Mavs Moneyball - MMB Gameday Stream: Dallas Mavericks at Cleveland CavaliersRick Carlisle approved.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50869/mmb-fav.png2014-01-20T14:46:37-06:00http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/rss/stream/50893732014-01-20T14:46:37-06:002014-01-20T14:46:37-06:00Mavs hold on in Cleveland, 102-97
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<figcaption>David Richard-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>22 points from Monta Ellis helped Dallas win on the road in Cleveland, though it required a nail-biter finish after what was nearly another huge blown lead.</p> <p>If Yogi Berra was watching this game somewhere, he might have said "enough with this damn deja vu, already".</p>
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<p>Dallas once again held a big league in the third quarter -- this time it was 22 -- and nearly let it slip away.</p>
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<p>A 60-42 second half surge propelled Cleveland, who fed off 16 third quarter points from <span>Kyrie Irving</span> and what seemed like an endless number of offensive rebounds by <span>Tristan Thompson</span> and <span>Anderson Varejao</span> in the final frame. In the end a costly(and somewhat rare) five second call on inbounder <span>Jarrett Jack</span> with just a few seconds left robbed the Cavs of a chance to tie it.</p>
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<p>Leading the way for Dallas was <span>Monta Ellis</span>, who scored a team high 22 and dished out 8 assists. Ellis will sleep easy thanks to the win, but two missed free throws late nearly proved disastrous.</p>
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<p><span>Dirk Nowitzki</span> appears to be on a bit of a mini-slump, as he went 8-20 and 0-5 from three, finishing with 17. In his last five games he's shooting just 41% overall and 29% from three.</p>
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<p>One can't be sure just how today's 1 PM Eastern start(and by the way, happy MLK day, everyone) may have affected the team. Early on, it certainly didn't seem to be slowing the Mavs down.</p>
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<p>Dallas built an early lead on a 17-2 run that ended the first quarter and began the second. After the lead hovered around 14-15 for most of the second quarter, a 12-2 run to end the half stretched the lead to as high as 24. Dallas was shooting 55% from the field and was capitalizing on Cleveland's turnovers by turning steals into easy transition points(15 first half points off TO's).</p>
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<p>The intelligent basketball fan surely knows that in the NBA, every team makes run. The quality of talent at this level is simply too high to expect otherwise. However, at a certain point, that explanation ceases to adequately cover what's going on with the Dallas Mavericks.</p>
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<p>The Kyrie explosion in the third quarter helped the Cavs get to within 10, though the Mavs summoned enough offense to keep the margin 13 entering the final period.</p>
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<p>In the fourth, Kyrie largely disappeared and Cleveland continued to struggle shooting from outside. Yet, the lead still shrank, thanks to the Herculean efforts by Varejao and Thompson on the glass, who combined to collect a whopping 12 offensive boards. There were long stretches where Dallas either didn't bother to box out, or did so fairly indifferently.</p>
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<p>One play saw Dirk and <span>Brandan Wright</span> completely bail on defending an Anderson Varejao jumpshot, presumably to help rebound, but Tristan Thompson managed to elevate between three Mav defenders for an easy grab and putback.</p>
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<p>Even plays as simple as free throw shooting -- where the rules <i>are specifically designed to give the defense ideal rebounding position</i> -- did not help Dallas, and on more than one occasion you could see <span>Rick Carlisle</span> lose his cool on the sideline. <span>DeJuan Blair</span> also seemed frustrated, and he ended up fouling out.</p>
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<p>All those fouls, by the way, helped put Cleveland in the penalty halfway through the quarter, and gifted 15 freebies to a team that had not demonstrated much in the way of consistent offense.</p>
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<p>So, it was no small wonder that the Cavs managed to climb back into this one, creeping to within a single basket at 91-89 with a little over three minutes left. I'd have been more upset had I not seen this movie already. These games are like The Hangover 2 all over again, to paraphrase the aforementioned Mr. Berra.</p>
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<p>Dirk Nowitzki, typically the team's closer, did not have it going today, so it was left to Monta Ellis to carry the load offensively. Ellis put in 7 of the team's final 11 points, though he left three free throws on the floor that could have helped put the game away a little sooner. Still, Dallas escaped victorious.</p>
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<p>Some observations:</p>
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<li><span><span>Samuel Dalembert</span> got the start but had to leave the game early in t he third quarter with a shoulder injury. Conventional wisdom would have you believe his presence might have helped Dallas on defense and on the glass. As of now we have no further update on his condition or what his status is for upcoming games, but expect a post on this later.</span></li>
<li><span><span>Shawn Marion</span> was apparently dealing with an upset stomach, though he hit his first six shots and finished 7/8 from the field with 18 points.</span></li>
