Mavericks vs Warriors: Luka Doncic and Dallas look to hold off Steph Curry-less Golden State
A [Applause] Hello everyone welcome to pod Maverick after dark your favorite Hebb Dune 2 Super Fan podcast I’m Kirk Henderson joined as always by Josh Bo sorry we’re getting a little bit of a late start we might have been talking in pre-show about Hebb because that’s what that’s just something of interest to to
To mid-30s to to late 30s mener good a grocery store for our for our non- Texan Mavericks fans by the way so that’s how you really know it was a dad conversation it’s it’s it was yeah and and you know HB much like the Dallas Mavericks can really take care of
Business when they decide side to and tonight where the Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors 109 to 99 I know they’re playing without Steph Curry and Draymond this is they they’ve now won four straight and and of this in this four game win streak this game is is I
Really liked this one this is the Heat win was pretty fun because they just needed to get on track but this was a game where I thought the Mavericks pulled their [ __ ] together in a really functional way after kind of a a touch and go first quarter uh and just they
Just closed real hard on the Warriors and probably a defensive intensity like we haven’t seen uh at least this season not that I’ve seen that I can recall uh what did you think of the game man oh yeah I thought it was it was B this is GNA sound really silly considering what
The Mavericks did right after the All-Star break but it kind of felt like business as usual Mavericks take care of a of a bad team which the war are without Steph Curry um like we said after the last game after they beat Chicago you know that five out of six
Besides the Philly loss which was a bad loss which is you know that this Philly team is kind of in a similar range as this Warriors team is when they’re missing their star they just they’re very toothless so that was definitely a bad loss but those other four losses
Were you know two of the best offenses in the NBA and Cleveland who was one of the who’s one of the best teams in the league uh since you know since the start of January I think so you know they lose to to really good teams and they beat
Everyone else and that’s that’s been the case the Mavericks entered tonight 21 and5 against below 500 teams Warriors aren’t that but if this team without step played all season they would very much be an under 500 team so it’s just kind of delightful to see this team when
They have games that they should take like not just they should win but this should be relatively comfortable and drama free I mean they almost they just consistently do it and tonight was no exception I know that there was some some sque you know maybe some nervy
Parts in like the first half but from halftime on I mean this never really felt like a competitive game credit to the Mavericks for taking it seriously as Cowboy points out in the chat you know the Mavericks won a game without needing their three-point shooting they only hit
One three in the first half I think that’s right uh and then they hit for the game out of 27 attempts and it just didn’t seem to matter uh there’s there’s been a lot of consternation is the right word but there’s been a lot of talk
Lately about how the at least since kind of February 1 the the NBA has refed games differently like if you were a better and you just pounded the unders you’d win I think something like 65% of the time since All-Star break so the NBA can lie through their teeth all they
Want about how the game’s being called different like not not being called differently it just is this game tonight was a great example of that there was a lot of it wasn’t overt it wasn’t negative but it was a physical contest at points and the the score reflects
That 109 to 99 and it was it was just one of these games where the Mavericks you know they tend to die by their three-point shot and they just didn’t you know this game at The Rim I mean how many points in the paint do the
Mavericks have do you have that up I do they had 68 points in the paint I would guess and I’m not being factious here I would guess 30 of those points came off of dunks the Mavericks had so many dunks I was I was really shocked they were 24
Of 30 in the restricted area that’s 80% and they were nine of 14 in the paint outside of the restricted area that’s 64% League average in that spot is 44 yeah they killed it in the paint this fa this felt like an almost carbon copy of the Bulls game except uh the Warriors
Had a little bit more spine than I think the Bulls did the other night um offered up a little bit more resistance at least on the defensive end um but yeah Kirk I’ve got the stat to end all stats for this four- game winning streak would you
Take a care to guess what the Maverick’s three-point shooting percentages as a team during this four game win streak 33% you somehow went over it is 29.3% they 39 of 133 from three in this four game winning streak and I will not look this up yet maybe we’ll look it up
Later but I will wager to Guess that this is probably the best the Mavericks have played Over a Four game stretch while shooting under 30% from three as a team since the Luca donic era started um really unbelievable when you think especially last season like I know they
Didn’t win a lot of games last season and funny enough the Mavericks just matched their season win total from last season tonight but they did not get blown out a lot despite the fact that they lost a lot of games and they didn’t because they were just consistently
Making 17 18 19 even 23s almost every game uh and when they didn’t they that’s when they did get blown out um so the fact that this team has so quickly kind of reverse that Trend now you know still a little early I mean they still I think
Early in the season they were still kind of three happy in terms of their win loss record but since the trade deadline it feels like they’ve been winning much differently uh with the additions of PJ Washington Daniel Gafford they now have a true Center rotation to get them
Through 48 minutes obviously those two have some issues against some of the better teams that can space the floor with a with a big with a shooting big like Indiana or Boston but not every team is Indiana or Boston and when the Mavericks play against a team with a
Weak front line like golden state is without Draymond Green uh like Chicago when without Patrick Williams and and they’re basically playing like four guards and and Nicola vuich who’s having a horrible season they’re feasting man they’re absolutely feasting um it’s been really fun to watch um and Luca like had
A pretty pedestrian game and they like it never felt in doubt like that’s a pretty cool thing for that’s a rare thing for this team over the last six years so yeah well and we’ll Circle back to the Luca he exited the game with a apparent hamstring injury Jason kid says
As of now they’re unsure whether Luca will make the trip to Oklahoma City um I’m be really curious to see what happens there because I mean I think Luca always wants to play uh hamstring stuff is obviously something you have to be very careful with even for a more
Floor bound player um this hamstring stuff sucks it’s it’s way to go but I I there’s a lot of really positive things I think we could we could touch on with this game I think the thing I I want to start with uh would be I’d been sort of looking for
Kyrie Irving to have a really strong performance for several games now now you go look at his box score and you’d say well Kyrie’s played some really good games what are you talking about this really felt like like an element of the Kyrie experience that we were getting in
January uh when Luca was out you know 23 points 10 assists eight rebounds this was a this was like a it was a fun game his three isn’t going his three didn’t go down either just like the rest of the teams but he he was playmaking in a way
We’ve not gotten to see very much of just because of how teams have been guarding the Mavericks and I don’t know I just I I like the experience 10 assist to one turnover pretty nice Yeah by far his most assists in the last two months um he ties his season high for assists
Oh wow um he did it three previous times so this is only the fourth time he’s at 10 at least 10 assists uh so that’s a big deal because we’ve been kind of wondering you know during especially during the the the the five of six losing stretch where the offense was
Kind of dying on a vine whenever luuka went to the bench it was like I know that Kyrie has historically played you know he played with LeBron played with Durant played with James Harden for like the last five years five to six years even in Boston you know he
Had some some decent Supporting Cast there like he’s still really like a really good passer and it was just bizarre excellent point guard it’s just yeah go ahead I really like seeing what he I I think and and it feels its way to me I feel like he enjoys being
The secondary playmaker more than the primary playmaker which is where Dante exom can really come in handy but giving you know give him the chance to run an offense uh like he did tonight and it’s just you get some some nice results I mean it’s obviously I don’t expect Kyrie
To throw up 10 assists every game with the role that they have in the offense but you know he threw an oop to Daniel Gafford that was like just breathtaking [ __ ] I I I I don’t know I I really like good passing games I mean the Mavericks
As a whole had 30 assists on 44 made field goals that’s that’s pretty amazing yeah and considering all the Miss threes that they had that many assists and they only I mean they still shot 53% from the floor so like they were still killing it they just didn’t I mean if they made
Their threes they would have scored like 140 points tonight so it the the threes really and the threes and the turnovers really do mask like what was otherwise a pretty clean pretty good offensive game yeah the thing with I think um what was really nice about tonight uh is that
When Luca went out of the game so I think he went out of the game with about five minutes left maybe a little over five minutes left and obviously the game like the Mavericks had a double- digit lead I think it was 16 points with you
Know five minutes left that should be a win even if you’re just you know running out the clock so to speak but the thing that was nice was we’ve seen with Luca off the floor and Kyrie on sometimes Kyrie really likes to defer um and likes
To space and staying in the corner not because he can’t he just yeah he spots yeah and he’s like one of the best catch and shoot shooters ever so it’s not like the worst thing in the world for him to be spotting up uh even when Luke is off
The floor but he was very assertive like he he was running the offense it wasn’t necessarily you know he was bringing them ball the floor he was getting guys into he was getting them into their sets he was running the primary pick and roll
Like it was good to see him kind of take control of the ball down the stretch in the fourth quarter and basically even if Luca you know we’ll see if Luca is really hurt or if it was more of a precautionary thing uh it was really good to see because if luuka
