SINKING: Dallas Mavericks’ Season Already at RISK with P.J. Washington Injury | Cooper Flagg’s Game

SINKING: Dallas Mavericks’ Season Already at RISK with P.J. Washington Injury | Cooper Flagg’s Game

On today’s show, the Dallas Mavericks lose another top four player on the team. PJ Washington goes out. Are the Mavs in trouble? Yes, but not in the way you’d think. Also, someone was sitting in Nico Harrison’s seat tonight. Tonight’s locked on Maps. Cooper flag and you’re listening to Locked on M. I think that’s a good question. [Applause] You are locked on mavericks podcast. part of the locked on podcast network. Still can’t leave. Your team everyday. I want to get a city like that. And welcome Locked on the Dallas Mavericks your team every day. My name is Nick Angstead media member covering the math for 10 years. Thanks for being every day or making lock on apps your first listen to making lockdown podcast network the number one sports podcast network in America. Somebody today on another lockdown show said that we are the number one sports podcast network in the galaxy. apparently incorrect because we got a companywide note that that is not that’s not correct today. Today’s episode is brought to you heard of the Venus on voice. There’s some Nebula out there apparently that has a good podcast network. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customer income bets $5. If you win, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. Joining me as always, the postgame prodigy from the great Slightly Bias YouTube channel. What you got for me, Slightly Bias? I’m more than a postgame prodigy now. I’m a champion. Hey, of what? Winner of uh around the room. Let’s go. Really? You know, had it put on for the squad. You know what? Representing Lockdown Mavs there. That’s right. I I appreciate that. I always knew you were destined for big things, buddy. That’s right. Winner of around the room. Let’s go. Today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the Mavs against the Suns. We’re going to talk about their loss. We’ll talk about Cooper Flag, how awesome he was, just looking really great. I mean, an 18-year-old. We got to remind you every single time we talk about him. Talk about Brandon Williams and how he has really emerged onto the scene. Talk about Klay Thompson. Took 16 threes tonight. How many did he make? Find out next. And then somebody was sitting in Nico Harrison’s seat tonight and it was incredible. I I’ll tell you about it. But let’s start here. The Mavs lose somebody else slightly. PJ Washington goes down with a shoulder sprain and he goes out. Arguably the Mavs four best players to start the season. Kyrie, Anthony Davis, Dererick Lively, and PJ Washington are now all out for the Mavericks right now. We don’t know the severity of PJ Washington’s injury. Of course, the Mavericks right now are being very cautious about everybody. Lively and AD have been questionable the last couple of games here. And AD was a decision that seemed to come down from Patrick Jamont that he didn’t want him to play in a game like this that possibly could have played. And so, they’re being very cautious all around as the Mavs try and feel out and figure out this next era of Mavs basketball from the front office. Can I interject? Of course. You’re you’re the champion of around the room. You can just say whatever you want. I did say before we went live, I didn’t want to talk about this stuff much, but like what what is your takeaway from that from Patrick Deont making decisions? Yeah. From decisions like that. That sounds like a classic like uh spending freeze in in a business. You know what I mean? Like he’s the CEO of a company and all of a sudden he goes, “All right, we’re making some big corporate decisions, budget freeze across every department.” Like everybody just hold off where you are. Like nobody make any rash decisions. Nobody go spend anything that you’re not supposed to or that it wasn’t already planned in the budget. Like let’s just let’s just hold here. Like like let’s let’s just hold. We’re holding, right? Like we’re not buying or selling stocks right now. Yeah. Cuz I had some people ask if that was like a oh my god, are they like about to trade him and they don’t want him to hurt get hurt? I think it’s more it could be, but I think it’s more what you said where it’s like all right, we’re about to make some big changes here. Let’s let’s just wait a tiny bit and let’s wait until you’re 100% healthy. And I think it’s also kind of an an admission of uh defeat almost where it’s like this thing’s already cooked. Yeah. Like this the MS are what three and nine now. They’re three and nine. Like it’s they’re need a six game win streak just to get out of this like just to get back to 500. So it is it is dire straits right now for the Dallas Mavericks. And that’s why I said to the to the start are the Mavs screwed? Yes, they are screwed because they’re already down this hole. And PJ is out. and PJ looked like he who’s going to be really good in this game. Looked like he was the advantage early on when the Mavs played really well in that first quarter. But him going out is a massive blow to the to the Dallas Mavericks. We’ll see how long it is. But I actually think that the AD like him not playing in this game and him getting you know the uh you know the call down from from Patrick Deont to not play in this game is maybe the more interesting injury thing. And uh I think they’re in a holding pattern just like you just like you said that they are holding out to see what happens. Maybe they’ll trade AD. Everybody in their mom is is putting up AD trades. I’ve seen some good, mostly bad, but I mean, we’ll see what happens with the Mavs going forward. But the Mavs that we saw on the court tonight, they were scrappy. They played hard. They played through these injuries. They like I thought like this is the type of Mavs games that I thought we would see this season with guys injured. Like the ones at the beginning of the season where they just looked helpless. Just couldn’t get anything going on offense at all. I mean, this game was the Mavs second best offensive game according to according to offensive rating because they got 32 assists, which I thought was huge. And they actually hit some threes. 