Can PJ Washington RESCUE the Dallas Mavericks and REVIVE Their Season? | Dallas Mavericks Postgame

Can PJ Washington RESCUE the Dallas Mavericks and REVIVE Their Season? | Dallas Mavericks Postgame

On today’s show, PJ Washington is becoming the leader the Dallas Mavericks need in this moment right now. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to Locked on M. Explain yourself. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. You are Locked on M Dallas Mavericks podcast, part of the locked on network. Your team every day. I’m going to get a city like back and welcome. You are locked on to the Dallas Mavericks, your team every day. My name is Nick Angad, medium member covering the Mavs for 10 years. Thanks for being on every day or making locked on maps your first listen each and every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use that code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me as always, the postgame prodigy from the great slightly biased YouTube channel. What you got for me, Slightly Biased? Seven down, 75 to go. Is that what we’re Is that where we’re at now? We’re counting counting down. No, not not yet. Today’s episode, we’ll talk to the M. We’ll talk about the Mavs near near win over the the Rockets, but did end up being a defeat. Not what I thought at all in this game, and I tried to reverse jinx it all day on Twitter. We’ll talk about Daniel Gaffford and his toughness in his return. I thought just absolutely uh gut gutted it out in this one. We’ll talk about Cooper Flag. Really quiet second half. Are we concerned about it still? We’ll talk about that. We’ll talk about Max Christie. I thought had another really, really good solid game. Well, let’s start here. Slightly biased. PJ Washington is becoming the leader that the Dallas Mavericks need because right now the Mavs are in like another crisis. I know we we do this all the time. I know it feels like the last what the nine 10 months has. It’s just been crisis after crisis after crisis for this Mavericks team. And even before then, remember when Christmas Day when you and I were doing the show and Luca got hurt on Christmas Day? Like there was just a crisis back then, too. The Mavs have been going through it. And the Mavs need somebody on the court, I think, to step up in this moment. Anthony Davis is out because of injury. Derrick Lively is out because of injury. Kyrie, the actual leader of the team, is out because of injury. And he’s going to be out until maybe maybe December, but probably more so like February or or March. We’ll see what happens with him. But PJ Washington, I think, is the guy that is stepping up to help guide and navigate this Mavs team through this moment. Because right now going into the like going into the season, there are so many questions about this team and if they could answer some of them, they could be a solid team. But they’re not answering the offensive question very well. The offense has been terrible. They’re trying this new system and it’s not working out for them or at least they’re not getting it right now. The defense has been statistically better than it actually looks on the court and actually has been in practice to me. It seems like and Cooper Flag has had some, you know, some up and down moments. They there’s just so many questions and holes in this. They’re not playing a point guard to start to start games like that. That is a baffling decision from Jason Kid still. There’s so many just different decisions and different weird things happening right now that the Mavs need somebody to come out and just let’s just keep playing hard. Let’s just keep playing hard on the court and play like we did at the end of last season when we had a bunch of questions about that team too because you and I sat here on every single post game and watch this team play and compete really hard even though they had all these questions were the fans did the fans even care about the the rest of that season all that and I thought PJ embodied what that team embodied at the end of last season where he fought hard 29 points 12 boards 11 of 20 from the field and was John at KD was just like the guy that the Mavs needed in really key spots in this game where they should have been blown out. I mean, you and I were sitting you and I were talking before the game like is it going to be 20 or 30? Honestly, that’s what I said to you because I’m looking at a team that just had no business matching up against this Rockets team. Yeah, I mean PJ has been fantastic so far to start this year and he’s been the team’s best player. I mean, there’s no really debating that. Like, that’s just the reality. And yeah, I mean, his his leap that he’s taken, I think, is very real and, you know, it’s something that