You know the drill. The Difference is usually a reflection on the game that was, with one bullet for every point in the final margin.
Unfortunately, this installment of The Difference will be a bit brief. An unfortunate DVR meltdown derailed my viewing of this game before it even began, making a full recap treatment a bit out of the question. But as I track down a copy of the game tape through alternative means, fill me in: What happened in this one and what does it mean?
You know the drill. The Difference is a reflection on the game that was, with one bullet for every point in the final margin.
[11:26, 1st] - Brendan Haywood catches an entry pass from Vince Carter in the high post, and awkwardly anchors the offense from the elbow. He doesn’t panic, but does immediately look to get the ball to Dirk Nowitzki, who has been waiting patiently in the right corner. Nowitzki makes the catch on the wing, and immediately moves toward Haywood for the ever unconventional 4-5 pick and roll. He slides around the pick, but there is no roll, and no dribble penetration whatsoever; tucked behind Haywood’s screen, Dirk elevates for a jumper that leaves both David West and Roy Hibbert at arm’s distance. The ball splashes through the net, and drips with confidence.
[10:52, 1st] - Carter inbounds the ball to a flaring Rodrigue Beaubois, who looks to initiate the offense from the left wing. So around an impromptu Haywood screen he goes, and upon entering the paint, Beaubois hits a revving Shawn Marion on the opposite side for a driving counter from the right. Three Pacers are drawn to him, choosing to suffocate Marion’s runner rather than stick to their respective assignments. Nowitzki, who had been waiting at the top of the key, is the beneficiary.
[8:26, 1st] - The high pick and roll is a staple of virtually every team’s offense, and the Mavs have the luxury of running that play action with a wide variety of player combinations. On this occasion, Carter looks to work to the left side of the floor with Nowitzki acting as the screener. David West hedges early to deflect that action, allowing Paul George plenty of time to recover back onto Carter. However, that pick-and-roll set has effectively functioned as a beautiful guise for a Nowitzki iso; West’s recovery left a perfect window for an uncontested entry pass, allowing Dirk a clean catch and a chance to face up without the threat of a double team. He pivots forward. He measures up West. He stunts and then rises, launching a jumper over West’s vertical extension that seeps through the net.
The All-Star Game is a fine exhibition, and a spectacle worthy of the league’s ever growing popularity. It brings entertainment. It brings some inevitable disappointment. It rolls up a weekend of fun into one easily digestible and ultimately forgettable package, with only a few exemplary dunk contest highlights enduring beyond the weekend’s end.
It’s not something worth getting all that worked up over, one way or another. The fans — who vote for the game’s starters via pure popular vote — sometimes make mistakes. The coaches — who select the game’s reserves — occasionally leave out a worthy candidate or two. These things happen, and we move on. We forget that there was ever an issue until the next year’s selection process creates a similar pseudo-controversy. It’s just the way of it, and I wouldn’t count on it changing any time soon.
That said, there is an odd sense of regret in the notion that Dirk Nowitzki shouldn’t — by any criterion — be considered an All-Star this season. It’s not that his case is weak; a case for Dirk simply cannot be made. Nowitzki hasn’t been a quality shot creator this season, nor has he been able to capitalize on looks created for him by others. His struggles have reduced him to an often ineffective complementary piece, and even with a list of prior accomplishments longer than his seven-foot frame, looking past Nowitzki’s issues this season is beyond unfair to the glut of qualified forward candidates in the West.
If Nowitzki is indeed excluded — as he should be at this point — his absence will generate more than a few headlines. Flames will be stoked, and discussions will be had. Just don’t forget that these things happen, and we move on. The cycle never changes, even if the names always do, and whether Dirk ends up an All-Star or not is only an inconsequential bit of trivia for his Wikipedia page.
You know the drill. The Difference is a reflection on the game that was, with one bullet for every point in the final margin.
Not many teams on this side of the Orlando Magic have managed to put together the kind of inescapably horrendous shooting performance that sank Dallas on Thursday. The Mavs shot just 8-for-38 in the second half, with the occasional trip to the free throw line providing the only non-JET source of reliable scoring. It would be incredibly convenient if there just one element to blame for Dallas’ offensive implosion — disrupted ball movement, a lack of effort, a mere bad shooting night, or the tilt of a team missing its star. Unfortunately, the best explanation is “all of the above.” This was a true team effort, with every possible variable ganging up on the Mavs for a perfect storm of offensive impotency. (To put things in perspective: Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, and Rodrigue Beaubois combined to shoot 28 percent from the field. Ouch.)
A testament to how bad things have become for Nowitzki (eight points, 2-15 FG, eight rebounds): The Thunder aggressively trapped the ball handler on pick-and-rolls involving Dirk. Nowitzki is certainly trying his best to revert back to the player we all know he can be, but the impossible fadeaway jumpers are finally starting to live up to their billing. That bouncing ball has no mercy for Dirk whatsoever, and it simply refuses to cooperate with Nowitzki’s efforts to provide his scoring talents to the Mavs’ championship defense. He’s still making some smart passes, working hard on defense, and clawing for rebounds, but Nowitzki isn’t suited to be a glorified hustle player. This is one of the greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen, and if anyone out there has any idea how to help him find his way home, I’m sure Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle would be all ears.
