Mavericks vs Portland Recap: An injured Mavericks team faces off against a struggling Portland team

Mavericks vs Portland Recap: An injured Mavericks team faces off against a struggling Portland team

A [Applause] Hi hello it’s Josh Bo from pod Maverick as you can tell I am by myself our my co-host Kirk Henderson uh took his son Parker to the game get an opportunity to get some really good seats he was Sting sitting maybe a few rows behind the

Mavericks bench uh so you know got to take advantage of that opportunity it’s a Friday night could have had our good friend and staffer Money Ball staffer editor do Raider joined me but it’s Friday night and and the Mavericks playing the Trailblazers and I knew it was GNA be a pretty non-descript game

Especially with no Luca no Derrik Lively no Dante exen so we’re starting early I know Kirk scheduled this stream for 10:45 um but I don’t you know it’s Friday night man I you know we got we got we got to do like what are we waiting for like let’s just let’s do

This like why why sit around Mavericks just beat the Trailblazers and reminder no Luca no Derrik Lively no Dante exom no Grant Williams that’s three starters and uh Grant then Grant Williams who’s been coming off the bench uh and the Blazers had most of their guys they had Shane sharp they had

Scoot erson they had Simons uh they had Jeremy Grant uh they’re basically the only main player you know they Malcolm brogon you know DeAndre Aton is about the only main player that they were missing from their main rotation and the Mavericks won by 36 points we are not a Blazers podcast we

Are a Mavericks podcast so but I I have to empty my chest on the Blazers here in a second so before we get to that we’re just going to fly by um just you know don’t want to discredit the Mavericks for a stupendous win considering the circumstances Portland’s

SS but the Mavericks still had to play and we’ve seen the Mavericks without Luca lose to similarly bad rosters they just lost to a Memphis Grizzlies team that is not that much better than Portland right now even with John Morant um so this you couldn’t have taken this one for granted

But let’s shout out the Maverick for playing aggressive rively for playing fast and for participating because apparently for Portland participating was an option here are some numbers 58% from the floor the Mavericks finished the game 44% from three they were 17 of 38 um they only got to the free throw line

15 times because they didn’t need to because they were just scoring at The Rim at will and Portland didn’t even want to give the effort that they could foul they had 17 turnovers which is expected no Luka so got a little sloppy 36 fast break points the

Mavericks had 36 fast break points they had 64 points in the paint their largest lead was 39 they kicked some serious ass um it was it was remarkable Kyrie Irving was aggressive made five of his first six shots in the first quarter he finished with 24 he could have had 40 if

He wanted to but he clearly took his foot off the gas pedal a little bit just because they he didn’t didn’t really need to give any more effort than he did he had two steals two blocks nine rebounds five assists Mavericks once again have 11 Steals and eight blocks

Which is what they had the last game uh against Portland uh on Wednesday uh I think our man uh Our Man Hank and our Mavs Moneyball slack you guys know Panda Hank 38 combined stocks uh Steals and blocks in the last two games for a Maverick team that basically get no

Steals and no blocks um unbel unreal um uh one two three Mavericks had at least two steals Derrik Jones Jr had three Kyrie already said had two and then AJ Lawson had two Craig Brown freaking two-way contract came off the bench three blocks in garbage time um

Tim Mar Jr had a block um Brandon Williams is credited with a block uh they’re 61 uh other two-way signing um which is pretty pretty amazing um it was it was an ass kicking uh there’s no other way to say it and credit to the Mavericks uh they they did

Everything that they had to do um Josh Green looked incredible so did Jen Hardy they probably each both played maybe their best games of the Season together uh hello Toronto Raptors I hope you are watching this game uh Hardy almost had a triple double 199 and N um

Josh Green had 14 five and five and he only missed one shot Hardy was eight of 14 from the floor um so they looked really good um AJ Lawson had 14 points dear junr had 19 points two three four five six Mavericks and double figures Derrick Jones Jr had 12 points um and

Then even like some of the other guys didn’t get double figured like Brandon Williams had seven points in in 10 minutes uh um Seth Curry had nine points in 20 minutes omx Prosper had eight points in 14 minutes and Greg Brown I third had seven points 12 minutes uh so

