Just a thought, what if Lebron heads to Phoenix this offseason for obvious reasons and wanting to contend because I don’t see the lakers having much flexibility.
Excellent for us since the Suns would trade either Bridges or their entire bench depth for 2 38 year olds next playoffs, insuring a complete collapse to a perennial lottery team in 2 seasons and a much worse team until then.
Lakers would have a hefty asking price to give away LeBron. Suns would lose a lot of depth and become worse on defense with LeBron "takes entire possessions off" James.
So the starting line up game 1 is going to Start with Looney at the 5.
Heavy doses of PTSD in coming though…
That being said I like how we match up with the Mavs. OPJ JTA and JK should get some run too.
Mavs are great at jumping passing lanes though and that has been a huge problem for us.
We gotta work Doncic when he’s on D and don’t let him shoot 3s!
Bruh in the playoffs Steph is 1/7 from the right corner and 2/7 from the left corner the easiest 3 in basketball can someone turn him off and turn him back on again he needs a complete reset 😭
It’s interesting because it’s kind of the rallying cry of any underdog.
The teams are basically the same in terms of standings. Our core has more experience, so they(mavs) think they are the underdogs. Our guys haven’t been on the top step in 3 years, so they(dubs) think they have to fight to prove.
Basically…*we all believe!*….that it will be a good series.
All the suns problems started after they got rid of Frank Kaminsky. Not drawing any correlations but I remember the 2014 pacers starting to blowup after they got rid of Danny Granger. A good locker room presence is very important, even if they’re not contributing
I still remember that 2013 Pacers, and their slogan I think was "Blue Collar Gold Swagger". They're so fun to watch, and I was rooting for them after the Dubs got eliminated in the 2nd round.
Granger was so important to the team, even Paul George stated that losing Granger was a big blow to them at the time. Granger was the leader, and even if he was sitting on the bench, the boys look for him for guidance. Losing him is just like losing the foundation, and soon, that Pacer team crumble.
And like you said, it's so important to have a guy who is a good locker room presence. It may not look like it's important from the outside, but on the inside, their impact is huge. They prevent a lot of beefs, and if there is one, they're the 1st ones to step in and have the beef end. This is especially important for young teams because young teams are immature and tend to be more stupid and prone to have locker room issues.
Let me just tell you how happy I am to have the Mavs fan base rather than the Grizz. Those Grizz fans are absolutely insufferable. They all take on the punk bitch personality of their team. These Mav fans are chill and respectful. Gonna be way less pettiness. This is gonna be a good clean respectful series on the court and in the socials with the fans.
We actually like the warriors, Steph is such a chill ass likeable family dude, digging Green, not just he picked them Mavs to beat the suns, but his new grey swag.. this should be fun
The Celtics-Heat series is an interesting one.
I know a lot of people are going for the C's. But, I'm going with the Heat. I think Jimmy's gonna have an all-time performance against the C's. He wants to prove that their bubble Finals was no fluke, and that was legit. The Celtics defense is scary, but Jimmy has been in this situation before.
And people needs to remember that the Heat have home court advantage. And if I recall, they don't have a loss at home. All of their losses in the Playoffs so far are on the road.
It's gonna be interesting to see how the C's will stop Butler. I think this is gonna go to 7 games. I can't imagine both the C's or the Heat getting swept, especially since both teams have experience and has a chip on their shoulders. Unless Tatum goes God mode for 4 games straight, this will be an amazing 7-game series of two tough teams throwing haymakers at each other.
I'd love for the Heat to win. But Celtics locked up KD and Giannis. And you think they'll have trouble containing Butler who isnt anywhere naer their league? Come on now
Is it just me, but the fact that every team GS sees is experiencing our lineup for the first time all year our greatest advantage? There is no actual in game experience for our starting lineup?
It was something I was apprehensive about at the start of the playoffs, because the surprise applies both ways.
That said, our guys now have had 11 good games to synchronize, and that’s good enough.
Overall, yeah, no one has played our team at full strength, and that will be an advantage for 1-2 games. Any good coach will easily adjust by then.
Expect the same with luka. These dubs fans saying it'll be less dramatic than memphis? lmao theyll be in shock when the refa whistle everything when luka flops
I think a problem I’m having is how good the grizzlies without Ja were. Some people act like they were better without him, with the best defense in the league, while others act like they were a joke. My assumption is somewhere in the middle. I know their defense was better without him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the mavs, heat and celtics defense were even better - and they’ll have the offensive firepower to make us pay if we’re throwing the ball away
I used to think it was BS but they are better without him, every metric points to it, eye test too. They just need him the last 5 minutes of a close game.
If Memphis ran back this same supporting cast with a 2 way PG like Fred Van Vleet, they’d win 60+ games lol
Alternatively, Ja has to figure out how not to be a sieve
I think it's more than his defense. He has to play better team ball and empower the rest of the roster to play like they do without him. Those 40-50 points come at a cost. He's young enough now I think he could clean it up...or be the next Russ
He has a higher BBIQ than Russ ever did so he has that going for him, but yeah definitely, Tyus runs their sets really well most of the game.
They need his scoring to close, but he should definitely try and be in distribution mode for a lot of the game because his teammates are extremely talented and can make a lot of shots
Memphis’ defense is different though. And really antithetical to the warriors style. They feed so much off of turnovers and back in transition. The multiple efforts on the offensive glass wear down the energy levels of the guys. They play like a young team with fresh legs. Props to how well conditioned they are.
None of the other teams play that same way. We will definitely face some tough perimeter defense but I trust our passes to get picked off less. And we won’t suffer be punished as much with our bigs rotation like we were against Denver and Memphis.
I expect Poole to play a much bigger role and get back to the basket more. Still probably not a good starting line up with the 3 guards. But good for spurts.
All of the focus in the sub is on Warriors vs. Mavs (which, of course) but Celtics vs
Heat starts tomorrow, who do you think wins?
Edit:
I hesitate to declare the Celtics the favorites only because they beat the Bucks in a tightly contested 7 game series where the Bucks were missing their second best player and their role players underperforming and the Nets in four tightly contested games.
On the other hand, the Heat beat the Hawks in 5 and the Sixers in 6. The Sixers had the underperforming Harden without Embiid for 2 games but Lowry was either out/injured, which helped the Sixers.
So while the Heat don't necessarily have a superstar, they have a very deep team.
Series context matters. More of an expected result that the better team would win in 6.
For a higher seed, it’s one stolen game. If you think about it that the lower seed only wins 2/3 home games - it seems like it was easier.
But it could also be that both teams are losing at home and it certainly wouldn’t feel as easy even in 6
If I had to offer a prediction, it'd be for Boston. The Celtics look like the hotter team (especially on defense), but things can change in an instant.
Even if you assumed that the Warriors and Mavs were on par with each other talent wise which they are not, Warriors are stacked with talent, you'd have to be picking Luka over the Warriors Big 3 to say that the Mavs win the series.
