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

[ThisIStheYear]

Phoenix played an all around bad game, and the Mavs couldn’t shoot straight. That’s the story of the game. Phoenix is clearly the better team, so they won a stinker, and mostly toyed with the Mavs knowing they could turn it on. The Mavs will need to make some quick adjustments. Powell isn’t ready. Obviously, he’s lost explosiveness. He shouldn’t be in the rotation. THJ looked like he was in search of a contract rather than quality shots. He needs to be counseled that efficient play is what will get him paid, not volume play. Luka has lost a significant amount of speed. He could only create space with power and was slow on defense. You’d expect improvement from a player his age, but probably not this year. He’s just not in NBA shape. Hopefully he’ll get the right people around him going forward to develop that body. You have to invest in yourself. With Luka slowed, the Mavs starting five needs a speed injection.The Suns are my pick for best western regular season, so the loss isn’t earth shattering. But it’s still a disappointment.

[Playmaker]

See I can't agree with that take. I don't think Powell is the SOLE reason why the Mavs offense is DOA.  Sure, he's definitely not doing Powell things. His screens have been solid but he isn't a lob threat at all. His defense has overall been bad. He has no outside game etc. It's all been beaten to death.


I think the main reason the offense looks so out of sorts mainly starts with Luka. He has not looked like his old self. Which is crazy to type out because he just dropped 32/8/5. Sure he's getting his numbers, but it looks like he has to work 3 times as hard to get them. I think it's a combination of defenses trying new things, and the fact he's woefully out of shape.

Add in THJ thinking he's the second coming of Mitch Richmond, and really no true 2nd option, its no wonder why the offense looks so discombobulated. I think KP coming back will be a godsend. I also think we need a big that can actually be a lob threat. Luka getting into shape will gradually come. Just gotta be patient with him.

I agree that Luka has contributed to the bad offense.  He's definitely not in the shape he was at the end of last season.  And dropping that stat line isn't impressive when it took him 26 shot attempt to make 32 points (he also got 10 of those points on the free throw line).  

Luka seems to be apprehensive in decision making.  I blame that on the pick and roll taking too long to develop; primarily because Powell setting the pick and getting in position late to complete a play.  I don't recall us converting on one roll to the basket out of those plays.   Moreover play side defenders haven't hedged their man to help on the role leaving shooters open in the corners.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

Way too early to start doubting him, but his done this before where his having to decide between being The Man and being the man that passes.

Once he loses 20 lbs, conditions into shape, Luka will get back to greatness......














,,,,,,,however, I hope his defense doesn't regress more than it is now. His not hounding them on D and relying too much on his teammates to make up for his defensive lapses.

He’s a badass but I also think he’s the most overrated player in the nba right now.

[sefant]

Way too early to start doubting him, but his done this before where his having to decide between being The Man and being the man that passes.

Once he loses 20 lbs, conditions into shape, Luka will get back to greatness......














,,,,,,,however, I hope his defense doesn't regress more than it is now. His not hounding them on D and relying too much on his teammates to make up for his defensive lapses.

In the bubble his defense looked way better. Its all condition/shape with Luka's performance tbh. Luka's conditioning is affecting his game everywhere, wether its frustration, bad shot selection, turnovers, (transition) defense. It also makes him a lot more passive overall. I was a little concerned he answered that Townsend question the way he did. I am not sure if he fully understands that being in the best possible shape does wonders for his game.

People can say, he is young & this isn't a big deal. 4 weeks, and he is back into shape. People can say he doesn't really on athleticism. But the reality is, you cant just make click, and be in great shape. Usually there is no time to work solely condition during the season i would guess. He will get into better shape with games, but it might take a while. This is basically Jokic of last season, he started off really medicore/bad for the first 20 games, and got way better as the season going on. This year Jokic came into shape for the first time. I think the Nuggets going to be really good this year.

You have to lay the ground work in the offseason ... Luka sadly failed. Maybe he gotta have some failures in his career, its always going up for him so far. I was disappointed seeing him out of shape coming into camp, pandemic or not (if you can't train properly in Slovenia, get back to DAL early like Brunson or Kleber. Worst excuse i ever heard from Cuban. Hopefully the MBT are less sugar coating Luka internally, and trying to guide him into the right direction. Maybe the Vets can help. Which other NBA players have come into camp out of shape other than Harden?

