Nets/Mavs
1H
- Derrick Jones Jr sets up in the corner most plays which allows the defense to help on both sides of the paint
- 9:50 Lively good defense against power drive by Simmons
- Luka took a hit around the groin then hit back to back 3s forcing a Nets timeout
- Mikal Bridges had a great run in the mid-first hitting multiple jumpers over contests then a drive after Dinwiddie took Lively out of the paint on a switch
- Luka has had some impressive tough finishes with incredible touch, a feature of his game that gets under-discussed.
- Another strong first half from Tim Hardaway Jr with double digit scoring.
- Ben Simmons has been aggressive in quick offense when he sees a chance to get a post-up in an open paint.
- Spencer Dinwiddie’s 3 point shooting got hot in the 2nd quarter with 3 straight made threes. That’s the second stretch of 3 made shots the Mavs allowed, following Bridges getting 3 straight makes to change the momentum. Finding and stopping the hot hand will go a long way in stopping the Nets, who have no all stars.
- Mavs gifted the Nets too many high quality shots with reckless turnovers (8 for the half).
2H
- The Nets missed a few straight jumpers in a row mid third quarter, but it had more to do with unlucky bounces than good Mavs D
- Luka has forced his way to his spots and realized he needs to take the game over. Interested to see how he plays in the fourth quarter, in terms of 3PA vs layup attempts.
- When the Nets make a 3, it’s not isolated. They get hot and score in bunches. The Mavs have to be more committed to containing the 3 point ball in the 4th quarter. Nets are shooting 48% from 3 after 3 quarters.
- Great offensive foul drawn by Josh Green 7:33
- Mavs weren’t aggressive enough going to the rim without a Nets big when Luka sat early in the 4th quarter
- Lots of jump shooting success for Brooklyn at every level of the floor. Wouldn’t shock me if Brooklyn is shooting over 50% on jump shots from both 2 & 3
- 7:06 good D by Powell on Bridges iso
- 6:31 rare Maxi Kleber spot up drive, Dwight Powell tip in
- Dwight Powell go-ahead 3(!!!)
- Luka 4:12 forces turnover against Bridges
- Kidd might be riding THJ too long. Tim Hardaway has struggled in both games in the second half.
- Luka and Kyrie had an insane usage with 0 combined turnovers (written at 2:20 mark 4Q)
- Josh Green had back to back overly aggressive closeouts on Royce O’Neale. First ended in a make, second a shot clock violation.
- This is an MVP performance by Luka Doncic. He’s found ways to revive the offense as needed and played clutch defense.
- Cam Thomas got Green off-balance for a jumper 0:50
- Luka hits the 2nd or 3rd best shot of his career with a 3 point hook shot over a double team
- Fantastic defense/shot contest by Grant Williams on Cam Thomas
Takeaways:
- Josh Green struggles to heavily impact the game when his shot isn’t falling. Defense was iffy, had some reckless drives and the jump passes are becoming more predictable for defenses.
- Kyrie and Luka combine for 66 points and 13 assists on 42 shots with ZERO turnovers. Fantastic ball security in the second half, which speaks volumes to coaching adjustments to emphasize ball security.
- Speaking of coaching, Kidd went with a bold strategy to essentially rest Lively for the second half until 4 seconds left in the game to defend an inbound. He opted for Dwight Powell, who played extremely well for his role. It was a good decision because Lively’s best impact right now stems from rim action, which the Mavs did not need defensively, and the Mavs were mostly going for isolation drives to the rim without many rollers. Powell even hit a go-ahead 3, but also followed the boards well and had passable perimeter defense.
- The Nets are well-coached and have a unique trio of scorers without any one alpha in Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Cam Thomas. They overachieved a bit with 6 Dinwiddie 3s, but the principle of the offense with a small-ball group is easy to beat mediocre defenses with.
- It’s a small sample size, but Luka Doncic is bought in for defense through that sample size. He made clutch defensive steals, wasn’t lazy patrolling no-man’s-land, and motivated his teammates to tighten up as well on defense.