Doesn’t play tomorrow he’s gonna have to be like that from opening tip to the end of the game if they want to have a chance to win um so yeah it was just he was really assertive and it wasn’t necessarily like when we say he was really assertive that doesn’t mean he
Just needs to get up like 25 shots like it’s just can you can command the ball can you control the ball because you’re a really talented offensive player and good things happen when the ball’s in your hands so yeah and that’s what happened tonight only yeah the the one
Turn 10 10 assists to one turnover yeah that’s really you you got me thinking I don’t want to spoil my man’s work but there’s a friend of mine his name is Jared Dubin he’s written all over the place but he runs a substack which uh
You know I I I pay for it because I I try to support my friend’s good work but he he offers elements of a free version called last night in basketball I’m posting it in um posting it in the chat and he he is eventually going to put up
This post on movement shooting uh versus stationary shooting you actually did I Inspire him you specifically inspired him he he told me he was like and that was why I was like you should message him the other day need um but he he’s got some data on Kyrie this is why I was
Kind of gushing about Kyrie after the last game where the advanced data on Kyrie’s shooting at the moment is just because he doesn’t do super high volume I don’t think a lot of people notice it but it’s it’s laugh out loud funny it’s like approaching Klay Thompson level chinery like at his
Peak where it’s just this is the kind of shots he’s getting the offense but um what I like about Kyrie playing off ball and I’ll be looking forward to seeing it tomorrow night if if Luca is out is the Mavericks don’t have anyone that’s D that’s really Dynamic off the dribble I
Mean PJ Washington tries and he he has moments but I don’t like where he has to be dynamic off the dribble versus can take advantage of certain situations so if axan runs the point and Kyrie can still be kind of the the the release valve and the playmaker versus the the
You know the guy who starts the Maverick’s weird um non-offset Circle back to in this game but I’m gonna take a minute to ask you guys to go ahead and like the uh video stream if you’re watching on YouTube or on Twitter if you have that ability that
Sort of thing very much helps us if you here at YouTube go ahead and subscribe to the show um there’s plenty of things that you can do some of which I don’t understand that will actually notify you when we go live we go live after every
Game we try to do this uh within a few minutes of the Game ending tonight was not one of those nights because Josh and I were talking about HB um as the year goes on we’ll get a little better I’m going to host a secondary show tonight
Which I think you guys should should participate in and and you know that way you can hang out out and talk and ask questions and that sort of thing if you’re listening on an audio stream uh the next day if you’re listening here on on Thursday before the Thunder game go
Ahead and uh you know shoot me an email give us a review five stars are preferred but if you like making fun of me I do see those zero star reviews where people will pick something very mean to say but those make me laugh um thanks so much for uh for supporting the
Show I’m gonna cut right now on the audio stream to some ads and Josh and I will be right back so what if I told you that Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively have combined over two professional basketball games to shoot 91% from the floor they are 32 of 35
Over the last two games that is that’s nuts I mean we’re watching it and it’s like not shocking like the number because I even like and the misses are obviously the couple of Misses are from Lively like I I don’t even remember the liveliness is like he got blocked on one
And then caught caught his own block and calmly reversed dunked I just can’t emphasize how rare that is for a young big to to be this okay and when I mean okay I mean he’s just [ __ ] doesn’t seem to frazzle him no no it doesn’t and I think it’s
Really cool that he is coming off the bench and really hasn’t skipped a beat like I think there was some concern from the fan base like what would him coming off the bench do to maybe his psyche you know he was theoretically hitting the rookie wall he had kind of had a couple
Of of meager performances string together during that five and five out of six losing stretch um had some bad matchups against teams that can really stretch him out and away from the rim and like we’ve said all the time like he did not guard anyone at Duke even
Closely resembling like a miles turn or Kristoph porzingis uh or guarding you know guarding in space like he had to guard Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell in the pick and roll it’s Cleveland you know like that’s just tough those were some tough matchups for
Him um and for him to kind of come back from that play against some teams that are small that he has the advantage with and assert that advantage while coming off the bench and not letting that mess him up at all it’s impressive to go along with Gafford who I guess is not
Going to miss a shot for the rest of his life and we’re going to be telling our grandkids about the the NBA player who shot 90% for his career because this is crazy he’s up to 33 in a row I don’t know when he’s missing his next one it’s
Very difficult to contextualize this sort of stat because um do do you have yeah you don’t listen to any podcasts what am I talking about there is a a really there’s a really enjoyable show like this is a for a if you just like basketball to like it Jason concepion
And Chay Serrano run a a show called six trophies that they do once a week and Chase Serrano talked about he’s like if I go nine for nine there’s no way I’m finishing nine for nine I’m Gonna Keep I’m just going to keep shooting I’ll
Finish nine for 26 but if I start off like that you can’t convince me to not shoot and it’s just watching Gafford it’s like he’s extra locked in because number one he’s very aware of the streak which is after the Chicago game yes for sure dur during the Chicago game he he
Was figuring that part out he got the ball like three times in sort of like the Durk short Corner area with a face up opportunity and did not look at The Rim now to be F to be candid I’m fine with that because if he wants to pass to
A cutter like he found Dante exom at one point of the game for like a nice little cut in the lane for a layup all the better because one of the things we’ve criticized e uh um Gafford for earlier in his uh brief Maverick’s tenure is kind of his willingness to just shoot
Whatever is near the rim uh and I think it’s making him a little bit more of a not necessarily a threat but it’s like I think teams expect him to go up with everything so you know if if he comes across and actually you know beats this Wilt Chamberlain record I’m just it’s
Gonna it’s gonna be nothing short of amazing because it’s this is just one of these stats that I wouldn’t have ever considered because basketball players Miss shots I sat you know before the game I was telling everybody I was a little late to uh to posting the game
Thread at Mavs Moneyball because I’m outside with Parker and and that’s my eight-year-old son and like I was trying to teach him the mik and drill which didn’t go so well but we were having fun and it’s like just watch like doing anything 33 times in a row
Feels impossible and yet he’s just doing this in a professional basketball game so I I don’t I hope it happens I really do it’ll be a silly it’ll be a silly fun thing to talk about because it ultimately doesn’t matter but it’s fun be beating wi Chamberlain at any NBA
Stat is worthy of Celebration and praise and beating wit Chamberlain at a stat involved around like scoring buckets or shooting around the basket is doubly so because that guy owns just about every ridiculous scoring record there is uh in the NBA um and I’m honestly like if you
Would have told me that the record was like 50 in a row and it was belonged to wilt I’d be like yeah that tracks because sure he was outra like he was like a myth like he was so outrageously good uh for his era um so yeah like I
Think he’s gonna get it because at this point he’s very like he is not taking shots that are not like like it it’ll only happen if he like SL like bofs a dunk attempt or something because he’s very clearly gonna get to that 36 uh
Only take shots he knows he can make and then maybe you know we’ll see some you know we’ll see the the pressure maybe rain off of him a little bit not that it looks like he’s there’s a lot of pressure on him right now but he’s very
Clearly like you said he’s aware and he should be and and by the way like he hasn’t necess like you know I haven’t really seen him necessarily pass up looks that he normally would take like yeah I you know he made that that that pass to the cutter but you typically
Don’t always want Gafford like doing anything other than what he’s doing right now which is catching and finishing you know OPP unities from his Playmakers so that’s the nice thing about it is even if he is a little extra cautious it’s not really hurting the team because this is kind of what he
Does anyway um and defensively he’s probably played four of his better his four best defensive games since he’s come to the Mavericks have probably come all in this winning streak um definitely the matchups better and this is why like we got to talk about I don’t know how we talk about this
Without I don’t want to make anyone mad but we have to talk about like there’s just like context is so important when there’s so many games there’s so many different teams there’s so many different matchups because there was all that noise during the five of six um
When the Mavericks were you know losing five of six and Gafford wasn’t playing a lot and it was like he needs to play more this is part of the reason they’re losing and it’s like guys like he’s kind of contributing to the losing even though he’s not playing a lot like
That’s why he’s not playing a lot because he wasn’t playing well defensively or the scheme that the Mavericks were asking to play was not you know working like it’s not like he was D like you know he’s not like he was throwing up 10 and 11 in 15 minutes and
Then the team was not closing with him like he was for the most part not playing well defensively in those losses now if you want to Peg that on the coaching staff that’s fine but you know they something needed to change and so there’s kind of the sense that like I
Think the Mavericks are undefeated when he starts and I think I saw like he’s two and four when he comes off the bench and everyone’s pointing at that like see like he needs to start and and it’s like no like he just ran into some bad
Matchups like the Pacers and the and the Celtics and even the Cavaliers to a degree with the way that they run offense it’s difficult for him to guard because he at least so far has not shown himself to be like a a switching big now if you think that he can switch and
