Mavs looking legit

[sunsbg]

And games like that will happen again, but you need 50%+ wins for the playoffs. You know that something is wrong just with looking at their starting 5 yesterday. 3 of them are bench warmers in any serious team. I don’t believe there’s anybody in Nba, who can win alone against a team with great shooting night, if the rest of the team is shooting 30% Fg.

I was under the impression that Luka is supposed to make those around him look better. It's not a coincidence role players stop hitting shots once the star is playing hero ball. I'm sure Luka will revert to a more team-oriented player after the All-Star break though.

That is a horrible take, my man.
I can smell the bitterness from here.

You clearly did not watch the game. Luka was passing the ball all night long. In fact, I am urging him to be more selfish at times; he should have dominated that ball Harden style after seeing how his teammates missed wide open 3s and layups. Justin Jackson alone missed 2 layups 3 minutes apart.

His only hero ball moment was his brain fart in the end - which of course, is what some people conveniently remember.

No bitterness, my man. I'm not a players fan, more of a team fan and Luka is not playing a team-oriented BB right now. He can change it anytime though, being they didn't teach him to play this way in Europe. That's what makes him unique I guess, being able to play different styles of basketball.

His last shot was not even that surprising. In LA game you knew he'll try to score on Lebron on the next play after the 3 in his face. In both cases he could have played it smarter, but he preferred hero ball. His character is the reason what he's right know, a great bb player, but certainly didn't help in those situations.

[AdagioPace]

I was under the impression that Luka is supposed to make those around him look better. It's not a coincidence role players stop hitting shots once the star is playing hero ball. I'm sure Luka will revert to a more team-oriented player after the All-Star break though.

That is a horrible take, my man.
I can smell the bitterness from here.

You clearly did not watch the game. Luka was passing the ball all night long. In fact, I am urging him to be more selfish at times; he should have dominated that ball Harden style after seeing how his teammates missed wide open 3s and layups. Justin Jackson alone missed 2 layups 3 minutes apart.

His only hero ball moment was his brain fart in the end - which of course, is what some people conveniently remember.

No bitterness, my man. I'm not a players fan, more of a team fan and Luka is not playing a team-oriented BB right now. He can change it anytime though, being they didn't teach him to play this way in Europe. That's what makes him unique I guess, being able to play different styles of basketball.

His last shot was not even that surprising. In LA game you knew he'll try to score on Lebron on the next play after the 3 in his face. In both cases he could have played it smarter, but he preferred hero ball. His character is the reason what he's right know, a great bb player, but certainly didn't help in those situations.

in certain teams it's pointless to pass the ball around if there's not talent, no movement, no ISO abilities in the roster. Not every team can be the 2016 Warriors, the 2014 Spurs, the Raptors, Celtics etc.. I agree that maybe Doncic should take some more possessions off-ball (just to exploit his spot-up shooting) but the most optimal strategy for the Mavs right now is giving the ball to Doncic and let him create for himself and for other people (the same applies to any Lebron's team after all)

[jourdy]

I was under the impression that Luka is supposed to make those around him look better. It's not a coincidence role players stop hitting shots once the star is playing hero ball. I'm sure Luka will revert to a more team-oriented player after the All-Star break though.

That is a horrible take, my man.
I can smell the bitterness from here.

You clearly did not watch the game. Luka was passing the ball all night long. In fact, I am urging him to be more selfish at times; he should have dominated that ball Harden style after seeing how his teammates missed wide open 3s and layups. Justin Jackson alone missed 2 layups 3 minutes apart.

His only hero ball moment was his brain fart in the end - which of course, is what some people conveniently remember.

No bitterness, my man. I'm not a players fan, more of a team fan and Luka is not playing a team-oriented BB right now. He can change it anytime though, being they didn't teach him to play this way in Europe. That's what makes him unique I guess, being able to play different styles of basketball.

His last shot was not even that surprising. In LA game you knew he'll try to score on Lebron on the next play after the 3 in his face. In both cases he could have played it smarter, but he preferred hero ball. His character is the reason what he's right know, a great bb player, but certainly didn't help in those situations.

He's been doing hero ball since last year, it's just how he is. The difference last year was that he seemingly was making every one of those ridiculous shots.

