Mavericks at Thunder: Kyrie Irving leads Dallas against SGA and Oklahoma City

Mavericks at Thunder: Kyrie Irving leads Dallas against SGA and Oklahoma City

N [Applause] Welcome once again to pod Maverick I’m Kirk Henderson joined as always by Josh Bo we are editors over at Mavs Moneyball domcom and this is our recap podcast it is just before no wait it is literally midnight according to my computer uh that now makes it Friday March 15th the

Dallas Mavericks played a late game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on National Television but they fell once again on National Television uh 126 to 119 is that right that seems right that’s right that’s right and here we are um Josh how you doing I’m doing okay I’m tired that was

Uh that was an interesting game we were talking right before we recorded that if you just kind of looked at the score and you knew the situation going into the game with no Luka donic who um has a sore left hamstring Jason kid confirmed before the game it wasn’t a strain MRI

Came back clean so it shouldn’t be an extended absence but when you knew he was out which they pretty much announced he was out pretty early well they didn’t announce but it came out that he he was out pretty early because he didn’t even travel which makes sense because they’re

Coming right back to Dallas play on Sunday so why risk it second I back to back so you you consider that you consider OKC second out of a back toback they’re you know if they lose by 25 no one really blinks an eye uh and you look

At the final score and you’re like what a spirited effort this is you could the moral Victory and on one hand yes uh but on the other hand there was some some weird dumb things that happened in this game that I think Mavs fans and and you

Know I know we might get a little fired up about and we start with the positives first yeah let’s start with the positives number one I I had I’ve been doing this for for like seven or eight games now Kyrie Irving got a nice Series last night and tonight uh he really

Played a magnificent game um and for the the Kyrie super fans of the world who were really frustrated that the Mavericks didn’t get this one despite Kyrie’s really excellent performance I just want to welcome you all to the Luca donic experience of the last several years it’s it’s it’s nice here the water

Is warm uh because a lot of Kyrie Irving’s teammates just didn’t [ __ ] come through um but Kyrie played a really nice game came out aggressive but not forcing shots went down early and the Thunder simply couldn’t guard him uh pair him with Daniel Gafford who was getting pretty relentlessly bullied in

The first quarter and much of the first half at The Rim but made up for it with excellent rebounding an excellent play on the offensive end he blew his um his his streak the 33 field goal streak ended almost immediately as um C chat hren fouled him on a putb like Barkley

Was screaming at halftime that uh that it was a a foul and I want to Circle back to the fouls because the NBA game this was a great example of of sort of what the of the NBA game being called much different these these last 20 games

Than they were the first 30 to 45 games of the regular season but those two guys were were really a highlight for me um Tim Hardway Jr came out of retirement to play a basketball game it was like it was like a one last mission kind of

Thing for Tim Hardaway uh his first quarter was so [ __ ] bad that I wanted to scream but that was in no small part to kind of who he was out on the floor with in the first quarter um he ended the first quarter with a lineup that featured him Derek Lively Dante

And who was the last guy oh and Derrik Jones Jr so there was he was one of two guys who should be asked to dribble the ball and so he just he made some uh I’m Tim Hardway decisions in the first quarter but he rounded out the game

Played played pretty well um for Tim I’m I’m you know my measurements for Tim are probably like there’s a grading curve but I like to see how he played and really how he bounced back but other than that I am like just grossly dis appointed in almost the entire roster

And I I don’t want to be that guy and be you know I’ve really tried hard this season to not be overtly negative but if you’re mad about this game you can you have a schoras borg of of options to to to who are you pissed at I mean I I’m

Disappointed mostly in Dante axam who got stuck in quicksand very early on I mean his statline is atrocious 22 minutes two from eight from the floor two assists and four turnovers and his turnovers were bad like the Oklahoma City Thunder played a physical basketball game and

Again we’ll talk about the refs a little bit later he’s a big physical guy [ __ ] take it stop turning over the ball like that that’s it’s just you got to adjust is is the point and I I he was really you know we’ve we’ve been so full

Of praise for Dante exm this year because he’s fit that role perfectly but what this just shows you is why role in the NBA matters certain guys most guys simply cannot fill into a different slot and play well it’s what makes a guy like Kyrie Irving who can slide from being a

Second star maybe even a third star against certain teams to being a number one star and still play well in that role being a star in their role Dante xim is not a guy who can play up he proved that tonight he’s going to have to show me something and maybe we won’t

