Mavericks vs Cavaliers: Luka Doncic finally plays in Cleveland

Mavericks vs Cavaliers: Luka Doncic finally plays in Cleveland

A [Applause] Hello Mavs fans welcome to another episode of pod Maverick after dark I’m Kirk Henderson joined by Josh Bo it’s a little before 9:00 on February 27th the Dallas Mavericks just lost uh to the Cleveland Cavaliers on the longest buzzer beater in NBA history Josh what’s it like to be second longest Kirk excuse

Me okay okay don’t you dare do that to Devonte Graham former Kansas jhawk one of my favorite players I’m just kidding I didn’t okay I thought somebody I thought I really honestly thought I saw longa so the Mavericks fell 121 to 119 um max streu buried five threes in the

Final what was it four minutes yeah about four minutes four or five minutes four or five minutes of a game after the Dallas Mavericks had taken um a commanding lead yeah they’re up 10 they’re up 10 uh after really one of the um we’ll get to this in due time but

Really like like a beautiful possession of role players with maxi kba busting his ass to get an offensive rebound passing the ball out getting the ball back and burying a three to really what felt like seal the game for the Mavericks and Um it didn’t and so you know we had a little bit of time like my Twitter feed is just a mess because it’s like you get people responding people are mad as they should be mad yeah and I think this game is like a roar shock test is that what she

Is that you say yeah RAR Shar yeah what the freaking ink blah this is this is like this is the the game that if you have a beef with the Mavericks uh let’s say it’s um let’s say it’s the end of game play calling or realistically what turned

Into an elaborate game of my turn your turn where Kyrie Irving um attempted to make up for mistakes let’s say it’s the NBA officiating which was um I cannot wait to see the last two- minute report on this game that’s going to be a riot let’s say it’s um head Watcher Jason kid

Uh let’s say it’s inbound plays where Luca gets the ball going away from the basket again let’s it I mean it worked because the we’ll get to it we’ll get to it let’s say it’s um I mean Josh Green doing Josh green things let’s like it was really a

Remarkable game of one thing one thing makes a difference Tim Hardway Jr defensive stopper shout out Bob Sturm um if that’s a thing like one thing makes a difference in this game that that’s kind of what I’m settling on and the and the Mavericks walk away with a win right oh

Yeah yeah I mean how many things happened when they went up 10 to end the game where if that one thing did the opposite uh they win the game right like Kyrie walking out of bounds like for example he was so mad and here’s the thing he was wrong like Tim

Hardway threw him the ball while he was in bounds and he walked out of bounds right if Luca and Tim Hardaway switch better on one of the the two threes where they had to switch onto stru maybe stru misses um I don’t know man like frankly

Where do you want where do you even want to start with this I we got I think we got to start from the end and work backwards because the the end of the game was really really insane Luca donic gets the ball on on the same horrid inbound design where he’s getting the

Ball going away from the basket at the opposite corner two Cavaliers screw up going for it Luca slides in between them and everybody thinks he’s gonna shoot it everybody thinks he’s gonna shoot it you can tell the whole Cavs defense thought he was going to shoot it because there’s

Only eight seconds left he gets into the lane with about four seconds remaining and Le leaves a beautiful dump off pass to PJ Washington who Glides it over the rim while getting fouled for a no call then Max dreu gets the ball in the inbounds there’s about two seconds left

Takes two hard dribbles gets probably I don’t know within eight feet of the half court line lets it Fly Luca was there and honestly man I don’t know what you I’m curious as to your thought when I saw the shot like just the way the shot

Came off his hands I was like oh no oh as soon as it left his hands I was like that’s in it’s a beautiful like like it yeah Shooters have really distinct like good Shooters have distinct form and like he was just on one at that point after hitting the

Previous four I don’t even know if streu is a good three-point shooter this year not this year he’s he entered pretty good he pretty good in Miami yes he was good in Miami but this season he’s shooting I think 33% entering this game he was seven of 10 tonight yeah and he

Just like it the way it comes off his hands it’s like like oh [ __ ] yeah he’s a good Sho that’s been like a thing with Cleveland like they don’t understand why he’s not making shots he’s still been like useful for them because he’s got the well maybe he’ll start Mak shots

After that thing yeah the the because the gravity and the volume matters like he’s still a threat uh but yeah that’s been like a storyline for the Cavs all season it’s like why is he not making shots right and like the the the secondary thing is is like Luca was

There and so you know decent basketball strategy with two and a seconds left is don’t foul contest the shooter maybe the Mavs could have been up a little tighter but you don’t yeah I don’t think they had a foul um there’s a little bit of confusion on that but ultimately I don’t

Really care like I don’t want to focus on the one possession 59 footer you back up from that and there was and please you watched all this while while we were getting ready you know we we were trying to get ready for this and before that they’re at the 24

Second Mark when the Cavs had gone up on a and you didn’t see this but um who’s the Cav Center what’s wrong with me Jared Allen Jared Allen I’m pretty sure did one of the most amazing Gortat screens for a three-pointer that I’ve ever seen I mean we’re talking and you

Didn’t see this but I expect like go back and look look at this after the game he gives a two-handed shove to Maxi that I did see it pushes him back length like that was an off a foul it just was and then on the screen destroys Josh

Green like I’ve been really harsh on Josh and he was actually pretty bad this game defensively but on that play he gets over the top of the screen while just getting broadsided by Jared Allen and uh Donovan Mitchell hits a a you know a 30 foot bank shot like the the

Cavs are up um at that point uh Kyrie takes the ball down and then scores a quick two-pointer and then at that point there’s 24 seconds left there’s a timeout so the the the Cavs don’t have to get another shot up and for some reason there’s a timeout called by the

Cavs so the Mavericks have time to set their defense to set their defense and let everyone know what the plan is and then the Cavs get the ball in and I don’t know how to describe the ensuing 14 seconds because the Mavericks probably had a plan to go for a steal

