Scoring in the NBA is at an all-time high but the Dallas Mavericks’ defensive effort is so lacking that it seems like the players want their coach fired. Take pride in yourself. Have some respect for the name on the back of the jersey if you’re not going to play for the name on the front—which, let’s face it, no one is stupid enough to do these days. This holds true for Lively, Green, Irving, Hardaway Jr., and all of them. And the same goes for Doncic.
Tuesday night’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and their former coach, Rick Carlisle, saw the Indiana Pacers defeat the newest addition to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, 137-120. The Mavericks’ fifth defeat in their last six games, two of which came against Indiana.
Since making it to the Western Conference finals, the Mavericks have a .500 record. The Mavs are currently the most perplexing club in the NBA after adding strong players at several spots prior to the trade deadline. Enough of them to make it to the conference finals. They lose in the play-in round because they are that inconsistent. Their defense is still among the weakest in the league for some reason.
“We got the personnel. We’ve got the team,” Kidd said after the loss. “Everyone is trying to do the right thing. … We show signs of it; we’re not being consistent.”
Everything from the fifth seed to the play-in is equally likely, even in optimal condition. Because this is a team that so often plays defense like it doesn’t know how. Since acquiring Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, the Mavs have a 5-5 record.
“It’s impossible to win games giving up 30 points every quarter,” Washington said after the Mavs’ loss to Indiana. “Defense is effort. We have to be better.”
If the Mavs believe that they need to play better defense and defense requires effort, then perhaps they should give it more of a go. This club should be successful with this squad, especially with Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic healthy. Better than playing for the ninth spot in the West, but still not as excellent as the Boston Celtics or Denver Nuggets. Doncic, who is compiling a record of stats a video game company would turn down, is having a historic offensive season that the Mavericks are squandering. The way his team gives up layups, the man cranks out triple-doubles.
Against the Pacers, he recorded his fourth straight game with a triple double. He joins Oscar Robertson as the only player in NBA history to achieve this feat. That’s actually a lie; Russell Westbrook is the other player to do it, but mentioning that somehow lessens the achievement; because every time Russ’ put up numbers, his team lost. “It doesn’t matter,” Doncic said after the game at his locker. “I just want to win.” Good answer.
Kidd was never a better head coach than Carlisle, but Carlisle’s tenure with the team was coming to an end. Even Carlisle knew it. The Mavericks are Luka’s squad, and he was getting old of him. Kidd’s disposition and personality suit Luka more than Carlisle’s does.
However, Kidd is not as good as Carlisle as a coach. The Pacers and Mavericks’ last two games have been pretty much like that. It’s difficult to see a Carlisle team not playing defense, as this group has done so frequently over the last 1.5 seasons under Kidd. While some of this can be attributed to staff, part of this also belongs on the head coach. Comparisons. in the modifications of the game. Turns. Something is just off here.
Regarding the Mavericks’ NBA championship squad, Kidd remarked, “2011 wasn’t built in a day; Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Given that Kidd is using this analogy, the Mavericks will need seven years to win their second NBA title. When they won that championship, Dirk Nowitzki was in his thirteenth season, and Luka was in his sixth. The Mavericks still have twenty games left on their schedule, and they will somehow make the playoffs. There will be postseason basketball in the spring if the Mavericks maintain their current Western Conference ranking of eleventh. Never wager on the outcome.