Dame Time Ends Mavs - X's and Owens

I opted to not write a recap for Monday’s game Vs. the Utah Jazz because it was mostly inconsequential. The important standouts for that game was that Tim Hardaway began to look like his old self again with an extremely efficient 27 points and Seth Curry also had an efficient 22 points after missing a couple games with a leg injury. Doncic and Porzingis were both rested for the Jazz game.

The story of tonight's game against the Portland Trailblazers was Damian Lillard. Logging a very efficient 61 points to go along with 8 assists, the Mavericks defense simply did not have an answer for this onslaught of offensive greatness. To be completely honest, I think that the Mavs looked really good on the court tonight; Our three point shot was at the most efficient its been in the bubble at 45.5%, Kristaps had an awesome offensive night with 36 points and 7 threes made, and without a few bad turnovers and terrible calls at the end of this game I think it was ours for the taking. I’m not sure if it's due to health reasons or maybe his lack of contributions on the offensive end, but the limited minutes that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is getting confuses me. In today's game and yesterday against the Jazz he really impressed me with his effort on the defensive end, which I feel is something the Mavericks need as a team that is lacking defensive substance.

I seriously thought that Kristaps sixth foul in the fourth quarter should have been overturned after being challenged. It looked to me very obvious that Gary Trent Jr had pulled down Kristaps and that Kristaps had then proceeded to grab Trent Jr. in order to protect himself for the oncoming fall. I might be wrong, but I thought that was terrible officiating that could very well have lost the Mavs the game as it took a smoking hot shooter out of the game in crunch time.

There is not much else to say about tonight’s game, we looked good just not good enough to beat Dame’s 61. I knew this game was out of our hands when in the fourth quarter with 1:30 left, Damian Lillard takes a three from about 30 feet out. It clanks off of the back of the rim, flies about 15 feet in the air before dropping softly through the net for Dame’s 61st point. It was one of those insanely lucky shots that only happen when a shooter is having a historically hot night, and at that point is when I truly felt defeated.

Our final regular seeding takes place Thursday against the blazing hot Phoenix Suns led by Devin Booker. If I had to guess I would assume Coach Carlisle will rest our starters and let the bench guys get some reps. Playoffs start August 17, and it will be good to get our bench going and get our starters some rest. Tomorrow at 8 o’clock the Clippers face off against the Nuggets, a huge matchup that will go towards deciding who we face in the first round of the playoffs. After tomorrow's game I am planning to do a playoff preview for whoever we are matched up with instead of a recap of the Suns Vs. Mavs game. I’m looking forward to tuning into the play-in tournament, although the Mavs regular season is basically over as nothing matters at this point, there are still going to be some exciting games with major implications. From what I’ve seen of both teams, I would much prefer a matchup against the Denver Nuggets rather than the Clippers, so I will be following games involving these two closely.