Mavs Blowout Spurs - Quick Observations

by Wes Cox on Nov 4, 2008 10:51 PM CST in News

And that's why you don't write off the season after game three.
Fourth game and third starter at the 2. Jason Terry starts and the results were great. Unfortunately for Terry, Carlisle will never grow with this starting lineup on a regular basis because of the defensive implications.
Jason Terry needs to play like that coming off the bench. 29 points, 6 assists, and only 3 rebounds despite being very aggressive going after his missed shots tonight. He was great.
Speaking of going after your misses, Jason Kidd is really really good at that. If he were a better shooter he probably wouldn't have as many triple-doubles (rimshot!)
Dampier and Diop played the entire game except the meaningless final two minutes, so it's pretty clear Carlisle prefers to have a true center on the court at all times. It's a definite change from Avery Johnson, which especially stood out tonight, as Avery often went small against the Spurs.
Early in the third quarter I was ready to curse the TV when Duncan was switched onto Jason Terry and twice bit on a Terry pump fake on the same possession. On both occasions, all Terry had to do was jump and he'd get two free throws, but on the second time he instead blew by Duncan, made a layup, and got to the line for a three point play. Sorry for doubting you JET.
The Tas Melas curse. I was ecstatic when Tas picked the Spurs to win during the "Book It" segment of The Basketball Jones this morning. He was 0-4 coming into tonight. He is now 0-5.
Game changing moment: Early fourth quarter, San Antonio has just reduced the lead to 9 points, the crowd is finally into it, and I'm about ready to jump off my balcony (overstatement) -- Dirk stops the bleeding with a jump shot then scores 11 points in the next 5 minutes, and the game was all but over. Dirk finished with 30.
No other way to say it, San Antonio is pretty bad. How can they lose to the Mavs at home when they are 0-2 (haven't been 0-3 since 1973!) and Dallas is on the second night of a back-to back? Ouch. For most of the game they looked much worse than Dallas did last night.
I've been saying for about three years that I thought Bruce Bowen was done. Might I finally be right? He played just 12 minutes and didn't see the court in the second half.
Everyone on the broadcast was talking about the rebounding, effort, and energy compared to last night, but you know what really helped? Shooting 53%.
Dallas only attempted five free throws.
Take a look at the Mavs +/-. Anyone stand out?

Box Score - AP Recap - Photos - GameFlow

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This win is exciting and all that

But I’m not cool with going through the season with this group. We are good but we’re not that good, sorry for sounding negative. I think “trimming the fat” is the perfect way to describe what I want to say. Stack has definitely got to go for starters..

I didn’t like that the Mavs only shot 5 FTs. Jumpshots are not gonna fall every time. Just last night against Cleveland, they sure as heck didn’t. I hope that as the games go by, as Coach Carlisle tries to find "the right formula,’ the Mavs slowly transition away from the jumpshooting and lead-blowing identity of theirs.

Again, a good win.

by ptrck on Nov 4, 2008 11:41 PM CST reply actions

JET did it a few times when I thought he wouldn't

and Dirk took it to the hole when he was struggling. I agree, not a fan of relying on jump shots only, and I’m pretty pissed at Kidd for missing more layups (maybe it was only 1?) when he positions himself so well against a smaller guard to get to the rim. The dude’s gotta find a way to finish more of his close shots, or draw fouls.

"Calmer than you are... "

by Walter Sobchak on Nov 5, 2008 2:10 AM CST up reply actions

Lead-blowing identity

I was impressed with the way Dallas kept the lead last night. I’ve watched so many games in the past few years where the Mavs built a sizeable lead only to have it dwindle in the 4th. That nearly happened last night as the lead was cut to nine, but they pushed through the counter attack and maintained the spread. I’ve now been cautiously encouraged that collapses might happen less often this year.

by horns129 on Nov 5, 2008 8:29 AM CST up reply actions

wes

these post game thoughts are awesome… if you ever cant do it… id love to fill in for you… i always have plenty of thoughts… i think its a major plus for mavs moneyball… and id use punctuation if you really wanted me to haha… keep it up dude and go mavs

by zkmavz on Nov 5, 2008 12:22 AM CST reply actions

I'm sure that will happen at some point.

www.mavsmoneyball.com

by Wes Cox on Nov 5, 2008 1:20 AM CST up reply actions

+/-

Stackhouse…are you talking about Stackhouse? It’s Stackhouse, right???

Any chance Gerald Green gets a start at the 2 at some point in this experiment, or is he still too raw?

"Calmer than you are... "

by Walter Sobchak on Nov 5, 2008 2:11 AM CST reply actions

Diop is also not exactly pulling anything close to his weight/paycheck, but I still have hope for him to contribute significantly on defense. For Stack I fear he is over the hump even if he claims he is in the best form of the past years. He might contribute in some games, but he is just not consistent anymore.

by Norsktroll on Nov 5, 2008 2:28 AM CST up reply actions

I would like to see Green some minutes

but from what I seen he hasn’t looked all that fluid out there. He looks a little lost in some of the defensive rotation, and he should be the first guy out on breaks to benefit on the other end at the rim.

by b3tts32 on Nov 5, 2008 2:31 PM CST up reply actions