Have to deal with that ever again but it’s just very dis to see what did you think yeah um especi the four turnovers like I’m not surprised that the scoring wasn’t there necessarily because I honestly kind of feel like his shooting has been ridiculous like I mean he’s

Made almost half of his three-pointers like I you know it’s he was he’s bound to have a come to Jesus moment with his shooting eventually but yeah the two the two assists four turnovers is is rough I don’t know if he’s had I don’t think he’s had a four

Turnover game he’s had one other four turnover game this season um which goes to show like how steady he is with the ball and coincidentally that game was against Minnesota like the other really good Western Conference top of the West defensive team so maybe there’s something to that um but yeah you know

He yeah you just I don’t know what to say because I don’t want to kill the guy because no it’s not yeah it’s not his fault yeah he was the guy like if you were to pick a player for me who I thought we would be talking about in a

Positive fashion if the Mavericks were he had to pop he had to pop off and and not only did he not he played so badly like it’s one thing if you come out there and you score six points on four of seven you don’t have any you might

Have two turnovers you might have two assists but he was actively destructive to what the Dallas Mavericks were trying to do tonight and that’s the part that really frustrates me so the next guy on on our list and then we’ll take a we’ll take a short break has to be um PJ Washington

Who they might need to get him in front of an optometrist a sports psychologist of a witch doctor like I don’t know his wow what a bad game I mean and what’s amazing he played 36 minutes and was still a plus one despite being one

For 11 from the floor he made his first field goal proceeded to M miss his next 10 he was 0 for seven from three with five rebounds and also he added to the turnovers so he was and he also missed four free throws four out Miss yeah including some ones that really could

Have kept the momentum going a certain way I mean it was one of the most like for a player in his role he was the guy and I see my man Henry saying he should have been benched but we’re as we’re going to keep going through there was

Nobody else to play because these Mavericks are not that deep you know particularly we didn’t even bring up the fact that Josh Green like his his ankle basically like left his body momentarily earlier in the game when he he and we’ll Circle back Josh green in a second um

But Washington was just so extraordinarily bad that I think had he played even a subpar game even a subpar game he the Mavericks might have won but instead he might have played his worst his worst game with the Mavericks yeah it’s I want to say it’s bizarre but I’m

Kind of looking at the numbers and he’s kind of doing what he’s been doing um obviously this game is an a negative outlier but he was shooting 32% in Charlotte this season he shot 34% almost 35 the season before his percentages have gone down almost since

Like he was 37 his rookie year 38 from three um his second year like so it’s just been slowly going down um and he’s been awful from the corners even before he got to Dallas like it’s one of those things where you you look at the talent

And and the thing with PJ when I wrote like my trade evaluation was like the talent doesn’t fit the production because you just watch him move and his shot looks like I think his form sure but where the ball once the ball leaves I know where the ball goes

Is not good but like you just if you just looked at him play obviously tonight notwithstanding it was very obvious that he had a really bad game tonight but mostly when you if you just never looked at one of his box scores you’d be like wow this is like a this is

Like a fourth best starter on a contender like this guy can he’s a kind of that Do-it all for Jack of all trades like he’s got a pretty good offensive game and he’s and he’s a pretty hell of a Defender and then you look at the box

Score and you know he’s he’s five of 11 four of 12 one of one of 11 tonight s to 16 you know it throws in a s to 12 nine to 16 every now you know but it’s just like it’s just not there and you want to

Be like what’s going on and sometimes guys just I’m not sometimes guys just are who they are and and he’s been trending downward with his shooting for the last three seasons now um and it’s you know it’s only been you know how many games it’s been in Dallas he’s only

Been here since middle of February so you can’t write it off and they’ve invested too much in him to to write it off and just assume he can’t get better he is 25 years old but right now it’s you know you want to say it’s weird but

It’s it’s almost not weird because he’s just continuing the season that he was having in Charlotte now you you hope that he gets a Luca bump and playing with a better team and a better offense but like I said sometimes guys just kind of are who they are it’s so weird

Because when he got traded here I thought that if he didn’t work out here it was going to be his defense because he picked up a lot of Bad Hat habits in Charlotte and his effort waned and while no one ever heard from him you know people that would know never heard that

He was like a bad dude or you know bad in the locker room it just his effort was very poor in Charlotte and defensive end and I was worried for Maverick’s team that can’t seem to guard and and give some poor efforts on the defensive end that that would just kind of

