Episodes
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about the Mavericks’ semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, covering Maxi Kleber’s injury and how the rotations adjust, what advantage Dallas will see from its big men vs. a smaller Thunder rotation, and which players we’re watching most closely to see how they look in this series.
Published 05/06/24
Published 05/06/24
Tim Cato talks with Locked On Mavercks’ Nick Angstadt about the Mavericks’ agonizing Game 4 loss and where the series goes from here. This is the first part of an hour-long discussion, with the other half posted on the Locked On Mavericks feed.
Published 04/29/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya break it all down: the missed opportunity in Game 1, the brilliant Game 2 win, Luka Doncic’s defense and his mostly superb but slightly weird offensive execution so far, both him and the entire team’s brilliant defending, the role players we think can be trusted for the series, where they work best (and why), and what our expectations are, optimistically and pessimitically, for the rest of what looks to be an all-time classic between two incredibly good basketball...
Published 04/25/24
Tim Cato and new dad Mike Piellucci talk to The Athletic’s Law Murray, who covers the L.A. Clippers, about the upcoming first round series and what to expect from it.
Published 04/20/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya look back at the Dallas Mavericks’ regular season with The Athletic’s Dave DuFour, sharing some of our favorite moments and which aspects of the year really snuck up on us. Then, we each share three big questions we have for the team’s upcoming first-round series vs. the L.A. Clippers. We’ll be back later this week with a full preview.
Published 04/16/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk to their old friend from The Athletic, Dave DuFour, about the surging Mavericks, what criteria really should matter for the MVP voting, and whether Luka Doncic can usurp Nikola Jokic. We agree they’re the best two players in basketball this season, and that one of them deserves it. Will it, and should it, be Doncic?
Published 04/10/24
With Dallas cruising toward a top-six seed, Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya rank which postseason opponents are most favorable and then draft rotation players by playoff importance.
Published 04/02/24
Tim Cato talks to Mavs.com’s Bobby Karalla about the Mavericks’ new offense, its deliberate paint-pounding approach, how the center position might be the team’s third-best “player”, the way that the team’s Tuesday win against Sacramento showcased another way for the team to play, and what’s needed for this defense to be good.
Published 03/28/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about whatever THAT impossible shot was from Kyrie Irving that gave Dallas its best win of the 2023-24 season, and more about what this win represents for the Mavericks’ season.
Published 03/18/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya look forward to the Mavericks’ next three games, ones where we can potentially learn a lot about whether Dallas has improved defending the corner 3 and five-out lineups, what the postseason rotation might look like, and what Dante Exum’s effect on the team really is.
Published 03/13/24
Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya, and Mike Piellucci talk deep on the team’s most polarizing player, Tim Hardaway Jr., who is hurting Dallas. There’s more nuance than the discourse has given him to the player he’s been in Dallas and the actual mechanics of taking him out of the rotation if this continues. Then we talk about Jason Kidd, and whether he’s the right person to solve this.
Published 03/05/24
Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya, and Mike Piellucci link up to chat about what we expect from the Dallas Mavericks for the rest of the season — and what we expect from Tim Hardaway Jr., his role going forward, and whether Jaden Hardy makes more sense in the rotation over him.
Published 02/28/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya cover the questions — it felt like it was about five, but honestly we weren’t counting — we have for what remains of the Dallas Mavericks’ regular season and the postseason that will (almost certainly) follow. We covered: the rotation; Lively’s postseason impact; which defensive matchups make sense for potential postseason opponent; and a few other topics.
Published 02/22/24
Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya and Mike Piellucci talk about the new-look Mavericks after last week's trades for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, and what it cost to acquire them.
Published 02/13/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer about the Dallas Mavericks’ outlook heading into the NBA trade deadline and the league’s perception of the Nico Harrison-led front office. Check out Jake’s book, Built to Lose: How the NBA’s Tanking Era Changed the League Forever.
Published 02/06/24
Tim Cato talks to Mavs.com’s Bobby Karalla about what Dallas’ healthy starting five might be able to achieve when they FINALLY get on the court together, maybe as soon as this weekend. Then, we debate whether Luka Doncic’s 73 point game actually was bad and sucked like SOME folks have said.
Published 02/01/24
Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya and Mike Piellucci chat about the Mavericks’ defeat to the Boston Celtics, what it represents in the grander scheme of the team’s roster construction, and Luka’s emotions still sometimes affecting him. Then, we briefly chat about rumored trade targets — and there’s really none we like enough that we believe Dallas should send out its one available first-round pick.
Published 01/24/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about the Mavericks beating the Pelicans in the harder game thanks to Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr. combining for 83 points, and then discuss some broader themes from that game & the 5-2 homestand at large.
Published 01/16/24
Tim Cato and Mike Piellucci record live from the American Airlines Center to discuss the Mavericks’ best and worst case scenarios as the team continues missing Dereck Lively II (and Dante Exum), and then think about what Pascal Siakam might look like in Dallas, even if it still seems a bit too soon to get your hopes up.
Published 01/10/24
Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about the Dallas Mavericks’ most important question for the second half of the season: Is their best lineup one that hasn’t even played together? If so, how far can it take them? Email us at [email protected]!
Published 01/05/24
Tim Cato, Mike Piellucci and Austin Ngaruiya are back to talk about the Mavericks’ Christmas win against the Phoenix Suns, where that Luka game ranks within his career performances, and chat about some players trending up and down. Email us at [email protected]!
Published 12/27/23
Tim Cato talks to Nick Angstadt from the Locked On Mavs podcast about the team’s current vibes, what the team’s starting lineup and rotation will look like once they finally get healthy, and whether this is Luka Doncic’s best start yet to a season. Email us at [email protected]!
Published 12/20/23
Tim Cato talks to old friend Dave DuFour from The Athletic and 77 Minutes about how good Luka Doncic has been, what defenses opponents are using against him, and what we might see next. Dave literally had to gameplan against Doncic this summer in the FIBA World Cup, so he would know. Then they talk about the team’s improving defense and other observations Dave has had.
Published 12/14/23
Tim Cato and Mike Piellucci talk through the team’s biggest recent news: Mark Cuban’s decision to sell the team and what it means, practically, for the coming years. Then we answer more questions that we solicited from Reddit about who’s tradeable and what we think of Luka’s play style.
Published 12/06/23