Mavs Moneyball - Gameday: Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles ClippersRick Carlisle approved.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50869/mmb-fav.png2015-01-10T16:54:47-06:00http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/rss/stream/72871502015-01-10T16:54:47-06:002015-01-10T16:54:47-06:00Mavs sleepwalk in a 120-100 loss to the Clippers
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<figcaption>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Mavs never woke up for their Saturday afternoon matinee against the Clippers. </p> <p>The Mavs visited the Clippers for a Saturday afternoon exhibition and things got a bit ugly. Dallas fell 120-100 despite a 25 point effort from Dirk Nowitzki and a 20 point effort from Monta Ellis.</p>
<p>Besides a pretty Dirk bank shot over Matt Barnes, the Mavs looked like they were still waking up from their afternoon nap in the early portion of the first quarter. DeAndre Jordan dominated the boards against a lethargic looking Dirk. Matt Barnes was ultra aggressive throughout the first half and outplayed Chandler Parsons. Small forward is the one position where the Mavs can't afford to be out performed when playing the Clippers.</p>
<p>Even though the Clippers have a strong starting 5, their bench unit leaves a lot to be desired. The Mavs didn't exploit their matchups enough when Farmar, Bullock and Hawes were on the court. There was a sequence where Rondo missed a layup and Dirk missed a wide open and they both resulted in an easy runout for DeAndre Jordan. It may seem like an innocuous sequence, but that's a nine-point swing in a game where every point counts.</p>
<p>Late in the first quarter a wonderful sequence occurred that confirmed my faith in the universe: Matt Barnes missed a huge dunk and then Devin Harris threw down a vicious dunk. I believe that's Devin Harris' first dunk since the Bush administration.</p>
<p>Midway through the second quarter, Joey Crawford suffered a knee injury and didn't return to the game. Without Crawford, there were only two referees left to officiate the remainder of the game.</p>
<p>The entire complexion of the game changed with about two minutes left in the first half. With the game tied, double technicals were called on Rajon Rondo and Matt Barnes. The Clippers finished the first half on an 8-0 run and quickly built their lead to 20 early in the third quarter. Carlisle pulled Rondo early in the third when the offense ran stagnant. Rondo really struggled with his finishing around the rim shooting a meager 1-11 from the field.</p>
<p>After receiving a tech in the first half, Rick Carlisle was hit with a second tech and ejected in the third quarter. It didn't appear that Carlisle said anything inflammatory to the ref, but finishing the game in the locker room was probably better for Carlisle's blood pressure.</p>
<p>From the opening tip, the Clippers played with a purpose that the Mavericks clearly lacked. The Mavs are clearly still adjusting to the Rondo trade, but their effort has nothing to do with the tactical adjustments. Going back to the Parsons-Barnes matchup, Barnes outworked Parsons the entire game. Barnes caused havoc on both ends and got several key offensive rebounds. The Mavs need Parsons to bring this same level of intensity on a nightly basis.</p>
<p>After the Carlisle ejection, the Mavs could only whittle down the lead to 11 before it would ballon back up over 20.</p>
<p>This loss puts the Mavs at 1-8 against the top eight teams in the West and is only the third time they've lost back-to-back games. Their next game will be on Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings.</p>
<h4>Some Observations</h4>
<p> </p>
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<li><span>Blake Griffin flaunted his much improved jumper shooting 8-11 outside of the lane. </span></li>
<li><span>Dwight Powell came hit two threes in garbage time. He won't see any significant playing time this season, but he showed why he could be a backup for Dirk in the future. </span></li>
<li> <span>It was nice to see Dirk finish the game shooting 10-19 after a 3-10 start. Dirk has really struggled with his jumper over the last six weeks as Josh points out:</span><span> </span> </li>
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<blockquote data-partner="tweetdeck" class="twitter-tweet">
<p>In his last 15 games, Dirk is shooting 36.3 percent from 8-16 feet. He shot 49.8 percent there last year, for reference.</p>
— Josh Bowe (@Boweman55) <a href="https://twitter.com/Boweman55/status/554030715981950977">January 10, 2015</a>
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https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/10/7525853/mavericks-vs-clippers-final-score-mavs-sleepwalk-in-a-120-100-loss-toAustin Ngaruiya2015-01-10T08:00:03-06:002015-01-10T08:00:03-06:00Talking Clippers with Clips Nation
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<figcaption>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Steve Perrin, managing editor of our sister blog Clips Nation, was kind enough to stop by for a chat to tell us about the team he covers.</p> <h5>So....Steve Ballmer seems fun! And he's certainly drawn some comparisons to Mark Cuban, who is pretty beloved in Dallas. How goes the new ownership? And how do y'all feel about the job <span>Doc Rivers</span> is doing in his expanded role?</h5>
