2024 Playoffs- 3rd Round: Minnesota Timberwolves - Dallas Mavericks- MAVS WIN 4-1!

[SleepingHero]

[The Jom]

I’ve been waiting
For a thread like you
To come into my life

[Mavs2021]

As confident as I was we´d make the WCF (before the Luka injury drama), I´m not very confident about this match-up. I´d have picked us to beat a tiring Denver. But maybe there are some weaknesses on Minnesota the Mavs can exploit. It would be nice, if we came out with a plan for game one. Wolves are too good for a feel out game. 

Let´s hope kharma is not a b*tch given how many here mocked the Gobert trade last season.

[audiosway]

I say Dallas in 6. They will make Ant work on defense and Conley can't guard Luka or Kyrie. Denver didn't have anyone that could guard Ant and Minny has a good front court. Dallas has Lively and Gafford that are seriously active on the boards. The biggest problem for Denver against Minny was that Jokic is the PG. He struggles against big teams. And Murray isn't a real superstar. Great player but inconsistent. Porter Jr is a finesse guy. He can't take being bullied.

It will be a defensive battle on both sides but I don't think Minny can score enough to beat Dallas. The only game Kyrie played against Minny Dallas won. And that's before the trade deadline. Hopefully, we get Kleber back for this series. He would be huge.

[omahen]

Mavs went from one of the oldest teams to the youngest. Now they are going from a very small team to a very big team, so it will be a whole new experience. Keys to victory will be the rebounding battle and how well role players will be executing opportunities stars will create. DJJ and PJ were awesome against OKC, McDaniels was probably the key against Denver. Luka and Kyrie will be hunting missmatches against Gobert, Towns and Conley, but we can expect Minny will use similar tactics as Clippers and OKC by clogging the paint with their bigs and daring DJJ and PJ to beat them.

I will take same principle as in first two series. Win one on the road and then go from there. Mavs in 6!

[surfpuckmd]

I'm grateful to play the Timberwolves partly because Anthony Edwards is more fun to watch than Nikola Jokic.  I'm tired of watching Jokic look like a grown man playing against 5th-graders.  

The team that shoots better from 3 will win this series.  We beat OKC because PJ and DJJ shot well from 3.  The Nuggets lost their series because of subpar 3-point shooting.  

Luka is the best player remaining in the playoffs and gets the opportunity to change the national perception of him.  If he complains a lot, he'll be every non-Mavs fan's least favorite player in the NBA.  If he plays hard, smiles and enjoys the games, he'll win over a lot of general NBA fans and media types.  The NBA will recognize his appeal and he'll actually get better calls going forward.  Luka can be the league's next Lebron/Kobe level of NBA superstar celebrity.  This is his chance.

[Halfnir]

I agree, this will be a "live by the three, die by the three" series. The paint will be pretty much closed down on both sides for halfcourt offence. Lots of inconsistent, streaky shooters on both sides. Dallas will have to play fast to make Gobert and esp. Towns run on defence and i think we are well equipped for that if they get Luka to buy into that.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

The key to this series will be Minnesota's defense. They didn't play particularly well in game 7 on Sunday, but their defense in the 2nd half won them the game. Dallas can't turn the ball over. They thrive on them. And PJ, THJ, Green, and DJJ have to keep them honest by continuing to make shots, because of they're size, the matchups are different. Both will hunt mismatches as they both switch on defense. Rebounding will also be key, because the Wolves are good on the offensive boards. Bench play will decide this series IMO.

[Winter]

The key to this series will be Minnesota's defense. They didn't play particularly well in game 7 on Sunday, but their defense in the 2nd half won them the game. Dallas can't turn the ball over. They thrive on them. And PJ, THJ, Green, and DJJ have to keep them honest by continuing to make shots, because of  they're size, the matchups are different. Both will hunt mismatches as they both switch on defense. Rebounding will also be key, because the Wolves are good on the offensive boards. Bench play will decide this series IMO.

Probably this post is as close as I get to any analysis. 

I would add that Minnie seems to have to be coaxed to play hard defense. They don't do it naturally. But really, I don't see many advantages for the Mavs. Luka may be the best weapon we have.

[Smitty]

To me the matchups are pretty straight forward.

Conley 6'0  -  Kyrie 6'2
ANT 6'4  -  DJJ 6'6
McDaniels 6'9  -  Luka 6'7
KAT 7'0  -  PJW 6'7
Gobert 7'1  -  Gafford 6'10/Lively 7'1

Luka 6'7 - McDaniels 6'9
Kai 6'2 - ANT 6'4
DJJ 6'6  -  Conley  6'0
PJW 6'7  -  KAT 7'0
Gafford 6'10  -  Gobert 7'1

Min Bench: PF/C  Reid 6'9 , G  NAW 6'5 , SF  K. Anderson 6'9
Mavs Bench:  C  Lively 7'1 , G  Green 6'5 , PF/C  Maxi 6'10 , G  THJ/Exum/Hardy 6'5


The Mavs really need Maxi back for this one. It could get ugly with DJJ playing backup 4 minutes against KAT/Reid. I do see the Mavs using DJJ as the screener almost exclusively Game 1, in order to get Conley switched onto LuKai. Then you can use a secondary screen from the 5 to get Gobert involved and open up the lob game. 

