Playoffs 20/21 - G7 - Mavs @ Clippers (Sund, 3:30PM EST)

[BlueSan]

Yeah well, told you so moment I guess. I would still like to give props to the team, they achieved more than I thought they would.

1. Dončič get in shape
2. Talk to the psychiatrist regarding the FTs (cause that is in the head)
3. Keep other stuff at a similar level

And you will be a much better player next season. But first GET in freaking shape, that is only your willpower, and work nothing else...

Oh, I would like to see Rick C. gone. Not because he is bad, he is not. Just because I think they need some change. Player changes won't be so big or positive, so at least coach then...
Plus I would like to see a more positively oriented coach with less generic info for the media.

Stats standing out:

Clippers
FTs = 24/24
3Pts = 46,5%
Steals = 11
TOs = 8

Dallas
FTs = 11/17 (4 of those missed by Luka)
3PTs = 27,8%
Steals = 4
TOs = 14

Also stand out performances

KP 0/5 3pt shooting
THJ 1/9 3pt shooting

Defense wise Dallas was HORRIBLE and it was because of the slow Zone they played using KP and Marjanovič. My god that was bad. That resulted in loads of totally clean looks for Clippers. They were basically hoping they will be missing wide open shots. If that aint a stupid strategy I dont know what is

[Dirk]

Was never a fan of the Richardson trade. We lost Seth's steady shooting big time. Richardson was brought in for his perimeter defense and we have big man Kleber guarding Kawhi.

I agree the Curry trade was a disaster Richardson was pretty much useless.

Richardson had a stable role throughout the season. So I was pretty shocked he barely played.

Not sure if it's all on the player sucking or the coach.

[SOUNDCHASER]

3 more 3 pointers go in and all free throws that were missed get made and this is a new game and going into overtime.

The refs you just deal with that and play tougher which we damn well did not do.

When a coach plays a guy like Burke that is a total scrub that you have not payed all series the loss of momentum that creates is disasterous.

J Rich Trade was a total loss Philly clearly won that gamble. Seth was clearly the best player in that trade.

KP is not who he was pre injury so it is looking like he needs a bit more rehab to develop a stronger frame plus he needs to focus on creating more of an inside game.

Boban Luka DFS all played well but the team did not perform as well as it could have.

THJ was having his off game as he has from time to time and he did that a lot so you cannot count on him to be the shooter he is capable of being. Inconistency is his main problem.

Brunson lacks the size to go up against guys who are fast with that much size so that they easily can shut him down.

WE had them 2 -0 and should have closed out on them but we let them win 3 in Dallas.

It was fun to stretch it to 7 but this team needs a lot of help on defense and a second star to rely on behind Luka.

[Bob8]

If 46/14 with good efficiency in game 7, from a player on a rookie contract, is not even close enough, than someone had to **** big time making this roster.

[skywalker33]

Good Luck going forward, it was a growing year.

[wolfram]

Luka needs to be in better shape, maybe shed just a few kilos. Being said that, he clearly cannot have 40pts games in the playoffs on a regular basis. This is absurd. Ofcourse his production will drop later in games. They need to change style of play and supporting cast. Role players were a no show except DFS.

[DJ_3_Ball]

How many FGA is too many for Luka?

I think any time Luka is going over 25 FGA it's a bad sign for the Mavs.

[XTraderXL]

It's always about the 3 and this one is no exception. 1/14 from KP and THJ is the main reason it's probably a loss. Just 5/14 and the Mavs are winning.

Even if Luka played very good overall, I just can't get over the fact that he didn't really show up in the second half. And then he scores some in garbage time in the past two games, showing that he can do it.

I had some hopes when the Mavs were up 5 with 7 minutes left in the 3rd.

Luka had his "magic moments" always in the 1st half/quarter, with the exception of one passage on the 3rd quarter of one game.

It stinks that magic didn't happen in a couple of the home games where there was a shot at winning.

