Dirk is our Go To Guy- Then why is this happening - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

mavsfanforever · 05-07-2003, 01:57 PM

See the article below from dallasnews.com. I cannot understand why Raef gets more shots than Dirk when Dirk is the superstar.

Nowitzki takes few shots
Forward scores 18 points despite being limited to 13 attempts

05/07/2003

By JAN HUBBARD / The Dallas Morning News

The Big Three do not have to play large for the Mavericks to be successful. That was proven emphatically in Game 1 of the Portland series when Michael Finley and Steve Nash missed 15 of the 23 shots they attempted and the Mavericks still won because Dirk Nowitzki had 46 points.

Nowitzki also took 27 shots in that game and during the Portland series, he averaged slightly more than 20 a game. It was evident early in Game 1 against Sacramento, however, that the Mavericks were straying away from their primary offensive option.

Consider that in the first quarter, Raef LaFrentz attempted four shots in six minutes and Eduardo Najera attempted three, also in six minutes.

Nowitzki, meanwhile, took his first shot less than a minute into the game but did not take his second until 2:17 was left in the first quarter. By that time, the Mavericks were behind by 11 points and they never really recovered. He had only three attempts while playing all 12 minutes in the first period. That is hardly enough for the primary offensive option.

"I never really got any clean looks," Nowitzki said. "They were doing a good job of rotating. I didn't get open looks, but you have to give them credit for the way they played defense."

Nowitzki ended the night taking only 13 shots, hit seven of them and had 18 points, which is considerably fewer than the 29.9 points that he averaged in the Portland series.

Despite the relative inactivity, Mavericks coach Don Nelson said: "I thought Dirk had the ball enough. We were trying to get everybody involved and have better ball movement. I thought he had enough touches."

Against Portland, Nowitzki had fewer than 20 attempts in only two games, and the Mavericks lost each time. Kings assistant Elston Turner said the Kings always pay close attention to Nowitzki, but they emphasized staying close to him even more in Game 1.

"We never wanted to be more than one pass away from him," Turner said. "We wanted to stay close enough to him so that we could get to him when he did get the ball."

Nowitzki, however, accepted part of the blame for his lack of shot attempts.

"I need to be a little more aggressive in going after the ball," he said. "They guarded me well, and they play really good defense on the strong side. We just have to make sure that we get better ball movement and swing the ball to the weak side. If we're passing like we're supposed to, we'll get open shot because they're not that great of a defensive team, either."

monk · 05-07-2003, 02:22 PM

<< "If we're passing like we're supposed to, we'll get open shot because they're not that great of a defensive team, either." >>

Opp FG%: Sac ranked number 1
Opp 3 pt%: Sac ranked number 1
Steals Per Game: Sac ranked number 2

Keep thinking that, Dirk.

mavsfanforever · 05-07-2003, 02:28 PM

<<

<< "If we're passing like we're supposed to, we'll get open shot because they're not that great of a defensive team, either." >>

Opp FG%: Sac ranked number 1
Opp 3 pt%: Sac ranked number 1
Steals Per Game: Sac ranked number 2

Keep thinking that, Dirk. >>

Dirk just had an off game. sacremento has no answers for Dirk and to be frank nobody can guard him. Its just we did not guard Kings well. Thats why people like Christie hit three pointers when they struggle against any good defensive teams.

Evilmav2 · 05-07-2003, 02:32 PM

Sacramento's defensive stats are skewed because their offense is so potent.

The kings often run up huge leads on their opponents, and thus force those opponents to take quicker, low percentage shots, and lots of 3 pointers in order their attempts to catch up; poor FG attempts that skew the defensive numbers.

If the Mavs can manage to stay in a close, offensive game with the kings (if the kings ever miss a darned jumpshot), your vaunted kings defensive prowess will dematerialize like the hazy mirage that it is...

aexchange · 05-07-2003, 02:33 PM

<<

<< "If we're passing like we're supposed to, we'll get open shot because they're not that great of a defensive team, either." >>

Opp FG%: Sac ranked number 1
Opp 3 pt%: Sac ranked number 1
Steals Per Game: Sac ranked number 2

Keep thinking that, Dirk. >>

against the mavs, the kings really arent that good of a defensive team.

even in a blowout win for the kings you still allowed over 110 pts. during the regular season, the mavs were scoring over 110 pts per game as well. its not the kings defense that is killing the mavs, its the offense of the kings.

LRB · 05-07-2003, 03:08 PM

Getting back to the original subject of this post, it was absolutely horrible that the Mavs didn't go to Dirk more. Many times the Kings put a smaller player on him, either Peja or Christie, and they failed to punish the Kings by going to Dirk down low. There were long stretchs that there was no attempt to even get Dirk a touch. Don't think we can go the whole series doing this.

