Luka, Mavs crush Bulls in Dallas (end CHI 9-game win streak)

[HotRocks34]

Within this same last week, the Mavs throttled the West-leading (then) Warriors and tonight they did similarly to the streaking Bulls.

Luka had 22/14/14, leading the contest in each of those three categories.

The Mavs have improved on a number of fronts. Maybe the most stunning betterment is the Mavs 5th-best-in-the-league defense. It's looking very much for real right now.

Dallas has won 6 straight themselves. They played tonight without Porzingis.

[Texas Chuck]

Well Jason Kidd hasn't been coaching so your poll is ill-timed...

[MotownMadness]

Well Jason Kidd hasn't been coaching so your poll is ill-timed...

Ouch

[J_T]

Whoever started the thread that Mavs play better without Luka Doncic, should now start "Mavs play better without Jason Kidd". They are 2/2 with Kidd being out.

[Zeno]

Nobody holds a coaches’ zoom meeting quite like Jason Kidd.

[HotRocks34]

Whoever started the thread that Mavs play better without Luka Doncic, should now start "Mavs play better without Jason Kidd". They are 2/2 with Kidd being out.

lol

Not a well timed thread, that one.

Mavs are on a 6-game win streak. Kidd has missed 2 games of that (last 2; Covid). What's happening (positive) has a lot to do with him IMO. If the team keeps it up, he'll start getting due credit.

[KingFox]

Super impressive. Luka's bad shooting percentages surprise me but he helps so much just from the attention he draws. Can't scoff at 14 boards and 14 assists

[HotRocks34]

Super impressive. Luka's bad shooting percentages surprise me but he helps so much just from the attention he draws. Can't scoff at 14 boards and 14 assists

He destroyed the Bulls tonight.

I have to say, I've been very impressed with Kidd. Over the course of the whole season. I've never been a fan of his as a coach, but I think his soft touch (early on) and experimentation is really starting to pay off.

This team has promise. They still need more talent, but (unlike the past) they're getting to the "whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts" stage, which didn't seem the case much in the recent past (IMO).

[Swish1906]

Roleplayer finally hitting their wiiiide open shots. If you didnt watch the games, you didnt realize how bad they were bricking. Guys like Bullock, Kleber, DFS.

The changed defensive schemes works too. 6 of the 7 opponents couldnt score 100 points.

Josh Green finally shows he was a solid draft pick

[HotRocks34]

Roleplayer finally hitting their wiiiide open shots. If you didnt watch the games, you didnt realize how bad they were bricking. Guys like Bullock, Kleber, DFS.

The changed defensive schemes works too. 6 of the 7 opponents couldnt score 100 points.

Josh Green finally shows he was a solid draft pick

Good points.

Green is looking fantastic. Big leap forward for him this year so far.

[picc]

Mavs fans, please tell me what Kidd has done that has worked and made the team more effective. (serious question, have not watched much of Mavs this year)

[Mavrelous]

Mavs fans, please tell me what Kidd has done that has worked and made the team more effective. (serious question, have not watched much of Mavs this year)

Offense took a step back, no more amazing spacing and less Luka drive and kicks, Brunson OTOH blossomed.
Defense is much better, especially when KP isn’t playing the 4.
Wider rotation, and Mavs 2nd year player Josh Green getting a chance and proving himself.


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[Archx]

Mavs fans, please tell me what Kidd has done that has worked and made the team more effective. (serious question, have not watched much of Mavs this year)

He made KP more comfortable on offense, basically lets him be himself. Rick limited him to standing around the 3pt line and lots of times KP looked like he just gave up. He's not afraid to play players who need to develop, like Josh Green. Mavs had 8 players in COVID protocols and yet he somehow found a way to win games with Gleague replacements and they looked decent aswell. So basically he's taking a bit different aproach when it comes to handling his players.

Most importantly, Mavs havent played this good defense since like forever. Their defensive rotations have been massively improved lately.

Read on Twitter

[HotRocks34]

Mavs fans, please tell me what Kidd has done that has worked and made the team more effective. (serious question, have not watched much of Mavs this year)

Just my own feelings here.


1. He came in and let the team leaders make key decisions early (before changing some of them later).

So I guess Luka, Porzi and THJ make up like a "leadership council" for the Mavs. So Kidd went to these guys and asked them things about who should start, etc. And Kidd used what they said, did what they told him to do (my understanding). One of the things was to start THJ and I think another was to start Powell. Kidd began the year like this, but then switched off it (Powell was not starting for a bit, THJ no longer starts, etc).

This was important because it let the guys feel like they were being heard and consulted (not something that seemed the case in the Carlisle days). And thus the key parts of the team bought into Kidd before Kidd started to make his own changes to the rotation, etc later in the year. Kidd set up things well in this regard.



2. Heavy experimentation

All kind of lineup variations, changes, etc. It got to be pretty confusing at times. I recall a reporter asking Kidd early in the year why he wasn't playing new acquisition Bullock more.

