Cooper Flagg Had a BREAKTHROUGH in the Dallas Mavericks Win Over the Blazers | Mavs Podcast

Cooper Flagg Had a BREAKTHROUGH in the Dallas Mavericks Win Over the Blazers | Mavs Podcast

On today’s show, the Dallas Mavericks get a pallet cleansing win against the Blazers. The Mavs need to play through Cooper Flag. They just do. Tell you why. Tastes like a Mavs. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to Locked on. I think that’s a good question. [Applause] You are Locked on M. Your daily Mavericks podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network. Still can’t. your team every day. I’m going to give a city like back and welcome. You were locked on the Dallas Mavericks. Were we dare I let it ride [Music] your team every day media coming back for 10 years. Thanks for reading every day. Make it lock on mass your first listen each and every day. Make it lock on podcast network the number one sports podcast network out there. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app create an account. Use that code lock on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. And joining me as always, the postgame prodigy from the great Slyther Bias YouTube channel. What’ you see from the Dallas Mavericks tonight, Sly Bias? I saw a fun win. A team that desperately needed a win. Even if you are team tank, you can’t lose every single game. This team has been fighting hard. They’ve been in games. They’ve played in the most clutch games in the entire NBA. Was this game 11? Clutch game number 11, I think. Wow. Uh, and you you needed a win. So, this was a feel-good one. And, you know, uh, our boy, our 18-year-old rookie taking us there, man. I mean, what’s not to be happy about? We’re at the point of the season, though, where you said you can’t lose all of them. That’s the point of the season. Well, you got to get even like a You don’t want to be the Nets for the even if you are kind of like we should be hoping for some losses. You don’t want to be the Wizards or the Nets. We’ll talk about the Mavs offense, how the Mavs got to this win. We’ll talk about PJ Washington, Daniel Gaffer, talk about Klay Thompson. Welcome to the NBA season. Klay Thompson the last couple of games has really woken up. And I want to start here though. Let’s talk about Cooper Flag because the start of this Maverick season, the big story around the Mavericks besides the obvious was that the Mavericks are going to start Cooper Flag at point guard and they were going to play him there and the Mavs are going to play Cooper Flag at point and what are they going to do and how are they going to run their offense and does their offense this new motion offense from Jr. does it even need a point guard and how are they going to run things and all that and then they trotted out Cooper flag at the quote unquote point guard for like six games or something like six seven games something like that you know some of those games and No, I can’t sit here and stand that. I’m not a part of that. What just happened? And then they Well, part of what? I’m not a part of it. And then they had the most terrible offense maybe in NBA history for the for the beginning part of that season. And they set Cooper Flag up to fail in a lot of ways. I think we walked through a bunch of different ways on this show. We talked about how he was going against some of the best defenders in the NBA, how there were no guards to set him up or set anybody else up in any way. There were not really plays run where he was supposed to be the point guard and running pick and rolls or doing things like that or having the ball in advantageous positions. And now 14 games into his NBA career, he’s starting to understand the mismatches. He’s starting to understand how he can take advantage of some of these other players. He’s starting to understand how he as you know this 69 guy that can handle the ball, that can post up, that can score on all three levels like within three possessions. He can he can do that and he did that tonight. How he can get his offense going. And now that he’s doing that, it’s now time to play through Cooper Flag. I’m not saying put him back at the point guard, but I’m saying you have to play through Cooper Flag now the way that they did at the end of that fourth and in overtime because Cooper Flag in the fourth quarter of this one late in this game, he had a moment where he he drove spun righty floater over Denny Ovia. He knew that he could shoot over the top of Denny Ovia anytime he wanted to and he did with a minute and 10 left and he tied the game again at 117. Then with 51 seconds left, he drives right right into to Tumani Kamaro who made the all defensive team last year, got a foul and made the free throw and tied it at 118 again. Then he gets some more in overtime where they’re just they’re putting him they’re giving the ball in an advantageous position either at the top of the key or whatever giving him some space to actually work with which is huge too because the Mavs actually made some threes in this game and you saw the results and I think it’s time to go back to playing through Cooper flag. Yeah, I mean I I don’t in the first half of this game I was wondering what I don’t understand what is happening right now just because it was this I don’t he had three shots in the first half. Uh one of them was a dunk in transition. The other one was a tip in attempt and the last one was a like brushed end of shot clock. Good look from the corner, don’t