GDT: An entire season comes down to...

[TheGrey08]

Not sure if this came up earlier in the game thread, but it looked like the strategy was to put Jaden on Kyrie and use more of a team approach to slowing down Luka. Smart move. It feels like it's tough to slow down Luka no matter who you put on him, so it's sub-optimal to put your best defender on him if he's just going to dice you up anyway. Kyrie on the other hand can be impacted by a great individual defender. He had a miserable game largely thanks to Jaden.

I liked that move too. Luka has the bulk to bump anyone off him for his little fadeaway (offensive fouls at times IMO) where as Jaden can blanket Kyrie pretty well.

[TheGrey08]

Full credit to the team for pulling through.

Considering it was 5 vs 8.

I didn’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated with the officiating. Those two fouls on Doncic 3pt attempts (especially the last one) were beyond a joke.

And watching the pogo stick pin ball Gafford get away with foul after foul was painful to watch. Meanwhile are bigs are constantly in foul trouble.

Credit once again to the team for pulling through that BS. Hopefully we get at least parity back at Target Center with the officials.

Foster should be investigated.

Well get ready for this LOL. A clear offensive foul on Luka and instead they foul out KAT. Also think the Ant call was probably bad too, but I didn't see enough replay on it.
https://x.com/NBAOfficial/status/1443591620901761040

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe’s Next Day DVR Review after creating his first-ever GDT thread but not participating in it in real time:

- It’s amazing how different it is to watch the game with unfamiliar announcers… and no Wolves influence. It was a well-officiated game. LOL. Sorta. Here’s the thing… we’re so conditioned to point out bad calls. But is that because they’re justified? Or, just what we do now? In any case, I couldn’t help but get frustrated when TNT wouldn’t show the replay on questionable calls. But that would have only distracted from what was a really good game.

For the record, I thought the Wolves got a bad whistle. But was that mostly just because I’m a Wolves fan? I wonder how many Mavs fan would claim they got the worse whistle…

- Speaking of whistles… we got back to the KAT of old. Efficient shooter + many offensive fouls + foul trouble. Whew. At least we know how to treat the usual KAT.

About those fouls… and Towns’ reputation… so even when national basketball pundits give him credit for his shooting, they spend even more time on his penchant for “stupid fouls.” And they’re not wrong. Towns does make stupid fouls. At the same time, the whistle he gets is absurd. The first charge seemed like a bad call that is NOT getting called on Embiid, Jokic, Doncic, and dozens of other NBA players. As for the Doncic vs. KAT play to foul him out… LOL. Anything close and Doncic is getting the call vs. Towns. It is what it is. I’ve have a bad whistle and lack or respect near the top of the list for possible reasons to trade Towns.

By the way, Edwards’ reach-in foul on Doncic after his jumper was blocked for #4 or #5 was dumber than anything Towns did. But his reputation is different so we’ll never hear anyone talk about it.

- With 3 minutes left in the first half… the Wolves were down 2. And they were playing without Towns, Edwards and Gobert. Part of Dallas’ success in this series is closing quarters really well. Nope. Not this time. The Wolves bench outscored them 4 – 2 to go into halftime. That was lowkey huge.

- Dallas had 30 points off 14 Wolves TOs at one point. That’s crazy.

- Conley played like a savvy veteran who knew this still might be his best chance at a title. 14 points, 7 assists, 4 steals, 0 TOs.

- So are we not ripping Kyle Anderson for every little thing anymore?

- Edwards has never had a triple double. But he’s coming closer and closer… It’s all part of his growth process as a player.

- I loved Edwards’ attacking style early in this one. 8 FTAs in the 1st quarter. He had 0 after that, continuing a crazy trend. Edwards has taken 26 FTAs in the series… with 18 of them coming in the 1st quarter of the past 3 games. He has 8 FTAs in the other 13 quarters.

[Q-is-here]

Abe’s Next Day DVR Review after creating his first-ever GDT thread but not participating in it in real time:

- It’s amazing how different it is to watch the game with unfamiliar announcers… and no Wolves influence. It was a well-officiated game. LOL. Sorta. Here’s the thing… we’re so conditioned to point out bad calls. But is that because they’re justified? Or, just what we do now? In any case, I couldn’t help but get frustrated when TNT wouldn’t show the replay on questionable calls. But that would have only distracted from what was a really good game.

For the record, I thought the Wolves got a bad whistle. But was that mostly just because I’m a Wolves fan? I wonder how many Mavs fan would claim they got the worse whistle…

- Speaking of whistles… we got back to the KAT of old. Efficient shooter + many offensive fouls + foul trouble. Whew. At least we know how to treat the usual KAT.