But your opening statement was 100% wrong. Go back and read it, the tone just comes off bitter. Who do you think in this Mavs team can create his own shot? There is absolutely no one (KP has fouled out, THJ is THJ).

He definitely should have taken the last shot but not that early in the shot clock. (actually - he should have taken a lot more shots if the rest of the team sans KP was shooting 30%) He himself admitted it was a stupid decision.

[agentofatlas]

That is a horrible take, my man.
I can smell the bitterness from here.

You clearly did not watch the game. Luka was passing the ball all night long. In fact, I am urging him to be more selfish at times; he should have dominated that ball Harden style after seeing how his teammates missed wide open 3s and layups. Justin Jackson alone missed 2 layups 3 minutes apart.

His only hero ball moment was his brain fart in the end - which of course, is what some people conveniently remember.

No bitterness, my man. I'm not a players fan, more of a team fan and Luka is not playing a team-oriented BB right now. He can change it anytime though, being they didn't teach him to play this way in Europe. That's what makes him unique I guess, being able to play different styles of basketball.

His last shot was not even that surprising. In LA game you knew he'll try to score on Lebron on the next play after the 3 in his face. In both cases he could have played it smarter, but he preferred hero ball. His character is the reason what he's right know, a great bb player, but certainly didn't help in those situations.

He's been doing hero ball since last year, it's just how he is. The difference last year was that he seemingly was making every one of those ridiculous shots.

But your opening statement was 100% wrong. Go back and read it, the tone just comes off bitter. Who do you think in this Mavs team can create his own shot? There is absolutely no one (KP has fouled out, THJ is THJ).

He definitely should have taken the last shot but not that early in the shot clock. (actually - he should have taken a lot more shots if the rest of the team sans KP was shooting 30%) He himself admitted it was a stupid decision.

Agree. In these type of games, Luka needs to shoot more.

[sunsbg]

He's been doing hero ball since last year, it's just how he is. The difference last year was that he seemingly was making every one of those ridiculous shots.

But your opening statement was 100% wrong. Go back and read it, the tone just comes off bitter. Who do you think in this Mavs team can create his own shot? There is absolutely no one (KP has fouled out, THJ is THJ).

He definitely should have taken the last shot but not that early in the shot clock. (actually - he should have taken a lot more shots if the rest of the team sans KP was shooting 30%) He himself admitted it was a stupid decision.

This shows the difference in our way of thinking. That's the point, team play allows role players to be involved without the need to create their own shot. I admit I have not watched the full game (only 4th qtr), but the video I posted suggests there was very little ball movement and too many early shots even in the first minutes of the game.

Anyway, I'll continue to be bitter somewhere else, didn't plan to dominate this thread.

[Bob8]

We don’t agree, so maybe we should try with math.
Luka and Kp 48 shots, 66 points, rest of the team 42 shots, 36 points. Only possible conclusion, Luka and Kp should have taken as many shots possible.

You watch EL and even claim it's a better style of basketball. If you think it's normal two players take more shots than the rest of the team..I don't know what to say.

I’m watching a lot of basketball, I even played a little, so I understand what basketball is all about. But you cannot compare Euroleague and Nba. It’s impossible to play like that in Europe, because you simply don’t have enough good looks. In Nba a player, who is capable the most should carry the team. If Luka and Kp are shooting 50% and others 30%, if Luka and Kp take similar number of shots and make 66 points vs. 36 points, is obvious who should have been taken more shots. Theoretically they should take all shots and they would have won by 20. I know, impossible, but...

About last shot. Mavs needed 3, it’s very questionable, if Knicks would have leave better shot to Mavs. They would just foul them after few seconds.

[Bob8]

We don’t agree, so maybe we should try with math.
Luka and Kp 48 shots, 66 points, rest of the team 42 shots, 36 points. Only possible conclusion, Luka and Kp should have taken as many shots possible.

You watch EL and even claim it's a better style of basketball. If you think it's normal two players take more shots than the rest of the team..I don't know what to say.

