Mavs Moneyball - Gameday: Dallas Mavericks at Houston RocketsRick Carlisle approved.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50869/mmb-fav.png2015-01-28T15:36:55-06:00http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/rss/stream/76920762015-01-28T15:36:55-06:002015-01-28T15:36:55-06:00JET: 'Kick ‘em while they’re down' =(
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<figcaption>RED LOOKS GROSS ON YOU, JASON | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>There's no love lost between JET and his former team. </p> <p><span>Jason Terry</span> is one of the most beloved players to ever wear a <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a> jersey. He tattooed the Larry O'Brien Trophy on his bicep the summer before the Mavs won their first and only title. It was a bold statement and he backed it up. It was this swagger and trash talking that endeared him to many fans.</p>
<p>However, Terry, who spent eight seasons with Dallas, is now with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thedreamshake.com/">Houston Rockets</a>. He knows the Mavs are currently struggling heading into Wednesday night's meeting between the two teams and took the opportunity to throw some barbs.</p>
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<p>Dallas has lost 3 in a row- Jason Terry says key tonight is to 'kick them while they're down.'</p>
— Jenny Dial Creech (@jennydialcreech) <a href="https://twitter.com/jennydialcreech/status/560481254332592128">January 28, 2015</a>
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<p>He has a <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2015/01/jason-terry-on-mavericks-kick-em-while-theyre-down/">few more things to say</a> but the knife has already been plunged into our backs.</p>
<p>Et tu, JET?</p>
<p><b>IMPORTANT UPDATE 3:45 p.m.:</b></p>
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<p>Our official site response, as suggested by <a href="https://twitter.com/KirkSeriousFace">@KirkSeriousFace</a>, to that JET 'kick them while they're down' quote: <a href="https://t.co/CdAUs4Fq2P">https://t.co/CdAUs4Fq2P</a></p>
— Mavs Moneyball (@mavsmoneyball) <a href="https://twitter.com/mavsmoneyball/status/560554061594783744">January 28, 2015</a>
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https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/game-coverage/2015/1/28/7931647/jason-terry-houston-rockets-dallas-mavericks-kick-em-while-theyre-downDoyle Rader2015-01-28T09:30:02-06:002015-01-28T09:30:02-06:00Talking Rockets with The Dream Shake
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<figcaption>Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>I chat with Ian Jacoby of SB Nation's The Dream Shake about a variety of Houston topics.</p> <p><b>Mavs Moneyball: Like the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a>, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thedreamshake.com/">Rockets</a> had to adjust mid-season to incorporate <span>Josh Smith</span>, <span>Corey Brewer</span> and Alexey Shved. Have they completely adjusted to the new team? Is it weird seeing so many players out there that Houston didn't start the season with?</b></p>
<p>Ian Jacoby (<a href="https://twitter.com/IanJacoby">@IanJacoby</a>): It's hard to say what a complete adjustment would look like. One would like to think that over time we'll see less Josh Smith threes (shooting 22 percent) and a better application of Shved than the garbage time that he's been seeing. Of the three, Corey Brewer has been by-far the most seamless fit. Adding Ariza in the off-season shored up the starting wing on defense but there was still a gap that needed filling on the bench. Brewer has been a guy who comes in, plays energetic D, creates fast break points and knocks down threes and as Dallas fans know, when he gets going he can completely take over a game. He's been Houston's best acquisition.</p>
<p>On a more profound note, Smith, Brewer and another off-season acquisition familiar with Mavs fans- <span>Jason Terry</span>- have become what we in Houston have taken to calling "The Headband of Brothers". So that's fun.</p>
<p><b>MMB: Likewise, <span>Terrence Jones</span> is about to return. I really like him as a player. Who gets the short end of the stick in the rotation when he returns?</b></p>
<p>Jacoby: Right now it looks like Terrence Jones will be playing on Wednesday against Dallas. With Dwight being a game-time decision the only people getting the short end of the stick could be Mavs fans. Once Dwight comes back we can assume that Josh Smith will see a drop in minutes, seeing as how D-Mo (<span>Donatas Motiejunas</span>) has cemented himself as a quality big-man that can disrupt in the post create shots with his exceptionally refined footwork. I believe I speak for all Rockets fans when I say that hopefully more Terrence Jones also equates to ABSOLUTELY F---ING ZERO Joey Dorsey. He's bad. Like, real bad.</p>
<p><b>MMB: What do you make of <span>Trevor Ariza's</span> offensive struggles?</b></p>
<p>Jacoby: Trevor Ariza started the season shooting really well, and since then it's been a little bit of a nightmare. But it kind of makes sense when you look at the numbers. For his career he attempted about three three-pointers a game and shot 34 percent. This year he's up to 7 attempts per game and shooting 32 percent. He's shooting much more and his percentage is only down a couple points so coming from a Morey-esque understanding of "production"; it's basically fine. That said, some of the shots he takes seem ill-advised based on my eye-test. The guy definitely doesn't pass up a shot.</p>
<p><b>MMB: <span>James Harden</span> is probably the consensus No. 2 in the MVP race right now. Convince me why he should win it over <span>Stephen Curry</span> if the season were to end right now.</b></p>
<p>Jacoby: Ahem, according to the mothership, James Harden is leading the MVP race <i>(ed. note: <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/1/27/7920903/james-harden-mvp-stephen-curry-lebron-james">indeed he is!</a> I'd argue Curry still leads in public opinion, however)</i>. They make a good case for choosing him over Curry, what with his putting up career highs in points, assists and rebounds. However, I believe the best argument for choosing him over Curry is based in semantics. James Harden is inherently more "valuable" to the Rockets than Curry is to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/">Warriors</a>. The Dubs would still be a playoff team with Steph Curry. They have a guy who can score 37 points in one quarter and <span>Andre Iguodala</span> comes off of their bench. The Rockets though? If Harden was knocked out for the season, they would be a lottery team. The West is too good and he provides too much of the offense for Houston to survive without his presence. That's why James Harden is the MVP.</p>