the team has desperately needed. Just some toughness and some energy. Uh, yeah, I mean, it’s not a good team. I I would say you could probably throw any hopes that this team could turn into something out the window. I’ve pretty much given up on that already. Uh they’re just so hurt already. I mean that it’s just unbelievable what we’re seeing, especially the strength of the team. The front court is already destroyed by injuries. And have I told you my my third side of the ball thing. What’s that? The Mavs are struggling on three sides of the ball. The offense, the defense, and the medical side. Yeah. I mean, that is the third side now for the Mavs. It is game. I’d honestly say I don’t really think they’re struggling defensively. I I I really don’t. I think they’re fine there. Um, offensively, obviously they’re horrible. They’re the worst in the league and I think that bleeds into their defense a little too much. But yeah, I mean I I would say if you’re three bigs, it sucks to say like, well, it’s okay if this guy gets hurt, but I would say if your three bigs, if you were to say, hey, you know, a few of these guys get injured here or there, but like I would say AD and Lively are the two that cannot be injured at the same exact time. Yeah. The moment that happens, you’re in a rough spot. Your identity is gone. Or what you thought was going to be your identity, right? Because Gaffford is is Gaffford’s a a great center in the league. Like he was really good tonight. Like you know, he brought the energy. His size was desperately needed against this Rockets team. He gutted through um what looked like injuries, you know, over the course of the game got banged up and and gutted it out and played over his minute restriction. So, shout out to Gaffford. But, you know, you’re that elite rim protection with, you know, versatile, switchable, elite, big defenders that are tenacious on the glass on both ends. You’re missing both of those guys. So, it it it just kind of uh it just kind of sucks that this team doesn’t have an identity because of it currently. It doesn’t. And so, that’s when PJ came swooping in and said, “All right, I’m going to help this team become like what it could be tonight and and compete in this.” The Houston the Rockets went zone a lot in this game. PJ was breaking that zone. He was the guy in the first half. He was the one getting in the middle of the zone and hitting some floaters in in that zone. And then a carryover from last year. He was doing that last year too. Absolutely. And I thought in the second half he was doing it more with his passing in the middle of that zone too. And you just saw it on on on in multiple different ways them attacking that Houston Rockets defense. Yeah, for sure. I mean there were stretch I don’t think they played terribly in this game, you know. Uh I it they’re two and five. So I don’t know. There’s no moral victories. We say this all the time, but no, they they were competitive. I don’t think they’ve been too terribly uncompetitive at times, even though their advanced numbers and stuff will show you that they’re a bottom four team in the league. And who might who might argue that? If you take the Wizards game out, then I feel like they’ve been competitive. The Wizards one broke me for a second. The Spurs won, too. If you take the first two nights out, there you go. Well, the Spurs had a reason. The Wizards didn’t have a reason. Yeah, I guess that’s fair. You’re still the only Wizards to loss by the or Wizards win, by the way. Just want to throw that out there. But yeah, I mean, coming back up again. Um, yeah, it’s just I, you know, it’s funny as I watch this team and I I do think there’s like the bones of a good team. I actually do see it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that their offense and their numbers and the onoff numbers, you know, uh, prove this that they’re just so much better when a guard plays, right? And DLO, for all of his all of his faults, and he did have a couple of stupid plays and dumb shots down the stretch of this game. I don’t think they’re even in the game if DLO’s not there. U, which is just crazy to say. Like the Mavs have put themselves in a position where it’s like we have to live with the DLO bad plays. We we we simply have to cuz we cannot survive if he’s not out there at all. Uh like if Kyrie comes back and is 75% of his of his former self, I see it. If if at least two of your three bigs are healthy, the problem is if you’re 15 20 games under 500, it doesn’t matter at all. That is going to be the question. And in this game, I found myself going, “Man, PJ Washington really doing a great job leading this offense. If only they can get D’Angelo Russell and an 18-year-old to carry the offense the rest of the way, they