get me wrong, but like a a hurried shot at the end of the shot clock. I I was just like I don’t understand if you go first two weeks of the season we’re trying this guy a point guard he’s very uncomfortable and clearly this is not the best situation for him and he’s clearly not ready to handle something like this to then go from that to hey we’re going to spend like entire 24-minute stretches of a game where you just go stand in a corner. They have to figure out a way and it doesn’t really make sense to me either because then you get into the the second half in an overtime of that Clippers game and it’s very obvious that they’re like okay get the ball to Cooper flag like we’ll get the ball to Cooper flag at the top of the key and post ups whatever like he has to have the ball in his hands and then they come out in the second half of this game and it’s the same exact thing again where it’s clear that there was an in-game adjustment of get the ball to Cooper flag. I don’t understand why they’re not doing this from the onset. Why there’s not 20 shots a game from Cooper Flag at this point cuz uh yeah, he’s turning into this player now where over the last seven games, I guess six games cuz uh this game doesn’t count, but it’s been including this one, seven games that they’ve uh I say not not count. It’s not like on this thing yet, but uh they haven’t updated the stats yet. Yeah. So since they’ve uh implemented a point guard in their lineup, whether it’s DLO or Brandon Williams, 17 points a game on 45% or 48% shooting, sorry. So uh you’re starting to see and three stocks a game, too. I don’t think that’s necessarily a uh a coincidence either that he’s not point guard anymore and the defensive stuff’s really starting to tick up. Yes. But yeah, I uh you know, it’s putting him in better situations. And yeah, there’s there’s interesting stuff like there was a possession right at the end of the overtime period when Brandon Williams got a layup that pretty much iced the game where you Cooper Flag started the possession at the nail and it was just setting screens and rescreening for Brandon Williams and he didn’t get the ball there, but it’s like I don’t get why you’re not doing this over the course of a 48minute game. I like that’s that’s the next thing in the process. I think we’re at this point where he can’t get three shots in a quarter or in a g in a half. Yeah, which he got in the first half, right? Yeah, that can’t happen. And those because one, the Mavs offense is not good enough for them to ignore a player with with those kind of skills in Cooper Flag. And two, this whole season is about his development, right? Like you’re not trying to win. Now, we’ve already gone over the the percentage of teams that start in season 3 and 10 and actually make the playoffs. It’s like 8%. It’s like very low. And so, you’re you’re not trying to do that. Look, it is all about Cooper Flag and everything has to point towards him and to get his development going. And it’s NBA players and some of these guys are going for contracts and you get that and all this, but you have to design stuff and you have to to run things through Cooper flag right now because that is everything this season is. And honestly, it’s some of your best offense that you can get going because some of his passes too are were like the best on the team. What he finished with, what do we finish with? Five assists in this game. And he had some really good kickouts to he had one to Christie I think late was a three. uh that one I think it was the one to Christy where it was just a left-handed like bullet pass while he drove through the lane like oh yeah he is he is also just a special passer and I think some of his like unselfishness and obviously being 18 being the youngest player in the NBA being a rookie on this team of all vets like makes you a little bit more timid than you would be coming into a team where like all right everybody else I’ve played against in college or I played against an AAOU or I played against in high school and I know that I’m the best player on this team like that didn’t he didn’t get that confidence early on in the season because he’s like, “All right, now I’m coming into the situation also with this looming cloud over this franchise of this just weirdness that is the Dallas Mavericks right now.” You can’t you can’t deny that that is a a part of this, too. But now you’re starting to see, all right, we’ve shed some some of the weirdness. We’ve shed, you know, some of the players are injured and so now it’s like, all right, well, you’re starting to to to lose different players that would take shots and all that. And you’re like, all right, well, we don’t really have a choice. Like, you we’ve got to give the ball to Cooper flag. That’s why I’m frustrated after a first half where it only takes three three shots because you just don’t have any other options to to go to a lot of the time. And so I loved what I saw from him in clutch in the clutch and he just like he just it’s like almost he turned on a switch. Yeah. I mean it’s very encouraging that he’s capable of this and not shy of it and you know almost welcoming of having the ball late. And it’s two games in a row now where it’s like end of game, fourth quarter, overtime, put the ball in his hands and let him go to work. And you know, I think you mentioned it like it’s it’s post you talked about Tammani Kamar. I don’t know if you’ve said it on here. This is our second recording, but uh you said on here or it was on a tweet like Tom Kamar is an allNBA defender. Like some of these buckets are tough, you know, and it’s very encouraging to see. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It’s difficult because like you said, this team’s wanting to win. There’s not like a tank incentive. These guys are all NBA players, but there has to be an understanding early in games like, “Hey man, you got to get this guy involved right away cuz it’s not like he’s going to go out there and touch the ball and then it’s the shot the the possession is over. He’s going to dribble the ball for 15 seconds and shoot a shot.” Like, you got a good chance of getting the ball right back. So, you got to implement this guy earlier in games for sure. Earlier in games, earlier in the shot clock, earlier and he gets guys involved, too. like that. That’s the the thing about him. Yeah. Coming up, the Mavs offense was great tonight. Let’s talk about how they got there. Let’s talk about what things worked for the Mavericks, what things we saw. Is it anything replicable? We’ll get into all that and more. Locked on Mask continues. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked on Maps brought to you by Robin Hood. Robin Hood Gold. Your mission ambition just met its match. With Robin Hood, you play for the win. Not just on game day, every day. locking in on every opening, beating your PR, beating it again. Channel that drive into your money. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures, and crypto allin-one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood’s Legends Advanced Tools. Or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio made by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. 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Slightly we’re talking about my music just stopped. We’re talking about different different ways that the Mavericks offense was getting going in this game against the Blazers. They had their second best game according to offensive rating of the season. I think it was their best offensive game. They had 33 assists the most this season. They shot their best from three this season. They had seven players in double in double figure scoring almost eight. Naji missed that free throw at the end. It would have it would have been eight and that would have been their most this season. They had three players with 20 plus points which is only the second time this season. And all those instances were the Toronto game. Like it’s the Toronto game and this one. The only time that the Mavs offensive ratings has been above 110 was those two games and it was 125 tonight. It’s like, what did the Mavericks do in this game that actually made it work for them opposed to all the other terrible offensive games you and I have talked about after games like this where we just go, “Oh my gosh, that was a slugfest.” Well, they did a great job not turning the ball over, which has been a massive thorn in their side so far this season. That’s also led to them struggling defensively cuz when they when they get set offensively, you know, or defensively, they are one of the best in the NBA. like they I think they’ve entered top three by defensive rating. I could be wrong about that, but they’re in the top five for sure. So, um I it’s kind of crazy that they’ve been that good defensively, but also I mean they were hitting shots tonight, but they were generating a lot of really good looks from the corner and I I just I feel like so much of that is Brandon Williams and these guys guys like Brandon Williams getting pressure uh on the rim in the paint. And I think you’re starting to see that too with when Cooper gets a little bit more implemented and he’s driving and attacking what that can lead to. And uh I mean they went six of 12 on corner threes tonight. So that that’s those are the shots you want to generate. And those are the shots in a half court game that uh I mean this is probably the best they’ve looked in the half court this year if I had to guess. Um, and a lot of that does come down to just shooting obviously, but uh, yeah, I mean this was a a welcome sight for the team to be to put it lightly. Are you saying Jason Kid was right that they just needed to make shots? Well, that’s always true. You know, that’s like it is always true. You can’t actually always say that like we just need to make shots. You guys shot 50%. I know, but we could have made the other 50. Like, right. The the thing is is it’s like let’s let’s find the guys to make shots and let’s make sure the right guys are taking shots. Um but you know I mean Max Christie continues to just be man an automatic three-pointer. Three of six from three for him. Five of seven for PJ Washington from three. Klay Thompson five of 11 from three. I mean those were your culprits in a good way of the like the good three-point shooting. And honestly those are three good three-point shooters in their NBA career. PJ’s been up and down, but since he’s been in Dallas, his three-point shooting has been good. And so, you look at those three guys, you’re like, “All right, well,” and you kind of expect one guy to go off for from three in a game, and the Masters haven’t had that this season like very much at all in in in this very awful offensive start to a season, but you have those guys go off, and I think the offense kind of like all stems from there. The Mavs also only shot 67% from the free throw line, took 40 free throws in