Playoffs 2024 - R1 - G4 - Mavs vs Clippers (Sund., 3:30PMEST)

[dygaction]

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The first play, if Maxi were Clippers' center, him backing back and boxing others to give Harden the open lane would be understandable and actually well executed.

That play was not that great at all. Even if PG caught that ball, there was a great chance that he'd get blocked by DJJ-Maxi duo as he got blocked in few other plays in 4th.
That 3pt shot is pure luck. PG making a clutch 3, step back in the corner, over the board. That'd be a crazy odd to make that shot.

I was talking about the bottom tweet "first big play" by Harden. Maxi did not challenge the floater at all and was backing down to give him the lane.

[ozwizard8]

I was talking about the bottom tweet "first big play" by Harden. Maxi did not challenge the floater at all and was backing down to give him the lane.

In B. Simmons podcast they were also talking about this and similar plays. If Maxi goes up then its a free lob there.
We should've bring a double from someone. I dont care if its open 3 from Powell at this point.

Ideally, I also dont like Rubio defense on Harden. Let him shoot that step back 3 if needed. PJ gave one and-1 play then this free lane. Its hard to block the Harden from behind, and losing PJ from the help defense coverage didn't help. Refs putting Luka to 5 fouls, Kyrie to 4 fouls also didn't help. Luka couldn't defend Harden and couldn't even put his hand inside to strip.

These are the plays where having elite wingmen creates a difference.
- Denver has Gordon-MPJ as forward. They're f'in TALL, long wingspan, and athletic. DJJ cant cover for Zubac alley-oop but if you had someone like MPJ-Gordon then they might.
- Denver also have f'in KCP. That is a grade A perimeter defender. He wouldn't be able to stop prime-Harden but he'd slow down.

We got rim-protecting big men but they are yet to have playoff experience. Lively is too young, and Gafford has weaknesses that get abused in playoffs. It is tough.

[dygaction]

I was talking about the bottom tweet "first big play" by Harden. Maxi did not challenge the floater at all and was backing down to give him the lane.

In B. Simmons podcast they were also talking about this and similar plays. If Maxi goes up then its a free lob there.
We should've bring a double from someone. I dont care if its open 3 from Powell at this point.

Ideally, I also dont like Rubio defense on Harden. Let him shoot that step back 3 if needed. PJ gave one and-1 play then this free lane. Its hard to block the Harden from behind, and losing PJ from the help defense coverage didn't help. Refs putting Luka to 5 fouls, Kyrie to 4 fouls also didn't help. Luka couldn't defend Harden and couldn't even put his hand inside to strip.

These are the plays where having elite wingmen creates a difference.
- Denver has Gordon-MPJ as forward. They're f'in TALL, long wingspan, and athletic. DJJ cant cover for Zubac alley-oop but if you had someone like MPJ-Gordon then they might.
- Denver also have f'in KCP. That is a grade A perimeter defender. He wouldn't be able to stop prime-Harden but he'd slow down.

We got rim-protecting big men but they are yet to have playoff experience. Lively is too young, and Gafford has weaknesses that get abused in playoffs. It is tough.

Lively played great today but got DNPed in the 4th. With Lively, Maxi, PJ, you have something comparable to or even better than Nuggets' Jokic, Gordon, MPJ front court. Maxi's defense at 4 has been good but not as 5.

[ozwizard8]

I was talking about the bottom tweet "first big play" by Harden. Maxi did not challenge the floater at all and was backing down to give him the lane.

In B. Simmons podcast they were also talking about this and similar plays. If Maxi goes up then its a free lob there.
We should've bring a double from someone. I dont care if its open 3 from Powell at this point.

Ideally, I also dont like Rubio defense on Harden. Let him shoot that step back 3 if needed. PJ gave one and-1 play then this free lane. Its hard to block the Harden from behind, and losing PJ from the help defense coverage didn't help. Refs putting Luka to 5 fouls, Kyrie to 4 fouls also didn't help. Luka couldn't defend Harden and couldn't even put his hand inside to strip.

These are the plays where having elite wingmen creates a difference.
- Denver has Gordon-MPJ as forward. They're f'in TALL, long wingspan, and athletic. DJJ cant cover for Zubac alley-oop but if you had someone like MPJ-Gordon then they might.
- Denver also have f'in KCP. That is a grade A perimeter defender. He wouldn't be able to stop prime-Harden but he'd slow down.

We got rim-protecting big men but they are yet to have playoff experience. Lively is too young, and Gafford has weaknesses that get abused in playoffs. It is tough.