17 threes total for the Mavs. Yeah, this was kind of um a point of emphasis thing going into the game. It felt like from the way people were talking around the team of like, hey, the fire knee code chance, let’s be done with that. These guys are going out there and playing hard every night and tonight really did showcase that to me. Uh I mean, they’re down their four best players with PJ going out. Like that’s just insane to me that we were that we’re at this point. Obviously, we knew Kyrie was going to be out, but I mean, uh, I because I you you know, you do consider obviously PJ probably in their top four with Cooper right on the cusp of that, I would say. Well, even when AD was playing, PJ was their best player. How many games do we finish and go like PJ was the best player on the court for the Maps tonight? I mean, I’ve been calling him MJ Washington all year, right? But yeah, I mean, it just sucks. Hopefully PJ is nothing too serious, but I mean, he only played five minutes and they ruled him out pretty quickly, so it’s usually never a great sign. But, um, yeah, I mean, they they played hard, man. They went out there and they fought and uh Brandon Williams has just been incredible this season. It’s just a continued stretch dating back to last year. Musa Cisce comes in and is just an absolute bull in a china shop. Like he is just an endless ball of energy out there. Uh and honestly, he’s just been a much more positive contributor than I could have really ever imagined. Like it’s funny I was talking about I was like think about the fact that in the preseason if you were like hey one of these two-way guys is going to be playing pretty early minutes and is going to be contributing and like winning their minutes you would say Ryan Impart right there for sure for sure. We talked about him way more than we talked about Cay. Yeah Cece was funny because it was just like I guess the way these contracts are Cay is the only one who’s going to make the that’s like the Cece conversations. Well, we talked about he has great blocks, great like great leaping ability with his alioops, like like good stuff. Showed some good stuff as like a mobile active center. And then yeah, by the end by the end of training camp, he was the only player eligible to be a two-way guy. That was the only one only spot left. And so we were like, well, I I guess it’s him. There’s nothing really to talk about. He’s already got the spot. But yeah, his his activity was was good. Six fouls, but that’s what the Bull in the China shop gets. You know, you put him out there and uh he got the sixth foul and Gaffer was already at the scores table ready to come in for him. Yeah, I mean some some fouls. I think some out of position defensively. There was one play offensively where Coup’s bringing the ball down. It was one of Coup’s most impressive playmaking things yet. In transition, he completely manipulates the defense. Moose is wide open on the basket. Coupe kind of no looks and Moose was just not ready. He threw it over his head. He He’d have to do like the over the shoulder catch like in the end zone. Yeah. I mean, uh, but you know, it is it’s funny because if you go back in time, you should have been like, “All right, they’re relying on a two-way player. Let’s look. It’s going to be the big, isn’t it?” Well, that gonna be Yeah, right. That’s the that’s the thing is that this team was down a lineup that probably could have started for a lot of teams. Kyrie Exom, PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, Derek Lively. I mean, that that’s a that’s a lineup right there that the Mavs are out, but they got good contributions across the board from a lot of different guys. And uh that run at the end of the first quarter, I mean, that’s what really killed it for for the Mavs. They had a chance to get back into this. What did they cut it to uh towards the end? They they cut it to like what four or something like that? No, it was a one possession game at one point. Cut it to cut it to three at one point. That was massive. But the Mavs had that, you know, they let that run go at the end of the in the first quarter. And I He doesn’t have a lot of options. Jason Kid does not have a lot of options. But he threw out a Cooper flag at the five with Naji, Daniel Russell, like a small a really small unit. And it just got blitzed. Like it just got destroyed 21 to four that run at the end of the first quarter. And the Mavs didn’t really ever recover from it. Uh they got it back down to like one at one point, but then and then three at the end, but man, that was that was the killer that where the Suns really took control. Yeah. And I you got to give them