Mavericks vs Thunder: Dallas welcomes PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford vs Oklahoma City

Mavericks vs Thunder: Dallas welcomes PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford vs Oklahoma City

He [Applause] Hello Mass fans welcome to pod Maverick after dark I’m Kirk Henderson joined by Josh Bo as always we are coming to you while the Sun’s still up it’s about 5 o’clock on Saturday February 10th the Dallas Mavericks just just annihilated the Oklahoma City Thunder 146 to 111 Josh Bo how are you

I’m good I love talking to you before uh the sun has set we’ve had four games in a row that are just like early it just it’s it’s nice warms my heart nice that was a pretty fun game did you get like man things are things are

Better for so what you’re telling me this is a wild thing I think we’ve done this like two or three years in a row so what you’re telling me Josh is that when you put good normalized NBA players who know how to play basketball around Luca

Donic good things can happen is is is that is that what I’m to understand it’s a complicated formula but yes I believe that is I mean we’re really lucky that Dallas Mavericks like fell upon the formula of good basketball players surr rounding a generational Talent like I can believe this

Happened yeah it was pretty fun uh I think what’s crazy I mean a lot of this game is is pretty crazy but uh I mean those guys arrived they said they got into Dallas Thursday at midnight uh woke up uh well I guess you know they were off Friday so I guess

They had Friday to try to get acclimated lots of film sessions that’s that’s what the TV uh people were talking about yeah and then they had to do you know they did their press conference this morning like four hours before the game started like that’s pretty impressive to just go

Back in there and just hoop like they did but you know what LCA donic makes things pretty easy and like you said if you are a good competent basketball player it it just it’s it fits like a glove and uh I mean there were moments in the first half where they were

Looking like the showtime Lakers I mean that was that was that was pretty nuts so I don’t even know where to start so I’m just going to pick a play okay there was a a botched lob attempt from Luca donic to Daniel Gafford where Gafford went up and got the ball anyway and

Scored do you know what play I’m talking about was this the one was it in the first half kind of like on a fast break yeah and it was uh it was on a pick and roll and there’s three dudes around Gafford and Gafford basically volleyballs it to himself when he

Realizes he’s not going to be able to get the dunk cuz he’s a little too far away and there’s just the defense a little too on him and he pulls it down and just puts it back in the hoop with a gentleness and just a touch that I I

Love Maxi and and I’m grateful for Dwight’s 37 years of Dallas Maverick service but they can’t do that um and frankly Derrick Lively can’t yet either um and it it was it there’s just so many moments of this game that make you go Oh okay this game felt like the part in Billy Madison where he grabs the DodgeBall and says uh oh you guys are in big trouble now big big trouble yeah um because Gafford like you know I’m not watching Wizards games like I’m gonna be honest with you I was when I was there

But it’s been two years was he was he there when you were there or was he’s he’s been a guy just because of the team being because like I think I said this the other day the Washington Wizards have won Under 5050 games for 45 straight Seasons they are amazing stat

They are a just a a testament to an eptitude shout out Washington Wizards and so he was always on team uh particularly when I was started taking Parker and he just he stood out because he’s an athlete and I know he measures six foot n but he’s got a really nice

Vertical jump um he’s also got big shoulders yes he’s a big big dude he’s sturdy lad yeah yeah and and it’s one of these things where the you know sometimes it doesn’t translate to TV how either narrow or wide these guys are like lots of people like to argue about

Luca Don’s height Luca’s height is not the point Luca’s width is the point the man is a tank and and when you you’re so so if we’re talking H Gafford and Luca doing a pick and roll we’re talking a pair of Tanks okay it’s a lot of weight

In a good way in a good way yeah in in a way that’s very difficult to guard cuz you have to keep bodies in front of them as they’re going at the hoop and clearly though you know tonight the Thunder you know if there’s one knock against the

Thunder it’s that they don’t have a lot of size they’re slight they or they’re they’re slight yeah yeah because they have some really tall and rangy dudes but not a lot of like big guys right and so this was this was nice I I I’m I’m really sort of struggling as to figuring

