random observations

[aexchange]

big 3 observations

1. noticed the past couple of games that nash has not forced as many shots. he stills throws up a few poor shots every game ala van exel, but they arent nearly as many as before. its no coincidence his assist numbers have gone thru the roof.

2. over the course of the season we've seen dirk mature more into a guy who demands the ball down the stretch. as it should be. dirk should be launching at least 20-25 shots a game. finley around 15-18. nash 10-15. although nash shoots the ball better than finley, he creates so many better opportunities for other players, he should focus on creating easy shots for others.

3. finley has started to drive to the basket more. i always cringe when finley just starts launching jumper after jumper during a game. i cringe even more when he has a big game b/c i know for the next few games he won't even make a feeble attempt at going to the hole instead pulling up for a ridiculous jumper. as a side note, has there ever been a more overrated defender than finley? i havent something burned so frequently as some of my ex gf's cooking. i love fin dawg's heart, but he needs to stick with a nice mix of jumpers and going to the hole.



bench observations.

4. bell is a pest. not as good as buckner, but the best man on man defender we have. nellie, play him more. boy, do i miss buckner.

5. najera, come back.

6. wizard, come back from wherever you've gone. he's turned into such a spare. if i see him hold up his 3 fingers again, i'm almost going to go to the AAC myself and smack him across the face. i'll trade the wiz for hubert davis any day.

7. nve, good job. you still force too many shots, but all you can really do is score. NVE can't really play D, and his forte isnt passing, so i dont really have a problem with his shooting.

more to come.

[Nash13]

good observations. You forgot about the dormant Adrian Griffin. He needs to stop trying so hard or he will lose his spot to the struggling A-Rig

[Rhylan]

Wizard kinda came around last night -- I think that maybe those coupla injuries he had right in a row.. elbow and knee? wrist and knee? ..may have bothered him a lot longer than expected.

[TripleDipping]

Good post, however I don't think Finley should take that many shots per game. 10-15 is about right IMO.
Rigaudeau still tends to jack up impossible shots instead of getting into position and take the open shot. I think that's when he would be effective... get open and shoot.
Nellie still likes to explore the point/forward with Griffin and Rigaudeau... and I still can't see the effectiveness of that strategy.
Griffin and Bell are doing good job defending. Hands down the hardest working hustle players other than Najera.
Nellie should explore the posibilities of letting Raja to guard quick PGs like Marbury and Bibby and Jackson.
Just my .02. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[nowitzki_prophecy]

yea,good post,but it didnt told us anything we didnt know.

why are you making G.Buckner such a good pest,i think raja is not lessened from Greg in that department.

its true,i think what really made the difference from the western road trip,to the games after,is nash choosing the pass more than the shot.
forget the good FG percantile,its all about the assists,you need someone to activate Mike and Dirk,not another player that would take shots away from them.

dirk should defenitly take 20-25 shots a game,defenitly.
i think he could put averages as good as 27 points a game,without lessening the amount of shots Mike,Steve and Nick are taking in a way that we would pay any notice to it.
BUT,i think he should drive down the lane more,he prefers the shot though its clear he goes for the lay-up,he is unstopable,its a shame he only goes for it when his shot is off,cause no one can stop him like that.

[dude1394]

<< big 3 observations >>



Good observations but I have a few I take exception with.

Buckner - He didn't have enough outside game to make anyone respect him, very one-dimensional, I don't miss him at all.

Williams - The NICE thing about williams is that he's really pretty tough and a decent rebounder, I don't expect davis would give you that. Also I noticed that DIRK was doing the 3-finger thing last night when williams hit one, so you're going to have to bash dirk as well. ;^)

Finley - I want him to drive even though probably 10-20% of the time the ball will be stripped or fumbled away. It just changes his game so much that it's worth the turnovers. Also liked him getting posted near the bottom part of the key. Interesting. He can hit 8-10 footers all day long with lots of traffic around, ala kobe.

[Dooby]

Not just Finley, but all the mavs need to drive to the basket more. The cruel irony is that the Mavs are no. 1 in free throw percentage and 23rd in free throw attempts.

[Mav_Man1]

great observation Dubie

I had no idea they were 23rd on the number of trips to the line

[kg_veteran]

<< Not just Finley, but all the mavs need to drive to the basket more. The cruel irony is that the Mavs are no. 1 in free throw percentage and 23rd in free throw attempts. >>



And it's not as if the Mavericks are a bunch of Steve Kerrs out there. All of their top offensive players are capable of taking the ball to the basket and beating their man. So why not do it?

[FilthyFinMavs]

<<

<< Not just Finley, but all the mavs need to drive to the basket more. The cruel irony is that the Mavs are no. 1 in free throw percentage and 23rd in free throw attempts. >>



And it's not as if the Mavericks are a bunch of Steve Kerrs out there. All of their top offensive players are capable of taking the ball to the basket and beating their man. So why not do it? >>




I think it is because none of them get respect from the refs. I can understand in a way why they wouldn't if they are going to get hacked without a call. Still though I ask the same question why not drive to the bucket? Nick may be our best option in doing so but he rarely chooses not to drive. He could drive all game if he wanted too.

[Dooby]

You can't blame that number on the refs. And the refs get too much credit and blame any way.

We all know the Mavs play a certain way. For us to to contend the refs are to blame is silly. It isn't like we are getting hacked underneath the basket.

In truth, I don't blame players for being who they are. Some players are shooters and some are finishers. So be it as far as I am concerned. I don't ask players to be anything more than what they are. Fin, Dirk and Nash got to where they are by playing the way they do.

I do fault them for showing an ability to drive and not exploit their free-throw ability. If they would drive the lane and draw the foul just a little more, a couple of those losses would have been won.

[LRB]

Dooby: I don't totally agree with you on the refs. I don't think it is fair to give all or even most of the blame to the refs. But I also think it is unfair to say that the refs aren't a factor at all. A blind man can see that Dir, Fin, and Nash don't get the calls from the refs that most of the other stars do when taking the ball to the hole. That shouldn't be an excuse for not continuing to do so, but it is hard when you drive, get hacked, lose the ball, and don't get the call. If this happens 3 or 4 times in a row with a player its easy to see how they view it as a drive = turnover. So they shoot instead. The refs will never give them respect if they don't keep driving though. They need to keep driving, knowing that they will get hacked and probably won't get the first several calls of the game at least. Eventually the refs will give them some calls. We also need to do a better job of forcing our opponents to foul us more blatantly. Those fouls are harder to ignore, but I've seen the refs ignore some really blatant fouls. So you never know. But what ever the refs do, we need to keep taking it to the hole.

[Lvubun1]

Agree wih everything beside NVE. He is a much better passer then shooter, compare 40%(39% this ear) shooting to 3rd in assist in 99, 2nd in '00 and 3rd before he was traded last year. Problem is his role isn't to pass, if anybody saw the 76ers game the showed Nellie talking to Nick and he said play your game and be agressive. If god-forbid Nash every went out wih a injury I think Nick would put up sick assist numbers.

I was never a big fan of Walt, he is too 1-D to get that many minutes. All he can do is shoot 3s on a team has 6 other players(counting Rig) who can shoot 3s, he doesn't need to play more then 10 minutes per game.