could they could maybe pull out this game.” And I was like, “Wait a minute. I’m holding my breath for D’Angelo Russell and an 18-year-old Cooper Flag to help lead the Mavericks offense. Like, you’re just in a bad spot.” Which is why I actually take a moral victory from this game. All right. In a way, because like you you’re missing two Allstars. You’re like Cooper Flag didn’t didn’t do a lot in this in the second half. Like I’m taking something away from this game that that they fought that PJ Washington showed something that Gaffford played well. You talked about the Bones. They do they they do have good players on on this team. It’s not like we’re looking at a a team that’s completely inept of talent. We go, “Oh, these lineups, there’s just nothing in there. It’s not like we’re looking at the lineups of the past where we go, oh my god, is this this Frank Nicana, Dwight Pal?” Like you just go down the roster and you’re like, “Oh my god, there’s nothing.” Sterling Sterling Brown the Sterling Brown Bob you lineups where you’re just like what is happening with this team right now. It’s not that like this is something different. It can I think these pieces can be put back together. It just seems like Jason Kid wants these pieces to go in a certain way and he’s just like forcing it into into this this one way right now and he hopes at the other end it’ll come out looking like the puzzle that he wants it to be. But right now it just looks like he’s shoving a bunch of pieces into the wrong hole. Yeah. And I mean, uh, I’m sure we’ll talk more about this in a second, but you Coupe did have a good first quarter, one of maybe is one of his best quarters offensively, but then very quiet the rest of the game. It does feel, and we talked about this after the Wizards game where it was like, it doesn’t make sense to just go this route immediately with the flag guard. And on top of that, like look at who’s guarding him every game. It’s a Sar Thompson. It’s a men Thompson. It’s Stefan Castle. Like it’s Blue Dort. Yes. It’s like you’re you’re What are we even thinking here? And hey, some of those guys are wing defenders. Some of those guys, even if you start DL, we’ll probably pick him up. But you’re just doing everything you can to make this kid’s life as difficult as possible right out the gates. And man, I just I don’t know if I fundamentally agree with the decision- making on this end. And I think it’s affecting him. I really do. Absolutely. Coming up, what should the Mavericks have done to help Cooper Flag in this game particularly in the second half? We’ll talk about that coming up. Today’s episode of Lockdown Mabs brought to you by Game Time. 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Thanks for hanging out with Unlocked on Mavs, being part of the show, part of the raccoon squad. That’s what we call our listeners listening every day. And uh we appreciate you for for listening on this post game. Mavs, keep losing. Slightly and I are going to be here for all these post games. We’ll keep we’ll keep following this team and covering it. Um, you had we had a double whammy with you and the Cowboys today, too. Oh, that that’s just to be expected. Doesn’t doesn’t affect your feelings. No, not at all. I said this last week. I’d rather the Mavs win a random November game against the Houston Rockets and the Cowboys win. I’m being dead serious. Um, yeah. Yeah, Flag had a pretty good first half. Five of six from the field, three rebounds, couple of assists, couple turnovers though, but in 17 minutes. second half, zero of three from the field. And one of the field goal attempts was the the the like heave that he had to throw at the end of the shot clock that he got blocked in the like in the last 30 seconds. Two rebounds, zero assists, two turnovers in 16 17 minutes, like barely touched the ball in the second half. And you brought it up. We talked about this yesterday that if you are watching Cooper Flag right now and are going, why is is this the guy that we are putting our hope in? Is this the guy that that all of everybody was freaking out about that you guys were hyping up? Well, the Mavs are doing a complete disservice to Cooper Flag. Yes, I they’re doing a complete disservice to him because they are not starting a point guard again. Max Christie, Klay Thompson starting the back court, I guess, with with Cooper Flag as you know, as the point guard, quote unquote. They’re doing that. They’re running this new offense that it doesn’t seem like the rest of the team even like is is doing well at all. Another another game withund 101 offensive rating, which is awful. That’s the 11th percentile. How many games have the Maps had this season where they’ve just looked completely inept on on offense? And some of that is because of missing players, but all of them except the Raptors game. Literally, here are the maps. The Raptors. Here are the Mavs offensive ratings. 