My version of the postmortem for the Dallas Mavericks past season

 I blame JJ Redick, I do not fault him, I just blame the psyche of the game 6 loss on him not being there.

Basically we went and traded for him for the sole purpose of having someone who could keep their cool in the fourth quarter of a series clinching game. Someone who could have made a couple of three pointers and slowed the momentum the Clippers built up going into the fourth quarter of game 6 and allowed the rest of the team to regroup offensively. The Mavs don’t have much playoff experience and he would have been the guy to give Luka that person to cause the defense to switch and adjust so Luka could redirect and get back involved. 

Yeah Kristaps Porzingis should have been that guy, the second star, but he doesn’t have the playoff experience to help out in a crucial moment. And I don’t think he came through for most of the series anyway so why would he be able to at that crucial moment.

Hardaway too inconsistent, he doesn’t have a bad game or two, he is just plain inconsistent.

I have faith in Dorian Finney Smith and Maxi Kleber, but they are the two guys who needed that veteran presence to help alleviate their tightness playing at that moment. Jalen Brunson probably needed it also.

Dwight Powell’s energy was always good, yet again though he needed someone to settle and right the ship so he could focus and let Luka use his energy. 

Gotta love Boban and that is enough said, just keep him. And he played really well.

The team needed help and the person they went and got for that moment wasn’t there. Not his fault he was injured, but hey I wouldn’t be here moping eating a pizza that is going to give me heartburn from hades later on instead of watching game 2 of a Dallas Utah series and loving life. 

Next year is going to be rough. Can the Mavs get a second star in a trade and who might that be? And they still need to keep some pieces that we have. Who we trade can have a major effect negatively or positively. 

The Mavs had a chance, unfortunately we didn’t have the guy to help all our young players gather the confidence to finish the game. Losing two first round series back to back does affect players and for the Mavs to have a future they need to keep Luka and make him want to stay here. This means this offseason will be more important than any Mavs’ fan wants it to be. 

Sheesh