Tag Archives: Dirk

Tonight’s the night

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(www.faniq.com)

Two things we know about the Big German: he has been less than conditioned this season, and he responds to a good insult.

Dirk has had a hard time getting going in the 15 games since his return from preseason knee surgery. One of the NBA’s preeminent scorers is averaging only 13.9 points per game. He has been taking less shots, making a lower percentage of those shots, and getting to the free throw line less than any time since his rookie season. The four-day layoff may not be much help to any of the other streaking Mavericks, but it should do wonders for Dirk. His legs have been missing all season, and I fully expect to see the best version of Nowitzki tonight.

Last year, when Dirk found himself in a similar early season struggle, it was a barb from Charles Barkley that seemed to get Nowitzki going. He found his form directly after Sir Charles claimed that father time never loses when discussing Dirk’s poor play. We saw another example of Dirk turning insult to motivation when he scored 50 on Tim Thomas after Thomas thought it smart to blow Dirk a kiss. Apparently Germans don’t appreciate emasculating humor. This season, Dirk misses his first all-star game in 10 years, and even for the humble Nowitzki, the pain of that will ding his ego.

These two factors combine to tell me Dirk Nowitzki will break the 30 point barrier for the first time this season tonight against the Spurs. At the end of the season, we’ll look back at this game as the game where Dirk turned it around, and the rest of the NBA took notice. 

Oh, and Tim Duncan being absent doesn’t hurt.

 

Back on Track

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Vernon Bryant/dallasnews.com

The Dallas Mavericks got back to their winning ways after a tough overtime loss Friday night by handing Orlando a 111-105 defeat. Darren Collison hit a giant 3 in the closing minute and Dirk and OJ Mayo hit big free throws down the stretch.

Dirk still didn’t look himself with only 6 points through the first 3 quarters. He equalled that amount in the 4th despite sitting out a large chunk in the middle of the 4th as it looked like Rick Carlise was trying to avoid putting him back in the game. Dirk’s search for a big game continues as the Mavs return home against the Spurs on Friday.

Shawn Marion led the Mavs in a game in which seven Mavs were in double figures. Marion had a monster night with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Matrix had a vintage game and has been playing exceptionally well in the Mavs’ recent change of fortunes.

All five Mavericks starters played well after a slow start which found them down 14 points in the 1st.  The starters were accompanied well by Vince Carter and Elton Brand, who have also been major catalysts in the Mavs’ season revival.

Mike James is starting to show the reasons he was out of the NBA. He shoots slightly more than he should and isn’t quite as stable as Derrick Fisher was running the offense. Darren Collison has done a good job capitalizing on this, and may win his closing point guard role back.

This Mavericks team is playing well, and may be on the cusp of a playoff push. However, that 13 of 15 losing streak to end 2012 and begin 2013 may be too big a mountain to climb. It feels like if they can get to .500, then Dirk will get well and carry them back to the playoffs. Perhaps you can’t keep a good franchise down.

Too Much

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(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports)

Kevin Durant was simply too much for the streaking Mavericks as he put up 52 points in a 117-114 overtime win for the Thunder. KD might be be the best player in the NBA, he almost certainly the leagues greatest scorer. The man he stole his turnaround fading jumper from, may be fading from the leagues highest platue. 

Dirk Nowtkzki had 3 points through the first 3 quarters of this game, and looked terrible. I was set to write the father time never loses post and send a copy to Charles Barkley in hope that Chuck could once again rev up the big german. But always on time, Dirk scored 12 in the 4th to get the Mavs to overtime. Although it took a big time shot from OJ Mayo, coming off a handoff screen to bury a quick trigger 3 to tie the game at 105.

Both of these teams have major flaws, The Mavericks cant rebound. They gave up 18 offensive rebounds to the Thunder. They cant guard players of Durant or Westbrooks caliber. Westbrook had 31 to go with Durants 52. And it looks like Marions days as an elite stopper may be behind him. (Maybe an unfair knee jerk after this game.) Dirk is startling to play with the energy he once had, but the longer this goes, its fair to question if he will ever be the efficient scorer he once was.

The Thunder also have issues, not that they need it, but they have no scoring help behind Westbrook and Durant since Harden was traded. Martin is capable, but doesn’t force a lot of shots knowing KD and Westbrook are better options. They also seem to have trouble closing games, in truth the Mavs didn’t deserve to have 2 chances at this game, but Oklahoma City left the door open. This trait came back to haunt them against the Heat in the finals last year. They may be too good for it to affect them against any other team.

Lost in all this is Vince Carters vintage night. Vince had 29 points on 17 shots, and even had a couple of half-man, half-amazing dunks on the night. Carter has looked much more spry this season, and its a shame that to this point, Dirk and Marion have not been to match his resurgence.

The Mavs biggest problem is point guard. Darren Collison is a talented scorer, but he can’t run an offense, and he can’t guard his position. Mike James is playing all the meaningful minutes, and he’s on the 2nd of 2, 10 day contracts. James didn’t play that much better, as he hit one big three, but took another early in the shot clock at the end of overtime, when he has got to find away to get the ball to Dirk.

The Mavs, 4 game win streak is over, and age caught up with them against two superstars in their prime, but this team has fight. They also have a good collection of talent. The losing 13 of 15 earlier in the season may prove too much to overcome, but if they keep putting out efforts like this, and Dirk can stave off father time another year, they should make it interesting at the end of the season.