some credit. This is this is a pretty good Phoenix Suns team. I mean, just the way they’re playing right now. Obviously, they’re seven and five, but it’s it’s like night and day watching them compared to the sad embarrassment they put out on the floor over the last couple of years. The ball moves around. Debbook’s been awesome. And the Mavs, I think they they kind of went away from it late in the game, but early on I think they were just too quick to double on book. And I honestly I thought their rotations were pretty good, but credit to the Suns team. They took advantage of it and they made the right pass and they were hitting shots. It felt like I mean there was an onslaught. I don’t know. You could probably pull it up quicker than me with the Suns shot from three in the second quarter. It felt like an on it felt like they were not missing at all. Um and some of them were clean looks off of those double teams. Five of 10. Five of 10. Yeah, I would have guessed way better than that, but 50% is still 50%. But, uh, you know, five threes to us is a lot of threes after watching this Mavs team all season. That’s true. Did the Mavs make five threes tonight? Oh, they made 17. They made I was going to say they made 17. They made four in that second quarter. Yeah. Wow. Look at them. Um, but yeah, you know, there’s the Mavs defensively could have done some stuff better, I think. But really, I I do think a the bigger story for me is like this this Suns team just played a really good offensive game and made some shots and that was kind of it. The Mavs don’t have a Devin Booker right now. No, they they don’t they don’t have the the closers to close out in these games. Not only the closers, but the guy who’s just constantly drawing attention from the defense that’s just going to lead to clean looks for people. Yeah, Brandon Williams is drawing attention from from the defense and he is creating advantages which I think is is huge for him and so is Cooper Flag now as he’s starting to get more comfortable, but yeah, they don’t they don’t have a guy that just like they don’t have a guy who’s drawing a double the moment he touches the ball. No. No. And that’s what Deon Booker was doing. The Mavs were doubling just like they were doubling Giannis. Not as much, but they still were sending it. It was the Mavs second best offensive game by rating this season. It was one of their worst defensive games. Coming up, I’ll tell you why Cooper Flag showed even more flashes that he’s going to be a great player. I feel like I could do that tease ever. [Music] Today’s episode of Lock Time Apps brought to you by our friends over at Wayfair. Wayfair holiday season is right around the corner. That means it’s time to get your home ready. Whether you need some more seating for guests, cozy new items and linens or fun serveware for holiday hosting. Serve wear is that just like fun forks like a frosty fork? Wayfair Black Friday sale is here to help you make your space shine. I know that uh there’s already like Christmas decorations at my house and I’m sure Wayfair will be getting a call or getting a browse here a little bit to check out some more. The best part, you don’t have to wait. Wayfair’s Black Friday deals are happening all month long with up to 70% off everything from sofas to spatulas. That is quite the the range of items right there. I’ve gotten a lot of stuff from Wayfair. I and I love that the shipping is free right to your door. You don’t have to worry about figuring out if something’s going to fit in your car. I’ve got uh nightstands, I got a drink cabinet, I got a whole bunch of things from Wayfair. Don’t miss out on the early Black Friday deals. Head to wayfair.com right now. Shop Wayfair’s Black Friday deals and uh get that sale up to 70% off on select items. Wayfair wa y f a i r wayfair.com. Sale ends December 7th. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for hanging out with us on Unlocked Time Maps, being part of the show, part of the Raccoon Squad, listening every day. We appreciate you for checking out the show and listening. We’re here every day, multiple times a day, right now, doing shows for you, talking about this MAB situation, talking about what the Mavs are going to do with the GM search. Uh, tomorrow Isaac and I are going to do Anthony Davis trades for the whole show. We’re talking about the Mavs. We’re talking about the Mavs game against the Suns tonight. And slightly, I I did a lap around the arena during halftime, and I normally don’t do that, but I did this time. And uh this guy screams at me from across the the way. Raccoon Squad, which I still think is a hilarious thing to yell at somebody and I I delighted in it. I delighted in it a lot. Shout out to everybody that I met tonight. Uh if you come to a match game, I’m in section 123 and you can come and uh maybe maybe I’ll give you a sticker. We’ll see. Yeah, he will. He will give you a sticker. And every single person will ask me if Slightly is here. That is also the other thing that happens. They ask they they ask me, “Do you still have stickers? Is Isaac here? Is Slightly here?” They always ask me. Isaac is there. I don’t think he’s here tonight, but he’s here in spirit. He’s here in spirit. He is there in spirit. No, I I’ve been invi I’ve been very fortunate to have been invited to several games this year. It’s just I can never get out there. Slightly turns down games. How about that? That that’s that’s how big. Some people Some people