But they didn’t cover the guy in the Deep back court which doesn’t make any sense to me they get the ball into the front court and proceed to do some soft doubles which every single attempt there over that 14 seconds looked like a non-call foul what did you think yeah I

Didn’t I mean I wasn’t thinking that because it didn’t look like they were trying to foul and you know I mean we’ve watch there were still fouls like like at that point when you’re body bumping somebody and reaching for the ball one of those over a over a 10-second span is

Going to get called and it just wasn’t yeah I don’t know but it didn’t look like the Mavs wanted sure to get called for like because the refs are looking for like the intentional foul and it looked like they were almost giving the Mavs a break like because the Mavs were

Trying I I’m assuming the strategy was double go for a steel jump ball whatever and then foul but I don’t so much time went off the clock so much and they had a foul to give and you’ve got foul at that point but they didn’t and then what

Happened was one of the more bizarre like second and a half that you’ll see in an NBA game where was it Donovan Mitchell or was it um Darius I think it was Garland Garland had the ball and basically Josh Green channels his Dante D venzo from the other night against the

Pistons and just like I mean kind of levels him yeah like he it’s like a tackle that’s not a tackle and mass fans are kind of uh which includes us but I mean I watched it again there was no jump ball however Garland goes to the ground and rolls around right it’s

Either a foul or a travel that’s a [ __ ] travel I just I watch YMCA basketball with seveny olds every week you like you cannot roll on the ground they emphasize that from very early on and there’s just nothing they get a timeout called after he goes from I’m

Pretty sure being on his front to rolling over onto his behind while trying to keep the all away from Josh and at that point they call it timeout and like you can see kid is just like I’m sorry I know there’s a lot of folks

In the in the chat that are like you can’t you can’t blame this on kid look we’ll get to kid but there’s just no more perfect visual than him standing right there with his hands in his pockets it it drives me it drives me crazy anyway they call that timeout the

Mavericks then play some great defense on the inbounds and and I’m pretty was it green who knocked it off Garland yeah and green basically comes up with a great great flesh off and that leads to the the aforementioned uh uh play because again we’re working backwards

Here guys uh but then before that you know before the the Donovan Mitchell Bank three before all this the Mavericks had gone up 10 and now I’m going more linearly I don’t even know how to describe this can can you kind of walk through what happened with the four Max

Streu 3s yeah so I think that’s going to be that’s to me you know the crazy part of the game is a crazy part of the game we can talk about that we could talk about you know that part of the game is like more exasperating if you’re a mths

Fan more than like this is like trouble because that was just wild I don’t know if you can like take how much you could take from from like the final 30 seconds other than that was some wild [ __ ] um but the stru like that’s the part that’s

The meat and potatoes of this collapse that I think is some is Meaningful like there’s something to this uh and it’s kind of what the Indiana Pacers did to the Mavericks on Sunday where they were basically like let’s get the Maverick’s worst Defenders on the floor involved in

Some actions because Luca started those possessions guarding stru and the Cavs basically took whoever TJ’s man was and let strew screen for that calav player so screening thj and I don’t know what the Maverick’s defensive plan was because thj looked like Luca looked like he was switching and Tim

Looked like he was maybe trapping or or trying to hedge because he was not uh he was not switching like Luca was switching and and Tim Hardway Jr was not so I don’t know which one’s right which one’s wrong sure but I think the key

Thing is the Cavs I think the Cavs very deliberately were like let’s let Luca and thj make defensive decisions yeah yeah and and can we just make we should make an assumption here we should make an assumption here thj was supposed to switch I feel pretty [ __ ] confident in that knowing

How the Mavs like to play defense I would say so was supposed to switch which then begs the question okay so you got four four made threes and they’re all almost two of them are on those switching actions with Luca and thj uh wait I think and then one’s in

Transition which is Mavs bad in transition defense forever uh and then the the fourth one was Luca gets screened and there’s just there’s nothing there’s no help like luuka gets screened like Maxi doesn’t try to brush the screener like the the shooter coming out like there’s just no there’s zero

Communication like it’s Luca running into a screen and shs is um so yeah so two of them are involving thj and Luca but it’s pretty clear like the Cavs saw Luca on streu and like this wasn’t like there’s I think there’s a desire from the fan basee to be like

Ah what are you going to do streu kind of just went on a heater and yeah you could say that especially on you know losing on a 59f footer at the buzzer but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Cavs saw that who was guarding Shu

And who was who else was on the floor and thinking let’s involve these guys in the decision making that’s a tactical because that’s what happened against Indiana the Cav the the Pacers got Luca Kyrie and Tim Hardaway in Motion in rotation in the blender forcing them to scramble make decisions because they

Don’t want to go against PJ Washington or Derrick Lively or Josh Green like they want Luca to make a decision they want thj to make a decision like they want those guys to figure it out let’s be let’s just be clear of this Max Drew’s four threes were over the span of 67

Seconds that’s crazy okay 67 seconds so the first one uh comes comes after a Kyrie Irving layup off a nice play from Maxi um he goes down and drills three then Kyrie steps out of bounds which he did he stepped out of bounds like that was a Kyrie mistake thj

Inbounded the ball to him they obviously either communication there was miscommunication from those two in some form it was a mistake like like I I that’s not a ref’s thing I’m thinking about no that’s not that’s not a ref 4 seconds later Max dreu hits a three where at

That point it’s 110 106 Mark f is having a cow Kyrie goes down drills a three Re gives the Mavs that seven-point lead again 20 seconds later streu hits a really deep 28-footer from Donovan Mitchell Donovan Mitchell assists on three of the four out of these then at

This point this was when so those three happen within 45 seconds of one another all three of those Mavericks are up 113 109 this was the time this was the time where you call a timeout unfortunately Kyrie is kind of pretty pissed off at himself I’ve very

Rarely seen Kyrie kind of this sort of vexed on the floor he’s usually very he’s not like he’s out of control he’s just mad wanted he’s cool and Collective he was he wanted he wanted to make up and he wanted like he was stepping up to

