05-10-2024, 12:01 PM
(05-10-2024, 11:23 AM)DallasMaverick Wrote: It was a satisfying win, but it still bugs me that it required an abnormally good shooting night. I'd love to see Dallas figure out some defensive handcuffs. Like, maybe hold OKC to 40% shooting?
That's the thing...
"Abnormally good shooting night" absolutely applies in a "relative to how Dallas has shot so far in these playoffs" sense, BUT, if you ignore TWO players (everyone but Luka, Kyrie and whichever 5 is in the game) so much against ANY OTHER TEAM in the playoffs, they'll shoot you out of the game in about one quarter.
So, the Mavs really need to change their mindset, imo. This abnormally good shooting night needs to be the norm, moving forward, at least until the defense is forced to somewhat respect shooters and open up some space for Luka/Kyrie to do their thing. I don't think there IS a defensive gear that can keep OKC to double digits, scoring wise. They're just too good, offensively. Chet will probably have a rough shooting night from deep (he certainly had several in Round 1) and MAYBE SGA will, too, but advancing past this round is going to require the Mavs to shoot confidently when the ball finds open players, imho. No way around it.
One of the many reasons it sucks that Kleber is out.
On the plus side, I think we all know that Hardaway isn't going to hit threes in one game and then go back to his slump. I'd guess we have at least 2-3 more of this heater, and one of them might even be better than 6-10. I hope so, anyway. Green's rhythm has been trending back to normal over the past couple of games, finally.
It's really about whether or not Washington and DJJ can sink enough to keep the defense honest.
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