About last night... Loss vs Blazers

 

The Mavs matched with the desperate Blazers in primetime last night, falling 134-131 as Dame dropped 61 on our heads. (tying his career high) The Blazers NEEDED that win to gain ground on securing that 8 spot or else they would fall down to #11 in the west. Now they must win Thursday. After the loss, the Mavericks have secured the 7 seed, with no chance to move up or down. We wait to see if Denver can move into 2, but most likely the Mavericks will wind up playing the 2 seeded Clippers. 

Last night's game was as close to a playoff atmosphere the mavericks could experience, as both sides were getting chippy down the stretch. The Blazers clawed their way back and hung around after KP put on a scoring clinic showing exactly why people call him the unicorn. Dame Lillard was able to exploit every single P&R action for a three or a foul. Melo was feasting on Justin Jackson and DFS in the post and the refs were calling anything and everything in the fourth. The Mavericks had a chance to go up two with 4.5 seconds left. Luka hits a cutting Burke, who finds DFS in his favorite corner he swishes the three! .... but whistle blows as Burke runs into Lillard after the pass. Offensive foul Dallas, no shot. Dame did an excellent job at selling the call (flop), but that's what happens in desperation clutch time moments. You cannot slip up, not even an inch or great players will expose you. This was just the last bad thing to happen to the mavs. During that stretch, KP fouls out on what I believe was a horrible call. He gets position on GTjr down low, who pulls KP down. Even after the coaches challenge, the refs doubled down. We lose our leading scorer for the game. After that, luka gets fouled, has a chance to tie the game up at 132. Misses one of his free throws after having an incredible game from the charity stripe. Luka had this to say after the game, "I don't know what to say... They call what they see out there. Personally, I don't think it was an offensive foul. Especially I don't think you call those fouls in that moment. They can make mistakes." Very true Luka. 

Rick Carlisle 

Carlisle put up a great coaching performance against the blazers... mostly. He found tons of ways to maximize his players while Luka was out. It was all made possible with one other player being able to hit their shots besides KP,  that was THJ last night. Carlisle found a lineup he's comfortable with at the end, keeping MKG in the game with Maxi and KP. One thing, he himself allowed Melo to score 26 points by keeping Jackson in as long as he did. It was obviously not working. When guarded by Luka or MKG, Melo couldn't find a rhythm. I don't know what the last play for THJ was, but it almost worked. There really was no reason to rush the shot there like Hardaway jr. did. 

Luka 

His three ball is back. That is all. It is a joy to watch Luka play basketball. I wish he would be more selfish at the end of games.... ok that's it. 

Dame

Lillard is incredible. I have a ton of respect for how he carries himself on the court, and doesn't take any shit from anyone off of it. He can score from anywhere and is a dominant leader. But here is what happened in the fourth... The refs had an agenda, and he took advantage. Lillard had a great performance, I'm not going to take away from that. But 11 fourth quarter free throws and a game sealing flop? Cmon now. Check this shot out though, made the whole internet question physics. 

At this point, this loss didn't bother me like the other ones. It could be because of that Bucks victory, or the fact that the Blazers needed that win more than us, or that I really want the Blazers to play the Lakers come playoff time. But really, we had the game. Finney-Smith drained the shot, there wasn't a real choke job, just a bad call. I can live with that, KP looks great, Luka looks awesome and THJ found his groove. I'm ready for playoff time.

You don't see the mavericks lose games where they shoot almost 52% from the field and are over 40% from three, but last night it happened. 17 turnovers is not ideal, neither is getting out rebounded. The turnovers don't concern me, Dallas doesn't usually turn the ball over, and luka has been having low turnover games all bubble. I'm more excited that the three point shooting has returned. 

Luka went for 25-8-10

KP 36-6 7-9 from three

THJ 24 points

Im happy with those numbers. 

MKG has proven he deserves Jacksons minutes, even if he isn't going to shoot. Jackson cannot play ball. I'm out on him 100% now. 

The mavs play Phoenix Thursday, where the starters will likely see no action. Look for Seth curry to get some shots up, other than that there is nothing to play for. I will post a recap and playoff outlook the next day.