The challenge so to speak he goes down um also shout out up up now and later for the for the quick tip and then we had a tip earlier that I saw from from Henry so shout out to Henry for those tips really appreciate that sort of

Thing so at that point you’re up four um the the it’s three minutes left and the next dead ball I’m pretty sure is the is is a timeout I could be wrong but it’s under three minutes like a kid didn’t have the use it or lose it timeout I

Guess uh which is normally like our joke in here so Kyrie goes down and sort of forces up a shot um doesn’t go and then Max stru comes down and hits the fourth three and at that point that point over is is when kid calls a timeout and at

That point is when he elected to get Josh green back in the game now there is some very and again I’m talking too much Josh is the better analyst but there’s there’s a lot of back and forth with people about Tim’s ability I stick with you in the sense of at that

After the second three and particularly the third three you have to as a coaching staff understand the Cavs see something even if it is just within 45 seconds call a timeout and please get please get you know uh um hard way out of there again that’s just one you know

We’ve already been over a number of the things where this game could have gone differently that’s one of them that I think that whole stretches is probably the one that we’re going to focus on the most as as a fan base what do you think yeah that was bizarre um especially when

It was I mean again it was deliberate like two they basically went back-to-back possessions I mean it was basically three straight possessions where they went oh Lucas guarding stru we’re gonna involve him in some motion like with thj twice in a row then the out- of- bounds play uh where he Allen

Screens Luca and no one helps like just no communication um at at that point you would think you would want your best defenders on the floor um when you’re trying to nurse a 10-point lead in the final minutes um I’m not sure why you need Kyrie Luca and Hardaway on the floor at

The same time because usually you want those three on the floor when you are trying to score some points and when you have a 10-point lead with four minutes left you do not need to score that many more points to win the game you just need some stops so I’m can baffled by

That decision making towards the end um regardless of if it came after a timeout or not there were dead ball opportunities as well like it’s not like he needed to call a timeout necessarily to get green back in the game Cavs had some turnovers uh I mean there was a

Dead ball before struce made the third three-pointer uh off the inbounds play off the Baseline like that could have been an opportunity to get green back in the game I’m not saying that changes anything necessarily um yeah but yeah it was I don’t know what the goal was when

You get a 10-point lead 357 left uh and you’re keeping your kind of offensive geared lineup on the floor I just that was a little confusing because as much as I have defended Tim Hardway Jr in the past make no mistake every time I defend him it’s because I think that his his

Shooting and his volume shooting and gravity and spacing is really important on a team that doesn’t have a lot of high volume three-point Shooters outside of Luca and Kyrie the the Mavericks when you’re up 110 100 with 357 left you do not need volume three-point shooting you

Do not need uh gravity and spacing obviously you don’t just want to punt every possession after that and you still want to score some baskets but I don’t know that was weird um I can’t help but Wonder um if you look at the box score uh green was a minus 11

And Hardaway was a plus 10 we have said over and over again that in-game box score plus minus is a faulty stat I think me and you know enough that and this isn’t just a Maverick’s thing but like coaches will look at that and they will make decisions based off that

Uh I know Rick carow did it he always one of the first things he would bring up in postgame pressers when I used to go and cover the games he would he would talk about plus minus he would look at he would literally look at the box score

And look at a plus minus uh and and and talk about it and so he absolutely was paying attention to that in game not saying the coaches did uh in this instance but I just wonder if kids saw that or if someone on the coaching staff saw that and was like

Okay well let’s ride with Tim we’ve been winning his minutes Josh we’ve been losing his minutes let’s keep him on the bench that’s what happened I’m just I just wonder if I I like I always read our comments because I just can’t help myself shout out to black noir for

Saying we won’t talk about kid as we’re [ __ ] talking about Jason kid Stellar listening put on those listening ears champ um God so yeah I just think I don’t know it’s like the last 30 seconds was chaos but really the way that the Cavs kind of that game was lost

At the four minute Mark yeah I mean they yeah I I I think there’s the way I would describe this if you’re because I’m more media than fan right now so I’m not like steing I’m fan I am pissy you were mad yeah you could be mad for me so I

Apologize if people in the chat want me to like have like a blood lust for this game um I think if you’re a fan you should be mad because this that is a crappy way to lose a game you blow a 10-point lead with four minutes left you

Lose on a 59 foot shot at the buzzer um I never want to tell fans how to feel necessarily obviously there sometimes there’s overreaction and things like that but well usually it’s my fault let’s but when a team but when a team loses a game like that you’re allowed to

Be mad like that’s the whole point of being a f you should be pissed off but I haven’t I haven’t hurt like this after a game in a long I know that’s yeah that was a tough one I but I would say you know the way the game ended the last 30

Seconds I wouldn’t be fearful of that being having anything like a lingering effect the one thing I will say is that we are now two games in a row and I think the Mavs are GNA be fine they play Toronto tomorrow Toronto Is Not Great although they’re playing better but

That’s that’s I would imagine there’s no better scenario than those guys want to play right away and flush this game and beat up on a bad team so what they do tomorrow but what I’m going to say is this is two straight games now against two good teams Pacers are a good team

Cleveland’s I mean good Lord they might be they might finish the second seed in the Eastern Conference they are really good they’re playing really well so two straight games against a huge game for them a yes it was game for them yeah the the race for the second seed is huge

Because no one wants to play Boston in the second round of those top four east teams so this mad these games really matter for these guy for the the two through four teams in the East so what I’m trying to say I know I’m I’m I’m

Really rambling I love this is this is two straight games against two good teams and the strategy while differing a little bit the overarching story is we are going to isolate your worst Defenders and we are going to make them make decisions we’re not necessarily gonna you know isolate’s a bad word by

The way uh because they’re not isoing because the Mavericks are actually pretty good switching and going one-on-one you know defending one-on-one but what they’re clearly doing is they’re like we’re going to make your below average Defenders make decisions like that’s the best way I can summ it

