mcsluggo
Starter
for your amusement, and/or edification
Today, 07:45 AM
Mavs at Kings: 26-12
Sacramento 122, Dallas 120. Bad loss for the Mavs in a very poor defensive effort. Yeah, that score is right. The team played with fire the last couple of nights against teams they should have put away, and tonight they finally got burned. It was a very entertaining game though.
No Stack tonight. He was out with a sore hamstring. He was missed.
Just in case you don't know, Danny Crawford hates the Mavs. The refs were too much a part of the action tonight.
The Maverick shooting was excellent tonight. It's ridiculous to shoot over 57% and lose a game. But the Kings shot over 50%, and the Mavs turned the ball over a 19 times. Add that to a defense that was getting gashed all night long off the dribble and with back-cuts, and there was your ballgame.
Kevin Martin scored 39 points tonight. Just imagine if he would have actually started or played 30 minutes. Yuck! Devin Harris played him pretty well at times, including some very gutsy drawn charges in the fourth quarter, but that was embarrassing. When he wasn't scoring, Salmons and Garcia were. Those three swing men just ate the Mavs' lunch.
Damp was very solid with 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks in just 22 minutes. Unfortunately, he got called for three illegal screens. I really didn't see what he was doing that Brad Miller wasn't (and not getting called for), but it happens. I would have liked to have seen a little more from Damp in this game. Instead, Diop and Bass were on the floor for the last two defensive possessions of the game, and the Kings scored both times. I don't know that Damp would have stopped it, and I know that Bass was out there for offensive purposes, but I would have liked to have seen Damp in there at that time.
Speaking of Diop, he had 5 fouls in 5 minutes. He didn't do another thing. I'm thinking games don't get much worse than that.
Dirk scored efficiently with 21 points on just 10 shots, but I didn't think he played well. He actually passed the ball well too, and when the Mavs went through him on offense, they usually scored. The Kings doubled Dirk every chance they got, and he made the right play. The bigger problem was that the Kings were going through him too much on the other end of the floor. I thought Dirk had a poor help defense game.
Bass had 11 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks tonight. I thought he played well, and his night would have looked even better if he could have gotten a call.
Josh Howard came back to the team tonight...sort of. He was in foul trouble and didn't make much of an impact. Worst of all, he couldn't slow anyone down on defense.
Eddie Jones scored in double digits tonight, but he had the same trouble trying to guard anyone.
Jet was huge off the bench. In case he ever forgets, he needs to remember to go to the basket. I think Jet spent more time in the lane tonight than he has in a long time, and it paid off in a big way. He had 25 points and 7 assists and was a big part of the Mavs' offensive success.
Devin Harris was a monster tonight too. He scored 25 points on a great shooting night and dished out 9 assists. The only thing Devin did wrong tonight was make a couple of turnovers and get caught in too many screens. I thought he was very good. He hit some big clutch shots too, including a game-tying three pointer from the corner. In the end, it just wasn't enough though.
Devean George, JJ Barea, and Juwan Howard all took turns in this game. None of them had a particularly big impact. In fact, they were on the floor when the Mavs started to lose control of the game in the second quarter. I thought they all did some positive things. George played with energy and went to the glass hard. JJ brought energy and got into the lane several times. I see no reason why they can't continue to steal some minutes throughout the season. It might be asking a little too much to play them all together though.
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Good call on the lack of help defense from Dirk. I think the whole team had lousy help defense though. There is no way that a player should go 14 of 16 shooting against any NBA team. If he is that hot, you have to shut him down. Eliminate him even getting the ball. They seemed to be setting great picks on whomever was covering KM, but help has to be there. It just seemed like very lazy defense to me. It must be tough to play hardnosed D every night when teams are coming at you from "in the zone".
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Highlight of the game: Damp flattening that scrub of theirs on a pick while Harris was dribbling upcourt.
That's right, Brad Miller you little *****, you take out Harris everytime you see him, Damp will start taking out your guards.
He really got rung up, he looked lost for a couple of seconds. Dampier=wall.
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I'd almost forgot that JET can actually go to the basket.
Why the heck doesn't he do that more often... instead of once every 10 games? JET is amazing when he plays like that.
I rarely ***** about refs... but the officiating in this game was terrible. Normally when it's terrible it's terrible in a way that evens out for both sides, but in this case the officiating was terrible... and every obviously bad, stupid call went against the Mavs and whenever the Mavs deserved a call they got nothing.
By far the worst officiating I've seen in any Mavs game this year. Just a total debacle.
Anyway, I don't think there's any shame in losing to this Sacramento team with Kevin Martin back. They're not bad. Not bad at all. They'd have given the Mavs quite a tussel even without all the help from the Refs.
JJ Barea had some burn again tonight. He gave them a little something. I really hope bringing him in for an energy boost like this becomes more of a habit. Avery needs to find a way to keep him dressed and playing. Sit Hassell! We really don't need him. At best Hassell is Devean George and Eddie Hassell but without the long range. We don't need him. We do need Barea.
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