hit me up like 30 minutes before the game and it’s like, dude, wow, the shade. I’m very thankful and grateful, but I’m not I was saying, dude, is it like, dude, I can’t make it. Like I mean you’re the champion of around the room. Like you can’t you can’t just be like your your schedule is booked out. Like you’re doing appearances and all kinds of things. Yeah. Does does the ownership know that? I mean I should be getting kind of like a direct helicopter ride. He knows now. We know he listens to the show. So that’s right. That’s right. Shout out to friend of the friend of the bot Patrick Dumat. All right. Cougar flag 16 points, six boards, six assists, three steals, two blocks. Just doing it all. and still has the bandage on his thumb. Dealing with that. He was dealing with a uh a shoulder issue on his left shoulder where he he left the game. He like literally went to the locker room in the first quarter. Then he came back out of the locker room and as he was a hilarious scene on the broadcast as he was exiting the locker room, PJ Washington was going into the locker room. Like a very good example of the map season so far was just guys going back to the locker room for treatment. And so Cougar Flag did come back. He finished the game. Um he’s just looking way more comfortable. You mentioned that play with Musa Cece where he had that the the the playmaking. He’s taking advantage of mismatches over and over again. He’s got the he’s got the the floater going. He’s got different moves, different counters that he’s got, his spin move, his crossover behind the back. Like we just seen so many things from from Cooper Flag. And that’s just and then the pull up threes. He made three threes tonight. That that was pretty massive for him. But honestly, like his defense, you me you you said it during the game, a 18-year-old should not be this good at defense. No, he he I feel like he kind of was game-wrecking at some at certain points defensively in this one with his uh playmaking. Even his individual one-on-one defense when he got switched on to Devin Booker I thought was very good. And there’s mistakes here and there absolutely but again 18 years old uh and you know sometimes you see these like shot blockers and that’s kind of one thing but Coup’s just kind of roaming around and playing off of instincts defensively and it is incredibly impressive. I mean, I I don’t know. He’s He’s starting to do the stuff cuz there’s there was flashes all throughout, you know, the early season games for him, but really over the last week, he’s starting to do stuff where at the end of every game, you’re like, man, this kid’s 18. Like, I like what is this going to look like in when in three years when he’s 21? Like, what is it going to look like then when he’s starting to fill out this frame a little bit more and he works on his finishing a little bit? that’s when it’s going to start to get uh and he’s starting to draw these free these fouls more because I do think he drives and I I think he’s got a bit of a rookie whistle right now. But uh yeah, man, he’s he it feels to me like confidence-wise it looks like maybe a corner has been turned for him. I think we’ll still see some games that aren’t great here and there. That’s to be expected for any rookie. I mean, you look around the league, you got some of these guys that, you know, these thing these things are up and down for rookies. Like VJ Edgecom look is getting Michael Jordan comparisons like three games into his career and the shooting splits have been dreadful since, but I mean he still looks good. It’s just this stuff happens for these young guys, you know, you switch the games, he scores six points recently. Cooper Black scored two in one of his first games. Like you switch those and it’s a completely different conversation. Yeah, for sure. So, you know, um I think part of it was it was the early game, it was the first games for Coupe where he was shooting poorly and it wasn’t like game 12, right? It was game one, game two, or was like, “Oh my god, is this like what is this play?” But he to me, he looks like he’s turned a bit of a corner. Uh just in terms of confidence and going into games saying, “Hey, I know I’m starting to figure out my role. I know when to take advantage. I know when to to pass the ball, and I know when to just back a dude down and and get to the basket.” So, that’s what’s very encouraging to me. It’s a combination of I think three things. One, his just comfortability in the NBA, getting used to the physicality, getting used to um you know, the NBA game plus plus I’ll add the he’s not playing against Amed Thompson, Lou Dort, Assar Thompson, Herb Jones all the time anymore like he was at the beginning of the season. That was a murderous row of defenders to start the season. Uh three, he’s playing with a point guard all the time, Brandon Williams or D’Angel Russell’s out on the court at all times. And that’s something that has just opened up everything for him. And uh and four, I I’ll just keep going. Four, the the injuries have just paired down this team so much that like they have to go to him. They you he has to step up. Like they need something from him. And I think that’s something too that has kind of freed him up. He’s not like timid and like, “All right, I got Klay Thompson over here, Anthony Davis over here, I got PJ Washington over here, Gaffford over here.” It’s like he doesn’t have to worry about all that stuff. It’s like you you got to get