Cmon guys play some d now

Or not…

This team will win a lot of games by out scoring teams, but they'll get bounced quickly from the playoffs unless they find a way to play some semblance of defense.

I might wait for more than a handful of games to think I know how the team is gonna play defense. Playoffs are always different anyways

Grant Williams is lethal from 3. If not for LaMelo doing his best Luka impersonation, the Mavs could have run away with this one. LaMelo has made 5 threes in the 4th quarter and has a triple double.

The THJ experience continues to be a rollercoaster. He is a turnstile on defense and just missed an authoritative dunk that would have certainly sealed the game. Instead the long rebound off the back rim led to an easy 2 for Charlotte.

So I see two posts from shack009 for the game last night. It appears everyone is still celebrating the Rangers, agonizing over Cowboys, or don't buy into the 5-1 Mavericks just yet.

For most people, the NBA season doesn't really start until Christmas Day.

keeping up, but haven't bought league pass yet. will soon, especially now that the Ags are irrelevant (AGAIN) coach dumbass

been awesome seeing lively in the few national games and keeping up with his insane rookie stat lines

Lol ya I'm still trying to keep a reserved sense of optimism. They have yet to beat any real playoff teams and the one they played controlled the game from tip to whistle.

Overall the additions of Lively and Grant Williams has been undeniable. The Mavs would have a losing record without those guys.

The team is clearly better than they were in April. Grant and Lively are just insanely good fits.

Last year's team would not have won all 5 of these games in which we were favored, and probably would have had a losing record.

But we have only beat teams we were favored over (and clearly better than, on paper) but we were handled in the 1 game in which we were obviously not the better team. It's hard to say what any of that means for the rest of the season.

Magic are a decent team. Could find out more tonight.

They are good and not a good matchup for us. They can play small and even with Wendell Carter Jr. they can spread the floor and make it hard on Lively, defensively. Hurts to not have Maxi. Also seems like the Magic beat us more than they should over the past few seasons. Very intrigued by tonight's game.

Luckily WCJ is out

That's lucky. Hopefully that means they go with more Goga, but it also means we will see a heavy dose of Paolo and Franz.

Dwight Powell's face is a magnet for elbows.

Mavs were down by about 15 in the first half and just went up by 14 with under 2 minutes left after back to back 3s by Kyrie and Luka. What an effort from the team on the second night of a back to back on the road against a good team and with a few guys in early foul trouble.

It'd be nice if we didn't absolutely **** the bed every 1st quarter lol

Yep this team healthy is resilient

M.C. Swag said:

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It'd be nice if we didn't absolutely **** the better every 1st quarter lol

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Then the game wouldn't be interesting.

Cardiac Mavs!

Should be another clutch win, I think. It was a 4 or 5 point game when the clock hit 5:00. Mavs just dominated in the last 5 minutes.

I'm definitely liking the fight this team is showing.

And now Luka and Kyrie seem to be gelling. Loving the start to the season.

dave94 said:

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I'm definitely liking the fight this team is showing.

And now Luka and Kyrie seem to be gelling. Loving the start to the season.

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Always being able to have a top 5 offensive talent on the court is such a ridiculous advantage.

Also nice that Grant Williams is shooting something like 54% from 3, Josh Green is holding steady at around 40%, and DJJ is shooting 35%, the highest of his career.

They have really buoyed the offense while Kyrie is shooting 24% from 3. Kyrie has the lowest true shooting percentage of his career so far, and by a wide margin. Kyrie will just explode one of these games and it will be awesome.

shack009 said:

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Also nice that Grant Williams is shooting something like 54% from 3, Josh Green is holding steady at around 40%, and DJJ is shooting 35%, the highest of his career.

They have really buoyed the offense while Kyrie is shooting 24% from 3. Kyrie has the lowest true shooting percentage of his career so far, and by a wide margin. Kyrie will just explode one of these games and it will be awesome.

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Is there some problem with Seth Curry? He wasn't used to his potential here. He went the 76ers and the Nets and did very well there, but he has barely played this year. Seems strange since he is a lights out shooter

South Platte said:

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So I see two posts from shack009 for the game last night. It appears everyone is still celebrating the Rangers, agonizing over Cowboys, or don't buy into the 5-1 Mavericks just yet.

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The Mavs are clearly better than last year. Frankly, it was bleak and if not for barely keeping their pick and snagging Lively they would be in deep trouble. Based on the schedule though, it is still too early to know how good they actually are.

Things I like: Grant Williams shooting versus having to watch Reggie Bullock brick wide open 3's. THJ off the bench and not starting. Lively rebounding and paint protection over Powell. Offensive shot quality all game long with Luka/Kyrie generating for others (and themselves). Overall they are pretty relentless offensively will be one of the best in the league if healthy.

Things not to like: Only Powell as a playable backup big. Defense is kind of hard to understand (top 6 efficiency in the 4th quarter, but awful during the 1st) but overall not good enough throughout the game. Feels like the team is too still small with Williams in certain matchups.

The schedule will even out and we will find out soon enough. There is still some upside in that Kyrie hasn't shot the ball well yet, that will even out as well. Either way this should be more fun to watch than last season where things were getting bleak.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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shack009 said:

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Also nice that Grant Williams is shooting something like 54% from 3, Josh Green is holding steady at around 40%, and DJJ is shooting 35%, the highest of his career.

They have really buoyed the offense while Kyrie is shooting 24% from 3. Kyrie has the lowest true shooting percentage of his career so far, and by a wide margin. Kyrie will just explode one of these games and it will be awesome.

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Is there some problem with Seth Curry? He wasn't used to his potential here. He went the 76ers and the Nets and did very well there, but he has barely played this year. Seems strange since he is a lights out shooter

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This team doesn't really need him right now. Seth is an offense-only guy, and there is nothing wrong with this team offensively. Defense is the only concern right now, and Seth isn't the answer there, it's DJJ or Exum. I don't know about you, but I would rather Hardy get 15 minutes than Seth. Hardy's ability to get to the rim makes us so much more dynamic, offensively.

The only times this team struggles offensively is the obligatory stretch of 2-3 minutes where THJ wants to take over but isn't making anything.

But Seth will get minutes this season. Luka and/or Kyrie will miss time and he will play a lot for this team over the course of the season.

Fun game tonight against Toronto. No other DFW sports or Aggies are playing tonight so everyone should be tuned in.

Their size with Scottie Barnes, Siakam, OG, and Poeltl should be a tough test for this team. Lively will need to be a factor in this one.

Are we resting lively tonight?

zgolfz85 said:

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Are we resting lively tonight?

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Non-CoVID illness. Clearly missing him. Would also have been nice if OMax was ready. Nobody else on this team can guard Siakam.

Didn't see the game but saw that Holmes got some minutes. Did he do....anything?

Meh, he had a couple nice moments on offense. Had a great hustle rebound and then a big dunk. Otherwise on D he didn't really have any impact and was 1 of many Mavs that couldn't handle Siakam in the paint.

NoahAg said:

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Didn't see the game but saw that Holmes got some minutes. Did he do....anything?

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He had a nice dunk from the short roll when Luka was doubled but there is a reason he only played 7 minutes. He isn't tall enough to go against guys like Poeltl but not quick enough or able to play from the outside to be a small ball 5.

Holmes:



Crap, how do you post a gif lol