Out how to talk because I turned it on in the middle of the first quarter I I was coming back from HB and it was 28 to 14 and I texted everybody or I slacked them as Moneyball slack and I said what the hell is going on it was like six

Minutes into the game dude it was like I said it was like Showtime Lakers in the first quarter it was getting out on the fast break did you did you end up seeing you probably missed it then if that’s when you T I saw the replay Josh Green

Behind the back like I mean this team was doing stuff that were like wait like what um so that was pretty awesome yeah gafford’s listed as four pounds heavier than Derek Lively and Derrick Lively has I think how much by the way 234 to 230

So good to know good to know my my 40-year-old 6’3 ass weighs more than both of these players at a chis me too but I guess I’m a little taller but whatever um but hey I mean it’s only four pounds that’s what’s listed but that makes right it’s a different it’s a

Different look though way the weights distributed yeah and he had four offensive rebounds in 17 minutes um which is pretty good um defensive rebounding is kind of an issue but that’s okay cuz he’s playing you know he’s going to be playing minutes off the bench theoretically when Lively gets

Back uh but yeah the offensive rebounding was something I noticed too like the way he was able to because the Mavericks are a bad offensive rebounding team they’ve been a terrible offensive rebounding team for years even predating Luca going back to like Carlile before Luca because Carlile always wanted

Transition defense he didn’t like guys crashing the glass I think his rule was one guy could crash the glass and everyone else had to get back so they’ve never really been an offensive rebounding team which is like becoming a bigger and bigger tool for a lot of

These teams like well because it it was one of those it’s one of those things that analytics will not I hate to be this broad but essentially analytics pushed folks away from sending guys offensive boards because you get beat in transition but now it’s like a market inefficiency yeah so and so it’s

Starting to come back into Vogue and there are teams that are utilizing it in a way to like clear like close gaps that might not be there in terms of like a a talent disadvantage you can get some extra I mean getting extra possessions is good you usually win basketball games

If you have more POS you know if you have more shot attempts than the other team yeah um so that was good uh I thought that was like immediately noticeable was just the way he was able to get up and not you know Dwight poell gets his offensive rebounds but he

Usually gets his on the tip outs and stuff like that like Gafford was legitimately just like outworking and and out bigging the thunderf front line on a lot of those offensive rebounds which was cool and then PJ Washington doing kind of exactly the things that everyone hoped best case scenario one

Game like wow a guy that can attack a closeout and score in the lane is just such a commodity for this Mavericks team on the wing when you’re playing next well I want to get to Washington here shortly but I need to run a take past

You that that’s been sort of just in the old head they’re to me I in in my brain there’s sort of two kinds of NBA players there are players is that when you are paired with Luca donic you you are diminished and you aren’t able to play

To your full capacity because Luca is just too big of an orbit then there are guys who Luca so multiplies that it’s really difficult to judge their value Spencer deny for example who just joined Los Angeles Lakers eat Spencer thank you very much for not joining our team uh I hope

You go tank the Lakers now but Spencer played amazing with Luca probably some of the best basketball of his career the most efficient he’s ever been in his life was ni and and you know but then you have a guy like dlan Wright who really couldn’t find a role you have

Josh Richardson who really struggled and then you know to a certain extent Grant Williams um but then you got guys like PJ Washington who come in Grant it’s one game so I’m I you know all the Derk Lively great example because it’s like and Derrick Jones like there’s examples

Look at Tim Hardaway look at uh look at Dorian I mean look at what Dorian did in Dallas compared to what he’s done done in Brooklyn yes yes so I’m just I was sort of thinking about that prior to the game and then I turn

On and I see uh the full court pass to Gafford for a dunk and then like just repeated oops and it’s like oh no I mean okay so all right 10 minutes into the show here you could guys could do me a favor there’s a lot of people in the

Stream live stream I think it’s the early game we get some European fans oh boy this is had yeah this is the most we’ve had since we’ve been at this platform if you could do me a favor and go ahead and click the like button while you’re down there uh it really helps