this game. another game where they just take a ton of free throws because I think they were attacking. I think they they were attacking. They were getting downhill and they were creating some of that with Brandon Williams, with with Cooper Flag, obviously with D’Angel Russell, with Naji Marshall, like and and with Gaffford, like setting him up off pick and rolls. Like they’re just running the offense the way that you would think that the offense in the NBA should be run. And they’re benefiting from it. Getting free throws, getting open threes, making those open threes, and you see a good NBA offense. Yeah, I mean we we’ve kind of talked on this show like it would be we’d have a different tune if it was like we see these things that this team’s doing and it’s like just wait for this and this. I will say the sign that they’re in so many of these clutch games. I’ve said it on here like I do think there’s the bones of a good team here, but it’s just by the time this guy comes back and this guy I mean AD is going to be out another week plus now. Yeah. I mean that’s that hurts. By the time these guys come back, will it even matter? like will you even be in a position to a make a comeback? How like would you have to play at a 60- win pace for it even to be possible? And then you got to weigh in like is that even worth it at this point? But they have been the second worst three-point shooting team by accuracy this year. And yeah, you’ve got guys like Max Christie who are redhot from three. But you know, Coup’s going to be a better three-point shooter than his current percentages are. I think he’s in the 20s right now. Like uh PJ’s 24%. Brandon Williams is in the teens. Like Clay has had a bad three-point shooting start. So, some of these guys will get hot and it will look better, but you know, the process still has some work to do. Have you seen that clutch points graphic, which is the start of a sentence that used to mean like something insane I was about to say after this, but it was just a normal like they showed like six Dallas Mavericks and they were all between 28 and like 17% from three. It just look like a cemetery, which I mean it too is they they haven’t gotten great looks, but Right. But yeah, I mean the three-point shooting start. Yeah, let’s just look at it. Let’s see. Uh Brandon Williams 14%, Kayla Martin 16. We’re not really that surprised. DLO is 24. PJ’s 25. Coup’s 26. Like those are dreadful. Bad. Bad. And they finally get good from from three players. And I think it transforms your offense in a way where all of a sudden now you have to tr you have to respect some of the three-point shooters. And you actually have guys that can get in the lane. Brandon Williams doing his little like Steve Nash dribble where he dribbles around. Even Daniel Russell who can take over the offense sometimes and can can make some plays where you go, “Oh, why did you do that?” But at least he’s getting downhill. He finishes. He’s a threat at the rim. You got to defend him up. Like you you’ve got to do all those things and it opens up your offense in ways where if you just had guys that were passing around the perimeter trying to run these dribble handoffs and going, “All right, now what do I do?” Like it just doesn’t it just doesn’t work as well. Yeah. I mean, um, it Jaden Hardy’s not hurt, is he? No, he was warming up today. He’s not on the injury report. Two straight DMPS for Jaden Hardy. I mean, I’m not surprised. No, I mean, that’s interesting with their lack of guard play. Lack of shoot, lack of just shooting in general. That’s true because I’m The reason why I asked that cuz I was looking at their three-point shooting leaderboard. Christiey’s 45%. Hardy’s 39. And then the next best three-point shooter for the team, this was before tonight’s game, was Naji at 30%. Yeah, that’s that’s that’s tough to win some games with that. Naji at 30% was their third best three-point shooter. Third best three-point shooter. Yes. If you want to say Hardy’s like not really a rotation player right now, Yeah. then he’s your second best three-point shooter. Gosh. PJ Washington, he made five of the seven threes like we said and I thought first half he had five of their nine turnovers or at one point he had five of their nine turnovers. That that was brutal like that came back but it was good to see him back in the lineup. They need that size and then to add the shooting to it. The Mavs are able to go small like they did at the end of the game and were able to play Flag and PJ Washington and you don’t lose as much size um in that. Yeah, those are that that duo right there was one of the most interesting duos to me coming into the season was PJ and uh and uh Coupe to see how those two play off of each other. And then we saw it with Lively except for Lively who kept getting get BS fouls at the at the rim and he ends up fouling out. Uh I thought we were finally get starting to see Flag or start to see Lively like get into a rhythm of the season, but no, that did not happen in this in this game. Do you think part of it was uh lava being like I know I’m on a minute restriction. I’m going out there and guns ablazing. Probably. Probably a little bit, but I mean he only played a 12 minutes like just under 12 minutes. So he didn’t even hit his minute restriction probably. And so here you go. I I’ve got this new site that I can look this up for games. Coupe and PJ Washington tonight. 