A Few Thoughts on Mavs 110, Clippers 118

[StepBackJay]

I agree that starting Maxi isn't great but it might be our best option. Mavs still scored a bunch of points with him out there.

[Reunion Mav Old]

This is probably my favorite thread. Good job all. A few observations:

This Mavs team and Luka in particular showed outstanding resiliency in no less than three very unfortunate situations. That is a very good sign and is a good reason to be proud of our team as several mentioned. The opening of the game was one. A horrible 9-0 run early in the game after we had taken the lead. That was the second time the refs changed the game. They tried to change the game by allowing the Clippers to foul ridiculously in the first three minutes. (They did call 3 fouls which ended up putting them in foul trouble). That was the first time I was upset at how much three bad officiating outcomes changed the game. Then of course the 5-0 run previously described and the huge run they got after KP went out. Oops, that's 4. We recovered very well from all four of them and did some very good things down the stretch as far as end of game execution.

Free throws at 87.5 % is at Dirk level. We will take it. 

Our transition scoring continues to be truly awful. Ouch!!! twice at the end. 

Our defense was pretty decent. We just can't stop Leonard and George though we did get a few stops on them. However, our defense against their bench stars, Harrell and their 6th man guy was way better than usual. Boban was able to stop Harrell like four times. I was truly excited to see that. 

KP was having a real playoff game impact in his first game. That is a good sign even though he fell victim to Clipper crap. Why is it that the Clippers have always had guys that need to do bull crap things to get themselves going. Different Clippers but the same Clipper crap. I might even respect them if they would just play good basketball. I can put up with Patrick Beverly because he gets in foul trouble every time he is on the court against the Mavs. But Morris is just a typical Clipper.

Speaking of Morris, I look forward to the day when our Mavs are perceived well enough that we can pick up quality guys mid season for the playoff run. With Luka and KP, that is going to happen, maybe as early as next year. Are we encouraging them to tamper effectively?

Ya'll are so correct when you say our shots were completely different after KP went out. The rhythm was broken; the spacing was broken and the hero ball replaced it. However, Luka wisely said to himself, heck with this I am going to the hole and they could not stop him!

[mtrot]

Some great comments from the above posters. 

On the reffing point, now that we've all had a night to sleep on it, I think we may later see this as a turning point in the bigger picture than just this game. 

Whether the refs "should" have called these techs is a topic that should be discussed at a higher level than the refs who worked this particular game. They were following the instructions they were given, but some deeper thought needs to be given at the league level as to when the refs should interject themselves in a game-changing decision over a relatively minor infraction. 

At the team level, this might be a huge lesson for the Mavs in terms of acquiring veteran savvy right out of the gate. They say that experience is the hardest teacher, but the best one, and they have an opportunity to take advantage. 

Specifically, knowing that officiating is somewhat subjective and that refs make mistakes, the players need to develop a sense of when the potential reward of committing a foul is worth the risk. Let's take the first tech. KP's arm gesture was probably in instantaneous reaction, and he probably didn't have a lot of time to think about it. That is why he and his teammates need to get in the habit of responding to bad calls with something other than an air punch. He could, like, do a Tim Duncan palms up with a disbelieving expression instead. Or something. Each player can develop his own signature method of exhibiting disagreement, if he wants. So that their bodies don't react by offering the refs the opportunity to make a call. 

Take the second T. The Clippers are antagonizers. A big part of their whole MO is trying their best to get under their opponents' skin. The Mavs need to develop a mentality of not allowing themselves to fall into the trap of reacting, at least when a reaction does not help and may make things much worse. The cultivation of the habit and development of instincts are the important things -- it is too hard to mentally process those things in the heat of the moment. 

This is not just an opportunity for KP to learn. The whole team has been through a teaching moment, and if they are smart, they will go on to develop a sense of what kinds of risks are worth taking, and when. Like it or not, they can't depend on the refs to overlook reaction fouls, even when doing so would make sense from the perspective of the fan experience. 

This is not to excuse the league for instituting rules that may have unintended consequences. But, if the Mavs can take advantage of this harsh experience, it will be a big step toward the development of a tough, unflappable mentality.

