Dirk vs. D-Wade is still good TV

Who would have thought, that two guys on the back nine of their careers, better yet, two guys on the very last hole of their career, would make for such entertaining TV.

But they were just that.

A lot of the buildup to this game was centered around D-Wade’s last trip to the AAC to face off with Dirk, and neither the crowd, or the players disappointed.

A stretch of the game, right around the the late first, early second quarter was filled with vintage moments. A couple D-Wade mid-range bank shots, some Dirk pick and pop action, as well as some trail threes, and of course a beautiful fading jumper right over his counterpart Wade.

It was nice to be reminded of the greatness, even if only for a second. There is a great dislike for Wade in the metroplex, and understandably so.

But whatever was left, at least between the two, seemed to be put to bed postgame, with a friendly Swapping of the jerseys.

Crowd applauds as Dirk and D-Wade swap jerseys pic.twitter.com/Tu3dC21Y4M

— The People’s Tweeter (@RKonkle_Mavs) February 14, 2019

Was it for show? Only the two of them know. But the metroplex will never forget these matchups, for better or for worse.

 

The Mavericks cannot score the basketball

This was discussed pregame as something to watch for in tonight’s game. The four prior games had all been really tough offensive outings.

Shocker: Nothing changed in this one.

It’s beyond a trend at this point. This team, really before, but mostly after the trades is short on firepower. They are bringing a knife to a gun fight every single night with the collection of non-shooters they have.

And to top it off, they are relying on a rookie to execute their entire offense in those conditions.

It’s not a recipe for success, but the good news? Help is on the way. It just won’t be here till next season.

So brace yourself Mavs fans, there are going to be a lot of nights like this one during this final stretch.

 

The dreaded third quarter got them again

For some reason, this franchise, not just this specific team, really struggles with third quarters. It’s been a thing for what feels like forever, and it always comes back to bite them.

It’s lack of energy, bad defense, and the inability to score all lumped into one and it makes for truly terrible basketball.

Coach Carlisle was very short when asked what went wrong during their the third quarter.

“Pretty much everything.” He said.

The fursterating part? There really isn’t an obvious fix. If they haven’t identified the issue at this point, after multiple seasons of it, they probably aren’t ever going to.