That’s on the Mavericks coaching staff for not allowing him to you know fine but just with how the Mavericks play with Lively and Gafford uh it was was tough for him and now you know the heat the the heat the Warriors without Draymond like the Bulls um the Pistons
Like all teams that Gafford like much better matchup and they look better and it’s like so it’s not necessarily like play Gafford and start him a lot and the win it’s just play the matchups right like there are going to be games where Lively or even Maxi kleba are going to
Be more advantageous to you over Gafford and that’s not a slight against Daniel Gafford it’s just Maxim iing your players to the best that you can and and and maximizing your chances to win a game and you know not every team is going to be like the Warriors or the
Bulls who don’t you know the Warriors starting center basically is is a rookie without Draymond and then the Bulls vich is having a terrible year and they basically have no power forwards like yes of course play Gafford a lot in those matchups because he’s gonna dominate in the paint against those kind
Of teams uh so again it’s I don’t I’m not trying to be critical of Gafford necessarily it’s just more there’s just got there’s just more to it than start him play him 26 minutes you’re gonna win you know well and I got you know I got some grief from from
People who know things about my take from like you just can’t convince me that Maxi’s supposed defensive prowess is more important to what Dallas tries to do in some of these lineups than Gafford and Lively’s offensive functionality absolutely Maxi has been so [ __ ] bad he’s just he’s just been
So and and but here’s the thing there’s gonna be a moment where the Mavericks need Maxi has that haven’t that been what we’ve been saying for like the last three years is like it’s not that we need Maxi to necessarily go away it’s just their only good basketball can’t be
Reliant on him playing I mean Mark fwell roasted the guy that doesn’t happen did you hear that where you were there he’s like like he pointed out how bad Maxi’s been in the podcast offense yeah he’s like oh my God he’s only scored eight eight points this month so and he only
Played eight minutes tonight which is fine like they didn’t need him you know there’s gonna be a game where they need him so that’s kind of my point I just I I don’t know this it’s it’s not a silly conversation because it’s going to be
The sort of thing uh that comes up in a big game um sorry I keep looking to the side because there’s a mosquito hawk flying around my room no things are nuts this time of year good Lord um I it’s just it’s just G to be a thing is
Is where we settle on it um I’m trying to look at like the the the only other like like box score and this is not an odity PJ Washington had a phenomenal game he was four four of five inside the three-point line uh to go along with seven rebounds two assists and three
Blocks um the the block party the Mavericks had tonight was hysterical 13 blocks um on the night seven PJ just just having a really solid I mean solid doesn’t even do it justice he had a great game um I I had a really I had a
Really fun one uh with with regards to this so um the PJ thing is interesting because you know his offense has really not been there in a way that I kind of thought it would he’s making the shots that I think he needs to make in the
Paint but you know his three-point shot has basically been non-existent um and that was happening in Charlotte so it’s not too terribly surprising but there’s always you hope there’s going to be the Luca bump with the shooting but the thing with PJ that he’s showing and this is like you know
Why he’s been such a he’s having sorry I’m I’m kind of getting you know ahead of myself like comparing him to Grant Williams um which might not be fair but the reason why he’s able to have these winning impactful games despite the fact that he’s not shooting or scoring
Consistently which you know Grant also wasn’t shooting or scoring consistently is just his defensive fit and his defensive level has been astronomically higher at that four spot than what Grant Williams was giving the team for most of the Season like his ability to play big and rotate and and guard in one-on-one
Situations and when they don’t ask him to help off the strong side corner for three which I feel like has changed a little bit since they had that that last loss to the Pacers uh that overh helping seems to have been stamped out a little um he’s just his defense has been
Dynamite otherwise like and this is kind of like what we talked about the trade like it was like he has tools he absolutely has the tools and hearing from you know I think Zack low on his podcast said from what he heard he wants to be coached like it’s not a me an
Issue of him not working hard or not wanting to be a coach it was just he kind of gave his poor effort on a bad team which kind of happens it’s snowballs when you’re on a bad team like the the Hornets I still think he shoots
The ball like I I question his vision yeah I don’t know what’s going on there it is like it is like early it sometimes his shot attempts make Shawn maran’s shot look pretty like it is a like Look Out Below type instance because he’ll just miss like he’ll shoot from the wing
And it’ll be gorgeous and then he’ll shoot from the corner and I question his depth perception does he need new contacts something does he need contacts yeah something man it’s weird but at least you know that’s going to be a problem in the playoff like he can’t he
Can’t shoot 29% from three in a playoff series that’ll be tough so they’ll need to figure that part out and maybe move him around the floor like you’ve been talking about get him in those better positions to score in the paint because he’s that floater feels pretty automatic
Like when he’s going to the basket but defensively like he’s showing when he’s not doing the overh helping which I think is not him that’s a scheme thing like his defense is like end of game high leverage playoff level playoff caliber like he’s really playing well defensively did did Josh Green continue
To play in garbage time how in the world is he a negative eight on this game I thought he had a yeah he yeah he finished the game I he finished the game then that’s yeah then I’m ignoring no he had a great yeah he had a nice game he
Had a very nice game uh trying to think if there’s anything else to note is there I don’t know um exom Off the Bench six assists one turnover like just continuing to be like right around that four to six assist Mark which is just huge for the bench um Tim Hardway Jr
Can’t shoot but like it’s it’s it’s interesting like what was the I don’t even remember what was the record last year when he shot under 40% from three uh it was bad and he’s been like under 35 for almost two months now and the Mavericks are like 12 and five
Basically like I think it goes to show like the the trade deadline improvements um and kind of how this team is kind of shifted a little bit that they’re able to survive this like and he’s not playing a lot like I I think that’s another big thing from this game is that
I it feels like to me the rotation feels right like the starting lineup you know getting nitpicky with Gafford or Lively maybe there’s a matchup where Lively starting makes more sense but both of those guys playing over 20 minutes like that’s really all you need um but like everything else
Feels like it’s falling into place like putting Derrick Jones Jr in for Josh Green in the starting lineup was massive because Josh Green just cannot guard screens to save his life um and I feel like in a starting lineup to start games when you’re going against the other
Team’s best players and so many teams run you know pick and roll with their dominant ball dominant guard like having Jones on the floor to start games makes so much more sense um green seems to play much better off the bench she gets a little bit more touches uh he seems to
Have a just seems to be a little bit of a weight off his shoulders like hardaway’s minutes are down kba’s minutes are down uh exam’s minutes are are creeping back up like I don’t it feels like they’re kind of locking in the rotation of the lineup right now and
That’s what you want to see uh in mid March as you’re trying to make the playoff push well I am I I couldn’t be more delighted you know the Mavericks play Oklahoma City tomorrow night uh that game is going to be really interesting because if LCA donic doesn’t play um
That’s going to be an uphill battle but I do think the Mavericks the way they’ve been crushing in the paint is going to be pretty interesting I still think Gaff Lively Gafford ate him up last time right I I I don’t want to I don’t to act
Like it’s a game the Mavericks throw their hands up it’s just going to be kind of a more calculated interesting game then on Sunday they play the the Denver Nuggets so these these two contests you know are are uphill battles and the Mavericks could very easily go 0
And2 which is why this four game win streak feels so useful because it’s you know the the right now there’s there’s a lot going on in the NBA action the Los Angeles Lakers uh who just are on and look man I I know how this [ __ ] works
But I get so tired of every [ __ ] podcast being how could the Lakers do D du anybody that’s been the 10 seed in the time that we’ve had the um the playing tournament hasn’t gone anywhere like it it’s I I’m pretty sure they haven’t made the playoff like it’s
Just this constant like drum beat for the Lakers where it’s like they’ve had incredibly healthy Seasons from LeBron and and AD and they still kind of suck it’s it’s largely and hear me out here it’s because they got Christian Wood and every team he goes to becomes worse it’s
Really magical I love it so so much um this was a big win for the box score or for the playin folks too because the kings are just hanging out on on the back end of the playin like this is It’s are gonna and the kings are gonna win
Against the Lakers tonight so yeah right so it’s you know we’re kind of looking you know we all of us so so New Orleans has 39 wins Phoenix has 38 wins Sacramento has 37 wins Dallas has 38 wins uh we’re going to have three teams with 38 wins here very shortly uh and
And it you know the Mavericks I think still have two games against the Kings are just not a good matchup for the Mavericks um the way they play basketball so it’s there it’s really fun like I know certain people hate the plan um but this is just it’s a great way it
Makes this part of the Season feel meaningful and if you’re a younger basketball fan it’s kind of hard to contextualize that uh where this is normally the Dog Days yeah unless we’re talking like Prime Western Conference where the Suns missed the playoffs with 48 wins um it’s it’s just it’s a
Different world um because usually those those nine 10 teams are like and the 11 because now 11 has something to play for they’re they’re like they’re done right now like they’re not doing anything so you’ve basically got like maybe what 10 15 10 12 to 15 teams at this point of
The Season were really trying right which made it really difficult back in the day uh to consistently okay so I’m going to let Josh go edit and post stuff to Moneyball decom um because because he is an excellent editor and I am really bad at spelling um I saw something this is