You know the drill. The Difference is a reflection on the game that was, with one bullet for every point in the final margin.
So much of this brilliant offensive outing was built on the strength of the Mavs’ multi-angle drive-and-kick game. Initial penetration would draw defensive attention and lead to a kick to the corner, which would lead to a close-out and more dribble penetration and an ensuing kick-out from the wing, which would lead to an open three-pointer above the break. That cycle of dribble action may make it seem like the Mavs were getting nowhere, but having so may consecutive opportunities to put pressure on the opposing defense is hugely beneficial. Hence the scoreboard.
Which isn’t to say that the Mavs didn’t work the ball in other, less direct ways. Dallas’ ball movement was as crisp around the perimeter as it was from the inside out; despite the fact that everyone seemed to be connecting on their three-point attempts, the Mavs willingly rotated the ball around the perimeter to fully scramble the Suns’ defense and manufacture wide open attempts. They could have settled — in a sense — for good shots rather than great ones, but the ball never stuck to a single hot hand.
The basketball gods gave the Mavericks a gift: On the second night of a back-to-back — and following a hard-fought overtime game against the San Antonio Spurs — Dallas was given a crack at the struggling Phoenix Suns. Even better: They were given a crack at the struggling Phoenix Suns sans the one player that the Suns can never afford to lose. Again, hence the scoreboard.
You know the drill. The Difference is a reflection on the game that was, with one bullet for every point in the final margin.
Rodrigue Beaubois (22 points, 9-15 FG, 3-5 3FG, seven assists, six rebounds, four blocks, two turnovers) is such a fascinating player to watch that Rick Carlisle, unprompted, crafted a persona for Beaubois as entertainer. Even with that in mind, this particular performance may be the promising guard’s finest work — as a competitor, as an entertainer, or in virtually any other role you would seek to assign him. It wasn’t Beaubois’ most prolific game nor his most significant, but never has Beaubois created such a profound impact without caveat. There are no “buts” or asterisks; Beaubois was tremendous, as he flashed every angle of his high-scoring potential with impressive drives, cuts, and jumpers. With so many elements of his game tuned to precision, Beaubois finally found his way. Mais il arriva que le petit prince, ayant longtemps marché à travers les sables, les rocs et les neiges, découvrit enfin une route. Et les routes vont toutes chez les hommes. “Bonjour, dit-il.” C’était un jardin fleuri de roses.
If I may gush further: Beaubois’ full-speed reads on pick and rolls were a thing of absolute beauty. He previously would approach such sequences as strictly a two-man game, but with experience, Beaubois’ scope has widened. He sees the baseline cutter and the open spot-up shooter — the men that, in the flurry of addressing their compromise in coverage, the defense has forgotten. Beaubois may always be a scorer first and foremost, but this was a fantastic passing display on a night when it was sorely needed.
This game completely exploded in the fourth quarter. Dallas had managed to protect a meager lead prior to the final frame, but Utah was still very much within range of a win due to their effectiveness on the interior. Then, the Mavs snatched the possibility of a Jazz win away without much notice or remorse, and what had once been a very reasonable affair grew into a walk-off victory for Dallas in a matter of minutes. It’s good to see the Mavs close out a game so dominantly, but it’s even better to see a previously struggling offense put together four consecutive quarters of 28 points or more.
Monday night will mark Dirk Nowitzki’s second missed contest as the team withholds him from game action, though in the backwards spirit of the lockout season, Nowitzki’s injury-related absence isn’t exactly what it seems. From Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas:
Carlisle said Nowitzki needs “an uninterrupted eight days of work to resolve some physical issues and conditioning issues.” He emphasized that the break is designed to help Nowitzki, who is expected to return Jan. 29 against San Antonio, get into better game shape.
The Mavs coach said Nowitzki would prefer to keep playing but coaches and training staff decided it would be better for the team if he is restricted from game activity for the next week. Carlisle stressed that “this is not a rest situation” but “quite the opposite.”
Every rehabilitation effort requires an intense workload, but seeing a star player miss games to work out some minor injuries and improve their conditioning isn’t exactly a common occurrence in the NBA. That said, the Mavs deserve a lot of credit for playing the long game, and for not overreacting to their underwhelming record with a desperate grab for wins. This team is nothing without Nowitzki, and as much as the team’s offensive struggles can be pinned to the poor performance of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Lamar Odom, or the rust of the team in general, all of those problems function as a half-truthed red herring. Clearly those other individual factors have played a role in Dallas’ offensive failures, but no single element has made a more profound impact than the lapse in offensive relevance for Dirk Nowitzki.
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