- Lonnie Walker gave the Mavs problems on the perimeter. They didn’t challenge him to attack off the catch, which led to 5-9 shooting including 4-6 from 3. The Mavs need to challenge players to attack closeouts more, but also the Nets have a promising reclamation project in Walker for bench firepower.
- Cam Thomas is someone I really liked out of LSU because of his scoring ability and it has translated. I don’t know how much a winning team will want him to have this much scoring volume (19 shots to 2 assists), but the Nets are the right spot for him at the moment. He has developed more winning habits as he’s matured.
- Tim Hardaway Jr was given too long of a leash. His first half heroics struck again like they did in game 1 at San Antonio, but in the second half he yet again went cold. It wasn’t just misses, it was reckless drives into traffic, forcing him to lose the ball out of bounds for example. When his shot isn’t falling, his impact is minimal.
- Maxi Kleber is still passive. Only 3 shots, none of them 3s (his bread and butter), Maxi needs a game of multiple 3s made to get his groove back. Since 2020, his confidence has been consistently shaky and it has never recovered. The Mavs need confident Kleber to maximize his defense & off-ball impact.
- I liked the Seth Curry minutes off the bench. Only 9 minutes, I think he has found himself to be a good combo guard next to Luka or Kyrie with bench units due to playmaking out of traps and against zone defenses, as well as spot-up shooting ability. His minutes will also be cut when Jaden Hardy returns.
- This was a bad matchup for Dereck Lively. He made the most of the opportunities he had, but the Mavs made the right decision to match a more small-ball approach that the Nets ran out. Brooklyn had no center with Claxton out, and Lively needs to play against another big man to truly win his minutes and play to his best strengths. Defensively, he can play more at the rim as a helper, and offensively he can be a strong roller while Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving abuse P&R defenses and are caught napping, leading to Lively lobs.
- Derrick Jones Jr in the starting lineup feels like an early-season experiment that will die out after a few games. His impact seems minimal, and hasn’t gotten a chance to shine with his strengths: cutting/dunking & locking down on defense. So far, he has rotated well, but that’s mostly it for his defensive impact. Teams sag off of him, crowding the paint for drivers without much shooting threat.
Nuggets/Grizzlies
1H
- Ziaire Williams has looked confident. Missed a couple of open passes to teammates for shots, but through the first 5 minutes he has looked confident in getting to his spots in front of defenders
- Jaren Jackson’s blocking has made Jokic think twice, something not many defenders can do to faze the reigning Finals MVP
- Interesting lineup for Memphis: Rose/Smart/Konchar/Roddy/Tillman
- All the makings of a rough game for David Roddy; fumbled a drive and fell, then bobbled what looked like an unexpected catch attempt in transition from LaRavia for a turnover
- Derrick Rose’s aggressiveness has been big early on. Offense stagnated to start the game, but has drastically changed since he came into the game; lots of drives including a foul drawn
- 0:53 fantastic post D by Zeke Nnaji
- Peyton Watson had an All-Defense caliber defensive play with 2 blocks on Rose to end the quarter
- Konchar held his own as a mouse in the house on a drive from Zeke Nnaji to get the block at the rim
- 9:34 JJJ bullies Nnaji for an easy post score
- Big Reggie Jackson game so far. Jump shooting over contests and had a solid drive against Tillman.
- Zeke Nnaji looks poised to take a jump, even if it’s not the flashy type. He’s flirted with being a 1st/2nd big off the bench, but this year he looks more confident in the small sample size + preseason to be the full-time backup big as the first big off the bench.
- Marcus Smart airballed his first shot, a pullup jumper, but has come back more confident in his second stint with a couple of jumpers including a 3 over a long contest.
- Another David Roddy blunder at 4:19 2Q with a late rotation leading to an and-1 for Aaron Gordon (missed the free throw).
- 4:07 Marcus Smart nutmegged Aaron Gordon for the pass to Rose but he missed the 3
- 3:44 Rose no look pass to Roddy but miss, then 3:33 Rose gets a flashy drive & kick assist to Smart.
- Jamal Murray’s ‘hide and seek’ P&R ability has been key in his minutes. Grizzlies P&R defense has been confused against his screens, leading to a 16 point half on 50% shooting half.
