games

banggood 18% OFF Magic Cabin Hat Country LLC HearthSong 15% Off Your First Purchase! Code: WELCOME15 Stacy Adams

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Dallas Mavericks Take a Quarter Off, Trail Blazers Don't: Fan Reaction - Yahoo! Sports

games - Google News
Google News
Dallas Mavericks Take a Quarter Off, Trail Blazers Don't: Fan Reaction - Yahoo! Sports
Apr 7th 2012, 21:22

By Gerald Kennedy, Yahoo! Contributor Network

With 10 games left in the 2012 strike shortened season it's not enough to say that wins are essential. Teams have to back that up with action and the Dallas Mavericks don't always do that. The April 6 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers is a point in fact and emphasizes several problems with the Mavericks. Fan frustration mounts because this team has the talent to go all the way if they can start firing on all cylinders for an entire game. Some people disagree, of course.

You can get full stats here but for a short recap the Blazers won the game 99-97 on a last second 16-footer by LaMarcus Aldridge over Brendan Haywood to win the game in overtime. Aldridge finished the game with 25 points but he had a lot of help along the way. Raymond Felton scored a season high 30 points and Jamal Crawford contributed 14 more. The Blazers are a good team who played four full quarters plus overtime. Contrast that with the Mavericks who failed to show up in the third quarter.

Here are some things that jump out at me.

Mavericks struggle with teams that don't give up.

The Mavericks can jump out to a big lead, but they don't put teams away. They allow them to hang around and gain confidence. The Mavs slack off and enjoy a lead too much, then have to claw and fight to win the game. The teams that fight from buzzer to buzzer tend to come back and bite the Mavericks.

Jason Terry is a problem not a solution.

Yeah, I know. Terry has won many games with a last second 3-point shot. But his poor shooting, ball handling, and turnovers may have lost some as well. I sometimes cringe when Terry hits the floor. I marvel at shots he makes, but he shoots a lot. Sometimes he shouldn't. Some of his decisions are not good. Confidence is good, but it should be tempered with some common sense.

Shot selection

I get that the Mavericks are a perimeter shooting team, but you need to mix it up enough for perimeter shots to be good shots. When the shots are not falling attack the basket. Points in the paint open up perimeter shots. Attacking the basket generates free throws. When the Mavericks fall behind or lose the lead they tend to throw up quick perimeter shots—one and done—transition points for the other team.

Teamwork

It's up to coaches to field a lineup that works together. One factor on paper that indicates teamwork is the plus or minus figures on a recap sheet. The Trail Blazers had five players in the plus column. The Mavericks had only Dirk Nowitzki in the plus column with Shawn Marion even.

Individual contribution

I have a little formula where each player must meet 10 or better on the scale. In the Blazers game Nowitzki was 22 and Marion 10. Jason Terry was -2, or 12 below my scale standard. Terry regularly falls below 10 on my scale. For the year Nowitzki is 18.2 and Terry is 4.8. Shawn Marion is 12.8 for the year. Old point guard Jason Kidd is at 11 for the year—and certainly not his best year.

In the April 6, 2012 game Raymond Felton was 20 for the Trail Blazers on my scale . Aldridge was 14. Jamal Crawford who scored 14 points was at 4.0. Points alone don't make a complete player.

Decision making

This is a team sport. When Nowitzki's shot isn't falling he still gets the ball to other players and contributes in other ways. He generally makes good decisions. Yeah…I saw the errant pass, but that doesn't happen often. Roddy Beaubois and Jason Terry need to make better decisions—all the time. Sure, the whole team needs to make better decisions, but those two in particular.

Coaching

I'm no coach. I just wonder why players who are making an impact are pulled for rest—and never get back into the game. Brandan Wright is in mind. Play'em till they signal for a rest, then get'em back in.

Just a few musings after watching the game. You can leave your opinions in the comment section.

Gerald has been a Mavericks fan since the mid 80s. There have been more good times than bad. He'll ride this team to the end.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

No comments:

Post a Comment