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

[KillerLeft]

Ant is great and can absolutely explode for some huge games but he has been wildly inconsistent this post season despite what how the national media paints the picture.  If he is given the same treatment that we gave Shai (forcing tough mid range jumpers) then I think he have a worse showing that what Shai gave us.  Not to say that he won't find a way to take games over throughout the series, he just isn't nearly as consistent or as good in the mid range as what we just saw and also has worse shooting (on paper at least) than Shai had at his disposal for drive and kick situations.  Game 2 is going to be very interesting but winning a shooting variance game like we did last night has to have the Wolves kicking themselves today and looking for answers.

This is EXCELLENT analysis, and I agree - if Edwards is boxed into the areas SGA was in the previous series, he'll perform much, much worse than SGA did. 

But part of that is that SGA likes those areas. Those are the areas he wants to play from, and he didn't have the physicality to get deeper, anyway. Edwards does NOT want to play from those areas, and he DOES have the physicality to do something about it. 

I am reminded of a scene from the movie Seabiscuit (not a great film, but I remember weird stuff, just the way I am). They were preparing for the big show down with War Admiral, and the trainer is trying to convince the team that Sea Biscuit might be better off trying to race from in front for the duration, rather than the come-from-behind strategy that had worked up to that point. He said something about War Admiral like "once we let that big monster loose, we'll never catch him." I think there might some shock and awe coming in the near future if/when Edwards gets his entire game going. It's impressive. 

But yes, I agree with you. If the Mavs can keep him contained, he isn't experienced enough to hurt them the way SGA did. That's such a big ask though, over a 7-game series. 

What a great series to watch!