There’s been a lot of questions surrounding Jason Kidd’s decision to play small down the stretch of Game 4 against the Clippers, a game in which the Mavericks lost 116-111. James Harden had his floater looking like it was 2017 again, hitting 6 such shots in the 4th quarter, taking advantage of no real shot-blocking threat patrolling the paint as Maxi Kleber was playing center.

Even Bill Simmons wondered on his podcast Sunday night “Both teams have matchups against the other team that they really like… if you’re Dallas you could go ‘you know what, maybe we shouldn’t have had Kleber down the stretch, maybe we should play our bigs.’”

This brings up the question, will Jason Kidd change his late-game rotations?

From February 1st to the end of the regular season, a stretch of 34 games, the Mavericks’ most-played lineup in the fourth quarter was Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Josh Green, PJ Washington, and Maxi Kleber. That lineup played just 23 minutes in that time frame, a small sample size. Coach Kidd has continued to play with different lineups, trying to find 5-man units that work in different situations.

The lineup rolled out at the end of Game 4 was Doncic, Irving, Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., and Kleber; a lineup that played just 14 minutes in the 4th quarters of the regular season. In the 4th quarter of Game 4 alone, that second lineup played 10 minutes (all rotation data courtesy of the NBA).

In those 10 minutes, the Mavericks were +5, but a lot of that was that stretch from the 8-minute mark to when Kyrie Irving hit that impossible layup to put the Mavericks ahead with 2:15 remaining; a stretch where the Mavs outscored LA 19-5. The lineup was clearly working then, getting stops on one end and hitting shots on the other.

Over the last two minutes of Game 4, the Clippers outscored the Mavericks 12-6, with Harden hitting two of his floaters in that timeframe. The last one put Kleber in a tough situation if he stepped up to defend the shot, as Harden likely would’ve hit the lob pass over Kleber to Ivica Zubac, who was waiting in the dunker spot.

With two minutes left in the game, it can be hard to make that decision to change a lineup that had just outscored the Clippers by 14, even if playing Dereck Lively II or Daniel Gafford makes sense in hindsight. And yet, the Mavericks haven’t adjusted well all series to certain things, as former Maverick and current ESPN commentator JJ Redick talks about below.

Here is what Coach Kidd said after the game to reporters regarding the decision to stay small: “Understanding offensively, we needed to space the floor. Maxi (Kleber) did a really good job
there. Understanding the options we have of being able to play Maxi, being able to stretch the
floor was the option we went with. Living with 2s in this league doesn’t hurt you but 3s kill you
– and 3s killed us this afternoon. We’ve got to be better. When (James) Harden is taking 2s, it’s
better than him shooting the 3. Understanding what they were shooting from 3 in the first half,
you’ve got to give up something. They’re talented. We gave up the 2s – but contested 2s – and
they made them. They gave us a chance to get back in the game and actually take the lead.”

The quote reads that they were so scarred defensively from the 3-point barrage the Clippers displayed in the first half that Coach Kidd wanted to be more versatile on the perimeter and rolled with Kleber, willing to let Harden shoot 2s. It makes sense, as the Clippers shot 18/29 from 3 for the game, many of those heavily contested. Coach Tyronn Lue and the Clippers made a great adjustment by allowing Harden to create offense for himself in the paint and that changed the game down the stretch and the Mavericks couldn’t respond in time. They’ll have to be better.

So will Coach Kidd change his clutch-time lineups moving forward? The rotation data from the season certainly suggests he will, but this series will come down to more than just changing lineups.

Game 5 will be Wednesday at 9 p.m. CST from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, as the series is tied 2-2.

READ MORE: Kyrie Irving Remains Highly Confident in Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic Against Clippers

Stick with MavericksGameday for more coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the NBA Playoffs 

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A federal judge says she will decide in about a week whether to stop Dallas from requiring sexually oriented businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. daily.

Attorneys for XTC Cabaret, Silver City Cabaret and Tiger Cabaret told U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle the ordinance and measures taken by police and city officials to enforce it are unconstitutional.

Their clients are seeking an injunction that would prevent Dallas from enforcing the curfew. This is the second federal challenge to the ordinance since it first took effect in January 2022.

Sexually oriented businesses are defined in city code as any business that offers services or products “intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer.” That includes adult bookstores, video stores, cabarets and other similar businesses.