Josh and I if you would consider subscribing to the show I’d be grateful for that as well you can also get notified uh when we go live we go live after every single game it’s usually within 15 to 20 minutes depending on what’s going on and then most of the

Time I’m going to try to host a live show where you guys can come up and join I wish I could do one tonight because there’s all sorts of stuff that people would like to talk about I’m sure but I promised my son that we would watch uh

The Empire Strikes Back he is at the ripe age to where I can get for Star Wars indoctrination and so I’m taking advantage of him saying yes overplaying Pokemon uh if if you could also do me a favor and and you know if you’re listening on the audio streams go ahead

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Ad thanks so much for letting me shill for a minute okay so PJ Washington who I learned last night was a local kid I mean that shows you how much I paid attention to this trade deadline just because and it’s just not my thing so I

I don’t like to talk about things that I’m not I don’t want to like fake being an expert in local man played out in Frisco for a little while then he went out to to fendl prep which was actually a place I’ve played basketball and it is

A it’s before the prep school closed down like was essentially an NBA f Factory uh there’s like 15 or 20 guys that went through there names that I can recognize and the gym was like smaller than most like 3A uh uh JB gyms like it was such a weird place to play

Basketball but and you know so he he’s been um with the Hornets for the last silver years and is just a a fascinating player sort of has struggled with efficiency in certain ranges and so I know like ESPN’s T bontemps was like not high on the move at all just because

He’s not been a very efficient player and I’m very curious as what you think about his fit with the Mavericks after one game relative to what I said about the Luca donic multiplying effect yeah I think the big thing for him you know I think that everyone was talking about

The three-point shooting because he has not been a good three-point shooter lately when I mean lately I don’t just mean this season I mean like the last couple of Seasons uh he started the league he he entered the league as a good shooter and his three-o percentage

Has slowly gotten worse over the last three seasons like 36 to 34 to 32 now uh before this game and what was even weirder was you know because the first thing you think is well he’s on a crappy team he’s probably taking a lot of Pull-Up threes and end of shot clock

Three like he’s probably taking a lot of bad shots to tank his percentage he’s shooting really bad on spot up threes and Corner threes this which is so weird it ISD strugle with it his jumper looks good like technically like it looks good like he has a good form on his jumper so

It’s weird and it’s you know a lot of people with Luca they bring up the shooting and it’s like well he’s not shooting well he’s not going to f next to Luca and I think there’s been this I don’t know if you want to call it narrative but there’s just been this

Idea that the only player like the ideal player to play next to Luca is just someone who can hit spot of Threes And I get it because Luca is one of the best if not the best three-point shot Creator in the league but to me the best fit

Next to Luca is someone that can do something with the space that he creates because Luca isn’t just creating three-point shots he’s creating space because he has almost all of the defense’s attention on him every time he’s on the floor he gets two on the ball more than anyone else in the league

Which has been repeated by a ton of people like that’s just you know don’t even need to reference where that stat comes from like he’s been he’s been blitzed on the pick and roll more than anyone else in the NBA and it’s more than you

Know years ago the three and D player I feel like was more optimal as teams were starting to like utilize the three-point line more and analytics and all that stuff well defenses I think are starting to catch up to that and they are running these limited Shooters off the line more

Than they did let’s say like in 2015 or 2016 2017 when the three-point shot really started to Boom Warriors titles and because of that now you need the offense has to adjust you now need more guys that if you okay if you’re getting closed out on by a defense what are you

Gonna do with the ball because if it’s just passing it along the perimeter and it ends back in Luca’s hands we’ve seen what happens he has to take an exasperated shot at the end of the shot clock and the defense gets worse because of usually bad shots seel bad transition

Defense and run outs and it just doesn’t work and we’ve seen in big games good teams just leaving the Maverick spot-up Shooters open because they one feel either they don’t care if they shoot uh because they don’t trust that they’re good shooters or they trust their

