Miserable road display puts Dallas on edge
DALLAS — On the way to the locker room after his worst game of the playoffs, Luka Doncic unwittingly characterized the final, futile moments of the Mavs’ 30-point whipping in Game 5 and, in effect, their precarious predicament in particular.
An ugly game had turned uglier moments earlier when Marquese Chriss followed the Suns’ Bismack Biyambo up the tunnel, and not to get any late-night dining tips, either.
Officials separated the two big men before anyone could press charges, but the circumstances that prompted the face-off were not lost on Luka.
“Everybody acts tough when they’re up,” he said loudly, to no one in particular.
Time for the Mavs to get tough once again in these playoffs.
And quick, before they forget how they got this far.
Watching the Suns embarrass the Mavs 110-80 at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, you’d have thought the visitors had already forgotten how they’d won Games 3 and 4. Back at American Airlines Center, they’d turned around an 0-2 deficit with their characteristic defense, crisp ball movement and a torrent of 3s. Not only is such an approach the foundation of analytics-driven basketball, it’s the Mavs’ only hope to rise above the Suns’ superior talent and experience.
Luka may be the best player in this series, but Devin Booker is in the conversation. Jalen Brunson is the only other Mav who might crack the first five. The Mavs have no answer for a one-on-one with Deandre Ayton.
I mean, Phoenix is so
good, Chris Paul followed up an awful weekend in Dallas with a mediocre game Tuesday, and the Suns still won by 30. Monty Williams, the NBA’S Coach of the Year, finally went to his bench in Game 5, and it came up big.
Funny thing about being outmanned, though: Utah was bigger and more talented, too. The Mavs took that first-round series by finding a way to win without Luka, a far more difficult proposition than the one they face in what’s left of this series.
The Mavs are, indeed, a team with a single superstar and a cast of role players, but we’ve seen what they’re capable of doing. It’s not complicated, no matter how convoluted it looked Tuesday.
They can’t win making just 8 of 32 three-pointers or turning it over 12 times
in a single quarter or amassing only nine assists. It wasn’t just that Luka made only 10 of 23 shots or went 2 of 8 from behind the arc after making just 1 of 10 Sunday. It was the fact that he had twice as many turnovers (four) as assists (two). Brunson, too. His uncharacteristic turnovers overshadowed his team-high 28 points.
Neither Luka nor Brunson could get their teammates going like they did in Games 3 and 4 at home.
Get this: Dorian Finneysmith, Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kleber, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dwight Powell, five of the Mavs’ top seven rotation players, combined for 16 points Tuesday.
Over the last two games, in fact, Powell, has zero points and 2 rebounds in a little more than 16 minutes of play.
Maybe it’s time to give more of his minutes to Kleber, huh, Jason Kidd?
Anyway, they didn’t get blown out Tuesday because of Powell. Just two days after Finney-smith nearly set a team-record with eight 3-pointers, he was 2 of 5 on 3s. Only Davis Bertans, who made 3 of 4 3s after hitting 4 of 6
Sunday, came close to repeating his performance.
The Mavs as a whole didn’t get nearly as many open looks. Why? They’ll tell you their offense is predicated on Luka, Brunson or Dinwiddie getting both feet into the paint, then either finishing or kicking out to one of the bigs beyond the arc.
The problem Tuesday was that the timing’s off when Luka or Brunson spend too much time grinding away on isolation plays, leading to rushed shots at the end of the shot clock. Asked about it Tuesday, Luka didn’t seem to get it.
One more time: If the Mavs take too long to kick it out, Phoenix gets time to set up its defense and rotate out to the 3-point line.
Luka got his teammates going early in Game 3 by penetrating quickly, then finding open shooters early in the possession.
“Our pace wasn’t good,” Luka said Tuesday. “They held us to 80. We have to play better.”
The good news is, they couldn’t play any worse. Like the Suns, they’re also better at home in this series.
“Home-court advantage is a real thing,” Brunson said.
Frankly, as poorly as the Mavs played in Game 5, I don’t see them losing Thursday. They’ve overcome adversity on too many occasions this season. They’re tough. Not because they chase opponents up tunnels, but because their results are typically better than their talent indicates is possible.
Makes it hard to count them out. I give them until the weekend, anyway.