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

[DanSchwartzgan]

I feel like I am in a tricky spot tonight.  Sort of thinking about the finals but knowing we still have business to take care of.  This should be another battle. 

If Maxi is a go, I wonder if we should pair his minutes up with Powell?  Give them 15 or so minutes.  They have years of experience playing together and playing with Luka.  May be a way to steal some minutes and then let PJ and Gafford play the majority together.

I thought about the same thing.  Maybe you get a few minutes each half doing this.  You probably need 18 minutes of non-Gafford time and maybe 8 minutes of non-PJ time (which is what Maxi is doing if he's in there with Powell).  That 26 minutes might be too much to ask of Maxi.  So, maybe Maxi gets 18 (8 with Powell and 10 at center) and Powell gets 8 (all with Maxi).

The negative of playing Powell and Maxi together is you have two guys playing who haven't played any meaningful minutes in quite a while.  Another option is bumping Green's minutes some more and moving DJJ up to the four in the non-PJ minutes.  That would eliminate the need for Powell and Maxi could get all of  his time at the five.  

All you are really trying to do is survive these minutes.  It is similar to using Green to survive the minutes one of PJ and DJJ are out and using (THJ/Exum/Hardy) to survive the non-Luka and non-Kyrie minutes.  Green is holding his own in this series but we haven't found an answer between THJ, Exum and Hardy for the non-Star minutes.  In what has been a close series, anything that isn't Lively is a problem plus you start to see the cumulative effect of too many dings to the lineup to be able to survive when any of the starters sit.  It puts a ton of pressure on the starters to be really good and avoid foul issues.