Mavericks (6-3) at Celtics (7-1) Game #9 11/11/19

[gpap]

Also Brown has now played six games. He's gone or 25+ in three of them.

Smart player, attacking the basket. He’s playing the way Tatum should be playing.

[Green Bones]

Great win! I felt like this would be a loss tonight with the Hayward loss, but this team is showing grit and grinded it out. Love me some Kemba, he is just the type of leader this team needed. Hopefully he’s feeling better tomorrow after that collision.

The bench really came through tonight. Really picked up the slack with Tatum’s dud, but he’ll bounce back fine.

And JB. Man. He’s looking like a killer. Flashes of MJ. I see big things coming from him.

[Somebody]

lol at whoever downplayed Doncic earlier in the thread. Guy may very well already be the best player in the NBA.

I assume you meant me since I scoffed at the Bird comparisons. I mean I look at him as a Magic/LeBron type, is that called downplaying him?

Doncic is very Bird like in the way he plays and he's only 20.

Yeah I disagree with that. I think he functions closer to Magic and LeBron than Bird, I just don't see the Bird comparison at all unless you're just going with looks.

[gpap]

Kemba, Jaylen, and Wannamaker, and Javonte all step up nicely.

R Will definitely happier when Hayward is out there, and his defense still has a ways to go.

I like Rob Williams defense. Looked fine to me in the first quarter. Problem is Brad thinks he’s still coaching Butler.

[ETNCeltics]

lol at whoever downplayed Doncic earlier in the thread. Guy may very well already be the best player in the NBA.

I assume you meant me since I scoffed at the Bird comparisons. I mean I look at him as a Magic/LeBron type, is that called downplaying him?

Not sure if it was you or not, but yeah, Bird comparisons are absolutely legit, and IMO, Larry Legend is right there with Jordan as the best player I ever saw. Doncic is 20 years old. Bird wasn't even in the league til he was 23. Doncic might not be an elite defender, but he's no liability.

Little doubt in my mind he's the best player in the league right now. We double and tripled him all night, played him with one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and he still lit us up and kept an otherwise mediocre team right there til the last 3 min or so.

I'm glad we only see him one more time this season.

[Somebody]

Great win! I felt like this would be a loss tonight with the Hayward loss, but this team is showing grit and grinded it out. Love me some Kemba, he is just the type of leader this team needed. Hopefully he’s feeling better tomorrow after that collision.

The bench really came through tonight. Really picked up the slack with Tatum’s dud, but he’ll bounce back fine.

And JB. Man. He’s looking like a killer. Flashes of MJ. I see big things coming from him.

But people were saying that 107M for four years of Jaylen is an overpay! great to see Jaylen winning people over

[Atzar]

Theis has made our center weakness look like... not much of a weakness.  He and R Williams are playing very well for us.  And if we can get Kanter back on the court, I like our ability to match up against most opposing centers. 

We need to clean our glass a bit better, but that's not all on the center.  Our perimeter guys need to do a better job of boxing out and helping on the glass at times, but also sometimes the ball just bounces to the other team.  That's one of the side-effects of the three point era - tons of long rebounds that can go anywhere.

[tenn_smoothie]

Do you think Tatum melted a little knowing he would be expected to produce more consistently with Hayward out ? Seems last year he was thrown off because the ball wasn't in his hands as much (he had a point then), but now he is one of our top guns. Hope he can handle it. Please don't turn into Jeff Green.

[ETNCeltics]

Kemba, Jaylen, and Wannamaker, and Javonte all step up nicely.

R Will definitely happier when Hayward is out there, and his defense still has a ways to go.

I like Rob Williams defense. Looked fine to me in the first quarter. Problem is Brad thinks he’s still coaching Butler.

JMO, but DAL kept him on the perimeter and got him matched up against Doncic a few times and I think Brad trusts Theis in those cases more. Hard to argue with how well Theis played.

