GAME 1 2024 PLAYOFFS DIRKIE: LUKA!!!!

[Winter]

This is not the Mavs team people think it is. 

It's informative that DAL won this game by attacking MIN at their supposed strength, and beating them there. You are the dominant team in the middle, and we have to work around that? Umm no. The Mavs also won the rebounding battle by a sizable margin.

That mindset is as impressive as the result.

While most of the media watched Minnie take down Denver, about all we heard was about how good the Minnie defense was and how their size would be a problem for Dallas. None of that was actually true. Dallas looked like a better defensive team and better at controlling the rim.

The other thing that will play out I think, is that Dallas has much better floor generals. The decision-making was significantly better on the Dallas side. Both Luka and Kyrie see the chessboard better than anyone on Minnesota. I thought Conley would be more of a factor, but he's not managing the court the way Luka and Kyrie do.