<li><span>The bench was a mixed bad today. Brandan Wright and Blair filled in decently enough for Dalembert, but <span>Vince Carter</span>, <span>Shane Larkin</span> and <span>Devin Harris</span> combined to go 3-19 from the field.</span></li>
<li><span>Varejao's 21 boards make him the sixth player Dallas has allowed to collect 18 or more rebounds since December 4th.</span></li>
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<p>So, that's what I have to say. But we're interested in you all. What's your take on the Mavs right now?</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.fearthesword.com/">Fear The Sword</a></p>
<p><span>Mavericks vs Cavaliers coverage</span></p>
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<th class="td-left"> <span>Final - 1.20.2014 </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="win"> <a href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Dallas Mavericks</a> </span></td>
<td>30</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>23</td>
<td class="highlight">102</td>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="loss"> <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/">Cleveland Cavaliers</a> </span></td>
<td>23</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>31</td>
<td class="highlight">97</td>
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<p class="foot clearfix"><span class="link-more"><span>Complete Coverage ></span></span></p>
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https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/20/5328272/final-score-mavs-hold-on-this-time-beat-cavs-102-97Ian_Miller2014-01-20T10:08:10-06:002014-01-20T10:08:10-06:00Talking Cavs with Fear the Sword
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<figcaption>David Richard-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>A conversation about Kyrie Irving, Andrew Bynum and all things Cavs to get you ready for Monday's game.</p> <p><i>Conrad Kaczmarek of our Cavs blog Fear The Sword was gracious enough to stop by and answer a few questions about his team.</i></p>
<p><b>How has the addition of <span>Luol Deng</span> changed the Cavs? Is he taking an active leadership role or is it more what he's contributing on the court at the SF position?</b></p>
<p>He's obviously had a really positive impact already. The Cavs are 3-2 with him thus far and those were all on the road. Today's game will be Luol's first game at Quicken Loans Arena in a Cavs uniform, so that's exciting. It really seems like he's embracing this opportunity to be a leader, help the young players, and "change the culture" in Cleveland. Of course, it helps that he's a really good player too. He rarely makes the dumb mistakes that Cavs fans are so used to from this young team. He's just solid and consistent ... and that's something the Cavs were really missing.</p>
<p><b><span>Mike Brown</span> has a reputation as a defensive mastermind, but Cleveland is rated only 19th in D. How much of that is young guys adjusting to Brown's scheme and how much is lack of defensive-minded personnel?</b></p>
<p>I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the two in the sense that the young guys aren't very good at defense yet and therefore the team doesn't have the proper defensive personnel. Does that make sense? I think everybody on this Cavs team has the ability to defend at a decent level, but they're incredibly inconsistent. Furthermore, the Cavs are a very good defensive team at home and a pretty terrible one on the road. They're allowing 97.5 points per 100 possessions at home and 108.0 points per 100 possessions on the road. That's an enormous difference and can probably be attributed to youth.</p>
<p><b><span>Kyrie Irving</span> is only 21 and he's already one of the best PG's in the NBA. How much better can he get and what do you want to see him add to his game over the next few years?</b></p>
<p>He can get a lot better on the defensive end. I think he's still really adjusting to caring about defense and figuring out how to balance effort on defense with his usual awesomeness on offense. But the area that he can probably improve the most is his "intangibles." He's only 21, as you said, but he's got a long ways to go in terms of maturity, leadership, and consistency. For a guy that some people want to call a superstar, Kyrie has far too many games in which he just doesn't show up. I don't think he likes losing, but I'm afraid that all the tanking in his first two seasons made him accept losing to a certain degree.</p>
<p>It's not that he doesn't want to win, I just think that there's a feeling around these young players that when they get into a tough, close game (particularly on the road), they figure "oh well, we're not going to win this one." That's obviously a mindset that needs to change and I think Luol Deng will help with that. Again, Kyrie's only 21 and hasn't had a taste of winning in the NBA yet. I'm pretty confident that he can still become the best PG in the league if we give him some time to grow.</p>
<p><b>Walk Mavs fans through the Cavs thought process when it came to drafting Anthony Bennett. He's being called the worst No. 1 pick of all-time already. How concerned are you about him?</b></p>
<p>Okay, I'll do my best. As far as I understand it, the Cavs looked at last year's draft and thought "wow, this draft is bad and none of the players that we take #1 overall will be starter for us right away." <span>Victor Oladipo</span> wouldn't have started over <span>Dion Waiters</span> or CJ Miles, Noel wasn't starting over Thompson or Varejao, etc. With that in mind, they went for the guy that they thought had the highest upside longterm and picked Anthony Bennett. Now, you can disagree with their conclusion, but that's what they were thinking.</p>