Again the Mavericks played the Blazers twice 36-point win tonight um it was also a 30o game Wednesday with Luca playing uh oh no 29 Point excuse me uh but they were up by 30 plus at at certain points of that game so uh just doing what had to do taking

Care of business sorry about my camera it always goes off I have a crappy webcam um so yeah I I don’t even know know what to say other than you know like it’s cool that whenever AJ Lawson plays in garbage time he seems to light it up sometimes I wonder like should

Those guys get some more minutes in in real games but you never really know um this felt like a I said this on Twitter I mean this felt like a high school game where like the big school is kicking the crap out of the small school and the big

School is just like okay well let’s just keep running it up because we want stats like we want a stat pad like there were moments in the third and fourth quarters where it was the Mavericks were just like I mean we could walk it up the

Floor but if we also hit this guy ahead and and run really hard we’re gonna get a layup because Portland has 100% given up on this game so credit to them like Portland didn’t want to play and the Mavericks played basically from from opening tip to the end to the to the

Final buzzer so um Mavericks should run up the score like who gives a crap if if this is how the Blazers are going to are going to play now that I’ve said all that Portland they are 9 and 25 they just lost to a lucal livelist eamless

Mavericks team by 36 points I am so glad I don’t have to watch the Blazers again I’m really happy for Mavs fans that you know really enjoyed this game uh as you should like fans of the team should enjoy you know watching your basically the JV lineup besides Kyrie dominate an

NBA team is Fun the crowd was rocking you know it was cool that it was at home um our some of our our mads mball slack Slackers uh staffers and slack were we’re having a good time you know I have divorced the fan part of my brain a lot

Since I’ve been covering the team as a media person for the last 11 to 12 years so like I don’t necessarily like I’m not like hooting and hollering or yelling or Screaming during the good games or the bad games I’m just kind of watching um so for me I’m

Just get the get the trbl lasers off my TV like I just don’t there’s nothing like that was embarrassing I think that was one of the most embarrassing NBA performances I’ve seen from a team in quite some time um someone point out Matthew on our M ball

Staff was like I watched the Mavericks in the 90s so so that one is it for me thankfully I didn’t um I was playing Super Wario World and not watching the 90s Mavericks apologies to uh the 90s Mavericks but it like I cannot remember a more embarrassing effort from an NBA

Team in the last few games so I don’t know what Portland’s doing um relegate the franchise I don’t want to see him it blows my mind that there are teams with less wins than the than this Trailblazers team I’ve watched the last two days it blows my mind that a team in

The NBA set the single season losing streak record not that long ago and it wasn’t this team like if you dropped an alien from outer space and told them to watch these two games and you were like okay you know do you think this is the team that set the single season losing

Streak record yes of course of course um this team blows uh I’m sorry they you know it’s one thing for them to be so bad and it’s another for like the disin like they were not trying like it was bizarre uh they were playing like it was

The last day of the regular season and they were they were waiting to get to the locker room so they can get dressed and get on their planes to go on their vacations like I I I’m just I’m mystified like I’m not mystified that the Mavericks went two and0 against the

Blazers and that they were two blowout wins I’m mystified that they were these laughers like this is outrageous 2024 is going to be a good year for me because I don’t have to watch this crappy team anymore I don’t want them to waste my time on my TV like this is absurd um

Good for the Mavericks good for guys getting some numbers get a win um but holy crap I do not want to watch this team anymore and I don’t have to this was the last time the Mavericks played the troll Blazers this season get them out uh as far as I’m concerned get them

Out of the NBA put them in a you know let’s just round up let’s Round Up Portland uh Charlotte Washington Detroit and San Antonio and let’s put them on an island and they can just play all the basketball games against each other and let’s let the actual NBA teams play um I

Think it’s pretty crazy that there’s this many bad teams in the NBA this season um I mean that’s going to be one two three that’s five teams that are not gonna get I don’t think those either of those five teams are gonna get the 20 wins to be perfectly honest with you

