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KAT has been a nightmare against Dwight Powell. I wonder if he is going to take the ball inside or just settle for jumpers, because he usually absolutely murders DP.

The X-Factor is how well Wiggins does though.

Luka, stop this madness

Mavs at a definite disadvantage here. The schedule was not kind to them tonight.

Wolves played in Memphis on Sunday. So, you know they've been in town since Monday. Got a practice in. They'll be rested and well prepared. Not to mention they dropped that game on Sunday vs MEM, when MEM was down Morant, Valanciunas, and JJJ fouled out in 19 min. Embarrassing. MIN will be motivated for this one.

Meanwhile, DAL, is on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, and they had to travel to New Orleans last night, as we all know. Thankfully, they closed it down early in the 4th quarter & got some rest for everybody. Still not ideal.

Ceasar's has DAL -4.0. I think I would favor the Wolves in this one. Maybe Minny -2.5. The schedule is just working against the Mavs tonight.

But, the Mavs pull this one out, and then they have the next 4 at home. They get to rest until a Saturday (1pm start?!) vs NOP. Back-to-back the next day vs SAC, but 1pm start on Saturday and 6pm start the next night. Helps a little. Then rest til Thurs vs DET, and we do play vs MIA on Saturday, but MIA has a home game vs LAL the night before. The schedule playing in our favor that night.

Basically, Mavs win this one tonight, and they have a comfortable schedule to win the next 4 before traveling to MIL.

I want everyone here to try & keep it together. Because the Mavs are basically tied for 3rd in the West right now. And, I think they will win those 4 games vs NOP vs SAC vs DET and vs MIA. They win tonight, they could very realistically be 19-6 going into MIL.

The other top teams in the West have difficult games during that stretch. A couple @ MIL for Clippers & Lakers. @ BOS and @ PHI for DEN. HOU plays LAC on the 19th.

I mean, imagine the Mavs win the next 5 and then go into MIL and beat them.

It's possible they'd be 1st in the Western conference at that point. They would be 20-6!

Even if they're just 2nd, or 3rd (but 2 games in front of 4th place), people will start to loose their minds. Start thinking this team is a title contender this year. I don't know maybe they are. But, I'm gonna wanna sit back and enjoy the ride. Not start applying too much pressure to this team. Just enjoy the "overachieving" for what it is.

Of course, they have to win all of those games first, but I'd say they'll be favored in every game aside from tonight & @ MIL. And, it doesn't mean much these days. As several folks have said on this forum. The Mavs can compete with anyone in this league.

Hard, but winnable game. Towns is a horrible defender so if KP can get his shot to fall, he could have a breakout game.

On the road on a tail end of a B2B is never a good combo, but at least no one had high minute totals in last nights game...

Prediction: Mavs win 118-111

I have to admit to you guys.... Mavs is almost must watch team for me because of luka... every day I want to see what this kid does on the court, he is truly a wonder

dirkforpres wrote:Hard, but winnable game. Towns is a horrible defender so if KP can get his shot to fall, he could have a breakout game.

On the road on a tail end of a B2B is never a good combo, but at least no one had high minute totals in last nights game...

Prediction: Mavs win 118-111

KAT is going to go beast mode tonight. I think we all fear it & know it.

Maybe MIN trys Covington on Luka. Teague, Wiggins, Napier, none of those guys can handle Luka. Not even close.

I'd expect Luka to get his. But, Kat will negate a lot of that.


Imo, this game comes down to the Mavs' bench. If they play like they did vs LAL. We'll win comfortably. If not, it'll be dicey, real dicey & I'd give the edge to MIN. Wiggins is playing a lot better this season. We gotta hope he has an off night.

This is how your free agency attractiveness can turn around. If a free agent actually believes that the starting PG is the best player in the league (whether that's true or not is irrelevant), they will be more inclined to join. Dallas will become a better UFA destination, I'm sure of that.

Crazy how KAT is one of the best 3-pt shooters in the league.
I think the Wolves will probably test Powell early and often because they know he isn't a great defender. I'd love to see Maxi on KAT more since I think he's a better man defender but RC seems to have his starters set. KP, if he plays, isn't as good of a man defender as Maxi and I don't think his weak side shot blocking will work against KAT so it might be a rough night.
Like Dirk said, Wiggins could go off tonight and that worries me. DFS inexplicably played 37 minutes yesterday but he's still young so I expect him to play tonight - he's our best chance at slowing Wiggins down. I mean, if THJ tries to guard Wiggins I think he'd get cooked.

Seems KP might actually play.
I wouldn't be surprised either way.


BTW, Minny is actually a pretty good road team - they have a 7-2 road record compared to a 3-7 home record.

Tonight seems like a good night to have Luka chase Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point record.
Luka’s stat line 103pts/25reb/0 assists(unless you count passes to himself)

We need to raise the bar on Luka.

2011Champs wrote:Tonight seems like a good night to have Luka chase Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point record.
Luka’s stat line 103pts/25reb/0 assists(unless you count passes to himself)

We need to raise the bar on Luka.

