WCF Game 3: Warriors win 109-100

This has been a fun playoff run, but it’s looking like a long shot for the season to make it to next weekend. Some sad thoughts after tonight’s game:

No-look bummer: Tonight at 6:40 in the first quarter Luka made a ridiculous no-look pass over his head, from under the basket to Finney-Smith in the corner. And he missed. My count may be off, but I think that may be the third over-the-head no-look pass for a missed three this series.

Can’t get real stops: The Mavericks’ “I hope you miss!” defense is clearly not getting the job done down the stretch of these games. The Warriors have missed some late-game shots, for sure, but it feels like they’re getting good looks every time, while mostly forcing the Mavericks into tougher shots. As Charles Barkley keeps saying, if you hit enough threes, it might not matter. And for two series, that’s what the Mavericks did. But are they good enough to do that four series in a row? Doesn’t look that way.

Missing Hardaway: Seems to me the Mavericks are really missing Tim Hardaway Jr. right now. On nights he gets hot, he could steal you a playoff game. But more imporant is that with him out,. the Mavericks have to give rotation minutes to guys who really shouldn’t be in a playoff rotation, at least with the Mavericks’ mix of players: Powell, Bertans, Ntilikina, Green. Each of those guys has some valuable skills, but each one has liabilities so big that they ultimately hurt you most nights. But without THJ, you don’t really have an alternative. 

A Team of Specialists: The other problem is that the Mavericks don’t have a single two-way player on their roster. Every player is either in the game for their offense (Luke, Brunson, Dinwiddie) or their defense (Bullock, Finney-Smith, Kleber). It’s a big strength that those three defenders can be killer three-point shooters on a good night, which makes them a nice fit with Luka. It does give the Mavericks a chance to win pretty much any game. But can you imagine if you had a guy with, say, Brunson’s offense and Bullock’s defense? Then you could have three offensive players AND three defensive players on the floor at the same time. Instead, the Mavericks are forced to choose between 2 and 3, or else 3 and 2. That’s fine until you face a team like the Warriors, where Wiggins can guard, hit the 3, and get to the rim. If you hit your threes, you might win anyway. Without them, it’s really tough to compete against he best for 7 games.