Really off topic but whatever I saw uh my our colleague Brent sent me this story about how these kids got punished for using grammarly and I’m just like I wouldn’t be able to function without using grammarly like I don’t know how like I am not a editor I am a manager I need
These things to work and it just killed me but uh all right this has been fun Josh and I’ll be back late tomorrow night after the Oklahoma City game thanks so much for hanging out Josh and everybody that’s hanging out in here I will be right back to start our
Secondary live show you see the link it should be pinned into the chat you can join that show those of you who are listening on audio only look for that show to post right around lunchtime everybody else have a great night and go Mavs Oh [Applause] Mavs fans thanks for hanging out I’m Kirk Henderson you are joining our secondary live show called Mavs party this is an episode of our podcast and live show where you can join and participate tell me your basketball takes tell me your TV takes tell me anything you’d really like to talk about
Uh we already got two folks waiting if you’re watching on the live stream there is a pinned link to a streamyard um streamyard link which is a really easy application you click into it you can access it from your phone you can access it from your computer if you
Would like to show us your pretty face you can do so if you don’t want to I’m not going to hold it against you I after all have a face made for radio I’m joined first by my man Brian who is a loyal listener and friend thanks so much
For joining us tonight Brian what’s going on you’re muted great start there I am I was like no I’m doing well how about you H it’s good it’s it’s the four games are winning is nice uh winning emphatically is extra nice because I I really like how Dallas took control
Defensively um this felt like a game filled with no excuses and I I this is a silly thing but I’ve enjoyed the the kind of refreshingly honest commentary from the Mavs guys lately um they cooked Maxi kba pretty good at an early point in the
Game which made me laugh and one of the things I wish I I I may see if I can suggest this I would love it if Mark followwell for every block of um Daniel Gafford instead of like screaming something about the landlord because he one time he like Danel Gafford blocks it
Out to Garland like what if he referenced every little tiny like City and Village in the Dallas Fort Worth area over the course of the Season cuz there’s a ton of them B yeah that’s exactly right like I like it would just be a hilarious bit like he started doing
It when Gafford um was blocking shots or maybe it was Lively blocking shots out in Toronto where he just kept like referencing various provinces I don’t know I I just I enjoy this game a lot yeah no it was pretty it was pretty fun except for like the uh the not
Making Shots part but the defense was awesome and it needed to be against a team without its two best Playmakers two or two of three I guess if you still count Chris Paul uh yeah this was not a good Warriors team that we played but it was this still a team
Capable of beating bad teams and teams that underestimate them so the fact that we didn’t and the fact that we took care of business on the defensive end our bigs did exactly what they were supposed to in the paint they let gavon Looney and Andrew Wiggins know this is in 2022
Anymore you’re not gonna get anything sweet in here everything you’re gonna get in here is goingon to be hard and that’s precisely what Gafford and Lively did uh the one for 13 Maxi shot in the middle of the game was very funny uh uh Luca was annoying me like taking
Fade 14 foot fade aways over like six three dudes right um then eventually he pulled his head out of his ass and started going to the rim and he got B and hit a couple free throws next thing you know a three Falls imagine that that three was pretty too I mean
The Mavericks were not getting any friendly bounces on their threes tonight Josh Bo just shared a link uh that essentially I mean he pointed this out in the L thing but the Mavericks are shooting 29% from three during their uh their four game winning streak which is really
Something yeah no it’s funny because and I think uh Dwight from 21 going on 77 it was either him or SJ that pointed out uh you know we were always talking about how we wanted them to learn to win without relying on threes this isn’t
Quite what I had in mind but as well as the defense was going I trust that the shots are going to start falling again maybe you know there’s even more lineup tinkering that needs to happen maybe it’s throw Jaden out there a little bit early just for two or three minutes see
If he can get high something going maybe Tim you know catches fire again at some point in one of these short stretches he’s playing maybe it’s PJ only shooting Above The Brak when he shoots from the corners uh it it’s a it’s a hazard to the people sitting uh behind the
Backboard um I don’t know what it is but I know it’s gonna it’s going to regress positively to the mean at some point and until then we just kind of gota hold on and keep playing defense defense look good today that’s all I could really ask
For defend do do your work early getting into the post if you got a smaller guy on you go get to the paint and seal luga will find you and that’s precisely what happened except today it was Kyrie yeah which it was nice to see um it’s
Really nice to see a a really cons he didn’t have like a start to finish amazing game but he really helped close the game all the way out and I I was we’ve not seen a lot of fourth quarter Kyrie lately which is fine don’t expect
It every game but it was it was he was really magical in the second half tonight like and I was I think in the first he had what like seven points and a couple assists and that’s kind of all we really need from we don’t need you to
We we just need him to show up and be a part of the game and participate in the first half in really the first quarter and he did that tonight and it made a whole hell of a lot of difference in a game where we didn’t make any shots we
Had easy open looks that we were missing all right and golden state was just keeping it close and keeping it close and keeping it close and instead of hanging around if we didn’t get those seven points in the first quarter they could have had that lead the entire time
And then we’re having a make up ground like we usually do in the second half of the game but because he showed up and he participated and Derrick Jones Jr the drivve were popping for him right uh Daniel Gafford was getting whatever he wanted in the paint because he is
Quicker than Looney and bigger than literally everybody else that they threw out there uh we were able to hold on and maintain a tiny lead and then once some shots started falling it was yep it’s nice it’s nice well are you looking forward to our first late game
In like a million years tomorrow night I am not I won’t lie to you I’m gonna want to get some sleep but I’ll I’ll I’ll stay up and watch it I I’ll say this it might be starting late it’s gonna end right on time for me because
If Luca is not playing and these boys uh get rolled up out of here I’m out by the third quarter see it’s it’s so night like sometimes I envy I envy other people whereas I I do this every now and again I’m not you know we got 20 people the
Right for M’s Money Ball but so we spread the work around everybody does a great job picking up but sometimes I’ll try to take the really shitty stuff so other people don’t have to and I signed up for that game tomorrow night to write the recap and then do this stuff and
Like I will be regretting my decision about now tomorrow night because it’ll be fourth quarter Mavs win or lose you know I love the game but it’s like still having to turn out 800 words and do this stuff Grant I I big picture like it like in the moment I’m
Like what’s start time tomorrow 9 TNT game oh you’ll regret that by 945 oh yeah and then and then we’ll get to hear whatever dumb dumbassery you know the guys who don’t watch the Mavericks say where it’s like well I need Luca to be passing the ball more and then they show
His stats and he has 12 assists a game it’s like don’t let uh don’t let the Mavericks have the lead going into the half yeah in that game oh boy the chat thinks you’re lying chat thinks you’ll be you’ll be awake you might be awake but you’re not going to be you know
You’re not going to be doing this so well my man thank you so much for kicking us off of course brother thanks for having me talk soon all right so I see um a name in the chat I don’t recognize is Drew we’re gonna bring up
Drew next and that’s kind of how I like to do this guys if I don’t see you as often in here I’m going to bring out names I don’t recognize hope my regulars who participate don’t hurt or don’t get bothered by that but I just I want to
Encourage people to join and talk about basketball so Drew how you doing hey Kirk doing good here me I can you sound real good all right you a much more comfortable looking chair than I have I understand your pain um so I’ve got an 11 week old
Here see look at you join it see yeah this is see right now guys what Drew is doing is is really the epitome of multitasking congratulations Drew how you doing uh doing good and looking forward to that uh 9900 PM start uh start time uh I’m you’re gonna be up
You’re GNA be up anyway that and Arlington Arlington bord ra but I’m out in Washington state now and the okay so that’s a seven yeah that’s my that’s that’s an okay start time for you then exactly 7 o’cl centrals I’m like trying to get home from work to catch the game
Um but um I cannot believe we are able to win a game shooting the threes and Luca only having 21 points like it the box score does not make any sense uh it absolutely doesn’t uh I don’t know like again astounding having such good Center rotation um and also I did not realize
How terribly terribly cooked Klay Thompson is poor guy man he’s talked about it this year but he just I mean he looks like a guy who’s torn his ACL in his Achilles I mean just it’s it’s you you think back from five years ago and you’re like that guy would just s that’s
It’s kind of the problem with guy’s ability to play so long is when things like this happen when injuries Rob guys it it makes earlier elements of their of their careers not make any sense I mean you get a guy like LeBron James who just so skews everything and and then there’s
Clay who is a human being he he’s an actual human which is hard to understand compared to these guys that are superheroes and he’s he’s not he’s had some pretty amazing games this year but they’re just games like tonight where looks broken yeah it’s just it it is it was
Astounding it’s been you know I’ve seen enough Warriors you know during the during the peak but watching it tonight it was like holy [ __ ] um but uh again I am just like oh my God the amount of athleticism the fact that we can win games without shooting threes is a St is
Yeah um I’m excited for this team we just got to crack it up to sixth uh I still think there’s one little piece missing somewhere um little bit more lengths at the three afraid Clippers uh I am too but did you see what Kawhi Leonard did last night he’s out inured