Up that’s what the Pacers did you watch weaknesses yeah they’re you know teams are starting to realize I don’t think we want to go after Derek Lively or PJ Washington or Josh green or Maxi kleba when you’ve got Luca and Kyrie and sometimes Tim Mar Jr all three of those

Guys on the floor at the same time you can’t play those three guys at the same time why do it a good why would you know you can do it against Bad teams but if you’re playing Cleveland you’re playing Indiana I mean they got away with it

Against Phoenix uh I thought didn’t get a lot of burn until later in the game did you notice that I did Green played 29 minutes despite not playing most of the and green hurts his elbow which I mean how many times is he gonna hurt his

Elbow guys guys look look I I played basketball till I was in my mid 20s pretty you know regularly competitively I have never ever seen anyone hurt their elbow like this guy hurts his elbow no he came back in which I was really pleased about but when he jammed it on

That dunk I was like oh no because that’s what resulted in in in um in Tim’s minutes I really believe this like I because how many minutes let’s see here how many minutes did did um Tim play 26 no fourth quarter minutes no just total minutes Josh Green finished with

29 minutes okay he actually played quite a bit he played five minutes in the fourth and Tim played nine played almost the entire fourth quarter did you see what before this we’re just Meandering now and I need to take a a quick break here but yeah we do can someone tell me

What Jaden Hardy played five minutes and took four shots how is that possible getting them up man because I think he knows that dude is not playing a lot he needs he knows he has to make uh the most of his opportunities he’s averaging 11 minutes per game in February when he’s getting

In the game he’s getting him he’s averaging 11 minutes per game in in February he’s averaging six shots that’s amazing okay that’s like a shot of you know he’s getting a shot every two minutes basically guys we’re 25 minutes into this beast and I haven’t shilled yet so

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Subs which I’m really really pleased with I set that arbitrary asinine goal of $5,000 before the year that’s not really possible because we don’t do enough stuff on socials to like juice up some of our stats but I’m really grateful for those of you who have subscribed and if you could consider

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People now we’re going to pause for a brief break in the podcast uh for ad insertion and then we will be right back okay so I’ve uh there’s a lot of other things we could kind of kind of talk about here and I’m I I I think we do

Have to pay homage to Luca’s really this game wasn’t a game without Luca going nuts in was like lowkey one of his best games like of his career it felt like it was so how many I mean God what were his final stats 45 points um on 29 shots 14

Assists nine boards three steals I thought he played better defense um turn over by the way one turnover yes the Mavericks won the turnover battles they had five Cleveland had 16 and they lost which is that’s amazing um this is the second straight game where Kyrie was a bit like his

Stats look fantastic 30 points six rebounds three assists 12 of 24 his scoring came in flurries um his shooting was beautiful but it he had a kind of a rough start started out three of 10 that that kind of was was part of the slow start for

The Mavericks but Luca sort of you know puts them on their back brings them back 57 to 60 halftime and then the Mavericks made it the game we we just had to acknowledge those two players um and and you know what they contributed in their

In their time um I thought this was one of PJ Washington’s finest games so far at one point he was like team High plus 20 maybe even higher in that and then things went sideways um I played a great defensive game for he did yeah well and then they got him involved

Offensively in ways that actually played to his strengths where he wasn’t just standing in the corner yeah where he’s rolling and doing cool stuff that’s right that’s right so all right so we’ve had some three really multiple people in the chat um gosh I love it I love when

People say criticism is hating if you don’t like criticism from go find another show this isn’t the show for you we talk about things even-handedly good Christ I’m we’ve had a number of people in the chat ask a good question question and and I think it it is a good question

Because it doesn’t really make sense at first until you explain it could you walk us through why Daniel Gafford got virtually no minutes tonight oh he got cooked tonight uh the Cleveland made why is he getting cooked because the Mavericks have to play Drop with him for

The most part um and Cleveland just was like okay uh let’s get him in the pick and roll and we’re going to get any shot we want uh they made second quarter where which was where most of gafford’s minutes were he played three minutes in the second quarter Cleveland shot 11 of

15 from the floor seven of 10 from three they were it was like I mean it was like a clinic involving Gafford in a screen they get him defending air like he’s not really defending anyone and they’re just picking out Shooters like left and right and and Donovan Mitchell’s walking in to

Pull up three-pointers he was three of four from three in the quarter um it was it was a clinic and you and Gafford like he’s not not a switcher he’s a really good athlete but he’s kind of he’s a big he’s a traditional big um he does not

Have the feet of a Derek Lively but that’s okay because he’s a different kind of big and he’s your backup big so I don’t think it’s a big deal um but this was a matchup that was just not for him you’ve got two really good pick and

Roll guards and Garland and Mitchell two guards that are comfortable um scoring out of the pick and roll and pulling up for that jumper you’ve got Shooters and stru and Levert uh and yang that are that are to cool making shots off movement like there were they just had

Gafford in the blunder like he just wasn’t really guarding anyone and then you know Allen and Mobley are really good finishers around the rim and they’re also really good passers Mobley had a couple of assists on the roll uh in that quarter so yeah like there was I

Know people are really mad that Maxi played the five a lot of the second half but with the way the C the Cavs were 20 of 40 from three I mean the Maverick they were the way they were bombing away way I don’t know what Gafford would have necessarily fixed Cleveland only had

Five offensive rebounds um they only scored oh boy I just had it they only scored 42 points in the paint which is below League average like this was not a game where the Mavericks were getting punished in the paint at The Rim on the boards they were getting punished from

The perimeter and the way that Cleveland was kind of stretching them out and forcing their worst Defenders to make decisions and Gafford is just not equipped to defend a game you think he’s not equipped or do you think or do you think he can’t do it or you think there

Hasn’t been enough practice in film session and sort of like putting him through the paces to do it I’ll say both because he’s never been an impact Defender before this before he came to Dallas but again he’s been playing for Washington for most of his career and