That's all fair enough, BUT, now that the precedent has been set, I expect the refs to call techs on ANY player who makes a similar fist gesture about a call with which he disagrees.  I don't care if it's Harden, Lebron, Giannis, or whomever else it is.  If they don't, it just further proves the point that Cuban has been making for decades about the biased reffing from which the Mavs continue to suffer.

[Dahlsim]

That's true he didn't do the fist at a ref. Even then I can live with one touchy tech, but two in the same game on your star player? Ridiculous. You can't let two soft tech calls eject a star player in a playoff game. Completely unacceptable and it literally gave the win to the Clippers.

---

A big win for me this game was not seeing Justin Jackson play at all. He is such a liability on defense. I like giving MKG a chance in his spot. MKG obv hit a couple big 3s in the game. On defense you would think he'd stand out more. He really didn't stand out to me at least but I still think he makes the defense better than a Jackson would. Jackson should probably be used sparingly in this series.

---

Delon Wright only getting 6 minutes is interesting. His usage is a real head scratcher.

On top of the fact that the first tech was a touchy tech  as you said it was also KP having an instinctive reaction to what the replays showed was a terrible call! 
So the refs made a mistake on the foul call then compounded it with a quick tech on the players reaction to a bad call, before they even checked to see that their call was a bad call. 

Then Rick Carlisle made the mistake off failing to call for the replay before the technical had been called. 


The 2nd technical then could be justified from a ref standpoint because of the idea of being a potential "escalation" but it also was the expected behavior when a big man sees another man threatening his star player.  The unwritten rules say that KP is supposed to protect his player in that situation. Refs should have a little bit of common sense realization of the situation.  Morris was the one who started that altercation and they essentially rewarded him and his team by ejecting KP. 

Still that would have been avoided without the bad call on KP's great clean block in the first place and touchy tech based on his instinctive reaction to that bad call.  

Some really poor refereeing decisions there that definitely changed the entire game and playoff series.

[mavsluvr]

“That is why he and his teammates need to get in the habit of responding to bad calls with something other than an air punch. He could, like, do a Tim Duncan palms up with a disbelieving expression instead. Or something. Each player can develop his own signature method of exhibiting disagreement, if he wants. So that their bodies don't react by offering the refs the opportunity to make a call.”

Haha. This just illustrates the absurdity of the rule.

It is rather comical, isn't it? If only it hadn't been so disastrous in this game. 


I'm not sure why an air punch should be an automatic foul, at least if another person is not within connecting distance.

I guess part of it is the idea that air punches are inherently disrespectful, sort of like giving the finger. I don't know that I agree with that. To me, an air punch is more an indication of frustration than disrespect. And many bodily reactions that are allowed are at least as disrespectful as punching the air, if not moreso. 

I suspect the main reason for the automatic foul rule is that they don't want players throwing punches on the court, no matter what the circumstances are. 

We certainly don't have to agree with that. But, at any rate, it's an easy rule to avoid running afoul of, and I suspect the Mavs will not encounter it again!

---

now that the precedent has been set, I expect the refs to call techs on ANY player who makes a similar fist gesture about a call with which he disagrees.  I don't care if it's Harden, Lebron, Giannis, or whomever else it is

Damn straight. It is supposed to be an automatic foul no matter who the player is, and in fairness, they did call it on Paul George as well as KP.

[mtrot]

“That is why he and his teammates need to get in the habit of responding to bad calls with something other than an air punch. He could, like, do a Tim Duncan palms up with a disbelieving expression instead. Or something. Each player can develop his own signature method of exhibiting disagreement, if he wants. So that their bodies don't react by offering the refs the opportunity to make a call.”

Haha. This just illustrates the absurdity of the rule.

It is rather comical, isn't it? If only it hadn't been so disastrous in this game. 


I'm not sure why an air punch should be an automatic foul, at least if another person is not within connecting distance.