94, 100, 127. That’s the Raptors game. 97, 102, 110, and then this one 102. Like those are What are their better games then? These are all these are all in the like under 10th percentile of offense. Like it is it is not working. Like I don’t care what they’re they’re trying to do. It is just not working at this point. And maybe it’s personnel, but I also think that they’re not starting this starting guards. And then with their not starting guards, we we broke this down yesterday. Cooper Flags is literally getting guarded by both the Thompson twins. Lou Dort, Kase Wallace, Stefan Castle, like some of the best defenders in the NBA because of that one move, I think. And Jason Kidd is trying to make Cooper Flag uncomfortable. He’s been clear about that. He’s been trying to push him and push his development and make him a, you know, a ball handler and make him some kind of like, you know, playmaker, which is, I think, is good for his development overall. But to push him to do this right out of the gate, I think is doing him a complete disservice. And you saw that in this game where, all right, well, if we don’t do that, then this is what we do. We throw him in the corner and he just stands over there and doesn’t really do anything because the rest of the offense is still trying to figure out what they’re doing and he doesn’t get involved at all. Well, the Mavs have no way of getting him involved in this offense if they don’t do what we said earlier that is doing a disservice. So, if they’re not doing a disservice to him, they’re doing a disservice to him by not having a plan otherwise, which is just brutal all over the place for for this. And that that’s why this this came from Cooper Flag. I was encouraged by some other things the Mavs did, but I was not encouraged by the usage of Cooper Flag in any way. Yeah. I mean, it’s I ju I just I don’t really understand. I just go all over the map with what I think this team’s trying to do and accomplish. There are times where it’s like, okay, if you’re thrusting Cooper Flag into this point guard role immediately, then part of me thinks, all right, then they’re just like focused on Flag’s development and that’s really all they care about cuz I don’t I don’t know how you could think that that’s what helps you win games right out the gate, right? But then I watch the games and I do not feel like that’s the case really either because like you said, he’ll have entire house like tonight where he just goes and stands in the corner and nothing gets ran for him. Um, and I do feel like this has kind of affected his psyche a little bit. I don’t think he’s looking for a shot. I think part of the problem here is is like starting him out like this. You know, you never got to a spot where you could play with a guard and kind of figure out on the fly like, “Okay, I I like getting the ball here. I like having this. This is my spot. Like right here on the right wing or something. I like catching the ball here. I like shooting from here. I like being able to attack. I like being able to go off the triple threat here. I like cutting from this angle. Like he hasn’t had any opportunity at all to just figure out, okay, I know I know where I like to attack on the floor. So now you kind of see this, you know, aggressive at times and then it does feel like he’s aggressive in the first quarter, comes out, plays a really strong 10 minutes, some of his best 10 minutes of the season so far. to be fair, checks back in, has a collision, you know, that shoulder that’s been bothering him for a few games now. You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how much of a problem that is for him. It could be bothering him, but then it just feels like immediately, you know, he takes what, like four shots the rest of the game. The ball barely finds him and now he’s completely out of a rhythm. I just I don’t really know. It’s, you know, it’s it’s 18 years old, you know, like that’s that’s what we keep coming back to. It may maybe we oversold and we were oversold and then we ourselves oversold just how NBA ready he was, you know. Um, but I do feel like he’s just still not they’re not doing right by him. I don’t they’re they’re putting him in like an impossible position right away. Well, I think he’s still being impactful. That’s the thing. It’s like I still think he is making an impact in some way, right? You he has he makes he makes the right decisions. Kid still has him out there at the end of the end of games for defense because I think his defense has been solid too. Uh and he you know put up 12 points, five boards, two assists. It’s