RS 24/25 - Mavs @ Suns (Frid 9PM EST)

[Dirk]

Ughh, so after days of Archx working on Luka's heel, he is injured again somewhere else * sighs *, what else is new?



The Suns were in a bad way but just beat the Nuggets on Christmas day.

Mavs will be on the road for five of their next six games, including a back-to-back on Friday/Saturday against the Suns/Blazers. The other teams are even tougher on paper.

[HMFFL]

Hesd 2 Head in the last ten meetings.
5-5
The Suns have won the previous two.

Both teams will be rested.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

[41Dirk41]

The most worrying thing about Luka absence is that we will have to squeeze Kyrie.

But this roster is good enough to win games without Luka.

[Mavrelous]

The most worrying thing about Luka absence is that we will have to squeeze Kyrie.

But this roster is good enough to win games without Luka.

Squeeze Kyrie until ASB, and then insert Luka and Exum and rest Kyrie for March...
Alternatively (I don't like this option), trade Gafford for a lesser center and use the proceeds to trade for a bench guard who can take the load off Kyrie (Collin Sexton is a great option).

We'll see what's the prognosis, it didn't take Luka long to recover from the calf strain in 22 it was exactly 2 weeks, and he came back like he was before it, but if the team is rolling, then just keep relying on Kyrie...

[Mavrelous]

Read on Twitter

?t=YVxRA5kI8FTAPyhxC110_g&s=19

[Mavrelous]

Feb 16th is ASB, I hope the team is in good enough shape to have him out until ASB is over.

[41Dirk41]

Read on Twitter

?t=YVxRA5kI8FTAPyhxC110_g&s=19

And even this year we will have the HC in the PO next year

[Bob8]

Feb 16th is ASB, I hope the team is in good enough shape to have him out until ASB is over.

He will be out till then no matter what. They won't be risking anything with that injury. They **** up with his heel contusion and learned the lesson. Hopefully Mavs can survive till then and they make similar run like last year after ASB. Mavs for sure can't afford anything to happen to Kyrie, PJ and Lively.

[daoneandonly]

Good job Luka! So inspiring to see the dedication you put in to your body during the offseason, paying off big time.

So in 21 years, Dirk missed 119 games. Which is just under 6 games a year. Over/under and when Luka exceeds that?

[Mavrelous]

Good job Luka! So inspiring to see the dedication you put in to your body during the offseason, paying off big time.

So in 21 years, Dirk missed 119 games. Which is just under 6 games a year. Over/under and when Luka exceeds that?

I have a lot of criticism of Luka's load, but it isn't about effort and laziness...
Going into 22/23 season with 2 ball handlers was criminaly negligent, it took him a year to recover from his injury against the Pels.
Luka playing meaningless games for Slovenia like the qualifiers this summer wasn't smart.
They got it right this year, lowered his usage, added players that can handle the ball and create for themselves, but it was too late.
Luka has carried thw highest load of any player from 2020 to 2024.
Exum is still nowhere near being able to come back according to Cato, it'll fall on Dinwiddie and Hardy to play few levels.above their paygrade.

[daoneandonly]

Good job Luka! So inspiring to see the dedication you put in to your body during the offseason, paying off big time.

So in 21 years, Dirk missed 119 games. Which is just under 6 games a year. Over/under and when Luka exceeds that?

I have a lot of criticism of Luka's load, but it isn't about effort and laziness...
Going into 22/23 season with 2 ball handlers was criminaly negligent, it took him a year to recover from his injury against the Pels.
Luka playing meaningless games for Slovenia like the qualifiers this summer wasn't smart.
They got it right this year, lowered his usage, added players that can handle the ball and create for themselves, but it was too late.
Luka has carried thw highest load of any player from 2020 to 2024.
Exum is still nowhere near being able to come back according to Cato, it'll fall on Dinwiddie and Hardy to play few levels.above their paygrade.

Oh no doubt the roster construction and Kidd's coaching plays into it. But Luka has a hand in this as well. He is a millionaire athlete with everything at his fingertips. If he wanted to put in the work to have a better body and conditioning, he could in a heartbeat. It's not like this is a guy who was dealt a bad genetic card; his dad was an athlete, and his mom is darn near a supermodel.

[41Dirk41]

Well Exum is a desaparecido like the aussie guy of the forum but... Hardy? Is he still alive? I don't like too much his basketball but we need everybody right now.
Even Powell and Kleber. Ouch. It hurts to write.