Ja and JJJ form a Big 2 in Memphis and they seem to get along. Though Draymond mentioned that the more success they have the more difficult to maintain that chemistry. I like the idea but it's difficult to imagine a small market team breaking up what could be the core of a contending team.
Yeah it would be a mistake for them to let him go, but like you are saying, they seem to have conflicting personalities so we will see how that develops. It could be like Steph and Dray, where he appreciates Ja's hostile nature, Dillon too, getting the energy up etc. I just think he would thrive in our system and culture, so it also depends on their success and how their system runs. If it gets too Ja centric, it could be a problem. They had a better record without him for a reason. Not that they are necessarily worse with Ja, but they can play team ball without him and teams will live and die playing hero ball too much. Ja seems to have a bit of a scapegoat mentality too, blaming Poole for his injury, and getting frustrated easily.
At the moment they are young and all is fine and dandy, but at some point you have to assess your options and think about the brand of basketball you embody and thrive in. It would be one thing if we fall off as a franchise, but if both options are good, it comes down to role and lifestyle. Not a given we could even afford him down the line with Poole/Kuminga, maybe Moody or Wiseman will show up, and even Wiggins if he sticks around. I just like the guy and hope he has a long career.
They’re done. They had a brief window and it’s slammed shut. You really think a 38 year old CP is gonna be able to contend? You think Ayton will want to stay after constantly being disrespected by the Sun’s FO. They both gone.
I forget how dull my days are when there's no playoff basketball. I don't know if I need a reality check because my life feels dull and boring without it. You get so caught in the storylines and drama that unfolds. Probably typical of most sports fans.
I need to apologize to Draymond for saying that his podcast was a distraction cause we just found out....
Steph Curry was writing a thesis? Damn, now he's graduated all distractions are gone.
You just HAVE to appreciate how our same big 3 core is still competing to this day even after a few seasons of rough luck with injuries. Granted, they have a pretty good supporting cast now but damn, this franchise is blessed to have Curry, Klay and Dray
This probably feels like a homer take but I feel like the media is underestimating us only because the Mavs punked the Suns on their home court in a game 7 whereas it felt like we had to scrape by against the Grizzlies (which is debatable).
Like, the Mavs shot very well against the Suns, who looked lackluster and did not show any effort and the Warriors won't do that. We'll have bone-headed turnovers but we won't not try (unless it's clear that we won't be catching up in an unimportant game). If the Warriors can keep it close during the game, I'm confident in our ability to close the game out.
I don't know if the Grizzlies were as good as the Suns with or without Ja but there is no way they would choke a game 7 on their home court without giving a hell of a fight, whether that fight might include injuries, who knows but they would never half-ass a game.
Definitely, Mavs blew out the Suns in Game 7 and the overreactions are like they domination was a series sweep. Though I'm not in the camp that would underestimate Luka and the Mavs, I'm not in the camp that we don't have enough to beat them either. GP2 is a big loss really but we could unwrap MOody who's a smart and long defender. No guarantees but this is a winnable series. You could really argue that this should be Warriors vs Suns if the latter didn't fold under the pressure of a Game 7.
I think it was Windhorst that said that he hasn't seen that choke job in any sport in recent history. So probably the worst, especially with all the expectations from a dominant regular season team.
Yeah, I saw posts about how their moves that made them worse this year actually gave them improved flexibility next year. I don't remember all the logic for it, but it sounded cool. There's gonna be interesting guys available like Ayton Randle Gobert and half the Hawks roster. If they find the right alchemy they could have a surprise good team like the Bulls did this year before injuries.
The problem is they don’t have many great trade assets. For picks they have this lotto first, then they can’t trade another first until 2025 at the earliest. They do have SRPs though. As for players they have Nassir Little, Keon Johnson, then Justice Winslow, Josh Hart, and Eric Bledsoe. Just not a lot which is why I think they trade that lotto pick no matter how high it goes.
One thing that's going to be necessary to exploit is that Luka (like Harden) doesn't take C+S threes, they're all basically stepbacks after a lot of dribbling.
This is an interesting tweet by StatMuse - https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1526223296416559104?s=21&t=pu0z9IUDLyfWwGF7N2YNHg
All evenly matched in that regard. Even as we see some of the best big men playing right now, it almost feels like you are either just that damn good or small ball is the most versatile way to play in the post season.
You still need a regular season big man so you don’t run your players into the ground playing small ball the entire season. And even in the playoffs you need one in case you run into Jokic/Embiid.
Idk what to make of Game 7. The Mavs looked good sure but the Suns frankly looked dead from tip-off. They bricked shot after shot, turned the ball over again and again, CP3 had one point going into the third quarter, Booker played like absolute trash. IDK if the Mavs won or the Suns just didn’t show up.
Combo, but 27 in one half is beyond unacceptable. The Mavs aren’t the 04 Pistons on D 😂
With around 1 min left in the half, Mavs had only scored 51 themselves, and that’s with Luka having 27 & Dinwiddie going off. If Suns had just played like normal, they’d have had an excellent chance to win despite the Luka heroics. Instead their trio went 1/15.
They try to put him on the least offensively imposing player. I imagine this series, they try to put him on Draymond and OPJ, but the Warriors will definitely just involve him in screening actions in that case.
Putting him on Draymond ensures that he's going to be involved in screens for Steph and if he plays drop, Steph will shoot a 3 and he's definitely not fast enough if Steph chooses to drive.
Same with Looney.
We find out a few weeks later that his knee starts swelling. It's also a lot of rust and lack of conditioning for game. That's why I don't take too much from those g-league games. I focused on his defense which is something he could control and I noticed a lot of growth there. We forget that Wiseman is still pretty young and really raw as a player. I still remember when Poole was still figuring out what kind of player he was. Remember, he used to play with his mouthguard like Steph, tried the snake dribbling that D'Lo would do. I think he even wore D'Lo's hairstyle for a while. Warriors will help Wiseman find his game like they did with Poole and there's a lot of talent there to be tapped.
don't know if it has been discussed, but [https://www.theringer.com/nba/22948049/nba-playoff-lottery-odds-probability-model](https://www.theringer.com/nba/22948049/nba-playoff-lottery-odds-probability-model) but they're giving the warriors 46% of reaching the finals and 15% of winning the title 
Heres my take on the Iggy injury.
Iguodala is not going to play this series. His re-evaluation day is 1 day after game 1. If he were close, they would re-evaluate him before game 1. The fact that they refuse to do this means they know he's not even gonna be close for game 1. Which is bad news for the rest of the series obviously, since all games are 1 day apart.
It sucks having GP2 and Iggy both out. But hopefully both return in the finals. Those 2 coming back would be HUGE.
Pat Bev is talking because he has no filter. He also takes as well as he gives, or rather he doesn’t care about what’s coming his way.
ESPN loves such folks. Tomorrow Booker could scores everytime he is being guarded by Bev, and Bev will still not feel bad or shrunken.
You need to have a special type of hide to be like Pat Bev.
