GAME 1: DAL (0-1) @ PHX (1-0) | 102-106 loss

[omahen]

Just saying Luka having 32 makes any argument against him impossible is short-sighted and will result in complaceny and in the end lack of success.

You know what is shortsighted? Being a drama queen after one game

[Thukydides]

You know what is shortsighted? Being a drama queen after one game

I didn´t get personal and won´t, although you are insulting me. Instead I argued based on facts, talked about matchups and explained my stance. I will again: Luka is the best thing that could possibly have happened to this franchise. You have no idea, how ecstatic I was after waking up in Europe to the news that Luka was going to the Mavs. 
Still that doesn´t mean one can´t be critical at all anymore. If you go back to different old threads, I numerously have pointed to the issue of Luka not being in shape and its connection to our extremly poor clutch offense. 

Let´s see how this thing develops this season. Maybe at some point you can come back at me with true argumentation.

[omahen]

I didn´t get personal and won´t, although you are insulting me. Instead I argued based on facts, talked about matchups and explained my stance. I will again: Luka is the best thing that could possibly have happened to this franchise. You have no idea, how ecstatic I was after waking up in Europe to the news that Luka was going to the Mavs. 
Still that doesn´t mean one can´t be critical at all anymore. If you go back to different old threads, I numerously have pointed to the issue of Luka not being in shape and its connection to our extremly poor clutch offense. 

Let´s see how this thing develops this season. Maybe at some point you can come back at me with true argumentation.

It was intended to be personal, because you went very personaly against Luka, although he has no way to defend himself against some anonymous internet poster. So if you have no problem writing that Luka looks brutal, can't get by anyone which according to you shows he lacks proffesionalism, you should have no problem hearing you are a drama queen. I can totally agree he didn't have a great game. Perhaps even a bad one. But going from there to drawing huge conclusions how out of shape is someone and how he is not proffesional. Well, that is an insult in my book. You are far from arguing based on facts, you are arguing based on your assumptions. 

In the same comment you said Brunson had a great game. You know what was the only difference between Luka and Brunson game? Brunson hit a couple of very tough shots and Luka didn't. So if Brunson missed those shots and Luka would hit them, your evaluation would have to be exactly reversed. Which evidently points out that you are focusing on a small sample. 

You also mentioned how Luka was great in the last playoffs. Luka had 2 worse games in the playoff series. So according to your logic we should actually be pleased because "out of shape Luka" is still better than "playoff Luka" from September. 

I guess you can't imagine how much effort takes Luka to generate all the offense he is asked to generate. I did play some basketball and I know how exhausting it is to drive several times in a row, let alone every single offense. The problem is not in Luka being out of shape. The problem is in a fact that Mavs offense is way too much one dimensional. Besides, Luka is 21 and he is obviously a grand master of several aspects of the game. I could easily make a claim that Luka footwork and ballhandling are at higher level than LeBron, for example. Isn't it possible to conclude that him not being a top athlete is perhaps a consequence of focusing on technical parts of the game instead of athleticism and that he still has plenty of time to develop other areas? So perhaps he is not unproffessional, just focusing on other aspects? 

Just so that we not forget, what kind of stuff have you been writing around:

"Such a shame Luka didn´t have a full off-season. Still it´s just professionalism to deal with what you´re facing. If you want to be a MVP, you have to put in the extra effort. If he just had 50% of Lebron´s mindset, I´d not be worried. But it seems like he´s either too young (let´s hope so) or too dumb to realize that."

"Luka´s coming back way worse than last season doesn´t bode well"

[StepBackJay]

I can't believe Luka went 32/8/5 in that game. I didn't even check the box score until y'all mentioned it in the thread. This was one of the worst Luka games I have ever seen, especially since he became the full-time starter at PG. Even when he plays bad he puts up a line like that, just amazing.

[omahen]

Just a comment about Luka 3 point shooting. He has to shoot. He even has to take tough shots. If not, his offense becomes totally onedimensional and predictable. He becomes Ben Simmons. Ability to hit those three pointers at a decent percentage will be what either makes him an MVP or "just" a top ten player.

Regarding the ability to drive past people. If you remember playoffs, Luka had actually biggest problems against Zubac. Bigger players leave him a bit of space and are strong enough not to be bullied. If they play smart defense and don't bite on his fakes, I can argue they will always create more problems for him, if he is not able to punish them with a three pointer. Luka didn't blow by Kahwi or George in the playoffs, he just knows how to perfectly use his body and is exceptionally strong, which creates him an advantage at the rim. Something it is much more difficult to do against a taller and stronger player.

[KillerLeft]

Upon reflection and some rewatching, I understand why Carlisle went with Kleber to close, even though it didn’t work.

WCS’s minutes (small sample) were a plus, but rewatching, he really didn’t do a lot to support the idea that he was responsible for the swing. In fact, I have read/heard multiple people (Cato and Henderson) suggest that the Suns were briefly confused by that lineup specifically because WCS was doing the wrong things. Not sure I buy that, but it’s an interesting thought. Either way, I didn’t see him change any shots, grab any tough boards or pull anyone gravitationally to open anyone else up. He DID run the floor well, which I ALWAYS appreciate in a center. This resulted in a fast break bucket in transition. 

