About last night... Scrimmage vs 76rs

Last night's scrimmage was a thrilling overtime win against the 76ers. It started off great for the Mavs. Philly had struggled to muster up 8 points, while the Mavs were rolling with KP contributing 8 out of the teams 15 points so far. The first quarter ended with Philadelphia only scoring 13 points total. Then it came to a screeching halt, after half both clubs were shooting below 40% from the field and you could tell that both the Mavs and 76ers just wanted to play some meaningful hoops again. But still Tobias Harris was leading the charge back for the 76ers, dominating the Mavs in the third quarter. Eventually the Mavs bench fired back in the fourth and overtime to seal the win. 118-115. Here are the main points I took away from the scrimmage. 

KP 

Porzingis hasn't been able to show his stuff at all these scrimmage games. Having racked up 5 fouls early vs LA and missing his Covid test vs the Pacers, it was refreshing to see him get a lot of minutes last night. What he showed... he is very very VERY necessary to the Mavericks postseason legitimacy. If the Mavs want to make some noise, KP has to be there. On the defensive end he's such a threat, displaying how even if shots aren't blocked by him, his mere presence changes them. His length controlled Horford during the first half but during the third Horford bullied his way in and threw up some old school hooks that would bounce off the rim and in. What can yah do? Defensively we saw him switch outside and guard the ball handler, then rotate back to sure up the paint. If he can do this consistently... watch out 

Offensively, the unicorn was the unicorn. Splashing threes, taking people off the dribble, throwing dimes to a cutting Luka Doncic, even fading away for an and 1 ala Dirk Nowitzki. There's nothing to worry about with KP besides his consistency. I love how he takes things personally on the offensive end, there was a sequence when he got blocked, thought it should have been a foul, then next possession tried to slam it down forcing the defender to bear hug and foul him on the way up. 

Luka takeover 

Luka reminded us last night that he can take over any time he wants. Simmons sat, Doncic ate. Even with simmons in, Luka got where he wanted. With him out.... nobody could match Lukas combination of speed or strength. Thanks for comin out Thybulle. From these scrimmages it's been nice to see Luka play off ball. Something I didn't know he had in him. Luka ended with 23-7-6, in 26 minutes, and also did his best Neo impression avoiding the robo-cam. 

The bench

All aboard the Antonius Cleveland hype train! This kid can play. He's long, athletic, tries on defense, and can hit the corner 3. Hopefully he gets some run when games start back up on Friday, but yah never know. I think he has earned it, and reminds me of Corey Brewer. 

Overall though, the bench looked better but not great. Trey Burke looked good, he was aggressive and scored that rock. He tried really hard in his first minutes, running around screens constantly trying to get open and confuse the D. This probably wore him down, as later he kinda stood around and let JJ go to work. He is a welcome addition, even though he has some tunnel vision, the Mavericks need someone to do something while the starters are out. Delon Wright.... still passive. One thing that I hope doesn't become a trend is the over reliance on Boban. It seems when the shot clock runs down, and they can't get a look, everyone just clears out for Boban. I don't think it's very effective.

No MKG again last night. Carlisle says he isn't in shape yet. Weird. I'm not concerned about the Mavericks offense, despite our starters getting outscored 38-24 by a 76er team that was resting Simmons and Embiid. DFS was getting eaten alive on both ends. His shot isn't there right now, it's obvious. Maybe it's the atmosphere of these scrimmage games, but lets hope he figures it out Friday night against the Rockets.