like, okay, he’s at least doing something out there, but he has not been, like you said, like we we had hoped that he would be a top 100 player in the in the NBA. And maybe he could still get there by the end of the season, but I think that the Mavs have just set him off on this path that is just not helping him get to that point at all. And so, like you said, like you started, they’re not developing him and they’re also not winning. Like, doing neither of the things that you could have done this season. And m maybe this will be good for him long term. Which part? That’s what I’m saying. That’s the That’s the part that I just don’t get is like if Kid is trying to develop him and he’s saying, “All right, well, we’re trying to do this to Cooper Flag.” So that didn’t kid say recently like, “Okay, so then in April we’ll be ready for stuff like this.” And you’re like, “In April, he’ll be ready to do what? He’s not running pick and it’s not like he’s running pick and rolls. He’s not even really running the offense even.” Like I just don’t know what they’re trying to prepare him for. That is the weird thing too is he’s not getting any like maybe he’s getting three reps a game where he’s like the pick and roll ball handler. But the thing this offense doesn’t run pick and rolls. Yeah, I know. But like also another thing too is how many times have I seen Cooper Flag set an onball screen? Next to none. Like I was waiting for that in the fourth quarter when they put him back in and then they had had D’Angel Russell out there. I was like all right here’s the here’s the shot. Use Cooper flag in this way and they’re just like no. Well, here’s the thing. Like Flag, our uh kid after the game says that, you know, the reason why Flag didn’t get a lot of shots in the second half was because PJ was playing well. And it’s like, well, you can still use Flag as a screener, as you know, anything to just kind of get him going, too. Like, uh, you know, I think I think it goes both ways. Like, I think Flag needs to be a little bit more aggressive. I think he’s also he needs a moment. like he needs just like a okay, we’ve thought we’ve had it a few times here and there, but like if they’re going to lose anyways, and there’s probably more losing to come, then there needs to be like just like a game where it’s like, you know what, Flag, you’re shooting 25 times tonight. Like that’s that’s it. Our goal tonight is to set you up. Our goal tonight is to get you in a rhythm, get you comfortable, and that’s that’s what we’re going to do. Could have been these last two games with Anthony Davis out, and you’re like, “Okay, 80s out, Lively’s out. Let’s just get him some shots tonight.” Except the last two games he’s been guarded by Assar Thompson and Amen Thompson are the two best athletes in the universe and like and one of the best like the two of the best defenders in the league. Yeah. I mean that that’s his opportunity. It it’s al the one way to look at it. Somebody brought this up and it is true like this will probably be the hardest it’ll ever be for Cooper Flag. So that there is that is one way to look at it. Worst he’ll ever be in the NBA is probably hopefully. But just in terms of like him being 18, fresh into the league, the the team that he’s surrounded by is just in this weird flux state currently, and you’re being guarded by the other team’s best perimeter defenders every night. And on top of that, you’ve played like four of the best ones on the planet in your first seven games. Yeah. So that that that also makes it difficult. It’s tough going for him. I thought he did some some good things. I thought that the Mavs are doing I think the Mavs are doing him a disservice, though. We’ve talked about that yesterday. We broke it down today. You saw it in this game if you watched it. Just that exactly. Coming up, Daniel Gford I thought was was great. Showed some grit, some toughness. The Mavs need that. We’ll talk about him and Max Christie. Another really great game coming up. Today’s episode of Lock the Maps brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel sports book. All kinds of things to get into the NBA season. There’s no better way to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hey, go check out all the different kinds of things you can do. Uh we’re looking at the the rookie of the year and Cooper Flag is still the favorite minus 110 for rookie for for rookie of the year. I think that was minus 200 earlier this off seasonason. Uh BJ Edgecom plus 130. He’s averaging like 20 points a game right now. VJ Edgecom looks like the real deal over there in Philly. And that is the that is the one he is creeping up on Cooper Flag right now. When he passes him, that will be a day on these these odds right here. Conibible plus 