Mavs Moneyball - MMB Gameday Stream 1/10: Dallas Mavericks at New Orleans PelicansRick Carlisle approved.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50869/mmb-fav.png2014-01-10T21:21:01-06:00http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/rss/stream/50590852014-01-10T21:21:01-06:002014-01-10T21:21:01-06:00Mavericks Ground Pelicans, 107-90
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<figcaption>Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport</figcaption>
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<p>A barrage of three pointers provide a bounce back win for the Mavericks.</p> <p>The Dallas Mavericks traveled to New Orleans Friday night and defeated the Pelicans 107-90. The two teams play again tomorrow night in Dallas in the rare "home-and-home back-to-back". <span>Dirk Nowitzki</span> led the Mavericks with 24 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Second year forward <span>Anthony Davis</span> was a monster for the Pelicans with 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. The Mavericks put away New Orleans on the strength of 14 three pointers, shaking off a huge loss against the <a href="https://www.poundingtherock.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Spurs</a>.</p>
<p>The Mavericks got off to a fast start in the first quarter, jumping on the new-look (see: injured) Pelicans with an 11-4 burst in the first three minutes. <span>Jose Calderon</span> hit the first shot of the game on a designed play, Dirk Nowitzki hit a trailing three that looked to surprise Anthony Davis, and <span>Monta Ellis</span> scored on a great drive to the basket. The Pelicans rallied quickly, with <span>Eric Gordon</span> and Davis pushing back by getting into the lane. <span>Vince Carter</span> and <span>DeJuan Blair</span> helped give Dallas a 22-12 lead on the strength of two plays by Carter: a "look what I found" three pointer and a post up of <span>Tyreke Evans</span>.</p>
<p>Despite a number of silly New Orleans turnovers, Eric Gordon kept the Pelicans in it early, bulling his way to the basket. Maverick second round rookie <span>Ricky Ledo</span> caused the most excitement of the quarter for Mavs fans, entering the game and scoring on a transition lay up and ending the quarter with a great assist to Blair. Dallas led 31-24 after a period on the strength of solid shooting and taking advantage of seven Pelican turnovers.</p>
<p>The second quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with Dallas building up a 10-point lead, letting it slip away, then going ahead 13 at the half. Dirk continued his hot shooting, hitting a post up and a trailer three. Once he left the game for his regular rest, Eric Gordon bulldozed his way to the rim, keeping the Pelicans alive. Gordon had 19 points by the six minute mark of the quarter before he finally cooled off.</p>
<p>After a small Pelican rally, the Mavericks went on a 10-0 spurt to firmly retake the lead. A Carter three off of an Ellis drive and Calderon swing pass, followed by two Monta fast break drives and a Calderon three, capped the run. After New Orleans finally ended the run, Monta scored again on a lay in and followed that up with a three off of a Dirk pass out of a post up. Dallas took a 62-49 lead into halftime.</p>
<p>The third quarter got off to a bit of an ugly start. Dirk hit one jumper, but the Mavs could not capitalize off of three turnovers from the Pelicans in the first three minutes of the game. Anthony Davis finally scored the first Pelican basket of the quarter with a dunk on a broken play. Dirk responded with another three, which seemed to wake Dallas up. On the next possession, Dirk was doubled in the short corner and found Dalembert for a hook shot. Monta then found Dirk on a skip pass to the far corner, where Dirk whipped it to a wide open Calderon for three to give Dallas a commanding 23-point lead.</p>
<p>Eric Gordon finally got the chance to punish Dallas again, scoring six quick points around the four minute mark. The poor luck for New Orleans would continue as the half ended. <span>Shane Larkin</span> hit a rainbow three on an end-of-shot clock look. Anthony Davis stripped Larkin in the backcourt for a breakaway dunk on the next possession, but Larkin answered back to close the quarter finding a wide open <span>Jae Crowder</span> in the corner for another three. Dallas took a 84-65 lead into the final frame.</p>
<p>Kansas rookie <span>Jeff Withey</span> opened the fourth with an open lay up, but Dirk responded with his fourth made three of the game. <span>Austin Rivers</span> scored twice to bring New Orleans within 16, but once again Dirk answered. The Mavericks managed to get the Pelicans into foul trouble by the eight minute mark of the quarter. From there it was mainly a matter of holding on. The Pelicans managed to score, but Dallas would nearly always answer. <span>Bernard James</span> got a bit of burn in the final minutes, but the lack of Ricky Ledo until the final two minutes was disappointing.</p>
