Mavs looking legit

[Bob8]

Luka needs to stop with the hero ball and ISO-ing (step-back) 3s, his shoot selection has been bothering me ever since he came into the league and tonight he nearly cost his team the win.

People have totally unrealistic expectations about Luka. Luka is avg. crazy good 27/10/9 with very solid efficiency and Mavs could easily be 7:0. He might be shooting to much difficult 3s, but without shooting them defenses would have guarded him differently. Luka is playing too well and probably unsustainable at the moment. I would be incredibly glad if he continues like in first games, wild shoots including.

[ZB9]

Tim Hardaway is often a black hole and is such a chuck and it doesn’t help.

I disagree about Hardaway. He's been playing well so far this year.

He was definitely key last night on both ends of the floor. They dont win that game last night without Hardaway's timely plays.

[Stillwater]

without injuries yes...7 or 8 seed seems in reach

[Karate Diop]

We've seen this from KP before. Let's see him hold up for a full season before going overboard.

[Jabroni Lames]

Not buying the Mavs yet. Porzingis only has a .516 TS% and 100 ORTG on high usage. That's pretty bad. He's going to be chucking them out of games. Doncic is the only thing that's legit about that roster. He's elevating everybody.... except KP.

[Forbes]

Tim Hardaway is often a black hole and is such a chuck and it doesn’t help.

I disagree about Hardaway. He's been playing well so far this year.

He was definitely key last night on both ends of the floor. They dont win that game last night without Hardaway's timely plays.

Definitely had some timely plays last night. But also last night and it’s the reason he’s still a black hole, he had some wide open 3 attempts off of dishes to him but instead he does the same thing he’s always done, pump fake and starts to dribble. My main problem with this is it takes him out of rhythm and he hardly ever passes it after that for a better look and usually forces it inside for a bad shot.

If he did not do this as often as he does I’d entertain keeping him. However, he has always done this.

The chucking I will say has not been as bad as the past. I’m just hoping we can get a solid 3 and D player in his place somehow.

[ZB9]

Regardless of KP's offensive inconsistency. His interior defense has been very key.

The mavs have some of the best rim protectors in the league, and KP is the key to that.

Dirk was a better offensive creator and a better rebounder than Porzingis but he was never the rim protector that KP is.

Porzingis, Maxi, and Boban have the potential to give the Mavs a potentially elite rim protecting dimension that they havent had in a while, if ever.

[Texas Chuck]

FWIW I agree with you that Dallas has benefited from a soft schedule and while they were there to the end with LA and Portland, they gave up big leads in each of those games and it illustrates the difference between Dame and Lebron/AD and Luka. Luka's great. But he's 20.

Since the Lakers just won the game because of a ridiculous missed call it shows exactly nothing regarding Lebron/AD and Luka...or lets rephrase it: it took Lebron/AD a blown call to beat 20y old Luka.

Should have never come down to one possession. And even after that play they had OT and they got cooked. I'm not looking for excuses for the team. They had a big lead and Lebron/AD carried their team back. Luka was great, but him against Lebron/AD is not a matchup of stars that favors Dallas. That's an unfair ask of Luka, but it is what is.

[The_Hater]

I think they’ll make the playoffs as long as their 2 stars remain heathy.

I currently have LAC, LAL, Denver, Utah, Houston, SAS, Portland and Dallas as my top 8 and I think Portland is the weakest team in that group. I’m just not sure who I would leap in front of them yet.

[ZB9]

Tim Hardaway is often a black hole and is such a chuck and it doesn’t help.

I disagree about Hardaway. He's been playing well so far this year.

He was definitely key last night on both ends of the floor. They dont win that game last night without Hardaway's timely plays.

Definitely had some timely plays last night. But also last night and it’s the reason he’s still a black hole, he had some wide open 3 attempts off of dishes to him but instead he does the same thing he’s always done, pump fake and starts to dribble. My main problem with this is it takes him out of rhythm and he hardly ever passes it after that for a better look and usually forces it inside for a bad shot.

If he did not do this as often as he does I’d entertain keeping him. However, he has always done this.

The chucking I will say has not been as bad as the past. I’m just hoping we can get a solid 3 and D player in his place somehow.

Yea, he goes into chucking mode sometimes but he's been more efficient so far this year mainly because his shot has been falling more. The Mavs need a scoring minded player like that who can create offense. He's an underrated defender too.

[zonedefense]

Tim Hardaway is often a black hole and is such a chuck and it doesn’t help.

I disagree about Hardaway. He's been playing well so far this year.

He was definitely key last night on both ends of the floor. They dont win that game last night without Hardaway's timely plays.

My expactions are low but I don´t really know how a mediocre defender with 37/32/81 shooting splits is playing well. He went 4/11, 5/12 and 4/11 in the last 3 games. If that is him playing good I don´t want to know how his bad games look. Sad thing is that I do know it. He started the season 2/7, 2/8 and 2/7 from the field.
THJs is on the floor for his scoring. So far he had 6 games below league average scoring efficiency. One above (5/9, 4 made 3s).