Washington is not a good defense as well but that like that’s kind of one of the things is he blocks a lot he’s been blocking a lot of shots but he can kind of get taken advantage of at the basket or in the pick and roll um but again

He’s your backup Center so I don’t think that’s that big a deal like if he’s not you know if your backup isn’t playing well like like I understand Mass fans might be frustrated because you know they did trade stuff to get him but he’s just another tool in the toolbox so to speak

Like he is not your your closer you know you would presume that you’re either closing with maxi in a small ball lineup or you’re closing with Lively who I think is a better Defender even despite the fact that he’s younger than G Lively rebre his

Nose I don’t know I hope he didn’t he had an ice pack on it after the ball bounced off uh bounced right off his nose and The Mask uh in the second half and he was definitely uh in some discomfort there so I hope not I don’t

Know what they got to do they need to put like a steel lining over these guys’ nose I feel like everyone’s breaking a nose every what are those um I think they’re called like Halo the that the helmets that NFL players wear during training camp that are like extra huge

Like we need to wear those yeah looks like what’s his face from Space Balls yeah then yeah it’s this is just this is one of these games where you know you go on a seven game win streak and you go on a seven game win streak with certain

Things working and then what was very important about the win streak is certain things weren’t working and they still won seven games in a row then you lose a couple of games the Pacers game was was I mean they lost by 20 at the

End but they they had I I still think if they had done a couple of things differently they might have at least taken that game to crunch time um I I think that really car like in hindsight because I watched it again Carlile baited the Mavericks into ISO

Ball like Luca scores a lot early but there’s no ball movement Kyrie gets some great looks to go there’s not a lot of ball movement then there’s nothing in terms of offensive actions almost the rest of the game so it’s like that was frustrating you lose that one you go on

Can I can I jump off that point yeah we are now three games in a row where the Maverick scoring distribution has looked pretty similar and they’re all three games out of the allstar break so you know you talked about baiting Luca into ISO ball so first game of the allstar

Break Phoenix the Maverick’s top four scorers Luca 41 Kyrie 29 PJ Washington 12 Tim marway Jr 12 Maxi s Pacers game top five scor Luca 33 Kyrie 29 Josh Green 14 Tim Hardaway 11 Daniel Gafford eight now this loss against Cavaliers top five scores Luca 45 Kyrie 30 PJ

11 uh Derek Lively nine and Josh Green seven that’s three games in a row where Luca and Kyrie are not only your top two leading scorers but you’re far and away your top two leading scorers problematic that’s very old school Mavericks and I’m you know I don’t have the Synergy data

You know we don’t have access to to that high level of data although we have friends that do so maybe they can help us out but remember before allar break Luca was the most blitzed player in the NBA in terms of doubles and on the pick and roll of the

Traps I’m just talking off the top of my head here but these last three games since the All-Star break I have not seen that nearly to the same degree that we saw pre-all-star break and I don’t know coaches got together or what or you know not gonna Blitz this guy like we’re

Gonna let him score 40 and that’s and we’re GNA trust that our Defenders can let Maxi kba and Tim Hardway Jr and PJ Washington and these guys not score a bunch of points and kill us um because All-Star break is the time when teams like it’s basically the only time teams

Get to practice outside of training camp like it’s the only time teams get to kind of look at what’s working in a long regular season and be like what can we do what can we change look at what other teams are doing have you seen the Kyrie

Pick and roll at all since All-Star break not a ton I did see a lot of it going into the Break um yeah surprisingly I was actually gonna ride on it maybe I need to do a a tale of two weeks or whatever because I feel like

Like Kyrie in the short rle was disgusting oh yeah he was screening for Luca and LCA was getting walk up wide openen threes and or they were they were double then they were doubling because they were just they were freaking out and getting wide open Corner threes so

Yeah we’re we’re three straight games now where feels like everything is kind of topheavy not a lot of blitzing the ball movement has been okay 24 assists against Phoenix 15 assists against the Pacers 23 assists against the Cavs I don’t know what the Mavs assist G number is for the season

But I feel like under 25 assists for the Mavericks is low and they’ve been that number three straight games um why don’t you filibuster because I want to look up and see how many assists they are averaging for season oh what can I filibuster about not even no no it’s fine this is

Just I’ve almost I think like the Pacers game felt like one to sort of walk away from and you you won and not overanalyze it too much this is a game I’m actually okay over analyzing because I think that some of the mistakes that occurred are

Are fixable but then some of them are kind of R you know you see a lot of the the fans in the chat are very frustrated uh you know troll troll Thug asks when is exm coming back is it’s just wild that we’re even asking that question it’s a valid

Question it’s wild they’re asking a question about like one of the last guys signed in the roster um I’ve got the numbers okay goe um Mavericks are averaging about just a shade over 25 assists per game for this season so under their season average for three straight games one of those games

Pacers is woefully under it um this one 23 you know they’re too off I mean that that means nine assists from non- Luca players that is correct three from Kyrie in the starting lineup you had six total assists outside of Luca yeah um you had three total assists From the Bench one

Of them was Jon Hardy in five minutes so um they’re it’s three games so I don’t want to say this is what it’s going to look like every single game but I would not be shocked if teams were like you know what I would much rather

Luca look have to look like Superman in single coverage than give limited players open opportunities you know what I mean like I know that there when you Blitz Luca it’s like ah we want anyone else to beat us but Luca but also it’s like what if you have PJ Washington

Against single like are you that much are you scared of PJ Washington against single coverage are you scared Josh Green against single coverage are you more scared if Josh green has a wide open Corner three because no one’s guarding him because they’re guarding two guys on LCA or two guys on Kyrie

Like I wonder if teams are like you know what these role players even though they’re better than they were before the trade deadline I still would rather you know I wonder if these teams like I don’t think PJ Washington is gonna score 20 against us which I mean if you’re

Looking at Kyrie’s root numbers his numbers are still pretty dang amazing and so they’re both of them Luke and Kyrie they they’ve been shoot tonight and they lost yeah and and again it’s not like they’re they’re shooting they’ve been efficient in all three of these games so it’s not necessarily that