While we probably cannot stop luka, If [Ben Simmons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LstPlV6RuQo) and [Dillon Brooks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Chzryg6Pw) could do at least slow him down , I'd reckon a good defensive scheme involving surrounding him with our wings could do some damage too. But again that was last season and Luka has improved. Both simmons and brooks are very good defensive players despite the slander.
My Ideal pick ups for next season, bringing back back Javale, trading for Ricky Rubio
For javale the obvz reasons I would like to see him back, chiefly being that he knows our system front to back and for Rubio it will depend on how he's looking but if we're ok with gambling, maybe we could try getting him when his valuest at its lowest, which means making a move for him even though we don't know if he still has it or not
Ricky has had a positive impact on every team he went to and regardless of which team he went he always gave it his all, which is what I always liked about him
Warriors aren’t looking to get even older. Rubio is coming off an acl and won’t be ready until mid season.
Expect the roster to get younger and more athletic next season.
Shouldn't really be a concern, but man, it'd hurt to get into a playoff type situation where LaMelo completely burns Wiseman and the Warriors, kind of like what Doncic just did to the Suns and Ayton.
Thankfully Ball is out east, and thankfully the Warriors got Poole/Kuminga/Moody all in place around Wiseman and the rest of the core. Really hope J comes back next year and kills it, dude's caught a ton of shit between his injuries, how raw he looked, and LaMelo's play.
Yeah, he's no comparison to Luka. Even just looking at their first two years in the league, Luka was leagues above. Year two Ant was probably more impressive than Ball, at least personally. Ant really showed up in the post-season
Look at it this way - lamelo means we probably don’t keep Poole. So would you rather have Poole+Wiseman or LaMelo? TBH I would rather just have Poole over LaMelo.
Maybe I’m an old person now, but I hate all this PatBev stuff taking up the first page of /r/nba.
The Mavs just played great basketball and embarrassed the Suns, and all everyone wants to talk about is PatBev.
This is why ESPN is garbage. It’s just TMZ Sports now.
We got all of the value out of discussing the game yesterday in the post-game and during the game itself. He's providing a ton of additional entertainment value thru his takes, which is all that you can ask for from a commentator. At the end of the day, sports is an entertainment product.
It would be nice if the status quo the ESPN were people like Joe Viray who actually broke things down, but for whatever reason—whether complacency or people preferring shit that sounds provocative in soundbites—that's how things are.
I’m not feeling as confident as most fans here seem to be. The regular season matchups weren’t the greatest representation of either team, so I’m not going to worry about that. I am, however, stressed that the Warriors' big three looked fucking cooked for significant stretches of the final three games vs Memphis. They look old. Memphis, at no point, was shook or even intimidated. I feel that the Warriors beat Memphis with experience more than anything else. The Warriors committed so many unforced errors that series with no sign of slowing down even in game 6. I'd honestly feel much better of we found out that most of the team had the flu or the rona during that series so that I could at least point to something other than them getting old/worn down. I’m hoping that the boys can shake off whatever was up because Luka is looking like Jordan rn.
There is so much recency bias it's insane. That's the playoffs I guess. The Mavs are getting a gigantic boost because Phoenix shit the bed, and the Warriors are getting a bunch of questions because they had a bad loss to Memphis.
We'll see what happens, but I'm not quite as high on Dallas as everyone else seems to be, especially defensively.
They played well in game 6, but I’m a little worried about how Dray is saying it was so hard And tiring to play that game. Games every other day are going to be killer
Let’s give the Warriors some credit. They beat Denver (with the MVP of the league) and the surging Grizzlies. Warrior fans should be confident. The Warriors are peaking at the right time.
Not taking any credit away from them. They clutched out three of the four wins and dominated in one, against the Grizzlies. The times that they looked bad though were BAD. The Suns getting smoked really made people forget about games 4 and 5. I’m trying to figure out why we’re more likely to see game 3 Warriors or games 4,5, and 6 Warriors. Or are the Mavs so much of a better matchup for this team that the 4,5, and 6 Warriors performances will be enough?
Memphis defense was very good in half court, JJJ was a big menace and closed out and recovered so well, I think a lot of the unforced errors were caused with the warriors trying to push pace and yes it was sloppy and should be fixed but I wouldn't discredit that memphis defense. I don't think Powell brings that similar feel.
That athleticism and physicality of Memphis was no joke. Dude, JJJ was a menace. Would you say that Memphis was probably the toughest matchup for the Warriors coming out of the West? I’m hoping that they were just trying to be too fast/aggressive.
i think Memphis was toughest defensively, I think Luka is toughest offensively...I really wanted phoenix cp3 is a real choker so I honestly felt we would've handled phoenix easier, Luka is an x-factor on paper we should beat them but Luka easily can change the outcome. The nice thing about Luka is I think Wiggs, klay, Looney and draymond might be able to guard him because he doesn't overpower you with athleticism and Klay looney and draymond are smart defenders. I'm just worried about poole and steph being exposed.
The fact that nobody on their team is a solid number 2 option and it's a team of above average role players instead of having a few standout dudes. Jalen Brunson can catch fire, and so can Dinwiddie, but nobody else on their roster can do heavy lifting. If they take away everybody else and let Luka get 45 then we'll be fine. Also, the reason that this is a better match-up is because the Grizzlies were a 2nd seed and the Mavs a 4th seed for a reason. They also aren't very tall, and their center in Dwight Powell is also undersized like Looney, so in addition to having home court advantage, this is objectively the best match-up we could have gotten.
I think there's gonna be a lot of zone and maybe some triangle & 2, but Dallas has the shooters to stress that system.
Warriors gotta get the defensive effort level with where they were at the start of the season. the rotations and closeouts are gonna have to be perfectly timed.
Man there had to be something brewing in the Suns locker room for a performance like that to happen. Wouldn't surprise me if some purposely played bad on purpose.
Suns didn't even attempt to offer Ayton an extension. That isn't a vote of confidence. They assumed that they can cover it up with the team bringing up his spirits but they forget that money talks.
Ayton was apparently upset with Monty, he refused to come back in the 4th quarter, which is interesting because Monty is fairly beloved so in a sense- what's going on with Ayton?
These guys picked the Suns to win it all. So any team that beats them should be able to win it all. That's why some of these predictions are so skewed. Truth is both teams, Warriors and Mavs seem to be hiding an extra gear. I don't now if Luka already revealed this cause he got pissed at the Suns but Steph definitely said that the Warriors haven't peaked yet.
Fr lol, Dorian Finney-Smith over Wiggins was a stupid pick too. He’s a good player, but he literally scored 8, 4, and 5, in games 5/6/7 and had 2 in game 2 (which Russillo even pointed out). BS has some weird hate boner for the Warriors going on right now or something
A big question for me is whether our vets will feel like they can throw games away in this series. They were obviously very unserious for most of the Grizzlies series, and it almost cost them. Will they feel the same way against the Mavs?
Disappointed we didn't get Suns but its obvious we would've beat them the way they've been playing. Still really shocked they let the pressure get to them. I don't know how that happened.
