Western Conference | Round 2 | (1) Phoenix Suns vs. (4) Dallas Mavericks (2-2)

[Apz]

Your faith in your team is admirable and adorable

Believe me, I've been watching this team almost every game. They absolutely can lock you down for the whole game, if they have energy and are focused for whole 48 min. This didn't happen, because in Game 1 and 2 they couldn't score (lowers energy and focus) and because LD got tired quickly (results in missed rotations, all the Suns are getting hot etc.)

It's completely new problem for the Suns. Mavs fixed their offense and now they have defense as well. Their top5 defense is back.

Ok but I just think the Suns are a much better team that was very careless tonight. Lots of unforced turnovers especially from CP3 who almost seemed injured. I would not expect to see that again.

Sounds like mavs first 2 games

[JoeyLightYears]

Will the refs take Luka out earlier in game 4?

I know the league wants Paul to get his chip.

You’ve got to be kidding. The league would love nothing more than to have Luka on the big stage but the games aren’t rigged or else we would’ve had LeBron v Kobe at least once

[Archx]

Actually he didn’t dominate the ball nearly as much. I liked when they posted him up instead of having him initiate. Someone said they did that more during the regular season and I didn’t see it in the first two games. Suns played sloppy as hell though. I still think they finish this in 5

Because he had foul troubles otherwise he controled the game and Brunson finally did his thing like he always did. You saw how quickly Suns came back when he went to the bench. And since people love +/- so much, he had game high +20.

They played fine when Luka sat.. I don’t think they lost any ground when he went out in the third and they still had a double digit lead when he came back in the fourth. But part of that is that they were much more involved when Luka was in the game. There were several possessions where Luka wasn’t even involved because he was off ball and Brunson was initiating. That just seems smart considering how effective Luka is in the post. I did not see this in the first two games but I am old and possibly blind.

That's what every Mavs fan is trying to explain to anyone who complains about Doncic's USG%. If Brunson is playing good they can work together but if no one shows up Luka has to force it. That's how Mavs play for 3 straight years now. It's not pretty but they have no other choice. Today they had a choice to go to Brunson because he was hot. And you saw that Luka had no problems letting him do his thing when he was rolling.

[Gimli]

Outside of the lower turnovers, the Mavs didn't have a particularly overly impressive offensive game. The Suns can certainly outscore a team producing 103 pts on 90 FGA and 13 FTA, so I wouldn't really call this game an example of the Suns not being able to guard Dallas. I don't think we can expect the Suns to consistently produce <100 pts with this many possessions, on average we'd probably expect 110 pts at a minimum, so Dallas still has their work cut out for them.

But that's Dallas' gameplan. It's been like that for the whole season since January. Score 105, while other teams scores 98...
It's not that offense scores lots of points, it's that LD keeps the energy for defense. LD is actually a good midpost / lowpost defender and won't get abused and won't miss rotations, while he has energy. Now the Mavs found a way to keep LD fresh.

Maybe the Mavs didn't score 115 points, but they got everything they wanted.

Sadly basketball simply doesn't work like that

The Mavs won't score 110 ppg, that's not how they play. They aim for 105 ppg and great defense. It it works, it works, if not, well then they lose. But that's how they played the entire season, that's their territory...

Though also, DFS missed almost every 3 pointer. LD was short on almost all the midrange jumpers. JB hit 1/5 three pointers. The Mavs offense has still room to be better.

* But these are the playoffs. 105 was the number for the regular season roughly, I don't know what is for the playoffs. Everyone gives his 100% in the playoffs.

[SkyBill40]

Seventeen TOs and 14 fewer shots taken by the Suns.

That was the difference and a huge difference it was.

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[Phystic]

But that's Dallas' gameplan. It's been like that for the whole season since January. Score 105, while other teams scores 98...
It's not that offense scores lots of points, it's that LD keeps the energy for defense. LD is actually a good midpost / lowpost defender and won't get abused and won't miss rotations, while he has energy. Now the Mavs found a way to keep LD fresh.

Maybe the Mavs didn't score 115 points, but they got everything they wanted.

Sadly basketball simply doesn't work like that

The Mavs won't score 110 ppg, that's not how they play. They aim for 105 ppg and great defense. It it works, it works, if not, well then they lose. But that's how they played the entire season, that's their territory...

Though also, DFS missed almost every 3 pointer. LD was short on almost all the midrange jumpers. JB hit 1/5 three pointers. The Mavs offense has still room to be better.

* But these are the playoffs. 105 was the number for the regular season roughly, I don't know what is for the playoffs. Everyone gives his 100% in the playoffs.

You were JUST saying how terrible dallas is defensively and how they can't play defense and Kidd needs to give up. Focus on outscoring teams.