2,000. Trey Johnson plus 3,000. Cedric Coward from Memphis plus 3,000. Dylan Harper who just has that calf injury plus 4,000. All kinds of things you can do on FanDuel though, not just NBA. All kinds of other things. If you feel confident about something you want, you think absolutely is going to happen. You’re a new customer, put down $5 on that first bet and you can get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app wherever you want. So head to fanduel.com to sign up or and play it with FanDuel right now, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Please gamble responsibly. Shut it down. Let’s go home. All right. Slightly Mavs lose to the Rockets. PJ Washington leads the team and it’s pretty awesome. Cooper Flag has a pretty good half and then a a half that he’s just not there. It seemed like Maps are doing him a disservice. And then Daniel Gaffford plays in this game. And before the game, Jason Kidd dropped a little, you know, hey, he’s still going to be on a minutes restriction, 15 to 18 minutes. So I said, okay, same thing as the Pistons game. He looked he looked a little winded in that game. Looked like he was a little bit struggling. Makes sense they would keep on minutes restriction. He ends up playing 25 minutes. Yeah. In in this game because the Rockets were playing big. They play big a lot. They play uh Shenun and they play uh they play Capella and they with with Albert with uh Steven Adams a lot. It seems like you get uh I I did this stat before the game uh today that ShenGun has played 204 of his 362 possessions with either Steven Adams or Clint Capella this season. That’s like a pretty big percentage of his minutes. And it was a lot tonight, too. And so they needed some some bigs. Musa played early in this one. We’ll talk about that. But Daniel Gaffer, they needed him. He played just about 25 minutes, 14 points, three offensive rebounds. The Mavs needed those offensive rebounds cuz they’re the worst offensive rebounding team. The Rockets were the best offensive rebounding team coming into this game. And uh he had three blocks, too. Couple of steals. He had an assist. 709 from the field. They needed his finishing. They needed his just like girth in the paint. They needed that in a big way. And I thought he gritted out this game. I hope he didn’t get reinjured because it looked like he was limping up and down. He went to the locker room at one point. He was on the bike at the end of the game. We thought he was done. And then he comes back in with like, you know, a minute 30 left or something like that or two, you know, about 3 minutes left. What did you see from Daniel Gaffney? Uh yeah, I mean they desperately needed his size like you said like they they did a pretty good job. This Rockets team is surprisingly they’ve been the best offense in the league to start this year. Uh a lot of that has to do with the fact that they rebound nearly half of their misses. That’s not me misspeaking. They rebound near% coming into this game. They rebound nearly half of their misses and they’re very good and efficient on putbacks, but the Mavs actually did a pretty good job tonight at limiting the amount of points they scored off of those putbacks. So, uh I think part of that is a credit to Gafford, right? And just kind of the Mavs defense in general, which again I I kind of think has been pretty solid to start this year. Like I really do think their defense has been good. Unfortunately, uh what was the one thing we said all season all off seasonason that this that this defense needed to be like top three because the offense wasn’t going to be good enough and and that was assuming the offense was going to be league average. Not dead last, league average. So, so far we haven’t gotten that. But yeah, Gaffford being back is huge. Uh just cuz they they man they just need some size so bad. And yeah, hopefully he was Olympic. He had I feel like he had four different things going on at a certain point. So hopefully he’s ready to go in a couple nights. Yeah. Yeah. But I thought Gaffford gritted through this. He gritted through this game. Showed showed some toughness. He was They needed his finishing really really bad. I was good. It was good to see Gaffford get in there. It’s good to see it’s good to see him back. They just need bodies honestly at this point. Like like big bodies at this at this point. You’ll just take him. Speaking of big bodies, Musa plays 14 minutes. Gets a couple alley oops including one early and that was good to see. He was big. He had two offensive rebounds as well which was huge. huge. The Mavs needed those. Like we mentioned, the same thing with Gaffford. Uh he’s just like springy and he can he will run like he ran the hardest down the court of anybody on in the game