But this did two things (the experiments):

a) almost all the roster is able/ready to play now (in a Pop kind of way)
b) lineups and player development is coming together

Green is getting run. Brunson is playing with Luka. Etc. It's starting to flourish. The team actually can function without both Luka and Porzi. Huge improvements.



3. Focus on defense

I believe most of the emphasis during training camp was on defense (Kidd himself having been a great defender). And he took concepts from Frank Vogel (good defensive coach and Kidd's last stop was with LAL).

Early on, it didn't look good. I want to say the Mavs were like 20th in DRTG not long ago. But they've found their groove and they're buying in. It's "sticking" now, the mentality, in ways it did not previously.



I'm sure there's more but these 3 things come to my mind first. Again, I've never been a huge Head Coach Kidd fan but the guy is getting it done right now. I hope it continues.

[picc]

So looks like the improvement from Kidd is mostly on defense. I remember his Bucks stint was the opposite of that, so thats suprising to hear. But im happy about it.

[picc]

Mavs fans, please tell me what Kidd has done that has worked and made the team more effective. (serious question, have not watched much of Mavs this year)

Just my own feelings here.


1. He came in and let the team leaders make key decisions early (before changing some of them later).

So I guess Luka, Porzi and THJ make up like a "leadership council" for the Mavs. So Kidd went to these guys and asked them things about who should start, etc. And Kidd used what they said, did what they told him to do (my understanding). One of the things was to start THJ and I think another was to start Powell. Kidd began the year like this, but then switched off it (Powell was not starting for a bit, THJ no longer starts, etc).

This was important because it let the guys feel like they were being heard and consulted (not something that seemed the case in the Carlisle days). And thus the key parts of the team bought into Kidd before Kidd started to make his own changes to the rotation, etc later in the year. Kidd set up things well in this regard.



2. Heavy experimentation

All kind of lineup variations, changes, etc. It got to be pretty confusing at times and, honestly, annoying. I recall a reporter asking Kidd early in the year why he wasn't playing new acquisition Bullock more.

But this did two things (the experiments):

a) almost all the roster is able/ready to play now (in a Pop kind of way)
b) lineups and player development is coming together

Green is getting run. Brunson is playing with Luka. Etc. It's starting to flourish. The team actually can function without both Luka and Porzi. Huge improvements.



3. Focus on defense

I believe most of the emphasis during training camp was on defense (Kidd himself having been a great defender). And he took concepts from Frank Vogel (good defensive coach and Kidd's last stop was with LAL).

Early on, it didn't look good. I want to say the Mavs were like 20th in DRTG not long ago. But they've found their groove and they're buying in. It's "sticking" now, the mentality, in ways it did not previously.



I'm sure there's more but these 3 things come to my mind first. Again, I've never been a huge Head Coach Kidd fan but the guy is getting it done right now. I hope it continues.

So a lot of maturity from his earlier coaching days. Empowering the players and not castrating them.

[cool007]

Can't say "Crush" as the game was close throughout except last few minutes where Mavs just couldn't miss and Bulls couldn't make anything. They really really exploited Bulls weakness in putting Vuc in pick and roll like 90% of the 2nd half while Bulls were scrambling all over the place trying to help and got tired at the end.

A lot of credit to Dallas' role players who stepped big time - 10 three pointers between Finney-Smith and Kleber while Powell got 10pts off the dunks on the lobs and Green guy helped in a big way - along with Brunson.

Also, yes Kidd seem like a really good coach with great game plan to double Lavine and DDR every time letting Vuc and other role players beat them.

[HotRocks34]

So looks like the improvement from Kidd is mostly on defense. I remember his Bucks stint was the opposite of that, so thats suprising to hear. But im happy about it.

Definitely improvement on defense, and yes Kidd does seem to have matured since earlier stints.

As a Mavs fan, happy to see it.

[Archx]

Can't say "Crush" as the game was close throughout except last few minutes where Mavs just couldn't miss and Bulls couldn't make anything. They really really exploited Bulls weakness in putting Vuc in pick and roll like 90% of the 2nd half while Bulls were scrambling all over the place trying to help and got tired at the end.

A lot of credit to Dallas' role players who stepped big time - 10 three pointers between Finney-Smith and Kleber while Powell got 10pts off the dunks on the lobs and Green guy helped in a big way - along with Brunson.

Also, yes Kidd seem like a really good coach with great game plan to double Lavine and DDR every time letting Vuc and other role players beat them.

Luka destroyed them in PnR and yes role players were hitting shots but that was not hard to do since they were open for most of the time.

Also interesting note.

Read on Twitter

[HotRocks34]

They really really exploited Bulls weakness in putting Vuc in pick and roll like 90% of the 2nd half while Bulls were scrambling all over the place trying to help and got tired at the end.

It seemed like the Bulls were trying to cover Luka with Coby White. They were using someone small and Luka was just wrecking the match up. Smart play by Mavs/Luka.