Manifest and he wouldn’t be able to get out of his own way his defense has been mostly great I mean he’s had some bad moments because because of his scheme but like tonight I thought his defense was still pretty good mostly uh like I If I had to grade his his defense

Overall from since he’s been in Dallas like I would give it an A but his offense has just been so bad and it’s just he uh he’s shooting 26% from three as a Maverick and I think he’s like five of 26 from the corners yeah the last I

Saw like it’s just o like it’s just bad and like you said like you bench him like they don’t have forwards on the like especially when Josh Green got hurt you know the other only other player that could play is is maxic CBA and we’re going to get into him later like

Are you gonna play AJ Lawson over PJ Washington I mean I’m sure some fans would have would say yes but you know that yeah I that’s just that’s not an expectation we can have that’s just not a believable thing so it’s just he just has to be better on the offensive end

Like he just has to make shots like there’s there’s probably some things they could do a little bit better but doesn’t it feel like they’re still getting him like they’re getting him on the move toward the rim like he’s getting decent looks in the paint like he’s shooting

His floater pretty well like it’s it’s just the threes and I said that his three-point shooting wouldn’t matter when he traded here in terms of like he doesn’t need to be this 38 39 40% three point he’s better off of pull up pull up threes than he is Catch and shoot threes

Which is [ __ ] amazing he can’t be under 30 like when I wrote that that post it was like he he can be okay he just can’t be he can’t be under 30 yeah he can’t be like we’re not going to guard this guy back yeah yeah because

Then that takes away the stuff that he’s good at going toward the basket um so yeah that was that was a rough and you know what’s nuts is what those guys combined to go three of 19 from the floor and the Mavericks still shot 51%

As a team 41% from three like in a weird way offense wasn’t really their problem tonight but you know we can talk about you know what was their problem or if you want to take a break soon sorry just kind of rambled a long time there on PJ

No it’s okay and I’m I’m noticing our our comments are all about Josh which could mean you could also mean Josh Green so I’m I’m I’m scanning through Twitter to see if like there’s there’s anything that I’m missing um about Josh Green about Josh Green they said his

X-ray was negative so they’ll they’ll probably see tomorrow but at least it wasn’t like a uh you know when we first saw it I thought like Achilles or ACL so the fact that it was an ankle sprain at least you know that’s some good news sure

All right we’re going to take a quick break here if you guys could do me a favor and like the stream obviously this late at night and after a loss we’re going to have fewer folks in here but I would like it if you guys could do me

That quick favor those of you who are here on YouTube those of you who are listening uh or watching via Twitter shout out you can join us here if you would like to um I would appreciate that uh while you’re liking the stream if you could consider subscribing we are

Inching up in followers bit by bit uh if you listening on an audio stream a podcast platform please leave us a review we have really nice reviews in Spotify really really I’ve not checked our our Apple ones in some time just because people didn’t like me a long

Time ago and those reviews hang out forever um all right we’re gonna take a quick break to go to audio ads and then Josh and I will be right back so before we kind of go on I just this is probably a hot take I don’t even

Know if I should say it out loud so when Josh Green injured his ankle the my immediate reaction was this is the most Josh Green injury I have ever seen and that was before I saw the the extent of the the the role the Sprain and then

That was also before somebody in Ms Moneyball slack pointed out that the most Josh Green injury of all time would actually be Tommy John’s surgery for how he leads his arm into screens which really really made me laugh um the Josh Green of this all is going to be very

Interesting because the Mavericks had found 20 minutes a piece for basically him uh see let’s just kind of go through the guys him exom Derrick Jones Jr and like so Josh Green Derrick Jones Jr exom they those three guy and then Hardway we’re getting anywhere between

Like 15 and 25 minutes a game and I thought that worked I thought that sort of balance in different roles would allow kid to kind of play with the sliders of who’s playing well more minutes some night for other guys etc etc with Josh Green out that then puts

More strain on everyone else and I think that’s bad um it’s it’s very you know Josh Green is a player who frustrates me to no end but he had found a very useful quote uh or sorry useful um just a useful role and and I’m yeah and it felt

Like they were finally starting to get a rotation that felt sustainable and like they could work on some continuity like guys were kind of sliding into their slots that seemed to work well and now they’re going to have to mix it up a little bit again mhm so then kind of