Um and it kind of messes up the standing like that’s five teams that like all these other team like they’re just feeding wins um like the Mavericks have four wins against the Blazers they have a win against the Jazz um they have two wins against the Spurs they have a win

Against the Grizzlies like it’s there’s a part of me that’s like I don’t even know who some of these teams are because beating Portland and beating Charlotte and beating Washington does nothing for me does nothing for me um as someone who’s trying to analyze a game uh it sucks

Like people talk about like oh what is the NBA need to do to like make the regular season matter um you know what what do they need to do like to help TV ratings I don’t surely not this like you gotta have some real teams you gotta have games that matter

Like this is this is lunacy uh I don’t know like this is a bad product good for them again not the m not the Maverick’s fault Mavericks can only play the schedule in front of him they should beat the crap out of these teams shame them shame these crappy teams you know

Like make them uh try to put some embarrassment in their souls so that this never happens again because holy crap I feel sorry for anyone that wasn’t a Mavs fan that tuned in on a Friday night to watch this um so whole just I don’t want I don’t want to see this team

Anymore um I’m glad the Mavericks uh promptly put them in the garbage can where they belong and I think that’s all I want to say about Portland um I apologize this is a Mavs podcast not a Portland podcast but that was embarrassing that was just absolutely embarrassing and kudos to the Mavericks

For you know the Blazers were stuffing themselves into the trash can themselves uh that’s whoop said themselves twice they they were doing it themselves and then the Mavericks just kind of like kicked them in the ass and shoved them down and put the lid on it which kudos

To the Mavericks for doing that they absolutely should so I’m going to take a quick Break um we’ve been talking I’ve been talking about 13 minutes and I don’t know what else to say about this team uh sorry about this game um so why don’t I give some thoughts on some trade

Rumors uh after the break and kind of what my thoughts are on that um so if you’re watching us on YouTube live please like And subscribe to the YouTube channel like the stream helps us out a lot if you’re listening to the audio only feed please you know make sure

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Which obviously that’s not the only reason we’re doing this but uh certainly helps for sure um so we’re going to take a quick break so I can put some of those ads into the audio only feed you two people just hang out uh and we will be right back after

This okay I am back Maverick thoroughly embarrass the shitty Portland TR Blazers 139 to 103 um just about everyone that played played well uh every single Maverick was a plus and plus minus um the lowest was Prosper at plus two everyone else was a positive I mean that just shows you how

Thoroughly dominant this game was I mean they had a 10-point lead in the first quarter and it was it was like over like it was crazy Portland never showed any fight at all so since this game there’s not too much to learn other than the Mavericks um emptied the trash when they

Should have and today was apparently trash day with Portland in town trades people love the trades I love talking about the game I don’t like talking about trades one thing I’m really bad at it I am not Dalton trig our friend over M money or not M our friend over dallasbasketball.com or or

Si Dallas what not sure what they’re still what they’re calling it right now but um I’m not as good as him at the fake trade machine I almost always get things wrong I almost over overvalue certain guys undervalue certain guys I’m not good at thinking about what GMS want

Um so I try to stay out of it um unfortunately the reality is you guys love it not necessarily you guys listening but like the NBA audience as a whole um loves trade rumors loves free agency rumors we could write like 10 of our best well-written

NBA analysis in columns on the site and one trade rumors post will get more traffic than all 10 combined like that’s just what people want um so when people complain like that NBA coverage doesn’t Focus about the games I don’t know what to tell you because this is what

Everyone’s asking for um so we’re GNA talk about some trades because we’ll cap off for a nice Friday night um I’m gonna be honest I don’t know what the Mavericks are gonna do because as of right now their trade assets are fairly limited they can trade one future first

As of right now they owe uh the 2024 pick to New York if that conveys then they won’t have the 2025 to trade I believe they can trade either the 2026 or 2027 first rounder but don’t hold it to me basically you know it doesn’t matter really what year before they get

Rid of the Knicks pick they can trade one future first once that pick conveys I believe like three future firsts open up to them they already owe a future first to the nets for the Kyrie trade uh and then after that you know they’ve got some second rounders that they got back

I think in the Grant Williams trade so there’s that that helps um and then young players it’s basically you know they’re not trading Derrick Lively obviously um he’s off the table I think they you know they want to keep around Jones and XOM who’ve been really good

