PGT - Mavs punch Suns in the Gortats

[Underdog]

Dirk with 35 points on 13-18 shooting (3-3 from downtown, 6-6 from the charity stripe) and 4 assists, but only 1 rebound.

Chandler got another double-double with 12 points and 12 boards, including a vital putback with 20 seconds remaining.

13 wins out of our last 14 games is a helluva way to go into the All-Star break...

[GermanDunk]

[fluid.forty.one]

40 wins before 20 losses.

[LetsGoMavs]

btw:
Gotta go to work now...

[Underdog]

Only 6 games behind the Spurs.

[LonghornDub]

February 17, 2011: Mavs 112, @Suns 106

January 28, 2010: @Suns 112, Mavs 106

Progress.

[FINtastic]

Originally Posted by Underdog

PGT - Mavs punch Suns in the Gortats

Wasn't it more of an elbow?

[xrobx]

good road victory, defense was lacking but i'll take the W! see you in 5 days

[Kante]

How good was Dirk, Mr. Gentry?

[Rick41]

Good stuff. 40 wins at the break is sexy.

[sefant77]

for his 28ft one

[fluid.forty.one]

Dirk was a god offensively. If we had lost, it would NOT have been his fault.

Still.... 1 rebound in 37 minutes from your starting 7 foot power forward is inexcusable. It's amazing we were only -4 on the boards. Thankfully TC, Marion and Kidd stepped up in that department and let Dirk do his thing. That won't always work.

[j0Shi]

OffEff: 116.9
DefEff: 110.7

Not a good defensive performance but also not a particularly bad one against a good offensive team like Phoenix.

[CadBane]

Jet played very well tonight. Team high +16, very good defense, 16/7/3 steals.

Dirk might not have rebounded well, but I think it's pretty astounding how many people are complaining about that. 35 points and 4 assists on 13-18 shooting with a +12 (+9 higher than the next starter). Really? Without him we lose easily. That was an insanely efficient night.

Marion played very well. Nice movement and defense.

Kidd passed very well, needs to hit his open threes though.

Roddy looked really rusty.

Nice to see Haywood play well again.

[Rick41]

Tyson had some HUGE plays/rebounds in the 4th.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by CadBane

Jet played very well tonight. Team high +16, very good defense, 16/7/3 steals.

Dirk might not have rebounded well, but I think it's pretty astounding how many people are complaining about that. 35 points and 4 assists on 13-18 shooting with a +12 (+9 higher than the next starter). Really? Without him we lose easily. That was an insanely efficient night.

People are complaining about it because it's been an issue more or less all season. Nobody would have even noticed at all, given his fantastic performance tonight, if he had been rebounding well all year. People notice because it's a concern going forward.

[fluid.forty.one]

No one said Dirk was bad tonight. It's a completely independent thing.

Dirk looks pretty close to 100% and I've never seen him only pull 1 rebound down. Someone said Dirk was averaging 5 something rebounds per game since the injury so people are watching closer. 1 rebound is almost as ugly as 35 point is sexy.

[Underdog]

I think Dirk likes beating Nash (or maybe just the Suns in general...)

[CadBane]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

People are complaining about it because it's been an issue more or less all season. Nobody would have even noticed at all, given his fantastic performance tonight, if he had been rebounding well all year. People notice because it's a concern going forward.

I disagree about "all year".

Before getting hurt, Dirk's DRR% was a solid bit better than last year. He's really dipped since the knee injury. Look, he's playing 32 mpg, he's 32 years old, he doesn't have a lot of lift. That's why the rebounds are down. If you're expecting 9 a game, it's not going to happen. It's analogous to complaining about Duncan not scoring 20 PPG. He can't do that anymore. But he can get 10 RPG. Dirk is the inverse. He does need to rebound better, but honestly, you can't expect a significant increase due to the aforementioned issues. It is what it is.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Underdog

I think Dirk likes beating Nash (or maybe just the Suns in general...)

I noticed the same thing in the GDT. We complain sometimes about Dirk being passive on offense, but I almost never see that against the Suns.

They are both ultra competitive guys... I can't imagine how much that is amplified when playing each other.

[Bayliss]

Hey Phx?

[sefant77]

I think the biggest challenge now will be to bring the defense back to season start level with Peja and Roddy on the court...not integrating them into the offense, thats easy...

[sefant77]

Im glad we didnt trade for Vince Harder during the last 2-3 years

[Underdog]

Jason Kidd with 42 minutes - obviously Carlisle doesn't trust Roddy or JET to run this offense while Barea is out...

