum didn't close the game. 2nd best player on the team right now. Had high hopes that he would replace one out of Grant/DJJ in the starting five when Kyrie returns but it seems like Kidd isn't there yet.
Speaking about Grant Williams. He has too many games like this. Mediocre/bad defense and no contribution on offense. Bulky Reggie Bullock.
 

It will be interesting when Kyrie comes back.  Any of GWill, DJJ or Exum could be the odd man out.  It might end up being Exum just because it is easier to pair him as the second ball handler with one of the stars when he comes off the bench.  He's been really valuable as a starter (night and day difference in his game since he's been starting).  I'd be afraid to mess with that.

OMax has a very key 5 minute stretch in the early 4th quarter (4 boards and an assist).  It was all the more important because to that point Grant hadn't done a thing.

[Reunion Mav]

5-1 last 6 games. Luka and better depth this year are keeping us in it. My wife and I have tickets next Saturday night. I sure hope a healthy Lively is there to play against Wemby.

[Mavs2021]

Ayton was bad.  Few quick buckets to start the game and then nothing.  I mentioned in the offseason that I was up in the air on him.  I really though he wound come into the season with a chip on his shoulder.  Very passive.  Mavs may have dodged a bullet there.

I mentioned a few games ago that Morris wasn’t an nba rotation player any longer.  The last few games he has looked very good.  He will be a deep bench piece when everyone is healthy but I don’t think we win tonight if we finished the fourth with Powell.  That is not a slight at Powell either but he wasn’t very good out there.  Morris just made a lot of plays on offense.

Another good game by Exum.  Sort of surprised he was not in the closing lineup over Grant.  Grant another questionable performance.

Yeah Ayton just doesn´t seem to have it mentally. It´s not that he can´t do it. He just does not want to do it. He´s like a center Josh Green. He had 10/7 with two assists and two steals for a team best +1, but he took only five shots, though there was literally nobody on the Mavs that could stop him.

Agreed on the Morris/Powell analysis. Powell objectively looks done. He´s 32 years old and he has no skills to fall back on that don´t really on effort and energy. Maybe the shorter than usual summer cooked him. Morris hit 2-3 wide open mid range jumpers off the Luka double team that Powell simply cannot make. Defensively they were both cones. I think with a PJ Washington like PF and a better back-up center, we might be in business.

[Jason Terry]

Bullet dodged with Ayton

I know people are concerned with Grant Williams. He’s a young player on a new team. Something seems off a bit, but i think he does a Reggie Bullock and figures it out for the 2nd half of the season

Blazers are a strong trade fit with the Mavs. Does the offer sheet to Thybulle hinder our ability to make a deal with them? I think they were upset about that PO. Regardless, it’s easy to see why pre-Exum there was a fit on our roster with Thybulle. Just as it was evident last game with Naz Reid

Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III. Sign me up for one or both of these players this summer

Lively/R Will/Powell
Jerami/G Will/Maxi

That would be about as ideal of a frontcourt as we could draw up. Elite two way starters. Bostons old elite defensive frontcourt as our backups. Our old starters as the 3rd team. Perfect combo of size, skill and depth

[DanSchwartzgan]

OMax has a very key 5 minute stretch in the early 4th quarter (4 boards and an assist).  It was all the more important because to that point Grant hadn't done a thing.

The group on the floor to start the fourth (and give Luka a much needed rest) was Exum, Curry, THJ, OMax and Powell.  They held their own (+2) and gave Luka almost 5 minutes off.  If you go back and look at the same period in the first half, the Exum/Curry backcourt (this time with Morris, GWill and THJ) were the ones responsible for turning the game around with a +13 (with an 18-3 run).  They also played together (with Luka, Powell and THJ) for a couple of minutes in the first quarter and were +2.

The common denominators in all three of those stints were Exum, Seth and THJ.  You wouldn't think that to be a net positive lineup with so little defense on the floor, but it worked.

Exum has now started six games and Dallas is 5-1 (LAL was really the only quality win, but we probably lose that one and some of those other games last season).  As a starter, Exum is 17/4.3/5.0 in 30 minutes.  His TS% is .743 and he is hitting .560 from 3 (take out the 7 of 9 in that LA game and he's still 7/16 or .437 in the other games).  Exum is productive in his non-starts, but his shooting is not good.  The confidence of starting (or maybe it is just being relied upon) looks good on him.

[Chicagojk]

The group on the floor to start the fourth (and give Luka a much needed rest) was Exum, Curry, THJ, OMax and Powell.  They held their own (+2) and gave Luka almost 5 minutes off.  If you go back and look at the same period in the first half, the Exum/Curry backcourt (this time with Morris, GWill and THJ) were the ones responsible for turning the game around with a +13 (with an 18-3 run).  They also played together (with Luka, Powell and THJ) for a couple of minutes in the first quarter and were +2.

The common denominators in all three of those stints were Exum, Seth and THJ.  You wouldn't think that to be a net positive lineup with so little defense on the floor, but it worked.

Exum has now started six games and Dallas is 5-1 (LAL was really the only quality win, but we probably lose that one and some of those other games last season).  As a starter, Exum is 17/4.3/5.0 in 30 minutes.  His TS% is .743 and he is hitting .560 from 3 (take out the 7 of 9 in that LA game and he's still 7/16 or .437 in the other games).  Exum is productive in his non-starts, but his shooting is not good.  The confidence of starting (or maybe it is just being relied upon) looks good on him.

The thing that sticks out to me with both Jones and Exum is there ability to do more than wait for an open three on offense and also play solid defense.  We haven’t had that in a while.  Exum is really great finishing at the rim.  One of the areas that may allow him to come off the bench is how he has several instances when the game is loose that he surprises the defense and gets to the rim.  If he keeps playing like this though, I would not take him out of the starting lineup.

With Jones he obviously has the high flying part down (see Morris oop…when has our players down that before?).  He is also had some nice secondary drives.  Both know how to pick their spots while at the same time not take advantage of opportunity when they arrive.