Game 61: Mavs at Bucks - 3/5/25 - 7:00 - FDSWI

[Sigra]

How anybody understand me is the mistery

[neiLz]

must win. schedule loss.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

We absolutely have to win this game, the Knicks have a tough 5 game West Coast trip starting tomorrow. We could get within 1 or 2 games back if we play well.

Not sure if you have seen our next 10 games, but at this point I will be content if we win tonight then go 6-4 in the 10 games after that.

That's probably a realistic expectation. But if they really are a contender, then they should go 7-3. The past few weeks only show me that Giannis and Dame can carry a team against bad teams.

I did like Kuzma last night. Very efficient. Didn't take his usual bad shots. If he sticks to that, he's a definite plus.

we have a gob of guys who are efficient. what we need is a guy who can also get some volume numbers. if he was just a ppgz guy chucking jumpers trying to "get his" thats a problem but i dont see him playing that way at all. hell if anything kpj is probably going to be the same. guys that arent efficient but are triple threat and if your guarding them you simply cant ever take a play off. that has alot of value to a team that besides giannis and dame is just a bunch of 3pt shooters

so the last thing i think this team needs is kuzma worried about his offensive efficiency. hes a guy who can attack and that opens up opps for everybody. he plays with more energy than anybody on this team defensively and if that results in a spaz or two offensively a half then so be it.

he just needs to be sensible which id say he has been. my only gripe is contested 3's id say. but in this league all the guys shoot too many of those imo

[dbrodz7]

Just got offered free tickets and a parking pass to this one, so I'm going to take my 4-year old daughter to her first regular season game since I expect this might be kind of a snoozer and a rest game.

[Wonka]

Just got offered free tickets and a parking pass to this one, so I'm going to take my 4-year old daughter to her first regular season game since I expect this might be kind of a snoozer and a rest game.

That's cool. I hope you enjoy that time with your daughter! Should be a easy W for you guys.

[BigO]

Not sure if you have seen our next 10 games, but at this point I will be content if we win tonight then go 6-4 in the 10 games after that.

That's probably a realistic expectation. But if they really are a contender, then they should go 7-3. The past few weeks only show me that Giannis and Dame can carry a team against bad teams.

I did like Kuzma last night. Very efficient. Didn't take his usual bad shots. If he sticks to that, he's a definite plus.

we have a gob of guys who are efficient. what we need is a guy who can also get some volume numbers. if he was just a ppgz guy chucking jumpers trying to "get his" thats a problem but i dont see him playing that way at all. hell if anything kpj is probably going to be the same. guys that arent efficient but are triple threat and if your guarding them you simply cant ever take a play off. that has alot of value to a team that besides giannis and dame is just a bunch of 3pt shooters

so the last thing i think this team needs is kuzma worried about his offensive efficiency. hes a guy who can attack and that opens up opps for everybody. he plays with more energy than anybody on this team defensively and if that results in a spaz or two offensively a half then so be it.

he just needs to be sensible which id say he has been. my only gripe is contested 3's id say. but in this league all the guys shoot too many of those imo

I think a team can live with a high usage guy like Lillard who is shooting 45% overall and close to 38% on threes. But once you start dropping down to the low 40% overall and low 30% on threes, no team is going to want that guy to be high usage.

Kuzma is shooting 42.8% and 30 % on threes. His history is to shoot in the low 30s on threes. No way I want that kind of guy shooting volume shots unless they're good shots.

Last night, I thought he took the shots that he's good at. I would be surprised if the Bucks coaching staff didn't sit him down and show him his numbers and told him what they want to see from him.

Of course, if the shot clock is running down, as it did a few times last night, he needs to do his thing. He hit his only three on a desperation shot at the end of the clock.

The problem with having an inefficient shooter taking a high volume of shots is that it means that someone else (Giannis, Liilard, Trent, Green, Lopez Portis, etc. ) are not taking the shot.

Kuzma's been great at rebounding, much better than he has in a long time. Have him concentrate on rebounding, defense and cutting and driving.

[tedbrogen]

Kuz isn’t really taking any shots away from Dame and Giannis. He’s taking shots from other role players. And at least some of his shots are him attacking the rim which is good because most of the role players can’t get to the rim on their own.
Be interesting to see if he plays tonight.

[jschligs]

That's probably a realistic expectation. But if they really are a contender, then they should go 7-3. The past few weeks only show me that Giannis and Dame can carry a team against bad teams.

I did like Kuzma last night. Very efficient. Didn't take his usual bad shots. If he sticks to that, he's a definite plus.

we have a gob of guys who are efficient. what we need is a guy who can also get some volume numbers. if he was just a ppgz guy chucking jumpers trying to "get his" thats a problem but i dont see him playing that way at all. hell if anything kpj is probably going to be the same. guys that arent efficient but are triple threat and if your guarding them you simply cant ever take a play off. that has alot of value to a team that besides giannis and dame is just a bunch of 3pt shooters

so the last thing i think this team needs is kuzma worried about his offensive efficiency. hes a guy who can attack and that opens up opps for everybody. he plays with more energy than anybody on this team defensively and if that results in a spaz or two offensively a half then so be it.

he just needs to be sensible which id say he has been. my only gripe is contested 3's id say. but in this league all the guys shoot too many of those imo

I think a team can live with a high usage guy like Lillard who is shooting 45% overall and close to 38% on threes. But once you start dropping down to the low 40% overall and low 30% on threes, no team is going to want that guy to be high usage.