[deb]

The hot takes are amazing on this board. After looking like the mavs are going to get swept and some suns fans being annoyingly arrogant, this win has caused a reverse reaction with some of the mavs fans talking insane trash. Is all that necessary? You do know that when the suns win again the backlash by the suns fans is going to be epic. But don't let me bother you, carry on...

On the game, I'm just happy it's not gonna be a sweep. The mavs showed some energy and at least in part bothered the suns some. Suns are still huge favourites, hopefully the mavs can steal another game though.

[Slim Charless]

Seventeen TOs and 14 fewer shots taken by the Suns.

That was the difference and a huge difference it was.

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iT wAs LUkA dEFeNzEdsSszZz!1!1!!!!11!1

-Gimli, Bradybunch and others

[Gimli]

Sadly basketball simply doesn't work like that

The Mavs won't score 110 ppg, that's not how they play. They aim for 105 ppg and great defense. It it works, it works, if not, well then they lose. But that's how they played the entire season, that's their territory...

Though also, DFS missed almost every 3 pointer. LD was short on almost all the midrange jumpers. JB hit 1/5 three pointers. The Mavs offense has still room to be better.

* But these are the playoffs. 105 was the number for the regular season roughly, I don't know what is for the playoffs. Everyone gives his 100% in the playoffs.

You were JUST saying how terrible dallas is defensively and how they can't play defense and Kidd needs to give up. Focus on outscoring teams.

I prepared 2 plans.

1) Forget defense, play LD + SD + Bullock + Bertans + Kleber (I was still interesed in Bobi, just to see what happens).

Few hours before the game:

2) Let JB be the PG all the time and make Doncic PF. This should leave Doncic fresh and he could play on defense. So trade defense for offense. The Mavs did start the game with about 3 plays when Doncic played in the post and JB was the PG, then they kinda stopped with that and Doncic moved to SF on the perimeter. It was imo a mistake to quit. But if they want to get JB going, LD has to be in the paint. Once JB gets hot, it doesn't matter which position LD plays.

So I wasn't only saying how Mavs are bad on defense. They are bad, when Doncic can't guard no one. Which happens, when Doncic is the main PG. Relieve Doncic from PG duties, he doesn't get tired, Mavs no longer miss rotations and play good defense for 48 minutes. I've said this before the game. And got called an idiot for suggesthing Doncic should play PF, which is precisely how Kidd started with the first few plays.

[HotRocks34]

Legler on ESPN postgame: Dallas dictated things with their defense and looked like the team we saw in the regular season

[Archx]

Seventeen TOs and 14 fewer shots taken by the Suns.

That was the difference and a huge difference it was.

Sent from my VS996 using Tapatalk

iT wAs LUkA dEFeNzEdsSszZz!1!1!!!!11!1

-Gimli, Bradybunch and others

No but seriously. If Mavs fans can say gz you guys played amazing in first two wins.. Now when Mavs win i'm reading like Suns simply gave up at the start and said "you can have this win"... It's a bit childish and petty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't all refs and CP3's birthday party. Maybe Mavs effort had something to do with it.

[MemphisX]

So now it's up to the Suns to show if they can guard this offense, when JB has the ball at least 50% of the time... Imo JB should be the primary playmaker. Doncic doesn't just need more help on offense, JB has to be the PG (and LD in the post, though that's not happened yet, aside for the first few plays... imo this should be their final form).

Agreed. Doncic needs to be the closer. He does not need to carry everyone for 4 quarters.

[rapstarter]

The Mavs won't score 110 ppg, that's not how they play. They aim for 105 ppg and great defense. It it works, it works, if not, well then they lose. But that's how they played the entire season, that's their territory...

Though also, DFS missed almost every 3 pointer. LD was short on almost all the midrange jumpers. JB hit 1/5 three pointers. The Mavs offense has still room to be better.

* But these are the playoffs. 105 was the number for the regular season roughly, I don't know what is for the playoffs. Everyone gives his 100% in the playoffs.

You were JUST saying how terrible dallas is defensively and how they can't play defense and Kidd needs to give up. Focus on outscoring teams.

I prepared 2 plans.

1) Forget defense, play LD + SD + Bullock + Bertans + Kleber (I was still interesed in Bobi, just to see what happens).

Few hours before the game:

2) Let JB be the PG all the time and make Doncic PF. This should leave Doncic fresh and he could play on defense. So trade defense for offense. The Mavs did start the game with about 3 plays when Doncic played in the post, then they kinda stopped with that. It was imo a mistake to quit. But if they want to get JB going, LD has to be in the paint.

So I wasn't only saying how Mavs are bad on defense. They are bad, when Doncic can't guard no one. Which happens, when Doncic is the main PG. Relive Doncic from PG duties, he doesn't get tired, Mavs no longer miss rotations and play good defense for 48 minutes. I've said this before the game. And got called an idiot for suggesthing Doncic should play PF, which is precisely how Kidd started with the first few plays.