I am on team “give WCS a chance” don’t get me wrong. I just didn’t see him make such an obvious impact on this game that closing with him was the obvious choice. 

What I think Carlisle tried was starting Powell and closing with Kleber, and closing with Kleber is EXACTLY what the majority of Mavs fans have been hoping for. It just didn’t work in game 1.

[SleepingHero]

Sure he had 32 points. Still he couldn´t punish neither Ayton nor Smith on the switch. Couldn´t go one-on-one against Bridges either. He obviously doesn´t have the pop in his step, which made him totally unguardable by PG and KL in the playoffs. Many many times Westbrook has had 32 points and I called it a bad game. If you´re super inefficient AND make very bad clutch decisions, that´s a brutal game (for Luka´s standards) -> I give you that appendix.

He´ll always be able to score 30 on 20+ shots. Guess what, the great players don´t need so many and we happen to have had one of the most brilliant examples in Dirk. How many times did he score 25 on 12 shots? 

Just saying Luka having 32 makes any argument against him impossible is short-sighted and will result in complaceny and in the end lack of success.

At the end of the day you're right. I think we all agree that this game was not a good game according to Luka's standards. But I also think you have to put stock in the fact that he still scored 32 which isn't an easy feat. It inherently has value. Luka has warped our expectations of what normal NBA players can do. 

Sure it took him 26 shots (though 4 of those came off of wild potential tip ins in the first where he was trying to get a rebound), thus sabotaging his efficiency, but the dude still stepped up and scored. How many times did Kobe have 30 points on 30 shots? Quite a few. Sometimes your best player needs more shots to score cause of an off night, and you know what? They deserve those shots because they're our best player.

If we take out the first quarter, Luka's statline would've been 25 points 4 rebounds 4 assists on 53% shooting. That's a flipping fantastic game. The bad start all left a bad taste in our mouths.

I think it's too early to make broad conclusions about Luka. Like omahen said it's legit 1 game. It's the same reason why even if Powell has looked terrible, I can't write him completely off yet because it's just too early. 

Luka has said he's out of shape and he's working everyday to get back to where he was. I'm glad he at least recognizes it. And I'm also glad Luka still can be a prolific scorer when he's not 100%

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

fire Carlisle

[Mavs2019]

Jesus Christ. Carlisle messed up. End of story.

Did you also want JJB pulled from the starting five or did you want to win the NBA title?

The mental gymnastics performed around this are amazing. The point is to win the game. That means you exploit match-ups and if WCS confuses them, then Halleluka and get the W.

Kleber was getting abused all game. Maybe Carlisle could have replaced Kleber with a traffic cone and the result would have been the same. The fact remains the line-up was working. The only person that could remove it from the court was Carlisle and he did twice.

[KillerLeft]

Jesus Christ. Carlisle messed up. End of story.

Did you also want JJB pulled from the starting five or did you want to win the NBA title?

The mental gymnastics performed around this are amazing. The point is to win the game. That means you exploit match-ups and if WCS confuses them, then Halleluka and get the W.

Kleber was getting abused all game. Maybe Carlisle could have replaced Kleber with a traffic cone and the result would have been the same. The fact remains the line-up was working. The only person that could remove it from the court was Carlisle and he did twice.

Pretty sure @"jesusshuttlesworth82" was joking, my dude.

[ItsGoTime]

Pretty sure @"jesusshuttlesworth82" was joking, my dude.

Very sure he wasn't replying to js82. What js82 posted was not mental gymnastics.

[KillerLeft]

Very sure he wasn't replying to js82. What js82 posted was not mental gymnastics.

Supremely sure that your sense of humor is broken. I didn’t really think he was replying to that post, specifically. That was the joke. Try harder to be cool, or follow somebody else around and reply to them.

[Mavs2019]

KillerLeft
Supremely sure that your sense of humor is broken. I didn’t really think he was replying to that post, specifically. That was the joke. Try harder to be cool, or follow somebody else around and reply to them.

The comment was directed toward you and Omahen, and all the effort you put into explaining why Carlisle´s decision was not bad.

Even the greatest coaches mess up some times. No reason to lose sleep over, but also no reason to write essays to explain why he did not. 

You might argue whether it worked, because WCS was WCS or because WCS was not Kleber.

What you can´t argue is that the line-up worked twice and Carlisle ended it prematurely both times.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and ending it before the positive results stop. - Bald Einstein.

[KillerLeft]

Yeah, I just don’t agree.

He has to play someone, and I just don’t think WCS had done enough in game 1 to make it a no-brainer. 

He DID bump up WCS in game 2, bringing him in earlier. I DID see WCS do some good things in THAT game.

[KillerLeft]

I think when you have a playoff team, you give players a chance to keep their jobs. More of a chance than 3 quarters. 

I think Carlisle could forget 97% about what he knows about basketball and still know more about it than anyone here knows. 

I have faith that he’ll figure this out, and I believe in his process. For years, we’ve seen him wrong way, way too much out of untalented rosters. Now, we THINK this team is underachieving, but it has only been two games, both against very good teams.

I am not trying to absolve him of any responsibility related to the Mavericks starting to season less prepared than those two teams, but I think it’s incredibly ridiculous to suggest that the extinction level event for game 1 was removing WCS before the stretch run of the game.