PGT: Mavs buck the trend, get first road win of the season - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Skywalker · 11-09-2013, 11:00 PM

Yay

sike · 11-09-2013, 11:03 PM

Go Mavs.

Kante · 11-09-2013, 11:08 PM

Wohoo!

markus1234 · 11-09-2013, 11:09 PM

grndmstr_c · 11-09-2013, 11:17 PM

Closer than I'd hoped, and closer than it looked like it'd need to be. But at the same time, there's been a lot of talk about the team needing to shoot 50% to win, and that was most definitely not the case tonight, as they scrapped this one out despite the unforced offensive miscues and poor shooting in the second half.

Don't know that anybody really stood out for the game as a whole, but I liked what Jae (who's earning his minutes by playing the best all around basketball of his career right now), Blair and Daly gave the team in the 4th.

LonghornDub · 11-09-2013, 11:53 PM

OJ Mayo was absolutely atrocious in crunch-time. As thiggy said on Twitter, glad he's not our problem anymore.

Melonhead · 11-10-2013, 12:26 AM

Mayo 5 TO in 4th according to BG

yahyes · 11-10-2013, 12:58 AM

Bucks are actually a tough 6 seed at best. Even though Larry Sanders has been terrible from the start, they have improved from last season. This was a decent win on the road against an eastern team.

Kante · 11-10-2013, 04:27 AM

What i liked was, that Ellis and Dalembert had a conversation after TO Mayo hit a three in the first quarter. Some miscommunication or so, they just sorted it out right away, good sign.

Other than that, have to agree that Crowder and Dalembert were pretty good. Blair was solid, needs to rebound more on defense and box out.

dirt_dobber · 11-10-2013, 07:18 AM

Notebook: Mavericks 91, Bucks 83
http://www.nba.com/games/20131109/DA...s=iref:nbahpts
Rick Braun, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:50 AM - Updated Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:50 AM

THE FACT: O.J. Mayo won the scoring battle but Monta Ellis won the war as the former Bucks guard led Dallas over the Bucks and the former Mavericks guard.

THE LEAD: Ellis posted 18 points, five assists and three steals to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 91-83 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Ellis continually broke down Milwaukee's defense in the first quarter as the Mavericks (4-3) built a 34-19 after one and led by as many as 19 in the third quarter.

Mayo led all scorers with 28 points and helped rally the Bucks (2-3) within two points in the fourth quarter, but they never got back to even. Caron Butler added 19 and 13 rebounds for the Bucks, while Dirk Nowitzki had 16 points for the Mavericks.

QUOTABLE: "We were losing momentum really fast and those guys were starting to feel confident. I just read a play and jumped in the passing lane, and then we got one right after that with DeJuan Blair. That spark really gave us the momentum to put the game away."

-- Dallas forward Jae Crowder on his steal that ignited a 6-0 run and turned a 70-67 lead into a 76-67 margin two minutes into the fourth quarter.

THE STAT: The Bucks committed 20 turnovers that led to 20 Dallas points. Worse, half of those turnovers came from veterans Mayo (six) and Gary Neal (four), while rookie point guard Nate Wolters committed just one in 35 minutes and 45 seconds of playing time.

TURNING POINT: The Bucks rallied to cut what had been a 19-point deficit down to two, and they were still within one possession at 70-67, early in the fourth quarter with possession. But Crowder read a lazy pass from Brandon Knight, and his steal led a fast-break basket by Gal Mekel. Seconds later, Blair stole a bad pass from Mayo and went the other way for a dunk. The Bucks did get within two points twice but never had the momentum to get over the top.

QUOTABLE II: "Monta is an attacker. He's going to get in the lane, he's going to cause problems. We need to get him the ball in the right situations and let him play his game. He made a couple really smart plays down the stretch -- he got to the free throw line, he hit a big shot and made one really good pass to Dirk, who was able to hit a big shot."
-- Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on Ellis

HOT: Mayo went 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and is 10-for-14 from behind the arc in the last two games.

NOT: Bucks forward John Henson entered the game as the league leader in field goal percentage (67.7 percent) but finished just 3-for-8.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Mayo scored 28 points for the second straight game.

GOOD MOVE: Carlisle kept Nowitzki down to just over 32 minutes, and the rest helped the 35-year-old forward stay strong and score four important points in the final 1:40.