Defense to close out and once they close out they’re like well you’re not gonna do anything you’re not gonna hurt us if we really close out and sell you sell on you so the big thing like it’s okay that wa you know Washington needs to shoot better from three I think to maximize

His time in Dallas but if he doesn’t shoot like a crazy high percentage just the fact that he knows what to do with a live dribble when a Defender is running at him beyond the three-point line makes an immeasurable difference to how this offense can flow and move and take some

Of the pressure off of Luca to have to do literally everything to create offense and generate buckets the Mavericks had 66 points in the paint tonight or today um 66 yes they had 66 points they were 2 yes they were 25 of 27 at The Rim today um the Oklahoma City

Thunder made two more three-pointers than them wow how many times have the Mavericks won a game that just has happen this year right so yes he needs to shoot better but man if he’s open on the wing and a Defender is running at him his ability to take a hard dribble

And finish a little floater in the paint matters so much more than him hitting like 38 or 39% of his threes like he does need to shoot better but this matters to the offense at least way more in my opinion makes it more sustainable against the better defenses because

Threes are threes are not going to always fall right they’re a variable even the best Shooters miss you know yeah what three out of every five threes they take like that’s 40% two out of five so like yeah you got to have something more reliable so it’s it’s

Really it’s really going to be something and both of them brought kind of a palpable energy that that that was really it’s it’s kind of hard to describe other than the fact that you know is still sort of finding his his skis um Dwight Powell is Dwight and Maxi

Is just not that kind of guy so big demonstrative post play is actually quite nice now one of the other things that I noticed and this is just limited limited sample size it’s one game but what it actually felt like to me is that having these guys playing Center small forward power

Forward the mix you know between the two guys that you got gaff that can play you know he’s probably primarily going to play center right now but he might you might spot him at the you know power forward occasionally you’re you’re going to run PJ between power forward and

Small forward depending on what the the lineups are but what I was just you know and granted I’m like holding the baby during this feeding a baby so some of my analysis might be garbage today I apologize but it felt like everyone else slid into a you know Luca and Kyrie

Aside the rest of the roster slid into slightly different positions which allowed them to play a little more free um and a little harder and a little faster you know like a Josh Green dunk coming in transition it was just this’s a little little more to it Maxi is is playing

With force over these last several games we haven’t seen in like two years um I I I you know Tim Hardaway shots don’t feel quite so no no no yes I I granted this is just you know one game’s kind of overreaction action to it but it felt

Like there was just a level of sustainability to to what we were seeing with the rest of the roster instead of it always being like all right are we gonna get the peak version of these guys tonight do you know what I mean yeah you’re kind of hitting it on the head

What we’ve kind of circled around since 2019 really is this trade so far through one game it looks like it’s slotting the rest of the role players into better spots on the totem pole if that makes sense um because what they traded I mean they didn’t give up anyone in these

Trades that was a productive member of their rotation no what do you think about it I mean it was ran Holmes Seth Curry who didn’t play and Grant Williams who was playing bad and was coming off the bench because after getting demoted because he was playing poorly like you

Replace those three with two guys that can play it’s not only you’re getting their production but now okay Maxi doesn’t have to be the best big every night if Lively’s not playing because guess what gafford’s coming in off the bench and he’s getting rebounds and he’s getting dunks right Tim Hardway Jr

Doesn’t need to be scoring shooting so much to score 35 points every game because now you’ve got some distributed scoring between Washington Luca Kyrie Tim and you know even Gafford when he’s getting when he’s in there getting buckets because everything feels a little bit better in place so those guys

Are going to take the pressure off the remaining role players that are still on the roster where they don’t have to feel like they have to be perfect players every single night to win games and I think that’s a big deal uh because that what we’ve been talking about for so

Long they just they played so many guys in the rotation that we’ve been like would any of the top four teams in either conference have these guys playing regular minutes in the rotation like how many guys have the Mavericks thrown out over the last four or five