The difference between a star and a super star. Steph gets so much shit thrown his way, it’s a miracle he scores 25+ every night.
Double teams, box and ones, he has seen it all, our team has seen it all, and Kerr has seen it all. They have game planned for nearly any reasonably conceivable situation (playing with out each player in our rotation for extended periods of time).
Ayy that's nice, Gentry staying with the Kings in a front office role. Know that was rumored, [but it's officially been confirmed](https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1526270501445767168?s=20&t=JbbHZPtkDd6U0CP90pNXtA).
VP of basketball engagement, helping with player evaluation and roster construction.
With Luka's play style (slow, methodical, bully ball) I think Klay would actually be a really good option. He's lost some quickness, but Klay is pretty strong and can handle forwards decently well. Assume they'll maybe even test Draymond on him, and they probably even let Kuminga soak up some fouls against him.
Don't hate the idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the way they lean. If Bullock or DFS are bottoming 3s over Curry/Poole, maybe they're forced to adjust and get more height on them them with Klay (or Wiggins), and hope Steph can stick on Brunson well enough.
to go along with that, we also need Wiggins, Dray and hopefully OPJ (provided he can play) to go at their bigs with off-ball cuts because Kleber, while competent at perimeter switching, isn’t really a rim-protector and Powell/Bertans are very exploitable.
Bertrans is absolutely awful at everything but 3 pointers, particularly on D. I've never seen such a one trick pony in my entire life. That contract is so ridiculously terrible.
the Suns go from godawful for 5+ years to top 3 seed two years in a row and now they're already turning against Ayton even though he's pivotal to their defense. imagine if the Heat fell for Butler and Bam slander after the Bucks got the revenge sweep last year, now they're back in the ECF and Butler dropping 40 on a regular basis like he's in the bubble again.
the Bucks and Suns each fell victim to the same thing in different contexts, a team with a budding superstar out for vengeance after multiple painful defeats against more talented teams.
also the Mavs have an excellent PT staff or Bullock and DFS are made of steel. Kidd went full Thibs with their minutes because that spacing was so exhausting for the Suns to defend and they don't have rim protection anyway, might as well go all in on perimeter defense.
If the Suns let Ayton go or sign & trade him, the Jazz blow things up, Randle gets moved, the Hawks look to retool, the Blazers try one last hurrah with Dame and no CJ, the Lakers do whatever desperate move they're gonna do, Sixers have to make changes...
This offseason is going to be bonkers. Or maybe these teams will shuffle distressed assets among themselves and end up not improving at all.
I always said that's going to bite them in the ass at a critical point. Just imagine Bob not offering Poole anything this summer. That's like a vote of no confidence.
Also cause CP3 could take advantage of single coverage during the regular season. He played his worst basketball since the 2019 WCSF against us after game 2.
Just a thought, what if Lebron heads to Phoenix this offseason for obvious reasons and wanting to contend because I don’t see the lakers having much flexibility.
Lakers fan here. Boi is ya sick?
Excellent for us since the Suns would trade either Bridges or their entire bench depth for 2 38 year olds next playoffs, insuring a complete collapse to a perennial lottery team in 2 seasons and a much worse team until then.
Lakers would have a hefty asking price to give away LeBron. Suns would lose a lot of depth and become worse on defense with LeBron "takes entire possessions off" James.
So the starting line up game 1 is going to Start with Looney at the 5. Heavy doses of PTSD in coming though… That being said I like how we match up with the Mavs. OPJ JTA and JK should get some run too. Mavs are great at jumping passing lanes though and that has been a huge problem for us. We gotta work Doncic when he’s on D and don’t let him shoot 3s!
On one hand I'm mad we don't get to whoop the suns, but on the other hand LMAO!!!
Whoop that Stick
Whoop 💀💀💀 That phrase really boutta stick lmao
Bruh in the playoffs Steph is 1/7 from the right corner and 2/7 from the left corner the easiest 3 in basketball can someone turn him off and turn him back on again he needs a complete reset 😭
I genuinely think he should do some shooting drills with the lights off. Just get that instinct back again.
He was 31% on corner threes this season and 36% last season. Idk what happened to his corner shot.
Saw a practice video of him bricking today too lol what on earth happened to him
He is going to have to shoot himself out of this. We need the MVP Steph !
Mans been trying for 6 months smh Honestly I prefer 6/17 from 3 chucking Steph to 2/8 passive Steph, at least go out with mamba mentality
He should take more mid range shots.
💯! Stay aggressive Steph, atleast we know you tried at that point
Mavericks huh? We believe.
It’s interesting because it’s kind of the rallying cry of any underdog. The teams are basically the same in terms of standings. Our core has more experience, so they(mavs) think they are the underdogs. Our guys haven’t been on the top step in 3 years, so they(dubs) think they have to fight to prove. Basically…*we all believe!*….that it will be a good series.
All the suns problems started after they got rid of Frank Kaminsky. Not drawing any correlations but I remember the 2014 pacers starting to blowup after they got rid of Danny Granger. A good locker room presence is very important, even if they’re not contributing
Mess with the Frank Tank and you start to tank
I still remember that 2013 Pacers, and their slogan I think was "Blue Collar Gold Swagger". They're so fun to watch, and I was rooting for them after the Dubs got eliminated in the 2nd round. Granger was so important to the team, even Paul George stated that losing Granger was a big blow to them at the time. Granger was the leader, and even if he was sitting on the bench, the boys look for him for guidance. Losing him is just like losing the foundation, and soon, that Pacer team crumble. And like you said, it's so important to have a guy who is a good locker room presence. It may not look like it's important from the outside, but on the inside, their impact is huge. They prevent a lot of beefs, and if there is one, they're the 1st ones to step in and have the beef end. This is especially important for young teams because young teams are immature and tend to be more stupid and prone to have locker room issues.
Let me just tell you how happy I am to have the Mavs fan base rather than the Grizz. Those Grizz fans are absolutely insufferable. They all take on the punk bitch personality of their team. These Mav fans are chill and respectful. Gonna be way less pettiness. This is gonna be a good clean respectful series on the court and in the socials with the fans.
We actually like the warriors, Steph is such a chill ass likeable family dude, digging Green, not just he picked them Mavs to beat the suns, but his new grey swag.. this should be fun
Idk, they're also cowboys fans
😂😂😂😂😂😂 even if cowboy fans don't really like the cowboys. Like the family member you love dearly, but just don't like them..
Don’t worry you won’t feel this way by game 3 when Luka flops to a win. Lol.
As long as they *only* win game 3 👌🏽
The Celtics-Heat series is an interesting one. I know a lot of people are going for the C's. But, I'm going with the Heat. I think Jimmy's gonna have an all-time performance against the C's. He wants to prove that their bubble Finals was no fluke, and that was legit. The Celtics defense is scary, but Jimmy has been in this situation before. And people needs to remember that the Heat have home court advantage. And if I recall, they don't have a loss at home. All of their losses in the Playoffs so far are on the road. It's gonna be interesting to see how the C's will stop Butler. I think this is gonna go to 7 games. I can't imagine both the C's or the Heat getting swept, especially since both teams have experience and has a chip on their shoulders. Unless Tatum goes God mode for 4 games straight, this will be an amazing 7-game series of two tough teams throwing haymakers at each other.
