Ryan Nembhard SHOCKS Nuggets as Dallas Mavericks Offense Transformed | Dallas Mavericks Postgame

Ryan Nembhard SHOCKS Nuggets as Dallas Mavericks Offense Transformed | Dallas Mavericks Postgame

On today’s show, the Dallas Mavericks get an just impossible win against the Denver Nuggets. Ryan Nemhard unlocks the Dallas Mavericks offense. Anthony Davis looking like Anthony Davis. Cooper flag being him. The Dallas Mavericks have some things to build on today’s locked on Mavs. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to locked on. I think that’s a good question. Morning. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. Locked on your daily Dallas Mavericks podcast of the locked on podcast network your team every day. I’m going to give a city like back and welcome. You’re locked on to the Dallas Mavericks where we let it ride [Music] your team every day. My name is Nick, medium member covering the maps for 10 years. Thanks for being an everyday. Make it locked on maps your first listen each and every day. Making locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network out there. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customers can bet just $5. If you win, you get $300 in bonus bets used across the app. Get started at fanuel.com. Joining me as always, the postgame prodigy from the great slightly biased YouTube channel. What’ you see from the Dallas Mavericks tonight? Slightly biased. Bonisah everyone. That means good evening by the way in case you guys aren’t cultured out there. Uh but I see a ba a redot basketball team. Absolutely w for the first time this season. That’s right. Redot for the Dallas Mavericks. just a weird one that I just it’s hard to even kind of like if we had just jumped into this season with this game you dropped we did slightly unplugged and this was the first game that you watched this season you’d be like oh well the Mavs thing is working Anthony Davis has been great the Mavs found something in Nemhar and Cooper flag has been great just a race all the whole beginning of the season we’d be like oh this is a playoff team and yet so you would say the vision I would say there is there is some vision maybe being played out in this game but We’ll get into Cooper Flags game. Obviously, we’ll talk about Anthony Davis and maybe his injury, his hand. We’ll talk about some of that stuff, but we got to start here. Ryan Nemhard, 28 points, 10 assists, zero turnovers, 12 of 14 from the field, four of five from three. Didn’t take any free throws either, which I think is really impressive and insane for a game like this. And there’s so much to talk about with him. How many rookies all time do you think have had a 28 point 10 assists zero turnover game? 10. One. Stefan Marberry and now Ryan Nemhard. That’s it. Those are the only rookies to ever have a game like this. Guess how many players this season have had a 28 point, 10 assist, zero turnover game. One. Two. Kate Cunningham and Jaylen Johnson and Ryan Nemhard. O only players this season to have 28 points, 10 assists, and zero turnovers. It’s an impressive game for an NBA player, let alone my guy, Jaylen Johnson. Let alone an undrafted two-way guy that the Dallas Mavericks have been just kind of holding back. He had the knee injury for a little while and then now they’ve put him into this starting lineup and he is just making it work and making the Mavs offense work. You put Anthony Davis to five. You put Ryan Dehard at the point guard. You run some pick and roll action. You run some little dribble handoffs with Cooper Flag learning how to, you know, attack and learning how to get his shot. Now, as the Mavs have had some really good games from Cooper Flag and like the Mavs did hit 51 50% of their their threes, which I think is a massive part of why they they won this game. But Ryan Nhard, I think, is just at least making the offense look good against this Denver Nuggets team. And we’ll talk about their defense because maybe they’re a little bit more concerning than than a team as good as they are should be looking. But man, you’ll take the big win for the Dallas Mavericks and it starts with Ryan Demhard. Yeah, I mean this has been an ongoing search for the Mavs, figuring out which guard to plug in to this starting group. Uh, and Nimhard, they all kind of provide different things from one another. And Nimhard, you know, uh, when his shots falling, I he provides something that I don’t think either of the other two do. with the other two being Brandon Williams, Brandon Williams and DLO obviously, which is like he does he operates the pick and roll in a way that’s just incredibly advanced. And so when you have this twoman game and DLO’s pretty good at it, but when you have this twoman game with AD, then all of a sudden that gets AD looks that he’s a little bit more comfortable with and confident in and that gets him going a little bit. And then, you know, uh, defenses are reacting to that and collapsing on that on on those roles. And now all of a sudden, you know, guys like Cooper Flag are now able to just catch and attack. Like, it does open up a bunch of other different things for the team. So, it was a great performance from Nimhard. I mean, that’s crazy. Only I thought I saw somewhere that maybe