Years that we said that about so just adding two more guys that feel like legitimate NBA rotation players on a good team I think it’s going to make Maxi better it’s going to make Tim Hardway Jr better it’s going to make Josh Green better it’s going to make

Derrick Jones Jr better because those like d Derrick Jones Jr only scored eight points and that’s fine and they’ve needed him to be a double digit scorer most of the year and that’s not him like that would be awesome if he did that but that’s never been his game his whole

Career so like Dwight pal was a Victory Cigar coming off the bench in the fourth quarter how long has that have we been wanting like man we like pal good dude for the locker room but if they could just not rely on him so much for Big Man

Minutes that’d be great and you like that happened tonight so I think that’s another part of it is just you know they removed the stuff from the roster that was not giving them anything and those two guys immediately come in and combine to score 33 points in their first game

It’s just like oh that makes a difference so so as is our as is our tradition here we sort of inadvertently downplay just how good Luca donic is um not on purpose just because we don’t constantly want to come in here and be like oh my God Luca 14 shots 32

Points LOL to that um eight rebounds nine assists and played only 33 31 minutes which was really really quite something and I mean if you’re able to just spell him 30 if you’re able to play Luca 36 minutes a night over the rest of the

Year and a lot of people are gonna be like why does that four minutes matter well that four minutes over the course of 12 games is a full game extra that LC is playing so for a guy this big who plays this physical of basketball considering and you know

Conserving his minutes is going to be really important and and then there’s the additional like sort of he played with a with a level of juice tonight that I haven’t seen in a while you think the uh Slovenian fan base being able to watch this game live because he’s

Usually good he’s always good in the afternoon games because he knows his his family and friends can watch that’s why they played it too I didn’t even think about that this is why I’m stupid I used to think about these things in advance not anymore it’s that was that was

Really remarkable and then I think we have to talk about the fact uh uh you know who else played just a really like door closing like mean game was Kyrie Irving yeah he looked great he’s been great since he’s come back by the way he he’s been awesome he has but he was

Authoritative in this game and really just it just he’s kind of made some plays and some shot tonight that had to just drain the life out of you if you’re a thunder fan he had a left-handed um across the lane over three guys move where I’m just like that

All right that that’s why that’s why he exists that’s why he’s there yeah so yeah I wrote in the recap like it’s fun to have these new role players but the team only goes so far as Luca and Kyrie go and they were awesome tonight I

Thought it was in you know so Kyrie came back on Monday against Philadelphia so they’ve played four games with Kyrie back they’re four and0 um this was the first I think really impressive win the other were against teams that were kind of down bad but that’s okay because you

Just you take wins you can’t take take the schedule but Luca in these four games has two games under 20 shot attempts the last time before the Philadelphia game on Monday he had a game with less than 20 shot attempts was like early November against the

Sacramento Kings so he’s gone two and a half months without having a game under 20 shot attempts like just having Kyrie on the floor just makes such a big difference for Luca and having good Kyrie like he’s been back and he’s shooting like over 55% three

Ball that well tonight no and he’s still shooting like but he’s he’s Nails on everything inside the arc right now which is great so like just having them back like I think the thing that’s gotten lost is we’ve always said like the numbers show when they play together

They’re good the record is isn’t good but like the data behind their minutes is they’re winning those those minutes it’s been everything else so I mean that’s going to be the key for the rest of the season as good as uh Washington looked as good as Gafford looked if

Those two can stay healthy stay on the floor they’re gonna they’re gonna win they’re gonna win some games well and one of the you know we’re we’re winding towards you know close closing out we’ll talk for a little bit longer here um you you pull us back to mid January when you

And I had looked ahead to this point in the schedule and frankly I wrote a piece which game was it I did the recap for one of these games several weeks ago and sort of like lost my mind at the end of it where I I it was after one of the

Losses I think it it was a buck loss yeah it’s a buck Lo bucks loss um this which is obviously not too many games ago or uh not too many um about a week or so ago week and a half ago the right thing yeah about a week yeah and and I