[Swish1906]

FWIW I agree with you that Dallas has benefited from a soft schedule and while they were there to the end with LA and Portland, they gave up big leads in each of those games and it illustrates the difference between Dame and Lebron/AD and Luka. Luka's great. But he's 20.

Since the Lakers just won the game because of a ridiculous missed call it shows exactly nothing regarding Lebron/AD and Luka...or lets rephrase it: it took Lebron/AD a blown call to beat 20y old Luka.

Should have never come down to one possession. And even after that play they had OT and they got cooked. I'm not looking for excuses for the team. They had a big lead and Lebron/AD carried their team back. Luka was great, but him against Lebron/AD is not a matchup of stars that favors Dallas. That's an unfair ask of Luka, but it is what is.

Its a game of runs and yes, a center isnt an obv 2/2 from the line late in a game

And main point is that the Lakers loss had nothing to do with a "illustrating the difference". Lakers dug themselves in a 15p hole and still needed the obv blown call to win the game in OT.

[LukaV]

Well, he did drive the lane last night. All but one of Doncic's field goals last night were in the paint (9 out of 10).

Yes, made field goals, but he also shot 1-7 from 3pt, with the lone make coming in the 4th quarter. I'm not saying he should be better at drives, I'm saying he should drive even more, and that when his iso 3pt shot isn't falling, he shouldn't shoot so many.

He might be shooting to much difficult 3s, but without shooting them defenses would have guarded him differently.

If he took 3-4 fewer difficult 3s on nights his shot isn't falling, defenses wouldn't guard him differently. How differently? Give him more space on the perimeter? Unlikely, because more space makes it easier for a player with Dončić's IQ, court vision, P'n'R & driving skills and shooting. Go under screens? Even less unlikely, because you're giving him open 3pt shots.

But I've already written enough on Dončić's shot selection in this thread, so I'll stop and let it be a case of "Agree to disagree"

In any case, I hope the Mavs will continue to have luck with no injuries this season. If that's the case, I'm very optimistic about their chances of making the playoffs, and if Porzingis enters the playoffs healthy with enough stamina, they could prove a challenge for any of the other 7 teams.

[Pennebaker]

They look legit in that they look like they can make the playoffs. But they are not playoff legit. They're too inexperienced to go very far in the second season.

[NY 567]

Mavs could easily be 7-0 right now, those games vs the Lakers and Portland were extremely close. Once KP starts to get back into rhythm, watch out.

[Bob8]

Well, he did drive the lane last night. All but one of Doncic's field goals last night were in the paint (9 out of 10).

Yes, made field goals, but he also shot 1-7 from 3pt, with the lone make coming in the 4th quarter. I'm not saying he should be better at drives, I'm saying he should drive even more, and that when his iso 3pt shot isn't falling, he shouldn't shoot so many.

He might be shooting to much difficult 3s, but without shooting them defenses would have guarded him differently.

If he took 3-4 fewer difficult 3s on nights his shot isn't falling, defenses wouldn't guard him differently. How differently? Give him more space on the perimeter? Unlikely, because more space makes it easier for a player with Dončić's IQ, court vision, P'n'R & driving skills and shooting. Go under screens? Even less unlikely, because you're giving him open 3pt shots.

But I've already written enough on Dončić's shot selection in this thread, so I'll stop and let it be a case of "Agree to disagree"

In any case, I hope the Mavs will continue to have luck with no injuries this season. If that's the case, I'm very optimistic about their chances of making the playoffs, and if Porzingis enters the playoffs healthy with enough stamina, they could prove a challenge for any of the other 7 teams.

Sure he could stop taking those 3s but it’s not that easy. Would Mavs be on verge of winning LA without Luka taking those difficult shots? I don’t think so. And maybe more important, people are afraid of Luka’s step backs, they’re guarding those shots, consequently he has more room for drives and making assists. In the end we must not forget he’s 20 years old, meaning he should try as many things possible. What if he becomes 38% step backs shooter sometime in the future? He would have been totally unguardable in that case. Mavs should win as many games possible, but next 2 years are still more or less development than really contending. The easiest way is to just stop shooting those difficult shots, but not necessarily the best.

[Nuntius]

I had the Mavs as a team that could potentially make the playoffs before the season started so I'm not surprised.

[XTraderXL]

I think KP just needs one good game to get his confidence back. Tomorrow will be a great chance against a bad Knicks team. He should be extra motivated and I am sure Luka will feed him the ball more than usual to get him going. It sometimes only takes one game for a player to find his groove and KP is too good to keep playing like he has been playing recently.

[dakomish23]

Mavs look good for the layoffs but to make noise I'd like to see who they target in the trade market. Targets I like are Otto Porter and Bogdanovic in SAC. Maybe Bertans.

[blueNorange]

We've seen this from KP before. Let's see him hold up for a full season before going overboard.

yeah we have seen this kp before.

great defender
weak rebounder
elite shotblocker
wants to be a jump shooting small forward
should be a mismatch nightmare but isn't

the only thing different about him is the uniform.