it was 28 and 10 like as a game for an undrafted rookie was him and Austin Reeves. I’m adding zero assists. Oh, I didn’t do the undrafted rookie thing, but yeah, I added zero turnovers because man, like that that is even more impressive if you add that fact to it. Yeah. So, he so Brandon Williams is kind of more of a scoring guard to me. Like he doesn’t he’s not like a he’s not looking to playmate the way that Nim Hard and even to an lesser extent DLO is. DLO to me is a pretty decent playmaking guy at times, but I don’t think there’s any other guard currently on this team, obviously like Kyrie’s hurt, that can like actually bend defenses the way Nimhard can with his playmaking. And that is an element that is sorely uh sorely missing. And he was awesome tonight. Absolutely awesome. And it starts it starts with this. Like we have been trying to figure out what this Mavs offense has been trying to do all season. They added this new like Princeton style or this motion like offense and they started Cooper Flag at the point guard and they’re like, “All right, we’re gonna do this. We’re gonna play big. We’re gonna we’re gonna play with these guys. We don’t even need a point guard because of the way our offense works.” And we’ve just been looking for how do they create an advantage in any way? You’ve seen all these offenses in the NBA work on how do we create an advantage? The number one offense in the league is the Denver Nuggets because they can create an advantage with Joic on literally every single different kind of play, right? He creates an advantage just by his size and passing and playmaking because he bends defenses to his will. You look at the Houston Rockets, they create an advantage with Aman Thompson’s insane speed. You have, you know, Shenun’s touch around the rim and his ability to like drive from from three and obviously Kevin Durant. You can’t leave him at all. You see the advantage that Jaylen Brunson gives with the Knicks where he’s able to like his first step and his footwork and what he’s able to do. Plus Cat spacing the floor. Oklahoma City with SGA just creating an advantage with his footwork and his ability to get in the lane. The Lakers are the number five offense. You have obviously Luca and Reeves. The Mavs saw firsthand the advantages those guys can create. And you look at those are the top five offenses. They all have guys that just like you create an advantage and then you you build off of that and then you can do stuff off of that. And the Mavs just had nobody that was creating an advantage. Nothing that was creating an advantage for them by deciding, all right, we’re not going to do as many pick and rolls. we’re going to try this motion offense with this passing these dribble handoffs with these bigs. That’s not that was not creating enough of an advantage for the Mavericks. And you have Ryan Ehard comes in and is like, “Hey, let me just run a pick and roll where I get ahead of the defense, get the guy on my hip, and then I can pass out to anything even if a guy comes over and helps.” And all of a sudden, we’ve created an advantage. And it seems very simple in that, but I think that has just kind of unlocked some of like unlocked an NBA level offense to me. Yeah. I mean, you you don’t, like you said, you don’t have too many guys who can reliably create their own advantage. So, you have to find somebody who can do that for them. So, that’s that’s why I like Nimhard. You want to know who he reminds me of? Andrew Nim. Yeah. No, actually, they don’t really remind me that much of each other like playing stylewise. Not at all. Uh I I’ve seen people say Brunson. Obviously, they don’t play anything I like in my opinion. Uh Mike Connley offensively. That’s kind of what how I now I don’t think he’ll ever be as good as Mike Connley defensively was like at his Yeah. during the grit and grind days. Yeah. But uh and Mike Conley is a little bit taller I think. But they’re both shorter guys and I feel like the way that that the sort of cerebralness and just like I’m going to make the right play. I’m I’m like I’m a pass first, playmaking first, point guard, but you know, I I can get a bucket. I can get a shot. I can catch and shoot. Like, I can do all these other things reliably. Uh that’s just kind of who he reminds me of whenever I watch him play like Mike Conley. I know everyone’s going to go like Brunson because the Mavs connection, uh Andrew Nhard, they it’s kind of funny how I don’t feel like they play anything like at all really. No. What’s weird about the Ryan Nehard experience, right, that we’re dealing with right now is he scored 28 points and he averaged 10 points a game his senior season at at at Gonzaga. It’s not like he was this scoring guy that was just like lighting it up in college and then he’s just like waiting for his chance to get, you know, to get his shots off. He is not that guy. But he’s just giving he’s just giving what the what the defense is giving him. going over they’re going under a lot of these screens and then when they’re going over the screens he was hitting the mid-range shot and just making the right play in that spot and finding open space when he doesn’t have the ball and getting a couple of catch and shoot threes like it he is like it’s