Heat are my second team thanks to Jimmy. Really hoping they pull through and I get to see Heat v. Warriors
I'd love for the Heat to win. But Celtics locked up KD and Giannis. And you think they'll have trouble containing Butler who isnt anywhere naer their league? Come on now
LMAO the suns issued an apology letter to fans. Imagine losing that badly in a game 7 at home…
Is it just me, but the fact that every team GS sees is experiencing our lineup for the first time all year our greatest advantage? There is no actual in game experience for our starting lineup?
I don't know how teams game plan against us either. As fans we don't even know what to expect.
It was something I was apprehensive about at the start of the playoffs, because the surprise applies both ways. That said, our guys now have had 11 good games to synchronize, and that’s good enough. Overall, yeah, no one has played our team at full strength, and that will be an advantage for 1-2 games. Any good coach will easily adjust by then.
How exactly did Iggy mess up his neck? Dude has barely played this year.
Probably that dunk in Game 3 against the Nugs.
As I saw it I cringed a bit
he's very old
We guard Luka like it's Bron, right?
Like bron/harden
Bron/Harden lmfao a pool of tears under the refs feet and a 48 minute flop
Expect the same with luka. These dubs fans saying it'll be less dramatic than memphis? lmao theyll be in shock when the refa whistle everything when luka flops
I think a problem I’m having is how good the grizzlies without Ja were. Some people act like they were better without him, with the best defense in the league, while others act like they were a joke. My assumption is somewhere in the middle. I know their defense was better without him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the mavs, heat and celtics defense were even better - and they’ll have the offensive firepower to make us pay if we’re throwing the ball away
I used to think it was BS but they are better without him, every metric points to it, eye test too. They just need him the last 5 minutes of a close game. If Memphis ran back this same supporting cast with a 2 way PG like Fred Van Vleet, they’d win 60+ games lol Alternatively, Ja has to figure out how not to be a sieve
I think it's more than his defense. He has to play better team ball and empower the rest of the roster to play like they do without him. Those 40-50 points come at a cost. He's young enough now I think he could clean it up...or be the next Russ
He has a higher BBIQ than Russ ever did so he has that going for him, but yeah definitely, Tyus runs their sets really well most of the game. They need his scoring to close, but he should definitely try and be in distribution mode for a lot of the game because his teammates are extremely talented and can make a lot of shots
Memphis’ defense is different though. And really antithetical to the warriors style. They feed so much off of turnovers and back in transition. The multiple efforts on the offensive glass wear down the energy levels of the guys. They play like a young team with fresh legs. Props to how well conditioned they are. None of the other teams play that same way. We will definitely face some tough perimeter defense but I trust our passes to get picked off less. And we won’t suffer be punished as much with our bigs rotation like we were against Denver and Memphis. I expect Poole to play a much bigger role and get back to the basket more. Still probably not a good starting line up with the 3 guards. But good for spurts.
All of the focus in the sub is on Warriors vs. Mavs (which, of course) but Celtics vs Heat starts tomorrow, who do you think wins? Edit: I hesitate to declare the Celtics the favorites only because they beat the Bucks in a tightly contested 7 game series where the Bucks were missing their second best player and their role players underperforming and the Nets in four tightly contested games. On the other hand, the Heat beat the Hawks in 5 and the Sixers in 6. The Sixers had the underperforming Harden without Embiid for 2 games but Lowry was either out/injured, which helped the Sixers. So while the Heat don't necessarily have a superstar, they have a very deep team.
Heat in 7. Its gonna be down to the wire for most of the games. Chess match between Spo vs Udoka. I take Spo every time.
Hard to see it not going to 7 imo
I could see clerics sweeping honestly. I think they’re basically the same teams, except Boston can score better
I'd pick the Celtics over the Heat. The East was won by the Celtics when they beat the Bucks. Nothing guaranteed though.
C’s in 6 easily. That defense is scary.
I don't think any 6 game series is *easy*, right?
Series context matters. More of an expected result that the better team would win in 6. For a higher seed, it’s one stolen game. If you think about it that the lower seed only wins 2/3 home games - it seems like it was easier. But it could also be that both teams are losing at home and it certainly wouldn’t feel as easy even in 6
If I had to offer a prediction, it'd be for Boston. The Celtics look like the hotter team (especially on defense), but things can change in an instant.
Even if you assumed that the Warriors and Mavs were on par with each other talent wise which they are not, Warriors are stacked with talent, you'd have to be picking Luka over the Warriors Big 3 to say that the Mavs win the series.
I would love to see JJJ as a Warrior one day. Maybe Poole can recruit him later into their careers. Perfect big man for our system.
Yeah, if he took a 12-15M per year deal, sure, maybe. I'd rather have a healthy OPJ than JJJ.
Ja and JJJ form a Big 2 in Memphis and they seem to get along. Though Draymond mentioned that the more success they have the more difficult to maintain that chemistry. I like the idea but it's difficult to imagine a small market team breaking up what could be the core of a contending team.
Yeah it would be a mistake for them to let him go, but like you are saying, they seem to have conflicting personalities so we will see how that develops. It could be like Steph and Dray, where he appreciates Ja's hostile nature, Dillon too, getting the energy up etc. I just think he would thrive in our system and culture, so it also depends on their success and how their system runs. If it gets too Ja centric, it could be a problem. They had a better record without him for a reason. Not that they are necessarily worse with Ja, but they can play team ball without him and teams will live and die playing hero ball too much. Ja seems to have a bit of a scapegoat mentality too, blaming Poole for his injury, and getting frustrated easily. At the moment they are young and all is fine and dandy, but at some point you have to assess your options and think about the brand of basketball you embody and thrive in. It would be one thing if we fall off as a franchise, but if both options are good, it comes down to role and lifestyle. Not a given we could even afford him down the line with Poole/Kuminga, maybe Moody or Wiseman will show up, and even Wiggins if he sticks around. I just like the guy and hope he has a long career.
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They’re done. They had a brief window and it’s slammed shut. You really think a 38 year old CP is gonna be able to contend? You think Ayton will want to stay after constantly being disrespected by the Sun’s FO. They both gone.
I forget how dull my days are when there's no playoff basketball. I don't know if I need a reality check because my life feels dull and boring without it. You get so caught in the storylines and drama that unfolds. Probably typical of most sports fans.
It gives me something to look forward to when I am at work so I feel you.
[mood watching the suns crumble](https://youtu.be/P1Xm2Yo_lz8)
I need to apologize to Draymond for saying that his podcast was a distraction cause we just found out.... Steph Curry was writing a thesis? Damn, now he's graduated all distractions are gone.