<p>When Donald Sterling's racist rant first hit TMZ, there were those in the Clips Nation community who thought "That's it, the franchise can't survive this." At the time, I tried to look at the possible upside: maybe this will finally be the thing that forces the league's hand, gets Sterling out of the league, and the <a href="https://www.clipsnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Clippers</a> can finally get a decent owner. I'm not sure I believed my own rhetoric at the time, and I certainly never imagined this. The contrast between Sterling, who might as well be an extra on "The Walking Dead", to Ballmer, who likes to dance to Fergie jams, could not be more stark.</p>
<p>We know from examples in New York and Brooklyn that money alone does not buy success in the NBA -- but we also know that it helps a lot. As it happens, Sterling's worst penny-pinching was already more or less a thing of the past. The Clippers actually paid the luxury tax for the first time ever last season, before Ballmer's arrival -- but Donald Sterling was never going to be a "money is no object" type of owner, while Ballmer's enthusiasm and virtually bottomless pockets (at $22.5B he's worth nine or ten times more than Cuban) will likely mean that Ballmer will never say "No" when Doc Rivers says "I need this."</p>
<p>As for Doc, the jury is out on the VP of Ops guy. Look, you've been in pressers with Doc -- he's pretty great. He's smart, he's articulate, he's an amazing communicator, and he uses all of that well in his coaching. But ultimately he's going to be judged by results. By any measure, the team is underperforming against expectations this season (by how much is open to debate). But more importantly, Doc's key off-season acquisitions <span>Spencer Hawes</span> and <span>Jordan Farmar</span> have not been good and are a major reason that the Clippers' second unit has struggled. I tend to give Rivers a pass on Hawes and Farmar for the simple reason that they are both shooting far below their 2013-2014 levels, which is not his fault, and I hope that they can break out of their shooting slumps eventually.</p>
<p>In the bigger picture Hawes and Farmar represent Doc's obsession with shooting, an approach that I happen to think is valid, but which is fundamentally changing the way the team plays. From the <span>Eric Bledsoe</span> trade to drafting <span>C.J. Wilcox</span> to the free agency signings, it's all been about shooting -- and there's plenty of room to quibble about any and all of the moves. <br><span></span></p>
<h5><span>The Mavs shook up their team a little to get an elite point guard, thinking that was the move they needed to contend in a Western Conference that is basically "The Hunger Games: NBA Edition." Can the Clips can make a run with the team as currently constructed? If not, what could they possibly do on the trade market to help their chances? </span></h5>
<p>Can the Clippers make a run as currently constructed? Sure they can. This is a team that was the third best team in the NBA last season by pretty much any statistical measure, and the five West teams currently ahead of them in the standings do not include the two teams that were actually better than the Clippers last year. There's an ebb and flow to an NBA season, and I doubt that anyone would be shocked if, for instance, the Clippers had the best record in the second half of the season, despite their lackluster play so far. If that were to happen, the narrative in the punditry would be "We always knew this team had talent and would be a contender, they just had to figure some things out, and good thing for them that they played their best ball at the end of the season." (By the way, I'm not saying that's what is going to happen, simply that it could happen.)</p>
<p>Now, a Clipper run presumes a few things, most notably that Farmar and especially Hawes start to play better. The big rotation isn't great right now -- but bear in mind that Big Baby Davis joined the team after being bought out last February and immediately became the first big off the bench, so it's still better than last season, and would be a lot better still if Hawes were playing better.</p>
<p>Having said that, the Clippers clearly have some glaring weaknesses that they are trying to address. Small forward is an obvious problem, if only because the other four starting spots are so impressive. As it happens, <span>Matt Barnes</span> is playing very well at present -- but the Clippers would dearly love an upgrade at the three. In particular, they would like to find a wing stopper -- someone to defend the Durants and the Hardens and Thompsons of the conference. The problem is, the Clippers have no financial flexibility and very little in the way of trade assets. Ballmer may have unlimited resources, but the Clippers are hard-capped and limited to signing minimum contracts for the rest of the season. As for trades, they don't want to give up <span>Jamal Crawford</span>, their only productive bench player right now, and guys like <span>Reggie Bullock</span>, Barnes and Wilcox won't bring in a lot. All of which means that the Clippers will be closely following the buyout market looking for help in the bargain bin once again. They found <span>Hedo Turkoglu</span>, Davis and <span>Danny Granger</span> there last season -- they've got their eye on <span>Andrei Kirilenko</span> already, and we'll see what else happens as the deadline draws near.</p>
<p>As for the West, how ridiculous is this? As of now, there seem to be eight teams with legitimate championship aspirations. There will not be a single easy series in the postseason for anyone. Any one of those eight teams could lose in the first round or win the title and I wouldn't be shocked. And that all assumes that Phoenix comes back to earth from their current form and settles into a nice 50 win season in which they miss the playoffs. Sheesh.</p>