Going through just the the list of guys that made us mad tonight um it it you have to go through and want to talk about it well there’s a lot of people um I want to like again Jones was kind of meh in his 32 minutes but nothing really to write home about

Lively only getting 14 minutes annoys me to no end what are we doing here like but again Gafford played 26 minutes which is is approaching a higher Mark for him which is nice Jaden Hardy got 17 minutes tonight um your takeaway of the Jaden Hardy experience I think tonight

Says a lot about how you think about basketball um and what I mean by that is he had nine points uh he had five assists he had three turnovers he had a steal he also shot the ball 10 times in 17 minutes um I was really glad to see

Hardy get in the game just because he’s not gotten in the game and at the start of the second quarter he gave the Mavericks a boost he really really did I was really pleased with his hustle and his energy and then on offense he plays like a child playing 2K where he thinks

He can do [ __ ] he can’t he had an incredible and one finish on a straight line drive but how many other [ __ ] shots he took tonight is just gonna kill me he’s he’s got to know what he can do when he catches the ball and shoots it’s

Great when he catches the ball off a dribble handoff on the move it’s great when he is dribbling it [ __ ] sucks he doesn’t have the quicks he doesn’t have the handles I’m too mad at him for a guy who didn’t actually contribute to the loss it’s just I think he after enough time

Watching him I actually think he’s capable of more only he does the wrong things and then kid holds him to a higher standard than he holds the other guys he just does you know like and that that’s frustrating yeah it’s he’s in a weird spot where he you know he’s been

Pretty much cut out of the rotation um so like he only played Theon night because luuka didn’t play like if Luca was healthy right so he’s in a weird spot where he knows if he gets in the game and it’s not garbage time he’s doesn’t have a Long Leash and

He doesn’t have a long he’s not g to get a long extended playing time like if he get if he plays at all and it’s not garbage time he’s probably playing like 15 20 minutes stps and you could kind of feel him pressing when he gets into the

Game in terms of like okay I might not play again for two weeks so yep I’m gonna get sh you know I’m G to get some shots up I’m gonna you know try to make some passes uh and to his credit like he did kind of settle down a little bit and

Like had five assists even though he had three turnovers and he had a couple good moments in the fourth which I which I also liked uh I thought he started the fourth pretty well yeah but again I like his defense I like his hustle it’s the offensive decisionmaking I’m having a

Beef with yeah and how much yeah and how much of that and like it’s like how do you fix that when he’s barely playing you know it’s it’s stuff that I feel like he can only fix if he plays but also where does he play and I know that everyone’s gonna yell to

Marway Jr and sure but like realistically it’s just if Josh Green’s healthy now Josh Green being hurt we’ll see if Luca comes back against Denver so this might take care of itself but when everyone’s healthy they’ve just got so many guard you know Tim and green um and exom like

I know everyone will just say bench Tim and play Hardy but that just feels so unrealistic in terms of what can happen but it’s just tough like I just don’t know where he’s gonna get the minutes and I feel like he needs the minutes to work through some of these issues

Because he gets in the game and he’s just like he’s like oh [ __ ] all right I gotta I gotta get a shot up I gotta make this pass that maybe I can’t make because I might not see the floor the next seven days and that’s that’s a

Tough spot to be as a young player yeah no I I I would agree with that I mean one thing in this old this will probably light the chat on fire but this is just a fact Hardaway is a bigger player and better athlete than Jaden Hardy and that

Makes that just makes a difference over the Long Haul um that said neither of them are all that much of a hill I want to die on it was just a I was glad to see him play but he gave as much as he

He gave he took off as much as he gave and that was just disappoint I mean I finished with the plus minus of zero pretty perfect you got the full Jaden Hardy experience in these 17 minutes I think and then the last guy I think we

Talk about and then we kind of move on kind of schematic stuff is um the The Ballad of Maxi kleber the The Walking shambling Corpse of a basketball player who Jason kid continues to roll out there time and again for no [ __ ] reason uh his three points uh added he

Now has 11 points in his last 142 minutes of basketball really congratulations to the guy um he committed a horrible offensive foul on a late charge whenever the Mavericks actually had a bit of moment a bit of momentum trying to get back into the

Game he gave up a big he he because he can’t rebound or box out he along with the rest of the Mavericks gave up a big offensive board uh that basically you know one of the things that sealed the game Jason kid thinks he’s at thinks

