GAME 17: DEN (10-7) @ DAL (8-9) | 113-117 loss

[mtrot]

Are you prepared to place your hand on a big stack of Bibles and say you are 100% sure the Mavericks make the playoffs?

We seem to be thinking of this Covid situation like it is temporary. The reality is that the first two weeks of the season sucked and then the Covid thing popped up just as they were figuring things out. At times over the last week they have looked worse than they have since before the drafted Luka. So basically, for the team to make the playoffs, they need to get all of the guys back soon (not a given), learn how to play together effectively quickly after that (not a given) and then avoid any other crisis for the rest of the season, as they might be dealing with a razor hint margin for error. 

I am not trying to be a naysayer, and I am not prepared to predict that they won’t make the playoffs, but the thought has been crossing my mind for the past week.

Yeah, this Mavs team is currently playing pretty soft to be making any playoffs. They better get more serious and aggressive if they want to make it.

[RDB]

Looked to me like Brunson was getting abused defensively, which would likely be why he didn't play at the end. I suppose that's what Fuerza's mad about, but he still won't tell us.

I’ll fast forward through it again.  Who was it that was abusing him?

[KillerLeft]

Other teams are going to get hit with COVID too.  I think KL and PG13 are in protocol right now.  That's not to say that we can't get a second round featuring our stars.

Quite right, of course. By the end of the season it’s possible that what the Mavs had to endure with the virus might seem slight by comparison. 

I think what worries me so much is that the only point of the season they actually looked like a team out there was the two or three games right before everyone got sick. I am uneasy because we just don’t know how long it’s going to take to get back to that point once everyone is healthy. It’s possible that this level of play is what we can expect until the freaking All-Star break.

[Scott41theMavs]

Going after WCS is misguided. He’s a low paid bit player. You just hope he can do something, anything to contribute. It’s up to Luka and Zinger to win it. The game was there, but Zinger just wasn’t up to it tonight. The shots weren’t going down and he didn’t really offer much on the boards.

Mavs better get this turned around or they’re going to be sending the Knicks a nice pick. Really, by all rights, the Mavs should be contending this year. Unfortunately, they’re going backwards. Luka is setting records but the rest of this roster has just been overpaid dreck.

With the Covid guys out, our only consistently good players are Luka, KP, THJ, Brunson, and Burke. and Hanspard would tell me to get Burke off that list.

[Kammrath]

KP's shot chart......

[Scott41theMavs]

Why is this team so miserable offensively when the only significant players not here anymore are Curry and Wright? Curry might be a god for the Nuggets but he was only good for us.

[Fuerza1]

I’ll fast forward through it again.  Who was it that was abusing him?

No one, I am not sure what game they were watching. The Denver Nuggets commentary team was even complimenting Brunson's defense a few times, not kidding.

The biggest culprit is Kristaps Porzingis; he is not a good defender right now. Rim protection is wonky. And if he cannot provide on that end, Mavs won't get very far.

[KillerLeft]

Obviously, if we were to give out a reverse Dirkie, it would have KP’s name on it tonight.

[mtrot]

The Grizzlies are getting their games postponed because of having so many guys out, while we just have enough starters out that we have to play short handed and lose games we might otherwise win.

[KillerLeft]

The biggest culprit is Kristaps Porzingis; he is not a good defender right now. Rim protection is wonky. And if he cannot provide on that end, Mavs won't get very far.

Yeah, for sure. Offense isn’t really to max level yet since coming here, either. 

I said it all off-season: it sure would be nice if the team’s second max player could create shots for himself and others.

[Kammrath]

The biggest culprit is Kristaps Porzingis; he is not a good defender right now. Rim protection is wonky.

Yeah KP is hurting on both ends a lot so far this season. 

The Mavs desperately need him to play like an All Star. DESPERATELY. 

What concerns me is that the guys missing are solid ball players....but that's it, they shouldn't be that big of a drop off. Them coming back should help, but KP HAS to get it together.

[Kammrath]

it sure would be nice if the team’s second max player could create shots for himself and others.

I am starting to feel you more on this....

Serious question though: Did you think this way when KP was tearing it up in the bubble?

[Mavs03]

Are you prepared to place your hand on a big stack of Bibles and say you are 100% sure the Mavericks make the playoffs?

We seem to be thinking of this Covid situation like it is temporary. The reality is that the first two weeks of the season sucked and then the Covid thing popped up just as they were figuring things out. At times over the last week they have looked worse than they have since before they drafted Luka. So basically for the team to make the playoffs, they need to get all of the guys back soon (not a given), learn how to play together effectively quickly after that (not a given) and then avoid any other crisis for the rest of the season, as they might be dealing with a razor hint margin for error. 

I am not trying to be a naysayer, and I am not prepared to predict that they won’t make the playoffs, but the thought has been crossing my mind for the past week.

Listen...we need to get healthy.  I would argue that we've played the hardest schedule in the NBA.  11 road games out of 17.  Now we're about to go on the road for the next 2 games against one of the top teams in the NBA.  Sucks that we didn't take advantage of the Bulls (twice), Raptors, and Rockets.  But if healthy...yes...I think we make the playoffs.  My hope is that J-Rich and DFS will be available on Wednesday against the Jazz.  A split would be great.  Sweeping them would be a miracle.  February will be a huge month for Dallas.

[cow]

I am not dismissing your examples, just haven't had a chance to respond. I think your examples are legit. Thanks for offering them. 

Again, my opinion is not that WCS is some sort of huge offensive positive. But he offers enough as a roll threat that he keeps defenses honest a lot of times and then his impact on the defensive end helps outweigh the fact that his hands are not that good. The problem with Wes and JJ is that they can't be a roll threat like WCS so they just kill the spacing completely. WCS only hurts spacing a little.