just really smart basketball is what it is and now the Mavericks have Ryan Emard Cooper flag you throw Anthony Davis in there uh you throw Max Christie in there and then Klay Thompson like those are the guys that were closing Naji Marshall came in there too you just have really smart basketball players making really smart basketball plays And that sometimes that just makes good basketball. Yeah. It’s really It’s funny like the the college thing is that’s just sometimes these guys then they go to the league with NBA spacing and stuff and it’s just unlocks a new level for them where they’re like, “Oh, I I mean I can score. That’s just not what I did though.” He had some tough finishes, too, man. Like he’s got that scoop layup down. Yeah, that’s when you’re a small guard and obviously he’s not like an explosive athlete. So, he’s he’s under the basket. When you’re that small, you got to have the crafty, you know, you got to use the rim as to to help you against a shot blocker. You’ve got to have the the quick releases off the off the wrong foot. He’s crafty, man. He’s crafty and he’s good. And the Dallas Mavericks have put him in this starting lineup and I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon. Well, don’t say that cuz we said that about DLO and then we said that about Brandon Williams. Like it’s a bit of a curse. It’s the curse of the Mavs putting the guy in the starting lineup. Cooper flag started. Yeah. Then it was Brandon Williams. Then it was D’Angelo Russell. Now it’s Ryan Nemar. Who will start next at Mavs point guard if Ryan Nemar ever falls off? Has Hardy started a game yet? I mean, he’s the he’s the next logical. Uh, can they m Well, is it Kyrie is is the next one? Probably. There you go. Coming up, Cooper Flag also made a big impact in this game and I thought just played a really smart, great basketball game. Played exactly the way I thought Cooper Flag would play. I’ll explain why coming up. [Music] Today’s episode of Lockdown Mavs brought to you by FanDuel. Fatal Sports Book has all kinds of props and odds, things that you can use to get in on the action. go check out FanDuel because right now you can take advantage of all the fun that they have over at uh the the NFL odds that are going on throughout the end of the season. The Cowboys got a run in them maybe and that game is absolutely massive. Their next one against the Lions. So, you can go check out that game and see where they are. Uh the Cowboys opening as a three-point underdog in Detroit, which is which is makes sense to me as a spread. But if you are confident the Maverick, the Cowboys are going to get a win, you can go and check that out and you can uh take advantage of the deal they have right now. NFL Sundays move fast. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. So if you want to be right in the middle of of the NFL action this season, visit FanDuel.com. Place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for hanging out with us on time maps, being part of the show, part of the raccoon squad. That’s what we call our listeners, listening every day. Appreciate each and every one of you for checking out the show and listening. We’re a five day a week Dallas Maverick show where we continue all through the offseason and everything. And we do a postgame show slightly and I would be here. Isaac had the last one. Proof of Flag had an awesome game and so go listen to that one if you missed it. Isaac talked about a trade potential with the Knicks with Anthony Davis yesterday. So go listen to that one as well. But let’s get back into the Mavs win against the Denver Nuggets. Just a weird Mavs were 10point underdogs going into this game and the Mavs win by 10, which is a wild thing to see that that big of a swing. Cooper 10 point underdogs. Wow. I would have guessed I would have guessed worse. Let’s see. Yeah, the Mavs. I sent it I sent it to the text line this morning. 10 and a half point underdog. I would have guessed like 13 honestly. It probably should have been, but they knew Anthony Davis was going to be back. No Aaron Gordon. No Christian Brown. And the Nuggets have been weirdly they’ve lost some their their last four losses at home are to these teams. Dallas, uh, San Antonio without WBY, Sacramento, and Chicago. What a weird four game SL. Those are that’s their last four home games. All losses to weird teams. And they’ve won all the games in the middle against Houston on the road, against Phoenix on the road, New Orleans, and and Memphis. They won. And then Minnesota on the road right before that. Like what a weird stretch of games for the Nuggets. That’s classic. Yeah, they’re in a weird They’re in a weird way kind of. It’s a weird It’s a weird funk that they’re do that they’re in right now. I mean, the reality is is every team not named Oklahoma City is just like uh they’re not that team, huh? The the Thunder are they’re something else. I mean, they are. I go back and I look at that game. The Mavs almost won against the Thunder and I go, “Oh, man. Well, it’s funny when you look at the Mavs because it’s like, yeah, they’re 10-point underdogs. They don’t lose by that much ever. It’s true. That’s pro that probably also is in there because Mavs had the most clutch game. Another clutch game for the Mavs in this one. So, they’re they’re kind of one of these teams that if you’ve been like paying attention, if you’ve been like kind of a sicko and have been watching this team, it’s like, you know, they’re a little bit better than what their record is. Yeah, they I mean, the league high 17 maybe. Does this make 18 clutch games? Yeah, I don’t know. They said they show the bra. I don’t know if that was including this game or what, but that’s crazy. That is actually I think it does. I think it does include this game. So, what is that? Se That’s 17 out of 20. What? The Mavs the Mavs are now uh No, seven and 15. So, 22. 