They’re like taking bad shots taking shots away from people it’s just kind of the way they’ve been guarded and they need to counter yeah but how do you counter I don’t know how you counter right now because presumably it’s it’s it’s what they did to get that 10-point

Lead um the stuff with PJ inside the I really did love the stuff with PJ and picking rolls going downhill like yep he got fouled a lot um he’s got to hit his free throws um yeah if you’re taking away the Lively and Gafford pick and rolls the there are pick and rolls

Available like do the Mavericks need to go run more small pick and rolls like I don’t like the pick it’s not fair they work because Luca is an amazing isolation player but I get a little frustrated at the pick and rolls for switches that don’t result in any other

Actions I mean I just feel like and this has been a criticism it’s a criticism when they lose when they win we don’t even talk about it but I just feel like there’s a lot of stale playmaking going on um and part of that is is the the the

Recipe the process like if Luca is the game plan that’s what you’re going to do but I do feel like that there are ways that they can they can get other things other than like different ISO Luca looks where it’s like oh lca’s not going to

Dribble the ball up the floor this time but he’s going to go post up at 17 feet yeah and then this isn’t this what it comes back to when it’s like why are they so good on these out of timeout plays which they are the data is there

And they’re running this motion and movement and stuff and then they run their normal half court stuff and it’s like wait where is this like why is there such a difference and and I think you’re seeing like when you’re getting blitzed when luuk is getting blitzed

Almost every time like he was before the All-Star break you don’t need a ton of sets because like the team is creating the advantage for you it’s just a matter of can those players you know either make the open shot or make the right read when they catch the ball out the

Open space like you don’t necessarily need a bunch of motion and and off ball offense when you’re when you’ve got two on the ball because the defense is already presenting you with an advantage you just have to take advantage of it um so to speak but so then now we’re seeing

They’re not sending two to the ball it’s like okay now you gotta do something you got you gotta get these guys moving you gotta get them in motion you gotta run a set you gotta get these guys going towards the basket you got to do something because now they’re not

Blitzing and it feels like the Mavericks these last three games have been like okay luuka Kyrie just do your thing and that’s it and there’s not there’s not a backup plan to that so so MJ Wilson makes a comment heliocentric Luca yes and no because the same stuff happens

When Luke is on the bench like happens Kyrie on the floor where running bench unit yeah where they’re running like they’re not run and you know Kyrie’s a point guard he’s a scoring guard too but he knows how to run an offense yeah I don’t feel like they’re running offense

I feel like they’re run a high high you know a couple of double screens at the top of the key and they see what comes out of it and that’s where this start to get really interesting because yeah okay Kyrie unbelievable playmaker but why don’t you have any Easy Button

Plays you know what I mean like kid is and I feel like they have it because why why do they get these easy buckets on all these out of timeout plays like why don’t how does that not translate to more of that in the flow of a

Game yeah this cowboys said it looks like wreck ball and and there are elements of that and it’s just God there was this amazing play that got broken down to nobody’s business basically screaming why is Tim Hardway on the floor and it was this Pacers play

Happened in the last game and a couple of like big NBA stat heads get involved with it to do a lot of film work Seth part now other people the way Carlile overloaded the floor and basically broke the Mavericks defense into pieces is something that you don’t see happening

Outside of Luca’s individual Brilliance it is not like I know he likes these high the these these pick and rolles I know he’s very good at the isolation post-ups but there’s got to be other things that you can do there just has to be I don’t know yeah no there is and and

I think they haven’t had to rely on it because again they’re getting Blitz Luc is getting Blitz you don’t need to do it teams have countered and I don’t know if it’s going to keep going but I mean they’re playing some pretty good teams because it’s not gonna work at certain

Points like they might Blitz the Raptors by 25 points tomorrow night like yeah the Raptors might switch and not Blitz Luca at all and the same stat line occurs but the Mavericks win by 25 like if Luca scores 45 tomorrow they might win by 15 like you next best step says I

Wonder if if the Mavericks are deliberately holding aces up their sleevs for the playoffs is that a thing coaches do oh my God yes Rick carow like almost refused to spam the Kyrie KP I’m sorry the Luca donic Chris STS porzingis pick and roll because it worked too well

Like coaches are terrified of stuff getting on tape too much because then then they they figure out ways to to block it because that’s what the NBA is but the Luca Kyrie Twan offensive rating like when they’re on the floor together I’m pretty sure it’s the best offense in the league full

Stop I could be wrong about this I mean I could look it up for you but I’m gonna I could also take your word for it because I’m pretty sure yeah so man I don’t know I I’m trying to think if there’s anything else we should really Hammer home from this game

Because this this game is one that should be picked apart a little bit more um and I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job of it while acknowledging the things that that did work um they need Dante exom back which is so crazy which is like a worry because there’s also

Like well this will be solved when exom comes back but it’s also like okay but he’s been hurt his whole career like if you’re relying on him um there’s there’s trouble with that um I mean look at this game look at the Cavs the Cavs had uh

Like Levert comes off the bench plays 28 minutes has six assists Mavericks had three assists total from their bench like which getting car getting assists from Carris Levert is such a bonus like that dude is is Tim Hardway through a fax machine nine times you guys think

That Hardway sucks Levert is but you look at them M like since exam’s been hurt like their backup point guard is Kyrie like it’s Kyrie it’s staggering Luca goes out Kyrie stays on and Kyrie runs the offense which is fine like staggering off run yeah that’s yeah

That’s they need to look at these three games and see what these teams are doing because yes it is really cool for your two best players to combine for 70 points every game but when you’re the rest of your team is basically combining for like 90 outside of that like

There’s or not 90 definitely not 90 not 90 that’ be great they’d be the best team in the league yeah for for 40 let’s say um 40 or 50 45 uh then there’s there’s some problems like that’s not sustainable um Luca played 41 minutes his usage was