20 23 minutes on the floor. a 150 offensive rating when those two are on the court. Insane. Like almost perfect. I mean G I mean, you know, one game rating stats are insane. But I I like that duo. I really do. I wonder what the threeman I mean, can I go threeman on this little website? Tune in to locked on maps where Slightly discovers new stats as we go on. Coming up Slightly, we’ll go through his stats and see what else he can find. And then we’ll talk about Daniel Gaffford’s contributions. We’ll talk about uh the other things the Mavs did right and some of the things the Mavs struggle with that they overcame in the second half coming up. [Music] Today’s episode of Lock on Mavs brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel Sportsbook has all kinds of props and things that you can use to get in on the action. FanDuel has you covered for the NFL season. Like I said, you only have like four Cowboys home games left and maybe that’s a threat to you or maybe this just a normal thing somebody says. The Mavs are playing uh second night of a backto-back. They’re playing the Timberwolves and uh they’re not the favorites. The Mavs are a 14-point underdog against the Timberwolves as they go to Minnesota. So, that one is one where if you think the Mavericks lose by less than 14 points or even if you think the Mavericks win, if you’re a new customer and you’re going on FanDuel, put down $5 on that. If you absolutely think it’s going to happen and you win, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app on all kinds of different things. So, go and check that out. See what you can do. See what you got in your area at your time. Change stuff changes all the time. They have all kinds of parlays and player props and things like that that you can do right now. FanDuel is giving that new customer deal right now. $300 in bonus bets your first $5 wins. Head to fanduel.com to sign up now. Play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Please gamble responsibly. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for hanging out with us on Unlock Maps being part of the show. Listening every day. All right. Slightly Mavs get a win against the Blazers. Cooper flag closes. has some clutch moments. Mavs need to play through Cooper flag, but Mavs offense got going. They had their passing, which was really working for him. 33 assists their most of the season. And they had playmakers on the floor. They made some advantageous positions and they didn’t have to go against Drew Holidayiday, which I think was helpful, which was helpful for them. Um, but this Blazers team is not like a pushover defensively. They were actually 20th in in defense coming in this game, which I was kind of surprised by because they have good personnel for defense. But, uh, you saw some good things from PJ Washington. We talked about Klay Thompson. Welcome back to the season. 19 points, five of 11 from three. He’s shooting really well over his last three games. Klay Thompson is uh he is shooting I have this new stat site where you can look up the amount of threes taken and the amount of threes made. 15 of 30 15 of 37. What What site is that? NBA. Are you going to gatekeep it? 15 NBA.com. Uh 15 of 37 from three. 40% over his last three games. So, he’s finally hitting his threes. He has been a slow starter in his career, but if the Mavs can get some three-point shooting from him, like that’ll do wonders to their offense cuz they weren’t getting anything from him. And actually, what they’re getting was more detrimental than it was positive. Yeah. I mean, when Klay’s hitting shots, it obviously opens up quite a bit for you because we even saw when he’s coming off handoffs or whatever, you you’ll have two defenders go to him because when he’s hitting threes, it just becomes a oh god, we cannot let him uh we cannot let him beat us from deep. So yeah, playmaking wise, I thought he made some really nice passes, too. And he had a nice little twoman game with Gaff going. So that’s nice cuz obviously the Mavs lack some of those guys right now. So it’s it’s good to see that. And you know, uh if he’s hitting threes, he’s a valuable piece for you and for anybody in the league. And that’s it’s why I’ve always kind of thought that um I know this sucks to say after a win, but it’s just like he’ll he’ll have value across the league. I don’t think he’s some untradeable asset at all. Like teams will always look for shooting and he still is one of the best. It’s this conundrum we’ll talk about in in another episode, probably a bonus one I do today, that the guys have to play and look look good in order to get trade value. Like that is the Anthony Davis conundrum and then he’s you probably got to play a little bit to get value, but Clay is pro is also in the same boat where you’re like, “Oh, ship off Clay. He’s playing terrible.” All right. Well, you’re going to ship off a guy that looks terrible shooting 28%. I don’t know like how much how much does that change what a front office thinks? I mean, Stein reported on it today that Anthony Davis got to play in order to gain some of his value back. So, I I ad makes some sense because it’s like, I need to make sure that guy’s healthy. Like, what is happening there? He was like, you would just take him sight on scene in a trade for one of your franchise cornerstones and franchise history. You would But it also be like, what? Like, he wanted to come back and play seven days ago and now he’s going to be out for two more weeks. Like, what? Or did Nico try to make him