RS 16/17 - G26 - Mavericks @ Jazz (Dec. 16 - 10:30PM EST)

[Dirk]

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Mavs.com | ESPN Dallas | NBA.com
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[JamesConway]

Here we go, two more weeks in 2016 and nine games to finish out the calendar year including:

- seven games on the road
- a four games in five nights-stretch
- matchups with Golden State, the Clippers, Houston, Utah, Portland
- road games at New Orleans and at the LAL
- second night of a B2B at Denver
- another game in DAL against the Kings who ran us off the court the other night

I honestly don't see how we win more than one or two games and even that might be a stretch. In case we do go e.g. 1-8 and we'd fall to 7-27 and 20 games below .500 after the first 34 games.

I think at that point some type of roster move is inevitable...

[Dirk]

Here we go, two more weeks in 2016 and nine games to finish out the calendar year including:

- seven games on the road
- a four games in five nights-stretch
- matchups with Golden State, the Clippers, Houston, Utah, Portland
- road games at New Orleans and at the LAL
- second night of a B2B at Denver
- another game in DAL against the Kings who ran us off the court the other night

I honestly don't see how we win more than one or two games and even that might be a stretch. In case we do go e.g. 1-8 and we'd fall to 7-27 and 20 games below .500 after the first 34 games.

I think at that point some type of roster move is inevitable...

Yeah, the way the schedule is set up with the b2b games, 8 games in 14 days, it makes it even harder to see wins. Kings, Pelicans, Nuggets and Lakers are obvious names the Mavs can beat on a good day. The Blazers have struggled a bit as well. Even Houston I think can be beaten if all things work out on the day. Still, reallistically, it's the two games. Maybe three at best. With no one being surprised if they only win one and come close in a couple of others.

Our rivals.

I dislike the Wolves for how overrated they were but I never imagined they could be this bad. Can we still trust that they'll figure it out and pull away from the bottom? Jeez

Sixers - Three(4) straight winnable games.

Spoiler:

Dec. 16 Los Angeles 8:00
Dec. 18 Brooklyn 6:00
Dec. 20 New Orleans 7:00
Dec. 23 at Phoenix 9:00
Dec. 26 at Sacramento 10:30
Dec. 29 at Utah 9:00
Dec. 30 at Denver 9:00

Suns - Rough schedule

Spoiler:

Dec. 17 at Oklahoma City 5:00
Dec. 19 at Minnesota 8:00
Dec. 21 Houston 9:00
Dec. 23 Philadelphia 9:00
Dec. 26 at Houston 8:00
Dec. 28 at San Antonio 8:30
Dec. 29 Toronto 9:00
Dec. 31 at Utah 8:00

Nets - Road games galore.

Spoiler:

Dec. 16 at Orlando 7:00
Dec. 18 at Philadelphia 6:00
Dec. 20 at Toronto 7:30
Dec. 22 Golden State 7:30
Dec. 23 at Cleveland 7:30
Dec. 26 Charlotte 7:30
Dec. 28 at Chicago 8:00
Dec. 30 at Washington 7:00

I guess we'll eventually see other teams "tank", but it feels like all the others like Miami, NO, Orlando... should win enough games to finish above the Mavs.

How have you been handling the tanking mentality? It has really made it hard for me to watch games. I've generally been rooting for wins aka playing well. But then I feel guilty as well. They were up 12 against the Pistons and I was feeling guilty. Then they have that bad run and I was upset with them blowing the game like that.

The worst thing is: you look around at these other bad teams and it frustrates you because you know they won't win many games. They basically force you to be unhappy with your team winning. It'd be nice to have a cushion so that you could freely watch games without feeling guilt.

The best is like you mention, do the moves that get some assets for the veterans. Accept 'losing' and let's move on. In a way I still feel they are tanking with the Dirk injury, but maybe I am in denial there. Thing is: if they keep Deron, with Barea, Dirk back........... you know they will botch the top 4 pick.

[Devassa]

Here we go, two more weeks in 2016 and nine games to finish out the calendar year including:

- seven games on the road
- a four games in five nights-stretch
- matchups with Golden State, the Clippers, Houston, Utah, Portland
- road games at New Orleans and at the LAL
- second night of a B2B at Denver
- another game in DAL against the Kings who ran us off the court the other night

I honestly don't see how we win more than one or two games and even that might be a stretch. In case we do go e.g. 1-8 and we'd fall to 7-27 and 20 games below .500 after the first 34 games.

I think at that point some type of roster move is inevitable...

Yeah, the way the schedule is set up with the b2b games, 8 games in 14 days, it makes it even harder to see wins. Kings, Pelicans, Nuggets and Lakers are obvious names the Mavs can beat on a good day. The Blazers have struggled a bit as well. Even Houston I think can be beaten if all things work out on the day. Still, reallistically, it's the two games. Maybe three at best. With no one being surprised if they only win one and come close in a couple of others.

Our rivals.

I dislike the Wolves for how overrated they were but I never imagined they could be this bad. Can we still trust that they'll figure it out and pull away from the bottom? Jeez

Sixers - Three(4) straight winnable games.