something going. He was a leading scorer for most of this game and he was the Mav’s best player for most of this game. He had to be. Well, that this will probably even be better after tonight, but 115 minutes before tonight’s game with Brandon Williams on the floor for Coupe in those minutes per 75 possessions, 24 points, four assists, eight and a half rebounds, 61% true shooting. So, with Brandon Williams on the court, just somebody who can get into the paint, collapse the defense. You see what that opens up for a guy like Cooper Flag where now all of a sudden I’m attacking a closeout or I’m attacking a shifted defense. And that’s where he looks really dangerous because he’s able to use that athleticism and that size and even get mismatches when guys rotate out and now it’s like, okay, I got Gillespie on me like I’m I’m immediately going to back down and go to the post. And that that’s where he’s been effective so far this year. And those are the stuff you look at and you’re like, I’m watching this kid who has just gotten better every single like week he’s been alive. It’s just like going back to Duke and high school, it’s like he’s just better the next week than he was the week before. So far, that’s been the case throughout his NBA, young NBA career. And it’s like he, you know, he’s gonna get better than this. This will pro, this will be the worst he ever is. Unless he plays till he’s like 46 and is just out there, you know, to Udonis Hasslam roll, but this is probably the worst he’ll ever be. You know what? I was saying that back when he was playing third grade, like he gets better week after week, you know, I see it. I I actually kind of I was following you on Twitter at the time. Wouldn’t it be great if you had one of those tweets? It’s like, have you seen the tweet of page of Paige Beckers where that that guy has the tweet of Paige Beckers in sixth grade? He’s like, “Watch out for this sixth grader.” Reminds me of Diana Terasi and you’re like, “That is an insane thing to tweet about a sixth grader and then ends up being Paige freaking Beckers.” Like that worked out. That was one of the greatest calls in into sports Twitter history. Do you You don’t know that guy’s account. If you go back and look, it was every single person at the camp. He tweeted it out. No. No. I’m just joking. Be funny if it’s like line up. What? That would have hurt me spiritually. That would have hurt me good. That would have hurt me to my core. And then he just gets calls like 5 years later. Hey, she quit basketball. Yeah, she didn’t make All right, delete the tweet. Delete the tweet. She She didn’t end up being that interesting. Okay, delete it. Delete it. Go this way. ACL, okay, she’s done. But Cooper Flag is awesome. Showed so many different things. And he’s kind of making these he’s allowing match fans to move on, right? to move forward, like to have something to cheer for because we saw a happy group of Mass fans coming up. No fire eco chance at all. What was the state of the Dallas Mavericks fans tonight and we’ll talk about Brandon Williams getting into his game and more coming up. [Music] Today’s episode of Lockdown Maps brought to you by our friends over at Built. Nobody likes paying rent. Nobody. I mean, it just every single month and it feels like you’re paying towards nothing. You’re building towards nothing. But if you have to, you might as well get something for it. That’s where Built comes in. 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Start earning points around your neighborhood by going to joinbuilt.com/lockdownbt.com. joinbuilt.com/lockdown NBAba joint nb i lt.com/lockdownba make sure that you use that link so they know that we sent you it’s built and uh they have all kinds of different things where you can get rewards you can go and redeem them and you get something for your rent instead of just sending it to the to the landlord and uh that not being Daniel Gaffford joinbell.com/lockton NBA also brought to you by FanDuel FanDuel sports book has all kinds of props and odd things that you can use to get in on the action NBA is back we’re in on it man We’re we’re in the season and I’m sure Cooper Flag’s odds for rookie of the year are are going up and up and up and up because he has shown so much promise. He’s shown so much and let’s see what we got here. Come on. Come on. Come on FanDuel. What do you got? Flag minus 125. BJ Edgecom plus 280. So that one has it’s it’s stayed pretty steady. Conan nipple though coming up the boards plus 380. So you can go check out the rookie of the year on FanDuel. Let’s see what else you got. Cedric Coward plus 1400. He’s been a good story. Derek Queen has entered the chat plus400. Dylan Harour, the number two pick, is plus7,500 with his injury he’s got going on. Ace Bailey plus 7500. He’s the one I would have picked. And maybe maybe there’s still a chance there, but that that that’s a long odds right there. Again, if you’re a new customer, put down $5. If you win, you get $300 in bonus bets. FanDuel’s giving that deal to new customers right now. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Please gamble responsibly. Shut it down. Let’s go home. All right, slightly talked about the Mavs loss to the Suns. We already talked about Cooper Flag. We talked about the reason why the Mavs lost this game. We talked about PJ Washington’s injury. One of the big things that people were wondering coming into this game after Nico Harrison has been fired is how are Mavs fans going to respond? Everybody that I talked to before the game was like, uh, let’s see. We’ll see if they are they going to do sell the team chance like if it gets bad, what are the what are they going to do? Are they still going to do the Fire Nico chance? had Jason Kid pregame say that it was disrespectful for the Mavs fans to chant fire Nico during Mavs free throws which okay you could take you could take one of two ways for sure you had the players PJ and and Gaffford talk before the game which is a very rare thing the Mavs have not done that like very often at all that seems to be influenced from the from Mav’s new like you know PR or whatever and uh they both had things to say about it and said yeah hopefully we can just move forward because it didn’t really feel like playing at home that much because our fans It felt like our fans didn’t really want us to win like at times. And tonight there was one person that chanted Fire Nico that I heard from my section during a stoppage of play and I think he was like up and up up up there but nobody else joined him and there were no Fire Nico chants at all. Fans seemed back into it. They seemed excited about the Mavs. They seemed cheering for the Mavs and honestly like they have been cheering for the Mavs. It’s not like they’ve been rooting against the Mavs. You hear some of these stories you’re like, “Oh, they’re actively rooting against their team.” team like they haven’t they haven’t really been there’s been fire Nico chance for sure and they they’ve jumped in on it but it’s not like they’re actively rooting against their team that much but it seemed to be back to normal. Yeah, I mean the the Fire Nico he just doesn’t have internet guys. He doesn’t know uh announce these things in the stadium. He’s just not aware. If you only if you only paid attention to M’s content, you may not have known. Yeah, true. Uh no, but yeah, it’s good. I I will say cuz I saw I see some people that like get a little feisty with Mama Flag for sticking for for uh going to bat for her son after the uh the mama flag thing. The mama flag thing I did I did a short on this. It’s because she was upset that they’re they’re yelling it during Maverick’s free throws which I get that is frustrating but is also the only quiet moment during the entire game. Yeah. I mean, I think the fans, the players, kids even talked about this, understand why the chants were happening, but also there at a human level, like of course they’re going to be annoyed by it. So, I I just see, you know, I’ve seen people go back and forth like the players like who cares what the player like it’s not disrespectful. It’s like I mean, they think it is and it’s understandable. Now, that’s not to say they shouldn’t have been chanting. The fans shouldn’t chant. Like, yeah, they should have like they got right to do it, but of course, the players are going to take it a certain way. And you got to think about it like this, like you know, uh, obviously Nico Harrison deserved to be fired. We all wanted him fired. He completely and totally tanked the value of our franchise and and traded away the best player on the team for nothing really. For no reason, I guess I should say like no dispersive share went down, right? Yeah, that’s that’s 100% true. No disrespect to AD or Max Christie obviously, but I mean it was a it wasn’t a great return compared to like how good Luke is, but uh we did we don’t know the man personally, you know what I And these guys, you think about it, the the turnover, crazy roster turnover. Dwight Pal’s the only player on this team that wasn’t drafted by Nico or got traded for by Nico or got signed by Nico. So, they have a personal relationship there. Like, you know, obviously they do they share some of our frustrations and like, man, I signed here like you trade Luca. Like, maybe deep down, yeah, but of course they’re going to feel away about the chance. Like, that’s a human reaction. You’d have to imagine Klay does like he signed here, turned down less money from the Lakers to come here and to play with Luca and that didn’t really pan out. Yeah, I’m not I’m not going to like bat or defense for Nico or anything. I’m just going to defense for, you know, the human reaction of being like, “Yo, can we show on the chance now and just try to have some some fun out there?” And they did. Yeah, they did. There were no more chance. All that. Brandon Williams, 17 points, nine assists. You mentioned him earlier, but I wanted to go back to his his game because he he is an advantage maker. The Mavs have needed that. His quick first step is just awesome. He had that steel and reverse dunk too that I think Lively was like shocked on the on the bench that he had those kind of ups. But Brandon Williams I thought was is just he was plus 11 in this game too. They won his minutes by 11 points. And so I thought Brandon Williams is such a catalyst and such a big part of this game. He has been awesome. Like you said it it is awesome to see him step into this role. I was I was questionable about Brandon Williams because I was like, “Well, we only saw it like 18 games or so last year. It was just during March and March basketball can be weird, but he’s done everything he did last year and there’s been some ups and downs. He had four turnovers, but he also had nine assists and he missed all three of his threes, but like he’s been great. I have no qualms about Brandon Brandon Williams and it’s great that he’s in the starting