Make no mistake: he was unbelievable and what he did, mostly in the early part of games, didn't seem real.

Listen. It's clearly not Luka's fault, he has been the best player BY FAR. But there's a stat out there in this series showing that his production is going down every quarters. He's like the GOAT in the first and then pretty bad in the 4th.

It bothers me even more that he scored a lot in garbage time in the past two games. Why are you suddenly scoring when the game is out of reach? My expectation for him is top 15 of all time at least. So I was waiting for him to finally get that 50pt game and not slow down in the 2nd half like he usually does.

I don't even know how this team can get better. They're stuck with KP. JRich is probaby taking his option. THJ... I don't know. What's the point if you never know if he's going to be great or look like he shouldn't play in the league?

Kleber was a disappointment in the playoffs. I don't even remember him having a good game. Same with Brunson. That bench unit needed a guy like Curry so bad. And that's the worst part. With Curry we are making the 2nd round. The front office just had to do NOTHING and it would have been better.

At least that Redick trade paid off big time...

And why does his production drop so dramatically? Ok, he is not in great shape, thats on him. But even bigger problem is that this team is completely incompetent of generating offense in the playoffs without him. He has to do everything on offense for them. I bet that if you count buckets, assists and hockey assists Luka accounts for 90%+ of it. He could have played better, especially by hitting those FTs but I still give him a 10/10. He played way above my expectations and was the best player in the series, not even close. Swap Kawhi and Luka and the Clips sweep the Mavs in 4.

KP is not a #2, maybe not even a #3 on a championship team. I dont think there is a player in the NBA currently that would win this series against the Clips if he was in Lukas position. The FO has to do their job and get him some help. Luka is just too good to keep playing with players who are not good enough to compete for championships.

[Archx]

How many FGA is too many for Luka?

I think any time Luka is going over 25 FGA it's a bad sign for the Mavs.

I think he had to force it because others were 5-26 from long range. That's pathetic. Too bad they decided to have the worst shooting game at the most important time.

THJ&KP = 1/14 from 3. His two most trusted sidekicks on offense. Damn....

[Absinthe]

The Blazers will move CJ McCollum but I don’t know what the Mavs could do to get him.

[agentofatlas]

I think I might've preferred our guard rotation last year of with Wright and Seth.

Anyways good series, exposed a lot of things the Mavs need to improve on roster wise. The ball is on Donnie's court. Hopefully the fanbase doesn't let him off the hook this time.

[leolozon]

Listen. It's clearly not Luka's fault, he has been the best player BY FAR. But there's a stat out there in this series showing that his production is going down every quarters. He's like the GOAT in the first and then pretty bad in the 4th.

It is what it is, still a decent season, lots of great experience and hopefully Donnie resets this roster and trades KP for someone who can at least grab rebounds.

Having Seth over Jrich could have been also a game changer.

I'm not as excited about this season considering no effort has been made to play the rookies or get some players. I though the Mavs were a playoffs team and a first round exit with or without playing the rookies. I disliked the Redick trade as it happened. I wasn't against the JRich trade, but I must admit that I didn't watch him play much. Now that I did, I don't think we should have traded a great 3pt shooter for a guy with MAYBE some potential to be good. JRich wasn't even good last year.

The team not only didn't do any move forward, it actually regressed with JRich instead of Curry. I'm not feeling good about the Mavs taking the right decision when they have been taking wrong decisions since drafting Luka.

Maybe I'm too pessimistic considering the team has a generational talent, but it makes me sad to think that they're not on the right path to surround him with talent.

[leolozon]

Luka had his "magic moments" always in the 1st half/quarter, with the exception of one passage on the 3rd quarter of one game.

It stinks that magic didn't happen in a couple of the home games where there was a shot at winning.

Make no mistake: he was unbelievable and what he did, mostly in the early part of games, didn't seem real.

Listen. It's clearly not Luka's fault, he has been the best player BY FAR. But there's a stat out there in this series showing that his production is going down every quarters. He's like the GOAT in the first and then pretty bad in the 4th.

