The aftermath
- Eight straight makes to open the game, 55 percent shooting for the game, approximately half a billion alley oop dunks. While we should acknowledge that Utah doesn't have a fearsome defense, the Mavericks simply looked dominant from the first second of the game. This offense is straight fire.
- Dirk Nowitzki looks fantastic early on. Sure, he's started the 16-of-24 from the field, but even more impressive to me is his cross court passing. Constantly the focal point of opposing defenses, Nowitzki is seeing the floor so well and, without hesitation, is throwing a two-handed lazer beams from the wing to the weak-side corner. He won't pile up a whole lot of assists this way (three this season) because those passes take too long to develop and a defender can usually close out, but his hockey assist opportunities will be through the roof. A good example of this comes from San Antonio, where he could have had one if Parsons' final shot goes in.
- The reason there's so many players open on the weak side? "You have to pick your poison with us," says Chandler Parsons. Read the rest of what Parsons and the Mavs said after the game.
- I've been too low on Al-Farouq Aminu. He's not a good shooter and he probably won't ever be, but man, that dude is just too good at every other part of his game to not play. He has a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, something I expect we'll see several more times before we even hit Christmas.
Socially acceptable
Dirk's probably a top five human ever. pic.twitter.com/LOrMzwafwY
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) October 31, 2014
Step aside, LeBron. JJ Barea is coming home. (via @actuallybrandon) pic.twitter.com/jVUkkU8hCe http://t.co/tNbyLZZoMc
— Mavs Moneyball (@mavsmoneyball) October 31, 2014
Tonight, millions of people have been waiting for a basketball player to come home. Welcome back, J.J. Barea.
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) October 31, 2014
Let's check out some first half highlights between the Mavs and Jazz http://t.co/JVglBzpsXm
— Josh Bowe (@Boweman55) October 31, 2014
Same. RT @jga41agher: This Mavs offense is incredible. I'm light-headed.
— Mavs Moneyball (@mavsmoneyball) October 31, 2014
Barea got a big ovation when introduced. Tyson got a bigger one. Dirk brought the house down.
— The Kobe Beef (@TheKobeBeef) October 31, 2014
If you like .gif
Just playing 'catch'
Jay jay's back, y'all
This pump fake is gorgeous.
... and then he did it again. GOT 'EM, COACH.
Pump faking is contagious.
Some light reading
- This is a really good perspective on the game from the Utah perspective. "The Jazz ran into a buzz saw," writes excellent Jazz radio man David Locke.
- First a Gallagher photoshop, now a live action video featuring bad rapping. Run DMC lives on.
- Kate Crawford writes our game recap.
- I recapped what happened throughout the NBA last night.
Haiku and goodbye
LeBron James came home?
JJ Barea did too.
And he won his game.