The Dallas Mavericks They become a team with one of the most negative traits that can exist in the NBA: predictability. A set where roles and functions appear etched in the fireno room for surprises or unexpected nights.
with his own Thursday’s 113-105 loss to the Wizards without Bradley Beal or Kristaps Porzingisthe Texans remained Point 6-5 (Facundo Campazzo played just 10 seconds). A record that, while not worrying, is well below expectations for a team that has just reached the Conference Finals in the previous campaign.
The loss to the Wizards featured a special star: Kyle Kuzma. The former Lakers forward had one of his best nights as a pro. I ended up with 36 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and a 14-26 from the fieldbreaking the game open in the final period with a burst that broke the parity he had managed up until then.
One such performance of Kuzma is the perfect reminder of this lack of surprise which the Mavericks have. Exactly the player Dallas needs and doesn’t have on its roster.
How is this? Simple. The Mavericks have four players with scoring ability: Luka Doncic, light years ahead of the rest, followed by Spencer Dinwiddie, Christian Wood (currently injured) and Tim Hardaway Jr. None of the four provide solutions defensively (and almost all are weak on that side), but night after night they charge the Texan attack.
The problem is absolute lack of rating risk from role players. A nickname that can easily be placed on Kuzma, beyond games like tonight where he looks like a figurehead. Dallas defenders defend. And nothing more.
Dorian Finney-Smith barely above 8 points per game, even playing 33 minutes per game. Josh Green, Maxi Kleber, Reggie Bullock and JaVale McGee does not exceed 6 units. Kleber and Bullock are particularly notorious: between them they accumulate a few 57 minutes per game, but they combine for just 10 goals.
Whatever quintet they have on the court, the Mavericks’ opponents barely have to worry about two or three players.
And it’s not just the averages, it’s the regularity within that small contribution. Because it’s not like any of them go from 15 point nights to 0 like those hideous subs who on a good day can win a game by themselves. No, Dallas’ role players are, almost without exception, a non-factor when it comes to attacking the rim.
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What separates the Mavericks from the best teams in the competition (among other things) is their lack of them role players and good defenders who, like Kuzma, can be instrumental on the opposite end. Not every night, because otherwise he’d be a superstar, but with some frequency.
That championship Mavericks team in 2010-2011 had that figure in someone like Sean Marion. A classic double directioned who, although his main role was a defender, managed to be a threat and a player to score. Instead, this his present absolute passivity of Finney-Smith, Kleber, Bullock and company makes Dallas a Doncic one man, at most, along with one or two of his sidekicks.
And although when Luca is on fire, he may be enough to beat a large portion of the competition’s teams to take the next step up the western ladder They have to somehow find that piece that breaks the mold and don’t get bogged down in just one specific role.
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I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
On the evening of December 25 and the night of December 26, five Christmas games were traditionally held as part of the NBA regular season.
The most important match of the match day was played in Oklahoma, where the Thunder hosted San Antonio.
The home team started the game better and were ahead for most of the first quarter, but they missed a move 0:11 into the quarter, allowing Spurs to take the lead 41:36. Oklahoma was unable to take the lead after that, but San Antonio maintained its lead by keeping the game under control and eventually won 117-102.
The Spurs have won all three games against the Thunder this season, while Oklahoma has lost just two of the other 28 games.
The most productive player of the match was Fox, who brought 29 points to San Antonio, while Vembanyama also scored a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lakers played Houston at home and suffered a crushing defeat.
The fate of the match was decided in the first quarter, when the Rockets won by 12 points (25:37). Afterwards, they increased their advantage by completely controlling the course of the match and eventually won with a score of 119:96.
For Houston, Thompson scored 26 points and Shengyun had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Denver and Minnesota closed out game day.
The first half of the match ended in a draw. Neither team managed to take a lead of more than 9 points, and Denver entered the big break with a 2-point lead at 57:55. In the third quarter, the Nuggets made an attack of 6:0 at the beginning and 10:2 in the middle, reaching a 16-point lead, and at the end of the quarter they were ahead +15 – 90:78. The Timberwolves did not give up and made a 16:2 move midway through the fourth quarter, reaching a lead of 107:108. This gave fans a tense ending; Edwards hit a three-pointer 2 seconds before the siren, sending the game into overtime at 115:115. And there Jokic played a decisive role and scored 18 points in 5 minutes, allowing the Nuggets to win 142:138.
Jokic scored 56 points in the NBA on Christmas Day, falling just four shy of Bernard King’s record. Nikola also recorded a triple-double with 16 rebounds and 15 assists. Murray had a double-double with 35 points and 10 assists.
NBA. Regular season. Christmas Day, 25-26 December
New York – Cleveland – 126:124 (23:38, 37:20, 24:38, 42:28)
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
14 games of the NBA regular season were played on the night of December 23-24.
“Utah” hosted “Memphis” and in the middle of the second quarter they were ahead by 15 points at 50:65, but then they made a move at 17:4 and returned to the match 67:69. In the third quarter, the Jazz managed to take the lead with 71:69 and the game was leveled, but the Grizzlies added points at the end of the quarter and took the lead again with 109:101 and then calmly maintained the advantage with 137:128.
Svyatoslav Mikhayyuk The player, who was in Utah’s top 5 and played 22 minutes, recorded 9 points (4/4 free throws, 1/4 two-pointers, 1/5 three-pointers), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul.
The most productive player of the match was Aldama, who scored 37 points for Memphis, while Spencer also recorded a double-double, adding 11 points and 13 assists.
In the main match of game day, San Antonio unexpectedly defeated Oklahoma.
During the three quarters, there was an even contest in which no team could gain a lead of more than 8 points, and the leader changed 16 times. The fate of the match winner was decided in the fourth quarter, and the 9:0 attack of the home team was effective in this, and then the advantage reached 12 points (98:86). San Antonio then controlled the course of the game and confidently cruised to victory, gaining an advantage of 130:110.
The top scorer of the winning team was Johnson, who scored 25 points, while Castle scored 24 points for Spurs.
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
Version Forbes announced its annual ranking of the world’s most expensive sports teams.
NFL franchise Dallas Cowboys, estimated to be worth $13 billion, has led the pack for the ninth year in a row.
While NBA Golden State Warriors ranked second with a valuation of $11 billion, another representative of American football, Los Angeles Rams (10.5 billion), was in the top three.
The top 10, as last year, includes only American teams from the NFL and NBA. There are seven NFL clubs in the top 10 overall, which Forbes analysts attribute to the league’s large-scale television contracts.
Among football clubs, Real Madrid remains the most expensive – the Spanish giant ranked only 20th with a value of $6.75 billion.
Also in the top 50 are Manchester United (24th, 6.6 billion), Barcelona (42nd, 5.65 billion) and Liverpool (48th, 5.4 billion). In total, only four football clubs are represented in the top 50 rankings.
Formula 1 representatives also returned to the list – Ferrari (26th place) and Mercedes (34th).
The 20 most valuable sports teams in the world according to Forbes
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