[liam]

lol at whoever downplayed Doncic earlier in the thread. Guy may very well already be the best player in the NBA.

I assume you meant me since I scoffed at the Bird comparisons. I mean I look at him as a Magic/LeBron type, is that called downplaying him?

Doncic is very Bird like in the way he plays and he's only 20.

Yeah I disagree with that. I think he functions closer to Magic and LeBron than Bird, I just don't see the Bird comparison at all unless you're just going with looks.

It's Luka's all around game and court vision that remind me of Bird. He's a much better shooter than Magic or LeBron at 20. I don't think Luka looks anything like Bird.

[Somebody]

lol at whoever downplayed Doncic earlier in the thread. Guy may very well already be the best player in the NBA.

I assume you meant me since I scoffed at the Bird comparisons. I mean I look at him as a Magic/LeBron type, is that called downplaying him?

Not sure if it was you or not, but yeah, Bird comparisons are absolutely legit, and IMO, Larry Legend is right there with Jordan as the best player I ever saw. Doncic is 20 years old. Bird wasn't even in the league til he was 23. Doncic might not be an elite defender, but he's no liability.

Little doubt in my mind he's the best player in the league right now. We double and tripled him all night, played him with one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and he still lit us up and kept an otherwise mediocre team right there til the last 3 min or so.

I'm glad we only see him one more time this season.

I'm not questioning his quality, he's breaking the league right now at the age of twenty. I'm just questioning the Bird comparison - why is a youngster who functions as an on ball maestro in the mould of legends like LeBron/Magic (and even Jordan) is compared to a legend who blended efficient volume scoring and passing together into a mainly off ball profile in Bird?

[gpap]

Great win! I felt like this would be a loss tonight with the Hayward loss, but this team is showing grit and grinded it out. Love me some Kemba, he is just the type of leader this team needed. Hopefully he’s feeling better tomorrow after that collision.

The bench really came through tonight. Really picked up the slack with Tatum’s dud, but he’ll bounce back fine.

And JB. Man. He’s looking like a killer. Flashes of MJ. I see big things coming from him.

But people were saying that 107M for four years of Jaylen is an overpay! great to see Jaylen winning people over

He’s won me over. And has a very mature presence. You called it my man.

[hpantazo]

I was disappointed in Porzingis. He looks like the ~35 year old version of Zadrunas Ilgauskas out there.

[ETNCeltics]

lol at whoever downplayed Doncic earlier in the thread. Guy may very well already be the best player in the NBA.

I assume you meant me since I scoffed at the Bird comparisons. I mean I look at him as a Magic/LeBron type, is that called downplaying him?

Doncic is very Bird like in the way he plays and he's only 20.

Yeah I disagree with that. I think he functions closer to Magic and LeBron than Bird, I just don't see the Bird comparison at all unless you're just going with looks.

It's Luka's all around game and court vision that remind me of Bird. He's a much better shooter than Magic or LeBron at 20. I don't think Luka looks anything like Bird.

I don't see how anyone doesn't see the comparison. Insane court vision. Ability to make shots with contact and off balance. Deadly from anywhere on the floor. I've thought since the first Euro highlights I saw of him he was a combo guard version of Bird.

[Atzar]

Do you think Tatum melted a little knowing he would be expected to produce more consistently with Hayward out ? Seems last year he was thrown off because the ball wasn't in his hands as much (he had a point then), but now he is one of our top guns. Hope he can handle it. Please don't turn into Jeff Green.

Not at all.  I liked his shot selection tonight, with a few exceptions.  Mostly attacking the paint and taking open jumpers.  Being aggressive.

Sometimes you just can't hit dirt with a shovel.  Some players offset this by being able to get to the line, but Tatum hasn't developed that part of his game yet.  But if he keeps taking shots like these, I feel like regression to the mean will take care of him. 

He'll be okay.  And I say this as a frequent critic of Tatum's game.