ROOKIE WATCH: Guard Gal Mekel chipped in four points in 13 minutes for the Mavs. Wolters made his third straight start for the Bucks and had five points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals in just under 36 minutes.

NOTABLE: Starters Larry Sanders (thumb) and Ersan Ilyasova (ankle) each missed his second straight game for Milwaukee, and backup veteran point guard Luke Ridnour missed his fifth straight game with back spasms. ... Center Brandan Wright (shoulder) and guard Devin Harris (foot) remained out for Dallas. ... Point guard Brandon Knight saw his first action for the Bucks since aggravating a hamstring injury two minutes into the season opener. ... Forward Shawn Marion had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. ... The Mavs scored their first road victory after three losses. ... Zaza Pachulia had his streak of 23 made free throws snapped in the second quarter.

UP NEXT: For the Mavericks, Tuesday vs. Washington, Friday @ Miami, Saturday @ Orlando

Aggie E · 11-10-2013, 07:44 AM

Dirk shooting 435 FG% this year. Not good

sike · 11-10-2013, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggie E

Dirk shooting 43.5 FG% this year. Not good

We can safely assume that he'll come out of this rough patch soon. I was just happy to see him take more than 12 shots.

Bayliss · 11-10-2013, 08:39 AM

Looking at the upcoming schedule... should be 6-4 come Sunday.

grndmstr_c · 11-10-2013, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggie E

Dirk shooting 435 FG% this year. Not good

58.4% true shooting, though. His efficiency is just fine.

I really thought last night was one of the more encouraging games of the season for him. Even without factoring in it being the fourth game in five nights, he just seemed to be moving more crisply than I'd seen in previous games.

j0Shi · 11-10-2013, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Mayo 5 TO in 4th according to BG

Roddy should be getting his minutes...

Vinsanity · 11-10-2013, 12:50 PM

4-3 now... We could easily be better. But we are tied with Hoston, Golden State, and the Clippers, so it's not that bad. We should easily win 3 out of our next 4. We play Washington, Miami, Orlando, and Philidelphia... I'll bet you can guess which one of those we won't win... But yeah, it's not that bad. This team just needs to get healthy and build chemistry and I think we'll be good.

G-Man · 11-10-2013, 01:00 PM

The key lesson in this game was displayed by Ellis. When he drives and kicks, good things happen. In Minnesota, he went 9 for 24 with 3 assists and we lost. Against Milwaukee, he went 6 for 14 with 5 assists and we won. Against the Wolves, you could see him thinking, "I'm the one who has to score," and that is the mentality Carlisle needs to break him from. When he drives and kicks, teams get scared of the guys who may end up open after that 2nd pass, and we are dangerous. If he chucks a jump shot, defenses are happy. I think Monta is smart enough to understand this, but its a long standing bad habit he has to break.

Lesson 2: beware of ex-Mavs. Mayo lights it up for 28 and Caron Butler scores 19. The night before, Corey Brewer went 7-14. Its like they see Cuban sitting there and want to punish him for the fact that they will spend the winter freezing their gonads off in the frozen north.

On my, how good are we scale, the worst teams are only good enough to beat bad teams at home, while the best are good enough to beat good teams on the road. We are somewhere in the middle...good enough to beat average teams on the road and decent teams at home. That's not a bad place to start the season.

I'm not happy with the turnovers, but I am encouraged that quite a few of them are nifty passes to guys who mishandled them. As players get used to having guards who can pass, we should be able to clean this up and convert some of those TO's into assists. Last year, nobody was looking for a pass, because our guards were simply incompetent.

GhostOfAdamMorrison · 11-10-2013, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggie E

Dirk shooting 435 FG% this year. Not good

FG% is irrelevant, you nimrod. His TS% is great (better than Ellis'). And funny that you choose to point out his FG% after his worse shooting game of the year. Your agenda is clear.

markus1234 · 11-10-2013, 02:32 PM

TS% is irrelevant. The more free throws the higher it is. And Dirk was shooting many FT lately.

Just one example. Devin Harris had a higher TS% than Dirk in his prime. Simply becasue refs gave him many FT-A

FG% tells you more about a player's form. And right now Carter, Dirk and Marion play like 35-36yolds. They really do.

