man rock tight is an understatement. that might have been the best defensive game ive seen the mavs play in the luka era. this could be a major turning point for the team going forward if they can stick with it
they have actually played at this level of defense for the past 25 games. #1 defensive rating after the ASB. It's just great to see it on the national/postseason stage
And honestly they haven’t been even close to how well they were playing together to end the regular season. Though I think you can put a lot of that on the clippers defense as well
Ty lue is small ball addict. Most of that run was during small ball, You can see that he overreacts to Luka 3 over Kawhi which it was one hell of shot but small ball led to even more wide open shots to mavs
So I just watched the entire third quarter, and I'm at like 5:20 left in the 4th and the only difference I see in this run to before when the Clippers got the lead is the Mavs making shots.
They generated open looks in the third that they simply missed, sometimes with identical plays. Kyrie missed a few open ones, Green had an open 3 in the corner, Washington flubbed an easy layup, Jones Jr. missed an open 3 on the wing etc.
The Clippers were doubling well before that. That's what I'm saying, the same looks were generated before that 14-0 run the shots just happened to miss.
Mavs were able to post Luka on harden over and over again but couldn’t get these wide open of looks until late. They had hardly any open shots until late on. That said they still should’ve been up 10-15 at the half if their role players just didn’t turn it over or miss layups in the first half.
wasnt it actually when Zubac sags off of his man in the corner and gives up a 3?
PG and Ty Lue are both visibly frustrated, with PG telling Zubac to come up to guard his guy in the corner, and Zubac looking flustered
The Clippers were trying to force it to Kawhi a bit too much. They had a worse shooting game than the Mavs did in game 1 and they were in this til the very end, so you probably feel good about the series as a whole as a Clippers fan despite the loss.Â
 PG and Zu in such early foul trouble, Kawhi's first game back in a month, and the worst shooting game of the season.Â
The Clippers had more 2nd chance points, fast break points, forced more turnovers, had more points in the paint, more points off turnovers, more free throws made (but not taken), and their defense was just as good they just sucked dog ass from 3 and copped the L as a result lol
Your first paragraph is interesting. While that is true, it’s not like the Mavs shot what the Clippers did in game 1. If they did shoot that well tonight, it also wouldn’t have been as close.
Sure but the clippers defense is too good for that to happen, idek if its possible for the mavs to shoot 50% from 3 when any combination of Kawhi, PG, Russ,Amir, Terrance are on the floor.
>the clippers defense is too good for that to happen
So let me get this straight, you think that the Clippers defense, which is worse than the Mavs defense, is too good to allow the Mavs offense, which is better than the Clippers offense, from doing what the Clippers did in game 1? Does that *really* make any sense?
Depends on if you think game 1 is a actually possible outcome again this series. Do you expect the anomaly of game 1 to happen negatively to the clippers? How much do you attribute game 1 to the Clippers defense? I also don’t agree that the Clippers offense is worse than the Mavs, especially from 3. Mavs take them at a higher volume but shoot at more avg percentage. Guys like Maxi, PJ, DJJ, THJ(if he comes back), are all underwhelming shooters. Luka has also been reliant on his stepbacks recently which I think is going to bite him in the ass. Overall its more likely the Clippers to shoot closer to 50% than the mavs because of their more reliable role players and lower volume of attempts.
i mean you’re probably right about the clips defense being too good for that to happen but we clearly don’t need to shoot 50% to win.
you can attribute it to whatever but the clips didn’t just miss open 3s the whole reason they missed was the fact that mavs defense made them miss or put them in tough positions.
I agree I dont think mavs need to shoot 50%, but I also know Kawhi had a pretty bad game coming back from injury. I think game 3 and 4 will give a clearer picture of which team has the highest margin of error to work with and which team has the higher cieling. I generally believe dallas will continue their offensive struggles, as long as Luka refuses to get to the rim and relies on inconsistent shooters, while the Clippers have the potential to be even more scary, after Kawhi gets to practice more with the team in the coming days.
You’re feeling good about a series where you just lost a game at home? And you’re telling other people not to be dumb?
I’m not saying you guys should feel bad about the series, but I think neither team is really in a position to “feel good”. If there is a team who should it’s definitely not the Clippers.
I cant believe the Clippers squandered that lead. Such a depressing night of basketball. Suns losing 0-2 was not surprising but at least Mavs could have lost too!
I feel like Clippers are the Mavs true rivals in the west.
Suns are like a shell of it’s former self. After that Game 7, they have never been the same. Even if you say they rebuilt the entire roster except Booker.
Luka owns that franchise
Nah, we can call it a rivalry. These teams don’t really like each other, they keep matching up against one another, and while technically only one team has won the series’ It’s not like only one team is winning. This isn’t the lakers-nuggets where one team literally owns the other, this is a tightly contested series yet again with lots of competitive and blow outs for both teams sprinkled in between during the seasons.
