Game 67: Dallas Mavericks (38-28) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (45-20)

[Smitty]

We have to hope.   PJ is shooting 26% since arriving in Dallas.  Down to 30% for the season.   With the #'s of threes he shoots that is no where high enough.   He is helping the team in other ways, but I believe if not improved it will become brutal in a playoff series watching clank after clank in a tough series.    He is 1-13 the last two games.  In the last 8 games he has had one game over 50% from 3 (4-8).  The rest are not good.   I hope he is not that streaky shooter who has one game where he shoots a excellent percentage and the other games way below league average.  We really need him around 36% from three with hopefully only 3-4 attempts per game.

We have seen Maxi go in long droughts in the past.   He has had moments where he will have a stretch where everything is working though.   I just don't know you can count on him.  Therefore I hope this offseason, we find a 3/4 type.  DFS would be perfect to fill in at both the 3 and 4.   They are hard to find though.   This way Maxi can be a nice wild card.  Where you can ramp him up when needed.    Not with the expectation that you need him to be productive.   We will see though.  A week when Maxi shoots 40% from three can change things pretty quick.  I think we know what we have though.   A solid rotation player who can be valuable in certain matchups if he is on his game.

PJ is the definition of a streaky shooter. I just wish the coaching staff would do some things that play to his strengths more often. I don’t know the numbers but it seems like over half of the half court sets he just sits in the corner. That is literally the worst use of his skill set. I don’t think you change your whole offense for the 3rd-4th guy but it’s frustrating for the fact that the FO traded assets for a player that the coach doesn’t know how to use.

As for Maxi, I still think he’s an important player for the Mavs and will prove his value even more so in a playoff series on the defensive end but he isn’t the same Maxi of old. I wish this team had 4 or 5 Maxi’s (at his best)