<h5>CP3 and Blake are the cornerstones of this team, but they haven't seemed to be quite their usual dominant selves this season. The bench also seems to be a big problem. Yet, the team as a whole returned most of the key players from last season. What is the issue with team chemistry this year?</h5>
<p>I wish I knew Becks, I wish I knew.</p>
<p>Let's start with Griffin and Paul and point out first of all that they've been awfully damn good. Just not as good as people want them to be. Griffin's rebounding and shooting percentages are down. The shooting percentage is easy to explain -- he's taking more jumpers. Now, it's valid to ask "why?" or to say he should just stop and focus on getting to the rim, but my take is that expanding his game to include a more reliable jump shot (and it is vastly better) is a good thing, and that the regular season is the time to work on it. It's a process, and it goes without saying that mid-range jump shots are the least efficient shot in the NBA -- but sometimes you have to take them, and it's another weapon. If (and this is a big if) Blake returns to being aggressive in taking the ball to the rim when it really matters, allowing the threat of the jumper to set up those forays, then it's all good. If he becomes complacent and sits on the perimeter, then it's a problem. The rebounding drop off is inexcusable and he needs to do better there, but at the same time he is reaching new and exhilarating heights as a playmaker, averaging five assists per game which is <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&lg_id=NBA&is_playoffs=N&year_min=2015&year_max=2015&franch_id=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&height_min=81&height_max=99&shoot_hand=&birth_country_is=Y&birth_country=&birth_state=&college_id=&is_active=&debut_yr_nba_start=&debut_yr_nba_end=&debut_yr_aba_start=&debut_yr_aba_end=&is_hof=&is_as=&as_comp=gt&as_val=&award=&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&qual=&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&c5stat=&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=ast_per_g" target="_blank">easily the best mark in the league this season for any player his size</a>.</p>
<p>As for Paul, his PER this season is 25.2 compared to 25.9 last season, so sure, he's a total slacker. That's the weird thing about this season -- something FEELS wrong, but you can't put your finger on what exactly. The two things I'll say about Paul -- he's getting to the line less, and he hasn't played his best in big games.</p>
<p>The bench has been terrible, as I mentioned mostly due to the poor play of Hawes and Farmar, who are seventh and eighth on the team in minutes this season. Both are in shooting slumps, which is the one thing we figured they could do when they came here. The other big team-wide problem has been defense, where the team has been very average this season.</p>
<p>Is there a chemistry issue? Is it a psychology problem? Maybe it's physics or sociology or Russian literature. Pick your college course -- your guess is as good as mine. Things aren't clicking for them, and everyone knows it. They've still won two-thirds of their games even without being in top form, and to a man the message seems to be "We'll get there."</p>
<h5>Last year's first Clippers-<a href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Mavericks</a> matchup was a game for the ages (ugh). The Mavericks have a pretty different look to their team this season, though. How do you see the two teams matching up this time around? Will it be just as thrilling?</h5>
<p>Well, the Clippers' offensive efficiency this season is better than it was last season, when they led the league -- and the Clippers are still almost 2 points worse per 100 possessions than the Mavs this year. So if you like offense, this should be a very entertaining game indeed.</p>
<p>Sadly, the Clippers are 3-7 against the league's top 10 teams this season, and they've been pretty bad in most of those games. So LA is going to have to correct that season-long trend if this is going to be a good game.</p>
<p>The matchups will be interesting -- Carlisle liked to stick Marion on Griffin last season, which is no longer an option. Dirk is either going to have to guard Griffin or Jordan, and the Clippers will try to punish him in the post and on the offensive glass either way. But the Clippers will struggle to defend all the perimeter weapons on the other end.</p>
<h5>We <a href="http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/8/7510661/mavericks-travel-oregon-trail-dirk-monta-chandler" target="_blank">sent the Mavericks' starting five on the Oregon Trail </a>earlier this week. Which Clippers player do you think would survive the longest on the Oregon Trail and why?</h5>
<p>Hmmm. Let's see. <span>J.J. Redick</span> would clearly not do well. He's way too pretty for that sort of thing, although he would probably be pretty good with a rifle.</p>
<p><span>Chris Paul</span> would use his wiles to good advantage and as such would no doubt do well on the Oregon Trail. And Griffin is such a physical beast that he could probably hold his own fighting a grizzly bear.</p>