I also expect this to be the series where Kidd eventually has to switch things up and start Lively over Gafford, my guess is Game 3 at home. Hope it doesn't rock the boat - but it feels inevitable from my perspective.

Minny was always the toughest matchup in the playoffs, imo. I personally wanted to face the defending champs but here we are. I've got to stick with Mavs in 6!

[The Jom]

Isn’t Luka our backup 4?

[BigDirk41]

This may be the first time we see small ball with PJ at the 5. It won't surprise me if Kidd tries this some early to see what kinda success it has with playing Gobert off the court.

[Knutsen]

This may be the first time we see small ball with PJ at the 5. It won't surprise me if Kidd tries this some early to see what kinda success it has with playing Gobert off the court.

Problem with playing Gobert off the court is you get the 5-out-twin-towers of Towns and Reid, which are much more difficult to handle, at least for Gafford. I think the key to the series is attacking Towns first, he‘s pretty foul prone, and then go after Gobert.

[Smitty]

This may be the first time we see small ball with PJ at the 5. It won't surprise me if Kidd tries this some early to see what kinda success it has with playing Gobert off the court.

I know it may sound crazy wanting the DPOY to stay on the court but I prefer him out there over a Reid/KAT front court.

[Scott41theMavs]

What a goofy team Minnesota is. You look at KAT and Gobert, scoff and sneer, and say, "What a joke, we can beat them!" Then you look at Ant, Reid, McDaniels, et al. and start sweating. They are probably the deepest team in the league in terms of frontcourt length. It's almost as if they saw the post trade deadline frontcourt overkill Mavs coming.

I don't think the Mavs can win this series. My head tells me, Wolves in five. But if the Mavs do win, I will be damn proud of them, and the victory will be all about Luka and Kyrie both rising to the occasion and steamrolling the best defense they've each likely ever faced, and of course PJ, DJJ, Lively, et al. standing on business.

Oh, and presuming the team that wins this series comes away healthy, Leastern Conference Boston is dead meat.

[Chicagojk]

Exum hasn't been good in these playoffs. We have been waiting for a good Hardaway for months. Hardy had a nice introduction to playoff basketball in games 5 & 6.

Of those three, i think it is important for Exum to get on track. He was so good, when healthy, in that 20 minute a game role. We need to hope his struggles are repairable. He brings size, defense, connectivity and for most of the year ability to hit open shots.

I think for both teams Exum and Slowmo are both going to be interesting wild cards. Who can bring 20 minutes a game of productive play?

[mvossman]

Its interesting that folks are more concerned with Naz than they are with Gobert. So far in the playoffs Gobert has the best net rating on the team, and Naz has one of the worst. In the Denver series Gobert was +12 and Naz was -8. Its a fairly small sample and I'm sure there is a lot of context in there, but so far it does not seem like Gobert being off the court and Naz being on is necessarily a terrible thing.

[mvossman]

Exum hasn't been good in these playoffs.  We have been waiting for a good Hardaway for months.  Hardy had a nice introduction to playoff basketball in games 5 & 6.

Of those three, i think it is important for Exum to get on track.  He was so good, when healthy, in that 20 minute a game role.  We need to hope his struggles are repairable.  He brings size, defense, connectivity and for most of the year ability to hit open shots. 

I think for both teams Exum and Slowmo are both going to be interesting wild cards.    Who can bring 20 minutes a game of productive play?

Exum is going to struggle unless he can pull the trigger.  He does a lot of his damage going to the rim, but there is going to be no room there.  He is more shy than Green in pulling the trigger from three.

[Scott41theMavs]

Its interesting that folks are more concerned with Naz than they are with Gobert.  So far in the playoffs Gobert has the best net rating on the team, and Naz has one of the worst.  In the Denver series Gobert was +12 and Naz was -8.  Its a fairly small sample and I'm sure there is a lot of context in there, but so far it does not seem like Gobert being off the court and Naz being on is necessarily a terrible thing.

It's largely that Reid has been a monolithically consistent Mav killer throughout his Wolves tenure on both ends of the ball, whereas we all remember how the Mavs pwned Gobert in the series against the Jazz two years ago.

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/JayJay2nice/status/1...8405073107
@JayJay2nice
Come on 77 prove these bald niggas wrong

Pretty crazy how bad the narrative around Luka had/has become. Averaged 34/10/10 and was forgotten by basically all talking heads. He's taken down Shai. Jokic is gone. Now only Ant remaining, and Ant loves to run his mouth.

I hope Luka is feeling better.