RS 20/21 - Mavs @ Lakers (Dec 25 8PM EST)

[BlueSan]

You guys are right

1. Burke + Brunson together in a line-up? Lol give me a break
2. Luka not getting rebounds this year = in general, he moves sluggishly anyway
3. Huge problem on the Center position
4. Powell and Marjanovič are absolutely awful on defense...defensively not impressed with anyone not named Richardson and maybe Johnson.
5. Putting Luka on Lebron, haha haha haha...an out of shape Luka? haha haha
6. Luka playing some kind of wing role not playmaking as much... haha
7. Luka's passes dangerous stuff

8 OUTREBOUNDED like little kids, not because we cant jump, but because we totally lacked the effort to do it. Something is going on in the locker room guys. Probably someone told Luka he is a fat ass and now we have a problem

9 Oh yeah our coach sucks big time a lot of the things are on him with his game management to steer the way. Boy he is not doing that
- crazy line ups (Brunson + Burke together)
- no details to little things like boxing out, closing out, no fluidity on offense
- putting the ball off of Luka's hands
- playing freaking zone -> against a team that is scortching hot from 3pt and has loads of shooters and playing zone but getting raped on the offensive boards
- Putting Luka on Lebron
- poor plays ...like they came in with a set of 3 for the total game. Relying on 3pt shooting way too much


All and all this was not a bad game. This was a total disaster of this Mavericks team and Porzingis out there or not doesnt save a freaking team.
The best thing Luka would do for his career is to get his ass to some Miami or something next year on a 1 year contract.
- There he would be 100% in shape
- Buttler would kick his ass for lack of effort and discipline, entire Heat team would
- Would get a better coach
- Would get a strong supporting cast. This is totally not it. And just because he made them look better in the last two years it doesn't mean they are


Overally this game my rating
a) Brunson total disappointment
b) Powell jumping jack. He was the guy who tried the most but failed at most things especially rebounds and protecting the paint
c) Burke is a total defensive liability for that something he gives you on offense
d) THJ is an average joe on defense and a spark on offense - I give him a pass
e) Maxi didn't do his assignments well this game
f) Richardson the only one who did a good job on defense all things considering (defense is a team thing Afterall also)
g) WCS - nothing special better than Powell I guess but nothing special
h) Johnson - looked good doing some of his defensive duties did some things well on offense but in general not good enough on both ends
i) Marjanovič - This dude is here only for good spirits on the floor at freaking 7,4 he is a incapable of protecting the rim. Get it how funny is that?
j) DFS - Ok but nothing special
k) Luka may have looked ok but really by his standards was an average joe.
- passing bad
- rebounding bad
- controlling the game and tempo bad
- shooting ok, but some of the misses total ****
- defense complete garbage
l) Carlise - Total garbage

[arkuo]

Imagine if we didnt have Richardson and had Seth Curry on defense instead. This would have been a 40 point blowout.

[arkuo]

Luka is a 6'8 Goran Dragic simply put. So you really need defensive players around him like what Pat Riley has with Dragic. Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler types.

[Archx]

I think Luka did his best with LBJ, he stayed with him most of the time and contested basically every shot. Just Lebron looked extra motivated and made a ton of hard shots. Johnson looked good and strong, have no clue why Rick is not using him more on defense over Powell who is absolutely useless.
But with that being said, i have no clue what's going on with Doncic. I haven't seen him miss so many shots around the rim even when he was younger in EU, something got into his head. Even his passing game is completely off.

Mavs offense looks nothing like last year. THJ playing selfish and incredibly dumb, Jrich trying a lot of 1v1, Brunson just turning the ball over all the time instead of creating offense... i mean at the end James Johnson started playing PG

Like many have pointed out, what the hell was with the pathetic rebounding? Not even 1 person boxed out entire night. There was 4 Mavs player watching the ball and Kuzma out jumped them TWICE in like 1 minute?!?!? Rick needs to kick their asses and tell them that they won't even get in to the playoffs playing like this.

[arkuo]

I think Luka did his best with LBJ, he stayed with him most of the time and contested basically every shot. Just Lebron looked extra motivated and made a ton of hard shots. Johnson looked good and strong, have no clue why Rick is not using him more on defense over Powell who is absolutely useless.
But with that being said, i have no clue what's going on with Doncic. I haven't seen him miss so many shots around the rim even when he was younger in EU, something got into his head. Even his passing game is completely off.

