Monday Morning Roundup

by Wes Cox on Jan 12, 2009 9:38 AM CST in News Comment 6 comments

What a horrible run Dallas is on right now. It's not a good time at all to have Denver, New Orleans, and Utah coming up. A five game losing streak, which has to be a real possibility would be pretty awful -- particularly since Dallas fell to 9th in the West after the loss last night.

Pretty obvious when you look at the box score what went wrong last night.

"Our undoing was the 3-point line," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We didn't shoot it well (3-of-20) and they shot 50 percent (8-of-16). It's a disappointing loss. We played well to get a lead, but we just couldn't hold it."

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Sefko says the game showed how important Josh Howard is.

For those who question the value of Howard, the Mavericks' 102-95 loss to the Kings provided a hard argument to fight. Without a strong third scoring option, the Mavericks' twosome of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry were swarmed and the rest of the Mavericks had trouble taking up the slack.

It certainly would have helped, but Howard's presence really shouldn't have been necessary.

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Sefko says Diop's DNP raised eyebrows, but was mot likely a legitimate "DNP - Coach's Decision". It was Diop's 4th DNP of the year, but two of those came against the Knicks where Dampier hardly played either. Somewhat ironically the other was against Charlotte.

Sefko adds that talks with Charlotte were "on life-support Sunday night, if not completely dead."

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Dallas used ten players in the first quarter last night.

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Mike Fisher gouged out his eyeballs watching the Mavs game, but fought through it enough to wonder why Gerald Green can't get more minutes.

Given a legit shot in the first half, he totaled nine points and four rebounds in nine minutes. In the second half, given situational shots and just four total minutes, he didn't replicate those numbers.

In total, what did he do wrong? How are Green's lapses any more damning than, say, George's lapses? Or Wright's lapses?

I bolded that second part because it's what I haven't been able to figure out all season. Green is far from perfect, but this is also a far from a perfect team.

Gerald Green on possibly getting more minutes with Howard out.

"Even though somebody's hurt, I hate to see that because my boy got hurt, but I've always stayed ready like I'm going to play every game. That's the way I've got to be. I've honestly got to keep my mind focused at all times."

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Those next three games are gonna suck

Denver has beaten us twice already, Utah once, and this is our first meeting with NO. I added this to the Sunday shopping fanpost comments, but it might be worth nothing that the deal has stalled due to D.J. Augustin’s injury.

If our front office had made some smart moves during the offseason (and maybe even before that), we wouldn’t be in this desperate/pathetic situation.

by Marie on Jan 12, 2009 10:15 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

i think the important part are green's words..

The first doghouse-yanking came from bad oncourt-decisions and poor defensive recognition. Now, after several weeks begins to see playing time again… here 2 seconds…there a minute…some garbage time here….more garbage time there (though noone told the mavs the sactogame would be garbage)… but lets see how long he stays on the floor and how he reacts once he struggles again – and he will, no doubt – and more importantly, how Carlisle handles it.

Green said the right things. If he said them just to say the right things, well, hmmpf. But if he said them because he believes so and has been humbled enough already, yehaa!
Because, well… he really is raw. Really raw. More than most rookies.
We will soon learn about…..and if he is not traded AND doesn’t play in the next weeks… then it’s time for some interviews

by DOH on Jan 12, 2009 12:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

yeah i can't imagine what the coaching staff is thinking by not playing green more.

the fact is that our defense isn’t anything but average, and when we lose to the kings because they’re teeing off on dirk on terry it does nothing but support the fact that we need more scorers. kidd shouldn’t be forced to shoot more than a few times a game when he’s a pass-first pg.

it’s so maddening as an apathetic fan to see the mavs hang on to a guy like george, and give him burn that green should get, because he has a ring and the rest of the team doesn’t.

also, what’s with all the three point shooting? if this team is going to jump shoot its way to a lottery pick THEN PLAY GREEN, the guy who actually gives fans a reason to care about this boring season.

Really all America want is cold beer, warm p***y, and some place to take a s**t with a door on it. - Mr. Ford

by buckets on Jan 12, 2009 12:28 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I wholeheartedly agree

With Josh out, Dirk is the only reliable scorer in the starting lineup. You have to figure that Kidd, Damp, and whoever is the other person (George, Wright, Singleton, etc.) won’t always contribute to the offensive output. I think all of us fans are frustrated by the disturbing amount of shots the Mavs hoist on a nightly basis; it isn’t such a problem when the ball goes in, but when we go through those cold spells on offense, it’s pretty disgusting to watch.

Vintage Josh used to attack and drive and penetrate; because he’s fallen in love with his jumpshot (unless there is a more valid reason), he no longer does this. Green is about the only player we have who is athletic enough to do this every game and can either score or get fouled in the process. Let’s face it, even when Dirk tries to be aggressive, he kind of lumbers towards the basket now and can hardly finish half the time, not to mention that he gets hit and the foul won’t get called. So, hello, put Green in and after a couple of easy baskets he will be the focus of the defense, freeing up Dirk to shoot the outside shots he is more comfortable with. Also, Green can hit the occasional 3 from time to time, though after the craptastic 3-pt. percentage in the last couple of games (3-20 last night, 9-20 on Friday, and 10-27 on Thursday), he might want to lay off that and stick to what he does best.

I just think what Green can contribute on the floor is a lot more than George’s “championship experience” ever will. It’s gotten us nowhere! (Apologies for the long comment…didn’t mean to write a novel)

by Marie on Jan 12, 2009 12:53 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

no problem, i've read longer.

yeah, i just don’t know why they keep staying enamored with george while a more viable scoring option is available. george isn’t a lock-down defender; so why not give the time to someone who gives fans a reason to watch this also-ran team?

Really all America want is cold beer, warm p***y, and some place to take a s**t with a door on it. - Mr. Ford

by buckets on Jan 12, 2009 7:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs