Some late thoughts:
We keep running into teams that put on a clinic on how to play to their strengths. Dallas is a group that has been built from the ground up to function around Luka's magic. There's total buy-in from everyone. They have a couple of rim runners, but the rest are, in essence, outside shooters happy to live on the perimeter and move the ball after Luka gets an advantage and passes out of a double team. There's no room on the Mavs roster for any freelancers who suddenly decide to go 1-on-3 and put up bad shots.
The shooters know they'll be getting their shots, and they make them when they get them.
However, these guys defend too. Kevin Love flat out would not play for Dallas, no matter how many threes he makes. Just out of the rotation and that's that. For us, he often plays almost 30 minutes. That's certainly a difference.
It's kind of unbelievable to me that we defended Luka in the exact way he should not be defended. But I guess that's JBB for you. We constantly doubled him, helping off the shooters once again, as if we didn't realize that Doncic WANTS to be doubled. That's his game. It's the same mistake we made with LeBron, and apparently we're going to make it again and again.
With Luka, you let him score his 50 if you have to. Sometimes he's on, sometimes he's not. You may get lucky and have him going 12-38 out there. But you fucking stay home on the shooters. If JBB doesn't realize something as simple as this, we really have no hope.
And how about putting your trust in Kevin Love's broken down ass in a critical part of the game instead of playing the young, 7'2'' energy guy who had been doing a good job? Jesus Christ. Yeah, I know the Mavs were putting Moses into every pick and roll they could. That's what smart teams do. But damn, at least he was moving out there, rebounding, rim running and giving us a different look against an athletic team. Love is just as horrible at PnR defense but he also can't get off the ground and wasn't making his shots either. So why on earth would you go with him?
Speaking of Love, seeing him get ready to dive on the floor for a loose ball was high comedy. It was about the same speed as a tectonic plate moving. I was expecting him to put on a pair of fucking knee pads.