17 out of 22 though is still five non-clutch games. That’s crazy. And one of them was the Lakers game and they were close that whole game against them and that wasn’t a clutch game but and the Mavs are six and 11 now in those clutch games. That’s what we that’s what I’ve been saying is there’s I I do see a pretty decent team with a Kyrie Irving that like there’s one exists. It’s what made this whole start to the season so confounding is we just spent all offseason going this can be a solid team. This should be a playin team until Kyrie comes back and then maybe they can actually make some noise and like win a playoff round potentially. But then it was just so like it started off so terribly. And for Cooper Flag, he he got started off on like a a weird note to start the season. We were we were like kind of waiting around. He had that one random two-point game. He’s had some games where like he’s had a lot of first halfs where he’s just not hitting or not taking any shots really like maybe taking like four shots in in a half. And we’ve been trying to figure out, all right, what what is the Cooper flag that we’re going to see this season? And in this one, 24 points, eight boards, two assists, two steals, a block, only two turnovers, 10 of 19 from the field. He hit a three, three or four from the free throw line. And he’s just doing it all. And this is the Cooper flag that I thought we would see through this season, playing on a good team and playing off of guys. And every once in a while, the Mavs will need him to go go take a drive, take advantage of a mismatch, take advantage of a post up, run a little offense, get some really good passes in. He had a couple other good passes where Mavs missed shots, but this was just another great like like high IQ game for an 18-year-old. Yeah. I mean, I don’t I don’t know how you can’t watch this guy and not think this dude’s going to be a superstar in the league. I mean, even like, let’s just look at his last three games really. You had the kind of weird game against the Lakers where he did have 11 assists. was what the youngest player ever to have 11 assists in a game. But I I don’t necessarily think he was like great in that game. Felt like he was very he deferred quite a bit. But I think that game did kind of showcase this ability he has to just make the right pass, make the extra pass, find open players. Uh his game against the Clippers where he dropped 35 was I mean awesome. just an awesome scoring display on no threes to put up 35 points and uh show showing off that finishing ability. And tonight was more of like a we’re in that Clippers game. It felt like it it was a concerted effort right away. You know, second half of back to back a bunch of guys sitting PJ disastrous ankle injury before the game like hey just have the ball in your hands and go out and shoot. Like go out and make buckets for yourself, go out and drive, attack the basket. Uh, this game was more of like the, okay, we’ve got Nim Hard, he’s popping off. AD’s playing tonight. He’s having a good game. I’m gonna play off these guys and attack and a cut and and get baskets in transition. Uh, and that just like those three games, they’re all like very different from each other and how he went about the game, but it all just kind of showcased this. I think the three ball will get there. I don’t think it’s a coincidence like the free throw shooting kind of tailed off the same time the three point the three-point shooting did. So, I can attribute all of that to the the thumb injury. Like that all makes sense to me. Yeah. Uh it’s like once the three ball kind of comes back, he gets a little bit more comfortable. Maybe the team around him, the situation makes more sense over time. Like he’s just going to contribute to every positive thing you you need to do on the basketball court, he’s going to do. So, I I like I think he’s having really one of the more impressive rookie seasons we’ve seen. And I know that sounds, you know, hey, I’m playing into my name, slightly biased here, but like I was like, if anybody’s going to call you out for that, I mean, they’re just telling on themselves. When you’re factoring in the the the age and all of this other stuff, like it’s it’s been it’s been really impressive what he’s done. He’s been like a big- time contributor. He’s the only one you can compare him to is LeBron. Yeah, that’s really it. That’s the only saying not saying he is LeBron, but that’s like that’s the only one you can compare him to because he’s doing things that no one else besides him has done. Yeah, that’s that’s exactly right. Like it’s not, you know, obviously their play style is different and stuff like that. But in terms of just being an 18-year-old contributing in the NBA immediately on a at a pretty good level, like it’s only there’s a reason it’s never really been done outside of LeBron, right? It’s it’s impressive and we’ve seen him learn and grow into into his uh into his game throughout the throughout this season like in almost in we real time. There was that like really late timeout that Jason kid took where he came right up to Cooper Flag did the weird like put his shirt over his mouth so that nobody could see what he what he was saying and after that Cooper Flag went out and drove twice right into the lane and got and got buckets in in the fourth quarter. And you wonder if he was like hey be more aggressive. you’ve got to take that driving lane if it’s there for you cuz you can go right at Jokic. He had a couple finishes right over Joic, too. There’s really no rim protection. And so Kid was like, “Hey, just go to the lane. You’re you’re big. Like you can finish over the top of him.” And we saw that happen. And it’s like Cooper Flag getting coached and then answering answering the the call like right away. Yeah. What I can’t believe how how comfortable he is with his left hand. Like that feels more like your two three stuff. But if he I don’t I’d be interested in seeing how many of his finishes are with his left hand. The thumb injury has maybe helped his left like his his left hand because he’s been forced me to use his left hand a little bit more. Maybe. Yeah, he’s he’s such an impressive player. Absolutely impressive. It’s been great to see him and great to see what he’s done. Really impressive rookie for the Mavericks. Two rookies that we’ve been able to say have been incredibly impressive. Coming up, Anthony Davis. Also an impressive game for for him and he looked like he was kind of back but maybe some questions. Talk about Anthony Davis. [Music] Today’s episode of Lockdown Mavs brought to you by Prize Picks. 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And while we’re all making choices every day, one of the most fun places to make the right call is Prize Pix. So go make the right call at Prize. Again, use the code lockown NBA at Prize Pix. You can download the app. You get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Pric. It’s good to be right. Shut it down. Let’s go home. All right. All right, slightly talking about the Mavs win against the Denver Nuggets. The two rookies, super impressive, an undrafted two-way guy and an 18-year-old having a really impressive games against Joic and the Nuggets. And then Anthony Davis, who is an NBA champion, an allNBA guy, and came in with 32 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, a steal, was 13 to 23 from the field, hit two threes, including a corner three, which was kind of rare. And uh he just had a really solid game, like just a really solid, great game. He could score against Joic. We’ve seen him like win in this Joic matchup before when he was playing on the Lakers, and this has been a good matchup for him. And so you kind of expected this would be a good Anthony Davis game, but offensively they got exactly what they needed in the pick and roll with Anthony Davis. Yeah, I mean we kind of just confirms what a lot of us a lot of people are saying that he’s just better as a five. Makes more sense as a five, especially in certain lineups when you could space the floor with guys who are in theory at least like if not good three-point shooters, at least guys the defenses have to worry about and check on. uh and just how it helps the team. And also, look, I know it’s not the prettiest basketball. I know in 2025 it’s not basketball you really see all that often, but hey, if you have a guy who when he’s going, it is like, all right, give him the ball at the elbow and like face up elbow jumper. We kind of just have that in our back pocket, right? Like that for a team that’s pretty offensive inept all things considered. That’s kind of just a nice fallback option to have. Uh so yeah, he I mean he was he was really good tonight. I mean, he is a good player, man. Like, he is like, all of all of this talk has just led you to believe that like, well, this guy just sucks. Must be he must be garbage. If his trade value is garbage, he must be garbage. It’s like, no, that’s not the case. This is a good player. Um, and he was he was good tonight. And this is if he stays on the floor and healthy, like this team will be this team is much better than seven and 15. I don’t know how much better. I don’t know, you know, I’m not putting them in conversations with, you know, even like the Nuggets, but like they’re just a better team than seven and 15 would indicate. So, should be like at least a 500 team. Yeah, exactly. Uh bare minimum. I mean, really, I really do think this team like if they just committed 80 at the five and Kyrie were healthy and playing like I do think this would be a good team that’d be in the mix with like I mean Phoenix is what uh what’s their record right now? They’re 12 and nine about to be 13 and nine. like, you know. Yeah, for sure they could be that. Well, the Blazers are in the n in the 10 seed and they’re eight and 12. Yeah, the the West is