Just wrote that these guys need to pull it together and quit barking quit complaining just go play basketball and you know there was a lot of like there’s a lot of of I don’t want to say like outright negative but they the a lot of the press has essentially confirmed through

Sourcing that Grant rubbed people the wrong way call that what you will but sometimes and I don’t necessarily think it’s like he’s a bad dude or anything like that honestly what it sounds like to me is he’s the guy in the office that just won’t shut the up and after a

While you know it’s it’s you’re you’re working on a on a big project you got to close out the project and the guy’s not doing his part of the project while continuing to talk and they had to get that Vibe they had to change that Vibe

Um and honestly like like you could see Lucas’s just Delight in the post game Following last game with what they had done um and I see uh Edvard in the chat saying no need for bashing Grant it’s not bashing to basically say that

He was a a a he was a minus player he was an element in the in what was going on with the team chemistry that was not working like that’s just a a point of fact and and and so it’s like they they pull that element out they get Luca two

Different players that actually really accentuate his trait his strengths and here you are here you are with with a team that is it you know you go out and you score 146 points not going to happen every game but to do it against the Thunder yeah one of the best defenses in the

League it’s just such a point where we were talking and I I I I wrote I wrote some closing some very dramatic closing graph from like these guys need to look themselves in the mirror and figure out what they want to do do they want to go

Win games or do they want to keep kind of just slogging and farting around so when you change up the elements and you we’ve seen that from the very beginning this team has something that when that something gets really accentuated they go and can really win basketball games

It’s not going to be the smooth sailing but we were worried as recently as two weeks ago that the Dallas Mavericks would go into All-Star break below 500 they are now seven games above 500 with the chance to win two more they have two I mean frankly trap games ahead on

The schedule they play the Washington Wizards and like I I really hope Sean Holmes doesn’t score like 25 points because that would be just hilariously embarrassing and then they play the San Antonio Spurs who don’t have enough uh you know talent to stick up with the

Mavericks but they do have a seven foot five mutant who can do all sorts of crazy things with the basketball um interestingly enough I got fed a text from a a friend around the NBA I’m not gonna be like a Team official or anything but just through various

Channels it’s it’s been St it’s been said that that wemi had said to somebody that Daniel Gafford actually guarded as well as anybody has the entire year so that’s very interesting to me yeah they need to close they need to close with two wins if they any loss here in the

Next two games would be a real bummer going into the the All-Star break because though it’s not that those two teams are are bad they’re like the Wizards the the Spurs the Hornets the Pistons I think those are and the Trailblazers they’re like not only are

Those the four worst teams in the NBA they’re like historically like four of the worst the seasons that that that have happened in the NBA like they’re they are not good team so those need to be you know they need to take care of business which to be fair the Mavericks

Have mostly taking care of business against Bad teams their record against teams below 500 is really really good I know fans pull their hair out at some of the losses last season and you know they lost to the short-handed Memphis earlier this year so I know no one’s going to

Trust the team to take care of business but they’ve they’ve actually been pretty good about it so yeah they need to go into the All-Star break strong but but yeah you know this reminded me um remember the game uh the first game they played after they traded christop

Porzingis and they beat the Clippers by like 50 points or something that was that was crazy this felt like that game like I mean there’s obviously some sort of weight lifted off their shoulders and a new energy in the roster and sometimes it’s just wow new face like any new face

Will help like sometimes I under I undervalue that every trade deadline it’s not on purpose it’s but it’s very evident where it’s just like all right say you don’t agree with my grant analysis at all which reading some of the comments people don’t which I don’t understand but that’s fine I I just

Think mixing it up is is not necessarily the worst thing you know if you you go play a run of five on five with some of your friends and occasionally just you you switch out one or two guys and the the the energy is different and that’s

That’s that’s palpable I mean I don’t know if you watched the postgame interview with skin Wade but PJ and Gafford were like they were psyched yeah they were on two of the worst teams ever and now they’re on a team winning with Luca yeah yeah they’re gonna get good contracts whenever

