WCF Game 2: GSW vs DAL

[Chris Porter's Hair]

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Shhh Don't let GB see this

Not bad for a guy who is scared, distracted by his graduation, doesn't care, etc. etc.

[SFrush]

In the first half Mavs made a nice adjustment re-screening Wiggins anytime Steph would hedge on Doncic. That's something we have to be better prepared for game 3.

[FNQ]

In the first half Mavs made a nice adjustment re-screening Wiggins anytime Steph would hedge on Doncic. That's something we have to be better prepared for game 3.

I think the Steph hedge is something we have to address.. dont think its a very effective tool. Since Luka knows there's no real threat to him because Steph is just trying to mildly get in his way, he drifted further away from the screener to have Steph run farther, and give the screener more space to pop. Bullock was great at it. Ntkilina, DFS and J Green were not.

Funny enough though, the plays where they ran multiple screens at Wiggins? 8 times, not a single bucket from the Mavs. 3 of those times were in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half where even SVG was in disbelief of how many times they tried it

I'm really not worried about strategy though right now. Kerr and Mike Brown are killing it, think they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Benching Lee, shortening the playoff rotation and their continued excellent halftime adjustments.. I dont think we could have realistically expected better on that front

[and1GS]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet...But, when was the last time the team won and Draymond had a +/- of anything near his -19 tonight?

You really have to stink it up to be -19 in a game you win by 9. And he played 25+ minutes! Awful.

Is he going to be humbled though?

Does he know how bad he was and how he let the officiating take him out of his game?

How he was emotional and made stupid decisions because he wasn't bearing down like he usually does?

Still worried he's going to get a game suspension for racking up too many technicals and any additional flagrant fouls he commits.

I want to say yes, but this is like the third time in these playoffs that this has happened. One of the times he even did a podcast about how he sucked and has to be better.

Really hate being a shut up and dribble guy, but he seems very distracted. Trying to play the game within the game and forgetting to actually ball.

[Chupchup]

One more technical foul by Draymond means one game suspension? What are the odds of him playing clean the rest of the Mavericks series and potential Celtics/Heat series?

Man don't look good....

No, you may be confusing it with flagrant points. 7 techs get a suspension, 4 flagrant points get one. Draymond has 2 flagrant points so far--I'm not sure how many techs, 2 or 3?

Thanks !

[cladden]

In the first half Mavs made a nice adjustment re-screening Wiggins anytime Steph would hedge on Doncic. That's something we have to be better prepared for game 3.

I think the Steph hedge is something we have to address.. dont think its a very effective tool. Since Luka knows there's no real threat to him because Steph is just trying to mildly get in his way, he drifted further away from the screener to have Steph run farther, and give the screener more space to pop. Bullock was great at it. Ntkilina, DFS and J Green were not.

Funny enough though, the plays where they ran multiple screens at Wiggins? 8 times, not a single bucket from the Mavs. 3 of those times were in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half where even SVG was in disbelief of how many times they tried it

I'm really not worried about strategy though right now. Kerr and Mike Brown are killing it, think they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Benching Lee, shortening the playoff rotation and their continued excellent halftime adjustments.. I dont think we could have realistically expected better on that front

Am I the only one who thought Bullock was hitting several really tough contested threes last game? There's a part of me that thinks that if we do this game over again with the same tactics we never fall behind by 19. I really like Bullock though. Great contract for the Mavs.

[and1GS]

That's a fair take. My counter would be that role guys tend to play better at home. While he may not get 20+ point, we should expect similar 3pt accuracy.

[cladden]

That's a fair take. My counter would be that role guys tend to play better at home. While he may not get 20+ point, we should expect similar 3pt accuracy.

I've been a bit of Luka hater over the years and I kinda feel like I didn't pick up on everything about him. He really is a better version of prime Harden. Crazy how young he is. Is there a player in the league you would want as your cornerstone more than him at this point? Giannis is better but a little older and more dependent on athleticism. I would have never thought that a team with Luka and Brunson could be legitimately competing for the championship. Wild.

[cladden]

That's a fair take. My counter would be that role guys tend to play better at home. While he may not get 20+ point, we should expect similar 3pt accuracy.

I've been a bit of Luka hater over the years and I kinda feel like I didn't pick up on everything about him. He really is a better version of prime Harden. Crazy how young he is. Is there a player in the league you would want as your cornerstone more than him at this point? Giannis is better but a little older and more dependent on athleticism. I would have never thought that a team with Luka and Brunson could be legitimately competing for the championship. Wild.

I now realize I replied with an unrelated take. Dispensary weed will save mankind. I'm high.

[cladden]

That's a fair take. My counter would be that role guys tend to play better at home. While he may not get 20+ point, we should expect similar 3pt accuracy.

'
Now for the actual reply. He started out 4-5 and and was at some point 5-9. He ended up with 6-10 but believe the last one was in garbage time (I could be wrong). Also, he played almost the entire game (44:23) wonder if fatigue played a part down the stretch.

[shazam_guy]

Please delete. Cladden isn't the only one.

[shazam_guy]

Dispensary weed will save mankind. I'm high.

Dispensary weed is overpriced but cute. Great packaging, but I miss my baggies bought out of someone's duffel coat and immediately taken off school grounds for a group test. Not complaining about dispensary chronic, though. Just nostalgic.

[tarantism]

Dispensary weed will save mankind. I'm high.

Dispensary weed is overpriced but cute. Great packaging, but I miss my baggies bought out of someone's duffel coat and immediately taken off school grounds for a group test. Not complaining about dispensary chronic, though. Just nostalgic.

make a friend who grows!

