The Mavs face the Pistons on Saturday at 6 p.m. The game takes place in Detroit. The Pistons have only won 5 home games this season, so you would think that would mean victory for Dallas. Let’s hope that’s the case. I can’t accept a loss to Detroit right now. Recent defeats and lack of inspiration have really exacerbated my melancholy and I’m starting to lose my sense of taste. That said, here are three things to watch for against the Pistons.
Should Tim Hardaway Jr. continue to be given so many minutes?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Anyone who has watched every Mavs game this season must definitely have some opinions on strategy. For me, I know that sometimes some things work out in life, and other times they don’t. Tim Hardaway Jr. can often provide a significant boost to the Mavs offense when his three balls go in.
Yet, like most precision athletes, he is prone to alternating between excellence and mediocrity. Lately his shot hasn’t been flowing. As we come out of the mid-season and prepare for the playoffs, it’s obvious the idea has been to let him ride out this bad patch. The problem is that not only does this task take time (which we don’t have a lot of), but it’s also a liability on the defensive end of the field. Given that Dallas’ biggest weakness is defense, and its two best players aren’t in the starting five due to their stuck defense, it appears the current, very crowded Western Conference standings will likely see multiple teams fighting for play-in. Now might be a good time to consider sharing TH’s minutes with some of the more defensive-minded Mavs forwards.
It can be argued that Green has already had time to move on from poor performances. He’s shown flashes of being a great two-way player, but as much as we all wish and expect that to happen, he has yet to find a way to climb higher than the board he’s on for two years. Is it minutes? Buttons ? Dallas’ style of play?
As for Derrick Jones Jr, he was reinserted into the starting lineup against the Heat on Thursday, but only played a third of the minutes that Hardaway recorded coming off the bench. I am neither a professional nor a coach. I just want these guys to play up to their potential. As much as I like Tim as a person and enjoy his hot streaks, maybe sitting him out for a while wouldn’t cause an acid rain storm after all.
Should Jason Kidd consider a dual big-man approach by inserting both Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford into the top 5?
You know they tried it in practice. I’m aware that using it in real life would create depth and matching issues. However, we’ve seen just about every other five starting combinations on this list. Why not use it for just one or two matches? Dallas needs some momentum very soon, and it’s obvious that the lineups we’ve fielded lately haven’t created the fusion that can win against the NBA’s best teams in a best-of-best series. seven games.
I think starting Gafford over Lively is wise, which is what Kidd did against the Heat (for clarity, I should say I continue to be big on Lively). He was the highest drafted since Jalen Brunson. Gafford is more physical than Lively at this point and it’s important to remember that Lively is a (barely) 20 year old rookie. Benching him isn’t a punishment, and if Gafford continues to start, the Mavericks veterans need to make sure Lively can handle this change internally in a healthy way. He’s been great so far this season, but he started because we didn’t have anyone else with his physical attributes, no one who even comes close to being a starter-caliber center.
Now, with Gafford, we do it. But what if… I say, what if… Dallas starts them BOTH? Who knows what might come of this scenario in actual playing minutes? Maybe something unexpected. On the other hand, for the reasons discussed above, perhaps they should refrain from this tactic. After all, maybe tomorrow things will start to click all of a sudden and Dallas will claw its way straight to the Finals without changing anything at all.
How many straight 30-point triple-doubles does it take to officially clinch a playoff spot?
I won’t let the sarcasm get away with this last one. So, let’s get to the heart of the matter. As great as Luka is, he will always only be one of the five. There have been games this season where I’ve walked in front of the TV, marveling at how the Mavs can play as a team on offense. However, in the last few games, I had to use that energy to get into another room to keep my head from exploding. It appears the Mavericks have regressed to half-court Luka ball, which can be a lot of fun to watch, but difficult to maintain.
Any collective offensive effort the Mavericks are seeing in practice lately has struggled to translate into actual game performance. While Luka may be right that “when you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,” the Mavericks still need to find a way to produce as a team, offensively. Otherwise, it seems like Dallas fans are doomed to watch Luka post historic individual offensive numbers this season while the team’s chemistry and overall potential are obscured by the blazing spotlight.
Kidd frequently reminds the press that we cannot take this child for granted, that we “see something as rare as a Picasso” every night. I don’t doubt for a second the greatness of Luka. In fact, my sullen and apathetic attitude could be attributed to the fact that I can’t help but want to see him succeed due to my extreme appreciation for him as an individual basketball player. It seems like this is the time of year when Luka starts to overwhelm himself and starts to display extreme frustration on national television when he is not able to win every match on nothing but to his domination of the ball. So what’s next? His final step towards greatness may well be his maturation as a prophet. Once he can truly look ahead, he will always know exactly who to pass the ball to when met by three defenders at midcourt in a critical moment. Until then, it looks like he’ll just have to trust the other guys on the field with the ball a little more than he has lately if things are going to change, for better or worse.
How to watch the game
Tip-off is 6:00 p.m. on Bally Sports Southwest