Lively played great today but got DNPed in the 4th. With Lively, Maxi, PJ, you have something comparable to or even better than Nuggets' Jokic, Gordon, MPJ front court. Maxi's defense at 4 has been good but not as 5.

I like Maxi but he's nowhere near Gordon in terms of athletics, size. PJ is at least 3 inches shorter than MPJ.
Lively is a rookie after all. Maxi at 5 worked in G2, I'd rather see more Lively-Gafford minutes but I guess the issue was more about Harden coverage then having a center inside.

Luka being injured also not helping, he used to abuse Zubac and take him out. But with current officiating, they just clamp to our players with no call.

[tleikheen]

3 BIG MISTAKES .....JKIDD is making , that he's betting his coaching career on .

Going with Maxi Kleber over legitimate rim protectors in DLive and Gafford. Tonight where points in the paint in the 4th quarter by Clippers did them in ,the Mavs had their worst game in blocked shots at the rim. This cost them the game.

Big mistake #2 is the benching of Dante Exum . We know he's played timid but he wasnt benched because he's coughing up the ball he only has 2 TO's in 36 minutes of play. Where we saw Luka getting cooked on defense and his right knee slowing him down he's having to bring the ball up against Terrence Mann who is playing him very physical. Luka needs Exum bringing up the ball and playing POA defensively so he's not hounded full court .

Big mistake # 3 ,The continued play of Kleber who has made ONLY 5 baskets in 93 minutes of play time and Green who has made ONLY 3 baskets in 61 minutes of play. This is a factor in the Mavs being 12th in scoring of all the playoff teams and their FG percentage is 15th out of 16 playoff teams ,only Pelicans worst than them.

Win or Lose both Gafford and Lively will be with the Mavericks next year, Kleber is a big iffy because of his age and injury history. Exum a team 1st player who as stated before only 2 TO's in 36 minutes of play needs to play and get comfortable as Luka needs help in not having to bring the ball up every time and get hounded all the way.

We are visibly seeing JKidd bet his coaching career on Maxi and Green playing alot and going small in crunch time. Vogel played small and his a$$ will be fired . JKidd is sooo slow to see the obvious until the word fired starts being said about him.

[Bob8]

3 BIG MISTAKES .....JKIDD is making , that he's betting his coaching career on .

Going with Maxi Kleber over legitimate rim protectors in DLive and Gafford. Tonight where points in the paint in the 4th quarter by Clippers did them in ,the Mavs had their worst game in blocked shots at the rim. This cost them the game.

Big mistake #2 is the benching of Dante Exum . We know he's played timid but he wasnt benched because he's coughing up the ball he only has 2 TO's in 36 minutes of play. Where we saw Luka getting cooked on defense and his right knee slowing him down he's having to bring the ball up against Terrence Mann who is playing him very physical. Luka needs Exum bringing up the ball and playing POA defensively so he's not hounded full court .

Big mistake # 3 ,The continued play of Kleber who has made ONLY 5 baskets in 93 minutes of play time and Green who has made ONLY 3 baskets in 61 minutes of play. This is a factor in the Mavs being 12th in scoring of all the playoff teams and their FG percentage is 15th out of 16 playoff teams ,only Pelicans worst than them.

Win or Lose both Gafford and Lively will be with the Mavericks next year, Kleber is a big iffy because of his age and injury history. Exum a team 1st player who as stated before only 2 TO's in 36 minutes of play needs to play and get comfortable as Luka needs help in not having to bring the ball up every time and get hounded all the way.

We are visibly seeing JKidd bet his coaching career on Maxi and Green playing alot and going small in crunch time. Vogel played small and his a$$ will be fired . JKidd is sooo slow to see the obvious until the word fired starts being said about him.

I was a big believer in Exum but honestly he's unplayable. Mavs offense is 21 points better with him off and D 14 points better when he's off, that makes incredible - 35 net rtg. Luka is having bad playoffs but Mavs just can't play without him, Mavs offense is disastrous 68.3 with him off court. The main reason for that incredible fall is that when Luka sits, Kyrie can't do anything because all focus is on him, Exum incapable of running anything.

Luka's on/off net rtg is + 76, that tells you that Mavs would have been 4:0, if Exum could do just a little bit of playmaking. Unfortunately Mavs totally stops, when Luka is out. When Kyrie is out Luka still generates something, but when Luka is out everything stops. That's on Kidd too of course, because he should have different playbook, when Luka is out. Mavs are playing exactly the same way with or without Luka and that can't work, because Clippers just takes the ball out of Kyrie's hands and it's over.