They’re this it’s not from other players it’s not from other players but there’s this fan driven Narrative of people who don’t like the way that Luca is PL like plays that insists that insists on uh uh basically saying that the other players don’t like Luca and or you know I wouldn’t want to

Play with that guy and it’s like no great like players want to play with great players they do um one thing that I just I I feel the need to address this is Fan One 123 in the chat kind of makes a point I just want to talk about

This at the end of Tim McMahon’s hoop Collective note about Grant he made the sort of like jab about Grant Williams switching shoes from Lucas to tatums I don’t really like the the Luca this year they’re not my favorites the tatums are a little interesting and players do switch shoes fairly

Recently I one of the things that everybody took and ran with and I don’t understand why was that Luca like the the easy dumb fan response was well Luca wanted him out of there because he switched his shoes Tim wasn’t saying that about Luca Tim was basically saying why why is

Grant dumb enough to change his shoes that’s what the point was it was not a Luca jab it was a grant Williams jab and you go through the very podcast yesterday and and you know Simmons and Russillo talking about him it was Brad Townsen I think put out a little bit of

A thing on it it’s like it enough people report it I don’t understand like why everyone’s like this is not a thing whatever he’s gone we don’t have to think about him again I’m sure I’ll continue to take Jabs because I’m a petty dummy um and and Edvard says why does Tim have

A beef with Luca he doesn’t it’s just a reporter’s job is not to be friends with the subject that you cover so sometimes you get into these questions and and people there’s going to be tension like that’s there’s tension the relationship yeah and and when things aren’t great

That that tension tends to rise there’s also the fact that Tim’s writing a book and luuka does not want him to write that book um that is that’s kind of the be all end all uh of of what’s going on there dang we’re nearly at 800 followers or followers uh live show listeners

That’s I mean this was just what a way like what a way to go this was just I don’t have enough nice things to say about that like it’s just fantastic this is just such a fun win and I I and what’s funny is you could even see like

Elements of improvement if you wanted to you know yeah I mean Lively and exm didn’t even play so like what’s this gonna what’s this gonna look like when Maxi’s either you know maybe coming off the bench or or you know Lively’s back in the fold and you get 48 minutes of

Lively and Gafford on the floor to you know not together obviously but just you know playing the center position like exom coming off the bench because you know they do probably need his backup guard ability right now because you know right now basically it’s Jaden Hardy’s the backup guard or they just stagger

Luca and Kyrie so like you get XM back you can maybe lower someca and Kyrie’s minutes a little bit so yeah I mean this is for them to do this and not even be at full strength is is very encouraging was a lot of fun I mean yeah it was just

Fun to watch they haven’t played a fun game like this and you know even the three previous wins were good solid wins but this there was nothing they haven’t done anything like this since man I don’t know I guess when they played Portland at the at the start of

January but but that was Portland like that doesn’t matter like doing this to Oklahoma City matters in a way uh that their previous wins just it it’s just not the same and shout out to I think it should be noted we haven’t talked about this point yet but the Thunder punched

Back in the second quarter like after kind of things cooled down a little bit and for the Mavericks to not only withstand that that punch back but to then increase the lead in the second half I think is probably the most impressive thing they’ve done all season

Because this is a team that has not responded well to getting punched back think about the Milwaukee game they were up 20 in the first half uh and then slowly just dripped that lead away after the first quarter uh this one you the second quarter I could see Mavs fans

Thinking this is the the Milwaukee game all over again and then the third quarter they drop 39 uh they get their lead back up into 20 or whatever it was and they just it was never a close game after that it it was pretty impressive

To see them respond in a way they don’t usually get to respond mid game when things aren’t going well so I’ve got I’ve got an idea because there there’s already uh uh just jokes mainly jokes it’s like who’s I mean should Gafford start over Lively type thing and I have

A I just have an i a like just something I think they should try whoever starts every game is whoever got the most dunks in the game Before contest you know what do you think why not go for it just love it I mean that’s gonna be a pretty competitive con I mean I mean seventh and eighth they’re they’re seventh and eighth in the league respectively for total dunks I wonder if there is going