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by CadBane

I disagree about "all year".

Before getting hurt, Dirk's DRR% was a solid bit better than last year. He's really dipped since the knee injury. Look, he's playing 32 mpg, he's 32 years old, he doesn't have a lot of lift. That's why the rebounds are down. If you're expecting 9 a game, it's not going to happen. It's analogous to complaining about Duncan not scoring 20 PPG. He can't do that anymore. But he can get 10 RPG. Dirk is the inverse. He does need to rebound better, but honestly, you can't expect a significant increase due to the aforementioned issues. It is what it is.

People have been mildly complaining since the knee injury where he's been around 5 something per game. You can think thats justified or not, it doesn't really matter.... complaining about 1 rebound in 37 minutes is definitely justifiable and it's cause for concern, IMO, after the already dipping trend.

[Thomas86]

I still hope the defense improves but I'll take a win before All-Star break than a loss.

[LSMF]

Great win, I remember this video used to piss off the Suns fans back in my computer class a few years ago haha : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FBVwtbEGDU

[xrobx]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Jason Kidd with 42 minutes - obviously Carlisle doesn't trust Roddy or JET to run this offense while Barea is out...

i don't blame him.

[LSMF]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Im glad we didnt trade for Vince Harder during the last 2-3 years

Vince Harder??

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by Thomas86

I almost loss my mind when Channing Frye hit that 3-pointer over Chandler because Chandler played him great and Frye still made it, I still hope the defense improves but I'll take a win before All-Star break than a loss.

I really dont know if other teams get this bank shot threes that often...

Deron Williams, TJ Ford (dont remember if it was with the board), Frye, Taj Gibson...

Just throw some wild shit at the end and it will go in.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Jason Kidd with 42 minutes - obviously Carlisle doesn't trust Roddy or JET to run this offense while Barea is out...

Smart time to ride that horse though with the break coming up....

[ghazi]

Dirk's rebounding will be there in the playoffs, IMO.

and

we staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac ked

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by LSMF

Vince Harder??

For every minute the game comes closer to the end the harder he sucks

Vince Harder

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by ghazi

Dirk's rebounding will be there in the playoffs, IMO.

and

we staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac ked

Agreed.

and

agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeed

[GermanDunk]

Originally Posted by LSMF

Great win, I remember this video used to piss off the Suns fans back in my computer class a few years ago haha : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FBVwtbEGDU

Nice. That is the song from the mascot?-bloopers clip

[CadBane]

Originally Posted by fluid.forty.one

People have been mildly complaining since the knee injury where he's been around 5 something per game. You can think thats justified or not, it doesn't really matter.... complaining about 1 rebound in 37 minutes is definitely justifiable and it's cause for concern, IMO, after the already dipping trend.

You didn't even read my post.

[BGMaverick9]

I win, again. 3-0

[Bayliss]

Hey Phx?

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by CadBane

I disagree about "all year".

Before getting hurt, Dirk's DRR% was a solid bit better than last year. He's really dipped since the knee injury. Look, he's playing 32 mpg, he's 32 years old, he doesn't have a lot of lift. That's why the rebounds are down. If you're expecting 9 a game, it's not going to happen. It's analogous to complaining about Duncan not scoring 20 PPG. He can't do that anymore. But he can get 10 RPG. Dirk is the inverse. He does need to rebound better, but honestly, you can't expect a significant increase due to the aforementioned issues. It is what it is.

It was a problem last year, too, down to 7.7 per game from 8.4 the year before, so comparing it to last year does little for me.

I don't expect it to be 10. I don't expect it to be 9. But 6.7 is a bit low for a 7' starting PF at age 32. I'd like to see him around 7.3-7.5 at his age and minutes. I fully appreciate that a decline is to be expected, but he's down almost 2 full rebounds a game in 2 years. That's concerning, even though some can be fairly attributed to age and minute reduction.

And honestly, I'm really not super concerned about the numbers. What bothers me is that, just from watching games, we give up too many stupid rebounds. You and I have discussed this. He's far from the only culprit there (and some of it is a zone defense scheme, not even the fault of any individual player), but he's a contributor to the issue.

Also, the guy has a history of really pushing his rebounding effort way up in the playoffs, so that's what I'm hoping for. But I'd like the occasional assurance, just for my own peace of mind, that he can still do that when it's showtime.

[Dim499]

This forum cant even handle 100 people refreshing the page every now and then? Can an admin maybe do something about this? It's a little annoying.