[tarantism]

In the first half Mavs made a nice adjustment re-screening Wiggins anytime Steph would hedge on Doncic. That's something we have to be better prepared for game 3.

I think the Steph hedge is something we have to address.. dont think its a very effective tool. Since Luka knows there's no real threat to him because Steph is just trying to mildly get in his way, he drifted further away from the screener to have Steph run farther, and give the screener more space to pop. Bullock was great at it. Ntkilina, DFS and J Green were not.

Funny enough though, the plays where they ran multiple screens at Wiggins? 8 times, not a single bucket from the Mavs. 3 of those times were in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half where even SVG was in disbelief of how many times they tried it

I'm really not worried about strategy though right now. Kerr and Mike Brown are killing it, think they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Benching Lee, shortening the playoff rotation and their continued excellent halftime adjustments.. I dont think we could have realistically expected better on that front

Am I the only one who thought Bullock was hitting several really tough contested threes last game? There's a part of me that thinks that if we do this game over again with the same tactics we never fall behind by 19. I really like Bullock though. Great contract for the Mavs.

Yeah the Mavs as a whole had some really insane shot making throughout the game really, outside of the third quarter. I guess there is a chance that could continue at home but we have also shown that we can weather it. Plus if they try to keep hunting Curry (likely) then we can just move him around to whomever can hurt us least on the pop. Klay poses another issue because Doncic roasted him (see the two straight easy layups allowed by Klay in the first(?) quarter yesterday or FNQ's nice breakdown above) but we can scheme around that.

Klay did a really nice job on Brunson but putting him there to start messes with our coverage of the Brunson/Luka PNR so I dunno. It means that we switch it and put Klay on Luka, which likely forces help from wherever Draymond is and we risk going into the blender. Assuming nobody gets injured, ejected or fouls out I am really curious who we close with. If Dallas overcompensates to take away Looney then he's the obvious choice but if he is an impact player again then you have to consider keeping him out there which means the choice comes down to Poole and Klay, probably whomever is having a stronger game defensively. I'd lean Klay because he can guard Luka post ups but they are both erratic and that's why it's probably a wait and see.

[Impuniti]

You really have to stink it up to be -19 in a game you win by 9. And he played 25+ minutes! Awful.

Is he going to be humbled though?

Does he know how bad he was and how he let the officiating take him out of his game?

How he was emotional and made stupid decisions because he wasn't bearing down like he usually does?

Still worried he's going to get a game suspension for racking up too many technicals and any additional flagrant fouls he commits.

I want to say yes, but this is like the third time in these playoffs that this has happened. One of the times he even did a podcast about how he sucked and has to be better.

Really hate being a shut up and dribble guy, but he seems very distracted. Trying to play the game within the game and forgetting to actually ball.

There's nothing wrong with saying, when it's affecting his game. Saying it to Lebron when he's completely dominating is stupid. Saying it to Draymond whose **** the bed consistently this PS, is not.

And people shouldn't ask whether Draymond will be humbled or not. Guy looked like one of the worst basketball players in the entire league 2 seasons ago as he led the team to last place, and he didn't get humbled. He lost a championship acting a fool in 2016 with his actions, and he didn't get humbled. It isn't happening, this is who he is.

[FNQ]

In the first half Mavs made a nice adjustment re-screening Wiggins anytime Steph would hedge on Doncic. That's something we have to be better prepared for game 3.

I think the Steph hedge is something we have to address.. dont think its a very effective tool. Since Luka knows there's no real threat to him because Steph is just trying to mildly get in his way, he drifted further away from the screener to have Steph run farther, and give the screener more space to pop. Bullock was great at it. Ntkilina, DFS and J Green were not.

Funny enough though, the plays where they ran multiple screens at Wiggins? 8 times, not a single bucket from the Mavs. 3 of those times were in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half where even SVG was in disbelief of how many times they tried it

I'm really not worried about strategy though right now. Kerr and Mike Brown are killing it, think they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Benching Lee, shortening the playoff rotation and their continued excellent halftime adjustments.. I dont think we could have realistically expected better on that front

Am I the only one who thought Bullock was hitting several really tough contested threes last game? There's a part of me that thinks that if we do this game over again with the same tactics we never fall behind by 19. I really like Bullock though. Great contract for the Mavs.

You're correct here too, but in a way that kinda runs concurrent with the idea that the Steph hedge didnt work well.

Just ran through his 10 attempts, and of his 6 makes, I'd say 3-5 were open. The 2 that are up for debate are his first 2 (Q1 5:56 / Q2 11:02), because although Steph and Poole did challenge, they were far away enough from Bullock, or any good shooter, to know they don't pose a real block threat. The next 2 he took (Q2 4:28 / 2:43) were part of the series I was talking about. Steph is closing from the side and not a threat to block, so Bullock's view of the hoop is completely unblocked. Metrics would read that in distance, saying Curry was 2-4 ft away, but that can push the wrong idea. Anyways between those 3s, there was a Brunson 3 that was created because of the Curry hedge. Each time they did it, Klay was on Brunson in the same side corner, or the corner was entirely empty. Same difference?

In the 4th, Bullock hit one on Poole (9:52) despite an excellent closeout. But to end the game we got another hedge/side contest open 3. What that tells me is that both Poole and Curry can't make it work, and the Mavs can deploy that when they need a good look from deep. Its a strategic thing from the coaches, but if they are OK with the results - they didn't kill us with it, but its one of their best sets against us - then maybe just let it ride.

Also to note: Kevon Looney (Q3 2:45) and OPJ (Q3 1:30) each had a flawless closeout on Bullock... crossed his vision from left to right (obscure vision of the hoop), angle it so you land to the player's shooting hand side, one arm up, timed perfectly. Textbook stuff. Both were misses obviously