Vibe Check: Are the Dallas Mavericks okay? | No Cap Room
Yahoo Sports senior NBA writers Jake Fischer and Dan Devine discuss the up-and-down Dallas Mavericks. Hovering at the 8th-seed in the West, the streaky team is coming off a four-game wins streak, but is just as likely to start a four-game skid as they are are to keep the good times going with star Luka Doncic aggravating his hamstring and a defense that leaves much to be desired. Hear the full conversation on “No Cap Room” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
JAKE FISCHER: We are vibe checking the Dallas Mavericks. The defense is bad. The vibes are bad. Local radio started to implore the Dallas Mavericks to fire Jason Kidd specifically for, Mike, Budenholzer, who is going to be the hottest name on the coaching carousel this summer.
They got blown off the floor by the Pacers, which led Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News, to report on a players-only meeting that was particularly spurred by Markieff Morris. Luka had a quote about the fact that Kieff is helping him. And he's a voice in the locker room.
And now they're 4 and 0 since then. Daniel Gafford can't miss. He's rivaling Wilt Chamberlain, which is stuff that only Joel Embiid has really done, along with Nikola Jokic and one Victor Wembanyama in the last little stretch here. So I don't know.
After the early returns were pretty, pretty poor and people such as myself were criticizing a first-round pick and then some for Daniel Gafford and a top two protected pick for PJ Washington that was-- I mean, if this was top two protected, I think it's quite obvious that it was very nearly unprotected, which was a little bit skittish of a draft compensation to me. But they're turning the corner. Or are they? Or are they?
DAN DEVINE: Here is my conclusion on the Dallas Mavericks from having spent a few days watching and reading about and studying and researching the Dallas Mavericks. I don't know what the [BLEEP] to make of the Dallas Mavericks. It's all fits and starts. It's a winning streak here, a losing skid here, a winning streak there.
They've been this in and out, up and down team all season. The more relevant version of that is what they've done since the trade deadline, as you mentioned, bringing in Daniel Gafford, bringing in PJ Washington. And they were-- they'd won a couple of games before the deadline, won their first five after the deadline, then lost five of six, and now won four straight.
The four straight wins, it's they beat up on the Bulls. They took care of business on Wednesday night against a Warriors team that was without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, which was basically like drawing dead offensively. And they blew out the Pistons.
So it's like not exactly world-beating play during this stretch. But you need to get right. And so they got right. They've sort of stabilized. Now 10 games over .500, which I think they've only done that maybe once or twice so far this season.
They're in eighth in the West, like only a half game out of six. Then I think a game and a half out of fifth. So it's like still tightly bunched there. And they will have stretches where you're like, they will score on anybody with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. And the pieces fit a little more neatly together.
The issue is, as always, is the defensive end. And so you look at that winning streak, the seven-game winning streak. They were giving up like a 105 points per 100 possessions in that. They lose five out of six. It's like 125. They win four straight. It's like 106, 107. So like as they defend, so goes the team.
And the question is always going to be what, can they do against really good competition? Because they've been a team that has beaten up on bad teams all season long. And then there's no shame in that. Like you need to win those games to be able to put yourself in position to compete later in the season.
But if you told me they were taking down a favorite in a first-round series because Luka and Kyrie were going nuts, I would totally believe you. And if you told me they got beat in five because they couldn't stop a nosebleed, I'd believe that too.