That’s 3

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Jerome Miron/US PRESSWIRE

It all seems much brighter now.  The Dallas Mavericks won their third straight game against the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-98.  This game was the Darren Collison Show, as he seems to be becoming much more comfortable in Rick Carlise’s flow offense. Collison scored 23 points on 7-11 shooting and added 9 assists. He was a much better facilitator tonight than he’s been for much of the season while maintaining his aggressiveness. I do worry about his future with the Mavericks as he still has not found a way to make Dirk Nowitzki’s life any easier.

Dirk did not look good on the offensive end tonight, scoring 10 points on 5-12 shooting. Perhaps even more telling, he did not attempt a single free throw in 33 minutes. It wasn’t all bad for Nowitzki, as he did have 6 assists, ran the court well and looked pretty active defensively. Bob Ortegal made the point that he thinks Dirk is setting the tone moving the ball. That theory is lent credence by the fact that the flow offense didn’t work without him.

The Mavericks had 33 assists tonight on 46 field goals. The ball movement was certainly as good as it’s been since the departure of Jason Kidd. The major beneficiary of that ball movement was Elton Brand. Brand scored 20 points on 10 of 13 shooting and looked like the player the Mavs had hoped for when they claimed him off the amnesty waiver wire.

Two players on the Timberwolves that the Mavericks should covet are J.J. Barea and Nikola Pekovic. Barea took out his frustrations of not being resigned after the 2011 title by scoring 21 points to go along with 5 assists in just 26 minutes. Pekovic is a rare breed in the NBA as a good rebounding, solid defending, high percentage shooting center. He had 20 points on 11 shots and 12 rebounds. This surely is a player that Donnie Nelson dreams about at night.

OJ Mayo had 20 points and 9 assists on the night. Mayo has really picked up his game with crisp passing. His turnovers were killing Dallas two weeks ago, but he seems to really have worked to correct that issue and is now moving the ball the way Carlise requires from a shooting guard.

While Dallas also caught Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back and they allowed them to get back into the game after it looked like they had them put away, this game was impressive. Even without Kevin Love, the Timberwolves are a good team, and three wins in a row shouldn’t be scoffed at by this year’s version of the Mavericks. The mountain now seems a little less steep, and your Mavs look a little more capable.

-Travis Kvaal

 

Blowout

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Dirk Nowitzki Big 3

(photo by Streetball.com

The Dallas Mavericks have put two wins together for the first time in 2013. With a 104-83 victory that wasn’t even that close, the Mavs dominated this game almost from start to finish. The Grizzlies seemed sluggish from the start and Dallas pulled away at the end of the first quarter despite Dirk Nowitzki only taking one shot in the quarter.

The game would pick up for Dirk who had an incredibly efficient game with 17 points on 5 of 8 shooting in just 28 minutes. Add to that 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Dirk is really beginning to look like himself. His effort and energy on the defensive end is picking up as well. One assist in particular was impressive, as he got switched on a smaller defender, pump faked, spun, and spotted Shawn Marion all by himself as Marion’s defender had reacted to Dirk getting in the lane.

Marion had 20 points on 13 shots, and played maybe his most productive offensive game of the year. Chris Kaman also had a great offensive game. After starting off slowly making only 1 of his first 5 shots, he had a stretch in the 3rd quarter where he scored 8 straight points and completely dominated Zach Randolph. Kaman finished with 10 points and was 1 of 6 Mavericks in double figures.

Also making an appearance in this game for the first time was a sustained period of great ball movement within the Mavs’ flow offense. Still, too often the ball was pounded in the hands of Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo, but it seems they are slowly realizing that offense is easier if they allow their offensively blessed teammates to touch the ball. It also seems that Collison and Mayo are learning that it’s their responsibility to get to the rim since the older guys are less eager to risk their bodies.

It would be nice to get carried away and say that maybe after 38 games this team has figured out what it needs to do to win. Prudently, though, we should remember that Memphis was on the second night of a back-to-back and they have struggled in that situation at 3-4. This was a good win for the Mavericks, but much more is needed before we can afford to believe in this basketball team.

Travis Kvaal

 

Finally

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(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

 

Travis Kvaal

The Dallas Mavericks finally won a game.  After falling down 17 points in the 3rd quarter, Dallas was able to battle back to a 117-112 overtime victory in Sacramento.  Dirk Nowitzki is not yet himself, shooting 7 for 21 and just 1 for 5 from behind the 3 point line on his way to 17 points.  His effort was there though with 9 rebounds and a huge block late in the game.

The real players for the Mavericks this evening were O.J. Mayo, who spent the entire 4th quarter getting to the rim in transition, scoring 24 to go along with 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Vince Carter, who scored 23 on 13 shots, and Shawn Marion, who turned in a vintage performance, with 19 points 10 rebounds and 2 steals.

In winning this game they broke a 10 game losing streak in overtime games.  Dallas also broke a 4 game losing streak overall, and are hopefully coming out of a streak where they’ve lost 13 of their last 15.

Not to be overlooked in this game were the contributions of Mike James and Bernard James. Sarge completely changed the way Boogie Cousins was playing in 12 minutes late in the game, and had one huge put-back bucket. When Mike James was in the game in the 4th quarter, the Mavericks did not turn the ball over.

Also not to be overlooked: Darren Collison couldn’t play successfully with Dirk if Jason Kidd sent him a manual.  He is the worst good basketball player on the planet.  The jump pass at the end of overtime was a laugh out loud moment, but I didn’t see Carlise laughing as he pulled him in favor of James.

This Mavs team is bad, terrible defensively,  but tonight ended up all right, and 14 wins feels a bit better than 13.