Really high so they they just need to do and and what like you said before we go I want to bounce this off you because you’ve been bringing up the PJ point about him in space and and screening and doing stuff inside the ark that’s absolutely what they should be doing

More of and maybe that’s a that’s a a counter to how teams are guarding them straight up and switching and and not blitzing how do you think that they continue to utilize PJ like that if they have one of livelier Gafford on the floor because presumably that means PJ is rolling

Into someone whether it’s Lively or Gafford standing in the knucker spot so to speak that’s a good question that gets back to the point that we just need him to hit like a corner three he hit a corner three sure and that’s probably why Maxi’s playing a lot too if Maxi’s the other

Big with PJ he can roll into the lane all he wants because Maxie is more than capable of spotting up and spacing um I he only makes one three-pointer every three games but I mean it’s still a thing at least he’s he’s not in the pain

At least so yeah I there’s some I I think on what I want to end with is obviously these two losses are not great um but they’re not in trouble but there are things to work on like there are things that this coaching staff I think can identify on tape

Hopefully knock on wood like it’s like it’s feeling like there’s stuff there’s there’s stuff to work on that they can they can learn from it’s just now are they gonna learn from it and are they going to let something like this linger um because basketball players are not

Robots like they are pissed off if they do not Channel this energy in a good way they could absolutely lose to Toronto tomorrow so so we’ll see all right I guess I’m going to do a live show because I think enough people want to chat oh the people are gonna want to

Chat we’ll see you know yeah we’ll see sometimes um sometimes they do sometimes they don’t we’ll host a little um group therapy here and we’ll be back here in just a few minutes those of you who are listening on the audio stream look for the group therapy probably around

Lunchtime tomorrow because the Mavericks play the Raptors tomorrow night and we will be back um probably not as I don’t know probably around the same time 9 9:30 we’ll see where we go that makees sense to you makes sense to me bye everyone have a good live show all right

We’ll be back in just a minute go Mavs [Applause] Hello and welcome back to what is now should be uh pod Mavericks presents group therapy if I can find the correct overlay thanks so much for hanging out with me it is Tuesday night 9:45 uh I’m Kirk hon editor and chief over at money.com you’re joining us after we had

Just done our initial recap show following the Dallas Mavericks losing in really monstrously painful fashion 121 to 119 I’m sort of emotionally spent frankly but I want to hear what you guys have to say so in the comments there is a link which should be pinned I

Attempted to pin it uh where you can click on uh that link and come join this show live and let me know what your takes on this game are uh right now I got Brian waiting but if anybody else wants to talk feel free to um to join in

And tap in and we’ll talk a little basketball hey man what’s up dude uh I’m kind of where you are I my skin was still crawling for like an hour after the game ended but yeah I think I’ve calmed down now I’m just God that that sucked for a number

Of reasons mostly just because it didn’t need to happen there were like eight different off ramps sure from this outcome and we we just didn’t take any of them some of them were like blocked off before we could get there but I mean there’s like that’s why I said in in the

In the other show like if you have a bone to pick I think the only like like for the whole season of like problems that keep coming up I think the only bone you can’t actually complain about is Luca taking all the shots in crunch time because I don’t think he shot the

Ball after like the F like he took a really bad short three and then I don’t think he shot the ball again everybody else and that’s that’s a normal complaint whenever things go sideways like luga needs to get anybody involved he didn’t didn’t touch the ball but everything everything else from kids

Coaching to Tim hardaway’s defense to Tim Hardway playing to it just it goes across the board I mean then there were like the boneheaded mistakes I mean the Mavericks had how many turnovers the Mavericks had a grand total of five turnovers and one of them was Kyrie

Walking out of bounds like that’s so bizarre yeah dude we had like I can I can run down to full list we’ve got uh Josh Green playing well and then just his elbow exploding or whatever again and and being in and out of the game for like 20 minutes of game time as

Cleveland was making their run so that was fun there’s God there’s so many things with kid I just I I can’t wait to be done with this [ __ ] I’m just so tired I don’t think he’s going anywhere man I got some thoughts it’s like things have to really go sideways in the

Playoffs because it just it feels like it feels like that that like this level of of coaching works for the superstars you know what I mean I don’t know yeah I just I’m I’m done just like hoping for him to be fired it’s not going to happen

I I’ve just got to hope for like unconscionable things that I can’t say on this podcast and maybe if one of those comes to pass then we’ll have a new coach but they’re not gonna fire him it’s it it just is what it is it’s fine

I’ve I w’t say I’ve made peace with it I’ve made something with it because y it just that’s what it is the Tim it like with him I I just it’s not even fully his fault not fully like he stink but he gave really good effort on

Defense in the third quarter right now it would lead in choir REM Minds to ask okay why don’t you just do this all game especially when you’re bricking it’s not like you contribute anything on offense but played really well in third quarter even though he couldn’t hit you know

Couldn’t hit the ocean what you know whatever that saying is uh yeah and then just the last kid taking forever to call that timeout waiting until the fourth stre three to call the timeout I mean but it was over 45 like it was 67 seconds of game action a minute and basically a

Minute and change in real time and so like the hater in me wants to blame kid for all like I was mainly shocked not after the third one the fourth one it’s cuz the second one it happened in like 30 seconds then the third one happened

Like it’s really easy to kind of to kind of quarterback this after the fact but I I I want to say I at least understand it if I don’t agree with it I would have understood it after I’m I’m not gonna lie I think that not even because of like truth there

Should have been a timeout called after that second three because he should have tore into Kyrie’s ass for that turnover like him and him like both of them should have got it like somebody needed to communicate better as to what was going on who was taking the ball out

Like somebody needed to be held responsible for that in the moment and who knows what happens after that probably nothing they probably still give up the exact same shot but when he calls time out Josh came into the game which is good and was out yeah right and

So maybe if that happen sooner who knows we don’t know the it was pointed out to me uh by one of my friends on Twitter that the last three the one that happened in the corner um I uted that to Tim because Tim was he was Tim’s