So he had backs spasms and they kept calling it something cute but I kid you not the dude just left he he he didn’t go to the training room he left which I couldn’t love the decision more like who Among Us hasn’t wanted to just leave
Work I’m I’m I’m gone bye guys it killed me uh yeah I mean yeah Kawai you never know um but that all said like that’s the one team that I’m just like the the length and just the switchability is weird but uh if we can get to if we can
Get to six I I I like it’ll be a fun it’ll be a fun postseason I’m not you know don’t think don’t know if we got everything we need to go to all the way but you know it’ll be a fun postseason so I think that’s right yeah anyhow that
Was my quick little bit um keep well good luck to you I hope the baby sleeps mine has been uh the last week all both of my children have really bad acid reflex really neat parent talk sorry guys this is my show I’ll do what I want
And like acid reflux one of those things you know it’s it hurts an adults I imagine hurts children like crazy the younger one when we put him down he he screams like Luca donic on a no call and it’s been really rough for like a week and we’re taking them to a specialist
Soon and they’re just they’re probably gonna be like well it’s a phase and I’m like no I’m gonna die we need to sleep but that’s you know kids are great good luck to you man I hope you come back soon all right all right Thank you Kirk
Okay I’m gonna take a quick minute uh uh probably less than a minute if you guys are already in this show if you could go ahead and like the stream the YouTube guys I would really appreciate it if you could also uh consider uh consider subscribing to the show there’s a way to
Get alerted when we go live automatically I try to post all that stuff but I don’t really know enough about how YouTube Works um if you could uh consider on the audio stream sending me a review you know you guys are always welcome to shoot me emails a number of
Fans have found emails over the last few weeks and I’ve enjoyed talking basketball with you guys I I this is you know my my real job as a Salesforce administrator I’m kind of boring I like talking basketball and also frankly doing this stuff doing basketball stuff
Makes me better at my day job because it allows me to use different parts of my brain um shout out to Paulo Patty up that says this podcast hate Luca Paulo I’m I’m gonna tell you a story for a minute um in the 10 games into Dennis
Smith’s uh rookie year um I was blindingly drunk watching ing the Mavericks um which happens you know the maveri like 2017 or 2018 Mavericks really uh no it’s 2017 Mavericks yeah October really not good really not good like painful and I um I proclaimed in it’s like October 2017 I still have the
Tweet uh that if the Dallas Mavericks wounded up drafting LCA donic that Dirk nitzki would come back for his 21st season uh and then I just basically you know because I’d been watching Luca tape since he was 15 I was like I need this man in the Mavericks even still I had no
Idea he would be like this um so this show loves Luca donic this show loves the Dallas Mavericks and that’s why we’re here um so yeah so welcome to the show Pao all right coming up next is my man doe what’s going on Mr Deng how you
Doing I’m doing well sir how are you is that a Tennessee shirt that you have on yeah uh in my job for the dod previously I traveled to a lot of different states and I always try to get you know uh a jersey or a shirt from that state or a
Hat or some other thing you know and I love Knoxville Knoxville man is Gorge great town beautiful town the square is amazing I love I love college towns like that well the only reason I I it made me think there was an instance earlier this week in the women’s SEC tournament where
A a woman for South Carolina beat the the the uh Tennessee women’s basketball team on a game-winning uh three-pointer that was one of the craziest shots I’ve seen in basketball because there’s just no one near her because she shouldn’t have shot the ball she was like a center
Who doesn’t take threes and she won the game with it and it was just it like the whole everybody mobbed her because it it was like it’d basically be like Eric dampierre shooting a three and winning a game for the Dallas Mavericks it was that kind of silly but uh what you think
Of tonight’s game what’s going on well I got a lot of thoughts uh first of all you could see that we can be successful when we don’t have the three and what still kind of annoys me is the coach not recognizing that hey if we’re not hitting threes teach your players to
Give them a pump fake and make a move to the basket attack you see how great we were when we’re getting the balls to the centers you know even the mid-range game you know normally that’s not a high percentage shot but if you look at Kyrie
And you look at Luca those are above average humans making those mid-range shots you know it it’s would behoove them to vary the attack a little bit more you know because they’re capable of it you know and if if we’re doing doing threes we need to start it from the
Inside with a driving kick you know some of these threes I’m like I’m shaking my head my coach would have been freaking mad at me for shooting threes that way you know it’s just the sup insistence that kid didn’t coach really doesn’t seem like it he can’t adjust but I give
Him credit I give him credit he’s adjusted a little bit but for the most part I don’t think it’s kid I think it’s his assistance getting into his ear you know and himber lenning because really I still want to fire this son of a gun you
Know we don’t need him if anything he’s a hindrance he still doesn’t protect the players you know and jumps in with any kind of you know rough interference or or rough you know getting a technical when he needs to you know he still uh doesn’t call timely timeouts even though
He was better tonight in the last two games you know I’ll give him where credit credits do but he’s a long way you’re talking about his third stop in his third season and almost nine years of coaching come on man just some common sense things the same with him you know
The defenses that he uses he’s so stubborn that he plays the same thing how how how much drop coverage has he played forever you know fit the strength of your squad with the Personnel that’s there and adjust defense and offense to those things you know be a coach you
Know be be a little bit Innovative it’s difficult because I I subscribe to the notion you know we we’ve all like we let’s just let’s think of this in terms of kind of our own jobs we’ve all worked with with co-workers who you you you got
To either keep treat with kid gloves or a manager where you have to manage up one of the worst things I hate managing up and I seem to do it all the time in my real job but there there’s elements of this stuff where you know in a given
Project or a given cycle of work you can only use certain tactics to like get through work situations so many times and I think that’s really the same thing here I think the kid doesn’t go hard enough at Luca publicly and there’s probably very smart political reasons for
That I think as we wind towards the playoffs we’re going to see in and really in the playoffs I think the make playoff we will see kid ratchet up these things that we are that we’re losing on because that’s the time to do it now I
Have a little bit of a problem with that approach because historically it’s really a one two or three seed that wins the NBA Championship period the mavers are not going to be a one two or three they have to figure out something in the long term that’s a little more
Balanced because this team is capable of winning more games than it has now that we haven’t seen this team together for a whole year but they’re capable of playing more consistent basketball than they have I just don’t understand why it’s particularly difficult sometimes other than the really simple fact of Ky
And Luca are not very good or not very focused defensively and that tends to cause almost all of their problems right accountability is a big issue you know and some of that comes with a coach some some of that comes with a team leadership you know but also it comes up
From the upper levels with Nico true you know I mean if you’re the general manager and you see your coaches aren’t doing their jobs correctly you need to give them some advice maybe even ultimately ultimatum you know and then calling out the players is the right
Thing to do too either in private I would always prefer that oneon-one in the team meetings but at the same time it’s just a general lack of account ability and waiting for the playoffs like you said you know it’s tough to do because the West is so tight so
Competitive you know don’t save your moves like you know we had the previous coach he said well I’m kind of saving it for the playoffs there may be no playoffs we’re one injury away from not making the playoffs you know W with Luca Kyrie we’re deeper but we can’t take
Things for granted you know the mindset has to be throw everything you have at them now don’t burn yourself where you’re over stressing the players by beating them to death with a message but I just don’t see that passion you know that’s the thing that gets me I mean I’m
Like you you know like you said I like passionate coaches you know Avery was not the best coach in the world I hated the voice there’s dumb [ __ ] he did but that guy was passionate you know same thing with our previous coach he was passionate at times kind of [ __ ] you
Know with to to the media and to the fans but at the same time tactically you knew where we stood with the guy you know he would throw the whole Donnie Nelson was the same thing the unpredictability of how the coaches are going to call things
I realize it’s a short season we got a bunch of new players we don’t get much practice time but come on we could install one or two new plays one or two new defensive Concepts you know a week you know because the NBA is difficult once they understand where you’re
Running your plays how you’re running your plays how you’re running your defense your predictability it’s going to work against you you know being unpredictable is an asset you know and then executing it you know to a level that your players strengths is an accent you know and even sometimes just popping
It and showing him something different man you know the thing I like about Rick patino that that I loved is he threw a bunch of different defenses but his defenses especially the presses wore out the his team you know you’d have to have a really deep roster
To to press the way he did and run that many defenses you know but still you could be a little bit more Innovative on both sides of the ball you know no cuts at all you know you’re not playing to the strengths of Kyrie with any Cuts or
Back door screens you know more flowing motion if you watch Luca with his his uh his uh country’s team he runs a totally different offense you know he runs more of a a offense where people are sharing in the ball a whole lot more more of a
European offense you know you know some of its motion but some of it’s set plays too you know I I just I’m puzzled you know I am well when the first uh good assistant that we had that was European left I saw a massive drop off on our schemes especially offensively you know