About those fouls… and Towns’ reputation… so even when national basketball pundits give him credit for his shooting, they spend even more time on his penchant for “stupid fouls.” And they’re not wrong. Towns does make stupid fouls. At the same time, the whistle he gets is absurd. The first charge seemed like a bad call that is NOT getting called on Embiid, Jokic, Doncic, and dozens of other NBA players. As for the Doncic vs. KAT play to foul him out… LOL. Anything close and Doncic is getting the call vs. Towns. It is what it is. I’ve have a bad whistle and lack or respect near the top of the list for possible reasons to trade Towns.

By the way, Edwards’ reach-in foul on Doncic after his jumper was blocked for #4 or #5 was dumber than anything Towns did. But his reputation is different so we’ll never hear anyone talk about it.

- With 3 minutes left in the first half… the Wolves were down 2. And they were playing without Towns, Edwards and Gobert. Part of Dallas’ success in this series is closing quarters really well. Nope. Not this time. The Wolves bench outscored them 4 – 2 to go into halftime. That was lowkey huge.

- Dallas had 30 points off 14 Wolves TOs at one point. That’s crazy.

- Conley played like a savvy veteran who knew this still might be his best chance at a title. 14 points, 7 assists, 4 steals, 0 TOs.

- So are we not ripping Kyle Anderson for every little thing anymore?

- Edwards has never had a triple double. But he’s coming closer and closer… It’s all part of his growth process as a player.

- I loved Edwards’ attacking style early in this one. 8 FTAs in the 1st quarter. He had 0 after that, continuing a crazy trend. Edwards has taken 26 FTAs in the series… with 18 of them coming in the 1st quarter of the past 3 games. He has 8 FTAs in the other 13 quarters.

I think we all knew that this was a SloMo series as he's had decent success guarding Doncic in the past. The fact he's making some of those little mid-range push shots and jumpers is icing on the cake.

Yeah, Conley had a super underrated game.

As for KAT, even the fouls he got that were questionable were still dumb. Don't bite on pump fakes. Come to a jump stop on your drives if someone is standing right in your way. Don't reach - you likely aren't getting the steal anyway.

I'm getting to the point now where I feel like he's reaping what he's sown. He constantly gets over-excited and it results in stray voltage that forces the ref to make a decision (swallow the whistle or blow it).

I guess I'd rather get the shot-making/dumb foul version of KAT versus the shot-missing/minimal foul version of KAT in this series. For whatever reason, he has a hard time shooting it well and avoiding foul trouble at the same time.

[Crazysauce]

Anyone see last 2 minute report. What a joke. They said foul on Ant on the Doncic 3 was incorrect call and should have been called on floor before shot as he got him before gather. Then they go to say when Irving hit Naz on his one handed layup they called it grazing and called it a correct no call. How ridiculous is this. If Ant apparently fouled Doncic on the gather with his "grazing" then how the hell is a guy going up for a one handed layup who gets hit not a foul? Just a joke all around.

[davemang]

Watch kyle on this play:
https://streamable.com/z44c1c?src=player-page-share

KAT is just sitting there ball watching and Kyle has to clap at him to get his attention to go to the corner while Kyle sets a screen to get him free. Imagine if we could copy Kyle’s iq to KAT

[Q-is-here]

Watch kyle on this play:
https://streamable.com/z44c1c?src=player-page-share

KAT is just sitting there ball watching and Kyle has to clap at him to get his attention to go to the corner while Kyle sets a screen to get him free. Imagine if we could copy Kyle’s iq to KAT

Yeah, Kyle has come up big in this series. In this case, he literally orchestrated this play without ever touching the ball. First he directed KAT to the corner and then he got Ant's attention so that he'd pass it to KAT instead of taking the pull-up J. Not sure I've ever seen someone basically run a play without dribbling, passing, or shooting. He basically pointed, waved, and set a screen.

I had to chuckle though. Twice in that clip you see Rudy in the lane calling for the ball, only for Ant to completely ignore him. For every time Rudy gets fed the ball and we go on the carnival ride with him in the post, there are ten other times he is looked off and not given the ball. Yet he persists....

[Coolbreeze44]

Watch kyle on this play:
https://streamable.com/z44c1c?src=player-page-share

KAT is just sitting there ball watching and Kyle has to clap at him to get his attention to go to the corner while Kyle sets a screen to get him free. Imagine if we could copy Kyle’s iq to KAT

Yeah, Kyle has come up big in this series. In this case, he literally orchestrated this play without ever touching the ball. First he directed KAT to the corner and then he got Ant's attention so that he'd pass it to KAT instead of taking the pull-up J. Not sure I've ever seen someone basically run a play without dribbling, passing, or shooting. He basically pointed, waved, and set a screen.

I had to chuckle though. Twice in that clip you see Rudy in the lane calling for the ball, only for Ant to completely ignore him. For every time Rudy gets fed the ball and we go on the carnival ride with him in the post, there are ten other times he is looked off and not given the ball. Yet he persists....

Carnival ride - that's a great and apt description of it.