He’s out there with PJ to play defense um at the 4 five but I just I I theoretically it makes sense but yeah and they had some moments right after the trade deadline but and I think they’ll have some moments moving forward I actually wrote that because I’m like

Kid rolls him out often enough that Maxi is g to look him look good at some point just by sheer [ __ ] luck not because I think Maxi can do anything anymore I really it’s just like a broken clock is right twice a day that’s Max minutes that’s exactly right I think the thing

With maxi is the way he’s being deployed is way too programmatic uh and not reactive to the flow of the individual game that you’re you’re in um because I guarantee you the coach has talked you know I don’t want to say guarantee speculate but I’m going to assume that the coaches talked before

This game and when the Mavericks wall up the Thunder uh after the trade deadline um by 35 points they did that because they basically told their bigs do not guard Josh Giddy and don’t guard lud Dort and it is especially true for giddy um and he missed a bunch of shots and

Didn’t take shots and the Mavericks kind of steamrolled and they did the same thing tonight um Daniel Gafford was on giddy when giddy was on the Flor and Gafford was basically playing free safety and it pretty much worked giddy was two of seven from three um so you

Take that shooting line um he did find his way to 18 points somehow um oh somehow it’s because he was driving on everybody and the Mavericks weren’t actually committing to the game plan early on right yeah like you can’t you can’t let that guy get to the rim If

You’re Gonna topl Play the strategy of we’re going to put our Center on him and ignore him you know it was like because Josh giddy of people has a gillion points is one of the reasons why the Mavericks lost is killing yeah but he only played 22 like it was working

Enough that the Thunder were like okay we got to get him off the floor he only played 22 minutes he didn’t play most of the fourth I don’t know if he played any of the fourth I think he played a little bit of the fourth but he didn’t play

Most of the fourth he didn’t he didn’t play when it was coming down the stretch and the Mavericks still had a chance to win and I feel like the coaches talked before the game and they were just pregame he was probably like okay when giddy’s on the floor we can we can have

Gaffer Lively out there and they’ll guard gidy when giddy’s off the floor let’s go to Maxi uh at the five and match their five out offense and yada yada Y and and you think about that it’s like okay that that strategically makes sense if Maxi’s playing well um and and

That’s working and PJ’s playing well also uh but like you have to react to the game that’s in front of you you can’t it just felt like giddy came off the floor in the fourth and they were just like automatically okay you know Maxi at the

Five let’s go to that despite the fact that Maxi was not having an impact on the game at any point whatsoever uh like you just have to be able to like it’s it’s just you have to be able to adjust a little bit I know it’s the regular

Season I know that there’s not a lot of time to practice I know the scouting reports aren’t there but like you have eyes you are watching the game that’s unfolding in front of you maybe you just don’t automatically go to that look that you talked about before the game because

You talk with the eight coaches that you have on the sideline and you’re like oh hey know Maxi’s he’s not giving it to us tonight like it’s not his night gafford’s got you know gafford’s eating him up Lively was having some good stretches as well you know they

Literally won that last game because Gafford had a monster Knight in the paint it was just it was just really and it’s not really Maxi’s fault like he’s paid like he’s not paid a lot he’s paid like 11 million a year he’s not one of the highest paid players on the team

He’s not counted on to be an All-Star or or know one of the top four or five players on the team really but that they roll him out there like he needs to be uh even when it’s to his detriment and it just makes him look bad makes the

Team look bad they lose a game like this game although it’s more than the Maxi decision and it’s just it’s regular season so I don’t want to overreact too much but just gives me pause because it’s like you can’t do this in a playoff series or you can’t do this in a playin

Game if they’re in the playin like you can’t there’s no [ __ ] around it’s you can’t yeah it’s do or die you have have to be able to make these adjustments in the middle of the game uh and they just didn’t and it was like my God like 21 minutes three points

Like two rebounds he had a good Block in the first half but that’s like it like it’s just you’ve said this before and I totally agree with you like when he looks like he looked like tonight and like he’s looked the last like two weeks or so or most of March yeah Daniel

Gafford was giving up some points uh when he was on the floor you know it’s a tough matchup for him in some respects he gave points in the first quarter and yet the Mavericks still were down by like the Maverick still they weren’t down by 20 right like yeah like that’s gonna happen

He’s gonna have some bad moments when he’s going against a five out team but he had 19 like I’m not trying to be like a box scorer ball don’t stop guy but like good Lord he had 19 and 15 like he at least did something to counteract