I think my problem with WCS as that type of threat is that everything needs to be perfect for him to succeed and even then, he'll make fundamentally unsound plays far too often.  That's mostly fine when he's your 3rd big but we don't have that luxury.  Boban is unplayable at this point.  That leaves you with WCS, Johnson and KP soaking up all the minutes.  

I also get really frustrated at +/-.  Here, let's play a game.  I promise I haven't looked but I bet Harrison Barnes had magnificent +/- with GSW before Dallas signed him and he's never come close to matching those numbers again.  Was he more beneficial to his teammates in GSW or were they more beneficial to him?

That said, WCS wasn't the issue with this game and if it weren't for Luka dragging the team along and THJ getting woken up by the nutmeg, we wouldn't have even been close.  All I'm saying is that I'm not going to kill Rick for keeping better offensive options on the floor when trying to catch-up.  If you want to kill Rick, ask him why he benched God Mode THJ in the 3rd quarter.

And if we want to have a larger discussion about things that make me really unhappy, let's start talking about KP and how he is being used.

[dirkfansince1998]

I am not dying on any single game +/- , where is that happening? I am simply offering it up as one piece of information because it does tell us something and something is better than just throwing our opinions back and forth. 

Like I said, JJ was really poor defensively at the beginning and then at the very end he got punished (and REALLY seems to suck with KP, and that might be KP's fault too). But in the middle of the game and 3rd quarter was much better, especially offensively. I also clearly said that this was an observation of 16 games from me, not a one off reaction.

The point being is that Johnson just like WCS really struggles in lineups with bad spacing. Is that on the player or the coaches (current situation). WCS +/- is just as bad when he shares the floor with Iwundu but he plays most of his minutes next to Luka and THJ. Johnson/WCS is one of the worst combinations as well. Both need shooters around them or the offense is going to look really bad.

Talking about WCS being a liability on offense. Among Mavs bigs he is the wost pick and roll player. He is a bad screener and has no "roll gravity".

Among current Mavs bigs:

Kleber 89.7 percentile 1.42 ppp (more of a pick and pop player)
Powell 70.5 percentile 1.23 ppp
KP 69 percentile 1.21ppp
WCS 51.1 percentile 1.08ppp

With a pick and roll heavy offense and Luka as the ballhandler the Mavs need more from the roll man. The rim runner should be able to generate at least 3-4 easy dunks/layups per game. That´s what Powell did in the last few years. Bad spacing is still the biggest problem and one of the reasons why Luka has less space to create in the paint but not having a good pick and roll partner is nearly as big of a problem.
That´s why the offense looked a lot better against the Spurs and Pacers. KP as the lone big with better spacing is the best option on offense.
Bottom line is that the Mavs need to find the right balance. I really hope that Maxi or Powell can provide enough defense in WCS role but that remains to be seen.

[Mavs03]

The Grizzlies are getting their games postponed because of having so many guys out, while we just have enough starters out that we have to play short handed and lose games we might otherwise win.

I agree.  Why was our game with New Orleans postponed?  I'm still confused by that.  And yet the Grizzlies haven't played in a week.  Their next game is supposedly January 30th (12 days later).

[KillerLeft]

Why is this team so miserable offensively when the only significant players not here anymore are Curry and Wright? Curry might be a god for the Nuggets but he was only good for us.

There are a few reasons, imo:

1) Turns out they actually meant what they said about changing the culture of the team to a defensive culture. Turns out that they actually were serious when they told us they barely worked on our fence in training camp. This is what that looks like.

2) recovering from number one requires lots of intense work outside of games during the season. With the condensed schedule, they are not able to practice very often, and it sounds like they are not even having regular shootarounds lately. The only way to fix that is to get the guys on the court together during games for a while.

3) Can’t do number 2 if your best player shows up out of shape, postponing any meaningful play for two weeks (not hyperbole, because the offense is SOOOO built around him, even more than it was built around Dirk back in the day), your other star starts the season on the IL, and then right as things are coming together you lose ALMOST the entire rest of your rotation for a MONTH.

[RDB]

Yeah Brunson+JJ on defense were PUNISHED in the first half.

Just finished rewatching 1st quarter.  Brunson gave up 5 points on player guarded...3 on a difficult 3 by Green and 2 off a pick by Murray.

[Scott41theMavs]

The biggest culprit is Kristaps Porzingis; he is not a good defender right now. Rim protection is wonky. And if he cannot provide on that end, Mavs won't get very far.

Yeah, for sure. Offense isn’t really to max level yet since coming here, either.

I said it all off-season: it sure would be nice if the team’s second max player could create shots for himself and others.

In his defense, he's supposed to provide significant defense, but he certainly didn't do so this game. Also, his rebounds were way up last year from earlier in his career, but he hasn't do so well since returning this year.

Considering he's a threat to drive as well as shoot the three, I don't understand why he can't be considered a creator, at least as far as bigs go, but I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately, the only way we're going to get the kind of player you're talking about is likely by... trading Porzingis. Which creates another hole.

I still think our best bet for a secondary creator this year is George Hill, but you'd likely have to give up Brunson (or something even juicier) to get him, and Brunson will likely be better than Hill by next year.

[cow]

I agree.  Why was our game with New Orleans postponed?  I'm still confused by that.  And yet the Grizzlies haven't played in a week.  Their next game is supposedly January 30th (12 days later).

David Stern's revenge on Mark Cuban.  The good news is that there is proof of an afterlife.