It bothers me even more that he scored a lot in garbage time in the past two games. Why are you suddenly scoring when the game is out of reach? My expectation for him is top 15 of all time at least. So I was waiting for him to finally get that 50pt game and not slow down in the 2nd half like he usually does.

I don't even know how this team can get better. They're stuck with KP. JRich is probaby taking his option. THJ... I don't know. What's the point if you never know if he's going to be great or look like he shouldn't play in the league?

Kleber was a disappointment in the playoffs. I don't even remember him having a good game. Same with Brunson. That bench unit needed a guy like Curry so bad. And that's the worst part. With Curry we are making the 2nd round. The front office just had to do NOTHING and it would have been better.

At least that Redick trade paid off big time...

And why does his production drop so dramatically? Ok, he is not in great shape, thats on him. But even bigger problem is that this team is completely incompetent of generating offense in the playoffs without him. He has to do everything on offense for them. I bet that if you count buckets, assists and hockey assists Luka accounts for 90%+ of it. He could have played better, especially by hitting those FTs but I still give him a 10/10. He played way above my expectations and was the best player in the series, not even close. Swap Kawhi and Luka and the Clips sweep the Mavs in 4.

KP is not a #2, maybe not even a #3 on a championship team. I dont think there is a player in the NBA currently that would win this series against the Clips if he was in Lukas position. The FO has to do their job and get him some help. Luka is just too good to keep playing with players who are not good enough to compete for championships.

Of course they are incompetent without him, I think we all agree on that. The role players, other than DFS, didn't show up in this game. Is it wrong to still hope that a generational talent can have 1 great 2nd half in 7 games? (Did he?) I think he's in the mold of the Jordan, Lebron, Bird and Magic. He can do it.

[BlueSan]

Would need better conditioning to do it

[Archx]

Listen. It's clearly not Luka's fault, he has been the best player BY FAR. But there's a stat out there in this series showing that his production is going down every quarters. He's like the GOAT in the first and then pretty bad in the 4th.

It is what it is, still a decent season, lots of great experience and hopefully Donnie resets this roster and trades KP for someone who can at least grab rebounds.

Having Seth over Jrich could have been also a game changer.

I'm not as excited about this season considering no effort has been made to play the rookies or get some players. I though the Mavs were a playoffs team and a first round exit with or without playing the rookies. I disliked the Redick trade as it happened. I wasn't against the JRich trade, but I must admit that I didn't watch him play much. Now that I did, I don't think we should have traded a great 3pt shooter for a guy with MAYBE some potential to be good. JRich wasn't even good last year.

The team not only didn't do any move forward, it actually regressed with JRich instead of Curry. I'm not feeling good about the Mavs taking the right decision when they have been taking wrong decisions since drafting Luka.

Maybe I'm too pessimistic considering the team has a generational talent, but it makes me sad to think that they're not on the right path to surround him with talent.

Me and Bob8 hated the Jrich trade and everyone else loved it I knew Mavs will have serious bench issues and it showed vs LAC. Rick was forced to play Burke

Agree on rookies. Specially Green who later in the season proved that he can be a very high energy guy who plays defense and simply makes plays with his hustle game. Freaking Mann proved valuable to Lue, can't believe a seasoned coach like RIck couldn't figure out how to give Green few minutes.

[fuller4379]

Luka is not it bad shape. He is just having to do everything.

[XTraderXL]

Listen. It's clearly not Luka's fault, he has been the best player BY FAR. But there's a stat out there in this series showing that his production is going down every quarters. He's like the GOAT in the first and then pretty bad in the 4th.

It bothers me even more that he scored a lot in garbage time in the past two games. Why are you suddenly scoring when the game is out of reach? My expectation for him is top 15 of all time at least. So I was waiting for him to finally get that 50pt game and not slow down in the 2nd half like he usually does.