I guess part of it is the idea that air punches are inherently disrespectful, sort of like giving the finger. I don't know that I agree with that. To me, an air punch is more an indication of frustration than disrespect. And many bodily reactions that are allowed are at least as disrespectful as punching the air, if not moreso. 

I suspect the main reason for the automatic foul rule is that they don't want players throwing punches on the court, no matter what the circumstances are. 

We certainly don't have to agree with that. But, at any rate, it's any easy rule to avoid running afoul of, and I suspect the Mavs will not encounter it again!

---

now that the precedent has been set, I expect the refs to call techs on ANY player who makes a similar fist gesture about a call with which he disagrees.  I don't care if it's Harden, Lebron, Giannis, or whomever else it is

Damn straight. It is supposed to be an automatic foul no matter who the player is, and in fairness, they did call it on Paul George as well as KP.

Lol, I just now saw Jimmy Butler make a demonstrative hand gesture after he got a foul call in the Pacers/Heat game.  No tech called.

[mavsluvr]

Then Rick Carlisle made the mistake off failing to call for the replay before the technical had been called. 

You are the only person I have seen mention this. An embarrassing moment in an otherwise well-coached game. 


On the second technical, it has crossed my mind that maybe KP had forgotten the rule about two techs being an automatic ejection. The European rules on technical fouls are different -- not sure how they would have applied in this situation. 

Remember when Luka was ejected on a second technical for playing keepy-uppy on the sidelines and letting the ball roll into the stands? He had no idea that kicking the ball into the stands, even on a gentle roll, was a technical foul.

[Dahlsim]

 

Fourth Quarter

The team recovered their composure in the fourth, and the Mavs tied the game at 9:44, thanks in part to 4 rebounds, a put-back layup, and an assist of a THJ three from Boban. Dallas stayed within 5 until the last three minutes, when the Clips managed to pull away.


Analytics

Statistically speaking, the game was lost on possessions. The Clips put up a whopping 14 more shots than the Mavs, which proved to be a killer. 


Players

Luka 
Patrick Beverley absolutely cannot guard Luka — Doncic is too big, too strong, and too determined. Beverley ended the game with 5 fouls, and had to let Luka go when he sliced through the paint. Kawhi and Paul George both had 3 fouls by halftime, and had to spend the end of the second quarter on the bench. The Clippers’ only hope is to swarm him, and he is very effective at finding the open man when that happens. 

KP (19 min) —Porzingis is a guy the Clippers have no answer for. His height and skills make him a nightmare for their big men to try to cover. He can shoot over their smalls, and is too agile for their bigs. He drew plenty of fouls, and was 7 of 8 from the line. His rebounding was missed when he left the game. 

KP’s ejection was the turning point of the game. 



Rick’s Secret Weapons

Rick has been hiding a few surprises in his bag of tricks, and I imagine we will see them brought out as the series goes on. He sprung a couple of them in this match. 

The team can play defense!

MKG can shoot threes! Kidd-Gilchrist was 2-3 on three-pointers, shocking the entire arena!  His form looked much improved, and his defense was strong. I wasn’t sure whether he would even play in the series, but he looks like he can help the team. Who knew?.... 


Next. Game Two, on Wednesday. 

Rick Carlisle is stuck in an offensive mindset that appears incapable of exploiting a size advantage. 
I've said that the Mavs one big advantage being BIG.  They have a size advantage they can exploit.  Luka is the obvious advantage I take for granted because he'll be fully utilized.  The Clips counter him though with Kawhi and PG13, one of best wing combinations in NBA history as Mark Jackson correctly pointed out. 

As you said, KP is a clear mismatch the Mavs can exploit.  His ejection, his mistake but also from some bad reffing, was the clear turning point. 

Statistically speaking, the game was lost on possessions. The Clips put up a whopping 14 more shots than the Mavs, which proved to be a killer.

Then there was my boy Boban. I won't even comment about only 2 shots (and still making 50%) because he's an afterthought offensively but look at your lost possession stat.  
Think about Boban getting 8 rebounds in 12 minutes!     What's wrong with this picture? 

MKG was a nice wildcard to see going to work.  Another quality wing if he shoots in that range is a real help since he can defend.

