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Dirk wrote:
Guy asks if the NBA doesn't value/overlooks European basketball as much as it should.

KP says that each year teams do more and more scouting and commit less mistakes (with Europeans)...

... and then he stops himself and laughs asking, "what was the question again. I forgot the question"

Their Spanish is just unbelievable.

Thanks for the translation!

Mavs will get demolished in this game. Viewers discretion advised...

BlueSan wrote:Mavs will get demolished in this game. Viewers discretion advised...

On the brightside, Eric Bledsoe is out for the Bucks, but then again he's Missing In Action 50% of the time for MIL, anyways.

You could definitely be correct here. I feel like the Mavs are going to hang tight, until about midway through the 4th quarter. That's when Giannis will take over, and also, when the Mavs will have the "who is going to step up & drive this baby home for us tonight?"

I expect Brunson and Hardaway Jr to fight over it i.e. quickly getting into attack mode & rushing shots early in the shot clock before the ball has touched the hands of multiple teammates. Actually, with those 2, that might be what we see all night. In which case, the Bucks will blow the Mavericks' doors off & win by 40.

Either way, I think it'll be entertaining... at the very least, we're going to learn a few things about this squad during this next 4 game stretch without Luka.

We learned last night that this team has a lot of fight in them, and also that they have no clue how to close out a game or work together without Luka's magic. That's why I think the same thing will happen again in MIL.

Can we sign Dirk to a 10-day?
He doesn't even have to play - He can sit on the bench the whole game. I just don't want to be depressed watching Mavs games.

Positive is we get to grow as a team without Luka for a couple of weeks. It's time others step their level of play up on both ends of the floor.

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Mavs are going to get slaughtered here. The line should be Milwaukee by 15

This will be a very interesting game, i want to see if kp steps up or folds like a lawn chair

HMFFL wrote:Positive is we get to grow as a team without Luka for a couple of weeks. It's time others step their level of play up on both ends of the floor.

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I would say he's back against SAS. I saw that he was already driving around in his car yesterday lol. When i rolled my ankle like this, i couldn't even walk for few days. NBA doctors are really something else.

Even at full strength, Sixers and Bucks look like really bad matchups. Hell, Raptors and Boston as well, although Boston is beatable. I was curious to see Luka in Philly in particular, because last year he had his worst game there I think.

Bucks have been blowing out teams left and right, so no shame if it's a blowout --- they have a nice bench as well, which makes it even more unlikely to pull off a shock. One particular thing I'll be interested in is if we see Maxi switched on Giannis and somehow being able to build a wall with his body and somehow defend him --- like he did with an inferior player in Siakam.

KP isn't suddenly going to turn into Dirk, so I just expect him to jack up some more shots and maybe they go in at a good clip. He's been dreadful in post ups, isolation and even off screens.

The man made 20-5-5 look so pedestrian that only an injury could stop the streak,

C - Kleber / Powell
PF - Zinger / JJ 2.0
SF - DFS / Wright
SG - TH / Brunson
PG - Curry / Barea

I expect a rotation like this. 3 point differential and Giannis penetration should be the focus. Maybe the Mavs put a smaller player on Giannis and trap Giannis in paint. Given the fact that the Mavs is rather poor defending perimeter jumpers in Miami game, this one could be pretty difficult. Kinda dog fight and throwing punch here and there. Otherwise, it is way too easy for the Bucks.

Well, there were cases when KP was defending Giannis just fine (I remember a game when Giannis was really surprised that someone taller than him is defending the rim).
But, it was Giannis foot KP landed on after the dunk when he tore his ACL. So there could be some mental block when attacking. Not so much when defending I guess.

Paija wrote:Well, there were cases when KP was defending Giannis just fine (I remember a game when Giannis was really surprised that someone taller than him is defending the rim).
But, it was Giannis foot KP landed on after the dunk when he tore his ACL. So there could be some mental block when attacking. Not so much when defending I guess.

That's interesting to hear from a Knicks' fan. I didn't get a chance to see much of KP's time in New York.

There is one problem, though. Giannis is a better player than he was 2 years ago. Doesn't just have the nickname. Now, he has the body of a Greek God too.

Archx wrote:

HMFFL wrote:Positive is we get to grow as a team without Luka for a couple of weeks. It's time others step their level of play up on both ends of the floor.

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I would say he's back against SAS. I saw that he was already driving around in his car yesterday lol. When i rolled my ankle like this, i couldn't even walk for few days. NBA doctors are really something else.

They should get Luka a personal driver. I know 20 year olds like to drive, but that's sorta the point. Errol Spence Jr's crashed (or more accurately stated, flipped) Ferrari back in October comes to mind.

Definitely need to add some language like that into Luka's next contract.

I have one goal for tonight. Just one.

I want to see the team work the ball around on offense & find the best shot. I don't want to see shots rushed from KP. We don't need trying to step back into his '17-'18 form immediately. He needs to keep going at the rate he feels comfortable with.

I don't want to see THJ start playing like he's Michael Jordan again. Take the shots that are there, and even if the shot is there, be aware if a better shot is available. In that MIA game, DFS stripped a ball free on the Mavs' end of the court, THJ picked it up & was wide open for a 3. If he had waited 2 seconds to shoot, he would of seen KP flashing to the rim. He could of hit him in stride at the free throw line & it would of most likely resulted in a dunk or 2 free throws. Instead, he immediately jacked up the 3 & bricked it.