I don't even know how this team can get better. They're stuck with KP. JRich is probaby taking his option. THJ... I don't know. What's the point if you never know if he's going to be great or look like he shouldn't play in the league?

Kleber was a disappointment in the playoffs. I don't even remember him having a good game. Same with Brunson. That bench unit needed a guy like Curry so bad. And that's the worst part. With Curry we are making the 2nd round. The front office just had to do NOTHING and it would have been better.

At least that Redick trade paid off big time...

And why does his production drop so dramatically? Ok, he is not in great shape, thats on him. But even bigger problem is that this team is completely incompetent of generating offense in the playoffs without him. He has to do everything on offense for them. I bet that if you count buckets, assists and hockey assists Luka accounts for 90%+ of it. He could have played better, especially by hitting those FTs but I still give him a 10/10. He played way above my expectations and was the best player in the series, not even close. Swap Kawhi and Luka and the Clips sweep the Mavs in 4.

KP is not a #2, maybe not even a #3 on a championship team. I dont think there is a player in the NBA currently that would win this series against the Clips if he was in Lukas position. The FO has to do their job and get him some help. Luka is just too good to keep playing with players who are not good enough to compete for championships.

Of course they are incompetent without him, I think we all agree on that. The role players, other than DFS, didn't show up in this game. Is it wrong to still hope that a generational talent can have 1 great 2nd half in 7 games? (Did he?) I think he's in the mold of the Jordan, Lebron, Bird and Magic. He can do it.

I agree that he can do it but he has been putting up historical numbers even with "bad" second halves. If he would be able to be as good is the 2nd as he was in the 1st, he would have already had a GOAT playoffs. Dont you think thats a bit unrealistic at this point in his career? I see him being even better next season, just improvement in his FT shooting and overall physical condition will make him the best player in the league (I think he already is when he is focused).

[Mavrelous]

It won't surprise me if this series will go down as the Spurs-Mavs series in 2014 and the Clippers will dominate the league until the Finals, if they can beat the Jazz (I think the Jazz are a bad matchup for them and I'd favour the Jazz), they'll beat Suns/Nuggers easily and continue to the finals.

[XTraderXL]

Luka is not it bad shape. He is just having to do everything.

He is in bad shape for an NBA player. He is in good shape for an average person.

[leolozon]

And why does his production drop so dramatically? Ok, he is not in great shape, thats on him. But even bigger problem is that this team is completely incompetent of generating offense in the playoffs without him. He has to do everything on offense for them. I bet that if you count buckets, assists and hockey assists Luka accounts for 90%+ of it. He could have played better, especially by hitting those FTs but I still give him a 10/10. He played way above my expectations and was the best player in the series, not even close. Swap Kawhi and Luka and the Clips sweep the Mavs in 4.

KP is not a #2, maybe not even a #3 on a championship team. I dont think there is a player in the NBA currently that would win this series against the Clips if he was in Lukas position. The FO has to do their job and get him some help. Luka is just too good to keep playing with players who are not good enough to compete for championships.

Of course they are incompetent without him, I think we all agree on that. The role players, other than DFS, didn't show up in this game. Is it wrong to still hope that a generational talent can have 1 great 2nd half in 7 games? (Did he?) I think he's in the mold of the Jordan, Lebron, Bird and Magic. He can do it.

I agree that he can do it but he has been putting up historical numbers even with "bad" second halves. If he would be able to be as good is the 2nd as he was in the 1st, he would have already had a GOAT playoffs. Dont you think thats a bit unrealistic at this point in his career? I see him being even better next season, just improvement in his FT shooting and overall physical condition will make him the best player in the league (I think he already is when he is focused).

Yeah, probably unrealistic, If he shot 80% from the FT line, he would have been close to 40ppg in this series... Still, he was at .596 TS% last year and he'll be at .575 TS% this year. That's mostly the drop in FT shooting though.

Game 6 left a worst taste than game 7. I thought the reffing was alright in game 7. If we had the same reffing in game 6, we were winning. It was a 7pt game with some atrocious calls.