<p>Bennett was an incredibly skilled offensive player in college and looked to be a deadly pick and pop guy in the NBA with some really unique skills for a big guy. So far, we have seen none of that in the pros. He was coming back from the shoulder surgery, was out of shape, and then had his confidence shot in the first two weeks. I'm basically chalking this up as a lost year for Bennett - but when I watch his college tape, I can't give up on him. The dynamic athlete with the ability to score from anywhere on the court didn't just disappear.</p>
<p><b>Why did things not work out for Bynum in Cleveland? And do you think he could help a playoff team this season?</b></p>
<p>We'll never really know what happened behind the scenes with <span>Andrew Bynum</span> unless they do a 30 for 30 documentary about him. But as far as I know, the Cavs just wanted to get rid of his negative influence in the locker room. He was really really struggling on the court and my guess is that they went to him and said that he wouldn't be as big of a part of the offense anymore. He probably didn't like that and started sulking. The Cavs saw how bad he had been on the court and came to the conclusion that he just wasn't worth having around if he's unhappy. As I said before, they're really concerned with creating a better and more professional culture within the locker room. I'm not sure if there's a more drastic swap in that department than going from Bynum to Deng.</p>
<p>As far as what he can do going forward, I really don't know. When he played for the Cavs this year, he looked done. He was slow and had none of his usual touch around the basket. I know there were flashes of brilliance, but they were just too infrequent to make up for his disastrous defense. If a playoff team can keep him happy and healthy and find a way to make him never have to move on defense, then maybe he'll be helpful. I just think that he's lost too much mobility for him to be able to play defense. For a team like the Mavs, it might be worth a shot though. He'd be really cheap, your locker room already has a lot of strong veterans in it, and you aren't a team that's really trying to win a title right now. If the Mavs signed Bynum, the hope would be that he was still just shaking off the rust of having not played for over a year and isn't actually as bad as he was in Cleveland. I don't know how likely that is, but considering what else Dallas has at the center position, it's probably a decent gamble.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/20/5327292/mavs-vs-cavs-previewtjarks2014-01-20T08:00:27-06:002014-01-20T08:00:27-06:00Four-Pointer: Previewing the Cavaliers
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<figcaption>David Richard-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>After their most embarassing loss of the season, the Mavericks look to beat the Cavaliers</p> <p><b>What have the <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cavaliers</a> (15-25) done lately?</b></p>
<p>This hasn't been the season Cavs fans envisioned. They're ten games under .500 and two games out of the final seed in the Eastern conference. However, they also recently completed the biggest trade of the off-season, sending beleaguered center Andre Bynum and a conditional first round to the <a href="https://www.blogabull.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Chicago Bulls</a> in exchange for small forward Luol Deng. Early results are mixed with the Cavs going 3-2 in Deng's first five games. There's also been a lot of debate surrounding the 2013 number one over all pick <span>Anthony Bennett</span> and whether or not he should be sent to the NBA Developmental league, as he's having one of the worst seasons ever for an over all number one pick.</p>
<p><b>What stat might surprise you about the Cavaliers?</b></p>
<p>The Cavs are somehow 29th in the league in assists per game, despite having one of the more touted point guards in the NBA in <span>Kyrie Irving</span>. The Cavs have three guards in Irving, <span>Dion Waiters</span>, and <span>Jarrett Jack</span> who like to shoot, so this isn't all that surprising once you think about it. Additionally, it's not like these guys have great teammates to pass to. Deng should alleviate this problem a bit, which should, in theory, open up scoring chances for everyone else on the team as well.</p>
<p><b>What's the biggest match-up to watch?</b></p>
<p>There are two. First, the point guard match up between Kyrie Irving and <span>Monta Ellis</span> should be interesting. I don't actually expect Monta to guard Irving (because he can't), but whoever Cavs coach <span>Mike Brown</span> decides to stick on Monta could decide the game. The Cavs can't risk the cross match ups that would occur by sticking Deng (their best man defender) on Ellis, so if Waiters or Irving draws the assignment, Monta should have a field Day.</p>
<p>The other match up is between the aging centers of each team. <span>Anderson Varejao</span> is exactly the kind of center who could get <span>Samuel Dalembert</span> into foul trouble, simply because he tries hard all the time. Dalembert has played incredibly uninspiring basketball recently, with poor rotations, questionable rebounding, and generally being Samuel Dalembert. He needs to be awake if Dallas wants to win this one.</p>
<p><b>What Maverick is due for a big game?</b></p>
<p><span>Dirk Nowitzki</span> had a rough game against Portland, shooting just 6-for-17 with three rebounds. It's possible Anderson Varejao or Deng could bother Dirk a bit, but judging by his <a href="http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/19/5323832/quoteboard-dallas-mavericks-struggle-mightily-against-the-blazers" target="_blank">post-game comments</a> after the Portland loss, I expect the Big German to come out with a statement game on this Eastern conference road trip.</p>
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https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2014/1/20/5325154/four-point-preview-mavericks-head-to-clevelandKirk Henderson