Good fits next to Luca and Kyrie in the starting lineup in terms of desirable young players it’s basically Josh green and Jaden Hardy um who both were having really terrible Seasons up until tonight for the most part uh or last few games for Hardy that’s for sure Green’s been

Hurt Hardy hasn’t played well green hasn’t played well when he’s been healthy but they’ve kind of turned a corner maybe the last couple games so we’ll see um but those are probably the only desirable things of MCS have to trade in terms of players because you know they’re not trading LCA they’re not

Trading Kyrie they probably won’t trade Tim but Tim has reached that weird spot where he’s so valuable to the team because of his shooting and I’m not sure team’s value Tim as as much as the Mavericks value Tim and the Mavericks have tried to trade Tim and it just

Doesn’t seem to happen so I’m not counting on that again uh but we’ll see a lot of talk like a lot of Pascal SE yakum talk um I want to make one point every time I talk about the Mavericks having difficulties entering those trade conversations because they

Just don’t have the same ammo I get a lot of pushback from people that say well you’re crazy because seak is a pending free agent his Market’s going to be considerably lower and once it gets to that point the Mavericks are going to be in it and I guess that might be true

Um sham sh Shia uh at the athletic talked about how the Kings and Raptors trade talks were heating up for SE yakum and then like a couple hours later he was like trade talks between the Kings and raptors have ended which just really sums up how much uh you have to

Sift through during NBA trade season um if the kings are off the market Market if that’s not happening which don’t believe you know it could they could wake up tomorrow and agree to a trade I don’t think the Shams report means anything at all really but let’s just

Take it for face value you’re probably looking at the Indiana Pacers uh and the Golden State Warriors as the main competitors for the Mavericks to get seak I don’t think the Hawks are going to do it because the Hawks stink and they are not in the playoff running I

Think if they were like a 500 or above team I think they would they would they have the chips to push in and make that trade but they bad they’re not going to give up anything of future value to to improve a team that’s so many games

Below 500 so the Warriors obviously have Jonathan kaminga and Moses Moody um who have kind of created a firestorm by letting it be known through Anonymous sourcing that they are fed up with Steve Kerr and the way he’s handling the rotations and their up and down minutes

Um the Raptors showed with the OG and anobi trade that they value it seems like they are valuing players over picks they want young players that can play for them right away and help contribute and play around Scotty Barnes who’s the new kind of tent pole of the franchise

Um they traded in an Obi they didn’t get a first-rounder form him uh they got Emanuel Quigley and RJ Barrett from the Knicks who are two young players with production you say what you will about RJ Barrett in his contract but he does at least puts up numbers in the box

Score and quickly is a a widely regarded you know young guard stuck behind Jaylen Brunson that probably needed an opportunity to to play and he’s played pretty well in Toronto’s two games so that’s the kind of you know if you think about Toronto wanting those kind of

Players Golden State makes a lot of sense because of Moody and kaminga um too highly regarded for former first round picks that play well when they get opportunities they just don’t get a lot in Golden State or maybe as much as they should Indie is a little tricky I don’t

Know they have more prospects than the Mavericks but jarus Walker who they took eighth overall in the last draft who I love I think he’s amazing I think he’s going to be amazing um he hasn’t played he’s not in the rotation you know getting the Rick Carlile treatment uh you know I would

Think he is a more valuable Prospect than anything that Mavericks could offer Toronto but he’s also kind of an unknown if Toronto wants players that have NBA production that are still young then maybe they don’t see as much interest in Walker but the Pacers have a gaggle of

Young players Benedict Maan jarus Walker Andrew NIMH hard they’ve got a bunch of guys if they could trade and still be a compet like they don’t have to give up they could give up like half of their young players and still have a really competent roster around Tyrese Halbert

And Miles Turner and then you’re building around SE yakum so but it really comes down to is seak gonna like does he want to be in Indiana um so if he doesn’t give an indication he wants to resign maybe that takes another P you know another uh player off the board I