[khaled1987]

You have to lay the ground work in the offseason ... Luka sadly failed.

Most players said they expected the season to start in March and was acting that way. KP delaying surgery was an example of that. Maxi himself said that.

Sure, it isn't a good that he became out of shape in the 1st place, but you have to understand that it wasn't "planned" that way. I think if season was starting in March as initially thought, or players knew from September that they will play in December, it would have been a different story.

This is why I didn't buy the MVP prediction, I though we were, at best, going to see last year Luka, not improved version.

[cow]

Most players said they expected the season to start in March and was acting that way. KP delaying surgery was an example of that. Maxi himself said that.

Sure, it isn't a good that he became out of shape in the 1st place, but you have to understand that it wasn't "planned" that way. I think if season was starting in March as initially thought, or players knew from September that they will play in December, it would have been a different story.

This is why I didn't buy the MVP prediction, I though we were, at best, going to see last year Luka, not improved version.

Projected start date or not, it's still somewhat troubling.  Maybe he's more Shaq than he is Kobe from the perspective of taking care of his body.

[FunkBoreland]

In the bubble his defense looked way better.

I remember that, Coach Carlisle thought he play his best defense in the clipper series. My only complaint with that is that he should of been playing like that during the season.

I was a little concerned he answered that Townsend question the way he did. I am not sure if he fully understands that being in the best possible shape does wonders for his game.

Was it the one where he answer, "I was never a muscular guy". Yeah, neither did I like that response. He didn't self-criticize or seem ashamed of his weight gain at all. Out of all the players I followed from the Mavs, I didn't see much of Doncic working out in the offseason. Compared to Burke, THJ and KP those guys were in the gym. Heck KP was training with boxing champion Mairis Briedis.

Maybe he gotta have some failures in his career, its always going up for him so far.

I don't know about that. His been a winner not by accident but because of his competitiveness of the game.

[omahen]

Wow, the overreactions after one lost game... I will rather focus on the positive. 

Our star player had 32 points and everyone complains what a bad game he had. Nice place to be in...

Defense was good.

Mavs shot 24 % from three yet stayed in the game. I guess their shooting levelized to the normal percentage after 3 extremely hot shooting preseason games. Shooting will improve. It also had to be said Phoenix played very good defense.

Mavs were without number 2 yet still in play.

[Thukydides]

My take away:

1) Luka looks brutal. Can´t get by anyone. Has issues finishing at the rim. And most of all he still takes those insane threes and they are way way off. CP3 knows how to handle clutch situations. As soon as we were down three with 1:06 to go, I know Luka was going to take a step back three. And of course he missed it. Absolutely no need for that. And the reason is, as I´ve said many times, he isn´t in shape and I´m happy some around here don´t like the stupid "I was never a muscular guy."-response either.

2) Our defense looked improved. Richardson does wonders for our wing defense. 

3) The big elephant in the room: Powell looks absolutely unplayable. The defense is even worse than before his injury and the lob threat isn´t there anymore. Don´t let Followill and Harper trick you into believing he looks the same. The elite-athleticism is gone and will never come back. This is brutal contract to have on the books. At least RC went with WCS in the end, so he seems to have noticed too.

4) Brunson was great, but still the bench didn´t have great synergy. Many empty possessions, that led to nothing. 

5) Was expecting more from Johnson, but it seems like he´s simply washed. 


1) and 3) are major major issues which can´t be improved quickly. 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. So here we are. Let´s see what the season brings, but Luka´s coming back way worse than last season doesn´t bode well.

[cow]

4) Brunson was great, but still the bench didn´t have great synergy. Many empty possessions, that led to nothing. 

I'd call Brunson a wash overall.  Sure he helped tie the game up but his play in the first half was brutal.

[omahen]

Can we please implement the downvote button?

[wisco]

Just watched the game re-live here in Germany. So on the most important possessions of the game, Kleber takes a quick three and Doncic follow it up with a step back 3 which he didnt hit once the whole game? Thats just horrible

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Luka isn't a great 3 pt shooter, so why is he taking so many?He is outta shape, and you can see it in his cavalier defense. He wasn't a great defender to begin with, so he needs to improve that by getting in shape. I think all the MVP talk may be distracting him. Dallas will be ok, not gonna trip over one game though. Have to remember the West is a blood bath, and the East has good teams too. A lot of teams have improved, so wins aren't going to be easy.

