I'll be live-blogging the Hawks game right here. Feel free to add your comments below. So I make a fundamental stupid blogger mistake--I start watching the game at 7:30, which is the published tip off time, forgetting it was 7:30 eastern time. Maybe one day I'll catch a Mavs first quarter.
Anyway, Mavs are well behind. Looks like we're playing poor on both sides of the ball.
Q2 9:20 Eddie Jones drives baseline and slams it home. Like those old legs.
Q2 7:18 Dirk hits a 3 and then is fouled driving. A nice indication of his more flexible game this season.
Q2 4:44 Game back down to 10 points after some major effort from Dirk in the paint and defensive rebounding.
Q2 3:35 You may not like Harris' flops, but you can't deny he lays his body on the line when he takes them.
Q2 1:40 Dirk misses an open jumper. Doesn't look like his night from the floor.
Q2 0:02 Not the best way to end the half, with a fumbled dribble and off balance shot, but the Mavs have gotten within easy striking distance after being down by 16 earlier in the quarter.
Q2 thought: Mavs defense got significantly sharper as the quarter wore on. Offense looked ragged, but Dirk's drives seemed to change the feel and momentum of the game.
Q3 10:20 Man, Dirk's form looks awful. He needs Holger.
Q3 8:32 Dirk is moving his game inside effectively, which is good as his jumper is not falling.
Q3 6:58 It's about now that we start thanking Donnie for not trading Jason Terry.
Q3 6:58 By the way, Devin Harris has a bruised thigh and won't play the rest of the game. With Jet taking the game over, this is what we mean by depth.
Q3 6:30 Dirk nails a 3, making me look stupid for questioning his form. Of course, he then comes back and misses one.
Q3 5:18 Jet with behind the back to Dirk for a fast break slam. I think we sometimes fail to appreciate the chemistry between these two.
Q3 3:55 I should note that the Hawks, while staying toe-to-toe with Dallas, are not getting very many easy shots. The Mavs defense has looked rock solid since a few minutes into the second quarter.
Q3 3:12 Barea and Bass in the game. And Barea hits the teardrop.
Q3 2:17 And shortly after Barea hits his teardrop, Bass grabs a rebound in traffic and muscles the ball in.
Q3 1:59 How can a small Barea defend against bigger players? Let them knock you down and draw the foul.
Q3 thought: The Hawks ended the quarter strong on offense, but the Mavs defense wasn't playing poorly. The Mavs defense has actually dragged the Hawks' shooting percentage for the game to 41.9% after they shot the lights out in the first quarter. The Mavs offense began to really light it up when Jet and Dirk started playing in tandem in the paint.
Q4 11:42 Barea with the acrobatic layup. If he can hit those consistently, look out.
Q4 10:58 Dallas perimeter defense is starting to look weaker.
Q4 10:18 Barea is driving right through the Hawk defense.
Q4 8:41 With the exception of Terry, not a single Mav on the floor right now saw any real playing time last year.
Q4 5:48 Not a lot to comment on here other than the Mavs starting to revert back to how they looked in the first quarter.
Q4 3:48 Dirk has driven into the paint much more and has done damage each time.
Q4 2:50 Diop fouls out after another spectacular defensive game. This hurts, as our position with the least depth is center, and we definitely need his anchoring the paint for some stops.
Q4 2:28 Dirk drives and scores. This will only get better as the season goes on.
Q4 1:24 Mavs need a stop, and foul.
Q4 1:18 The lack of center can be seen as the Mavs miss a defensive rebound off of a missed free throw.
Q4 0:41 Mark Followill states on the TV broadcast that the Mavs are a strong rebounding team, but there is some doubt to that fact, as the Mavs were outrebounded by Cleveland and are being destroyed on the glass tonight against Atlanta.
Q4 0:41 Barea plays the final seconds. What a massive change in Avery's approach to regular season games.
Q4 0:14 I'm not going to complain about the end of this game on the defensive end or how Avery coached it. He put an offensive team on the floor, and they converted. He called time out, put a defensive team on the floor, and they played strong defense.
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