[BliscoSantos]

Mavs/Kidd will have to be very carefull how they manage Kyrie's minutes now that Luka is out...you don't want to overplay him now and risk his injury...hopefully Luka comes back after the ASB and stays injury free for the rest of the season...maybe they should also keep a strict eye on him now that he's injured,you don't want him to gain weight now that he can't really work out

[Bob8]

Good job Luka! So inspiring to see the dedication you put in to your body during the offseason, paying off big time.

So in 21 years, Dirk missed 119 games. Which is just under 6 games a year. Over/under and when Luka exceeds that?

I have a lot of criticism of Luka's load, but it isn't about effort and laziness...
Going into 22/23 season with 2 ball handlers was criminaly negligent, it took him a year to recover from his injury against the Pels.
Luka playing meaningless games for Slovenia like the qualifiers this summer wasn't smart.
They got it right this year, lowered his usage, added players that can handle the ball and create for themselves, but it was too late.
Luka has carried thw highest load of any player from 2020 to 2024.
Exum is still nowhere near being able to come back according to Cato, it'll fall on Dinwiddie and Hardy to play few levels.above their paygrade.

Oh no doubt the roster construction and Kidd's coaching plays into it. But Luka has a hand in this as well. He is a millionaire athlete with everything at his fingertips. If he wanted to put in the work to have a better body and conditioning, he could in a heartbeat. It's not like this is a guy who was dealt a bad genetic card; his dad was an athlete, and his mom is darn near a supermodel.

I believe his dad is the main reason for Luka being built like he is. You won't get an average American basketball body from that.

https://images.app.goo.gl/z7dR1aDfPKnST6bs7

[Mavrelous]

Good job Luka! So inspiring to see the dedication you put in to your body during the offseason, paying off big time.

So in 21 years, Dirk missed 119 games. Which is just under 6 games a year. Over/under and when Luka exceeds that?

I have a lot of criticism of Luka's load, but it isn't about effort and laziness...
Going into 22/23 season with 2 ball handlers was criminaly negligent, it took him a year to recover from his injury against the Pels.
Luka playing meaningless games for Slovenia like the qualifiers this summer wasn't smart.
They got it right this year, lowered his usage, added players that can handle the ball and create for themselves, but it was too late.
Luka has carried thw highest load of any player from 2020 to 2024.
Exum is still nowhere near being able to come back according to Cato, it'll fall on Dinwiddie and Hardy to play few levels.above their paygrade.

Oh no doubt the roster construction and Kidd's coaching plays into it. But Luka has a hand in this as well. He is a millionaire athlete with everything at his fingertips. If he wanted to put in the work to have a better body and conditioning, he could in a heartbeat. It's not like this is a guy who was dealt a bad genetic card; his dad was an athlete, and his mom is darn near a supermodel.

Luka has a massive frame, he's not your typical NBA athlete, look at the size of his shoulders and his torso, Luka is a PF who can handle the ball.
He went bulking too fast and gave up on his burst from his 1st 2 years, these days aren't coming back, best course of action is limit his PG duties in RS and lower his load, exactly what they did this year, but he already started the year bad...
There is a lot of gloominess about his health, but I think the direction is much better, we're watching the residue of 4 years of abusing the limit of his body's abilities...

[Mavrelous]

2 years ago...

Read on Twitter

[41Dirk41]

I hope Lively&Gafford are tired to be owned by Nurkic honestly... Last 2 games were pretty embarassing.

Oh well, i hope Kidd will not play Kleber at the C against him. But Kidd is a moron so it will happens for sure..

Limit KD and win the game, Suns are not so good.

[daoneandonly]

Nurkic is a punk. Refs were ridiculous ejecting both Naji & Pj

[Mavrelous]

I'm baffled they ejected PJ for the push...
Uglu, ugly game, but I'll take the win, welcome back Maximilian...

[41Dirk41]

Well Exum is a desaparecido like the aussie guy of the forum but... Hardy? Is he still alive? I don't like too much his basketball but we need everybody right now.
Even Powell and Kleber. Ouch. It hurts to write.

I told ya guys

Ugly game but in this situation a W is a W.
No matter how.

I can't understand the sense of the ejections, Nurkic made a very bad offensive foul (maybe even a flagrant 1), slaps Naji so 2 Mavs ejected
It was a no sense decision. **** the refs.

Klay is solid like a stone, his defense was out standing again and those 2 bombs helped a lot in bad moment for the guys.

Ky started hot but finshed ice cold.

Suns are pretty bad outside KD, i can't believe Pat will trade Jimmy for Beal. no way.