GAME 4 Playoffs 2024: Minnesota Timberwolves (0-3) vs. Dallas Mavericks (3-0)

[Chicagojk]

Mavs didn’t have their A game and was a little sloppy.

I think Minny won this game though. Mavs really didn’t punish Minny for getting their bigs in foul trouble

[BigDirk41]

Luka and Kyrie have to respond next game. I hope they figure out how to attack what happened tonight.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I don’t think this will work well again for them. If they play Mcdaniels on Kyrie, who is going to defend Luka? Luka played awfully today, which you don’t see from him in consecutive games.

Kyle Anderson defended Luka pretty well to me. He also made the key pass to Reid for that layup that iced it. I suspect Anderson guarding him won‘t change.

[BolsDamols]

Why in the world would you not think it wouldn't work again...lol. They were all over Kyrie and Luka all night. It clearly worked and they will stick with it.

I suspect they will have a lot of Anderson on Luka same as tonight. He bothered him a bit. Luka has to trust that floater and just shoot it.

[TurkishMFFL]

Why in the world would you not think it wouldn't work again...lol. They were all over Kyrie and Luka all night. It clearly worked and they will stick with it.

Yeah I saw that it worked today but defending Luka with anyone but Mcdaniels will give him a free pass on offense, which he didn’t capitalize on because of playing awful. Playing Kyle Anderson that much changes their rotation a lot and they could do it because of the absence of Lively. All I want to say it was mostly on Luka today not because of the defense he got. He won’t have such a game next time.

[Mavs2021]

Told you this series was not over. If they win game 5 all the pressure moves to the Mavs. This was an atrocious game. I also completely disagree that Minnesota played well. We led by three points, when Luka basically decided not to shoot for the next 15 minutes. We were down by five, when his sabbatical was over. I don´t know wtf him, Kidd and the coaching staff were thinking. The Mavs overpassed everything. This game was a lot easier than I expected. Mavs didn´t want it. Now it becomes difficult.

[Reunion Mav]

Well I asked after game four of OKC for us to get to the WCF for experience for our guys. I guess this counts as experience. Considering we couldn’t make a clutch shot we still fought incredibly hard.

Jaden Hardy is growing up.
Kleber did fairly well.
Lively will be ok, I hope really soon.

[Luka77]

Hardy needed to be in the gm in the 4th when offense was needed. That's on KIDD.

Also on Kidd, if Gobert sets a pick for Ant, that needs to be an automatic trap. Make Gobert make a play in the short role. Kidd just let Ant have an uncontested shot.

[BigDirk41]

Yeah I saw that it worked today but defending Luka with anyone but Mcdaniels will give him a free pass on offense, which he didn’t capitalize on because of playing awful. Playing Kyle Anderson that much changes their rotation a lot and they could do it because of the absence of Lively. All I want to say it was mostly on Luka today not because of the defense he got. He won’t have such a game next time.

I didn't mean to like your post..lol. I don't think Luka got great looks tonight. I do think he passed on good shots, but he was defended well all night and for whatever reason, Kyle Anderson guards Luka really good. If Luka can't punish Kyle Anderson, this series might get uncomfortable. Luka absolutely should be able to destroy Kyle Anderson, but that hasn't been the case in their careers.

[donzingis38]

Kyrie had such a bad game. I can't believe my eyes. Now he's 14-1 in close out games.

[BigDirk41]

Kyrie had such a bad game. I can't believe my eyes. Now he's 14-1 in close out games.

That late pass turnover by Kyrie was unreal.

[Scott41theMavs]

Kyrie had such a bad game. I can't believe my eyes. Now he's 14-1 in close out games.

Yep. Should be a soul-searching moment for him after two days of laughing at the T-Pups and gearing up for the Finals vs. the Celtics when we hadn't punched our ticket yet.

[Scott41theMavs]

Note that PJ shit the bed just as badly as Luka and Kyrie. We can't win with our three best offensive players all choking. One of them plays decent, we're getting ready for Boston.

[BigDirk41]

Note that PJ shit the bed just as badly as Luka and Kyrie. We can't win with our three best offensive players all choking. One of them plays decent, we're getting ready for Boston.

Luka is too talented to not abuse Kyle Anderson. He has to figure that out and make it happen.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Note that PJ shit the bed just as badly as Luka and Kyrie. We can't win with our three best offensive players all choking. One of them plays decent, we're getting ready for Boston.

If we're really being truthful, KAT should be abusing PJ. He's much bigger and skilled. All he has to do is take him in the post more instead of shooting 3's all the time.

[BigDirk41]

This may not be popular here, but if Lively is healthy, I don't think Maxi should play play hardly any next game. He's not a shooting threat right now and they know it. We didn't have a choice tonight and hopefully he can get stronger over the next week.

[Chicagojk]

This may not be popular here, but if Lively is healthy, I don't think Maxi should play play hardly any next game. He's not a shooting threat right now and they know it. We didn't have a choice tonight and hopefully he can get stronger over the next week.

They probably played him more than they were hoping to.   Tough to be out that long and then get thrown back out there.   When Maxi doesn't feel comfortable, he is typically really resistant to take shots.   He was in a good groove when he got hurt.

The Mavs just needed him to play tonight.  They went away from the Dwight experiment fast and probably also played Gafford a few too many minutes.   A healthy Lively would have really helped.   Lively just closes so much up in the lane.

[Chicagojk]

Gafford has some odd quotes when there is some adversity. He had made some odd comments in the past:

I asked Daniel Gafford about the team’s lack of energy:

“Might have been 50-50, I really can’t talk for everybody else. I know for a fact that I didn’t come out ready to play at all, my energy was low…”

Gafford says he could tell the difference with the energy tonight compared to the first three games.


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Just saw Kyrie's quote before the game saying this was just a game for them and the super bowl for Minny. A odd misstep by Kyrie this year. Not a great comment.

[rocky164]

Luka has taken ONE shot resulting in two FTs between the eight minute mark of the 3rd and the five minute mark of the 4th. That is 15 minutes with one attempt in the 2nd half of a play-off game. You have to be shitting me. Was he trying to pull a "that´s what happens when I don´t shoot Kobe"-game? Well it worked.

Is it possible he was stat hunting looking for a triple double?  I really don’t believe that’s true but it is a possibility.

[rocky164]

Dallas shot 42% from the field while Minnesota shot 52.7%. Towns was 9-13 and 4-5 on threes. Sometimes a team just makes shots. The Clippers did that to us twice. Not having Lively was a major factor in the T-pups high shooting percentage getting into the lane much easier tonight than previous games. If Lively is back in game 5, we should be ok. Mavs in 5