[mavsluvr]

Lol, I just now saw Jimmy Butler make a demonstrative hand gesture after he got a foul call in the Pacers/Heat game.  No tech called.

Was it an air punch? The air punch is what is automatic. 


Even if it wasn't, though, totally take your point. Maddening.

[ThunderMav]

(boycotting TV and major sports websites).

This is a major website...

True but not a MSM site like CBS sports or espin.  Not gonna give them any clicks.  Not a member of Twit either but do bookmark certain people so thats how I learn they post short videos of plays.  That way I’m giving the small guy my views.  This site is great and not part of MSM, so no problems coming here.  Thunder play today and I’m not watching. I’ll check out some tweets to find out later.

[mavsluvr]

Then there was my boy Boban. I won't even comment about only 2 shots (and still making 50%) because he's an afterthought offensively but look at your lost possession stat.  
Think about Boban getting 8 rebounds in 12 minutes!     What's wrong with this picture?

You have been making this point for a long time, and I think it is even more important now that the Mavs have only three big men available. Boban had a defensive and rebounding impact in this game, but there has got to be a way to take advantage of his offense, especially against the Clippers, who have no one who can counter. He is pretty close to unstoppable near the basket. He's going to be on the floor for a certain amount of time in any case, so why not make put that offensive machine to work? It's arguably better than having Seth and Hardaway jack up 30-footers.

[StepBackJay]

Media agrees. Mavs were robbed.

[mavsluvr]

The 2nd technical then could be justified from a ref standpoint because of the idea of being a potential "escalation" but it also was the expected behavior when a big man sees another man threatening his star player.  The unwritten rules say that KP is supposed to protect his player in that situation. Refs should have a little bit of common sense realization of the situation.  Morris was the one who started that altercation and they essentially rewarded him and his team by ejecting KP. 

Doc has now chipped in on the ejection. He said before that he "hated to see it," but it turns out he didn't hate it that much. 


Denies that he game plans to irritate opponents. But acknowledges that he has some agitators, like Morris and Beverley, and thinks that's a good thing. Although he felt bad about the ejection, thinks KP could have avoided it. Believes that what Morris did didn't amount to enough to justify Porzingis running over and intervening. 

So much for comments from the peanut gallery.


Also, agree that Morris was rewarded for his provoking behavior. The oldest trick in the book from dirty players like him. They'll keep doing it as long as it keeps working. (In fairness, he did get a tech on the play, but drawing a second tech on KP was probably a gift beyond his wildest dreams.)

[Davevoid]

Media agrees. Mavs were robbed.

Oh, for sure! It's not only the media, but basically any NBA fan online, let alone Lebron and even Dirk himself...

Still, this is part of being a playoff team, a learning experience. Our crunch-time lineup had a grand total of 31 post season games among them, while Kawhi alone is at 111, lol.

I'm just glad Cuban's stayed quiet thus far.

[Dahlsim]

Then there was my boy Boban. I won't even comment about only 2 shots (and still making 50%) because he's an afterthought offensively but look at your lost possession stat.  
Think about Boban getting 8 rebounds in 12 minutes!     What's wrong with this picture?

You have been making this point for a long time, and I think it is even more important now that the Mavs have only three big men available. Boban had a defensive and rebounding impact in this game, but there has got to be a way to take advantage of his offense, especially against the Clippers, who have no one who can counter. He is pretty close to unstoppable near the basket. He's going to be on the floor for a certain amount of time in any case, so why not make put that offensive machine to work? It's arguably better than having Seth and Hardaway jack up 30-footers.

Boban helps generate open shots many times just by his threat to score.  Teams that recognize his threat stay home, opening up lanes for Doncic and Mavs guards to slash and shooters to get better looks. 
Some commentators have also noticed this and mentioned it as well. 

The Mavs do run him in cuts and dives to rim some time which are very effective with Luka because if they converge to cheat and stop him, he's very aware of finding his Giant cutters as well as finding his perimeter snipers. 
Luka driving with KP or Boban rolling to rim with him while guys like Seth and THJ stand ready to snipe on the perimeter is a thing of beauty. 