[Bob8]

1. Probably a fair point... especially if Luka is injured or not himself... or whatever.

This is probably "depression talking"... but I miss THJr... or I guess some delusional version I imagine of him hitting 3 pointers at a good rate.

Cannot imagine THJ would be worse than Exum, so timidly bad.

Check Luka +/- even when playing bad by his standards...
Mavs have no backup PG, Kyrie is the best Maverick this series hands down, but he's not a PG, not against this Clippers defense.
Luka can't sit, Mavs just can't operate offensively without him, Exum has been a huge let down.

Luka has + 76 on/off net rtg. Mavs offensive rtg is 68, when he sits. And all that with him playing bad.

Kidd should have prepare team to play without Luka in those 82 RS games, problem is that playoffs and the way games are officiated just makes the game being totally different than in RS, Exum is lost and players like Josh can't create anything anyway. Similar thing happened to Brunson in first playoffs, where refereeing was a lot more friendly than nowadays.

[Mavrelous]

That's on Kidd too of course, because he should have different playbook, when Luka is out. Mavs are playing exactly the same way with or without Luka and that can't work, because Clippers just takes the ball out of Kyrie's hands and it's over.

Same story was in 2021 under Rick, Luka finished with +32 on/off, Ty Lue defense is killing the ball handlers, no one gets anything going, even Kyrie.
I hoped Exum would fare better because of his size, but zilch...

[Mavrelous]

Mavs have seen 2 full games /o Kawhi and 2 full games with Kawhi, another off start is inexcusable...

[Bob8]

That's on Kidd too of course, because he should have different playbook, when Luka is out. Mavs are playing exactly the same way with or without Luka and that can't work, because Clippers just takes the ball out of Kyrie's hands and it's over.

Same story was in 2021 under Rick, Luka finished with +32 on/off, Ty Lue defense is killing the ball handlers, no one gets anything going, even Kyrie.
I hoped Exum would fare better because of his size, but zilch...

Referring makes even more difficult this year. Mavs really don't have answer for that, the only way is playing with as much tempo as possible, when Luka sits and hope those quick shots goes in. Half court offense doesn't exist without Luka.

[Bob8]

Mavs have seen 2 full games /o Kawhi and 2 full games with Kawhi, another off start is inexcusable...

I would say that the best hope is that Clippers don't shoot insanely for 3 in first half. I don't see Mavs playing much differently.

[Teffer10]

Mavs have seen 2 full games /o Kawhi and 2 full games with Kawhi, another off start is inexcusable...

As strange as this may sound, as a Mavs fan you almost want to see Leonard play in game 5.

[ChipotleWest]

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The first play, if Maxi were Clippers' center, him backing back and boxing others to give Harden the open lane would be understandable and actually well executed.

I literally posted the same tweet 3 posts before you, you couldn't have just quoted me? No one else had a problem quoting you. It's just a little ridiculous to do that like you found it. But whatever.

[MassimoPayne]

Another loss that really was not necessary. Tbh I don't see the Mavs playing different next game. We just have to hope Clippers are not making every shot again. But their team is frightening. Clippers are playing for everything. Their whole legacy. If they exit round 1 this teams is going to be parted and many unconfortable questions will be asked. They have to be super motivated.
There is clearly something going on with Luka. If it is mentally or physically.

He did not take the open shot at the ft lane at the end of the game. Passed it to PJ. Offensive foul. If he would've made it Dallas would've built a lead... Regardless of the 1st quarter they have missed so many opportunities at the end. Almost overcome the insane shooting of the Cips. On the other hand I just like their coaching and bench. I have the fear every time Powell or Mann are takting a 3 it is going in. Can't tell the same about our guys

[Dirk]

Cannot imagine THJ would be worse than Exum, so timidly bad.

Check Luka +/- even when playing bad by his standards...
Mavs have no backup PG, Kyrie is the best Maverick this series hands down, but he's not a PG, not against this Clippers defense.
Luka can't sit, Mavs just can't operate offensively without him, Exum has been a huge let down.

Luka has + 76 on/off net rtg. Mavs offensive rtg is 68, when he sits. And all that with him playing bad.

Kidd should have prepare team to play without Luka in those 82 RS games, problem is that playoffs and the way games are officiated just makes the game being totally different than in RS, Exum is lost and players like Josh can't create anything anyway. Similar thing happened to Brunson in first playoffs, where refereeing was a lot more friendly than nowadays.