What was going on the floor like Matt where’s the advantage with maxi on the floor in a game like this game I just don’t see it it’s not good it’s just really it’s dumb like I try not to get too worked up about it but it’s just

Just gives me concern if this team can’t get out of the plan because you can’t you lose they might lose one game and that’s it you know yeah and you know I ended up writing about Jason kid a little bit and I talk about this on here

I try not to delve too deep into the Jason kid of it all because it’s not gonna matter doesn’t really change anything our fans scream about it there’s fans that are really Pro kid for whatever [ __ ] bizarre reason that’s the position you decide to take as a

Human being and then fans that want him to get fired and to everyone I’m just like guys kid is a fact of life he’s like a desk chair in your office they’re not throwing them out until the wheels fall off that’s just kid is just gonna

Be with us and I’ll tell you watching this game tonight I found myself frustrated with him in just enough ways to where I think that he was not the difference in the game but I wish he would have done some stuff differently does that make sense yeah for sure like

The the TNT announced crew was talking about the thunder head coach and the way he was working the refs the way he was making like he had two great great coaching challenges kid is actually pretty good at coaching challenges but it’s just there were there were momentum stopping timeouts there were actual just

Decisions made and this was a game where Jason kid had his game plan and you just talked about it he stuck with it come hell or come high water there wasn’t they had no adjustments now when you lose Luka donic I feel for you I do like

That’s a big part of your game plan every game so but what I my my when you roll that and so that’s part of it but that’s kind of a kid fact to life that happens every game and what’s so annoying I’m sorry to interrupt your sharing a thought but it’s like taking

Giddy off the floor is not like this unknowable chess move you know like you have to anticipate that and be able to to to counter when you’re counter to the counter is not working you know what I mean like I do know I do know what it’s

Just it’s it’s not ridiculous that giddy came off the floor and Maxi was playing a bad game like those are not outlandish outlier scenarios and you just have to be able to adjust there’s two more elements that I want to talk about and this first one I probably wouldn’t have

Brought up just because it’s a it’s a strategic decision that’s easy for me to co like to to question after the fact but he says you know Ryan Parker shares the Tweet um I think it was Grant ath who who transcribed it thank you grant

Uh being able to switch and and this is with kid closing with PJ and Maxi being able to switch and try to stay out of the rotations I thought in the second when they made three or four threes it put our bigs in rotation and we were just

Late the Maverick scheme right now results in a [ __ ] ton of open threes it just does now maybe somebody smarter than me will come and tell me about how that’s a great tactical decision in the year 2024 and ain’t I’ll tell you that much you can make all the descriptors that

You want but the Mavericks are going to get put in rotation kind of period And if your people who you are putting in the game so that you’re trying to stay out of rotations are late what the [ __ ] like that like granted that’s not on him as a coach

That’s on the players but it’s like why why are you doing that that that’s a small that’s just one of it’s a small thing probably wouldn’t have really brought it up because I mean yeah and I mean the Thunder had 14 Corner threes tonight attempts um they made six of

Them so I mean it’s like you get away you can get away with giving up above the breakthroughs for sure and that’s like a defensive tactic that that but like you you gotta guard the corner you gotta guard the corners yeah you gotta guard the corners and

This is you know the Bucks his bucks teams didn’t guard corner it’s not a good defensive Strat it’s just not I’m sorry okay but that’s a that’s a choice commit to that choice fine the only thing I would have liked him to do differently and this is where I’ll just

Get a blood in the water from people who are either Pro or anti-id that will either firmly agree with me or firmly disagree with me the refereeing in this game was extreme they allowed some extreme physicality I rather liked it I thought it was fun I I I more of that

Please Frank I think you you beat on Luca hard enough I’ll tell you how that’s G to work out for you over a long game it’s not Luka only gets stronger but Daniel Gafford got destroyed going up for multiple shots and dunks and didn’t get calls he you know we had multiple

Mavericks go down hard on Scramble plays I just want to see him once in his life get a technical for his team even if it’s people tell me I’m wrong on this I’m sorry if you have like you have 20 games to play you do it twice a season

That’s a card you play to fire your team up I bet he hasn’t done it since I bet he’s not gotten a technical foul in a meaningful game or he certainly hasn’t been kicked out of a game since uh last last or December 2022 that’s the last

Time he was kicked out of a game pretty sure about that I just want a little fire I’m I’m it’s a game like tonight a passionate meaningful physical game where seeing the guy with his hands in his pockets upsets me yeah and you know me you know that the fan has kind of