Mavs offense looks nothing like last year. THJ playing selfish and incredibly dumb, Jrich trying a lot of 1v1, Brunson just turning the ball over all the time instead of creating offense... i mean at the end James Johnson started playing PG

Like many have pointed out, what the hell was with the pathetic rebounding? Not even 1 person boxed out entire night. There was 4 Mavs player watching the ball and Kuzma out jumped them TWICE in like 1 minute?!?!? Rick needs to kick their asses and tell them that they won't even get in to the playoffs playing like this.

If he had Holger in his ear every summer, he would come in every season with the same dedication as Dirk did. Dirk may not have been as gifted as Doncic was when he was 21, but he sure had the discipline that the greats of this game possess.

[Bob8]

I think Luka did his best with LBJ, he stayed with him most of the time and contested basically every shot. Just Lebron looked extra motivated and made a ton of hard shots. Johnson looked good and strong, have no clue why Rick is not using him more on defense over Powell who is absolutely useless.
But with that being said, i have no clue what's going on with Doncic. I haven't seen him miss so many shots around the rim even when he was younger in EU, something got into his head. Even his passing game is completely off.

Mavs offense looks nothing like last year. THJ playing selfish and incredibly dumb, Jrich trying a lot of 1v1, Brunson just turning the ball over all the time instead of creating offense... i mean at the end James Johnson started playing PG

Like many have pointed out, what the hell was with the pathetic rebounding? Not even 1 person boxed out entire night. There was 4 Mavs player watching the ball and Kuzma out jumped them TWICE in like 1 minute?!?!? Rick needs to kick their asses and tell them that they won't even get in to the playoffs playing like this.

Luka is in offseason mode, he should have looked like that in early November and we would had seen totally different Luka now.

[Archx]

Spoiler:

I think Luka did his best with LBJ, he stayed with him most of the time and contested basically every shot. Just Lebron looked extra motivated and made a ton of hard shots. Johnson looked good and strong, have no clue why Rick is not using him more on defense over Powell who is absolutely useless.
But with that being said, i have no clue what's going on with Doncic. I haven't seen him miss so many shots around the rim even when he was younger in EU, something got into his head. Even his passing game is completely off.

Mavs offense looks nothing like last year. THJ playing selfish and incredibly dumb, Jrich trying a lot of 1v1, Brunson just turning the ball over all the time instead of creating offense... i mean at the end James Johnson started playing PG

Like many have pointed out, what the hell was with the pathetic rebounding? Not even 1 person boxed out entire night. There was 4 Mavs player watching the ball and Kuzma out jumped them TWICE in like 1 minute?!?!? Rick needs to kick their asses and tell them that they won't even get in to the playoffs playing like this.

Luka is in offseason mode, he should have looked like that in early November and we would had seen totally different Luka now.

You're right, "bubble" Luka would have killed Suns and the Lakers. I don't like that he is not even playing with confidence. Something is completely off with this team in general. Gasol had 9 rebounds and best Mav player had 5. That's embarrasing.

[Bob8]

Spoiler:

I think Luka did his best with LBJ, he stayed with him most of the time and contested basically every shot. Just Lebron looked extra motivated and made a ton of hard shots. Johnson looked good and strong, have no clue why Rick is not using him more on defense over Powell who is absolutely useless.
But with that being said, i have no clue what's going on with Doncic. I haven't seen him miss so many shots around the rim even when he was younger in EU, something got into his head. Even his passing game is completely off.

Mavs offense looks nothing like last year. THJ playing selfish and incredibly dumb, Jrich trying a lot of 1v1, Brunson just turning the ball over all the time instead of creating offense... i mean at the end James Johnson started playing PG

Like many have pointed out, what the hell was with the pathetic rebounding? Not even 1 person boxed out entire night. There was 4 Mavs player watching the ball and Kuzma out jumped them TWICE in like 1 minute?!?!? Rick needs to kick their asses and tell them that they won't even get in to the playoffs playing like this.

Luka is in offseason mode, he should have looked like that in early November and we would had seen totally different Luka now.

You're right, "bubble" Luka would have killed Suns and the Lakers. I don't like that he is not even playing with confidence. Something is completely off with this team in general. Gasol had 9 rebounds and best Mav player had 5. That's embarrasing.

His bread and butter is going deep in the paint and then easy scoring or finding open teammates, if D. collapse. Now things are much more difficult for him, he's shooting mostly contested shots a bit further away from the rim and teammates are not that open. Yes, 15 pounds more is crucial for his driving ability. Add bad shooting for 3 and his game is nothing special anymore. All that was very evident already in preseason. Believing that out of shape player will just press some secret button in the season was always unrealistic. Confidence going away is logical next step, we shouldn't be too surprised, if things will be much worse, before getting better.