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Rockets coming off a terrible loss themselves and Harden trying to bounce back from a bad month of games. A loss is acceptable, but they better put on a good effort or it will be full depression time.

No Doncic
Possibly no Hardaway
And since it’s a B2B, Porzingis is 50/50 for either this or the Hawks game.


This game is likely worth skipping

All the games till Dončič comes back are more or less worth skipping.

After this injury, to be honest, my prediction for the end of the season goes to not making the playoffs. (which was my original before the start of the season)

BlueSan wrote:All the games till Dončič comes back are more or less worth skipping.

After this injury, to be honest, my prediction for the end of the season goes to not making the playoffs. (which was my original before the start of the season)

We aren’t missing the playoffs. 8 games above the 9th seed Spurs, so missing the playoffs is highly unlikely... Not to mention we have an extremely light schedule in February, so odds are we still maintain a winning record even without Luka. Don’t be surprised if Dallas pulls of a Bogdanovich or Iguodala deal as a stopgap though till he is back (my guess is in 4 weeks - Feb 24th vs Minnesota).

BlueSan wrote:All the games till Dončič comes back are more or less worth skipping.

After this injury, to be honest, my prediction for the end of the season goes to not making the playoffs. (which was my original before the start of the season)

Hahaha. Thank you for the laugh. I needed that.

Don't be too rough on these guys if they are beaten badly. With the way that Harden has been playing, you just imagine this game means something more for him to right the ship. So they may not even overlook the Mavs --- they clearly underdogs in the next few games, so can't expect much.

A lot has chanced since that December run. Currently the Mavs, even with Luka, have been more fragile and inconsistent. KP is still getting back from an absence, Powell is out... the lineup was kind of funky before and now you'll likely be forced to make more than one change to the lineup. They won those games in Luka's absence when KP/Powell had a good thing going on defense, that's the biggest question mark now, to see what RC will do with his lineup. We'll have to believe that they'll figure it with games and are able to at least pull out a couple of wins through this stretch.

This season was going almost too well and then injuries started happening... the worst thing isn't losing and dropping back in the standings, it's simply how disruptive this is to the continuity between Luka/KP/team development in general. It kind of feels like you've almost gone backwards over the last month because of all the ins and outs. And just as you were trying to get back on track, you take another setback. You just can never take anything for granted.

JJB starting,lol

Honestly a bit scared of the playoff spot, specially if Luka sits out a longer period. Memphis, OKC, Pelicans, Spurs, Portland and even Suns are all in play. +8 games clear right now.

aggerrard wrote:Honestly a bit scared of the playoff spot. Memphis, OKC, Pelicans, Spurs, Portland and even Suns are all in play. +8 games clear right now.

I'm not. It's like having a 3 point shooting contest with a friend. Best of 10 shots. One guy hits 3 out of his first 5. Next guy makes 1 of his first 5.

The second guy needs 2 things to go right. He has to shoot very well, almost perfectly in his second 5 shots to have a chance. And even if he does, he needs the first guy to shoot poorly.

The first guy just needs to not do horribly and he's virtually a lock to win.

We're at the point of the season were 8 games is a lot.

Think of it this way. You start the season out with a 15 game lead on another team. You think they're catching you?

Just tuning in. Didn't realize tonight's game was such an early start.

Imo, the Rockets are worse than their record indicates. I expect the Mavs to hand this team, even on the road and even down Luka. I'll be disappointed if this is a Loss.

This is a game for everybody that says we dont need another playmaker, we absolutely do, offense looks terrible, a week left to get chris paul, get it done donnie

Harden crying about getting a foul called on him is just too rich LOL!

For this team to go anywhere, Lukas gonna have to learn to stop being so ball dominate and how to play with kp

I feel like HOU isn't going to shoot 52.2% on 3s in the 2H & we'll win this one.

That's legitimately the first defensive play I've ever seen James Harden make. (You know DFS is gonna hear about that from his teammates lol)

Carslie absolutely has to find a way to get Porzingis involved. His struggles aren't on either KP himself or Doncic, it's on Carslie

NY 567 wrote:Carslie absolutely has to find a way to get Porzingis involved. His struggles aren't on either KP himself or Doncic, it's on Carslie

Struggles? KP thru 3Qs, 8/14 FGs 26 pts 9 rebs 2 stl 1 blk and he's had at least 2 probably 3 passes that led to wide open looks & should of had the assist if his teammate had knocked down the shot.

What struggles?

DJ_3_Ball wrote:

NY 567 wrote:Carslie absolutely has to find a way to get Porzingis involved. His struggles aren't on either KP himself or Doncic, it's on Carslie

Struggles? KP thru 3Qs, 8/14 FGs 26 pts 9 rebs 2 stl 1 blk and he's had at least 2 probably 3 passes that led to wide open looks & should of had the assist if his teammate had knocked down the shot.

What struggles?

I mean his struggles whenever Doncic is playing. He needs to find a way to integrate the two better.

Westbrook has been driving everything this quarter... he gets Maxi, top of the key, with 10 secs left & doesn't even want to challenge him. Settles for a 18 foot pull up jump shot, which he of course bricks.

That says a lot about Maxi's ability to cover the perimeter.