Tag Archives: OJ Mayo

Mavs Win Third Straight

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(www.mavsmoneyball.com)

The Dallas Mavericks cruised in this one, beating Minnesota 100-77. This was the 3rd consecutive win for the Mavericks, a streak they will need to extend to 6 or 7 if their playoff hopes are to be revived.

The first quarter was close, with the Mavs finishing the frame up 21-20. J.J. Barea and Ricky Rubio looked like they where going to take advantage of the Mavs poor defensive back court and keep the game competitive.

The Mavericks took the game over out of the gate in the 2nd quarter, opening the quarter with a 14-0 run. They did a decent job holding that lead until half leading by 12 at the break 56-44. Dallas had made 6 threes in the first half of the game.

That lead widened to 17 at the close of the 3rd, and 23 at the close of the game.

Dallas did a good job taking advantage of a team on the 2nd half of a back to back. They have several wins in that fashion this season, and that speaks of the professionalism of a team that might not be overly talented.

Notes:

Vince Carter had a monster night, making 6 of his first 7 shots and scoring 15 points in this first 14 minutes. Carter finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds in just 25 minutes.

Dirk had a solid night, 16 points 9 rebounds on just 13 shots in 28 minutes. A line that looks better when you realize that for much of the night Nowitzki was a passenger. He settled for jumpers all game,knowing this one was in hand early.

Elton Brand had another double-double, 10 points and 12 rebounds. He has proven a solid player and may find a home in Dallas.

Brendan Wright had 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting along with 7 rebounds and a block. Wright is starting to show some consistency. He is another free agent this summer that would be a good piece going forward.

Darren Collison played well. He has become a much better point guard under the steady hand of Rick Carlisle. His overwhelming flaw is his inability to guard other point guards. Despite his solid offensive night, the takeaway play from Collison’s night was being backed down by tiny J.J. Barea.

O.J. Mayo had only 8 points on 4-9 shooting, but stuffed the stat sheet with 8 boards and 7 assists. Mayo had a turnover in the 3rd quarter which is notable because he had gone 112 minutes on the floor without one. Mayo’s transformation under Carlisle has been stunning, and if he can find the scoring form he had to start the season, he will have Chauncey Billups’ Carlisle recommendation to thank for a big pay-day in the off-season.

What to do with OJ Mayo?

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(www.mavsmoneyball.com)

OJ Mayo has been the Mavericks’ best offensive player this season. While not consistent, Mayo’s 18 points per game will be enough to bring interest from other teams in the NBA. His $4 million dollar option for next season looks like it won’t be enough to keep him from opting out. This leads to the question, is Juice a good fit for the Mavericks going forward?

Mayo has been brilliant at times this season. He had 40 points against the Rockets, and is 21st in the NBA in scoring. His .467 shooting percentage is the best of his career. He is also shooting an astounding .425 from the 3 point line.

However, OJ has some flaws in his game. Continue reading →

500: Carlisle gets 500th career win against Blazers

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(www.bleacherreport.com)

The Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trailblazers 105-99.  The American Airlines Center proved a sanctuary as the Mavs returned home from a disheartening road trip. Rick Carlisle collected his 500th career win, becoming the 28th coach and 11th fastest in league history to do so. He also stated that this and every other game this season is the team’s “Super Bowl”.

That sense of urgency showed up against the Blazers with OJ Mayo making 4 out of his 5 1st quarter shots. Mayo had 20 of his game high 28 points at the half, and he had to, with Damian Lillard scoring 15 for the Blazers at the halfway mark. The Blazers shot the ball better in the first half, and lead the Mavericks 61-57 at halftime.  Continue reading →

It’s not working out

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(www.sportscity.com)

Darren Collison is a good NBA player. He can score and distribute at a high level. He cannot however, be a starting point guard. Collison simply doesn’t know how to sacrifice his offensive game in order to make way for more talented scorers.

It was understandable that Collison was putting up a lot of shots early in the year while Dirk was out. Most nights, he was the second or third best offensive option for the Mavericks depending on what Vince Carter’s knees felt like. Even early after Dirk’s return, the Mavs depended on Collison’s offensive aggressiveness. However, since Dirk’s return to regular minutes on January 2nd, Collison has not been able to make the transition from scoring threat to orchestrator of the offense.

Before January 2nd, Collison was taking 9.4 shots per game. OJ Mayo was taking almost 14. Since Dirk’s return, Collison has taken 9 shots per game. Mayo 13.3. That’s correct, Mayo, the shooting guard, has made more of a sacrifice in shots per game with Dirk returning than the point guard. Dirk is taking just over 2 shots less per game than his career average. For his career he shoots 16.8 shots per game; this season 14.7. Continue reading →

Turn out the Lights

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(www.espn.go.com)

Tonight, Dallas dropped their second straight game, losing 100-97 to the Golden State Warriors. Dirk Nowitzki could not go for the Mavericks as he had some sort of issue with a muscle near his thigh.

OJ Mayo and Vince Carter played well, scoring 25 and 22 respectively Shawn Marion filled the stat sheet as always with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

The Mavericks had two big runs in the 2nd half, including a 13-0 run in the 4th to tie the game at 92. They failed to ever get a lead in this game and could only manage a spinning Vince Carter 3 point attempt at the end of regulation to tie the game at 100. Carter missed, and the Mavericks lost a game they deserved to lose.

More telling than the game-ending play however, was the Mavs’ possession before, when OJ Mayo dribbled around, kicked to Collison who found Brendan Wright under the basket, who was then blocked by Andrew Bogut. The Mavs were down 2, needed a bucket, and the ball ended up in the hands of Brendan Wright. Mayo has to be decisive and either get a shot up, or create a shot for someone willing to take it. That’s what big time players do, and that’s what Mayo needs to do if he wants to eventually get paid as a big time player.

Continue reading →

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.