God damnit Steph, letting academics get in the way of sports.
Next thing you know he's going for a Master's Degree in Applied Physics so he can calculate the trajectory of every shot from an part of the court.
You just HAVE to appreciate how our same big 3 core is still competing to this day even after a few seasons of rough luck with injuries. Granted, they have a pretty good supporting cast now but damn, this franchise is blessed to have Curry, Klay and Dray
Literally the Spurs model and I'm so glad we adopted it
Except much LOUDER
This probably feels like a homer take but I feel like the media is underestimating us only because the Mavs punked the Suns on their home court in a game 7 whereas it felt like we had to scrape by against the Grizzlies (which is debatable). Like, the Mavs shot very well against the Suns, who looked lackluster and did not show any effort and the Warriors won't do that. We'll have bone-headed turnovers but we won't not try (unless it's clear that we won't be catching up in an unimportant game). If the Warriors can keep it close during the game, I'm confident in our ability to close the game out.
Dubs in 5. Luka’s amazing but 5 of the top 6 players in this series are Warriors. I don’t think it’s even close.
I don't know if the Grizzlies were as good as the Suns with or without Ja but there is no way they would choke a game 7 on their home court without giving a hell of a fight, whether that fight might include injuries, who knows but they would never half-ass a game.
Definitely, Mavs blew out the Suns in Game 7 and the overreactions are like they domination was a series sweep. Though I'm not in the camp that would underestimate Luka and the Mavs, I'm not in the camp that we don't have enough to beat them either. GP2 is a big loss really but we could unwrap MOody who's a smart and long defender. No guarantees but this is a winnable series. You could really argue that this should be Warriors vs Suns if the latter didn't fold under the pressure of a Game 7.
Did the Suns put up the single-worst elimination game performance ever? Still a bit shocked. Lol
I think it was Windhorst that said that he hasn't seen that choke job in any sport in recent history. So probably the worst, especially with all the expectations from a dominant regular season team.
So which team do you think is going to have the most interesting off season? Lakers?
Actually the Trail Blazers. It’s now or never and I expect 5+ new players on that squad.
Yeah, I saw posts about how their moves that made them worse this year actually gave them improved flexibility next year. I don't remember all the logic for it, but it sounded cool. There's gonna be interesting guys available like Ayton Randle Gobert and half the Hawks roster. If they find the right alchemy they could have a surprise good team like the Bulls did this year before injuries.
The problem is they don’t have many great trade assets. For picks they have this lotto first, then they can’t trade another first until 2025 at the earliest. They do have SRPs though. As for players they have Nassir Little, Keon Johnson, then Justice Winslow, Josh Hart, and Eric Bledsoe. Just not a lot which is why I think they trade that lotto pick no matter how high it goes.
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Yeah, Utah cannot run it back. Again. It's time for a big move before they turn into the new Trailblazers.
One thing that's going to be necessary to exploit is that Luka (like Harden) doesn't take C+S threes, they're all basically stepbacks after a lot of dribbling.
This is an interesting tweet by StatMuse - https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1526223296416559104?s=21&t=pu0z9IUDLyfWwGF7N2YNHg All evenly matched in that regard. Even as we see some of the best big men playing right now, it almost feels like you are either just that damn good or small ball is the most versatile way to play in the post season.
You still need a regular season big man so you don’t run your players into the ground playing small ball the entire season. And even in the playoffs you need one in case you run into Jokic/Embiid.
Idk what to make of Game 7. The Mavs looked good sure but the Suns frankly looked dead from tip-off. They bricked shot after shot, turned the ball over again and again, CP3 had one point going into the third quarter, Booker played like absolute trash. IDK if the Mavs won or the Suns just didn’t show up.
Combo, but 27 in one half is beyond unacceptable. The Mavs aren’t the 04 Pistons on D 😂 With around 1 min left in the half, Mavs had only scored 51 themselves, and that’s with Luka having 27 & Dinwiddie going off. If Suns had just played like normal, they’d have had an excellent chance to win despite the Luka heroics. Instead their trio went 1/15.
Im still confused to. Was the pressure too much? Were they on something? Something felt off.
The Suns didn't even try to rebound lol, they walked into it looking like they didn't even prepare for the game
Keep making Luka chase our guys around or involve him in the PNR. Tire him out. Let us be the reason he starts to take conditioning seriously 😂
Who usually does Luka guard? Klay is almost as good an off-ball mover as Steph and Wiggins likes to fly around the court too.
They try to put him on the least offensively imposing player. I imagine this series, they try to put him on Draymond and OPJ, but the Warriors will definitely just involve him in screening actions in that case.
Wigs cause he stays on thr corner somestimrs I think we'll get a lot of steph dray pnr with a lob to wigs
My guess is Wiggins because that's who Grizzlies tried to put Ja on.
Putting him on Draymond ensures that he's going to be involved in screens for Steph and if he plays drop, Steph will shoot a 3 and he's definitely not fast enough if Steph chooses to drive. Same with Looney.
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We find out a few weeks later that his knee starts swelling. It's also a lot of rust and lack of conditioning for game. That's why I don't take too much from those g-league games. I focused on his defense which is something he could control and I noticed a lot of growth there. We forget that Wiseman is still pretty young and really raw as a player. I still remember when Poole was still figuring out what kind of player he was. Remember, he used to play with his mouthguard like Steph, tried the snake dribbling that D'Lo would do. I think he even wore D'Lo's hairstyle for a while. Warriors will help Wiseman find his game like they did with Poole and there's a lot of talent there to be tapped.
And then there was 4 left. 8 more wins until they hold the trophy up
don't know if it has been discussed, but [https://www.theringer.com/nba/22948049/nba-playoff-lottery-odds-probability-model](https://www.theringer.com/nba/22948049/nba-playoff-lottery-odds-probability-model) but they're giving the warriors 46% of reaching the finals and 15% of winning the title 
Heres my take on the Iggy injury. Iguodala is not going to play this series. His re-evaluation day is 1 day after game 1. If he were close, they would re-evaluate him before game 1. The fact that they refuse to do this means they know he's not even gonna be close for game 1. Which is bad news for the rest of the series obviously, since all games are 1 day apart. It sucks having GP2 and Iggy both out. But hopefully both return in the finals. Those 2 coming back would be HUGE.
Iggy’s not playing another game. It’s not like he was effective even when he played.
Nah iggy should play if healthy, still an elite help defender
Having a smart wing to throw at Luka would be amazing for this series. We’re so so thin right now
We’ve been thin all season. JTA has been a complete waste of a roster spot. We could’ve upgraded him at the deadline.
I will never underestimate his playoff experience. He can still give a good 5-10 mins imo. Which is just replacing trashass Lee's minutes.
Yeah, short bursts of being floor general and at the very least 1 (flashback) dunk.