<p>Some notes:</p>
<p>-These two teams play tomorrow night. I expect a testy game. Beating the same team on back to back nights is HARD. So if Dallas does it, despite the Pelican injuries, that's impressive.</p>
<p>-Jae Crowder hit more than 50% of his shots. The box score has to be wrong.</p>
<p>-Shane Larkin had a career-high 6 assists. I enjoyed seeing him play.</p>
<p>-Disappointed that <span>Rick Carlisle</span> didn't give Ricky Ledo more burn. Still, impressed in his limited minutes.</p>
<p>-Dirk's good at three pointers. Still kind of crazy he won a MVP the year Avery Johnson wouldn't let him shoot it.</p>
<p>-Anthony Davis is a monster. Hilarious watching he and Wright go up against one another in the Battle of the Limbs.</p>
<p>-Austin Rivers wasn't terrible. Who knew?</p>
<p>-Need more hustle from DeJuan Blair. He played okay, I just expect more energy from him.</p>
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<th class="td-left"> <span>8:43 remaining in the 4th</span> </th> <th>1</th> <th>2</th> <th>3</th> <th>4</th> <th>Total</th>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="undecided"> <a href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Dallas Mavericks</a> </span></td>
<td>31</td>
<td>31</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>7</td>
<td class="highlight">91</td>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="undecided"> <a href="https://www.thebirdwrites.com/">New Orleans Pelicans</a> </span></td>
<td>24</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>10</td>
<td class="highlight">75</td>
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<p class="foot clearfix"><span class="link-more"><a href="http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/10/5295690/game-thread-dallas-mavericks-at-new-orleans-pelicans">Join the Game Thread</a></span></p>
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https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/10/5297126/mavericks-ground-pelicans-107-90Kirk Henderson2014-01-10T15:11:09-06:002014-01-10T15:11:09-06:00Game Day Poll: Anthony Davis
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<figcaption>Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport</figcaption>
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<p>Where would you rank the big man?</p> <p>This year <span>Anthony Davis</span> is, understandably, the talk of the NBA blogosphere. He's a force on both ends of the floor. Defensively, he was a game changer before entering the league, but the former guard-turned-forward (he grew 8 inches his junior year of high school I think) had a bit to learn about NBA offense during his rookie season.</p>
<p>Fast forward to this season and his pairing on a high screen and roll with <span>Jrue Holiday</span> (now injured) was damn near unstoppable.</p>
<p>So where would you rank him in the glut of NBA power forwards? This is purely a subjective question because it doesn't begin to address what "best" might be. There are, perhaps, 3 other players in the entire NBA I'd rather have instead of Davis moving forward but he's certainly not the best right now. I'm not sure where he'd fall in the complex pecking order. For some parameters, assume <span>Tim Duncan</span> is not a forward.</p>
<p>See you all tonight for the game thread!</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/10/5296476/game-day-poll-anthony-davisKirk Henderson2014-01-10T11:01:19-06:002014-01-10T11:01:19-06:00Start the Sergeant
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<figcaption>Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>It's time for Sarge James to get his chance to help this team.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Mavericks</a> got off to a slow start on Wednesday night, falling behind by double figures in just six minutes. If this was the only time it had happened, there's any number of excuses that could be used: the early 6 p.m. start, the customary boos that rained down on Dirk prior to the game, or just dead legs from playing the night before.</p>
<p>But the poor play to start was not an anomaly but a part of a trend that has recently developed for Dallas, a trend that is shooting the team in the foot. The same trend that had the <a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Lakers</a> score 31 in the first quarter and had the <a href="https://www.postingandtoasting.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Knicks</a> up 29-17 at the end of the first 12 minutes.</p>
<p>This is a recent trend. The Mavericks have outscored opponents 27.5 to 26.5 in the first quarter this season, most of it with <span>Samuel Dalembert</span> in the lineup. With Sammy D, the Mavericks outscore opponents by 7.8 per 48 minutes. Throw DeJuan Blair into the mix, and it's just 4.5 per 48.</p>
