In the final stage of the regular season, the Mavericks suffered a 4-game losing streak and were about to be kicked out of the play-off. But in today’s away game against the Pacers, the Mavericks played a strong bench strength, winning the Pacers 127-104.
This is just a battle to stop bleeding. It is not enough to send the Mavericks into the play-off circle. However, any kind of Jedi counterattack starts from stopping bleeding. In this game, the Mavericks played a very good substitute team, scoring 58 points in the game, while the Pacers only scored 33 points on the bench.
In fact, the more objective comparison is the first three sections, because the Mavericks only use 3 sections to determine the victory, leading up to 25 points. After 3 sessions, the calf’s bench lineup contributed 30 points and the Walker 12 points.
After the big deal, the Mavericks did not perform well. After Owen entered the team, they stopped fighting and stopped. The Mavericks counted today and played 21 games, 8 wins and 13 losses. Obviously, they did not achieve the goal of trading. During this period, the Mavericks experienced two three consecutive defeats and one four consecutive defeats, which consumed the unsatisfactory results of the first two months. The sharp decline in calf performance is a combination of various reasons, which cannot be attributed only to the lack of chemical reaction between Owen and Lucca. I have summarized these points:
● Lucca and Owen did not achieve 1+1> 2
● quality of outside defense decreases
● The lineup is not complete due to injuries.
Due to the loss of Finney Smith and Ding Weidi, it is inevitable that the quality of the Mavericks’s outside defense will decline. I believe the Mavericks have already evaluated before the transaction and are ready to accept this reality. In exchange for Owen, the purpose was to exchange defense for attack. So far, the data showed the same result: before Owen appeared, the Mavericks scored an average of 112.5 points and lost 112.0 points in 55 games, the average number of three-point shots is 40.5, with a hit rate of%; After Owen’s debut, there were 20 matches against Pacers, with an average of 116.9 points, 117.5 points lost, and 41.5 three-point shots, the hit rate is 39.4%.
However, in these 20 games, Luca and Owen stopped fighting. Luca only played 13 of them, 15 of them, and the two really joined hands together. Including the Pacers, there were only 12 games, 4 wins and 8 losses. In the same 20 games, Tim Hadavi little missed 5 games and the space center Cleber missed 7 games.
Objective evaluation of the reasons for the decline of the Mavericks performance is helpful to make a correct judgment at the critical moment. Anyway, I don’t think it is time to sentence the Mavericks to death.
It is possible that you will say that the competition against the Pacers is less than three major players, and the Mavericks are not happy even if they win. Indeed, Halliburton and center Turner did not play this game, and Buddy Hilde, the pitcher who had never missed this season, was temporarily suspended due to injury. However, for NBA teams, they don’t care whether the opponent’s lineup is neat or not. What they really show is their own strength. They play their due strength in the game, such as the correct attack method, good defensive discipline, starting state, bench potential.
In the game against the walkers, the Mavericks at least showed that the master was in good condition, the lineup changed a lot, and the fighting desire of the bench was particularly strong. With such strength performance to cope with the last six games, the Mavericks still have hope to impact the play-in circle.
Lucca and Owen still did not show any chemical reaction between them, but after all, they are both singles Masters. One person shows his unique skills while the other can only watch, at least they played a leading role in different periods. Owen scored less than 27 minutes and only scored 16 points, but his efficiency was very high, especially at 1 o’clock in the first Lucca 5, and 5 of Owen 5 scored 11 points, lucca scored 10 points in the second half of the second quarter, and the third quarter was full, contributing 13 points and 6 assists, making the game lose suspense. At the last glance, Luca scored 25, with Owen’s plus or minus +26, which was very prominent in the starting line-up.
In this game, the most impressive thing for the Mavericks is their bench lineup. Kidd used wood as a substitute center in the first quarter, and played half a ball without any gain. In the second quarter, he sent a special lineup. Since Cleber didn’t play, the center was McKee, the number 4 was Josh Green, and the outside line used three defenders Owen, Hardy and nirikina. After playing for less than 5 minutes, this lineup reached a climax, expanding its advantage from 2 points to 15 points.
Jeden Hardy was the biggest discovery of the Mavericks this year. Before the big deal, his utilization rate was not high. After the big deal, he gradually entered the rotation lineup in order to make up for the loss of the outside line. Although jeden Hardy was a second-round show, he was seriously underestimated in the draft. Hardy has become famous in high school after all. His offensive performance in the last 10 games is very outstanding, and the three-point shot percentage is close to 50%. To some extent, he made up for the loss of Bronson’s departure.
The three-guard team made Hardy like a duck to water. He scored 8 points in the stage of opening the score. He not only fought back one-Dragon dunks, but also had the chance to play the ball by himself to hit three points and pick up Owen to assist three points, he also assists Owen in scoring three points. The first three Mavericks established the victory, of which Hardy only played 17 minutes, scoring 18 points, 4 out of 5 three-point goals, and the personal positive and negative values were as high as +20.
Mackey is also a treasure center. He signed with the Mavericks for three years and 17 million, but he did not make any contribution to his use before. In the previous 15 games, McKee was completely out of rotation and only appeared for more than 3 minutes at the garbage time of Spurs. If Cleber was not injured in this game, it would not be for McKee. In Kidd’s big four squad, McKee played less than 7 minutes. Although he only got 4 points, he let the Mavericks play a quick attack and defense conversion.
Another defender who is usually not show off is nirikina. Although his scoring method is very common, his defense is very outstanding and it is also very important in Kidd’s small lineup. In the second quarter, he played for 5 minutes. Although he didn’t get one point, he only had one assist, but the Mavericks won 12 points in the 5 minutes.
The victory brought great enlightenment to the Mavericks, that is, don’t put all your hopes on Lucca and Owen. After giving up tinvey and Finney Smith, the Mavericks must resolutely attack with high quality. In terms of the combination of the lineup, in addition to strengthening the superstars of Luca and Owen, it is also necessary to tap the potential of the bench, especially for the use of the small lineup, the combination of the three defenders, Kidd needs to be more clear, more determined.
The Mavericks fought in half of the eastward expedition. Losing to the Hornets before has brought great public pressure to the whole team. Next, there are three away games for Philadelphia’s 76ers, heat and Eagle. If one or two of them can be won, it will be a great benefit in the closing stage, because the last three are home games, for the King, the bull and the Spurs respectively.
After losing to the Hornets in a row, Luca once showed great frustration in front of the media. He even said that there were some things outside the court that hindered the team’s winning, which was vague. He also said that it was the most difficult stage of his career and he could not feel the happiness of basketball on the court. In fact, as a leader, it is very important to speak clearly. The last thing is to release vague information in difficult times, so that the outside world can guess and even guess whether there is any contradiction between Lucca and Owen.
It doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks about the significance of the Mavericks winning the Pacers. The most important thing is whether the Mavericks can regain their confidence through this game. Don’t worry about whether the opponents are out of three generals, it is the most important game to play its own characteristics.
Luca has no chance to win MVP, and the scoring king may not have won enbide. Whether this season is a free trip or not, whether the next season is still full of confusion, and the final six goals will be seen.