lineup getting this opportunity.” Oh, yeah. And he’s earned it. I mean, he’s been by far the best guard on the team so far this season. So, hopefully he continues to to play like this. I mean, he’s he’s kind of turning in one of those players for me where it’s like he has that one skill that I just feel will always be there. Even in a game where he maybe turns the ball over four times or even in a game where he’s not hitting shots, it’s like he can get to the paint whenever he wants. It feels like. Yeah. So, that that’s something that will almost always translate into pretty good looks. Um, and yeah, I mean, I’m just I’m just happy for the guy, man. Like, he’s become a legitimate NBA rotation player off the back of a two-way contract last year, like fighting to stay in the league. And now to me, he just looks like a solidified rotation guy. I mean, I I don’t know, you know, obviously I hope he stays on the maps for a very long time, but like even if something were to happen, I feel like any team across the league would look at that and say, “Yeah, that guy could play for us.” He was a 24 year old 2-way guy, which is like kind of older for a for a 2-way player. Yeah. Yeah. Contrast that with D’Angel Russell. You said that Brandon Williams has been the best guard on the team. That’s because D’Angel Russell just looks so rough right now. Now, I mean, there’s ever since he got in that starting lineup, there’s been something going on with him because he has just not played well at all. Two of seven from the field, one of six from three. He had three assists, but he was a minus 18. They lost his minutes by 18. Part of that was the that first quarter run that I talked about that the Suns went on, but man, Daniel Russell just looks rough. Like, it just looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing out there. It’s funny because anyone who’s like Lakers fans listening to this or anything are like, “No, that’s just that sounds about right.” Like, he just has these stretches in these games. A good week and a bad week. I mean, tonight like he’s 20 something% from 27% from three so far this season. Uh, which obviously is bad, but you know, hey, he’s a shooter. Like, he he’s have to shoot his way into a good percentage. Like, that that is what it is. He hits a tough I think he’s like 0 of four from three at this point. He hits a tough sideep three in the corner, you know, it’s like, “Oh, that that’s a good shot. That’s a big shot.” Here he goes. One of five from three. Next possession down the floor, it’s like, “All right, heat check time.” 35 footer five seconds in the shot with a hand in his face. Yeah. It’s like what? What? Why that shot right there? Like I don’t mind you maybe, hey, off the off of a screen I’m shooting. Like I I don’t mind you trying to get yourself into cuz we’ll talk about Clay. Like I’ll tell you something right now. I love that Clay shot 16 threes tonight. I do. I love it. It felt like the Tim Hardway Jr. like like you know thing that we we talk about like hey they just need somebody to take these threes. Yeah. And this team found themselves down double digits pretty in the second quarter onwards pretty much. And you gotta you got to claw your way out of that. I like Clay shooting 16 threes tonight. I’ll tell you that much. But yeah, for deal it’s like dude why the 35 footer you’re one of five man. You know my favorite stat about Clay tonight though. What? 16 attempted threes, 17 attempted field goals. Yep. One one two. They needed him. They needed him to take those shots. He led the team in scoring with 19 and maybe this gets him going. He started to see the bottom of the net. Six of 16 sounds bad, but it’s 37 and a half%. Like that’s that’s pretty good. No, they needed his shot his shooting tonight and it it it was fine watching the game. And they weren’t at the threes. Some of them were quick like really quick threes, but I don’t think any of them were bad. Yeah. I mean, I I feel like he’s at least good for a couple bad ones a game, but you know, if he’s making them, it is what it is. Well, it’s also one of the greatest three-point shooters of all time. Like I I give him a I give him a couple where you go, I don’t know if you should take that one. And then it’s it’s that it’s the weird double-edged sword I think we talked about with CL. It’s like, yeah, it’s bad. He’s a notorious slow starter, but like he’s got to shoot his way out of it. You can’t just like bench him the moment he misses a three. Like he has to shoot his way out of it. So, it’s just uh you know, wait a wait game. Pretty much a wait andsee game. Last thing I’ll say is I thought Gafford was really good too in this one. Um 15 points. Well, he he he produced 15 points, nine boards, two blocks. So, he he produced this game and he started to get going scoring. We haven’t seen Gaffford score this year yet. And this is a game where he finally were like, “All right, he’s scoring under the basket. He’s putting back stuff like he like he’s he’s posting up smaller guys. Okay, we finally saw the Gaffford that we’re used to seeing.” Yeah. I mean, I I I didn’t mean to come off like that because uh I he did have a couple really nice takes. Uh he looks hurt. Oh, he probably is. He He’s like laboring up and down the floor. I I just He has slow up and down the court, that’s for sure. If if he’s injured and and hurt, I at this point, man, you’re three and nine. Like, protect your body and conserve yourself a little bit there on