EricaLubarsky · 11-10-2013, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markus1234

TS% is irrelevant. The more free throws the higher it is. And Dirk was shooting many FT lately.

Just one example. Devin Harris had a higher TS% than Dirk in his prime. Simply becasue refs gave him many FT-A

FG% tells you more about a player's form. And right now Carter, Dirk and Marion play like 35-36yolds. They really do.

grndmstr_c · 11-10-2013, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markus1234

TS% is irrelevant.

Fail

Kante · 11-10-2013, 02:56 PM

Blair shooting .385 and Crowder .400 from the FT line, btw...

markus1234 · 11-10-2013, 03:04 PM

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?...irk%20Nowitzki

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Devin%20Harris

TS%

True Shooting Percentage; the formula is PTS / (2 * TSA). True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.

TSA True Shooting Attempts; the formula is FGA + 0.44 * FTA.

...to make it short. You can pad your TS% with many FT-A.

grndmstr_c · 11-10-2013, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markus1234

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?...irk%20Nowitzki

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Devin%20Harris

TS%

True Shooting Percentage; the formula is PTS / (2 * TSA). True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.

TSA True Shooting Attempts; the formula is FGA + 0.44 * FTA.

...to make it short. You can pad your TS% with many FT-A.

No fair, Dirk's padding his efficiency by being efficient.

Underdog · 11-10-2013, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

No fair, Dirk's padding his efficiency by being efficient.

What a stat whore...

GhostOfAdamMorrison · 11-10-2013, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markus1234

TS% is irrelevant. The more free throws the higher it is. And Dirk was shooting many FT lately.

Just one example. Devin Harris had a higher TS% than Dirk in his prime. Simply becasue refs gave him many FT-A

FG% tells you more about a player's form. And right now Carter, Dirk and Marion play like 35-36yolds. They really do.

I think you've been humiliated enough for one day. So Dirk should be punished for doing a good job of getting to the line (doing so at a good clip for a "washed up old man") and converting at a high clip when he gets there?

You want to have your cake and eat it too. You blast Dirk for his low FG% (which is low because of some uncharacteristic misses inside the arc early on) yet ignore how well he's shooting from deep (40%...much higher before last night's 0-5) and 95% from the line. You can't have it both ways. His long ball and FT drawing and shooting are a big part of his game and why he's so efficient even when "slumping."

oilfieldtrash · 11-10-2013, 06:45 PM

Shooting is there. It's the lack of a drive to the basket that's worrisome.
I'll add that Dirk is just getting old. It's just a natural part of life. It isn't that he has no heart or whatever. Dude just got old. Having said that even old Dirk is better than 97% of players.

GhostOfAdamMorrison · 11-10-2013, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

Shooting is there. It's the lack of a drive to the basket that's worrisome.

He's 35. He's not going to be driving too much. He's actually been driving too much, if anything. I'd prefer him to take the midrange jumper rather than trying to drive at this point (mixing in drives when they start overplaying him).

oilfieldtrash · 11-10-2013, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostOfAdamMorrison

He's 35. He's not going to be driving too much. He's actually been driving too much, if anything. I'd prefer him to take the midrange jumper rather than trying to drive at this point (mixing in drives when they start overplaying him).

I edited before you responded. We semi agree.

sike · 11-10-2013, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

Shooting is there. It's the lack of a drive to the basket that's worrisome.
I'll add that Dirk is just getting old. It's just a natural part of life. It isn't that he has no heart or whatever. Dude just got old. Having said that even old Dirk is better than 97% of players.

I'm more than a little concerned/perturbed w his rebounding numbers. Not acceptable...even for a 35yr old. If you're going to play PF on the Mavs, you need to grab a few boards.

dude1394 · 11-10-2013, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sike

I'm more than a little concerned/perturbed w his rebounding numbers. Not acceptable...even for a 35yr old. If you're going to play PF on the Mavs, you need to grab a few boards.

Agreed...5 RPG from your 7'1" power forward just doesn't really get it done. Especially on a team that has rebounding issues.

