Post Game Thread - vs Dallas Mavericks, Home

[bobheckler]

The Mavericks are not a good team this year without Dirk.  This should not have been this close.  Our shooting was pure shit.


I was on the Game On! thread with a few others.  I was down on IT because he was 3-13 for 8 points through 3, missed his first shot of the 4th to go 3-14, and that is why the game was so close.  My fellow posters thought I was being tough on him, especially after he scored 22 points in the 4th quarter with 20 of them in the final 6 minutes.  Yeah, that was a spectacular exhibition of scoring by Mighty Mite but his horrible shooting is the reason why he needed to do it.  On the bright side (that's me!  Little Maury Sunshine!) he showed he can be clutch.  It would have been better if we didn't need him to be.  Yeah, we won because of him but we also almost lost because of him.  As it ended he was 7-18 for 38.8%.  Think of that.  Despite going 4-5 in the 4th he still ended up with a fg% lower than the teams' still-putrid 43%.  Where he earned his money was at the line.  He was 12-13 in the 4th.

The problem we have is that we are living and dying with IT.  If you argue that anybody can have a bad start, a bad half, a bad game and you can't hold that against IT, then we need others to step up when he is cold. He is our only go-to guy so far, and that does not bode well for the playoffs.

Bradley had a hot 1st quarter with 12 points on 5-8.  He added only 2 points through 3.  He got 4 more, for his total 18, in the 4th but, once again, if IT doesn't score nobody does.  Bradley was icy cold for 2 quarters.

Smart had a horrible shooting night (1-6) but what else is new?  At least he only chucked up 6.  On the other hand he, and Bradley and everybody else, had a miserable time trying to contain Harrison Barnes.  He worked his ass off, as he always does, but he made some dumb rookie moves, like getting close to Barnes and putting his arm out, making it easy for Barnes to earn a "rip" foul.  That happened twice.  Not that it would have mattered much, Barnes was smoking hot.  He was making some very, very tough shots.  What I found interesting is that Brad didn't put Jaylen Brown on Barnes.  He's about the same size and quickness, as opposed to Smart and Bradley who are much smaller.  I think Brad's confidence in Brown is a bit shook up.  Brown played 12 minutes last night, and did pretty well, but 12 minutes isn't a lot of minutes for a #3 pick and this is not the first game where he has not played solid rotation minutes.

Our front court, Amir and Kelly, played ok but not great.  10 rebounds and 18 points combined is not something to ooh and ahh about, but their combined 8-12 shooting, on a night when we shot 43% as a team, is.  At least they didn't look like dinosaurs, like Andrew Bogut, who fouled out.

Wes Matthews can shoot.  Where can we buy one of him?  He makes >$17M but damn!

Jerebko's motor was running on high.  His hustle salvaged some broken possessions and might have been the single most clutch player after IT.

Can someone please teach Zeller to jump?  He's an NBA player not named Roy Hibbert, for Pete's Sake.

Despite Bogut fouling out, and points scored being hard to come by, Cowens' mancrush, AJ Hammons, never took off his warmups.

We are without Crowder and Horford and they were without Dirk, and Barea went down with a strained calf muscle (looked worse at the time, I thought it was an Achilles).  We took 23 ftas vs 10 for them.  Dirk would have made up that difference.

We had 19 TOs.  IT with 5, Bradley with 3, Brown with 3 (that explains his short minutes, huh?) and Rozier with 3.  So, with the exception of rookie Brown, our ball-handlers couldn't handle the ball.

A win is a win is a win and I'll take them anyway I can until Horford can come back from having a piano drop on his head and Crowder makes his return.


Box Score:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899611



bob



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[bobheckler]

Obviously, most of these highlights are from the 4th quarter.  He spent a lot of time torturing Dwight Powell, as Rick Carlisle tried stopping him with size (Barea was already out of the game).  At about 3:25, IT runs a fast break and makes a between-the-legs pass, at full speed, to Bradley for the dunk and stretches our lead to 7 with 1:06 left.



bob


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[bobheckler]

bob


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[112288]

We shall await Horford but Danny should be planning his next move sooner then later. Too many points from 1 player. if the defense shuts IT down who is there to step-up!

112288

[dboss]

IT is a freakin scoring machine!

Bradley is hot and then ice cold and then luke warm

Smart did not score much but again there he is making plays..impactful plays

Jerebko grabbed more rebounds than usual but he is not very good at anything in particular.

Green made 3 very nice passes for assists.

KO is still very inconsistent.  Just shoot the damn ball.  You are not going to score trying to take the ball off the driblle because you are too slow and clumsy and off balance.  Stop licking your fingers and playing with your hair.  Shoot the damn ball everytime you are open.

Zeller is a useless excuse for a 7 foot center on defense.

Amir's expiring contract looks attractive.

Young looks normal again meaning he got no game.

Harrison Barnes almost won the game by himself.  I know Smart and Bradley are tough defenders but size matters Brad so stop matching a small guy with a big guy.  How bout a little more of Jalen..let the rookie get torched.

Tomorrow night the combined score will be 247 and GS will win the game.

How many Booes will Durant get??

Can Horford just wear a football helmet for a few weeks and play.

dboss

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