that front. Uh I admire you already got the contract. You got the extension already, you know, like that’s the last thing that this team needs is like a him hurting himself further and being out an extended period of time. So, I mean, if it’s a couple games of Dwight Pal and Muso Cis at this point, does it matter? Like, are we are we already at that point? Three and nine. We’ve talked about three and seven. Can we talk about three? Three three and nine really feels unsalvageable. Are we at that point? I don’t know. In my heart, maybe. In my head, sure. You know, it’s like which which one? Cuz it’s like they’ll guys will come back and it’s crazy to think if they go on a 10-ame winning streak, they’ll be 13 and nine, which isn’t even like a good record. And 10ame win streaks are pretty rare. Like I got to do my stat again. I did the two and seven stat. The two and seven stat was it’s a 14% chance. got to be worse. Got to be Oh, got to be got to be way worse. So, well, we’re getting into the territory where like nobody’s made the playoffs. Yeah. With that bad start, right? Like, and in the West, that’s an important distinction. That was the other thing. The two and seven stat was that it was uh was what? Three and seven. The three and seven stat was that it was 180 teams have started three and seven and 26 have made the playoffs. Only eight of them are from the West. It’s like, man, as of the time we’re recording this, the Clippers are down 10 right now, and if they lose this game, they’ll be three and eight. That is a w that’s wild cuz they’ve had James Harden play like an allNBA player and the Kings are about to be three and nine. So that could be your one saving graces is like there’s a lot of genuine like the Grizzlies lost by 40 tonight. They’re four and nine. The teams ahead of them, right, are like are the Jazz like the Jazz are ahead of them? You’re like, “All right, well that’s going to Yeah, the Jazz always have this early season. It’s like uh at a nursing home last night for Pete Paw has just like a little burst of energy. Like that’s always how the Jazz are start a season. Jazz are up there. Uh who else is like I guess everybody else? Well, the last behind the the the Pelicans are the only team worse than them. So, but at least at least you’re upwardly mobile. Yeah, the Clippers Clippers Kings and Grizzlies and Jazz are all above you. That’s doable. You could make it to the play and that’s what you want to do. That’s what you want to do as a franchise. I I would say right now the Grizzlies will get healthy and I think they’ll probably end up stabilizing and being better than you. Clippers are Grizzlies got their two stars right now and they look terrible. Well, Jaw looks I don’t know what they got destroyed by the Celtics tonight. The and Jaw didn’t play in that one to be fair. But last night I was watching the game against the Knicks and I’ve been watching Grizzlies games just to see it’s like Jaw’s been trying like his effort levels been better lately, but he’s just like missing everything he shoots and turning the ball over. It’s like is he just is he washed? Like what is what am I watching? Is he just like he like I don’t know what it is. Like 25year-old washed. uh most of us. Well, the question is for Mavs fans, I’m gonna tell you right now, there is a juggernaut about two hours up the road that is probably winning 70 plus games this year and steamrolling everyone. So, if there’s a year to be bad, this was probably the one. The Oklahoma City Blue. Yeah, the G- League three hours down the road. The Rockets who are good. Wild. All right, go check out Slightly Bice YouTube channel. He’s the champion of the day, champion of the room. Go check out his great stuff happening all the time over there. And we’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll have I’ll have one more thing. Mark Stein dropped a piece today that just was chock full of so much stuff. So, we got to talk about that. So, come back and I’ll have more on that later today, wherever you’re listening, watching this. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom. Cooper flag. That’s what we That’s what we’re here for, baby.

The Dallas Mavericks dropped another tough game to the Phoenix Suns with key injuries piling up for the Mavs, including losses to top players like PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving in this challenging NBA season. Cooper Flagg continues to impress as one of the NBA’s brightest young stars, while Dallas fans look for hope in a tough conference race.

Hosted by Nick Angstadt and joined by Slightly Biased, this episode of Locked On Mavs breaks down what went wrong for the Dallas Mavericks against the Suns, how Cooper Flagg’s development is changing the outlook, and the impact of injuries to Anthony Davis, PJ Washington, and Dereck Lively II. They dive into the performances of Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, Naji Marshall, D’Angelo Russell, and the coaching decisions from Jason Kidd. The discussion covers front office news involving Nico Harrison, Mark Cuban, and Patrick Dumont, as well as reactions from Mavs fans in the arena. Get inside analysis on the Mavs’ playoff hopes, rotation questions, and what this stretch reveals about the future for Dallas in the NBA.

0:00 Mavs Injury Crisis & Front Office Moves
12:01 Cooper Flag’s Breakout Performance
22:30 Fan Response & Brandon Williams’ Impact

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