tonight. But sometimes he would get up and I would watch him run like oh he is running at full speed right now down the court which is exactly what they need. They need a little spark plug especially as a big a big body right now. Yeah. He gave him some solid energy off the bench. Uh was that that was the first run he’s gotten all year, right? Or did has he gotten some garbage time minutes? So, first NBA action, right? He’s a rookie, correct? I think he’s gotten some action, some garbage on action, but he hasn’t um scored. That was his first time scoring. Okay. So, yeah, he gave him some solid energy and again in a matchup like this, especially with Gaffford kind of dealing with a a minute restriction one and then a couple of different flare-ups over the course of the game. Desperately needed some size and Musa gave you some, you know, some solid effort, some solid hustle, some size. He did. Max Christie gave you some playmaking that the Mavs really needed. 17 points, six assists, hit three threes, and he had he had some drives, too, that were just absolutely awesome. Some playmaking to start the game. Pick and roll with Daniel Gaffford and finished over Shangon, which I thought was a great move. Another one, another drive finisher on Steven Adams in that first quarter. I thought he just did did some really, really good things in this game. Yeah, Christy and PJ have been the two bright spots of the team so far this season. and they look like high-end, very high-end rotation players, like role players in the NBA. So hopefully when this team figures out whatever it is that they need to figure out between now and maybe even next season, they’re in the they’re in the equation for sure. Yeah, keep those guys around. Those are guys worth keeping. But they also have value. So we’ll see see what happens with them. D’Angelo Russell, he 10 points, 12 assists, two of 10 from the field, one of six from from three. only had two turnovers in this game, but like you said, it was kind of one of those they needed him desperately in this game and they needed his playmaking really bad. At the end of the game, he had some some pretty tough moments, but they wouldn’t be in this game without him. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s that’s the DLO experience. I feel like so far this season, he’s had a couple moments where it’s like, what was that shot you just took? Trying to think what game was that? Was that the Wizards game where he took that deep three with with like 30 seconds left and and front ironed it? Or was that the Thunder game? Either way, um Thunder, it was a Thunder game, right? But they’re not even in that if it’s not for DLO. It’s true. I mean, it’s it’s a it’s kind of what I said. They they’ve put themselves in a position where they have to live or die with whatever happens with him because they don’t really have another option at this point in time. So, um, yeah, I mean, the offense does just look better when he’s out there. He sets guys up. I mean, he had 12 assists in tonight’s game. Like, he does set up guys. I like the way he controls a fast break. I guess you just have to live with bad. I mean, what is he shooting for on the field so far this year? Like, he’s two of 10 tonight. I mean, it’s got to be it’s got to be ugly ugly. Even with like a good game a couple nights ago. Okay. NBA.com has the seven games already up updated. Uh I’m going to give you over under 38 and a half. Definitely under 36.7. Yeah. So I guess you you could look at it if you want to be positive and say, well, it’s clear that DO’s made a positive impact on this team offensively and he’s not hitting shots right now. Who’s shooting better from the field, Russell Westbrook or D’Angelo Russell right now? Well, Russell hasn’t been half bad. Russ shooting 39% from the field. Actually, 37% from three. The Russell West. No, I know. He hasn’t been half that. It just a lot of it. This just doesn’t make any sense. I thought they play they play played admirably against this Rockets team. I thought they’d get destroyed and they didn’t. They played real tough with them. I mean, let’s be let’s be real. This is as depressing. Like, we we can sugarcoat it. Like, this is we’re in game seven and it’s already like, yeah, they fought hard and they’re two and five now. Like that’s it’s about as worst case scenario as imaginable. They’re missing two Allstars, right? Well, you’re already out. We We knew Kyrie was going to be out, but you’re already out AD. Who knows how long he’s out? Derrick Lively, who knows how long he’s out. That’s my number one concern for this team. Like the the number one thing I’ve seen through seven games where I’m like, I don’t know, guys, what to make of this Derrick Lively thing at all. No clue. They needed