come back eight days ago? Yeah, that was damning. I mean that that that if if you didn’t need it, evidence enough. That one was pretty damning. But um no, Clay, I’m not sure though. I think teams could look at the slow start and the context and be like, he’ll be better here. You’d hope so. But maybe this maybe this like fuels a little bit of of some of that, but I mean, we we’ll see what happens. If anything, it’s helping the Mavericks offense for sure, right? this season. One of the things the Mavs struggled with was offensive rebounding for the Blazers at one at the end of the third quarter. The Blazers had 20 offensive rebounds. The Mavericks had 19 defensive rebounds. Blazers had got more of their own misses than the Mavericks did. And that was brutal. The Blazers have a ton of size on this team with obviously Klingan. He had seven, but everybody else had two. Tammani Kamar had four. But they start like Jeremy Grant, Denny Abia Klingan, Jeremy Grant, like and even Shaden Sharp is like what 66. Like that’s a really big team. I mean, the Mazz are used to being a big like being a big team, but with these injuries, they haven’t been as as big and then Gaffford, we know, is historically not as good, not that great of a rebounder for even his size. Um, and so the Mavs really really struggled in that area, but they overcame that in that fourth quarter and going into overtime. That was not an issue. And the Blazers even went small. Like they took Klingan out to close that game because they needed to to like they needed switching and they needed to be able to defend some of the Mavs perimeter guys. Yeah, Klingan’s been in this like weird state with this team because uh as of a few days ago, 40% of his shots are threes, which he’s coming into this game was like a 17% three-point shooter. So, that’s something that they sort of need to figure out how to get him, you know, more involved in a way that makes more sense for him because he is a massive human being and he just towered over pretty much everyone else the Mavs had except for the minutes that Dive was out there. But yeah, I mean the rebounding was a problem. Some of it were I think there was some poor rebounding luck in this game or there was just a lot of long rebounds that did not bounce your way. But yeah, um just a lot of athletes for Portland. And this is something that’s always kind of given this team some trouble. When these athletic teams come in that crash the glass, it requires a big- time team effort to keep those guys off. And they did when it mattered most. They they locked in. They did and got and got it going. Finished with Cooper flag. Absolutely incredible. Did you find your stat with the three people? Oh yeah, it wasn’t that it wasn’t that impressive. It was three minutes. I mean, it was impressive, but it was three minutes. I don’t I don’t I don’t really know what to take take away from it. It was three minutes with uh Cooper, PJ, and Lively. Um but now Oh, here it is. They played three minutes. And guys, this actually might be the goated stat. They had a 120 net rating in three minutes. Yeah. Well, hey, they were a plus five in three minutes. That’s enough. Can I ri Can I complain about something real quick? Is that just the start? He didn’t start, did he? No. Did No, he did not. The Mav the the calls in this game were insane in in many different ways. The Mavs couldn’t like not foul a three-point shooter apparently, even if you step to the side of him at all. And the in most insane one though was the PJ Washington one with the offensive basket interference where they went to the AI and it was like yes that was a basket interference and the ball is clearly unless the angle of the camera that I’m looking at was just like completely skewed but like it was not over the basket when he grabbed it. Did you see the AI thing they showed? I did not. But the the little AI graphic it was over the I don’t think that’s I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the game honestly. Like the way they showed it was like what? It was like a little tiny molecule of the ball was like over the cylinder. Isn’t it wasn’t it the isn’t it if the majority of the ball is over is is over the rim. That’s the way historically played, right? I mean this that’s one of those things where it was like when a couple years ago when everything was reviewed and it was like this finger it went off his fingernail. Therefore it’s a a f it’s a it goes the other way. It’s like this is not in the spirit of the game. before reviewing all of these. And it’s just I knocked it out of bounds, but it went off of the thread of his shorts last. This is the stuff I wish they didn’t have. PJ spit hit the ball last. And so that that is a part of the part of the body. Well, this is the thing in like in European soccer where like the VAR where they have that that it’s basically the same thing where they have this just like is it var? They’re going to come after you if that’s not right. I don’t I don’t really care if they do. I also called it soccer. So come after me for that too if I pronounce it. Hey, us Europeans call it football. I’ll be in Europe a week from now, by the way. Uh, is Maci the best player of all time or is no real ball knowers, you tell you. Ronald Dino, how many things can I mispronounce on purpose? So, if it’s V, whatever it is, but they have they have that thing where it shows just like the it shows the line, it’s machine. It’s like, all right, was it