Mavs Monday Donuts: Graffiti Uniforms, plus Beauty (Porzingis) and The Beast (Doncic)
DONUT 1: LOOK GOOD YA PLAY GOOD The NBA's "City" uniforms are meant to demonstrate a tie with the teams' local culture, and there is supposed to be room for creativity. And so, it seems, the Dallas Mavericks give you this:
The social-media judgment is in, and (assume this is a valid leak, which we believe it is, with the unveil to possibility come this week and the in-game donning of them on Nov. 26), the judgment is negative.
If you are involved with social media in any way, you will not be surprised at the negativity.
DONUT 2: DEEP ELLUM The leaked unis are blue-ish and green-ish and feature a graffiti-style font with "Mavs" written across the chest. ... apparently inspired by the artsy streets of Deep Ellum.
Or maybe by "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
DONUT 3: WHAT IS 'GOOD'? I'm always amused at how every single one of us is of the opinion that we, and we alone, possess the ultimate in "taste.'' WE know what looks "good,'' WE know what looks "cool,'' WE know what the public wants.
I'm not going to argue against or in favor of these because I don't care very much. But I will interject this into the debate: What makes the New York Yankees uniforms "good''? What makes the Dallas Cowboys unis "good''? What makes the Los Angeles Lakers unis "good''?
Those three have almost nothing in common except ... a winning tradition.
There is nothing intrinsically "better'' about, say, the Yankees pinstripes than there is about the Chicago Cubs' pinstripes, except that for almost the 100 years that the Cubs have worn them, the Cubs have been a joke, while the Yankees are the most dynastic team in American Sports.
THAT'S why people love the Yankees uniforms. In a reversal of the great Jerry Seinfeld observation, it's not the laundry; it's the performance of the people in it.
DONUT 4: QUOTABLE “KP can walk out there and get 18 or 22 (points) in his sleep. He’s that good of an offensive player. But his presence around the basket . . . was huge.” - Coach Rick Carlisle.
DONUT 5: BETTER THAN SLEEP Rick is referring, of course, to the Saturday night work of Kristaps Porzingis, a centerpiece of Dallas’ 110-102 victory at the AAC over Toronto. (See our game story here.) KP was good for 20 points and 15 rebounds against the defending NBA champion Raptors.
Yes, I know. These Raptors aren't those Raptors. But after that dismal 0-2 road trip, the improvement to 7-5 overall is refreshing - however it was achieved.
And it was achieved in large part with a get-well effort from KP, who said he is focusing on using his 7-3 frame to make basketball easier. (That's my paraphrase because I so believe in 7-3 guys busting out of slumps by working nearer the basket.)
“That’s something I definitely thought about when I was out,” said Porzingis', whose 15 boards marks a season-best. “I wanted to come back and grab loose rebounds. They’re there. A lot of times, I didn’t really pay attention to it. I was more of an offensive-minded rebounder, go for the put-back dunks.
“Now, I’m down there. I’m 7-3. It’s not that hard to grab it, give it to Luka and run. That’s something I focused on that a little.”
DONUT 6: AH, LUKA And lest we take for granted the Doncic Dominance: He finished with 26 points, 15 boards and seven assists while battling a Toronto defense that seemed solely focused on corralling him. Carlisle said Toronto "has the ability to commit to taking the best player out of the game. They did it with (Portland’s Damian) Lillard. They made it really tough on (the Clippers’) Kawhi Leonard. They were real aggressive on (the Lakers) LeBron James. We knew that Luka was next in line.
"The balance of Luka’s game was terrific.”
DONUT 7: QUOTABLE II “He’s a beast on offense,” Carlisle said.of Luka, meaning that KP was a (Sleeping) Beauty and that Doncic was a Beast.
Seriously, I know calling a player a "beast'' is an "in" thing. But I can't recall Carlisle ever using the phrase. In any event ... it fits.
DONUT 8: HELPERS Full props to Maxi Kleber's defensive work on Pascal Siakim here. ("A great win," Doncic said. "Maxi did a great job especially.") And to Delon Wright getting some Raptor Revenge against his old crew, pitching in with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. And to Seth Curry for pitching in the made free throws.
However ...
DONUT 9: MAVS TRADE TALK Our Matt Galatzan isn't wrong when we suggests in this well-researched piece that Dallas should begin to concede that it doesn't have a "third-best player'' and that Dallas should start examining a trade for one.
Matt G offers up a quintet of names that seem sensible, maybe even do-able. Dig in here to Mavs Trade Talk at DallasBasketball.com.
DONUT 10: BY THE NUMBERS Dallas owns just a 3-3 home record. Here comes more of a four-game home stand, and opportunities to fix that.
DONUT 11: WHAT'S ON TAP First, the Luka highlight reel from Saturday ...
And now onto the week ahead. The Spurs are here tonight. The wounded Warriors wobble in Wednesday. And the Cavs visit on Friday. Those three clubs enter the week with a combined record of 11-26.
It's time to get fat.
DONUT 12: THE FINAL WORD "This is a tough homestand. It's a great opportunity, certainly, to be home. We'll find out a lot. I don't know exactly what it will tell me or us, but the opportunity to compete at home in front of your fans, it's a big deal and it's a big opportunity." - Coach Rick Carlisle.