Somehow Rudy is a valuable player, but I have no idea how he gets it done. What real basketball skill does he have? He's tall and mobile. He can't catch, shoot, pass, or dribble. He can set screens and rim roll, but than he can't catch or finish outside of 4'. I guess he's a good shot blocker, and that takes you back to being tall and mobile.

[Wolvesfan21]

Abe’s Next Day DVR Review after creating his first-ever GDT thread but not participating in it in real time:

- It’s amazing how different it is to watch the game with unfamiliar announcers… and no Wolves influence. It was a well-officiated game. LOL. Sorta. Here’s the thing… we’re so conditioned to point out bad calls. But is that because they’re justified? Or, just what we do now? In any case, I couldn’t help but get frustrated when TNT wouldn’t show the replay on questionable calls. But that would have only distracted from what was a really good game.

For the record, I thought the Wolves got a bad whistle. But was that mostly just because I’m a Wolves fan? I wonder how many Mavs fan would claim they got the worse whistle…

- Speaking of whistles… we got back to the KAT of old. Efficient shooter + many offensive fouls + foul trouble. Whew. At least we know how to treat the usual KAT.

About those fouls… and Towns’ reputation… so even when national basketball pundits give him credit for his shooting, they spend even more time on his penchant for “stupid fouls.” And they’re not wrong. Towns does make stupid fouls. At the same time, the whistle he gets is absurd. The first charge seemed like a bad call that is NOT getting called on Embiid, Jokic, Doncic, and dozens of other NBA players. As for the Doncic vs. KAT play to foul him out… LOL. Anything close and Doncic is getting the call vs. Towns. It is what it is. I’ve have a bad whistle and lack or respect near the top of the list for possible reasons to trade Towns.

By the way, Edwards’ reach-in foul on Doncic after his jumper was blocked for #4 or #5 was dumber than anything Towns did. But his reputation is different so we’ll never hear anyone talk about it.

- With 3 minutes left in the first half… the Wolves were down 2. And they were playing without Towns, Edwards and Gobert. Part of Dallas’ success in this series is closing quarters really well. Nope. Not this time. The Wolves bench outscored them 4 – 2 to go into halftime. That was lowkey huge.

- Dallas had 30 points off 14 Wolves TOs at one point. That’s crazy.

- Conley played like a savvy veteran who knew this still might be his best chance at a title. 14 points, 7 assists, 4 steals, 0 TOs.

- So are we not ripping Kyle Anderson for every little thing anymore?

- Edwards has never had a triple double. But he’s coming closer and closer… It’s all part of his growth process as a player.

- I loved Edwards’ attacking style early in this one. 8 FTAs in the 1st quarter. He had 0 after that, continuing a crazy trend. Edwards has taken 26 FTAs in the series… with 18 of them coming in the 1st quarter of the past 3 games. He has 8 FTAs in the other 13 quarters.

Abe do your job and make a GDT.

[FNG]

Watch kyle on this play:
https://streamable.com/z44c1c?src=player-page-share

KAT is just sitting there ball watching and Kyle has to clap at him to get his attention to go to the corner while Kyle sets a screen to get him free. Imagine if we could copy Kyle’s iq to KAT

Yeah, Kyle has come up big in this series. In this case, he literally orchestrated this play without ever touching the ball. First he directed KAT to the corner and then he got Ant's attention so that he'd pass it to KAT instead of taking the pull-up J. Not sure I've ever seen someone basically run a play without dribbling, passing, or shooting. He basically pointed, waved, and set a screen.

I had to chuckle though. Twice in that clip you see Rudy in the lane calling for the ball, only for Ant to completely ignore him. For every time Rudy gets fed the ball and we go on the carnival ride with him in the post, there are ten other times he is looked off and not given the ball. Yet he persists....

Carnival ride - that's a great and apt description of it.

Somehow Rudy is a valuable player, but I have no idea how he gets it done. What real basketball skill does he have? He's tall and mobile. He can't catch, shoot, pass, or dribble. He can set screens and rim roll, but than he can't catch or finish outside of 4'. I guess he's a good shot blocker, and that takes you back to being tall and mobile.

Ha, carnival ride! Dane Moore talked about the difference between Dallas and our offenses in yesterday's pod...he called Dallas's offense repetitive and precise, and ours volatile. You never know what you're going to get during our possessions, and you almost always know what you're going to get with Dallas...double drag over and over again.

But it's better when Conley or SloMo are directing the offense. SloMo was brilliant in this game-it's really fun to go back and watch some of our offensive sets while he was in charge. And you can't underestimate the value of Rudy and SloMo sealing off defenders to allow Ant, Conley or someone else to get to the rim. Our GDT is a barrage of complaints about what the refs are letting Dallas do. The Dallas threads are the same. They think Rudy and SloMo are committing offensive fouls every time they seal off defenders, and sometimes they're right (although mostly they're just homers). But you gotta do what the refs allow, and both teams are doing it.