Quote:
Originally Posted by tap2390
If the NBA is completely live by the three, die by the three then we should never have traded away Seth Curry.
Statistics be damned, I disagree with the notion that you need to hit threes to win. You need to take good shots. Luka and JRich were a combined 1 of 15 from three. Luka gets a pass because he felt the need to take difficult shots when his teammates were struggling to get going. The others need to attack the basket instead of settling for garbage shots that result in long rebounds and often a fast break opportunity for the other team.
You don’t have to settle for what the defense is giving you. When is the last time Richardson took it strong to the basket and tried to finish at the rim instead of fading off his pivot? Why does KP camp on the perimeter instead of hunting for mismatches/ switches in the paint? Why doesn’t KP start free throw line extended more often the way Dirk used to?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. It could be that Carlisle is pigeonholing our guys based on how he reads the floor. Moving forward we need an elite roll guy to pair with Luka. I thought KP would thrive in a pick and pop/ pick and roll game with Luka but for whatever reason that has failed.
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The 3 ball is very important. That cannot be denied, but a team has to shoot it well enough, consistently enough, with a large enough number of 3's made for it to be a game changer. If not, you get what the Mavericks have had for years - a streaky team that can have 2 great shooting games in a series and blow out a top team in one or maybe 2 games in a series but in the end will go home losers. A team has to be able to win FOUR games. This is way too often overlooked as obvious as it should be to everyone.
I remember the Mavs blowing the Lakers out on their court in LA one playoff game when Dirk and Nash were together. Jackson pulled his guys late in the game in concession and let the Mavs roll on to the finish. He correctly surmised that though the Mavs were going to win that one game big, they weren't going to shoot like that for an entire series, and the Mavericks, predictably, lost the series. It used to be widely recognized that jump shooting teams would lose in the playoffs. That has only recently changed due to the success of Golden State, but it took one of the greatest shooters of all time to make it work, and Curry didn't have a bunch of average NBA guys around him either.
While the 3 ball is very important, taking the right type of 3's and making them is even more important imo. Chucking 3's in volume does not suddenly turn losers into winners, and the Mavs are not good enough to overcome poor shot selection while jacking up 3's. I think this is a big problem for Mavs, and let's be honest, the Mavs' BBIQ is pretty low imo.
The Mavs need to be looking at other ways to mitigate their streaky 3-pt shooting. Hustle, solid defense, bigs in a zone to improve rebounding, KP in the post as a facilitator, smarter shot selection, et. al. are different ways of making up for the lack of 3's dropping. These adjustments are all in-game coaching changes. RC needs to be able to read the game and make adjustments. It may not be pretty, and it may not be the same thing consistently that gets it done, but he's got to do a better job of going off script other than going smaller if the Mavs want to figure out how to get to the 4 wins it takes to win a playoff series. Yes, it's not easy, and the Mavs basketball IQ isn't going to help. Still, RC is the COACH. He should be looking for advantages wherever he can find them instead of worrying so much about always matching up with what the other team puts on the floor.
Quit playing other teams in their comfort zone. Throw some stuff out there that throws your opponent off at times. What's the worst thing that can happen? The Mavs lose? News flash: They are going to lose anyway if they keep doing the same ineffective things over and over.