Think the Warriors are going to be the toughest team to beat if the Mavericks do have interest in seaka because I could see se yakum you know wanting to resign with the Warriors be in San Francisco a great Market that you know players love being in California uh San

Francisco’s turned itself into a pretty good competitive market um they’re organization with a winning pedigree that he might want to stick around with so when you when you have that combined with and they owners that are willing to spend money and you combine that with they have young players that Toronto

Might want that makes it tough but if seaka makes it know hey I want to play with Luca and Kyrie don’t trade me any where but Dallas that’s where I want to resign that’s where the Mavericks can probably get into it but I just I have a

Hard time believing Toronto is going to accept a package of like Josh Green Jaden Hardy and like Grant Williams and maybe like some picks compared to what some of these other teams have to offer but stranger things have happened I think the Mavericks if I had to make a

Guess I don’t think they’re G to make a big splashy move this trade deadline because I think they’re waiting for those picks to free up this summer and then they’re going to maybe make their next move I think they definitely want to make a move for like a definitive

Third best player it’s kind of been their white whale ever since they’ve traded for chrisos porzingis they’ve been seeking that third guy and then they traded christops uh and they had Den Winnie and Brunson and you’re still like okay brunson’s good enough to be the second

Guy but is dwy the third guy and then of course they lose Brunson they trade dwy for Kyrie so now they got luuka and Kyrie and they’re still who’s the third guy you know Dante xom’s great Lively’s great D J’s great I don’t think you want

Any of those to be your third best player for the next year or two although Lively is certainly going to make a case for it for sure but that’s a lot for a 19-year-old rookie so we’ll see SE I love seak he’s a dream like if I were

The Mavericks and they had the opportunity I would push all the chips on the table for him I am a homer I’m totally biased um my first job out of college around 2013 2014 um was I got a full-time uh sports reporter job page designer job at the macallen the monitor newspaper in

Macallen Texas which is down in the valley the Mexican border um you know right on the border of Mexico and they have UT Pan-American you know Texas Pan-American which I think is now UT Rio Grand Valley they rebranded it after I left um they were a small division one

School that played in the The Wack uh the Western Athletic Conference which is the same conference as New Mexico state and guess who was at newx State uh when I you know around 2013 2014 pakum so I got to see him in a small tiny gym Courtside sitting in press row uh with

Less than like you know 200 people in the building uh and it was awesome and he really impressed me he was you know you could kind of see it then that he was gonna that he was a great player very skillful so I’ve always had a soft

Spot for cakam because of those reasons um so I probably overvalue him a little bit more than Maybe be a more neutral bystandard so I think he’d be a perfect fit at the four people talk about his shooting the Mavericks have a top 10 offense with basically three

Non-shooters in their St with Lively exm and and Derrick Jones Jr none of those guys are high quality three-point Shooters they’re making some of their open ones but you wouldn’t call them Shooters uh so SE yakum shooting doesn’t concern me because he is a downhill scorer someone that can attack Closeouts

Someone that can drive in the mid post that can score in a variety of ways um that can make the simple passes that he needs to make out you know out of those drives and Closeouts you give him a little bit less offensive burden he’s still efficient right now by the way so

Like even on a team like Toronto that’s a little bit of a mess he’s still putting up efficient scoring numbers he’s a good Defender when engaged um he’s athletic as hell he’s in a young enough you know he’s like 28 uh or 29 so like not a little maybe on the older

Side in terms of like finding someone for the Luca core who’s still 2 24 about turn 25 uh but still not not that far he’s not someone who’s over 30 I think he would be great next to Lively I think it would boost the Maverick’s athleticism profile I think it would

Solve a lot of issues the Mavericks have with size they would have a real power forward for the first time in like a billion years uh and they would be athletic they could play just as fast as they’re playing now s’s good player in transition um he would get the Luca

Boost you know getting passes from Luca believe I saw somewhere ear he’s a 44% shooter on Corner threes this season which you that’s what you want with Luca so maybe the shooting isn’t that much of a problem we’ll see um but that’s what I

Would do I would I would go all in um my guess is if I had to be if I guess what the Mavericks want to do is they were probably waiting to see if like they can get a distressed asset sort of like Kyrie was last season like they only get