Some residents told council members when the ordinance was first passed that the curfew would threaten jobs and be a “cultural harm to our city’s LGBT community.”

“There’s hundreds of people, their livelihoods are being affected,” Casey Wallace, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said at the preliminary injunction hearing on Monday. “They’re being put out of work.”

The city officially began enforcing the curfew Nov. 30 after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s temporary restraining order on the law. According to court documents, Dallas police sent out a notice ahead of time letting XTC Cabaret know they were to close during the required hours or face a 30-day suspension of their license, up to $4,000 in fines and potentially criminal charges.

Attorneys told police XTC was willing to comply by not operating as a sexually oriented business after 2 a.m. The club would just serve food and non-alcoholic drinks to those who stayed and only occasionally put on artistic, nonsexual shows in that time.

Police replied that XTC would need a new certificate of occupancy to operate as a restaurant. Even then, the club would be required to close at 2 a.m. because it’s still licensed as a sexually oriented business.

Silver City received a similar notice from police, but attorneys argue the club has a dance hall license and a late-hour permit, therefore it can operate until 4 a.m. daily except Sunday.

Boyle denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order in February. She wrote it was a “close call,” but the plaintiffs weren’t likely to succeed on that front based on any of their constitutional claims.

Dallas police presented data to officials in 2022 showing from 2019 to 2021, police received more calls to sexually oriented businesses between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. than between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Police also presented studies concluding sexually oriented businesses have been associated with higher crime rates.

One police officer said Monday he believed enforcement of the ordinance has contributed to a decrease in crimes reported to a federal database that tracks crimes nationwide.

Ben Allen, attorney for the clubs, said that while there are studies that outline the secondary, negative effects of adult entertainment, “that’s not true for the activity we’re trying to engage in.”

Assistant City Attorney Kathleen Fones said monitoring how sexually oriented businesses technically operate from hour to hour is “simply not a workable way to enforce the ordinance.” Officers testified doing so would require more manpower on top of already intensive investigations of crime hotspots.

Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X @tosibamowo.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Vegas Golden Knights fan says he was sucker-punched by a stranger after the game in Dallas on Wednesday night, leaving him with extensive injuries to his face and jaw.

Now, he’s on a mission to find the person who caused him all this pain.

Golden Knights fan searching for man who punched him, sent him to hospital after Dallas game (fox5vegas.com)

VGK fan Jason Bowen says he grabbed a drink with his fiancé after the game, and they were waiting for an Uber outside American Airlines Center—both wearing VGK gear—when some words were exchanged with a few Dallas fans.

Then, he says a stranger came up from behind and hit him in the face, sending him to the pavement—and to the hospital.

“While they were talking to me in my face, this guy came out of nowhere and just clobbered me. That was it,” he said.

Jason thinks this aggression may have stemmed from the growing rivalry between the Knights and Stars.

Last year, during Game 3 of the Western Conference Final in Dallas, some rowdy Stars fans threw bottles on the ice in the final seconds of the second period, as the Knights led 4-0. The Stars later apologized for the actions of their fans.

Now, the teams are facing off in the playoffs once again.

“I do know the Vegas Knights got a big rivalry now, and the whole thing with Stone going back and forth, so I do think that Dallas fans probably don’t like the Knights as much,” said Jason. “I don’t know if that contributed to it, or if they were just angry.”

Jason says the group ran away before police arrived. So, he posted in a Dallas Stars fan group on Facebook, asking for help tracking down the person who punched him.

He said the response has been positive—Stars fans saying they don’t want this one violent person representing their fan base.

“I have a lot of friends who are Dallas Stars fans. They’re good people. I have some of them that are helping me out quite a bit trying to find who this is. So, I got on there and it kind of went viral from there. Everybody’s been trying to locate who this guy is,” he said.

The VGK’s assistant equipment manager even heard about the attack and reached out to Jason personally, wishing him well. He says the team is also sending him an autographed Marchessault hockey stick and other VGK merch for the dedicated fan.

Dallas police confirmed that they responded to the injury call around 1 a.m. Thursday, a few hours after the game. However, police did not confirm if they’re searching for a suspect.

FOX5 put in a request for the full police report for this incident, but we’re still waiting for that to be processed.

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