a healthy season from him and we’re five games in and a knee sprain is like he didn’t travel with the team. That could be weeks long. Weeks long. Yeah. Depending on depending on severity and it was it was initially reported as a contusion. I know. Like are we doing this again with Lively where it’s it’s one injury and now all of a sudden it’s a different one. Like that that frustrates me too where you go okay well what is it? Or or maybe if I’m going to throw him some bail cuz that happened towards the very end of that long home stand. If I’ll throw him some bail I’ll be like okay we put it as a knee contusion. Maybe there’s a little sprain like let’s just be safe with Dive and don’t travel with the team. Like just stay back. But yeah, I mean uh seven games in you’re already injured. Um let’s just call a spade a spade. She’s injured like five games out. Like it’s been over a week. Yeah, I know. And uh call a spade a spade. You know, the coupe thing has been I don’t want to say frustrating cuz I I I haven’t seen anything from him where I’m like scared longterm, right? But it’s not as good as maybe we were hoping it would be short term. And that’s for a ton of different reasons. Yeah. Well, we we laid out all the reasons before, but he has not like lit the world on fire where you go, “Oh, this covers up everything else. Doesn’t matter. Let’s just watch Cooper Flag Cook. Let’s just watch him develop in the NBA.” Because they’re not doing that right now with him. Like they’re not even helping him develop even. I know. I we’re not even get to see that. I’m just very confused as to what the the the plan is because I mean I don’t understand the I’m going to start a guy and then not play him again the rest of the game. Is that not more demoralizing than benching a guy? Yeah. Yeah. Clay plays 18 minutes. Is that not more of a slap in the face to be like, “We’ll start you, but you’re playing so terribly that once you sub out, you’re done. Clay played eight and a half minutes the second half. So, he only played 10 minutes the first half. I know. He’s barely playing right now. Why not just bring him off the bench? I I don’t Clay did play some good defense, though. Yeah, the team’s not bad defensively. They’re really not. They’ve only had a couple of bad defensive games and one of them was the Raptors game that they won. I need you guys to understand it’s hard to play consistently good defense when you’re not scoring points and teams are running up and down the floor. And honestly, I’ll have to look at the numbers. It feels like they’ve they’ve done better at not turning the ball over the last few games, too. Like, and still not good, but they’ve done at least somewhat better at controlling turnovers. Um, and that’s helped them out, right? But still, lots of questions, lots of things. We’ll have you covered. Mavs, another postgame on Wednesday. We’ll be back here for that one against the Pelicans. We’ll have another show for you tomorrow. Don’t Don’t What? Don’t even think about it, guys. The Pelicans, the Pelicans, they’re 0 and6 right now, right? They’re 0 and6 and they’ve lost they’ve had they’re the first team in history to have three 30-point losses their first six games. Please, guys. And I and I and I I sense it. I do. You can’t go check out Slightly Vice YouTube channel. Great stuff all all the time over there. We’ll be back tomorrow. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. If you lose that game, I went to AP spent 200k. They sold me the frost rainbow face. Do the math on that.

PJ Washington is stepping up as a leader for the Dallas Mavericks as the Mavs battle through injuries to Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Dereck Lively II in this NBA regular season matchup against the Houston Rockets. Can rookie Cooper Flagg find his form as the Mavericks search for answers in their rotation, and how does Daniel Gafford’s toughness help the team in a difficult stretch?

Nick Angstadt and Slightly Biased break down the near-win for the Dallas Mavericks versus the Houston Rockets, analyzing performances from PJ Washington, Cooper Flagg, Daniel Gafford, D’Angelo Russell, Max Christie, and Klay Thompson while discussing the impact of injuries and Jason Kidd’s coaching decisions. The episode covers the Mavs’ struggles offensively and defensively, the need for more point guard play, and the challenges of playing without key stars like Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Listen in for insights on team identity, player development, and what the Dallas Mavericks need to do moving forward in the NBA season.

0:00 PJ Washington Emerging Leader
10:35 Cooper Flagg Usage & Development
22:40 Gafford & Supporting Cast Impact

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