I don't think not going to Dirk cost us the game though. The Kings were just too good last night. I don't know if any team could have beat them as hot as they were. Other teams could have defended them better, but they probably wouldn't have had the Mavs offensive fire power. The net result would have been similar.

DrtyFlthyNstYnQuik31 · 05-07-2003, 03:13 PM

dirk needs more shots PERIOD...

Murphy3 · 05-07-2003, 03:56 PM

Part of it is that the mavs were trying so desperately to get other people going that they forgot who the clydesdale is

Part of it has to do with the mavs PG's playing too much one-on-one basketball. When Nash and NVE get into the one-on-one flow, it too often results in other players being left out of the equation

plus, despite a perfect 6-6 on possessions in which dirk got the ball down low, the mavs for some reason stopped going to this..
(4-4 shooting, 2-2 at the line, 1 assist)

Drbio · 05-07-2003, 04:15 PM

Fact:

If Dirk doesn't get his points...we likely lose.

Other Fact:

If at least two other guys don't step up...we are guaranteed to lose.

LRB · 05-07-2003, 04:18 PM

It seems real disturbing that for the last couple of games that Dirk has had to go coast to coast with the ball to get a lot of his shots. His teammates just aren't looking for him enough. I don't know whose fault it is for sure, but I've got a pretty good idea. It's just not smart basketball to go away from Dirk for long periods of time without giving him significant touches.

Murphy3 · 05-07-2003, 04:23 PM

i know that dirk and nellie want to say the PC thing..but no, dirk did not get his touches in the first game. the kings don't do a great job against him..

they had no answer for him when he got the ball down low..at least force them to find an answer.

if the mavs pick and roll/pop/fade is not working, the team quickly becomes a one-on-one team. More often than not, the player going one-on-one is the PG and the offense becomes horribly stagant.

Sure, some one-on-one play by the PG is fine, but too much will kill a team on the offensive side. The ball simply must go down low more often..whether it's dirk, fin, or nve..

Sacramento does not have an extremely solid interior defense by any stretch of the imagination. I think that if the Mavs would attempt to exploit it, you'd see that they have some issues down low as well

mavsfanforever · 05-07-2003, 04:36 PM

Pic'n'role did not work yesterday but it is upto the coaching staff to make it work by creating different angles for pic'n'role to get open looks.

LRB · 05-07-2003, 05:05 PM

<< Pic'n'role did not work >>

Because the Mavs stood around with their collective thumbs up their ass. We have to have movement of the other 3 players in the pick and role. Also our spacing was horrendous. And as Murph says, we should have at least tried to get Dirk the ball more in the low post. If the Queens want to put a small player on Dirk then we are helping them if we don't try and force the ball down low to Dirk to exploit this.

MavsFanatik33 · 05-07-2003, 07:57 PM

It can't be just Dirk, but him shooting more will always help this team out. It was the BIG 3 of Nash,Dirk, and Fin in the season. Why is it that in this years playoffs it's the BIG 2 of Dirk and suprisingly, Van Exel?
-NATE THE GREAT

LRB · 05-07-2003, 08:02 PM

<< It can't be just Dirk, but him shooting more will always help this team out. It was the BIG 3 of Nash,Dirk, and Fin in the season. Why is it that in this years playoffs it's the BIG 2 of Dirk and suprisingly, Van Exel?
-NATE THE GREAT >>

Dirk should get some more shots, but even more importantly is to get him more touches. Force the Kings to double him, and then make them pay by passing to the open man. If the don't double, them make them pay by having Dirk hang 40+ on them and foul out half the team.

Mavs Rule · 05-07-2003, 10:24 PM

<< i know that dirk and nellie want to say the PC thing..but no, dirk did not get his touches in the first game. the kings don't do a great job against him..

they had no answer for him when he got the ball down low..at least force them to find an answer.

if the mavs pick and roll/pop/fade is not working, the team quickly becomes a one-on-one team. More often than not, the player going one-on-one is the PG and the offense becomes horribly stagant.

Sure, some one-on-one play by the PG is fine, but too much will kill a team on the offensive side. The ball simply must go down low more often..whether it's dirk, fin, or nve..

Sacramento does not have an extremely solid interior defense by any stretch of the imagination. I think that if the Mavs would attempt to exploit it, you'd see that they have some issues down low as well >>

Murph, while it is admirable for Dirk and Nellie to be politically correct here, when has this ever stopped you from speaking your mind? The bold quote above is not in character! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

I agree with your analysis here. We must post more often, and then pass out if needed instead of shooting threes without ball movement, or instead of isolation drives. Its tough to kick out on the iso's because they stop the ball and close the passing lanes often. Fin is even getting hesitant to pass sometimes, and I don't blame him after all the giveaways last night. We need a little variety so they can't anticipate our every move. I would love to see dirk post and see some cutters coming down the lane. Is that too much to ask?

Murphy3 · 05-08-2003, 06:28 AM

it's not too much to ask at all