Kuzma is shooting 42.8% and 30 % on threes. His history is to shoot in the low 30s on threes. No way I want that kind of guy shooting volume shots unless they're good shots.

Last night, I thought he took the shots that he's good at. I would be surprised if the Bucks coaching staff didn't sit him down and show him his numbers and told him what they want to see from him.

Of course, if the shot clock is running down, as it did a few times last night, he needs to do his thing. He hit his only three on a desperation shot at the end of the clock.

The problem with having an inefficient shooter taking a high volume of shots is that it means that someone else (Giannis, Liilard, Trent, Green, Lopez Portis, etc. ) are not taking the shot.

Kuzma's been great at rebounding, much better than he has in a long time. Have him concentrate on rebounding, defense and cutting and driving.

If Kuz could take the tape from last night and mirror that shot selection we would be in such a good place.

[MickeyDavis]

Kuz played through TWO 16 game losing streaks this season. Porter's Houston teams lost 55, 62 and 60 games. Being on a winning team and around great vets can do wonders for your approach to the game. If Dame is out I hope the rest of the starters play and KPJ starts, I'd like to see him with those guys.

[MickeyDavis]

Many teams, not just the Bucks, play down to the competition, especially on a B2B, but hopefully we crush them and Giannis/Dame don't go near 30 minutes.

Read on Twitter

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Just got offered free tickets and a parking pass to this one, so I'm going to take my 4-year old daughter to her first regular season game since I expect this might be kind of a snoozer and a rest game.

Same boat. My 4yo was not fit enough to go to school today after getting his tonsils removed last week but, damnit, he is going to be healthy enough to make it tonight. Hopefully Giannis goes on a heater early.

[jimmybones]

Re: Kuzma efficiency. Can we first acknowledge that a dude with his size, length, athleticism and motor... if he's also uber efficient... is basically a superstar?

I, too, would love it if our role player became a superstar.

I, too, would love it if all of our role players were incredibly complete players devoid of flaws.

[BigO]

Re: Kuzma efficiency. Can we first acknowledge that a dude with his size, length, athleticism and motor... if he's also uber efficient... is basically a superstar?

I, too, would love it if our role player became a superstar.

I, too, would love it if all of our role players were incredibly complete players devoid of flaws.

Not complaining that Kuzma is inefficient. Just the facts. And that's going back through most of his career.

He has a role to play, just like everyone else. Stick to what you do well and avoid what you don't do well. Not real controversial.

To say (you didn't say this) you want a consistently inefficient shooter to shoot more is bizarre to me.

[tedbrogen]

Re: Kuzma efficiency. Can we first acknowledge that a dude with his size, length, athleticism and motor... if he's also uber efficient... is basically a superstar?

I, too, would love it if our role player became a superstar.

I, too, would love it if all of our role players were incredibly complete players devoid of flaws.

Not complaining that Kuzma is inefficient. Just the facts. And that's going back through most of his career.

He has a role to play, just like everyone else. Stick to what you do well and avoid what you don't do well. Not real controversial.

To say (you didn't say this) you want a consistently inefficient shooter to shoot more is bizarre to me.

He does need to be willing to shoot when wide open enough so that at least the other team respects it and tries to rotate to recover rather than leaving him wide open like he’s Rondo or Simmons.

[Reddeye]

Read on Twitter

[GoldenAntlers]

Re: Kuzma efficiency. Can we first acknowledge that a dude with his size, length, athleticism and motor... if he's also uber efficient... is basically a superstar?

I, too, would love it if our role player became a superstar.

I, too, would love it if all of our role players were incredibly complete players devoid of flaws.

Not complaining that Kuzma is inefficient. Just the facts. And that's going back through most of his career.

He has a role to play, just like everyone else. Stick to what you do well and avoid what you don't do well. Not real controversial.

To say (you didn't say this) you want a consistently inefficient shooter to shoot more is bizarre to me.

He does need to be willing to shoot when wide open enough so that at least the other team respects it and tries to rotate to recover rather than leaving him wide open like he’s Rondo or Simmons.

Serious question - Could an offense be developed around knowing that a player would be wide open and plan for that by utilizing cuts/screens/curls instead of resorting to chucking up a bad shot, simply because the defense wants you to?

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

can the Mavs even field a team? this would be a brutal loss

[CharityStripe34]

Can't wait to see Dallas compete and make this a way more annoying game than it has to be.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using RealGM mobile app

[slos]

Whos is getting Trent's minutes? Jackson? Rollins? Pat?

[fan230]

Whos is getting Trent's minutes? Jackson? Rollins? Pat?

I hope it would be kpj.