Mavs Friday Donuts: Dallas preseason gets 'raunchy' and tonight we get the Bucks
DONUT 1: A 'RAUNCHY' PRESEASON
Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle chooses an interesting word when describing the evolutionary process of a team learning and working its way through a preseason.
“We have a plan for how we want to play and the first preseason game can be a little raunchy-looking,” he said. “I’d rather it wasn’t raunchy. ...''
Wait. "Raunchy''?
"You’re going to go through some growing pains,'' Rick plowed on. "We’re still a young team and we’re trying to keep things simple on the one hand but really concentrate on the details on the other hand.''
So, growing pains. Problems. Failures. Concentration. Details. And an 0-2 record. That's "raunchy.''
DONUT 2: BUCKS HERE TONIGHT
Maybe some of that changes tonight. The Mavericks will hit the court again this when Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks come to the American Airlines Center for their preseason home debut, giving Mavericks fans their first live, in-person look at their new uber-talented young duo of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.
Meanwhile, we're also hoping to see reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led Milwaukee to a 133-99 home win over Utah on Wednesday. In that game, The Greek Freak totaled to 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in less than 21 minutes. During Antetokounmpo's time on the court, the Bucks were a plus-37.
Eric Bledsoe was injured in that game, but the Bucks' starting lineup still looks equal parts imposing and familiar. Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez each contributed 14 points in that game, and the fifth starter? Old friend Wesley Matthews.
DONUT 3: QUOTABLE
“I think he kind of don’t know what shots he should take yet. I told him, ‘When you’re open, shoot the ball.’ It’s so easy with Mike Bud (Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer) – play defense and whenever you’re open and you feel like you can knock it down, shoot it.'' - Antetokounmpo on Wesley Matthews, who totaled eight points, three rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes.
DONUT 4: WARM WELCOME
I'm sure Matthews will get a warm welcome from MFFL tonight. But not as warm as what you are about to produce for Luka and KP. The buzz is in the AAC air. This was the case for Media Day, which I believe had double the attendance of usual years. This was the case for Fan Jam, with a record 8,500 folks in the building to watch a practice. And I will be fascinated to see the attendance tonight ... "just'' a preseason game, but an affordable ticket ... and I bet, a hot one.
DallasBasketball.com will see you there!
DONUT 5: KP'S DEBUT
Someday, and soon, the "milestones'' will mostly be behind us and the Porzingis conversation can just be about basketball. That was partly the case for the Mavs in preseason game 1, the loss to OKC at Tulsa, even though he didn't participate. (Game story here). And it was partly the case on Wednesday in Detroit, when he made his debut. (Game story here.)
The basketball part?
KP was on the floor for 19 minutes -- for the first time in 20 months, following the knee rehab and the body re-build. He finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. He showed off an array of offensive moves, including a couple of early range-finders as he made shots from 27 and 26 feet out.
Oh, and the Mavericks were plus-13 when Porzingis was on the floor. That's not quite Antetokounmpo's plus-37, but it'll do.
Said KP: “I was out for a while. So to be back out there on the floor, it was good. It felt pretty natural. I missed a lot of open looks. But I’m happy about me being out there and now it’s time to get some wins.”
DONUT 6: THE NON-BASKETBALL PART?
Yes, yes, but then there is the non-basketball part. We're going to continue asking him about the medical part of all of this, I suppose, until we simply quit doing so.
So ... KP, did you feel anything noticeable or unusual about your knee?
“Nothing at all,” he said. I’ve been playing pick-up for so long, I don’t even think about it anymore. I felt different in other ways, felt a little stronger.''
Good answer.
DONUT 7: 'RAUNCHY LUKA'
I bet Luka knows what Rick is talking about when he uses the word "raunchy.'' Doncic is experiencing a self-admitted difficulty in "making the easy shots.''
Said Doncic: "I feel great. It’s preseason and our first game together and I thought it was great. ... But I can’t make a normal shot. I always make the shots I wasn’t supposed to make. I've got to work on that, for sure. I missed three, four layups, I missed free throws, I missed open threes. It’s going to get better for sure. First game in six, seven months. We just got to keep working the next two weeks.”
Two weeks until the start of the NBA regular season -- that's what the reigning Rookie of the Year is referring to in regard to a timetable. And the missed shots? Maybe the free-throw failures do jump out; Luka was spectacular in so many ways, as usual, in particular in his clever pairings with KP. But yes, he was just 5-of-10 from the line on Wednesday.
"Raunchy.''
DONUT 8: ALL THOSE 3'S
What Rick is speaking about specifically when it comes to "raunchy'' play is partly, I think, about the mistakes made in Game 1 of the preseason. Exhibit A: This is a team that wants to shoot a high volume of 3-pointers, maybe a franchise-record volume. But against OKC, it shot a dismal 13-for-50 from the arc.
But, he said, “There were a lot of things that we got to clean up that have nothing to do with the number of threes we were taking – things like spacing and running the floor and how we’re getting back and how we’re covering the 3-point line, mistakes we made on switches that can’t happen.”
Nevertheless, check out the jump from Game 1 to Game 2: Against the Pistons, Dallas hit 37 percent of its treys, at a 13-for-35 clip.
This is going to be a running theme for Dallas this year: Let's not celebrate "all those 3's'' unless a whole bunch of them go in.
DONUT 9: BY THE NUMBERS
From our pal Chuck Cooperstein: "Last year, 42.2 percent of Mavs; field-goal attempts were 3-point shots, the second highest percentage in the NBA behind Houston at 51.1 percent. Through two games of this preseason 49.1 percent of Dallas' shots are 3's (85-of-173). Unfortunately like last year, shooting just 34 percent.
"The math may say, 'Shoot them.' But the math only works if you make them.''
DONUT 10: THE UNICORN AND THE FREAK
The Euros KP and Giannis, who will meet tonight, know one another, right?
Right. There is evidence from this crazy street-ball game in which both participated.
DONUT 11: MAVSCELLANEOUS
Some of the help from the arc, in the form of 3-for-7 shooting, came from Tim Hardaway Jr., who was the sixth man in this game and totaled 17 points. ... We're continuing to monitor Dwight Powell's health but at the same time enjoying what Maxi Kleber might do with a larger role ... The Mavs did not practice on Thursday and won't have a shoot-around this a.m.
DONUT 12: THE FINAL WORD
"It's easy to play with him, super-easy. The looks he got us and how much attention he draws away from me and everybody else, it makes it so much easier. I'm excited going forward." Kristaps Porzingis on teaming with Luka Doncic.