going to be probably a little bit weird this year with who gets into the playing tournament. All right, here we go. Here’s the thing. Mavs only two games back from the Blazers. Anthony Avis back healthy. Cooper Flag finding his stride. Ryan Nhard unlocking the offense. Should the Mavs just go for the plan now or are we off team tank? Well, I think they could just fall into the playing tournament, but I I also I also like I I want them to get rid of the playing tournament. I really I’m done with it. You’re done. Isaac hates it, too. I I I still like it, but I I think it’s kind of fun for like if the season were 10 today, the Eastern Conference actually makes some sense if it’s like weird cuz the Sixers are the ninth seed and 10 and nine. So, it’s like, all right, we want let’s give them a chance to maybe like they play the Celtics who they pretty much have the same record. Like, play them in a one game. Whoever wins it is the eighth seed. If it’s like the Trailblazers are eight and 12, it’s like you don’t get a chance. Why should you get a chance if you’re eight and 12 with a 400 win percent? The team in eighth is 11 and 10. It’s not like they’re that much better than them right now. Yeah, but at least records like like whenever the Eastern Conference is rolling out teams that are seven or eight games below. It’s like all right, you’re not allowed in. You’re not you’re not allowed to have a chance. But every once in a while, there is a team that is like the Dallas Mavericks where they’ve had injuries and the reason why they haven’t been good is because of injuries. So then they come on strong at the end and you’re giving the team like the the Cowboys right now should have a some kind of playin game that they should be able to get in because they they’ve turned it on at the end of the season. You want to know what the Cowboys playin games are? every game from say right now every game is against the Lions. It’s against the whoever else Vikings, Chargers, whoever else is on their schedule. It’s true. But the thing about the plan to me is it keeps some of these teams alive, right? Like the Mavs will still have some kind of hope right now to stay alive. Like the players, the the coaches, some of the fans, the fans that are not on team tank, the ones that are yelling at us in the comment section right now, see this is a good team. I told you. Why’ you guys Why’d you guys want them to tank? It gives them some kind of hope because they would just be dead. They’ just be dead in the water and by the end of the season if you’re like five by the last two months of the season, three months, if you’re five, six games out of the out of the eighth, then you’re just you’re done. Like it’s over and that those months don’t mean anything to you. And now at least they mean something to some of these teams, I guess. But I just don’t think that’s really all it is. this the playin was made for the final like and maybe teams make some trades because they’re still kind of alive in in the playin but it’s for the f couple last months of the season so those games can still be relevant and I think that has worked has it though I I’m actually still of the belief this will all go away when inevitably a team takes a playing game and it and it will happen if a team says we have a lottery protected pick but it’s not it’s not even about those playing games it’s about the the two three months before that when they when a team that wanted to get in the play and tried and their season was still alive and their fans had still something to hope for, but your hope is we can maybe make the the eight seed to get crushed by the Thunder for sure. Yeah, but their team their team is still alive. Mavs last year, I mean, it was a disaster end of the season, but they’re interested. Has there ever been a team whose team a fan base whose team was in the 10 seed going into playing tournament have been like this is so fun. Like every time it’s like I hate this team. Please, I hope they don’t. Like last year with the Mavs, I was like, “Please lose.” Both teams, Mavs and Kings are both like, “Why the hell are we here right now? Lose this game and shut this thing.” Like, were any Bulls fans like, “Let’s let’s make a run.” No, they were all like, “Let’s fire people and lose this game, please.” It’s probably true. It has not worked out as as well for some of those teams, obviously. But anyway, the concept was at its peak in the bubble where it was like if you are within this certain number like you get an opportunity if you’ve been playing good and that was because the season was shortened and like the teams didn’t have as much time as much runway to make a run and so you’re like all right well let’s give but and they wanted Zion. I still think it works. That’s crazy how far Zion’s fallen. That is literally why they made that rule. I’m not I’m not kidding. Which rule? The bubble. They literally made it the the bubble. Uh uh yeah, the bubble rule was Zion 2019. Yeah, but they were in the bubble in Orlando, weren’t they? No, not until 2020. Well, yeah. Yeah, but I’m saying I’m saying that’s when they that’s like was the the birth of the plan. So they could keep So they could keep Zion and the Pelicans in. Yes. Like that’s that is where Zion was. Like