2H
- 8:10 Bane assist; started by confident pushing tempo by Ziaire, Bane nice crossover, JJJ spot-up 3
- 6:41 Ziaire Williams P&R with JJJ
- 5:19 Marcus Smart P&R assist
- 1:05 3Q Nnaji block, poke board, then steals the ball off a loose ball for possession
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson in ways took turns getting hot from 3. When the secondary guys get hot like that in addition to average games from their stars, Denver is tough to beat.
Takeaways:
- Extreme off-night in what has been a rough October overall for David Roddy, hopefully that’s the low and he bounces back Saturday vs Washington.
- The Grizzlies hanging in while their best scorer in Desmond Bane had an extreme off-night too (4 of 17) says a lot about the toughness of this Grizzlies team. There’s no such thing as a good loss, but this is something Memphis can hang their hat on knowing despite playing a rocky offensive game they still were in the game until the final seconds.
- Reggie Jackson played like a premier backup, and when that happens Denver is extremely difficult to beat.
- Zeke Nnaji looks poised to make a jump in productivity, even if the minutes are not allocated to make a full jump. He looks confident, more aware, and knows how to use his body for his advantage.
- Turnovers cost Memphis in the 4th quarter. Controlling the ball, especially from non-primary ball-handlers (13 non-guard turnovers) is key for Memphis against a weak Washington defense.
- Derrick Rose looked like a key distributor last night for Memphis. Had some inefficiencies which led to a little ups & downs, but overall was a positive for his teammates.
- This was a good defensive matchup for Jokic, which somewhat surprised me given JJJ’s uniqueness. Jokic seemed intimidated early by Jaren Jackson’s defense, but eventually got his way like he normally does.
Magic/Blazers
- Jalen Suggs thrived in transition, going 3-3 on his first 3 shots, all coming in transition and attacking the rim. Last year Suggs only shot 54% at the rim in transition, but upping that number will go a long way for Suggs’ NBA career. Both of his assists against Portland also came in transition.
- Really rough game for Jerami Grant. His game has often been big numbers on bad teams, but I worry he may hinder some of Scoot Henderson’s development in a way, forcing bad shots and making overall poor decisions too often for a forward that can run offense.
- Deandre Ayton and Malcolm Brogdon carved the Magic up on rebounds. They found holes when the Magic made hard contests to find easy putback opportunities. The Magic can sometimes play too hard on contests, not allowing for recovery to a loose ball.
- The Magic haven’t been able to make Joe Ingles fit into the offense. He doesn’t look to score much, almost to a fault. It’s early so this can easily be corrected, but not an ideal start to Ingles’ career in Orlando as the only free agent signing this summer.
- The Magic ran Paolo Banchero off-ball in this game more than most of his rookie season games. This allowed him to attack with a head of steam on the catch.
- The Magic are moving Wendell Carter to jump shooting too much; almost half of his shots are jumpers, whereas the holes in Portland’s defense were on cuts. Carter can shoot, but the first look should be for cuts and finding holes, rather than standing on the 3 point line.
- Despite 3-12 shooting and a 2:5 assist:turnover ratio, I liked the processes from Scoot Henderson. His P&R prowess will come with age (in terms of efficiency and production). He knows when and how to control the tempo of the possession and identifies when his defender and the defense behind him is collapsing and off-balance. He was intelligently aggressive without being reckless, and was unselfish with the ball. Defensively, there was also some promising aggression but he was a bit overly aggressive, leading to some fouls and being out of position. Ultimately though, the idea is right to play hard on defense and have a wall behind him as a perimeter defender.
- Another strong scoring game for Cole Anthony off the bench. His jump shooting has steadily improved each year, and this year is off to a hot start, giving the Magic hope that this year is no different. His ability to play both on-ball and off-ball without losing a step will go a long way for Orlando.
- Lastly, I am curious to see when the Magic shake up the rotation. No team uses the same healthy rotation on game 1 as game 82, and with two lottery picks on the bench, as well as Caleb Houstan and Chuma Okeke, the Magic should start tinkering with spot minutes for those 4 in place of someone who is struggling to play their role at a high level. The Magic face the Lakers next game, which may require creative gameplanning.
