GDT: Mavs@Jazz Playoff game 4 3:30pm CST

[Dallas41]

I know this is going to sound critical of Luka but if you go back and watch the prior two games you'll notice the mavs offense had terrific ball movement.

In a sense they were looking more uptempo and aggressive which made it hard for Utah to play defense because they were always scrambling to either help on the penatrator or get back out to the open shooter.

With Luka the mavs are very predictable on offense and Utah's bigs can stay on the floor much better.

Luka is a great talent no doubt but I'm not sure the isolation sets or PNR sets with Powell is best for this series.

Mavs might very well win this series because they are the better team but I feel it will be more of grind type of game with luka as opposed to the style of play with Brunson as the lead dog.

If this makes sense in football terms with luka it's more of run the ball control the pace type of game.

Without luka is more of attack downfield quickly and exploit the jazz lack of coverage.

You can win with either style no doubt but you just look much better imo as a team with that game 2 and 3 style of play.

I guess that's why I love watching the Warriors they have a terrific system that utilizes very few iso sets.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by Dallas41

I know this is going to sound critical of Luka but if you go back and watch the prior two games you'll notice the mavs offense had terrific ball movement.

In a sense they were looking more uptempo and aggressive which made it hard for Utah to play defense because they were always scrambling to either help on the penatrator or get back out to the open shooter.

With Luka the mavs are very predictable on offense and Utah's bigs can stay on the floor much better.

Luka is a great talent no doubt but I'm not sure the isolation sets or PNR sets with Powell is best for this series.

Mavs might very well win this series because they are the better team but I feel it will be more of grind type of game with luka as opposed to the style of play with Brunson as the lead dog.

If this makes sense in football terms with luka it's more of run the ball control the pace type of game.

Without luka is more of attack downfield quickly and exploit the jazz lack of coverage.

You can win with either style no doubt but you just look much better imo as a team with that game 2 and 3 style of play.

I guess that's why I love watching the Warriors they have a terrific system that utilizes very few iso sets.

I mentioned it before the game that I hope we still have good ball movement.

I agree on the Luka effect. I think they have to consider letting JB run point more and get Luka on the fn block. It's not rocket surgery and he can still distribute the ball as well as score from that position. Maybe screen at the top with Luka and JB, on the switch Luka has a smaller guy now and establishes position on the mid post. That action alone would change a lot. Utah hasn't prepared for that I'd bet. It's a weapon that keeps a quicker guy more willing to move the ball up top that doesn't just take Luka out of the offense. Maxi drags Gobert to a corner so he can't easily recover to Luka on a dump in pass or he leaves Maxi if JB blows by the perimeter defender. We have to add a new wrinkle in on offensive strategy IMO.

[JTmoney2424]

Originally Posted by SMC0007

I mentioned it before the game that I hope we still have good ball movement.

I agree on the Luka effect. I think they have to consider letting JB run point more and get Luka on the fn block. It's not rocket surgery and he can still distribute the ball as well as score from that position. Maybe screen at the top with Luka and JB, on the switch Luka has a smaller guy now and establishes position on the mid post. That action alone would change a lot. Utah hasn't prepared for that I'd bet. It's a weapon that keeps a quicker guy more willing to move the ball up top that doesn't just take Luka out of the offense. Maxi drags Gobert to a corner so he can't easily recover to Luka on a dump in pass or he leaves Maxi if JB blows by the perimeter defender. We have to add a new wrinkle in on offensive strategy IMO.

If you get a chance to rewatch the game, I’d love your input on how many of the 6 fouls on Kleber were legit. I feel a few in the first half were really soft calls that didn’t need to be called but were called anyway to set a tone for the rest of the game.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by JTmoney2424

If you get a chance to rewatch the game, I’d love your input on how many of the 6 fouls on Kleber were legit. I feel a few in the first half were really soft calls that didn’t need to be called but were called anyway to set a tone for the rest of the game.

I spotted two.

One was a hand check on Mitchell, which is insane because Bogs was doing that to Luka 6-8 times per possession with no call.

Another was a rebound where he was in position for but apparently that doesn’t matter with Gobert. Gobert shoved him out and Kleber got the foul.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by JTmoney2424

If you get a chance to rewatch the game, I’d love your input on how many of the 6 fouls on Kleber were legit. I feel a few in the first half were really soft calls that didn’t need to be called but were called anyway to set a tone for the rest of the game.

Yea I agree for sure. I mentioned this in on of my replies last night. 2 of those maybe 3 of those were fn bs IMO. You can have essentially half the fouls you call on a player who fouled out be really suspect...in a playoff game.

That said, Maxi was in a fn trance in the 4th. He was staring at nothing for a long time when he went off the floor after his 5th foul. When things aren't coming easy for him, he gets sluggish and slow to react and generally seems super stoned. I watched him sit down and stare into the void mumbling something to himself in som weird trance and I kept thinking, this dudes not right. He needs to break his negative concentration, get up, get some Gatorade, splash some water on his face and engage in the Huddles and talk to team/staff....anything to shake the negativity. It's the fn playoffs. Focus on how he is engaged defensively when he's hitting his shots. He's active and very mobile, anticipating plays and switches. When he's off, he is slow to react, over thinks every single movement on both ends and looks almost lost.

I absolutely love what he did in game 2 and most of game 3, but I'm ready for someone else more dependable. How a 7 footer that can defend smaller guys so well on the perimeter can't mix up his offense even a little bit more. Like dude is 5 feet off the 3pt line instead of a foot behind it, Gobert desperately closes out and leaves his feet and he let's it fly anyway. Instead, pump fake and floor it as Gobert is flying by. I've seen rec players who can't dribble for shit execute that play. It's not like he can't do it, it's that he's frazzled and short circuiting mentally. He needs a bounce back game so we can spread Utah back out.

But if we are relying on Maxi to save us, we are chocolate fvcked!

[Melonhead]

Originally Posted by Dallas41

I know this is going to sound critical of Luka but if you go back and watch the prior two games you'll notice the mavs offense had terrific ball movement.

In a sense they were looking more uptempo and aggressive which made it hard for Utah to play defense because they were always scrambling to either help on the penatrator or get back out to the open shooter.

With Luka the mavs are very predictable on offense and Utah's bigs can stay on the floor much better.

Luka is a great talent no doubt but I'm not sure the isolation sets or PNR sets with Powell is best for this series.

Mavs might very well win this series because they are the better team but I feel it will be more of grind type of game with luka as opposed to the style of play with Brunson as the lead dog.

If this makes sense in football terms with luka it's more of run the ball control the pace type of game.

Without luka is more of attack downfield quickly and exploit the jazz lack of coverage.

You can win with either style no doubt but you just look much better imo as a team with that game 2 and 3 style of play.

I guess that's why I love watching the Warriors they have a terrific system that utilizes very few iso sets.

That was going to be my worry too. It’s also hard to build a lead that way in the playoffs as well. Also don’t want Jalen deferring when Luka is in.