PGT | 3-22-10 | Mavs @ Hornets |1st quarter --> superb

[GermanDunk]

[xrobx]

i'm just trying to enjoy dirk's last handful of games in a mavs uniform

[twistaeffect2004]

A lot of bad things are happening right now. I thought with the two bigs coming back our defense would improve... it hasn't. It's becoming painfully obvious that teams are able to put up big time points against the Mavericks without much resistance and they do it very quickly.

Maybe they will step it up vs. better competition, I don't know. What I do know is we're playing shitty basketball at a pivotal time of the season.

[kg_veteran]

Flat-out embarrassing.

[CadBane]

F those "refs"
F N.O. and their team of classless thugs and bums
F RC
F those idiot announcers that make Sean Elliot and his sodomy buddy look competent

[RareMilk]

So has anyone been able to pinpoint the core problem? I blame all those southwest "bags fly free" commercials...

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by CadBane

F those idiot announcers that make Sean Elliot and his sodomy buddy look competent

I was switching back and forth, and I'm pretty sure Land & Elliot were worse tonight. But it was close.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by RareMilk

So has anyone been able to pinpoint the core problem? I blame all those southwest "bags fly free" commercials...

around here, it usually comes down to "The coach has lost the team."

[kg_veteran]

Somewhere, sitting in the dark alone, John Hollinger is masturbating to highlights of this pathetic showing.

[AngieO41]

Ain't nobody have any mojo anymore!!

*sigh*

Where oh where have my Mavs gone?

[kg_veteran]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

around here, it usually comes down to "The coach has lost the team."

I think the team has a lot of quit in it, from the looks of things.

At the end, when most of the team left the court in loser fashion while Beaubois waited to shoot FTs, Marion was talking to Carroll, and I read his lips: "Lethargic."

Exactly.

[bcrav4]

If we mess around again tomorrow we are going to lose to the Clips too.

PS- San Antonio is steadily creeping up on us...

[JCmasta]

It amazes me how fast this team can shoot up on to the radar and then drop off the face off the earth just a quickly.

[tcat075]

We let them shoot 52%, 50% from three, and even with our two big rebounding centers rebounds were basically the same.

Oh wait, that was our stats.

And we lost by 20.

52% and 50% and rebounding equal and we lose by 20.

20.

(it was 16, but it might as well have been 20 if a point per minute Roddy hadn't played and done his usual point per minute thing late)

That's total CRAP. I thought the Haywood/Damp combo was supposed to make us a hard fouling don't come into the lane defending team. I thought Stevenson and Butler and Marion were going to prowl around the perimeter and lock people down. I thought Roddy was going to go step for step with those speedy point guards. Before the season, the talk was of defense. Defense, defense, defense. Play good defense. Defend the paint. Defensive specialists were brought in just for that reason.

Now what?

If this was the Lakers we were playing I wouldn't be proud of them shooting 55%, 50% from three, 33 assists on 45 FG's, and only forcing 10 turnovers. I'd say we should have played better defense. I'd say we have to play harder in the playoffs.

This isn't the Lakers though. Not the Cavs, either. Not Orlando. Its the mf'ing Hornets. Who are starting MO PETERSON AND MARCUS THORNTON AND EMEKA OKAFOR. And they lit us up light a house before Christmas. And with their star CP3 playing limited minutes due to his injury.

F us. seriously. F this team and their lack of whatever it is that is causing them to suck. Its not offense. Its not depth. Its not overall skill. Its not youth. Hell no its not youth. We can say that again.

Is it just stupidity? Not boxing out, not putting forth effort, not making that one jump to contest? I don't understand. At all. Maybe it is the coach...hard to tell. I could have used some more Haywood...10 and 9 in 25. Not Najera, who, in his credit, played balls out tonight (achieving him 0 rebounds...balls out can't overcome physical skill, sorry). Clearly, Roddy deserved even more time than he got. He plays balls out. And as much as Jason Terry is criticized for lack of D and his other assorted problems, he busts his ass every play. He's a jump shooter who knows that its smart BBIQ to drive and does so, rather than taking a pullup 20 footer which he easily could.

I wish Roddy would play more. He's a game-changer. I wish Dirk would get the same number of shots that other top 10 players in the league get. He's a superstar. And I wish this team would start playing better. They have the skills to.

I'm not sure these wishes are going to be answered, though. I'm really beginning to doubt it.

[FreshJive]

Fluff juice, Roddy and dust for lebron or Wade or were fd.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by bcrav4

If we mess around again tomorrow we are going to lose to the Clips too.

PS- San Antonio is steadily creeping up on us...

Not sure about that last part. They've been either 3 or 4 games back for a month. Right now, after our loss and their win, they're still 3 back with only 11 or 12 to play.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

I think the team has a lot of quit in it, from the looks of things.

At the end, when most of the team left the court in loser fashion while Beaubois waited to shoot FTs, Marion was talking to Carroll, and I read his lips: "Lethargic."

Exactly.

yep. And I hate to commit to the dark side, but there's only a couple common threads tying the current mavs to the Miami and GS series. I'm getting real close.

[kg_veteran]

All I know is, this seems like the time of year when you'd be playing hard the entire game. The Mavs look like they are coasting out there, as if it were mid-November. A lot of their turnovers were unforced, stupid plays. Kidd looks slow and tired, and Dirk looks sort of spaced-out.