To they only traded for Kyrie not because their package was that overwhelmingly better than the competitors well because Kyrie’s Market was basically just down to the Mavericks and the Lakers because those were the teams that were desperate enough to want to trade for him uh because Kyrie had

Driven his trade value into the dirt with all the Mis games and the controversy and even his performance was was not great at times in Brooklyn he had that really bad playoff series against the Nets um the last time the Nets uh you know the last time he played

A playoff game with the Nets so his value was low and the Mavericks took advant I feel like that’s if they’re going to make a move it’s going to be for a guy like that for a guy that’s value is not where it should be maybe compared to where his name value and

That allows the Mavericks to kind of Wiggle in because there’s not a competitive market um that’s where I see the Maverick taking advantage if that player doesn’t open it present itself then I think they’re cool to to chill and go into the summer let their picks open up complete the New York Knicks

Trade with the christops New York Knicks trade open up those assets and and make some moves um there was a note in you know Yahoo sports Jake fiser made a note in his his kind of trade Roundup article today that the Mavericks have been rebuffing teams on Josh green and I’m

Sure that sent a lot of people into the Looney Bin reading that I I feel like the way it was phrased it wasn’t I don’t think personally just’s no no Insider no spec this is just pure speculation my guess is that there are teams that are circling the Mavericks in trying to buy

Josh Green for cheap because he’s had a disappointing season and wondering if the Mavericks might have some buyers remorse after the extension and the Mavericks are are rightfully saying no because there’s no point in trading selling low on Josh Green I don’t think it means the Mavericks wouldn’t include

Josh green in a big tree I just if the difference between the Mavericks getting that differenc making third best player Allstar near All-Star level type of contributor if the difference between getting him and not is including Josh green in it I don’t think the Mavericks

Are gonna say no we can’t do that like I don’t don’t think he’s going to be what holds them back from making a big is is basically what I’m trying to say doesn’t mean it’s going to happen this February at the trade deadline maybe it happens

In the summer but we will see um so I’ve been talking about 30 minutes uh I think that’s about it I’m gonna wrap it up I just want to give my thoughts because seak has been on H topic lately since that seems to be the big name floating

Around the other big name is Zack LaVine and I mean the Mavericks are not I mean it wouldn’t shock me I guess he might be a distressed asset his Market is very low if the Maverick didn’t have Kyrie he would 100% be the type of guy that I

Would think the Mavericks would would want to take advantage of a uncompetitive market and try to get him for get him for cheaper than than expected but I don’t think you can build your team around LCA Kyrie and Zack LaVine uh unless they really just want

To win games by scoring 145 points game he that’d be fun so so we’ll see um I expect Kirk will be back for our next podcast uh I can’t say for sure um but the next game is going to be Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves uh I’m excited Mavericks

Haven’t played you know the last time they played Timberwolves luga didn’t play and they still almost won like they only lost by eight so I’m Cur the Timberwolves have have looked a little sluggish the last few games so this could be one for the Mavericks to win

Playing at home um and we’ll see so that’s it for me I’ve talked a lot for just being by myself uh I hope you guys enjoyed it hope you guys enjoyed the win this is the kind of win you should really enjoy like it was it was a hell

Of a lot of fun as a win we’ll see if the MS can get healthy uh and take on the timber wolves and finally get one of those signature wins they need they need a signature win just just to help out the The Narrative a little bit for Luca

And the MVP race so I’m Josh Bo for pod Maverick Mavericks dominate the Sad Sack Portland TR Blazers everyone give yourself a pat on the back you never have to watch the this version of the Portland TR Blazers for the rest of the year that’s a win for all of us um we

Get to scratch something off our New Year’s resolution I had don’t watch any more Portland SCH Blazers games so congratulations I’ve completed a New Year’s resolution in about five days so I’m gonna leave it here uh this has been pod Maverick after dark I’m Josh Bo editor at money.com co-host of pod

Maverick with Kirk Henderson we will talk to you guys later have a good weekend see you Sunday night

Josh goes solo (Kirk i going to the game!) on Mavs-Portland. Hopefully it’s a good game.

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