I’m watching a lot of basketball, I even played a little, so I understand what basketball is all about. But you cannot compare Euroleague and Nba. It’s impossible to play like that in Europe, because you simply don’t have enough good looks. In Nba a player, who is capable the most should carry the team. If Luka and Kp are shooting 50% and others 30%, if Luka and Kp take similar number of shots and make 66 points vs. 36 points, is obvious who should have been taken more shots. Theoretically they should take all shots and they would have won by 20. I know, impossible, but...

About last shot. Mavs needed 3, it’s very questionable, if Knicks would have leave better shot to Mavs. They would just foul them after few seconds.

And if I may add, I know that fans and players want to win as many games possible. But in reality is more about development, especially for Luka and Kp, Mavs aren’t winning anything this year.

[Bob8]

They had a no so good game and the Mavs won against the Nuggets.

And games like that will happen again, but you need 50%+ wins for the playoffs. You know that something is wrong just with looking at their starting 5 yesterday. 3 of them are bench warmers in any serious team. I don’t believe there’s anybody in Nba, who can win alone against a team with great shooting night, if the rest of the team is shooting 30% Fg.

There are teams out there with great starting lineups and a garbage bench. We are the opposite, we do have a great bench, even going back to last season. We have 3 spots to figure out. The good thing is, this teams window is so wide open, and unlike a lot of teams, we won't need to find our next superstar for likely another 10+ years, that we have time to figure out those other spots. [b]And as far as I'm concerned neither Luka or KP is close to where they will likely be towards the second half of the season, [/b]and we've shown way more than I thought we would have against some of the better teams in the west already despite there still being clear chemistry issues. It's very easy to spin things in a negative or positive way. Usually it's somewhere in between.

I don’t agree here. Kp has for sure a room for improvement and Luka and Kp can develop better chemistry. But Luka as individual is playing on the limit at the moment. An improvement from 28/10/9 and very decent efficiency is MVP. I would be satisfied and kinda in shock, if he ends with those stats and game. But I have to admit that his ceiling is unlimited, he will need few years of course and a lot of work.

[sunsbg]

We don’t agree, so maybe we should try with math.
Luka and Kp 48 shots, 66 points, rest of the team 42 shots, 36 points. Only possible conclusion, Luka and Kp should have taken as many shots possible.

You watch EL and even claim it's a better style of basketball. If you think it's normal two players take more shots than the rest of the team..I don't know what to say.

I’m watching a lot of basketball, I even played a little, so I understand what basketball is all about. But you cannot compare Euroleague and Nba. It’s impossible to play like that in Europe, because you simply don’t have enough good looks. In Nba a player, who is capable the most should carry the team. If Luka and Kp are shooting 50% and others 30%, if Luka and Kp take similar number of shots and make 66 points vs. 36 points, is obvious who should have been taken more shots. Theoretically they should take all shots and they would have won by 20. I know, impossible, but...

About last shot. Mavs needed 3, it’s very questionable, if Knicks would have leave better shot to Mavs. They would just foul them after few seconds.

Well, I have played in national school championships in my country, a teammate is now a professional coach. My BB knowledge is certainly not based on playing NBA2k or fantasy leagues.

It's mind-boggling to even try to defend that Luka shot. It was so obvious glory-hunting action and such players are usually hated by their teammates. Good luck with winning anything when two of your players take more shots then the rest combined.

Btw, EU game is all about taking shots from good looks, so no idea what are you talking about

[Mr B]

Mavs are in bad shape. They're fixing to enter grit and grind grizz territory: too bad for playoff success, too good for the draft picks they need to improve.

Ever hear of trades? The Mavs built their 2011 championship team in trades. There are other ways of acquiring elite talent then sucking for 20+ years and stockpiling draft picks like the Sixers did.


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[Mr B]

Mavs defense was terrible tonight. They need to improve a lot. I don't think they have the pieces to do that. making a couple of trades or tanking the rest of season.

You can forget about tanking, isn’t going to happen.


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[Capn'O]

Good morning everyone!

[Capn'O]

It feels great playing against a guy like Tim Hardaway Jr., tbh

Your lips to God's ears. What was Mills thinking with that contract?

[Mr B]

Luka "ceilling" Doncic

At 20 years old? Keep dreaming, the kid is only going to get better. Lol!


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[Bob8]

You watch EL and even claim it's a better style of basketball. If you think it's normal two players take more shots than the rest of the team..I don't know what to say.