Been beating out of my soul a little bit and uh even if I W even when I was a fan or more Fanny I I was never a big ref’s guy even that ment with that my mentality when Dante exom was laying on the floor after he got hacked and then

Fell and admittedly you know he he hit his head on the on the court it was kind of a scary moment because he really and it was a foul yeah it was a foul like you know I think some people were like oh well you know he just fell and hit

His head on the court well there was a foul before that Carson walls fouled him yeah it’s great that you don’t you don’t call it I mean that’s just that’s basketball yeah and like foul you’re he gets fouled and your player is laying there on the floor you’re guarding your

Team is guarding four on five they make a three and he literally is just like not doing anything and I’m like bro your one of your starters that you need is writhing in pain on the floor after getting fouled and you’re just like all right like nothing like there’s just

Absolutely nothing it was just it drove me I couldn’t believe it like you gota there’s just gotta be something there and and and this is where I you know I try to I try to play Devil’s Advocate and I know like it’s not that he’s not talking to refer like there’s he

Definitely talks to him yeah he’s talking to him all game and Brad towns in the Dallas Mar news had a had a clip of him like working the refs pretty hard uh during a timeout but at this point you know know and he’s been like this forever like he was like this in

Brooklyn he was like this in Milwaukee like it’s just his temperament he just doesn’t do it like he just is not and he didn’t play like that either you know he was you know he was a very intense player but in like a quietly intense methodical you know point guard he

Delightfully sociopathic yes yes yes exactly so like scary you at this point when you look at his playing career and you look at his coaching career like asking him to get fired up at this point we’re just barking up the wrong tree like it’s he’s just not going to do it

Because that’s just not who he is but that doesn’t mean he can’t be you know it’s not it’s it’s frustrating because you would think if you want to be a coach in the NBA You’ need a little bit of that you know you don’t need to be you know throwing chairs on the

Court and all that but like there’s like there’s got to be a balance against when you’re going up against the worst like the ring crew that has the most public [ __ ] in the 2023 24 season this was the crew guys that missed that really horrendous Nicks Rockets call that they

Later apologized for after the game I mean depending on how into the league you are there is a there is a burgeoning movement based or backed by data that the NBA has quite literally made the call to referees that they are to allow more physicality like it is like when

You see like Tom habber uh and Ethan shwood Strauss are sort of leading the charge on this between uh Tom’s data and Ethan’s talking to reporter or I’m talking to to front office people um off off uh you know off record there’s enough here to where the NBA’s changed

The way the game is played now I honestly don’t have a problem with it the NFL does this [ __ ] all the time where it’s like if there’s a ton of holding penalties usually by Year’s End you stop seeing them so I don’t really have a problem with the physicality

That’s not the point but if you can do something influence a key game like the Mavericks would have ended tonight in the seventh seed had they won but they didn’t they lost by seven in a game now they play Denver now they play Denver where they’re probably gonna lose to

Denver 2 and it’s just guys what are you doing there’s this is a game of inches and the Mavericks losing the margins in some really frustrating ways again kid is like the 15th thing down my list it’s just we’ve been talking about him so we might as well go ahead yeah it’s it’s

Tough It’s just tough to watch in a game like this and I know fans are going to be really pissed about the refs and I’m not going to deny anyone that because it was certainly you watch what Shay gilis Alexander was getting on one the floor

And you I don’t understand his calls I don’t he he gets like he’s a brilliant basketball player and he gets some very obvious ones like I would say about two-thirds of his calls tonight I felt were like realistic calls and then there are just times where I’m just like what

What compared to what we saw on the other yeah funny enough the Mavericks had more free throws in this game and the Thunder committed more fouls 24 to 20 which is kind of funny a foul count um I wanted to get one thing uh I’d kind of go back

Not to Circle back and beat a dead horse but go back to Maxi um in the month of February when he kind of started rounding into shape after he came back from that really long absence from the pinky toe dislocation um so in February which was easily his best month that he played

This season he hasn’t played a lot of months but it was easily the best stretch included the seven game win streak um 27.2 minutes per game um averaged 8.3 points shooting 54 42 from the field uh but the minutes 27.2 um he’s for a season has never averaged more than

26.8 and if you go through his game logs the most minutes he ever averages in a month is right around that 27 28 but normally he’s 24 25 and I know that we’re like picking nits like does three minutes per game really matter that much but like I don’t know if it’s a

Coincidence that he played you know 27 minutes a month a game a game in February and now he just looks like it’s gone and I think his body just can’t like we talk about it all the time like he needs be like a 20 to 22 minute player during the regular season and

Yeah I know it wasn’t all their fault like you know Gafford got you know Gafford wasn’t here Lively was in and out of the lineup with some ankle sprains so I know he kind of had to play and he was playing well but like I feel

Like they kind of used him up like they used him up in February I don’t know if he’s gonna come back from it because ever since that hamstring surgery like whenever he plays extended minutes for like a two- we stretch he’s just done like he’s absolutely done um and we’ll

See if he can bounce back but like I just wonder if they kind of cooked him in February because of the circumstances that they were in with the injuries they were deing with sure oh is there anything else we missed um I didn’t shout out Kyrie Irving’s

Game enough you did at the beginning but I just wanted to throw my two cents or my hat in the ring like he was he was amazing like this was this was really one of his best games of the season I know he scored more points but like I

Think kind of his presence on the floor was felt in a way that isn’t always felt and that’s not really his fault all the time but like he commanded this game from every minute he was on the floor and he played 38 minutes he kind of busted out of a shooting slump uh

Despite the fact that the defensive coverage was just all focused on him I mean he had a shot in the paint at the basket in the fourth quarter that might be the most impressive non- dunk finish in the NBA oh my God I can’t believe I didn’t even talk about that like where

He switched hand when switched from right to left and banked it in like it looked like a video game glitch yes yes it was one of the best best finishes in the paint I’ve seen all like all season it was it was tremendous so I just I

Know that there are people that get on to us for for not shouting out when the Stars play well because we kind of just like well yeah they’re the Stars they should play well and we focus on the other guys but Kyrie was outstanding he was he was great from from opening tip

To the final Buzz W and what’s so funny is his actual finishing at The Rim is kind of Garbo yeah because because he’s like garbage it’s just he might be one of the best finishers of all time who doesn’t have statistically good finishing yeah it’s because you know he doesn’t he’s got the

Mon Ellis thing where he doesn’t you know he doesn’t contort for fouls a lot like he when he goes to the rim he’s trying to make the shot like and not trying to get fouled if that makes sense all right um so no game Friday no game Saturday

Um no uh Sunday afternoon game yep game so everyone will be watching which we know how that usually goes that’s right I’m gonna I need to find time to watch the the the new season of of uh go Amazon show what’s wrong with me anyways there’s some good TV I need to

Watch well that’s not until April but there’s what’s uh Invincible it’s uh the Steph the stevenh Yun voice one with JK Simmons and it’s an incredible comic um but it’s just a great great series um really looking forward to to actually spending time to watch that one but what

Ends up happening is like I just I keep falling asleep on noname nights it’s really bad it’s really bad me too everyone should watch Shogun if you haven’t though that’s that’s probably the most Preposterous show I’ve watched on television in some time it’s it’s got great production value it’s um based on

A book it’s like 16th 16th century Japan which was closed off to everybody but the Portuguese uh and an Englishman uh crashes on the island like as they’re trying to find it in in the middle of a like almost Civil War it’s great show just a great show yeah we’re gonna start

That Megan’s out of town this weekend we’re gonna start will actually watch it yes watch TV guys I have to him yes sorry and we’re gonna watch we’re going to watch we’ve committed uh in the summer uh when we move in April uh we are watching Andor

I’ve got it locked in two years raing you beat me down you couldn’t get me to Ted lasso but you got me for for Andor this one is more your Vibe because it’s film in television yeah so I can’t wait Joe Biden says God movies and TV

Suck these days that’s amazing um all right this has been fun thanks so much for hanging out with us you guys we’ll be back I’m not going to do a live show tonight it’s 1 in the morning and I there’s not as many folks in here I feel

Bad I like my wife always kind of she’s like why don’t you do them and I’m like because like I got to get up and I I have an orange theory class in the morning at like 9:45 I will die if I if I so all right everybody be good this

Has been Kirk and Josh with pod Maverick thanks so much for hanging out go Mavs

Kirk and Josh talk LATE as the #DallasMavericks play the #OklahomaCityThunder on TNT. #LukaDoncic missed the game due to injury so we’ll get to see #KyrieIrving lead a balanced Dallas attack. #BlueWireVideo

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