And then out of timeouts you know he drew some amazing plays you know yeah that’s one guy that I would have loved to take over as interterm coach you know well we got who we got right now and then we’ll get to the playoffs and then
I think if the Mavericks were to flame out before then we may not have to worry about that but for now I’m going to I’m going to take the I’m gonna enjoy the win um I’m gonna enjoy the Mavericks somehow never moving in the standings we’re just kind of perpetually gonna
Hang out in the e seed um which better than last year so far you know I I can’t complain too much yeah no you’re right about that all right man you got anything else for us no I really appreciate what y’all do I know it takes
A lot of time away from your family and stuff you know and I hope sales for stock drops a little because I want to buy some h i mean I run I run an instance for nonprofit so it’s uh some days I know what I’m doing and then a day like
Today where I spent like 45 minutes with uh one of their support technicians in another country and I’m like I am a very dumb person um that’s just the way technology goes sometimes all right man talk soon all right byebye all right all right coming up next is brandom what’s
Going on brandom enjoying the win how about you I did I did enjoy the win it’s it’s uh it’s it’s just nice four in a row feels good man it does Kirk and this is probably a I don’t know so would you so with the few games remaining just from a
A standpoint of watching would you rather see the Mavs you know maybe not really lose a competitive game but I if they do lose a competitive game would you rather see that or then win kind of uneventful and sloppy wins like to me I feel like how let me
Rephrase it I feel like the Mavs I would rather see them play competitive and more you know um conducive basketball than just going out there getting the win because right now the the wins are important but once you get to the playoffs you know they’re still putting
Out the same effort then you know they I guess you could say they’re getting ready they might as well get ready to go fishing I’m a little a roundabout answer for you so when when Derk Harper’s on the call I tend to laugh a lot because he’s funny
When Devin Harris is on the call I tend to learn a lot because he points out what’s actually happening yeah he talked pretty early in the game about where the Dallas Mavericks defensive breakdowns are happening you know there’s a number of um Mavs fans out there on Twitter I’m
Not denigrating anyone’s work you’re gonna do work I respect it I appreciate some of the videos people put up there’s this one angry coach on YouTube who likes to talk about how much Jason kid sucks and I’ve been sending some of these things to different people both
With the Mavericks and kind of around the league who know these things and a lot of people’s base assumptions on where the Mavericks defense is breaking down is wrong it’s just wrong now almost all of it has to do with the quality of personnel like Tim Kyrie and
Luca make more defensive mistakes on on switches and things like that and and help defense the Mavericks over rotate a lot um and they also somehow don’t defend Corner thre sometimes which just blows my mind but then they have an instance like tonight where in the third quarter they they really tighten the
Screws on the on the Warriors and I I I enjoyed it and I felt like I learned elements of what they’re capable of now they’re not playing with Steph Curry so it’s a different situation but I think to answer your question I would rather see a game where I learn
What this team is capable of than a a game against sort of I don’t know the Pistons game isn’t a great example but it where you know you kind of run a team off the floor do you know what I mean yeah and they’ve run and it seemed like
A lot of their wins they just running teams off the floor hitting good shots but they’re they’re good shots but they’re not quality shots if that makes sense like that corner three you said it before it’s not not a quality shot and to me it’s just the worst shot for the
Mavericks the one that where that Josh Green was like really warming up that I don’t feel like that’s an efficient shot I mean it’s unfortunately the corner three is really statistically the most efficient shot in basketball but who is taking the shot matters a lot when Josh
Right Josh is not bad at it PJ might as well be throwing up water balloons while blindfolded because it’s just like that dude takes a corner three and I’m like oh no where’s the ball going to go because it’s it’s it’s a it’s a It’s tricky because Personnel matters as much as
Shot quality um which is why you know it’s I feel like some of the Mavericks play scheme stuff can be overly simplistic but I think that’s on purpose at times it it goes back to kind of the the the previous you know the discussion about just sort of getting to the
Playoffs um oh I mean this team is is capable of doing real like the offense I don’t get worried about because but that said kid has talked about and he’s right that the the offense really fuels the defensive Focus almost always that makes sense you know what it
Seems like and kind of back to your point as Personnel like Derek Jones Jr they had him trying to shoot it for a while and they you know I think that kind of led to his decline shooting wise um Josh um Tim definitely that corner three and it
Seems like I could be wrong but their rotation is kind of like Kyrie as well too um kid is very his plays are very predictable and kind of like uh the previous person was saying and I’m glad I haven’t heard him in a while but you
Know like like he was saying a lot of it goes not you know kind of goes to coaching and to me who’s in his ear like is Jerry Dudley you know in his ear um or is somebody else in his ear like Daryl’s Daryl’s been assistant Daryl Armstrong excuse me he’s been assistant
For a while go sham guys been assistant for a while so I don’t I don’t think that they would you know kind of be in his ear but it’s a it’s a new look you know sorry about that that wakes me up in the morning but
Uh it’s a new look you know group of assistants and it’s kind of like who’s really you know making the decisions right now um because kid very laidback and maybe he’s letting Dudley do a lot of it but I don’t know it just seems like they’re not putting out a lot of
New stuff they’re kind of predictable I think that’s on purpose I’ve sort of started to settle with that I I think that’s let’s get to the playoffs and then maybe roll out some new wrinkles I also think it’s why we haven’t seen certain devastating wrinkles like Luca Kyrie pick and roll
Now if the Mavs really get to crunch time because they still have an ability to to get to the six seed I mean theoretically they could get to the five seed if they actually play well enough and certain things go their way um but you know for now you know they’re
They’re one and a half games back from the Pelicans despite being the e seed like there’s all it takes is one bad thing to happen I mean that’s that’s really and you don’t want that to happen to the other teams but it’s like this is
Why you know I I think the plan is such a a win for the league despite it it not necessarily mattering for the finals but you know we’re gonna have fun these next few weeks and I just got one more question Kurt do you think that with
Lively and the new guys being on the team do you think time on the court together is going to be a significant uh Factor on if they make it far into the playoffs like just being around for example Gafford and Lively playing big minutes together as opposed to just
Throwing out the regular rotation or or whatever do you think that developing that chemistry on the court would factor into how far they make it or do you think it’s just so competitive in the west that it’s just another factor I think you got to get to the playoffs and then worry
About this because the I saw a stat earlier tonight of the playing teams the Mavericks I mean I might have retweeted it let me just go see if it was in my profile here there was there’s just some crazy stats when you take a look at like
What the Mavericks have done this season despite some of the challenges um Nick angat tweeted this earlier today West 6 through nine Maverick Suns Kings Lakers and a number and the number of fiveman lineups that have played 50 plus minutes together the Dallas Mavericks have one lineup that has played 50 plus minutes
Together this season okay season crazy that’s insane is crazy so I I I think you just sort of and you’re not gonna get like I I think you if you place winning on top of chemistry issues like not issues but like chemistry development I think the chemistry development comes as a
Byproduct of the winning I got you yeah yeah that makes sense kind of like um what they call it uh momentum I love this Grayson Taylor joined the show I know you have talked about Kyrie maybe needing a day off because of how much he has played uh
Recently Kirk well he didn’t need one today we did talk about that in the first show Kyrie was outstanding um really probably one of the key elements why they won tonight was really nice to see um all right man you got anything else no man that’s it man and you know I
Just kind of hope that luk Luca’s looking really good man I just kind of hope that he I I would give him a night off man that hamstring’s nothing to play with no but I also can’t like I I just don’t trust anything the Mavericks do with injury report stuff because I’m
Like some Luca will play through anything because he likes playing and I think he would want to play against another Premier MVP based candidate but yeah he I don’t know I I bet he ends up going and then I bet they end up making the call right before the game that’s kind
Of my my theory so all right well thank you Kirt of course talk soon all right coming up next is my man Henry Henry welcome to the show hey hey what’s going on for some odd reason it kind of just been fading in and out let me know how it sound you
Sound good thanks for joining okay all right um was something Bo brought up I can’t remember I think it had to do with coaching but I think we mentioned it earlier like I’d love to have what’s what’s the partisan do you know the coach for partisan yes probably
As it’s been explained to me one of the best basketball coaches actively coaching in the world yeah I I would love him if we can somehow steal him away if not we can take Pablo Lucas Real Madrid coach uh eigor kosov I think that was the guy do Deng was referring to
Earlier as well as far as the assistant and in kawai’s injury was a thoratic spasm or thoric spasm something along those lines um is what you were looking for but I that he [ __ ] left work like it makes me laugh so hard I definitely hope he’s ey but I
Mean I wish they would have gave Katie and Kyrie that same Grace when they were in Brooklyn I mean cpers have been injured for what seven years now give or take and they still Kawai gets the most I think it’s because he legitimately never speaks but like he gets the most
