Game 38: Los Angeles Lakers (30-7) @ Dallas Mavericks (23-14) - 9:45 PM ET

[Spanish_Laker]

Great, impressive blowout win on the road without AD. I didn't expect a W in Dallas, gg boys!

[EggIsCooling]

Tonight’s performance on national TV is a sneak peek to this year playoffs Lebron!!!

[bb22]

Did not expect such a dominant win against Dallas. Wow.
Looked like a mix of the Lakers' focused play and the Mavs recent downwards trend.

[Landsberger]

The Mavs defense gets exposed when they aren't hitting the 3's. Our zone/man defense (which is brilliant btw...) completely took them out of their high triple screen sets and disrupted the rhythm of their shooters. Vogel has earned his money with our defensive sets. I really like what I'm seeing as the season wears on defensively. Everyone for the most part is where they need to be when they need to be. We have focus lapses but we also have a scheme for once that we haven't seen in 3 or 4 years.

[bb22]

The Mavs defense gets exposed when they aren't hitting the 3's. Our zone/man defense (which is brilliant btw...) completely took them out of their high triple screen sets and disrupted the rhythm of their shooters. Vogel has earned his money with our defensive sets. I really like what I'm seeing as the season wears on defensively. Everyone for the most part is where they need to be when they need to be. We have focus lapses but we also have a scheme for once that we haven't seen in 3 or 4 years.

Ya that was interesting. Didn't notice until Bill and Stu mentioned it. Will have to re-watch.

[Kilroy]

The Mavs defense gets exposed when they aren't hitting the 3's. Our zone/man defense (which is brilliant btw...) completely took them out of their high triple screen sets and disrupted the rhythm of their shooters. Vogel has earned his money with our defensive sets. I really like what I'm seeing as the season wears on defensively. Everyone for the most part is where they need to be when they need to be. We have focus lapses but we also have a scheme for once that we haven't seen in 3 or 4 years.

Yeah, our defense is really amazing at times... My only thing with Vogel, is it often comes at the expense of out offense. But the numbers seem to indicate that he's found a decent balance.
What are we?... 5th in Off 4th in D?... Not too shabby... Until you realize the bucks are like 3rd and 1st...

[Landsberger]

The Mavs defense gets exposed when they aren't hitting the 3's. Our zone/man defense (which is brilliant btw...) completely took them out of their high triple screen sets and disrupted the rhythm of their shooters. Vogel has earned his money with our defensive sets. I really like what I'm seeing as the season wears on defensively. Everyone for the most part is where they need to be when they need to be. We have focus lapses but we also have a scheme for once that we haven't seen in 3 or 4 years.

Yeah, our defense is really amazing at times... My only thing with Vogel, is it often comes at the expense of out offense. But the numbers seem to indicate that he's found a decent balance.
What are we?... 5th in Off 4th in D?... Not too shabby... Until you realize the bucks are like 3rd and 1st...

Yeah... the Bucks play is a weaker conference I'd say but they are good, deep and balanced.

If you look at LeBron's last 5-6 years this offense is his.... not Vogel's. I've railed against the no motion Bron isolation stuff at the end of games all year. The few games we've lost it's been an issue... it's also won several so if it ain't broke...

[tamaraw08]

The Mavs defense gets exposed when they aren't hitting the 3's. Our zone/man defense (which is brilliant btw...) completely took them out of their high triple screen sets and disrupted the rhythm of their shooters. Vogel has earned his money with our defensive sets. I really like what I'm seeing as the season wears on defensively. Everyone for the most part is where they need to be when they need to be. We have focus lapses but we also have a scheme for once that we haven't seen in 3 or 4 years.

Yeah, our defense is really amazing at times... My only thing with Vogel, is it often comes at the expense of out offense. But the numbers seem to indicate that he's found a decent balance.
What are we?... 5th in Off 4th in D?... Not too shabby... Until you realize the bucks are like 3rd and 1st...

Yeah... the Bucks play is a weaker conference I'd say but they are good, deep and balanced.

If you look at LeBron's last 5-6 years this offense is his.... not Vogel's. I've railed against the no motion Bron isolation stuff at the end of games all year. The few games we've lost it's been an issue... it's also won several so if it ain't broke...

I respectfully disagree that this is Lebron's offense. The Cavs offense emphasized heavily on floor spacing/3pt shooting unlike this team. Someone asked before what would have happened if Lue took over instead of Vogel. I'm guessing he would use Daniels, Cook more than Bradley, Caruso and Rondo etc. Kuzma would take the mins of Dwight and JMG and they would be better on offense but much worst on defense. Last season there with Lebron without Kyrie, The top 7 players of the Cavs took a ton of 3's including Love still ranked 5th best ORTG but was a very bad 29th in DRTG. And yes, strength of schedule also must be considered here.

[Landsberger]

Yeah, our defense is really amazing at times... My only thing with Vogel, is it often comes at the expense of out offense. But the numbers seem to indicate that he's found a decent balance.
What are we?... 5th in Off 4th in D?... Not too shabby... Until you realize the bucks are like 3rd and 1st...

Yeah... the Bucks play is a weaker conference I'd say but they are good, deep and balanced.

If you look at LeBron's last 5-6 years this offense is his.... not Vogel's. I've railed against the no motion Bron isolation stuff at the end of games all year. The few games we've lost it's been an issue... it's also won several so if it ain't broke...

I respectfully disagree that this is Lebron's offense. The Cavs offense emphasized heavily on floor spacing/3pt shooting unlike this team.

Not sure what you are watching but this is exactly what I see at the end of games. Bron with the ball and everyone spacing (or standing above the 3 point line). It's crap IMHO. The offense is Bron gets to the hoop... shoots a jumper or penetrates and kicks. no motion off the ball and maybe a fake screen and roll to pass to Davis.

This or subtile variations of it are how LeBron has finished games for several years (other than the Miami days).

We win big by dominating the paint and then go to isolation late. It's what we do. Not wrong or right... but it just is.

[tamaraw08]

Yeah... the Bucks play is a weaker conference I'd say but they are good, deep and balanced.

If you look at LeBron's last 5-6 years this offense is his.... not Vogel's. I've railed against the no motion Bron isolation stuff at the end of games all year. The few games we've lost it's been an issue... it's also won several so if it ain't broke...

I respectfully disagree that this is Lebron's offense. The Cavs offense emphasized heavily on floor spacing/3pt shooting unlike this team.

Not sure what you are watching but this is exactly what I see at the end of games. Bron with the ball and everyone spacing (or standing above the 3 point line). It's crap IMHO. The offense is Bron gets to the hoop... shoots a jumper or penetrates and kicks. no motion off the ball and maybe a fake screen and roll to pass to Davis.

This or subtile variations of it are how LeBron has finished games for several years (other than the Miami days).

We win big by dominating the paint and then go to isolation late. It's what we do. Not wrong or right... but it just is.

Pardon me for not reading the "end of game iso" part but yes, I agree, it's not pretty and way to predictable but this is nothing new with iso dominant players including Kobe before and Luca lately IMO. End game possessions are much more valuable and coaches' worst case scenario is for his team to make a bad pass which lead to not just a wasted/empty possession but also a quick transition basket by the opposition.