that’s just sad to me. And they’re where are they right now? They’re they’re six and a half games, five and a half games out of the play. Six and a half. Z is just an afterthought in the league, man. Sad sad stuff. Wild. And Anthony Davis has kind of been an afterthought in the league, but now there’s trade rumors for him. He had a really good game tonight. If you’re the Chicago Bulls and you watch this game, what are you thinking? So, I actually think the Chicago Bulls makes a lot of sense. does. I can I can see it. Like that’s actually the one team because I was thinking about this earlier today. I was like, you know, I actually see why they would do it. Yeah. Like I I make subs and if I were a Bulls fan, I could I think I could actually pretty easily talk myself into it. Considering the Mavs fan base, you can talk yourself into anything. Any there’s you can find a group of fans that have talked themselves into any any number of things right now. But you look like All right, we we we turn Voo into Anthony Davis. Let me throw this out there. This these conversations to me are so disrespectful to the player Anthony Davis is like he is for sure. I think the East is a monstrosity right now. I know like people have thrown out their records against the like I don’t care the I think Anthony Dave if a team was like you know what this conference is in such disarray if we get like three months of healthy AD at the right time we could win it like that’s all we need. Yeah, because who the top the top five teams in the East right now? The Pistons, the genuinely good team. Good team, but not playoff tested, right? Young green. The Knicks also playoff flaws. Good team, though. The Heat. I’d be utterly shocked if gimmicky offense that we haven’t seen work in the in in the playoffs yet. I was just about to say I’d be shocked if what they’re doing works. The Raptors, who were awful last year, Yeah. Okay. But they Hey, they’re playing well though. Magic whose best players, they’re they’re better than without. Yeah. Yeah. And the Cavs who have just like I don’t know what happened to them this season. Injuries, but that’s the top six in the East. It’s like there’s there’s not that much confidence that you could put I mean Anthony Davis could be the best player in the East this year. Is there any scenario I mean I’m trying to think how contracts work. Is there a single scenario where the Celtics could make it work? I think it would have to be Jaylen Brown. Would it? Because I know they’re they’re right. They’re still a second apron team. They’re second apron team. So, they can only do one to one. They can’t trade more than one. So, yeah, it would have to be it’d have to be Jaylen Brown. Or, you know what? They could just say f it and trade Jason Tatum. Maps would have Mavs’ have 28-year-old Jason Tatum and 18year-old Jason Tatum on their team. Yeah, that ain’t happening. You know, uh, no, the Bucks don’t have enough. Because I was just thinking desperation and like can they trade Damen Lillard’s waved and stretch contract? I don’t think so. No, they cannot. That was insane. They don’t have Koozma and Miles Turner. They are they a second apron team? I don’t think so. No, they got I think they’ve got some space. That was the reason why actually that was the reason why they did the Lillard thing. So yeah, they could do Turner Koosma. They got to keep Ryan Rollins, right? like he can’t he can’t do that. The Bucks cap sheet is so interesting. It’s Giannis at 54 million, Turner at 25, Koozma at 22, Poris at 13, and then Kevin Porter Jr. at five. Like their their fifth highest play paid player makes $5 million and it shows when Giannis is out. Yes, it absolutely it absolutely does. Go check out Sly Bias, a great YouTube channel. Good stuff happening all the time now that he’s back state side, guys. Check out the episodes from Isaac over the weekend and we’ll be back here tomorrow with more. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom. I’m going to sleep down for a whole

The Dallas Mavericks pulled off an incredible win over the Denver Nuggets in the latest NBA matchup, with standout performances from Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Ryan Nembhard. How did the Mavs offense unlock its potential, and what does this win mean for the team’s playoff hopes with Kyrie Irving still sidelined?

Nick Angstadt and Slightly Biased break down how Ryan Nembhard’s breakout game changed the Dallas Mavericks’ approach, the impact of Cooper Flagg, and Anthony Davis’ dominance at center. The episode also dives into contributions from Klay Thompson, Max Christie, Naji Marshall, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Williams, and analysis of the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, and other NBA teams. Hear insights on coach Jason Kidd’s tactics, potential Knicks trades, and how the Mavs roster could evolve as they chase a playoff spot.

Discover everything Mavs fans need to know about the Dallas Mavericks, Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and the latest NBA storylines!

0:00 Mavs Upset Nuggets: Nembhard Stars
12:26 Cooper Flag’s Impact & Rookie Growth
22:04 Anthony Davis Dominates, Trade Talk?

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