GAME 3 Playoffs 2024 DIRKIE: LUKA AND KYRIE!!!!!!! CO-DIRKIES!

[SleepingHero]

[ThisIStheYear]

Luka, Kyrie? It’s a tie.

[Jym]

Voted Kyrie but hopefully he ends up tied with Luka

[Chicagojk]

Tough one. Probably Luka or Kyrie.

Gafford wasn’t great but had two huge plays late. pJ was good and one huge three that began our run. Got to steal some minutes again with Hardy.

[Mavs2021]

Gobert is a low-key dirty player, too. Him and KAT. No wonder everybody hates them. I hope KAT stays in Minnesota forever, but I´m afraid some dumb team in the Least like Detroit or Washington will trade for his sad a**.

[SleepingHero]

LETS FREAKING GO!

WHAT A FREAKING WIN BY THIS TEAM! WHAT FIGHT! AFTER LIVELY GOES DOWN, THE TEAM RALLIES AND SURVIVES AND OUTSCORES THE WOLVES 12-3 IN THE FINAL 3 MINUTES!

SHEESH!

To the Dirkie candidates!

DJJ, what a game man. He came out ready and in rhythm. He played incredible defense all night on Ant, and even though he got his lunch money taken a couple of times, he never quit. Love seeing his 3pt shot start to fall.

PJ had a very odd game. This might be the worst defensive game of the playoffs so far from him. He missed a lot of rotations and gave away some easy looks to Conley and Ant. But then he came up so big in the 4th locking down Ant, and then comes out of nowhere with one of the clutch-est threes to break the tie late in the 4th and spark the Mavs run. He had a lot of great looks tonight with his floaters. What a game from PJ!

Kyrie Irving just keeps being the King of the 4th. He set the tone for the Mavs after the Edwards explosion heading into the quarter. He hit tough shot after tough shot and responded to everything Minny threw at him. He comes up with one of the biggest daggers over KAT of all people to put the Wolves away with a minute remaining.

Luka is a fucking psychopath. He wanted the moment. He wanted to destroy the Wolves. He was ready this game. He showed so much growth and maturity this game. This was one of the most poorly officiated games of the season and Luka stayed with it and didn't take the bait. He overcame this bullshit. And the amount insane shots he hit tonight was relentless. Over and over. The rainbow 3 over KAT...just inject that shit into my veins every night for the rest of my life. Luka is a monster. He played such an incredible game that was sorely needed after Lively went down.

But I have to give this dirkie to Gafford. He had all around a subpar performance for most of the game. Minny dominated him inside for the most part, getting what felt like an endless barrage of offensive rebounds. He had the worst, most highlight-able moment this game when Edwards absolutely baptized him. I mean holy shit. What. A. Fucking. Dunk. But when it mattered most, he stepped UP. The final 3 minutes Gafford played some of the most incredible D and sealed out the game. His block on Conley stamped out the life of the Wolves who were panicking. He sealed up Gobert and rebounded so well. And finally he had his OWN POSTER ON GOBERT WITH THE AND-1 AND EFFECTIVELY ENDED THE GAME. WHAT A STRETCH.

Now the Mavs are ready to send the Wolves home on Tuesday. They may not have Lively. By far and away the biggest loss save Luka or Kyrie. They need to remain focused and ready. Gafford said in his interview the best, by midnight this win won't mean a single thing. Keep that same energy. Pray that Lively is ok.

What a game from the Mavs sheesh.

[ballsrchr]

Luka + Kyrie + decent supporting cast...who knew?

A very scrappy team who hasn't had one of those "can't miss" nights, yet the Mavs still manage to pull it out in the end. Two closers indeed!

Lively was doing great, but 3 knees in the wrong places could take down anyone. I hope he's ok, but fear that he will miss a few games.

Jaden Hardy IS starting to look like a keeper. Yes...he is a shooter, but it looks like he's learning to be a team shooter--meaning help the team win, not just stuff the stat sheet.

My two candidates for Dirkie are: Luka and Kyrie, or Kyrie and Luka--almost interchangeable.

I think I'll give it to Kyrie. But both of them are earning their points the old fashion way...

[SleepingHero]

Also very surprising that Draymond is legit coaching and giving advice to Gafford in the blitz on how to pass. He's legit trying to get the Mavs to win.

That's how much he hates Gobert and the Wolves.

Insanity.

[dirkfansince1998]

Also very surprising that Draymond is legit coaching and giving advice to Gafford in the blitz on how to pass. He's legit trying to get the Mavs to win.

That's how much he hates Gobert and the Wolves.

Insanity.

Way better than his usual tantrum. He can be a great analyst and it is pretty obvious that he is a bball savant but more often than not he just uses his air time as an opportunity to settle scores.

[SleepingHero]

Way better than his usual tantrum. He can be a great analyst and it is pretty obvious that he is a bball savant but more often than not he just uses his air time as an opportunity to settle scores.

100% 

Agree with every word.

[SleepingHero]

Noah Weber (@noahweber00)
Luka Doncic told Kyrie Irving that he was “tired as sh*t” during the second half of this game and Irving said “that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

What a duo and what a win by two of the best playoff performers in the NBA.

[SleepingHero]

@All_Things_Mavs
Luka Doncic said something to Anthony Edwards at the end there that was so diabolical that most of us probably can’t even comprehend it

[The Jom]

14 points in the final frame on 5 of 7 shooting, 1 of 1 from distance, 3 of 4 from the line, 1 of 1 with the left hand. 4 of his made FGs and 1 of the FTs were lead changing. Add a steal and an assist. All that in just the 4th quarter. Give me Kyrie’s 33 in a photo finish over Luka’s.