Grace for like just leaving because it almost feels like this season kawhai has been ka’s frankly been unbelievable I question whether he had a leg injury at all at this point he looks so damn good yeah who knows but the other thing I’ll completely off topic though you’re
A Salesforce admin I was thinking about one I love Salesforce but two I was indeed and indecisive in between iOS Developer and cyber security I think I’m going go cyers um I don’t know what it is that kind of keeps pulling me to that field I [ __ ] love that field so a job
That sounds amazing oh yeah yes yeah I love um what was I G to say oh tomorrow’s game not worried about it I actually think that’s going to be not a pretty easy Victory but OKC didn’t magically get girth in size in the paint magically since the trade deadline so
Between Lively and Gafford I’mma Be honest I’m not too worried about OKC Denver I do think is a loss but because Kai is fasting for Ramadan and he can’t break his fast until 7:30 that game’s at 3:30 so he’s going to be playing that entire game on an empty stomach no fluid
No food so I think that you not drink during Ramadan either no water dude I would fail yeah it’s it’s complete and total discipline but OKC tomorrow nine o’clock late game he’s going to be full from the first quarter I’m telling you mark this we’re beating OKC tomorrow again how do
You feel about the next two games I mean I I was really keen on this this the Mavericks winning these four games just so in case things were to go Ary during these games they will have something to fall back on um I I would have loved the
OKC matchup with Luca and Kyrie together just because of the way they put Rim pressure against a kind of thinner Oklahoma City team I’ll be interested to see um I don’t think exm played in the last blowout the Mavericks where they just beat the pants off of Oklahoma City um
Him I I he’s such an interesting player to me because I I think he really pairs well with Kyrie and Luca as running point guard for both of them um and and if if the Mavericks were to ask him to play or like bear a heavier minute load
Tomorrow and let’s say he plays like 26 to 28 minutes instead of like 25 like 22 or whatnot I would give the Mavericks a really good chance because I I want I think asking KY to carry the offensive load as the point guard the whole game only serves to wear him out
By the fourth quarter particularly you know we keep talking about I keep talking about his games played where it’s like 181 19 in a row now which is the most in six years and I don’t want like I was really delighted to see him play well tonight because I’d been
Mentioning how I think he needed the nap more or less and and for him to break through tonight was a really nice sign because he broke through while not shooting the ball very well well so what happens if he comes out tomorrow night and hits like I don’t know three early
Threes in the first half like what does that do to the Oklahoma City defense I I that has a Cascade effect for the rest of the offense that benefits everyone so I’m I’m really looking forward to that hey shout out to D he said go cyber I’m F I’m G definitely focus on
That either network security or uh probably something a guys do what I did I married I married a smart lawyer who makes money and so she lets me podcast for a living no it’s not for a living but what was I to say oh one thing have
You seen have you seen fan 123 the troll in the chat of course okay cool I will make a wager if you get fan one 123 up here to show his face I’ll donate $100 150 you set the price I will [ __ ] donate it if you can get fan 123 to come
Up here look I as a as a per as a as an attempt at at a community Builder there are there are people and you see this you’re Kyrie Irving fan right there are there are people who push the Overton window a little too [ __ ]
Wide who are just a little too insane I would love if anybody joined up here but I I will simply say that I I I I enjoy the fans who are absolutely insane about sports that’s that’s what I mean because he’s not even a fan he’s just on here
Purposely trolling saying the most outrageous [ __ ] for clicks and Views I’m just saying I got it 100 to 250 you let me know I will donate anything in between if you bring fan one two3 up here he’s got a request to come up I would absolutely do it um but uh man you
What what else do you got for us anything else before we head out for the evening we’re going to win tomorrow versus OKC whether TI plays or not versus Denver I’m GNA be honest with you that’s going to be a close one Denver is to be honest the only threat if
Denver until uh in best case scenario if we don’t run into zen Denver until the Western Conference Finals I feel pretty good about it they’re just really good I knowx probably isn’t going to get the minutes um but I would like to see him
Get it oh and I was listening to some of the Warriors chatting oh he had Steph and Draymond again too small no one outside of Steph can create their own shot and we’re just bigger than they are in the paint so L seems to regular season basketball where Kerr can’t kind
Of schemed to death which he’s very good at but regular season the Mavericks tend to beat the crap out of the Warriors like he’s Luc is just particularly very mean to them and it was it was nice to see I messaged one of my friends uh who
I I know both the podcasts for the the Warriors light years podcast I’m just like is your defense designed to give up dunks like I’ve not seen this many Mavs dunks in a game in my life it was amazing just so small they’re tiny my guy like I’m Ser like is
We’re pro okay we’re going to get the six seed not because I think the Mavericks are going to go on a huge winning spree but because have you seen Phoenix’s last 10 games for the they’re brutal yeah so there’s no way there’s no way they they’ll probably go even maybe
But Phoenix’s last 10 games are absolutely brutal to end the season so just off the strength of that alone I think we’re most likely going to get the six seed I don’t think we’re going to get the fifth seed but six seed you can pretty much book it and uh we’ll go from
There but yeah I’m higher on this team shout out to shout out to d uh fan 123 get your dumb ass up here and uh you know we’ll catch you on the next one all right man talk soon have a good one see y Henry’s a good dude my favorite Kyrie
Irving Super Fan um there are some youths in existence my favorite is just like I’m like when you put your age in your profile I’m just like that means the last time you saw Kyrie play certain basketball games like you didn’t have a driver’s license like I it just it’s
It’s and respect I’m old you know so it’s it’s an Internet it’s basketball you should be able to say what you want but I’m just like the things I remember when I was 13 are a little different it’s just you see the world differently when you’re older Krishna what’s going
On my guy KK how are you um kind of I’m finishing up my second adult beverage so I’m feeling a little Sauced at this point but you know functional I could I could you know I could continue to talk basketball that’s good that’s good well
Uh um yeah I don’t know I think it’s interesting obviously I think some of the talk has like kind of subsided after you know a pretty bad spell of games I’m not gonna sit here like it wasn’t yeah I mean it was but I also think like
Scheduling in the NBA in sports in general is just weird like you can tell it just it it feels very random at points and clearly like it was a point of the schedule where the team just wasn’t playing good basketball but it was also because you’re playing team
That were better than you in some most cases and also just really bad matchups um overall like I think some of the stuff with Lively is just that he’s done so well up to this point it’s easy to forget the guy is still a 20-year-old rookie who in comparison to most like
Guys like Miles Turner and KP he doesn’t have the playing experience or the experience of playing against guys who are going to shoot the five ball or three ball as much like he doesn’t have that stretch big experience and so it makes sense and Gafford you know while
Maybe I think he’ll have the confidence to do it he’s not that kind of Center and I don’t think he’ll ever be that kind of Center so yeah I don’t I’m not going to sit here and like justify those losses they’re still bad losses but you play against teams that clearly were way
Out were G to way out scheme you because of their style of play but it’s good that you got win against Miami I was kind of concerned just because Miami I feel like the Mavs have been okay against Miami in recent years but Miami is the kind of team where they just are
So frustrating because you know that they’re almost never going to you’re just never going to know if their offense will show up but they have a baseline level of Defense that’s frustrating so it was encouraging that they won that game and then obviously Detroit is Detroit like I I don’t
There’s not much to say about them I find it very funny that Detroit and Washington are now in this competition to see who is going to be the better of the two worst teams in the league especially like Detroit fans have latched on to like kosma like kman like
Tweeted earlier in the season like you wouldn’t be want to be the team to lose to them and now Washington I think has less wins than Detroit is that is that is coming to bite you in the bum Chicago I still have no idea how we beat Chicago
So badly and then like they had a game against Indiana matchups I guess but tonight even tonight like you know the team has just I think sneakily the team has not been shooting the three ball well like not just from the trade deadline not even just like I know Josh
Was talking about earlier the team wasn’t shooting well at 29% right in these past four games but just in general I think the team has given up some of its three-point shooting ability but I think that compromise has come from the defensive end now has that
Worked no I mean clearly we’ve seen like in that horrible stretch like we were just a horrible defense but you know one of the things that was I don’t want to say underrated but key in that 22 run was just most of the guys who were your defensive you know players
Played that entire season together and so they were far better in terms of communication and knowing each other and I think that’s something that’s just going to take time does this mean I still think you know coaching isn’t an issue no I still think it’s to me it’s
The primary issue of this team is always going to be coaching but when your biggest issues are on the court I think that helps you know uh the Mavericks have never been a team really that have had serious off- thecore issues but it’s not like you know this
Team is like collapsing everywhere and I think it it’s frustrating to think like this but this is really like you’re building a new roster essentially like you’ve been stuck with so many players for so long you’re building a new roster and you know while I do want to go and
Just get into contend you know contending champion ship mode getting those right pieces takes some time and so you know I get like some fans frustration like you want to see omx you want to see this PL do that and I don’t think all of it is wrong like I do think
