Wednesday Morning Roundup

by Wes Cox on Dec 23, 2009 10:04 AM CST in News

Home sick: Dallas Mavericks off target in loss to Blazers at AAC | DMN
"Nine times out of 10, I'm going to make that shot," he said. "I'm not second-guessing myself. If we get a timeout, do we score? We don't know. Maybe next time we'll call a timeout. But me, I'm sprinting down there and trying to attack the basket. It was an aggressive play. It didn't go our way tonight. And you feel bad. But it's one game. Let's go on to the next one." Coach Rick Carlisle took responsibility for not calling a timeout. That strategy has worked a couple of times this season for them. But he couldn't have planned on Kidd getting tangled up on the shot by Roy

Dallas Basketball - Mavs' Kidd Asks, 'What Happened?!' Portland Beats Dazed-And-Confused Dallas
"What happened?!" asked a dazed-and-confused Jason Kidd in the final seconds of Tuesday's home meeting with the Blazers. "What happened?!" Mavs trainer Casey Smith, tending to the Dallas quarterback after a frightening fall, provided a cursory answer, probably not getting to all the details about how defender Kidd has been flattened with 14 seconds remaining and Dallas down two, about how teammate Jason Terry had collected the ball and rushed upcourt, hurrying a difficult shot when they was no sense in hurrying ... in fact, when there was no sense in Jet shooting at all, as the Mavs inexplicably passed on stopping the clock to set up a final possession, leaving Kidd on the floor behind them, to instead try to score 4-on-5. "Why," Kidd then asked Smith, "didn't we call a timeout?"

Dallas Basketball - Mavs Wednesday Morning Donuts: What's The Debate?
"Kidd is down, so it probably would have been wiser to call timeout," Nowitzki said after Tuesday's 85-81 loss to Portland. "But hey, we've been good on the fly before -- getting a stop and then being aggressive in transition. So, we can't really fault Jet on that. He made an aggressive play, got to the basket and then just didn't get the roll. Afterwards you're always smarter, and it probably would have been better to pull the ball out, get a timeout and set the play up and try to tie the game up."

As another solid night of defense goes unrewarded, Nowitzki vents frustration | DMN, Texas | Dallas Morning News
The frustration is building in Nowitzki. He sees his team holding opponents to 85 points and not winning. He's not happy about it. "It just feels like, at home, I've got to make every shot down the stretch to win," he said. "That's how it feels. ... So we got to figure out something."

Elbow doesn't bother Dirk | ESPN Dallas
Dirk didn't have any problem shooting the ball, knocking down 10 of 13 shots during a 27-point performance. He tried to avoid contact with his elbow, using his hands instead of forearm while playing post defense. "It worked out pretty good," he said. "It wasn’t actually too sore."

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this could be tragic

the team’s rolling along well, then Dirk goes down, Terry starts getting cold, and we lose the Houston game. The Cleveland game was HUGE. Simply amazing, and unexpected. But then in Dirk’s return, he’s nearly perfect, and Terry, who is still cold as ice shooting, drives and misses the tying layup 4-on-5. Now you’ve got Dirk and Kidd questioning Terry (and Carlisle). And Dirk’s frustrated at his lack of offensive support.

This could be a breaking point for this team if they don’t come together and regroup. They’ve got a few days off, then a tough back-to-back with a young, athletic Grizzlies team and the Nuggets – our newest nemesis.

"Hang-Dai, Wu...Hang-Fu$&ing-Dai"

by Walter Sobchak on Dec 23, 2009 1:41 PM CST reply actions

Yeah, it feels like Dirk is being forced to do too much.

Last night, there were just way too many jumpshots and missed lay-ups. You can’t blame Kidd for spotting up, he can’t do much else. Terry needs to find his shot soon, any way possible. I don’t know about Josh, but he’s not very good when he isn’t mixing things up by going to the rim (he got all his points on fast-break layups, and then missed a bunch of jumpers). Marion was horrendous in general, he had plenty of inside opportunities and bricked or airballed each time. Usually Gooden and Damp get their share of tip-ins and putbacks but for some reason, they didn’t fall last night (and Damp was like, 2-of-10 at the line). JJ’s been pretty good, but I still pick at his shot selection and I don’t want the ball in his hands when the clock’s running down, he’s too short to consistently create his own shot. Tim Thomas has been pretty decent, but I’m holding my breath waiting for him to start chucking up threes again.

I just wonder if this offense will fully “click”. When they’re on, it would be tough for even the Nellie Mavs to keep up with them. But they still shoot a few too many jumpers (not good unless you’re Dirk) to be consistent.

Remember to retire Fin's number, Mark.

by jonthefon on Dec 23, 2009 4:26 PM CST up reply actions