[SkenfromLMF]

Ok I went with PJ because with the game in the balance he hit the 3 that put Dallas ahead and NOT look back - Kenny Smith convinced me on ItNBA…

PJ was not great, but he was the biggest part of a 50 pt performance from the team NOT named Luka or Kyrie!

[MrGoat]

Between Luka and Kyrie who has less votes? That's where I want my vote.

Gafford was huge late after a rough outing

Honorable mention to Slo Mo for pissing off Tony Brothers. That was huge

[KillerLeft]

CRAZY GAME! SO HYPED!!!

Lively, who was dominating again, goes down (yikes) and I think it was so clear what he has done for this team the second he was absent. There were about 13 straight minutes of this game in which Edwards was able to get into the paint any time he wanted, not because of rim protection, but because Lively is sooooo much better than Gafford at taking the right angle on those ball screens to funnel Edwards to the sides of the floor. I sure as hell hope he's good to go soon, and that the pain doesn't affect his killer instinct or confidence.

I thought it was a good move on Kidd's part not to freak out and overplay Gafford. When I saw after the game he had only played 28 minutes, I nodded, because THAT is why he was able to come through down the stretch. For most of this game he was just awful, but in the end, when they needed it, he made 3-4 GREAT plays. Thank goodness for the depth. 

Again, kudos to Kidd for playing Powell. I actually thought he did well in some areas, particularly defending the pick and roll. He's a little better at that than Gafford, imo, as well as handling in the short roll (he had one amazing possession wherein he calmly made the right pass, but whomever shot the open 3 bricked it). Unfortunately, he missed one bunny of a finish (cringeworthy) and he is just zero deterrent at the rim, as ever. Against this team and Edwards, that doesn't work. Still, I felt bad for the guy because he got a very unfriendly whistle on both ends. Overall, he did what he could, given his total lack of rhythm. I also thought it was an interesting decision to go small for a stretch (they really miss Kleber). It didn't last very long, but good to know they have that lineup in the tool belt, because they might need it against Boston, especially if Kleber isn't back by then. 

And that brings me to PJ Washington. Great game from him, imho. With each passing game, you can see him getting more and more comfortable on the offensive end, playing more freely and involving himself in a wider variety of ways, offensively. Defensively, I dont' really have a sense of whether he's making KAT uncomfortable or if KAT is just being a soft, overrated head case, but PJ is certainly working hard and doing everything he can. Once Lively went out, I thought he upped his intensity on the glass, which was significant, because between Edwards living in the paint (forcing Dallas bigs to help instead of boxing out) and just the absence of Lively in general, there were moments where the glass was a real concern. Washington grabbed some huge, key ones and OMG does he love to hit corner threes when they really matter!

DJJ...my goodness. Highest +/- on the team. Great defense. Shooting (with a quicker release than a month ago, even, he's improving weekly) like Peja Stojakovic from the corner and then hyping the crowd after each and every one of his makes. If the Mavs lose him this summer I might never recover. I LOVE HIM. 

Green was ok. Not as good as his game 2, but much better than his game 1 (would be hard to do worse). I think this might've been his best defensive effort of the series, so far, and they needed it when the rim protection and help defense started to falter. 

Hardy! -6, worst on the team, but that's because he's playing meaningful stretches. It's a BLESSING that they're only losing those minutes by a small margin, and I'm glad Kidd has rightly decided that his offense is more important (right now, in this series, at least) than Exum's defense. He's fearless, and playing less selfishly than he was a month ago. He's becoming a decent floor reader and a good passer. Loved when he faked Gobert out and drew that foul!

Luka was AMAZING tonight. I'm so happy that he's shooting well again, because that just makes everything so much better for this team. And, this felt like his most efficient game of the playoffs, so far. He was able to keep his turnovers down tonight, and I thought he was the maestro of pace and manipulation we have come to expect him to be. I thought he, too, picked up his rebounding effort when Lively went out, and "defensive Luka" made an appearance down the stretch when it was winning time. 

But my Dirkie goes to KYRIE IRVING. That man hit some of the timeliest, toughest, most demoralizing shots I think I've ever seen. I've been right about a lot of things around here, wrong about some, too. I've NEVER missed the mark more on anything than I missed it on that trade. It was the catalyst for all of this. He brings a level of respect, league wide, that the young, outsider Mavericks just didn't have before he got here. He has had a noticeably calming effect on Luka and the rest of the team, and most importantly, HE IS AT PEACE WITH THIS BEING LUKA'S TEAM AND IS STILL ABLE TO PUT UP 33 WHEN THEY MUST HAVE IT. 

What an amazing time to be a fan of the Dallas Mavericks!

[The Jom]

There were some truly great moments in this game. But my favorite 2 were when Hardy got Gobert on the switch and tried to pass the ball back to Luka. Nope. Luka wouldn’t have it. Waiving him off like he’s saying, You take that MF’r, young man! He can’t f’n guard you!

[KillerLeft]

There were some truly great moments in this game. But my favorite 2 were when Hardy got Gobert on the switch and tried to pass the ball back to Luka. Nope. Luka wouldn’t have it. Waiving him off like he’s saying, You take that MF’r, young man! He can’t f’n guard you!

That was a great one. My favorite was when they threw the ball in to Gobert on the block because he had Luka on him, and after Luka calmly poked the ball away he looked at the Wolves' coaching staff with a look that said "hey, I know you want to go at me, but...GOBERT? You guys are trying to WIN the game, right?"

[dirkfansince1998]

https://x.com/ClutchPoints/status/1794914196590825901

Almost touches the ceiling. Reminded me of the Nowitzki three over Bosh. Play of the game for me.

[ThisIStheYear]

PJ was the third best player but I voted for him. When he performs like a bona fide number 3, as he did tonight, the Mavs are tough to beat.