Sometimes the the rotations have been weird but it’s been better these past four games so personally I don’t have that much to complain about and I think some of the stuff with omx like I think it’s been positive I I you know you’ve talked about and I feel like it’s been
One of the positives I can attribute is kids you know and the coaching staff’s dealing with young players I think has been really good in terms of progressing them and getting them to fit into getting them to fit into a system and fit in the team and and feel like
They have a role I think has kind of been underrated like it it’s not something we necessarily always had a problem with one because we just didn’t draft well ever but now that you know you have guys who are somewhat talented it’s easy to just throw them in the water and I I
Don’t think it’s necessarily that kid doesn’t ever trust anyone but I do think there’s a little bit more caution with these guys and I think yeah it’s frustrating I want to see omx in the NBA but I think him just getting more accustomed to playing in the flow of an
Offense which he’s gotten better at like I’ve been watching some of his g-league stuff yeah he’s shooting when he’s shooting a lot better but he’s just making better reads and the thing that was clearly the issue was he’s play he plays at like one pace he was playing at
Like 100 miles per hour every single time and he’s slowed down a lot more now do I know if that translates I don’t know it’ll only be time that tells but I think that there’s clear Improvement there and then I was talking about this with someone like a few days ago the
Fact that the team is actually using the g-league in in a way to develop guys like okay like I get if you’re not always going to get like a I I don’t know it’s very rare you get anyone from the g-league but there’s actual investment in the G League like getting
I know AJ Lawson’s probably not like a world beater or anything but you actually signed someone from the G League who wasn’t a 30 plus year old sure he gives me confidence they could play him four minutes and not die yeah and it’s like it’s not like the end of
His development right and he’s a different player from even last season and he improves and got guys like Brandon Williams who’s on the two-way you have um you have Greg Brown who’s been actually like really great for for the legend like he’s he’s like the leading he’s like one of the top block
Block uh block he’s accumulated most blocks in the league like averages it like they’ve secretly done a much better job of making the Legends roster just more competent and in turn I think it kind of shows like just a change in philosophy overall for this team is just
Far more balance and far less like you know it’s what you talked about for so long there’s there’s less one trait guys there’s less guys that are so reliant on every single night to to do something and in in a weird way you know as much
As I like thg and I thj and I know you do too tsj is kind of The Last Remnant of that of someone who is kind of important to this team but is still a very one trait guy now I think in this past stretch he’s been fine so I’m not
Really one to complain about it but it’s clear guys like Dwight and gu guys like Maxi their roles are being lessened because you don’t need their one trait to be there all all the time you have guys who are far more fluid and can do a few more things but you know it’s
Interesting I I don’t know where this goes obviously the West is the West is a gauntlet man like I I I never want to hear people who support teams in the East complain because the West is so stupid I mean yep you said it how does a
48 win team not make the playoffs that’s how bad the yeah like there’s been one year in 25 years that the like the the East is just a lesser conference because it’s run by Dumber people uh and more tense media markets I think that experience more scrutiny so you pair
That with bad luck in certain instances and you just run into like stupidity over and over and over again really is it feels like it should be getting wor like I I don’t I can’t even remember it just feels like oh okay you know now the
West is gonna ease up and now it just gets worse like one team falls off and the next team gets better like that’s just that’s just what happens in the west um but yeah I’m I’m confident I mean obviously tomorrow we’ll see OKC yep it’s a better matchup for us
Obviously every talked about it we play bigger how crazy is it how crazy is it that we can say the Mavericks are a bigger team than some teams in the league I know well it’s it’s different kinds of size like I would say the the Mavericks have kind of better Center
Depth now just because the Sun or the the the um Thunder don’t really have Center depth but the forward depth that the that that the uh Thunder have is pretty dang big I I I would agree yeah but I also think like the MAV Center depth is like pretty rare in general
Like like I can’t think of a team that I would sit out there and say they have two centers that they’re comfortable putting out for 48 minutes a game maybe Cleveland probably yep I I can’t really think of a team and you could say maybe Toronto but I would even I would take
Gafford and Lively over poal and um yeah oen so I think it’s beneficial and I think a lot a lot of the three cons I think personally I think omx will be ready next season I I I think that’s right I don’t think he’ll be like the
I don’t think he’s gonna come out of the gates like super strong in terms of like oh he’s gonna score like double digits right I think far more competent and I think that helps especially you know hopefully de you know drick Jones comes back next season but you know I think
It’s in some ways it’s kind of good insurance right I think there’s just been smarter roster building overall and so you know obviously we’ll have to see how the season goes but I’m just I’m just happy you know the team is not necessarily yeah I mean that’s what you
Want right I think everyone just wants to watch their team and feel happy and so it’s been good I don’t really have much to complain I’m glad you know everyone’s enjoying it and hopefully the good times keep rolling all right man we’ll talk soon okay take care okay one
Last thought on omx then I’m going to go to uh my guy Mike’s going to be our final guest and then I will go to bed in an hour and a half and I’m done editing all this um I had a friend um who who covers Portland who who I think the ma
Like the the Legends must have played the the Portland team and his thoughts on omx was that omx was a guy playing an NBA player playing in the g- league which is interesting so all right coming up now is Mike he’s gonna close us out Mike what’s going on man what’s up
What’s up can you hear me I can you sound great thanks for joining okay awesome I didn’t really get to watch much of the game today I’m still having them on my second screen so sure what what were you doing on the first screen that’s much more important to me uh I
Mean today it was it was second screen as in I was watching my baby first screen was my my kid but um most of the time me and my wife try to get the the um either the wire or just a different movie we we split up Dune the
First one into a bunch of different parts uh second one was amazing but anyway good it was amazing yeah the first one was just all set up second one was just sure I mean well I’m like a I’m a preposterously large science fiction nerd and I’ve read
All of the Dune books we’re talking 20 plus of them and they get so [ __ ] weird whenever everyone’s like I’m ready for the next one I’m like no you ain’t yeah chill chill what’ you think tonight from your second screen experience and what you were picking up after the game all that
I can see is Derek ly being an absolute Beast just doing anything out there and all I can think about is how good is this guy gonna be how good is he gonna be next year is what I’m more worried about because I mean we’re probably gonna have a disappoint this season I
Don’t want to think about that all I can think about is Derek Lively in the gym all summer coming back it it makes me it makes me feel like we didn’t overpay for Gafford we saw Derek Lively outpacing his role we you need someone to fill that role and then Derek
Can come and be an ultra and like a wmy stoer I don’t know I don’t know what this guy can do we have options he can like just flip things it looks like he has English sometimes when he it’s not like he’s just dunking it’s just like sometimes he
Can gather and just finish like under the rim and then just just like flick things I love watching how like balanced he is I remember like just watching of Dirk interviews talking about how how he would work on his balance every off season how he could never get the B
Enough balance to do the the Kareem hook shot but um man may maybe he should get in the the gym with Dirk maybe we should get some some some Lively at the nails and maybe if they’re not blitzing Luca then we can just dump it off to Lively
And see what happens break it up that way sure and we’ve not even seen the man shoot a three-pointer and the three-point shooting was one of the things that pushed him up most people’s draft boards supposedly yeah I’ve heard heard tell the myth exactly so I mean I
I just want to know how good he can be and then I want I want the Spurs to trade for Trey young because then we would have Trey young Shay and Luca all coming out of the same draft and then you’d have Lively wimy and uh what’s the
OKC guy I mean you’re not even talking about Zion jar like the the Southwest Division is a murderer row of super duper stars and like the Rockets players they’re gon to get somebody good they have both Brooklyn picks like they’re going to be incred I hate it I hate the
Southwest I I want I want the Mavericks to go to the Eastern Conference yeah yeah but I think I think we I think we’ll be good I like my two guys against those against them so I don’t know I I’m just oh L enthused by live Le I want a I
Want a mixture of Tyson Chandler and Dirk nitzki that’s that’s what I see I love it man thanks so much for hanging out appreciate you staying up late see you all right talk soon okay guys we’re gonna be back tomorrow night um it’s almost midnight now so I can still say
Tomorrow night we’ll be back after the Thunder game thanks so much for hanging out everybody be good and go Mavs
Josh and Kirk connect for the first regular Dallas game time in what feels like forever when the #DallasMavericks face off against the #GoldenStateWarriors. #LukaDoncic won’t have to see #StephCurry, who’s out with an injury, so this game is a must win with Oklahoma City and Denver looming later in the week. #BlueWireVideo
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5 Comments
The guest Do Dang has exactly the same voice as Rick Carlisle…
It's hilarious 😀
Gg
the kiddiot is finally learning that you cannot win playing Maxie, Dwight or Timmy they are really, really, really bad. Josh been proud of ya, you been being a little blunter even if we disagree on a point sometimes, I like the change.
would still rather have C. Wood than Maxie, Dwight or Timmy nothing has changed lol he is still better than all 3.
Which would help Luka’s MVP case more – Mavs win against Shai with Luka out or Mavs win with Luka but he has the same stat line he had against GS?