All of a sudden you are a fan of on/off?

[Bob8]

Check Luka +/- even when playing bad by his standards...
Mavs have no backup PG, Kyrie is the best Maverick this series hands down, but he's not a PG, not against this Clippers defense.
Luka can't sit, Mavs just can't operate offensively without him, Exum has been a huge let down.

Luka has + 76 on/off net rtg. Mavs offensive rtg is 68, when he sits. And all that with him playing bad.

Kidd should have prepare team to play without Luka in those 82 RS games, problem is that playoffs and the way games are officiated just makes the game being totally different than in RS, Exum is lost and players like Josh can't create anything anyway. Similar thing happened to Brunson in first playoffs, where refereeing was a lot more friendly than nowadays.

All of a sudden you are a fan of on/off?

On/off is great and meant for evaluating team's lineups. It shows which lineups works and which doesn't. In playoffs it's clear that lineups without Luka doesn't work. Reason is pretty obvious, Mavs system is Luka. When you put him out others doesn't know or can play differently. So it's only Kyrie's ISOs, which is easily to defend with doubles and blitzing, when Luka is out.

For comparing players from different teams on/off is totally useless, which Luka's + 76 confirms, I'm sure that nobody believes that Luka is the best player in 2024 playoffs. Although I'm sure your mod friend dr. MJ must be extremely impressed by Luka, because his on/off numbers are historicall. Some basics about +/- should help your understanding the process. Believe me, comparing lineups of the team and comparing individual impact of single players from different teams is not the same thing. First is totally correlated with how lineups play, second is comparing incomparable things.

An example, it's the fact that lineups with Exum doesn't work, you don't even need stats for the that, offense is totally lost visually too. Luka having great +/- doesn't means that he's top player in playoffs. He's not even the best player in Mavs, Kyrie is. But Kyrie has pretty pedestrian +/-, on/off, because lineups, when he plays without Luka doesn't work. And they doesn't work, because there isn't any capable playmaker in it. And we're back on Exum as only backup Pg, who unfortunately can't playmake in this series, because of aggressive defensive pressure on guards by Clippers.

I said that Luka is playing bad, so I don't understand what is your problem, although I see some mods in general board having extremely aggressive attitude towards me. Coincidence? I don't think so. But no problem with me.

Anyway I hope I have helped you to understand a little bit, what is going on with different lineups and why Luka is playing those big minutes although not looking right.

[dygaction]

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The first play, if Maxi were Clippers' center, him backing back and boxing others to give Harden the open lane would be understandable and actually well executed.

I literally posted the same tweet 3 posts before you, you couldn't have just quoted me? No one else had a problem quoting you. It's just a little ridiculous to do that like you found it. But whatever.

Don't be so sensitive. I was trying to get rid of the first tweet to isolate the second one as it was confusing but somehow the stupid link always shows two a tthe same time.

[ChipotleWest]

Before yesterday, before Maxi was the "center"

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[ChipotleWest]

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The first play, if Maxi were Clippers' center, him backing back and boxing others to give Harden the open lane would be understandable and actually well executed.

I literally posted the same tweet 3 posts before you, you couldn't have just quoted me? No one else had a problem quoting you. It's just a little ridiculous to do that like you found it. But whatever.

Don't be so sensitive. I was trying to get rid of the first tweet to isolate the second one as it was confusing but somehow the stupid link always shows two a tthe same time.

You literally cut me out of the conversation that I started. That was a little rude on your part.

[Dirk]

The +/- thing is spooky. Luka +8; Kyrie +0.8. It really hasn't looked like Luka has been himself. And yesterday, because of foul trouble or some other reason... he really offered little resistance on defense. Up to this point... Luka's best moments was defense G3 and a 3pointer G2?



They havent updated with last game stats, but t has been very grim all series and the numbers are very telling. Luka should be better now than when he played better Clippers defenders back then.

Seeing every kind of guy glued to him... even when he had zubac, plumlee... Add this to the body language/"complaining"/"frustration"/"bad shots"/a few bad turnovers.

Maybe it's very unreasonable to expect "perfection" or something... but Luka has definitely not felt like he has had a single good game yet and hasn't looked like himself offensively.

Surely it can't be that the Clippers are suddenly amazing on defense... or the refs allowing more contact... etc? "This" can't be the new playoff Luka for sure... but time is running out to start seeing the real version.

Next game Wednesday, so there's a couple of days to rest. A real Luka game is due.