offsides? Was it not offsides or whatever? And fans are always frustrated with it cuz it’s like, okay, are we just going to go down to the very minuscule thing? That offensive basket interference like really frustrated me because it wasn’t right and they challenged it and everything and they still didn’t get it. It didn’t make any sense and there’s no way they have access to that whenever they’re deciding to challenge it. So they’re just looking at the overhead replay cuz yeah the overhead angle it was I’m with you. It’s like that was a clear clean play and then yep they they come back from the challenge and like yeah the challenge is unsuccessful and I’m just like what? And they show this AC130 camera with the balls just like and I I mean I’m just like dude that’s not in the spirit of the game. I’m sorry. Just isn’t. No. How about them doing the And this is why the review is just so annoying to me. That golden they called on that would have been and one. I think it was Denny who drove and then they review it and or was the one the one with flag the one with flag Clay fouled. I think it was Shane Sharp then flag or Clay Fom block coup blocked it and then they called they were like golden just so we can go review it. It’s like dude it was like the most obvious non- golden of all time. You don’t have to call it. Oh, but they did. They did. We had to sit through a review and here we are. How about this? Coupe is six in the entire NBA in clutch points total. Yep. Well, they played what? 12ut. That’s actually true. 12 clutch games. So, the Mavs uh win a win a clutch game, another overtime game, and the Mavs move forward. They’re now four and 10. Are you feeling more confident with the Mavericks going forward? Don’t let us win two in a row. Hey, some people said, “Hey, it was just a 13ame stretch at the beginning of the season.” It could be a 13 game stretch at any point. You know, 10 three and 10 over any 13 game stretch is pretty brutal. Yeah, but what if they go 10 and three over the next stretch? like you know. Okay, then I’d be buy. Okay, if they have the good they got a tough week this week schedule-wise. If they have a good week. Okay, I can listen. Okay, tomorrow we’re doing Mavs versus Timberwolves. They’re 14 point underdog, which I just talked about, and a second back to back. Mavs. Mavs are a 14-point underdog. Oh, that’s insane. That’s the against the turbo. Is Anthony Edwards playing? That is the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He’s back. That that is like disrespect on another level. 14 14 is like what the Nuggets get against like the you know the Kings or like the Nets. Yeah. So, uh take the four. Take the 14. Take the points. Then it’s home for the Knicks after a day. Then it’s home Pelicans home Grizzlies. That’s two games in a row. You should feel they’ve got another threeame home stand. Yes. Yeah. Knicks, Pelicans, Memphis. Three games and four nights. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Let’s go. I live here, dude. Slightly I live here, dude. They’ve got This has to be the most home games. Have we talked about this? That it’s insane. This has to be the most home games to start a season. Like, this is crazy. The Stars have actually played a bunch of home games, too. And like it’s like the their Olympics thing that they have to they have to play a bunch of games for. Oh, yeah. That’s right. That’s this year. The AAC workers are not having a good time. Not having a good time right now. Well, they Hey, it’s one of those things where it’s like, let’s just get it all out the way now and then come, you know, January and February, we’ll have a lot of time off, I guess. So, let us know in the comment section what you thought about this game. Reasons why the Mavs won. Go check out the links in the description for different ways to follow the show. Check out Sly B. Great YouTube channel. All kinds of good things happening there all the time. Sometimes I show up on there. Guys, thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Take us there, Cooper. Flag. Flag. Flag.

The Dallas Mavericks snapped their losing streak with a much-needed palate-cleansing win over the Portland Trail Blazers, highlighting the growth of Cooper Flagg and the evolving Mavs offense. With NBA eyes watching, the Mavs demonstrated why Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving are crucial to their future while navigating key performances against strong defensive teams.

Nick Angstadt and Slightly Biased break down what the Dallas Mavericks did right in this matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers, focusing on the rising impact of Cooper Flagg and discussing the team’s offensive strategies. The episode covers standout contributions from Klay Thompson, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, and D’Angelo Russell, as well as valuable insight into the coaching of Jason Kidd and team decisions by Nico Harrison and Mark Cuban. Listeners will also hear how the Mavs adjusted against players like Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, and others—all in the context of a challenging NBA season.

Tune in to hear in-depth breakdowns, advanced stats, lineup combinations, and honest analysis as Nick Angstadt and Slightly Biased guide you through the highs and lows of the Mavs’ season.

0:00 Mavs vs Blazers Reaction
8:18 Cooper Flagg: Focal Point
19:09 Three-Point Shooting & Rotation Issues?

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