It would also help if Carlisle would establish a decent rotation and stick with it. And by decent rotation, I don't mean Eddie Najera at backup C and Barea at backup PG.

[kg_veteran]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

yep. And I hate to commit to the dark side, but there's only a couple common threads tying the current mavs to the Miami and GS series. I'm getting real close.

The "quit" is coming from somewhere.

[sefant77]

Im not gonna watch any game more with Salvatore reffing us even a finals game.

Im not gonna watch any Mavs - Hornets game anymore until Paul and West arent playing there anymore.

And im not gonna see the next Mavs games anymore until they are back playing like men and not little girls with a hurting vagina.

[kg_veteran]

My idea of a decent rotation (now might be a good time to start using the playoff rotation, what with 12 games to go and all):

Haywood/Dampier 48
Nowitzki 38 - Marion 10
Marion 25 - Butler 13
Butler 20 - Terry 18
Kidd 36 - Terry 12

[GermanDunk]

What a mess. I´m out.

[LonghornDub]

To me, it looks like a lack of effort. They have all the pieces to be one of the 5 or so best teams in the league game in and game out. Performances like this have to be about effort.

[kg_veteran]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

To me, it looks like a lack of effort. They have all the pieces to be one of the 5 or so best teams in the league game in and game out. Performances like this have to be about effort.

Yeah, seems that way to me, which is really disappointing. Do they just figure they can turn it on when the playoffs start?

[Dirkadirkastan]

This roster would have cruised to the title five years ago.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

Yeah, seems that way to me, which is really disappointing. Do they just figure they can turn it on when the playoffs start?

I dunno if that's what they think, but if so, they're wrong. Even the Spurs, masters of coasting through regular seasons, know you have to turn it on after the ASG and keep it on through the playoffs.

[kg_veteran]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

I dunno if that's what they think, but if so, they're wrong. Even the Spurs, masters of coasting through regular seasons, know you have to turn it on after the ASG and keep it on through the playoffs.

Of course they are.

This team needs to get serious, and quickly, or they are going to be unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs. And then there will be hell to pay.

[ghazi]

There is just something off about this team the last 5 games. A malaise if you will.

Down 18 to Nets.
34 point loss to Knicks
Bulls game not so bad but still had a mini 2nd half collapse
Celtics game we played fine, just came up a few plays short (too many TO's though)
THen a 36 point swing this game... triggered by yet again too many turnovers.

[AngieO41]

Maybe all of these injuries just have messed everything up. I think they'll get back on track though. They're too good of a team not to.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Last year's team got it together about 75 games into the regular season. Five playoff wins was close to the maximum you could expect given their talent level.

[dirno2000]

Originally Posted by AngieO41

Maybe all of these injuries just have messed everything up. I think they'll get back on track though. They're too good of a team not to.

Seems to me they played harder when they were hit with injuries.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

Of course they are.

This team needs to get serious, and quickly, or they are going to be unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs. And then there will be hell to pay.

This is my fear. I don't think they would beat any of the West teams in a playoff series, except maybe the Blazers, the way they're playing right now.

[badfish22]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

It would also help if Carlisle would establish a decent rotation and stick with it. And by decent rotation, I don't mean Eddie Najera at backup C and Barea at backup PG.

A thousand times this.

[sefant77]

"We suck right now"

And i have no idea why Najera is still on the court.

Dirk/Marion
Damp/Hay

Thats 2x48min...

[mac222b]

This team has had plenty of time to practice, watch film and get healthy. no excuses. someone needs to light a fire whether it be Dirk, RC or Kidd...

[AngieO41]

Originally Posted by dirno2000

Seems to me they played harder when they were hit with injuries.

Yeah, that's true. I was just meaning now that people are starting to come back, it's messing up the flow a little bit.

[badfish22]

Did Rick Carlisle really single out Roddy in the post game interview/ A couple posters on DB said he did. Apparently Rick said that he played bad.

Which, if true, is just freaking hilarious. Roddy barely played, and there where such bigger problems, yet he still makes it a point to pick on him.

This whole thing is comical at this point.

We all tried to come up with our own little "crunch time lineups", debating fiercely over whether Haywood, Marion, Jet or Butler should play, and Carlisle just throws us a giant middle finger and plays Eddie freakin Najera.

[fluid.forty.one]

We are who we* thought we were.

* - meaning John Hollinger.

[purplefrog]

Seems to me that it's kinda hard to win when your three subs in the 4th Q are a 5'10" PG, a 6'2" SG, and a 6'7" C. Not that any of the subs played exceptionally poor, but it's tough to play defense with such a small team on the court. Why no Damp in the 2nd half??? You'd think he could guard Aaron Gray....C'mon RC stop screwing around.

[NoTnERb]

The most painful thing I saw today was when Dirk placed his hands behind his head and was looking at the floor with utter disdain and disbelief. I feel really sorry for him. I wouldn't be a Mavs fan if it weren't for Dirk. God, I would just want him to win a championship ring, he deserves it more than any one else, not those players who act like thugs! People who act with class, morale, and value while having humility and working hard for it are those who deserve it most. F the refs!