Mostly though, Coach Carlisle uses Bobi as a giant screen setter, like almost all NBA teams now use their centers.  He rarely runs sets to get his big men offense at the rim, and Bobi minutes are so sparse I've pretty much given up looking for that much.  It's ok when the Mavs are shooting well. 
They don't need his offense as much when shots are falling but when the offense tightens up, its ashamed they don't take advantage of the killer size advantage. 

It was predictably tragic though, for the big man to get only 12 minutes total, despite the problem they were having getting rebounds and a strong paint presence after KP went out.

[Scott41theMavs]

Also, agree that Morris was rewarded for his provoking behavior. The oldest trick in the book from dirty players like him. They'll keep doing it as long as it keeps working. (In fairness, he did get a tech on the play, but drawing a second tech on KP was probably a gift beyond his wildest dreams.)

The Mavs' problem with Morris is we don't have anybody big and strong enough (aside from our too-gentle giant) to beat his butt in when he pulls stuff like that.

[ClutchDirk]

https://twitter.com/HouseMavericks/statu...1510239232

[KillerLeft]

Good stuff, Mavsluvr.

It seems like this has been hashed over quite a bit in this thread, but like you, I was excited to see the bigger front court start the game. However, that lineup was an unmitigated disaster on both sides of the floor. For all who question Carlisle's tendency to go small, we got a first-hand look at his reasons. When the other team knows Doncic is (literally) the only competent ball handler on the floor, well, he's just not going to have room to go anywhere with the ball.

There is now zero doubt in my mind that Curry needs to be in the starting lineup. Part of me still wants to see the big front court with THJ coming off of the bench, but for some reason that's not happening. Call me a blind coach supporter if you want, but from what I've seen from Carlisle in his nine years here, something tells me there's a good reason for that, too.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Game within the game:

https://theathletic.com/2004399/2020/08/...the-looks/

"On the other side, where to hide a poor defender who is key to an offense is another constant puzzle for a coaching staff to solve. In the exploitative world of playoff strategy, if the opponent knows where to find the weak link, it tends to target him relentlessly. One suspects Rick Carlisle will be searching for the safest harbors in which to shelter Luka Doncic from the sort of low effort blowbys that can obliterate a defense.

Meanwhile, Doncic’s assignments will provide an interesting tactical window into the Clippers-Mavs series. In Game 1, Doncic spent 39.0 percent of his defensive time on Marcus Morris Sr., guarding JaMychal Green and Patrick Beverley 13.0 and 10.1 percent of his defensive time, respectively. Perhaps coincidentally, but also perhaps not, Morris’ strong offensive showing was a big part of the Clippers’ win (almost as big a part as technical fouls, but we’ll save that complaint for another day.) The midseason addition scored 19 on only 13 shots. One suspects that Carlisle would prefer to have Doncic spend time on a smaller threat, which in turn raises the question for Doc Rivers as to how best to deploy Beverley.

It would appear the Clippers prefer to put size onto Doncic, with Morris (30.9 percent), Leonard (18.3 percent) and Paul George (13.4 percent) carrying the bulk of that defensive load. Beverley only guarded Doncic 8.0 percent of the Slovenian’s offensive time. Considering Beverley’s primary skill is as a dogged on-ball defender, and that the Mavs don’t have a lot of other options for that sort of treatment given Doncic’s centrality to the offense, is there much point in Beverley being on the floor at the same time as Doncic if the primary effect will be giving Doncic exactly the sort of low usage hiding place Dallas so desperately would like for him to have?
Watching these moves unfold over the course of both these and every other series will be fascinating subplots as the postseason develops, and we’ll continue to check back to see which adjustments are made and how they work out".

[omahen]

Game within the game

This is a great piece, saw it on The Athletic. I think the percentage time defending a player can be a bit misleading. More useful data would be, how many points Doncic scored against each defender and how many points Morris scored against Doncic (I remember at least one basket that he wasn't covered by Doncic - might be more).