Doncic's defense didn't look particularly better today. He still looks injured, and can't seem to move laterally. Mavs D was better overall, but I think today had more to do with the Suns having an off day.

[pj0tr]

The hot takes are amazing on this board. After looking like the mavs are going to get swept and some suns fans being annoyingly arrogant, this win has caused a reverse reaction with some of the mavs fans talking insane trash. Is all that necessary? You do know that when the suns win again the backlash by the suns fans is going to be epic. But don't let me bother you, carry on...

On the game, I'm just happy it's not gonna be a sweep. The mavs showed some energy and at least in part bothered the suns some. Suns are still huge favourites, hopefully the mavs can steal another game though.

The Suns shot better overall than the Mavs (as crazy as that sounds).
The Suns shot better from the 3 than the Mavs.
The Suns shot better from the FT line than the Mavs.
The Suns outrebounded the Mavs by 9.

The Suns turned it over 17 times.
The Mavs turned it over 8 times.

There's your game. Its a pretty typical Game 3. Mavs role players definitely stepped it up tonight, and the ball finds energy - the Mavs played with more energy.

[HotRocks34]

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[Swish1906]

Booker was incredible passive in the 4th quarter. Gave up a good corner 3, potentially cutting it to 7 points...

[HotRocks34]

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[Gimli]

You were JUST saying how terrible dallas is defensively and how they can't play defense and Kidd needs to give up. Focus on outscoring teams.

I prepared 2 plans.

1) Forget defense, play LD + SD + Bullock + Bertans + Kleber (I was still interesed in Bobi, just to see what happens).

Few hours before the game:

2) Let JB be the PG all the time and make Doncic PF. This should leave Doncic fresh and he could play on defense. So trade defense for offense. The Mavs did start the game with about 3 plays when Doncic played in the post, then they kinda stopped with that. It was imo a mistake to quit. But if they want to get JB going, LD has to be in the paint.

So I wasn't only saying how Mavs are bad on defense. They are bad, when Doncic can't guard no one. Which happens, when Doncic is the main PG. Relive Doncic from PG duties, he doesn't get tired, Mavs no longer miss rotations and play good defense for 48 minutes. I've said this before the game. And got called an idiot for suggesthing Doncic should play PF, which is precisely how Kidd started with the first few plays.

Doncic's defense didn't look particularly better today. He still looks injured, and can't seem to move laterally. Mavs D was better overall, but I think today had more to do with the Suns having an off day.

My biggest problem with Doncic is that he misses rotations and then someone gets completely open, not that CP3 can hit jumpers over him. Mavs didn't miss their rotations tonight.

[Slim Charless]

That was the difference and a huge difference it was.

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iT wAs LUkA dEFeNzEdsSszZz!1!1!!!!11!1

-Gimli, Bradybunch and others

No but seriously. If Mavs fans can say gz you guys played amazing in first two wins.. Now when Mavs win i'm reading like Suns simply gave up at the start and said "you can have this win"... It's a bit childish and petty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't all refs and CP3's birthday party. Maybe Mavs effort had something to do with it.

1st of all I didn't see any of this "you guys played great".....it was nothing but excuses from Mavs fans. Yourself, Bradybunch, Gimli and Bob8 being among the worst. I also saw plenty of ref blaming for the wins as well.

Amazing lack of memory by you here. Very convenient as well.

[pj0tr]

I prepared 2 plans.

1) Forget defense, play LD + SD + Bullock + Bertans + Kleber (I was still interesed in Bobi, just to see what happens).

Few hours before the game:

2) Let JB be the PG all the time and make Doncic PF. This should leave Doncic fresh and he could play on defense. So trade defense for offense. The Mavs did start the game with about 3 plays when Doncic played in the post, then they kinda stopped with that. It was imo a mistake to quit. But if they want to get JB going, LD has to be in the paint.

So I wasn't only saying how Mavs are bad on defense. They are bad, when Doncic can't guard no one. Which happens, when Doncic is the main PG. Relive Doncic from PG duties, he doesn't get tired, Mavs no longer miss rotations and play good defense for 48 minutes. I've said this before the game. And got called an idiot for suggesthing Doncic should play PF, which is precisely how Kidd started with the first few plays.

Doncic's defense didn't look particularly better today. He still looks injured, and can't seem to move laterally. Mavs D was better overall, but I think today had more to do with the Suns having an off day.

My biggest problem with Doncic is that he misses rotations and then someone gets completely open, not that CP3 can hit jumpers over him. Mavs didn't miss their rotations tonight.

They missed several, in fact many. Not sure what game you were watching.