<p>But I'm imagining a scenario where the party has to withstand a long winter without much food, and I'm going to say that Glen "Big Baby" Davis is the lone survivor. He's got plenty of insulation against the cold and could go without food for several months.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Thanks as always for the great back and forth, Steve! You can <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/clippersteve">follow Steve on Twitter</a>, or for more on today's matchup (including <a href="http://www.clipsnation.com/2015/1/9/7523913/the-questionable-blogger-on-clippers-mavs" target="_blank">my answers to Steve's Mavs questions</a>), head over to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.clipsnation.com">Clips Nation</a>.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/articles/2015/1/10/7523169/talking-dallas-mavericks-at-los-angeles-clippers-with-clips-nationRebecca Lawson2015-01-09T19:15:01-06:002015-01-09T19:15:01-06:00Mavericks at Clippers: a defensive test
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<p>The Mavericks head to LA to face the Clippers Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is at 2:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest.</p> <p>This will be the first of three games the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a> play against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.clipsnation.com/">Clippers</a> this season. What can we expect?</p>
<h4>What have the Clippers done lately?</h4>
<p>As Mavericks fans well know, it can be brutal to break out of the middle of the pack in the West. Despite winning more than 66 percent of their games and boasting the third most efficient offense in the league, the Clippers are sitting a game and a half behind fourth-ranked Dallas at sixth in the Western Conference.</p>
<p>They opened the season struggling to get out of a .500 rut, alternating wins and losses for the first month of the season before settling in for a late November to early December nine-game winning streak. This was in part thanks to a relatively weak patch in their schedule during which they notched victories over the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.canishoopus.com/">Timberwolves</a> and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Magic</a>, as well as the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Pistons</a> with <span>Josh Smith</span> and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thedreamshake.com/">Rockets</a> without Dwight Howard. Since then they've had the chance to pad their record with consecutive games against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.slcdunk.com/">Jazz</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.postingandtoasting.com/">Knicks</a>, and Sixers (though they also had an impressive win over Golden State), so this game against Dallas will be one of their tougher challenges lately.</p>
<h4>What team stat could determine the game?</h4>
<p>While <span>Tyson Chandler</span> and <span>DeAndre Jordan</span> are both phenomenal big men to watch, the most telling part of this game may be what happens on the perimeter. On paper for the season, these teams look kind of similar overall: the Mavericks have the most efficient offense and the 16th ranked defense in league, compared to the Clippers third best offense and 15th best defense. But unlike the Mavericks, the Clippers haven't recently acquired one of the best defensive-minded guards in the league, so what happens if you just look at perimeter defense lately?</p>
<p>Before Rondo's first game, the Mavericks were the absolute worst in the league at allowing opponents to shoot and make threes, while the Clippers were one of the 10 best teams on this metric. Since the trade, things have flipped: the Mavericks have just snuck into the top 10 and the Clippers have dropped to fourth-worst in the league. The Clippers are the second best three-point shooting team in the league, so Dallas' newfound defensive prowess will be important in this game. The Mavericks may also be able to take advantage of the Clippers' recent slide on perimeter defense.</p>
<h4>What stat may surprise you about the Clippers?</h4>
<p>If you only watch Clippers highlights (some of us live on the East Coast and are too old to stay up for West Coast games), it's easy to think of them as a team that works a lot in the paint, but they earned their third-best offensive rating with the stellar three-point shooting discussed above. They score a league-lowest 33.3 percent of their points in the paint despite the fact that most of those points look really, really awesome, and their opponents actually <a href="http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/oppshooting/?sort=Less%20Than%205%20ft.%20FG%20PCT&dir=1" target="_blank">shoot quite well</a> close to the basket.</p>
<p>And while DeAndre Jordan may be <a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/rebounds/sort/avgRebounds" target="_blank">a monster</a> when it comes to grabbing rebounds, as a team they're just average overall, though like <a style="background-color: #ffffff;" href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/do-offensive-rebounds-matter" target="_blank">other Doc Rivers teams</a> before them, this is largely due to a strategic decision to forgo offensive rebounds to get back on defense.</p>
<h4>Speaking of the Clippers in the paint, do you think this will work against Tyson Chandler?</h4>
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<p>The game tips off Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Central. We'll have a great Q&A with our sister blog, Clips Nation, for you in the morning!</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/9/7520287/dallas-mavericks-LA-clippers-previewKate Crawford