I’m watching a lot of basketball, I even played a little, so I understand what basketball is all about. But you cannot compare Euroleague and Nba. It’s impossible to play like that in Europe, because you simply don’t have enough good looks. In Nba a player, who is capable the most should carry the team. If Luka and Kp are shooting 50% and others 30%, if Luka and Kp take similar number of shots and make 66 points vs. 36 points, is obvious who should have been taken more shots. Theoretically they should take all shots and they would have won by 20. I know, impossible, but...

About last shot. Mavs needed 3, it’s very questionable, if Knicks would have leave better shot to Mavs. They would just foul them after few seconds.

Well, I have played in national school championships in my country, a teammate is now a professional coach. My BB knowledge is certainly not based on playing NBA2k or fantasy leagues.

It's mind-boggling to even try to defend that Luka shot. It was so obvious glory-hunting action and such players are usually hated by their teammates. Good luck with winning anything when two of your players take more shots then the rest combined.

Btw, EU game is all about taking shots from good looks, so no idea what are you talking about

There is no way that opponents in Europe allow 3 points shot in last possession. Watching how Mavs has lost against LA it might be different in Nba. Obviously nobody has told Luka, that Knicks won’t foul him in last seconds. Petty.

[Mr B]

I said it before, Mavs are not playoffs team. How you can blame Luka and KP, who scored 66 points, both with 50% Fg? Luka had 63% TS. All others scored 36 points, having incredible bad 30% Fg. They just don’t have good enough team at the moment. If people are disappointed today, what will happen when those 2 will have really bad game? Should Mavs trade them?

No way that Luka continues with 28/10.5/9 with very good efficiency. He can cut 2 TOs per game and that’s more or less it. His playing at his temporary limit at the moment.

I still think they are a borderline playoff team (is put them somewhere between 7-9 in the West as currently constructed. I agree though that this team (around Luka and KP) is not good enough yet. They have a couple of pieces I’d like them to keep but overall the talent needs to upgraded. Yet when the trades start happening you are going to see the “knee jerk” guys on this board complain about trading Powell or Kleber. Watch, it will happen.


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[R-DAWG]

Dallas is very well coached and looks to have found a franchise cornerstone in Luka.

Porzingis is best suited as a 3rd option IMO, but he's still better than a lot of 2nd options.

The summer of 2021 is big for them, either landing a 2nd star or improving the surrounding cast.

[sunsbg]

I’m watching a lot of basketball, I even played a little, so I understand what basketball is all about. But you cannot compare Euroleague and Nba. It’s impossible to play like that in Europe, because you simply don’t have enough good looks. In Nba a player, who is capable the most should carry the team. If Luka and Kp are shooting 50% and others 30%, if Luka and Kp take similar number of shots and make 66 points vs. 36 points, is obvious who should have been taken more shots. Theoretically they should take all shots and they would have won by 20. I know, impossible, but...

About last shot. Mavs needed 3, it’s very questionable, if Knicks would have leave better shot to Mavs. They would just foul them after few seconds.

Well, I have played in national school championships in my country, a teammate is now a professional coach. My BB knowledge is certainly not based on playing NBA2k or fantasy leagues.

It's mind-boggling to even try to defend that Luka shot. It was so obvious glory-hunting action and such players are usually hated by their teammates. Good luck with winning anything when two of your players take more shots then the rest combined.

Btw, EU game is all about taking shots from good looks, so no idea what are you talking about

There is no way that opponents in Europe allow 3 points shot in last possession. Watching how Mavs has lost against LA it might be different in Nba. Obviously nobody has told Luka, that team won’t foul him in last seconds. Petty.

Who says he should have taken a 3 pointer, much less from half-court ? And they are not taking 3s in last possessions in Europe ? What ? That's bizarre. With 18s on the clock you have so many options...

[Mr B]

Um, except his best attribute is his passing, not his scoring. And by a good margin.


The do need it. They do NOT absolutely require it though. Most teams do not have a paint banger who is going to cause significant issues for us defensively. Rebounding has not been an issue, or cost us games. Maxi THIS season has been a very good rebounder, you havent been paying much attention. He's improved a lot in that area. Boban is capable and is more than capable of playing more minutes in the minority of games where we need to combat a very strong interior presence. Thompson would bring what you say, but our number 1 offensive efficiency is going down the toilet as he kills our spacing. This toughness attitude thing is way overblown. It's pure smoke. Guys like Thompson and Adams hinder more than help IMO, especially when you actually get to the playoffs and spacing is even more at a premium.