<p><b>MMB: What should the Mavericks' gameplan be if they want to get a win in Houston on the tail end of a back-to-back?</b></p>
<p>Jacoby: Attack the hoop, slow down the game and hope James Harden gets into foul trouble. When the teams played in November the Rockets were in a similar injury situation but were able to ride a big Harden game to a win behind a late three-point play from The Beard. If Harden has a huge night it's hard to slow the Rockets down. He creates threes, gets to the line and collapses the defense. <span>Rick Carlisle</span> knows these things so don't be surprised if Dallas attempts to deny the ball to him to whatever extent they can. It should be noted, however, that Dallas now has a point guard and Houston now has a bench so these teams will look significantly different than the ones we saw earlier in the season.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/28/7928059/rockets-mavericks-preview-josh-smith-james-harden-mvpTim Cato2015-01-28T09:14:15-06:002015-01-28T09:14:15-06:00Mavs, Parsons look for revenge against the Rockets
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<figcaption>Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Mavericks travel to Houston for the second time this year, giving Chandler Parsons another crack at his old team.</p> <h4><span><i>Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Southwest at the Toyota Center.</i></span></h4>
<h4>What have the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thedreamshake.com/">Rockets</a> done lately?</h4>
<p>The Rockets won both of their games over the weekend (they're coming off of two days rest) and are currently tied with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.clipsnation.com/">Clippers</a> for fourth in the West, just one game ahead of Dallas. Perhaps the most notable move the Rockets have made recently, though, was signing Josh Smith at the end of December after he was waived by Detroit, a decision that has seemed to pay dividends for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Pistons</a>.</p>
<h4>So how is Josh Smith working out for Houston?</h4>
<p>Detroit may be playing like a completely different team since jettisoning Smith, but fortunately for Houston, signing him doesn't seem to have produced an equal and opposite reaction. The Rockets are 11-7 in the 18 games since they acquired Smith, down several percentage points from their season-long record of .689 but still pretty solid.</p>
<p>That's not to say Smith has turned his game around in Houston. His 2-point field goal percentage is improved, but he's also been taking more 3-point shots (no surprise, given that Houston leads the league in 3-point attempts) and making them at an even lower clip (22 percent) than he did in Detroit. His turnovers are also way up, again not a huge surprise since this is something Houston struggles with as a team.</p>
<p>Right now Smith is sharing minutes with <span>Donatas Motiejunas</span>, but the real question is how those minutes will be allocated once starting power forward <span>Terrence Jones</span> returns from injury, which may happen as soon as tonight's game. Jones is a much better player than either Smith or Motiejunas, and if he's slow to return to form or isn't given minutes, that could mean that the Rockets will continue to slip in the tough Western Conference.</p>
<h4>What team stat could determine the game?</h4>
<p>In some respects, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a> and Rockets are mirror images of each other: one at the top of the league in offense but unable to climb out of the middle of the pack on defense, and the other playing top-tier defense but unable to get their offense firing on all cylinders. But when it comes to three-point shooting, they look pretty similar, at least when you look at makes.</p>
<p>Both teams are shooting on average a little over 35 percent. The difference, though, is in attempts and perimeter defense. The Rockets lead the league in 3-point attempts and are generally able to hold opponents to around 31 percent, while Dallas takes seven fewer 3-point shots per game and has allowed opponents to shoot nearly 37 percent. This made a big difference last time these two teams met. Both teams shot worse and more frequently than they normally do, but Dallas took the bigger hit, getting up fewer attempts than Houston and making a dismal 17.5 percent of them. But with Dallas' improved perimeter defense and <span>Josh Smith's</span> poor 3-point shooting, things could go differently tonight.</p>
<h4>What are the match-ups to watch?</h4>
<p>Things did not go well last time the Mavericks traveled to Houston. The final score may have been close, but it was frustrating to watch <span>Chandler Parsons</span>' total collapse against his old team, so keep an eye on Parsons vs. himself tonight. Parsons seems to have found his rhythm since November (although Austin has <a href="http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/26/7903903/chandler-parsons-mavericks-analysis-role-synergy-sports">some ideas how he could be better used</a>), so it should be interesting to see how he handles this second trip to Houston. Fingers crossed he can do better than 0-5 from deep.</p>
<p>Unlike Parsons, <span>James Harden</span> had a devastating night during that first game, scoring 32 points and making four of his nine 3-point attempts against a Mavs backcourt that could charitably be described as porous. But this time he'll have to contend with <span>Rajon Rondo</span>, who should be able to make him work harder for those perimeter shots.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, power forward Terrence Jones may return tonight. <span>Dwight Howard</span> is still listed as a game-time decision after tweaking his ankle in practice yesterday. The Mavericks will be at full strength.</p>
https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2015/1/28/7920957/mavericks-rockets-preview-time-schedule-channel-chandler-parsonsKate Crawford