To be a side bet in that locker room to see you can finish with with more dunks that’ll be I yes knowing knowing how NBA players spend their free time and like to make bets and Gamble and not like gamble gamble but you know play cards

And stuff shout out to our our former Stafford Logan Thompson who um legitimately disappeared uh well I have not talked to Logan in like three months um do we got anything else or should we close this up uh I think I’m okay I know we’re riding the high of

Having up 800 people in here but uh all good things must come to an end I guess so many so many dunks so many blocks so many rebounds so many nice passes um just while I’m thinking about it one more time the Luca passed to Dwight Powell during the next game that

Is just gonna live in my head for the rest of my life for the rest of my life do you want do you have any thoughts on the on the the last roster spot Andreas just posted about this that’s a good one uh I don’t know uh last I mean I am glad

Spencer didn’t sign like if Spencer got swayed by going to the Los Angeles Lakers game when they’re literally the worst team like go go forth yeah that was kind of interesting but I got living in hate him the Mavericks are the kind of team where you can say weird stuff

And nobody thinks about it you can’t do that in Los Angeles yeah they will pick up on anything he says post game uh I don’t know they if x if xm’s injury is something that’s more Ser I don’t know if it’s more serious than Le on but I mean seems yeah he’s

He’s been out for a while if they’re not confident in him finishing the season healthy then they probably need to try to see if there’s a veteran guard that they can get um seems like the other ones like Kyle Lowry I think is pegged to go to to Philadelphia so don’t really

Know who’s out there for veteran backup guard on the buyout Market but that’s where I would lean but otherwise you know if they get like Marcus Morris I mean you’ll be mad about it for like for like 10 minutes but then we’ll go on with her day I just don’t see them that

Unless they get a backup guard I don’t see whoever they get in the buyout Market mattering too much because pretty well fortified otherwise I made this joke before the show started just in the chat because I really don’t want to play the Clippers but I just I I can’t help

Now but thinking now more never the Mavericks are going to play the Clippers just because if like Luca is on a a hero’s journey you you have to to Def to slay the monster and the Clippers are are Luca’s secret monster um I don’t want either Morris brother on the team

But what if you what if you had both Morris Brothers to go play the Clippers just use their six fouls to just use their and George instead of hacking the out of Luca they’re hacking the out of Kawai there you go and maybe when the Morris are combined together

They’re like the the twins or whatever the super twins this is the Robin Lopez is backup guard I like that one I don’t know I I I don’t have a strong opinion because Guy buyout guys usually don’t matter too much it’s true historically no but I I still like you know it’s

It’s who’s the who’s the the GU the the D the g-league guy that I can’t stand that they constantly threaten to bring back who has his own podcast uh Theo Theo I mean we have to admit in 20 2122 the the Pinon sign signing was legitimately purposeful like that was he

Wasn’t a buyout guy but like he they brought him up and he mattered everyone had Co he mattered and then he was his Vibes were important you know I I I want so as much as we’re like ah that last spot doesn’t matter I I can’t help but

Thinking that you don’t want them to punt it yeah yeah you don’t want to punt that’s a good one that’s a good one okay 40 minutes in great show guys thanks so much for hanging out if you uh please would consider subscribing to the show also setting up your notific ific ations

Um if you could go ahead and like the stream one more time leave a comment that sort of thing head over to Mavs Moneyball where Josh Bo wrote an incredible incredible recap I’m sure I haven’t actually read it yet but Josh is a better writer than I am so here we go

Thank you so much for spending time with us hope I didn’t say anything too stupid um but if I did too bad uh go Mavs this has been Kirk Henderson and Josh Bo of pod Maverick everyone have a great rest of your weekend and we will see you on I think Monday bye

Guys

Kirk and Josh connect after the rare afternoon Mavs game to talk about the Mavericks playing the Thunder along with analysis of how the new players, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, fit into things. Hopefully, Luka is ready for a pair of new lob threats! #BlueWireVideo

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