Spoiler:

Dec. 16 Los Angeles 8:00
Dec. 18 Brooklyn 6:00
Dec. 20 New Orleans 7:00
Dec. 23 at Phoenix 9:00
Dec. 26 at Sacramento 10:30
Dec. 29 at Utah 9:00
Dec. 30 at Denver 9:00

Suns - Rough schedule

Spoiler:

Dec. 17 at Oklahoma City 5:00
Dec. 19 at Minnesota 8:00
Dec. 21 Houston 9:00
Dec. 23 Philadelphia 9:00
Dec. 26 at Houston 8:00
Dec. 28 at San Antonio 8:30
Dec. 29 Toronto 9:00
Dec. 31 at Utah 8:00

Nets - Road games galore.

Spoiler:

Dec. 16 at Orlando 7:00
Dec. 18 at Philadelphia 6:00
Dec. 20 at Toronto 7:30
Dec. 22 Golden State 7:30
Dec. 23 at Cleveland 7:30
Dec. 26 Charlotte 7:30
Dec. 28 at Chicago 8:00
Dec. 30 at Washington 7:00

I guess we'll eventually see other teams "tank", but it feels like all the others like Miami, NO, Orlando... should win enough games to finish above the Mavs.

How have you been handling the tanking mentality? It has really made it hard for me to watch games. I've generally been rooting for wins aka playing well. But then I feel guilty as well. They were up 12 against the Pistons and I was feeling guilty. Then they have that bad run and I was upset with them blowing the game like that.

The worst thing is: you look around at these other bad teams and it frustrates you because you know they won't win many games. They basically force you to be unhappy with your team winning. It'd be nice to have a cushion so that you could freely watch games without feeling guilt.

The best is like you mention, do the moves that get some assets for the veterans. Accept 'losing' and let's move on. In a way I still feel they are tanking with the Dirk injury, but maybe I am in denial there. Thing is: if they keep Deron, with Barea, Dirk back........... you know they will botch the top 4 pick.

I know exactly how you feel. I was almost legitimately pissed when it looked like we were gonna steal one on Wednesday. I think as fans though, we are tired of sub 40 win seasons and not embracing the future so I'm not too upset about losing at all for 1 or 2 seasons and actually bringing in a couple of rookies that can contribute immediately.

[fuller4379]

The easiest way to tank is to trade DWILL. The offense was pathetic without him.

[Devassa]

The easiest way to tank is to trade DWILL. The offense was pathetic without him.

You almost have to assume they will eventually. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Shumpert and first round pick for Williams trade

[2011Champs]

I believe Mavs will be without Mejri tonight so that leaves Powell and Hammons at center. We know Hammons won't get any action so Carlisle will probably have Finney Smith and Barnes rotate at center. Wouldn't want to give Hammons a chance even if he is the only center left on the roster.

[Dirk]

I believe Mavs will be without Mejri tonight so that leaves Powell and Hammons at center. We know Hammons won't get any action so Carlisle will probably have Finney Smith and Barnes rotate at center. Wouldn't want to give Hammons a chance even if he is the only center left on the roster.

Looks like he'll be playing:

Read on Twitter

[SOUNDCHASER]

I still expect Hammons to play some in order to rest Mejri and not over use that left ankle

[ducler]

[JamesConway]

How have you been handling the tanking mentality?

I get where you're coming from.....but I've fully embraced it. I love it It's just time. Winning 28 games doesn't suck much less than winning 18. There is no benefit in half-assing this. Last year was tougher for me to watch tbh. I'm probably in the minority of fans who felt like that, but I simply couldn't get excited about that squad filled up with almost exclusively 30+ year old journeymen like Zaza, David Lee, Felton, Villanueav, etc. fighting for yet another playoff 1st round-loss after that ugly Houston-series the year before. Last year's guys were great, they played hard and were fully committed to the team and the franchise, don't get me wrong, but it was obvious that they weren't going anywhere in the playoffs and we were also not doing anything to help the rebuild once again. It sucks to loose games, but that's just the part of the cycle that every franchise has to go through at some point, so why not make the best out of it and finally start slowly getting it over with. It's not like we haven't done anything we could to drag this thing out as long as possible. We got a few young guys in the mix, a very high draft pick coming up and a bunch of potential trades we can discuss. Lots of interesting stuff to talk about even if the games themselves get ugly for quite some time. In fact I even watched some FIBA U18-European championship-ball today, bc I wanted to see the french PG and the two german kids Hartenstein/Mushidi (commented on it in the draft-thread). And it wasn't all that terrible.

If we're two or three seasons away from now and Markelle and the gang just can't turn this thing around and we're beginning to look like the Orlando Magic or the Kings then I'll start getting worried. But as of now I'm still in that early stage where you're optimistic and believe that everything will work out just fine.

[SOUNDCHASER]

only 8 rebounds at the half

[SOUNDCHASER]

Hammons with his 3 point shot and he is 3 for 3 this season.

[fuller4379]

Getting outrebounded by a 2:1 ratio is pathetic.

[fuller4379]

Hammonds still the greatest 3 point shooter in NBA history.

[fuller4379]

That was a valiant effort in the forth quarter but we got killed at the end of the third quarter for the second straight game. No worries because it puts us one step closer to a top 4 pick and a potential transcendent player.