Why tonight? Twolves are 12th in league in defensive rating.

J_T wrote:

2011Champs wrote:Tonight seems like a good night to have Luka chase Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point record.
Luka’s stat line 103pts/25reb/0 assists(unless you count passes to himself)

We need to raise the bar on Luka.

Why tonight? Twolves are 12th in league in defensive rating.

Why not? Luka ain’t scared

And no, I don’t need you to write a five page essay saying why it’s not possible against the T wolves.

Lighten up, everything isn’t serious

2011Champs wrote:

J_T wrote:

2011Champs wrote:Tonight seems like a good night to have Luka chase Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point record.
Luka’s stat line 103pts/25reb/0 assists(unless you count passes to himself)

We need to raise the bar on Luka.

Why tonight? Twolves are 12th in league in defensive rating.

Why not? Luka ain’t scared

And no, I don’t need you to write a five page essay saying why it’s not possible against the T wolves.

Lighten up, everything isn’t serious

It's not about whether it's possible or not, but I assumed that you had a reason to say "tonight seems like a good night." And why would he change anything in his game anyway, he tries playing same style every game. Are you suggesting that he SHOULD change his style?

J_T wrote:

2011Champs wrote:

J_T wrote:Why tonight? Twolves are 12th in league in defensive rating.

Why not? Luka ain’t scared

And no, I don’t need you to write a five page essay saying why it’s not possible against the T wolves.

Lighten up, everything isn’t serious

It's not about whether it's possible or not, but I assumed that you had a reason to say "tonight seems like a good night." And why would he change anything in his game anyway, he tries playing same style every game. Are you suggesting that he SHOULD change his style?

No. I’m not saying Luka should change. You are such a stick in the mud. Kidding around...maybe English as a second language and don’t understand joking around, exaggerating, etc.

A normal persons’s comeback would say, no Luka should go for 116pts/30rebs...why sell him short?

2011Champs wrote:Tonight seems like a good night to have Luka chase Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point record.
Luka’s stat line 103pts/25reb/0 assists(unless you count passes to himself)

We need to raise the bar on Luka.

This is a joke. Not being serious. I’m not suggesting this literally. Way too many people just can’t have fun joking around.

2011Champs wrote:A normal persons’s comeback would say, no Luka should go for 116pts/30rebs...why sell him short?

He wasn't taking you seriously.

He just thought you were writing that because of some peculiar reason... like the Wolves being terrible on defense or some other thing.

That is why he brought up the Wolves defensive rating thing.

You just have a gut feeling or were simply just fooling around, that's fine as well ahah.

This seems like another game where maybe the bench does the damage, the Wolves have two guys who have a good rep for their defense, Okogie and Covington.

It'd be nice to see KP having a good scoring game, feels like it's been awhile since he had an efficient scoring game.

RC will definitely make a plan for KAT. Whether the plan works or not remains to be seen. It's interesting to guess what the plan will be. I think he might be heavily attacked on the perimeter, maybe occasional double. Both Powell and Maxi are ok defending far out and if they get some help, they could be more successful than most people give them credit. If RC doesn't do something real about KAT, then he might have a very big night yeah. I'm not usually calling for double teaming but I think that this team is a prime candidate for such an approach. You take KAT out and they are dead.

I would also love to see KP have a good night in this one, shooting wise, but otherwise don't force it KP, hit the boards, protect the rim and it will be good.

For me, this game together with the next NO and Sacramento one are critical for Dallas. These are all kinds of the teams that I see fighting for the POs spot and yeah I am not counting NO out of it yet. Zion is probably returning in January and that will shuffle those cards a lot.

This game is also a B2B so important from that perspective as well. I would put Maxi on KAT as well when possible or at least try it out. Definitely don't leave him space for easy 3pts he will get enough of his anyway, no need to spank us from 3pt also.

I am not expecting a win per se in this one, but I do kind of feel is a really really important game and I want us to win this one badly

BlueSan wrote:I would also love to see KP have a good night in this one, shooting wise, but otherwise don't force it KP, hit the boards, protect the rim and it will be good.

For me, this game together with the next NO and Sacramento one are critical for Dallas. These are all kinds of the teams that I see fighting for the POs spot and yeah I am not counting NO out of it yet. Zion is probably returning in January and that will shuffle those cards a lot.

This game is also a B2B so important from that perspective as well. I would put Maxi on KAT as well when possible or at least try it out. Definitely don't leave him space for easy 3pts he will get enough of his anyway, no need to spank us from 3pt also.

I am not expecting a win per se in this one, but I do kind of feel is a really really important game and I want us to win this one badly

I am expecting Maxi to show those folks who think he's overpaid why he earns his the money he does tonight. He's the only guy on the Mavs who can deal with KAT.

I'll be looking for Maxi to contain him and stay out of foul trouble. Anything south of 23 points and 11 rebounds is a win.