The Mavs have arguably the best bench in the NBA by many metrics. Depth is a STRENGTH of the team not a weakness. Quality, proven starters around KP and Luka is the problem. The supporting cast beat Denver when Luka and KP were absolutely terrible. The bench carried the team, not Luka.


Maxi shot 35% from 3 last season which is perfectly respectable. Way to cherry pick the small sample size to both crap on Maxi's spacing ability and trash our interior defense by looking at one single game.

Our rim protection on help defense is elite. Our man on man defense in the paint is poor. Again, you bring in a guy who can solve that issue with the likes of Thompson or Adams, you offset it by reducing our offensive efficiency. No thanks. Give me another high level perimeter defender to help our defense instead.

Rebounding just lost us a game bud

Biggest cherry picker I've seen. Overall defense, no one showing up offensively outside of Luka and KP. But nope, it was the rebounding. I've seen us be a weak rebounding team and be dominant, and I've seen us be a great rebounding team and be garbage. It's important, but it's level of importance is so incredibly overrated, especially the need to have one big who can gobble them all up. Oh and we are still 4th in the NBA this season in rebounding. But our most desperate need right now is a lane clogger apparently. Please. This team needs someone who can create their offense outside of Luka so they don't have to play THJ so much, and it needs a starting calibre 3&D wing, way way more than they need a lane clogger who can rebound. It's becoming much more clear why Kemba Walker was the primary target in FA.

Mavs are in bad shape. They're fixing to enter grit and grind grizz territory: too bad for playoff success, too good for the draft picks they need to improve.

Huh? This team isn't searching for it's next superstar. It already has the core of the team and they are embryo's (20 and 24)in terms of NBA development. They can very easily supplement their core with better starting calibre talent to make them contenders through trade and FA. Your scenario is more like having a 35 year old Dirk and a bunch of really solid players with a good coach putting them in no man's land to really get better (and especially younger).

This team isn't remotely like that.

I said it before, Mavs are not playoffs team. How you can blame Luka and KP, who scored 66 points, both with 50% Fg? Luka had 63% TS. All others scored 36 points, having incredible bad 30% Fg. They just don’t have good enough team at the moment. If people are disappointed today, what will happen when those 2 will have really bad game? Should Mavs trade them?

No way that Luka continues with 28/10.5/9 with very good efficiency. He can cut 2 TOs per game and that’s more or less it. His playing at his temporary limit at the moment.

To be fair, we already had a game where both KP and Luka played poorly and we beat Denver. As far as I'm concerned, while this team needs personnel improvement like I've said, this type of stuff is an overreaction. We weren't leading the league in offensive efficiency all because of Luka and while having zero talent around him. Plenty of guys had a game where they played way below what they have proven they can do in the past. It's the definition of overreaction to one game.

You can call it cherry picking if you want, it’s a fact. If they had won the rebounding battle in this game or the Lakers game they would have won. That’s a fact.


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[Mr B]

And games like that will happen again, but you need 50%+ wins for the playoffs. You know that something is wrong just with looking at their starting 5 yesterday. 3 of them are bench warmers in any serious team. I don’t believe there’s anybody in Nba, who can win alone against a team with great shooting night, if the rest of the team is shooting 30% Fg.

I was under the impression that Luka is supposed to make those around him look better. It's not a coincidence role players stop hitting shots once the star is playing hero ball. I'm sure Luka will revert to a more team-oriented player after the All-Star break though.

Did you watch the game? They were missing open shots, layups... I don’t believe that players going hero ball are having 10 assists. I could agree with you, if he had 35% Fg and 3 assists. But triple double with 50% Fg and 63% TS is not hero ball. If anything he and KP should have taken even more shots.

The guys had no idea what NBA basketball is all about. In the 1st half Justin Jackson missed 5 consecutive shots (3 were at the rim). Powell and Kleber were also horrible on the boards. Those 3 performances alone were enough to lose the game.


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