Assignment at the time Tim got screen and the dude who was supposed to be trailing him to the corner was luuka and he just doesn’t have a foot speed to catch stre running at full speed to the corner so I’ll I’ll give him a pass on

That one I’m like he tried to tell me no the third three he just like he got screened it was like a dribble hand off whatever that whole that minute and a half is what everybody is going to scrutinize to death I think yeah it but

It’s just so funny because like we also had we had Josh not get did did he did he get called no he didn’t get called to for foul for tackling Darius Garland in the half court uh Donovan Mitchell having a chance to end the game with

Luca on him on the left wing he just dribbles the ball off his foot or or Luka like swipes it away whatever happens uh just a lot of bad turnovers from donov Mitchell he he really had like Max strw and that one three that he banked after Jared Allen

Played hockey and like threw Maxi CA and Josh within like five seconds of each other and didn’t get anything called but that three that he banked and then those maxre threes they really saved him because Donan had a terrible close to that game and it just didn’t matter like

He he’s playing like that Garland is in absolute hell because he can’t get anything going against PJ um and yeah man it’s it’s it’s just it’s it’s disappointing because we had all these things going our way we kicked this team’s ass until like four minutes left and then it just all kind of

Evaporated yeah end was the second half was really was a really nice impressive kind of comeback I was really pleased with the Mavericks play it was an enjoyable game um I know that first quarter or really was like parts of the the second quarter were pretty rough but

Then Luca went really nuts it was it was you know it was a lot of fun um this was a game you know I meant to talk about this with Josh the Mavericks had Luka hasn’t played in Cleveland for two of the past for the past two years prior to

This one once because of actual injury and then once because they set him and that was the game last year I don’t know if you remember this where kiml Walker sacrificed the rest of his knee only I think for the Mavericks to lose anyway yeah um and LCA just they sat Luca which

Like I’ve always found that very frustrating because if I’m a Slovenian Mavericks fan or a Slovenian Lucas fan Luca fan that’s one of the biggest I think it might be like the Greater Cleveland area might be the biggest uh Slovenian population in America particularly in the Midwest for sure at

Least where there’s you know and says it just felt very frustrating to me that they sat Luca in a game where it’s like some of his biggest supporters could be it was really great to see him have an incredible game tonight only for the Mavericks to kind of waste it you know

Somebody Point uh somebody pointed out in the chat here LCA turns 25 tomorrow um I don’t know this is you’re going to have tell me this this is the most painful loss of the season right kind of this season this season I can’t really think of many that like had me

Coming in here like hot and heavy and like burn it all down I mean I’m sure I have like they’ve lost oh no I I I can think of a couple they’re missing they might not be worse than this but they’re right there they could be worse than

This that first Denver loss in the playing game no no I mean this season oh oh not not not playing I’m sorry uh for the start of the n Season tournament okay with the shitty Denver is just so damnn good it’s hard to be super pissed about that and that’s where

The next one comes in that second Pelicans game yeah that was bad when they sat every [ __ ] body and Lucas still got his ass kicked by her Jones yeah that was bad yeah that that might still be more frustrating that because but it’s like in terms of like sheer

Rage though and like this one has to be number one for yeah no yeah this one Memphis loss like one of the Memphis losses was terrible we lose Memphis twice some of these losses are pretty stupid but thish where Kyrie was playing like a g League player that that one

Legitimately had me seeing red but like I was so white hot mad after this game like I responded to you on a tweet that I literally like only read half of it like I missed the word I was just I legit I was not seeing everything in

Front of me like every other word that that t Mr garciaa points out in the chat the the first Cavs game where they were down like they 20o comeback that was horrendous yeah but TJ like at least they that’s a game where we just got our

Ass kicked by a better team like I was mad about that but I’m not as mad as I am about like because we had this game in hand and we had this game one right and all of a sudden we didn’t and then there’s so many things you can look back

On and be like well if this didn’t happen if this didn’t happen maybe if Kyrie like showed up to the game in the first half like we’re not even having this discussion y like and I tweeted about that before the game uh because I think like the first quarter and a half

I missed because I was at the grocery store and I was like can we just please not do the thing where Kyrie just can’t do [ __ ] in the first half and then comes back and stores 18 in the fourth and we pretend that he had a good game because

Then that’ll be two games in a row and that’s precisely what happened and he he was Stellar in the fourth and like Midway through the third like his runs were needed but we also needed him in the first half yep so that’s that’s something for like an actual offensive

Coach to figure out we don’t have one of those so maybe two seasons from now all right well doesn’t look like anybody else wants to chat tonight so I think I’m going to close this one out early which is fine you know sometimes people just want to go away it’s very

Funny our views and our last podcast were half of the previous win um and that’s just uh we Lo we somebody said we lost to Toronto already too H that’s a good look dude I I I a want to say we did lose no I think he he meant we lost

Lost to them already this season I read that we lost to be fair we lost we lost to them because seak kicked but I’m telling you I can if this team is anything like the team before the trade deadline I can I can feel that L coming

Tomorrow I can just feel it I don’t think they are though they take care of business but boy if they do it look man that’s this one leaves a salty this one leaves a bad taste in your mouth like this isn’t an ass whooping it is a collapse and sometimes collapses are galvanizing

Yeah this is less a ass whooping than like a heart attack as you’re about to close the fight out God all right man well everybody else thanks so much for hanging out this has been uh just Kirk and Brian on group therapy I’m just going to post this as

One podcast and let everybody get it out of their system no reason to uh to waste their times um everybody be good and we will talk to you guys tomorrow night go Mavs

The #DallasMavericks continue their road trip, playing the #ClevelandCavaliers in an early matchup on Tuesday night. It’s the first time #LukaDoncic will play in Cleveland in several seasons; this is of interest because the greater Cleveland area has the largest diaspora of Slovenians in America, so expect a great crowd. Josh and Kirk will cover the came ASAP following game’s ending. #BlueWireVideo

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