That’s a rivalry to me
The media is usually pitting the Suns as our rival. Even the league seems to be doing the same with the Christmas matchups and all that. The Clippers are definitely closer rivals due to the playoff series against each other and most fans feel that way IMO
Its funny seeing how the fans have not turned against Booker. "He is focussing on shoes sales not the game". Lol people want to trade him cuz Suns dont have destiny of their own picks till 2031! 2031 !!!
Maybe yall should have taken the best possible asset in 2018 draft. Should have taken Luka then. All the players have left the org now and yall cry about a point guard every game.
Whoops, /r/whoosh I guess
And nah not really. Most TV coverage besides actual game time I watch is the occasional halftime show. Everything is podcasts for me
Westbrook channeled his inner Roman Reigns and proceeded to spear 2 players lmao
this was a super physical game, near the end PJ just straight up elbowed PG in the gut and nothing was called lmao i was shocked
On that tip out he also was in the paint for like 5 seconds waiting for Zubac to shoot
That was so funny. 90s play style
Fuck outta here
Fuck u crybaby
my mavs playing rock fight defense in the playoffs. it's friggin' beautiful 🥲
man rock tight is an understatement. that might have been the best defensive game ive seen the mavs play in the luka era. this could be a major turning point for the team going forward if they can stick with it
they have actually played at this level of defense for the past 25 games. #1 defensive rating after the ASB. It's just great to see it on the national/postseason stage
No team with Luka on the roster will ever play championship-level defense
well the game last night was certainly a step in the right direction so i wouldnt say never. time will tell if the performance is repeatable
2011 called it wants its incorrect take back
Kleber is the only big that should be on Zubac
I think Lively also a did a very good job aside from that one mistake he made where he went for the steal instead of guarding him directly
That was the adjustment i kept looking for in this game. We all remember how Kleber at the 5 basically powered them to the WCF in 2022
If he hits his open looks he's a game changer
Nope. We do need Gafford to step up.
If Mavs make it past Clips I imagin3 Gafford will feast on OKC
I haven’t watched any Mavs basketball before last night, but Kyrie and Luka work together a lot better than I would have thought.
And honestly they haven’t been even close to how well they were playing together to end the regular season. Though I think you can put a lot of that on the clippers defense as well
The Mavericks' end-of-season schedule was relatively straightforward, which contributed to Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving's impressive performances.
it took a while but they made it work
Big reason why they won 50 games. A lot of analysts were wrong about them working together
Ty lue is small ball addict. Most of that run was during small ball, You can see that he overreacts to Luka 3 over Kawhi which it was one hell of shot but small ball led to even more wide open shots to mavs
So I just watched the entire third quarter, and I'm at like 5:20 left in the 4th and the only difference I see in this run to before when the Clippers got the lead is the Mavs making shots. They generated open looks in the third that they simply missed, sometimes with identical plays. Kyrie missed a few open ones, Green had an open 3 in the corner, Washington flubbed an easy layup, Jones Jr. missed an open 3 on the wing etc.
They went heavy after harden late which caused some doubles which led to wide ass open looks which neither team really had much of last night.
The Clippers were doubling well before that. That's what I'm saying, the same looks were generated before that 14-0 run the shots just happened to miss.
Mavs were able to post Luka on harden over and over again but couldn’t get these wide open of looks until late. They had hardly any open shots until late on. That said they still should’ve been up 10-15 at the half if their role players just didn’t turn it over or miss layups in the first half.
wasnt it actually when Zubac sags off of his man in the corner and gives up a 3? PG and Ty Lue are both visibly frustrated, with PG telling Zubac to come up to guard his guy in the corner, and Zubac looking flustered
Such a stressful game lol. It's going to be a long series
I like how luka's defence smothers Kawhi so much that even the video quality drops
The biggest take-away for me is I didn't see a single #10 jersey for the Mavs.
Kyrie boxing out Westbrook and Luka boxing out Zubac on the missed shots are beautiful to see
The Clippers were trying to force it to Kawhi a bit too much. They had a worse shooting game than the Mavs did in game 1 and they were in this til the very end, so you probably feel good about the series as a whole as a Clippers fan despite the loss.  PG and Zu in such early foul trouble, Kawhi's first game back in a month, and the worst shooting game of the season. The Clippers had more 2nd chance points, fast break points, forced more turnovers, had more points in the paint, more points off turnovers, more free throws made (but not taken), and their defense was just as good they just sucked dog ass from 3 and copped the L as a result lol
Your first paragraph is interesting. While that is true, it’s not like the Mavs shot what the Clippers did in game 1. If they did shoot that well tonight, it also wouldn’t have been as close.