<p>Now, the lineup becomes even more skewed with <span>Shawn Marion</span> missing time. He's the thread that holds this mediocre defense from falling into the bottom ten in the league and he's the spark plug that can leak out for a fast break dunk to start a 10-0 run.</p>
<p>(That paragraph made me sad. Please come back soon, Shawn.)</p>
<p>Until he returns, the Mavericks are going to have to rely on outscoring opponents to pick up wins. Digging themselves an early hole simply won't do the trick.</p>
<p>The solution: free Sarge James.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old center can usually be found at the end of the Mavericks bench, in uniform but not playing basketball (kind of sums up his whole career, in fact). He's too old to be considered a prospect and too raw to work his way into the second unit, but he is good at two things: being energetic and playing some defense.</p>
<p>Elevate him into the starting lineup, where his inexperience and lack of offense is masked by the other veteran starters. Move DeJuan Blair back to the bench, where his offensive rebounding and scoring makes a bigger impact, instead of exposing his flaws every night against the best starting big men in the league.</p>
<p>James still isn't going to play a huge role -- six minutes to start the first and the third quarters -- but his energy should help those slow starts and his shot blocking will be a welcome addition to break up that layup line that a Monta/Jose backcourt inevitably causes.</p>
<p>And this isn't unprecedented -- starting last January in a game against Phoenix, Sarge joined the starting rotation for a 13-game stretch. The Mavericks went 7-6, but James averaged 14.2 minutes a game, averaging 3.8 points on 58% shooting, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. Even better -- the Mavericks allowed 102.2 points per 100 possession while he was on the court, 1.8 points fewer than their 2012-13 season average.</p>
<p>Perhaps his best performance was a 15 minute stint where he scored four points, grabbed six rebounds and added up seven blocks. Wouldn't you know, it was a road game in New Orleans against Anthony Davis & Co.</p>
<p>The Mavericks won that game 104-100.</p>
<p>I'm no head coach, nor would I claim to know better than Rick Carlisle. Maybe Sarge isn't busting his ass in practice like he should be or something -- but knowing what we know of him, I doubt that. Until then, I'm on team #FreeSargeJames. You should be, too.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/10/5294090/bernard-james-dallas-mavericks-starting-centerTim Cato2014-01-10T08:33:57-06:002014-01-10T08:33:57-06:00Four-Pointer: Previewing the Pelicans
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<figcaption>Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Mavericks try to survive without Shawn Marion for a few games.</p> <h4>What's the biggest matchup to watch?</h4>
<p>If it was up to me, it'd be to put <span>Bernard James</span> into the starting lineup in an attempt to handle <span>Anthony Davis</span>. Check Mavs Moneyball here in a few hours for my full article, but it seems like Sarge might be the small fix the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a> need to eliminate those slow starts that have plagued them of late.</p>
<h4>What stat might surprised you about the Hornets?</h4>
<p>Anthony Davis is sixth in the league in PER at 26.3 -- even better than Brandan Wright's 24.4 and Dirk Nowitzki's 22.8. Don't like PER? He's first in block percentage (qualifier of playing at least 150 minutes) and sixth in win shares per 48 minutes. Oh, and his best stat? He's 20 years old.</p>
<h4>What has New Orleans done lately?</h4>
<p>Well, the team hasn't exactly been world beaters sitting at 15-19 and fourth place in the division. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thebirdwrites.com/">Pelicans</a> have lost nine of their last 13 games, including four of their last five, but that trip included the tough gauntlet of at Minnesota, at Boston, at Indiana and at Miami.</p>
<h4>What do the Mavericks need to do to be successful against the Pelicans?</h4>
<p><span>Shawn Marion</span> will be out and the defense probably isn't going to look very pretty. The solution is simple -- run New Orleans and their 28th ranked defense (allowing 106.4 points per 100 possessions) into the ground. The Mavericks don't need perfection, but they need to play pretty damn well on offense to make up for the layup line allowed on the other end. And as long as Monta and Dirk show up, that <i>should </i>be very doable.</p>
<p>Give a click to our friends over at <a href="http://www.thebirdwrites.com/">The Bird Writes</a> for more pre-game content.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/10/5294950/four-pointer-dallas-mavericks-travel-to-play-new-orleans-pelicansTim Cato