This team doesn't have the best situational awareness when Luka isn't on the court, and that's putting it mildly.

And, as you all know by now, I do not want to see Jalen Brunson give us another rendition of his hero ball. I hope Carlisle jumped his ass after last game & he takes a team first mindset tonight. Even for an off guard, Brunson is too aggressive. For a point guard, Brunson's approach is ridiculously bad. I don't know. I haven't really looked at it that close. Maybe Brunson just lacks those passing skills. Maybe size isn't the only reason he slipped to 33rd in the '18 draft.

I hope Seth Curry isn't invisible tonight. I hope he gets 25 minutes and isn't bashful about shooting.

I wanna see Delon Wright get 20 minutes tonight, and I hope he asserts himself into the offense. That might be a big ask for him, but we're gonna need it tonight.

DJ_3_Ball wrote:

Archx wrote:

HMFFL wrote:Positive is we get to grow as a team without Luka for a couple of weeks. It's time others step their level of play up on both ends of the floor.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

I would say he's back against SAS. I saw that he was already driving around in his car yesterday lol. When i rolled my ankle like this, i couldn't even walk for few days. NBA doctors are really something else.

They should get Luka a personal driver. I know 20 year olds like to drive, but that's sorta the point. Errol Spence Jr's crashed (or more accurately stated, flipped) Ferrari back in October comes to mind.

Definitely need to add some language like that into Luka's next contract.

You can't control everything in life and we actually never heard that he is driving fast or anything like that. When he is filming his music, he is mostly driving really slow or standing at the traffic lights. Even professional drivers have serious accidents, so most of the time, it's not even your fault when you crash. Sh*t just happens.

Archx wrote:You can't control everything in life and we actually never heard that he is driving fast or anything like that. When he is filming his music, he is mostly driving really slow or standing at the traffic lights. Even professional drivers have serious accidents, so most of the time, it's not even your fault when you crash. Sh*t just happens.

I'm trying to remember, for certain. So, I'm not 100% sure, but I think in the Mina Kimes pieces she did on Luka prior to the '18 draft, for ESPN the Magazine, I think she did talk about Luka driving pretty fast through the streets of Barcelona. I'm like 99.9% sure she said he was driving some really expensive sports car capable of doing 200+ mph or whatever. I'm pretty sure that's where that idea in my head came from.

But, come'on bro. You didn't drive like a wild man when you were that age? There's a reason auto insurance is sky high for men under the age of 25.

I know myself. I got 3 speeding tickets before my 17th birthday. All 3 of them for exceeding the speed limit by 30 mph, so they were expensive. I had a part-time job at a fast food restaurant and literally 1/3 of my income that year went to the City of Allen for speeding tickets!

I didn't even learn my lesson. When I was 19, I was doing 105 mph (in a car that you should never try to drive 105mph in. It was like a 1985 Plymouth Grand Fury smh lol). I was on some country highway between Fort Worth & Abilene. County Sheriff spots me going the other direction and I see him cut across the grass separating both directions of travel, and there's a hill coming up, so I get the bright idea that if I can just beat him to the other side of the hill, then he won't see me turn off the road & keep chasing me down the highway.

I do beat him to the hill. I turn off on a side road and pull behind some barn. About 2 minutes later, this sheriff pulls up to me, gets out of his car with his gun drawn and tells me to slowly get out of my vehicle. (I guess driving down dirt road & kicking up dust isn't the best for not leaving a trail of where you've been LOL).

I was really, REALLY fortunate that he didn't take me to jail that night. I think he looked at me, saw the wet spot in the front of my pants and the fear of God on my face and had mercy on me. I never drove like an **** on the highway since.

But, it took an experience like that for me to actually learn my lesson. I mean, Jesus Christ, people call Luka a God in basketball sneakers. You don't think he feels untouchable? I did at 20. You don't think about death or anything serious like that. No European basketball player should be able to forget the loss of Drazen Petrovic, which goes to your point about another driver. But, still I'd rather have a guy whose been driving in Dallas for the last 25 years. Some limo driver in his late 40s that depends on the safe transport of Luka Doncic for his family's income. I'd rather have that guy behind the wheel of Luka's car, than himself.

Dirk said in an interview a couple years ago that one of the things he looked forward to doing when he retired was going skiing in Europe with his family. Because it was not permitted in his contract i.e. Sonny Bono. So, adding those kinda things to a player's contract can be effective.

I don't see why anyone would take the "eh, whatever. Kids will be kids approach". When you can at least try to reduce the risk.

DJ_3_Ball wrote:

Archx wrote:

HMFFL wrote:Positive is we get to grow as a team without Luka for a couple of weeks. It's time others step their level of play up on both ends of the floor.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

I would say he's back against SAS. I saw that he was already driving around in his car yesterday lol. When i rolled my ankle like this, i couldn't even walk for few days. NBA doctors are really something else.

They should get Luka a personal driver. I know 20 year olds like to drive, but that's sorta the point. Errol Spence Jr's crashed (or more accurately stated, flipped) Ferrari back in October comes to mind.

Definitely need to add some language like that into Luka's next contract.

This is a dumb take, Spence was drunk driving coming from a club at like 2am. If luka gets a dwi then you'd have an argument, just a weird assessment

Surprisingly good job on defense so far. Great effort on that end.