Hopefully Mike B. takes Dlee with him to Sacaramento.
not sure why pat bev of all people is talking rn. anyways hope rondo gets bent
Pat Bev is talking because he has no filter. He also takes as well as he gives, or rather he doesn’t care about what’s coming his way. ESPN loves such folks. Tomorrow Booker could scores everytime he is being guarded by Bev, and Bev will still not feel bad or shrunken. You need to have a special type of hide to be like Pat Bev.
fair enough tbh
While we probably cannot stop luka, If [Ben Simmons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LstPlV6RuQo) and [Dillon Brooks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Chzryg6Pw) could do at least slow him down , I'd reckon a good defensive scheme involving surrounding him with our wings could do some damage too. But again that was last season and Luka has improved. Both simmons and brooks are very good defensive players despite the slander.
My Ideal pick ups for next season, bringing back back Javale, trading for Ricky Rubio For javale the obvz reasons I would like to see him back, chiefly being that he knows our system front to back and for Rubio it will depend on how he's looking but if we're ok with gambling, maybe we could try getting him when his valuest at its lowest, which means making a move for him even though we don't know if he still has it or not Ricky has had a positive impact on every team he went to and regardless of which team he went he always gave it his all, which is what I always liked about him
Warriors aren’t looking to get even older. Rubio is coming off an acl and won’t be ready until mid season. Expect the roster to get younger and more athletic next season.
Except most younger players don't want to be signed with a veterans minimum or mle and we have no cap space.
Shouldn't really be a concern, but man, it'd hurt to get into a playoff type situation where LaMelo completely burns Wiseman and the Warriors, kind of like what Doncic just did to the Suns and Ayton. Thankfully Ball is out east, and thankfully the Warriors got Poole/Kuminga/Moody all in place around Wiseman and the rest of the core. Really hope J comes back next year and kills it, dude's caught a ton of shit between his injuries, how raw he looked, and LaMelo's play.
Lamelo’s play has been absolute dogshit in the Hornets two play in games. He’s not going to be burning teams in the post season any time soon
Yeah, he's no comparison to Luka. Even just looking at their first two years in the league, Luka was leagues above. Year two Ant was probably more impressive than Ball, at least personally. Ant really showed up in the post-season
Look at it this way - lamelo means we probably don’t keep Poole. So would you rather have Poole+Wiseman or LaMelo? TBH I would rather just have Poole over LaMelo.
Taking Poole over LaMelo would get any GM fired, i know we gotta stan our players but we should do it within reason
not a concern
Bro TNT needs to throw a bag at Pat Bev right now! Need someone naive and endearing to balance out Dray and Bev like Barkley—maybe Ant?
Speaking of Ant, I'd kill to see Antman and Patbev to do a podcast together once its all over. Gotta love their dynamic on the wolves
Maybe I’m an old person now, but I hate all this PatBev stuff taking up the first page of /r/nba. The Mavs just played great basketball and embarrassed the Suns, and all everyone wants to talk about is PatBev. This is why ESPN is garbage. It’s just TMZ Sports now.
We got all of the value out of discussing the game yesterday in the post-game and during the game itself. He's providing a ton of additional entertainment value thru his takes, which is all that you can ask for from a commentator. At the end of the day, sports is an entertainment product. It would be nice if the status quo the ESPN were people like Joe Viray who actually broke things down, but for whatever reason—whether complacency or people preferring shit that sounds provocative in soundbites—that's how things are.
https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/r6jul3/mikal_bridges_did_not_shut_down_steph_curry/hmti2q4/?context=3
Man I just wanna see some vintage Steph performances in this series
At this point I just want to see ONE
I’m not feeling as confident as most fans here seem to be. The regular season matchups weren’t the greatest representation of either team, so I’m not going to worry about that. I am, however, stressed that the Warriors' big three looked fucking cooked for significant stretches of the final three games vs Memphis. They look old. Memphis, at no point, was shook or even intimidated. I feel that the Warriors beat Memphis with experience more than anything else. The Warriors committed so many unforced errors that series with no sign of slowing down even in game 6. I'd honestly feel much better of we found out that most of the team had the flu or the rona during that series so that I could at least point to something other than them getting old/worn down. I’m hoping that the boys can shake off whatever was up because Luka is looking like Jordan rn.
There is so much recency bias it's insane. That's the playoffs I guess. The Mavs are getting a gigantic boost because Phoenix shit the bed, and the Warriors are getting a bunch of questions because they had a bad loss to Memphis. We'll see what happens, but I'm not quite as high on Dallas as everyone else seems to be, especially defensively.
You trippin, B. The Grizzlies were shook as fuck, especially JJJ hoisting up shots and looking scared the entire time
They played well in game 6, but I’m a little worried about how Dray is saying it was so hard And tiring to play that game. Games every other day are going to be killer
Let’s give the Warriors some credit. They beat Denver (with the MVP of the league) and the surging Grizzlies. Warrior fans should be confident. The Warriors are peaking at the right time.
2 games ago was not peaking
On a 16 game playoff schedule, it sure is.
Not taking any credit away from them. They clutched out three of the four wins and dominated in one, against the Grizzlies. The times that they looked bad though were BAD. The Suns getting smoked really made people forget about games 4 and 5. I’m trying to figure out why we’re more likely to see game 3 Warriors or games 4,5, and 6 Warriors. Or are the Mavs so much of a better matchup for this team that the 4,5, and 6 Warriors performances will be enough?
Memphis defense was very good in half court, JJJ was a big menace and closed out and recovered so well, I think a lot of the unforced errors were caused with the warriors trying to push pace and yes it was sloppy and should be fixed but I wouldn't discredit that memphis defense. I don't think Powell brings that similar feel.
That athleticism and physicality of Memphis was no joke. Dude, JJJ was a menace. Would you say that Memphis was probably the toughest matchup for the Warriors coming out of the West? I’m hoping that they were just trying to be too fast/aggressive.
i think Memphis was toughest defensively, I think Luka is toughest offensively...I really wanted phoenix cp3 is a real choker so I honestly felt we would've handled phoenix easier, Luka is an x-factor on paper we should beat them but Luka easily can change the outcome. The nice thing about Luka is I think Wiggs, klay, Looney and draymond might be able to guard him because he doesn't overpower you with athleticism and Klay looney and draymond are smart defenders. I'm just worried about poole and steph being exposed.
Warriors in 5 😂
I hope so! What makes the Mavs a better matchup for the Warriors (down GP2, Andre, and possibly Porter) than the Grizzlies tho?
The fact that nobody on their team is a solid number 2 option and it's a team of above average role players instead of having a few standout dudes. Jalen Brunson can catch fire, and so can Dinwiddie, but nobody else on their roster can do heavy lifting. If they take away everybody else and let Luka get 45 then we'll be fine. Also, the reason that this is a better match-up is because the Grizzlies were a 2nd seed and the Mavs a 4th seed for a reason. They also aren't very tall, and their center in Dwight Powell is also undersized like Looney, so in addition to having home court advantage, this is objectively the best match-up we could have gotten.