Melonhead · 11-10-2013, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vinsanity

4-3 now... We could easily be better. But we are tied with Hoston, Golden State, and the Clippers, so it's not that bad. We should easily win 3 out of our next 4. We play Washington, Miami, Orlando, and Philidelphia... I'll bet you can guess which one of those we won't win... But yeah, it's not that bad. This team just needs to get healthy and build chemistry and I think we'll be good.

Washington and Philadelphia are decent teams this year. They arent walks in the park

grndmstr_c · 11-10-2013, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

Agreed...5 RPG from your 7'1" power forward just doesn't really get it done. Especially on a team that has rebounding issues.

They could definitely use another 2-3 boards a game from Dirk. That said, it's not at all clear at this point that they do have rebounding issues. They're below average on the defensive glass, but above average on the offensive end, and their overall rebounding rate is currently sitting at 50.2%.

dude1394 · 11-11-2013, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

They could definitely use another 2-3 boards a game from Dirk. That said, it's not at all clear at this point that they do have rebounding issues. They're below average on the defensive glass, but above average on the offensive end, and their overall rebounding rate is currently sitting at 50.2%.

That's good to hear, I was taking impressions from the Houston game I suppose. I guess blair is helping on the offensive end ?. It will be an interesting decision when Wright comes back.

Dirk's Knee · 11-11-2013, 10:31 AM

Actually, even if you throw this game out Dirk is having a weird start to the year. Shooting ~50% from the paint and beyond the arch, but his midrange shooting is ~39%. Historically, those 3 point and midrange percentages are inverted. And its not that he's taking less midrange shots, his attempts are inline with his averages.

I think he'll get his shot together. But as much as I hate to say it. From a scoring perspective, its really looking like this team is Monta's to loose. With 23 PPG on .479 shooting and a 19.4 PER, he's looking pretty dang good. If he can keep this up and cut down turnovers, the dude might put up career best numbers. And I think Dirk is fine with that. In fact, once Wright is back I wouldn't be shocked to see Dirk's minutes get relaxed a touch. If Dirk at 35 can sustain ~28 MPG and 19 PPG on > .45 shooting, really we should be very, very happy.

Dirk's Knee · 11-11-2013, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

They could definitely use another 2-3 boards a game from Dirk. That said, it's not at all clear at this point that they do have rebounding issues. They're below average on the defensive glass, but above average on the offensive end, and their overall rebounding rate is currently sitting at 50.2%.

That's thanks mostly to Dejuan Blair who's been great for us thus far. The combination of Blair and Dalembert is pulling down 14.3 RPG. However, Dalembert's numbers lean towards defensive rebounds while Blair is pretty consistent on both ends of the floor.

grndmstr_c · 11-11-2013, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

That's good to hear, I was taking impressions from the Houston game I suppose. I guess blair is helping on the offensive end ?. It will be an interesting decision when Wright comes back.

He won't help address the relative weakness on the defensive boards, that's for sure; though he's better than he's typically given credit for on the offensive glass. Between that, his weakside shotblocking, and his ability to score efficiently on the pick and roll, I don't doubt he'll get his minutes.

DevinHarriswillstart · 11-11-2013, 11:56 AM

I just hope that Blair doesn't unfairly get his minutes snagged from him when Wright gets back. Blair provides much needed rebounding for this team.

Underdog · 11-11-2013, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sike

I'm more than a little concerned/perturbed w his rebounding numbers. Not acceptable...even for a 35yr old. If you're going to play PF on the Mavs, you need to grab a few boards.

You better get used to it for the regular season - rebounding is the most wear and tear that Dirk can put on his body... Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the #1 cause of injury in his career (including all the minor ankle rolls and tweaks).

I expect Dirk to play conservatively around the hoop as long as this team is still playoff-bound... He has a "just get in" mentality about seeding anyway - it's how you perform in the Second Season that matters. Just get through the 82-game slog healthy, no points for style.

Dirk's Knee · 11-11-2013, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

I just hope that Blair doesn't unfairly get his minutes snagged from him when Wright gets back. Blair provides much needed rebounding for this team.

I doubt that. More than likely, we'll see both on the floor together and Marion playing less at PF and more than likely Carter seeing his minutes cut in favor of Crowder given his relatively weak production thus far. Also, though it's been limited, I'd prefer not to see any rotations with Dirk as the only big on the floor...