Post#55 » by lebron stopper » Sun Nov 17, 2019 4:32 am
Powell had a great scoring game tonight, but it still feels like we could have gotten more from him. He missed like four different layups at point blank range: two that he missed while backdoor cutting to the rim at full speed (his off-ball cutting game still needs work), one that he somehow managed to get over Porzingis but it still rolled off the rim, and one at the end when he stumbled on a drive. It's crazy to think he could have had a new career high if he had just made a few more shots. Still, he had a great bounce-back from the Blazers game, where he didn't force anything, yet just couldn't get the ball in the basket no matter how hard he tried.
VanVleet continues to be good for us. It looks like his handle has improved a ton (ex. that one sequence where he stumbled in front of two Mavs but didn't turn it over). He also didn't force any plays that weren't there. He continues to be a clever offensive player who leverages misdirection to make good plays for his teammates. Only minus that stood out for me was that he seems to hold onto the ball a bit too long and the team doesn't get into their sets quickly when he runs the offense, but that's a minor point. Otherwise, I don't really have any complaints about VanVleet.
The Mavs did a great job defending Siakam, to the point where he started forcing bad shots and terrible passes in a bid to escape his funk. They also did a great job hunting Gasol in space to get wide open shots for their shooters, which eventually led to Gasol being benched for the remainder of the game.
I'm surprised that the Raptors didn't often load up their defense on Doncic more aggressively. I'm aware that he's an excellent passer, but they just can't let him beat them one-on-one and pick apart their defense so easily. One example I remember was from towards the end, where RHJ covered him one-on-one and Doncic drove on him and made a floater.