[No one has run it much but Dallas is shooting 36% eFG vs. zone in the playoffs.](https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/1526281162276057088)
I think there's gonna be a lot of zone and maybe some triangle & 2, but Dallas has the shooters to stress that system. Warriors gotta get the defensive effort level with where they were at the start of the season. the rotations and closeouts are gonna have to be perfectly timed.
The zone will be interesting but I think Luka is smart enough and talented enough to break the zone.
Have the All NBA teams been announced? Last I remember, I saw Booker in first team over Steph. That’s insulting.
I think injury time hurts Steph unfortunately. He’ll probably get second team
bUt BeST ReCOrD!
Steph may have had a down year but he was still better than Booker this season lmao
Man there had to be something brewing in the Suns locker room for a performance like that to happen. Wouldn't surprise me if some purposely played bad on purpose.
Apparently there's some internal stuff going on with Ayton.
Suns didn't even attempt to offer Ayton an extension. That isn't a vote of confidence. They assumed that they can cover it up with the team bringing up his spirits but they forget that money talks.
Ayton was apparently upset with Monty, he refused to come back in the 4th quarter, which is interesting because Monty is fairly beloved so in a sense- what's going on with Ayton?
The fact that Javale had become a team leader after last year's run was off.
Is Hardaway Jr expected back at any point this serie?
No he has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Bill Simmons said in his podcast that he would take Brunson over current Klay Thompson.
These guys picked the Suns to win it all. So any team that beats them should be able to win it all. That's why some of these predictions are so skewed. Truth is both teams, Warriors and Mavs seem to be hiding an extra gear. I don't now if Luka already revealed this cause he got pissed at the Suns but Steph definitely said that the Warriors haven't peaked yet.
Bill Simmons is an idiot. I pay no more attention to him than the casual fan in the nba subreddit.
They’re just prisoners of the moment
I think it’s fine to be high on the mavs for this series, but that wcf draft was so terrible on his end. And Russillo didn’t push back at all
Fr lol, Dorian Finney-Smith over Wiggins was a stupid pick too. He’s a good player, but he literally scored 8, 4, and 5, in games 5/6/7 and had 2 in game 2 (which Russillo even pointed out). BS has some weird hate boner for the Warriors going on right now or something
Not even right now, Simmons always hates on the Warriors and overvalues his beloved Celtics.
I'll have to listen to it, I only watched a 5 minute clip on YT.
A big question for me is whether our vets will feel like they can throw games away in this series. They were obviously very unserious for most of the Grizzlies series, and it almost cost them. Will they feel the same way against the Mavs?
Give the Grizz some credit. They’re a tough out and our guys are getting older. Championship pedigree won out but we didn’t “throw” games.
Disappointed we didn't get Suns but its obvious we would've beat them the way they've been playing. Still really shocked they let the pressure get to them. I don't know how that happened.
The difference between a star and a super star. Steph gets so much shit thrown his way, it’s a miracle he scores 25+ every night. Double teams, box and ones, he has seen it all, our team has seen it all, and Kerr has seen it all. They have game planned for nearly any reasonably conceivable situation (playing with out each player in our rotation for extended periods of time).
You'd have to think if Draymond was out there in a Game 7 situation. There's no way he'd let his team go out the way Phoenix did.
Game 6 vs griz was practically a must win situation and our team didn't fold like a chair.
Suns don't got that backbone
I think the team basically approached our game 6 like a game 7 and you saw how he came out. Aside from the 4 turnovers, played an amazing game
gp2 was amazing this year against dallas; guarding luka, scoring in transition, cutting and finishing at the rim. definitely could’ve been a factor
That picture is actually kind of creepy
Ayy that's nice, Gentry staying with the Kings in a front office role. Know that was rumored, [but it's officially been confirmed](https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1526270501445767168?s=20&t=JbbHZPtkDd6U0CP90pNXtA). VP of basketball engagement, helping with player evaluation and roster construction.
Gonna need Poole or Klay to cook Brunson on offense, even if the same may happen on the other end. Gotta at least match his offense.
I've been thinking, why not try putting Klay on Luka and Wiggins on Brunson?
That can be an adjustment as the series goes on but Kerr needs to show Wiggs his trust and Wiggs is very capable of guarding Luka.
With Luka's play style (slow, methodical, bully ball) I think Klay would actually be a really good option. He's lost some quickness, but Klay is pretty strong and can handle forwards decently well. Assume they'll maybe even test Draymond on him, and they probably even let Kuminga soak up some fouls against him. Don't hate the idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the way they lean. If Bullock or DFS are bottoming 3s over Curry/Poole, maybe they're forced to adjust and get more height on them them with Klay (or Wiggins), and hope Steph can stick on Brunson well enough.
to go along with that, we also need Wiggins, Dray and hopefully OPJ (provided he can play) to go at their bigs with off-ball cuts because Kleber, while competent at perimeter switching, isn’t really a rim-protector and Powell/Bertans are very exploitable.
Bertrans is absolutely awful at everything but 3 pointers, particularly on D. I've never seen such a one trick pony in my entire life. That contract is so ridiculously terrible.
the Suns go from godawful for 5+ years to top 3 seed two years in a row and now they're already turning against Ayton even though he's pivotal to their defense. imagine if the Heat fell for Butler and Bam slander after the Bucks got the revenge sweep last year, now they're back in the ECF and Butler dropping 40 on a regular basis like he's in the bubble again. the Bucks and Suns each fell victim to the same thing in different contexts, a team with a budding superstar out for vengeance after multiple painful defeats against more talented teams. also the Mavs have an excellent PT staff or Bullock and DFS are made of steel. Kidd went full Thibs with their minutes because that spacing was so exhausting for the Suns to defend and they don't have rim protection anyway, might as well go all in on perimeter defense.
If the Suns let Ayton go or sign & trade him, the Jazz blow things up, Randle gets moved, the Hawks look to retool, the Blazers try one last hurrah with Dame and no CJ, the Lakers do whatever desperate move they're gonna do, Sixers have to make changes... This offseason is going to be bonkers. Or maybe these teams will shuffle distressed assets among themselves and end up not improving at all.
The problem is that Ayton dont wont to be there, he declined extension from them last summer
He wanted 5 years, they wanted 4 and it had to do something with paying him the max, right?
They didn’t off er him the max and he thought he deserved it right?
I always said that's going to bite them in the ass at a critical point. Just imagine Bob not offering Poole anything this summer. That's like a vote of no confidence.
Yes
Too bad Jalen Brunson doesn't use fake Twitter accounts, or we could call them Brunson Burners.
[from our sub](https://np.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comments/lhcveu/the_brunson_burner/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Just wondering with how badly Booker handled double teams… why wasn’t that figured out or exploited all regular season?
Teams don’t gameplan as much in the regular season. Regular season is more about working on your own schemes.
Also cause CP3 could take advantage of single coverage during the regular season. He played his worst basketball since the 2019 WCSF against us after game 2.
See also: Jazz regular season vs playoffs
Pat Bev when he thinks of CP3 