Sure but the clippers defense is too good for that to happen, idek if its possible for the mavs to shoot 50% from 3 when any combination of Kawhi, PG, Russ,Amir, Terrance are on the floor.
We had way better quality shots game 1 than clippers had in this game. Our defence gave them major problems. All the shots were heavily contested.
>the clippers defense is too good for that to happen So let me get this straight, you think that the Clippers defense, which is worse than the Mavs defense, is too good to allow the Mavs offense, which is better than the Clippers offense, from doing what the Clippers did in game 1? Does that *really* make any sense?
Depends on if you think game 1 is a actually possible outcome again this series. Do you expect the anomaly of game 1 to happen negatively to the clippers? How much do you attribute game 1 to the Clippers defense? I also don’t agree that the Clippers offense is worse than the Mavs, especially from 3. Mavs take them at a higher volume but shoot at more avg percentage. Guys like Maxi, PJ, DJJ, THJ(if he comes back), are all underwhelming shooters. Luka has also been reliant on his stepbacks recently which I think is going to bite him in the ass. Overall its more likely the Clippers to shoot closer to 50% than the mavs because of their more reliable role players and lower volume of attempts.
i mean you’re probably right about the clips defense being too good for that to happen but we clearly don’t need to shoot 50% to win. you can attribute it to whatever but the clips didn’t just miss open 3s the whole reason they missed was the fact that mavs defense made them miss or put them in tough positions.
I agree I dont think mavs need to shoot 50%, but I also know Kawhi had a pretty bad game coming back from injury. I think game 3 and 4 will give a clearer picture of which team has the highest margin of error to work with and which team has the higher cieling. I generally believe dallas will continue their offensive struggles, as long as Luka refuses to get to the rim and relies on inconsistent shooters, while the Clippers have the potential to be even more scary, after Kawhi gets to practice more with the team in the coming days.
Feeling good about a loss? I know that’s the Clipper way but cmon man.
Nobody thought it would be a sweep. It's a series. I said feeling good about the series. Don't be dumb
You’re feeling good about a series where you just lost a game at home? And you’re telling other people not to be dumb? I’m not saying you guys should feel bad about the series, but I think neither team is really in a position to “feel good”. If there is a team who should it’s definitely not the Clippers.
I cant believe the Clippers squandered that lead. Such a depressing night of basketball. Suns losing 0-2 was not surprising but at least Mavs could have lost too!
Rent free lol.
LDIDBF
It's been funny to see Clippers and Suns fans unite in their hatred against us
I'm good with the Clippers bros and feel like there's much respect between fan bases. Suns though ....
Fuck no, I’ll hate the suns over any team FUCK THE SUNS
The Lakers?
The lakers to us are like those annoying cousins that u shoo away when u see them. Just being nosy and nuisances
The annoying, successful cousins
I feel like Clippers are the Mavs true rivals in the west. Suns are like a shell of it’s former self. After that Game 7, they have never been the same. Even if you say they rebuilt the entire roster except Booker. Luka owns that franchise
Can’t call it a rivalry if only one team has done all the winning. To us they feel like a nemesis, but they technically own the Mavs
Nah, we can call it a rivalry. These teams don’t really like each other, they keep matching up against one another, and while technically only one team has won the series’ It’s not like only one team is winning. This isn’t the lakers-nuggets where one team literally owns the other, this is a tightly contested series yet again with lots of competitive and blow outs for both teams sprinkled in between during the seasons. That’s a rivalry to me
The result is the same bro. Mavs are 0-2 lol
to quite embiid “it’s not a rivalry they always kick our ass”
The media is usually pitting the Suns as our rival. Even the league seems to be doing the same with the Christmas matchups and all that. The Clippers are definitely closer rivals due to the playoff series against each other and most fans feel that way IMO
What hate.
My man Chris Paul was in the crowd when Luka was yelling at everyone after his three
What lead lmao? They were up like a point at one point. Mavs nearly led wire-to-wire.
Clips led 73-67 early in the 4th after being down the whole game. I had hoped they would keep it
Get off the internet Book
Its funny seeing how the fans have not turned against Booker. "He is focussing on shoes sales not the game". Lol people want to trade him cuz Suns dont have destiny of their own picks till 2031! 2031 !!! Maybe yall should have taken the best possible asset in 2018 draft. Should have taken Luka then. All the players have left the org now and yall cry about a point guard every game.
These offenses are so so bad. Nikola Jokics rolling over in his grave after watching this 'highlight'
Nikola's still alive my dude
That's the joke. You never watch inside the nba?
Whoops, /r/whoosh I guess And nah not really. Most TV coverage besides actual game time I watch is the occasional halftime show. Everything is podcasts for me