[aguiar95]

Pretty much what I expected came to fruition. We will be outrebounded every game with this starting lineup. Doncic/DFS/Richardson have to fight for every board because there's no true center on the lineup. No presence on the paint at all. 6 minutes of WCS and he's +14, I wonder why? Absolutely LOVE DFS+Richardson on the wings. THJ looks awfull if he's not taking a three. PHO played a very bad game and if we played decent, we should have won. Hope there's some hunger in this squad to play the Lakers (seems like Bron will not play heavy minutes). Doncic had some positives (FT and TO) and negatives (ball-hog and 3-Pt) but overall he was average (holy fuck that's a high standart).

[omahen]

We will be outrebounded every game with this starting lineup.

That is not true. We actually won the rebounding battle in every preseason game. Yesterday rebounding was totally fine - Phoenix had more rebounds because of Mavs horrible shooting. Mavs allowed only 6 offensive rebounds (same as Phoenix). Mavs missed 49 shots while Phoenix only 41. Both teams were very disciplined on D.

[Thukydides]

Yes, I don´t view rebounding as an issue. The main issue is crunch time play. If Luka can´t drive by people and RC doesn´t scheme to post him up (for whatever reason), we always will default into a super bad Luka step back or a THJ pull up or a desperation shot from anyone else. That´s going to lose us countless games.

[Branduil]

Ultimately it's hard to win games in the western conference when your best player is out of shape, his sidekick is injured, and the third guy gives you very little.

[DanSchwartzgan]

REACTIONS

• Luka is still incredibly immature and looks overweight. Three point shot isn't looking improved, but he looks more confident at the free throw line.
  
• Starting lineup was a disaster in the preseason and was still a disaster.
  
• DP is starting to make me nervous.
  
• THJ creating his own shot is bad.
  
• Maxi was not good.
  
• WCS continues to make good things happen everytime he plays. He needs more minutes. RC knows the team has success when he plays (I have heard it from his own mouth!) but still doesn't play him. RC are you trying to lose?
  
• I fear the Mavs might not have a shot at home court advantage if RC doesn't make some changes before KP is back.
  

Something you've been preaching...DFS at SF...worked pretty well last night.  Lineups that featured that were a very good +10.  This was DFS and Johnson with either Maxi or WCS.  Of course, it is hard to know if it was because this grouping was good or THJ was bad.

Speaking of THJ.  He played 40 seconds of the final 13:10.  Hmmm.

Interesting choice of Dorian to be the starter who went out early and played with the subs last night.  35 minutes at +11.  He didn't hit his shots, but 11/8 with three assists and two steals is a nice line for him.

People who constantly harp on Powell's shortcomings can't let Maxi off the hook for last night.  -19?  He was -18 in the last bubble game against Phoenix (the Suns are his cryptonite?).  Ayton pinned him down low three different times for super easy shots (he didn't do that to Powell even once).  I joked about Ayton scoring 40 on Powell, but he actually only scored 3 on Powell and 10 on Maxi.  When Maxi had another big with him the team was +6.  When he didn't the team was -25.  Maxi is no more the answer at C with no PF help than Powell is.

Phoenix shouldn't be able to clog the lane AND take away the 3.  There wasn't much room for the driver or the roll man last night.  Actually this was the case in preseason also.  I agree Powell doesn't have all of his lift back yet.  But, I can't tell how much because I've yet to see him get a clean look.  In the pre-season we at least made people pay with good outside shooting.  Last night...not so much.

Free Willie!

[TXBamanut]

1)  Why was Hardaway taking all those STUPID shots again???  I thought we all agreed to stop that last year and it worked.
2)  I agree...if you aren't hot, stop shooting 3s like you are, Luka.
3)  OH MY WORD, did either one of the Cams open their eyes once on those shots?  We closed out, and challenged and those guys were just about as unconscious as anything.  This game will be the highlight of their careers.  Agents wrote this game down for further contract negotiations.

[StepBackJay]

Man what a frustrating game and Mavs still almost won if we could have hit a wide open 3 or two. These games are going to be hard without KP.