First team in 15 years that has lost 4 straight games that ended in 1 possession. Mavs now 1 - 6 in clutch games.

Luka Doncic was abhorrent on defense last night, even aside from his viral mistake in the closing moments.

When's the wake-up call gonna come? Luka got destroyed on defense in the NBA Finals. Wasn't that enough? https://t.co/wZR4Odce3D pic.twitter.com/TSrx8mDzDb

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) November 15, 2024

I got visibly upset at that play starting at :36 in the video. It's fine to play bad defense, but you have to at least give effort. His defense is terrible just from lack of trying.

He plays good on ball defense most of the time. It's objectively good. But away from the ball or in any sort of action, he's been absolutely abysmal. It has a lot to do with effort/focus.

shack009 said:

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I got visibly upset at that play starting at :36 in the video. It's fine to play bad defense, but you have to at least give effort. His defense is terrible just from lack of trying.

He plays good on ball defense most of the time. It's objectively good. But away from the ball or in any sort of action, he's been absolutely abysmal. It has a lot to do with effort/focus.

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yep, off ball is all about relaxing (or lazy, however you want to call it).
You gotta be engaged and aware.

Do we need Luka?

More absolute bull**** from this team late in games.

What are we doing

Kidd is a literal ****** for using that timeout only to not be able to advance the ball. Needed a timeout there in that spot.

Blowing a 10 point lead in less than 2 minutes would be something special

Well they certainly tried to blow it

My word… what a pathetic display in the final 6 minutes of that game.

May have got the win but this team has serious issues late in games. I'm open to the explanation being witchcraft, but something is plaguing this year's team late.

How are you DFW baws watching the games? I have YouTube tv. Do I just bite the bullet and pay $125 for Mavs stream?

Baw said:

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How are you DFW baws watching the games? I have YouTube tv. Do I just bite the bullet and pay $125 for Mavs stream?

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I believe Followill said YouTube TV people should buy an old school antenna from Amazon for like $30 and you can get all the local broadcasts.

Late game issues aside, good job by this group to get the win tonight. I had definitely chalked it up as a schedule loss prior to the game, didn't matter that OKC was missing 4 of their rotation guys. we were on the 2nd night of a home-road b2b. I was fine with Luka not playing tonight considering he's hobbled and Dort makes him work harder than anybody in the league.

Oh and PJ still owns OKC.

shack009 said:

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My word… what a pathetic display in the final 6 minutes of that game.

May have got the win but this team has serious issues late in games. I'm open to the explanation being witchcraft, but something is plaguing this year's team late.

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I blame coaching. They look so uncomfortable and unprepared up late

And Kyrie got fouled like 3 times…by Dort alone…shouldn't have been that nervy

The weirdest part is this team, with 5 of the 6 top players the same, was the best team in basketball in the final 5 minutes last season.

zgolfz85 said:

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shack009 said:

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My word… what a pathetic display in the final 6 minutes of that game.

May have got the win but this team has serious issues late in games. I'm open to the explanation being witchcraft, but something is plaguing this year's team late.

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I blame coaching. They look so uncomfortable and unprepared up late

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Luka may be hard to watch when we are losing or tied late in the game, but he's elite at icing games where you are ahead. His handle is tight and he will always make the right basketball play.

The only guy on the floor that you trust handling the ball late in the game for us tonight was Kyrie. And even he dribbled himself in to trouble on that last possession. Both stupid turnovers late involved Hardy and Marshall. I like Marshall as a ball handler, but that jump and pass across the floor to Lively was just so boneheaded. You could tell he's not used to having the ball in his hands in that situation.

It was definitely a personnel issue tonight trying to close the game.

I still think the poor clutch record is mostly a product of small sample size. It should even out in the end.

The Mavs are good enough to win some games without Luka this year. I don't really know what Luka's deal is injury wise to start the year but it appears to have carried over from the previous season / playoffs. If sitting for 3-4 weeks will help him then the Mavs should bite the bullet and do it. At this point just avoid the play-in and be healthy in March. Winning every series on the road is tough, but they have proven they can do it. But gimpy Luka won't be able to elevate them to a championship level.

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I don't really know what Luka's deal is injury wise to start the year but it appears to have carried over from the previous season / playoffs.

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Marc Stein has insisted that Luka was completely healthy when he reported back to the team, but Luka is still bleeding from his knees like in the playoffs. What the heck is going on there? lol

Luka got that calf contusion in a pick up game the day before the Mavs left for camp in Vegas. It seems like the soft tissue injuries he's dealing with probably stem from compensating for that initial injury.

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If sitting for 3-4 weeks will help him then the Mavs should bite the bullet and do it.

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Josh Bowe pointed out that the schedule is pretty easy over the next month. There are a few games against really good teams, but there are quite a lot of games against really bad teams. I agree, the Mavs need to get completely right before the playoffs no matter what. Have Luka sit while Kyrie is healthy and can carry the load. Losing Exum really hurt, because I think it would be a no-brainer to sit Luka if Exum was available right now.

shack009 said:

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We are up by 30+ and Luka is still in the game... He's either been faking an injury all season or Kidd is the dumbest coach of all time...

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Luka hit two 3s to put us up 36 with 8 minutes left. Pels called TO, and Luka is still inexplicably in the game...

Did you not hear them say about a dozen times that point differential is a tie-breaker in the stupid NBA cup tournament?

Lol Followill is obsessed with the point differential. He was like that last year too. I think it's because he's a soccer guy who has kept track of goal differential in similar tournaments.

I'm sure he means it to be educational, but it does come off as unnecessarily repetitive.