MAVS NEWS:

[audiosway]

No offense, but this is reaching significant levels of homerism.  We won a hard fought playoff series against that team with Luka, and with PJ playing out of his mind.  They got significantly better and we made massive changes with no concrete evidence that we are any better (probably worse, but we can agree to disagree on that).  Winning a few meaningless (to them) regular season games with a skeleton crew doesn't really mean anything.  This team will have so little time to play together, I would greatly prefer if their first playoff experience is not against the best team in West by a significant margin.

None taken. Dallas' defense won that series last year. Defensively Dallas is better now. I'll totally agree that AD and to that extent Lively are both injury prone. That's why I said IF Dallas is healthy. I don't think OKC has improved much outside of the young guys just having a little more experience. Sure they brought in Hartenstein and Caruso that will help out on the bench. But, they are good role players. That's it.

It comes down to matchups and schemes in the playoffs. Dallas' scheme is tough for OKC. OKC relies heavily on touching the paint to get the outside to open up. That's why they struggled against Dallas after the trade for PJ and Gaff. With PJ, Gaff, Lively, (and now AD) the paint touches are going to be hard to come by. They will struggle to shoot from outside as a result. That's the reason the games in that series as a whole were lower scoring games. OKC had 92 in one game. You will never get hot from outside if you don't see the ball go in with some easy shots.

That's the same reason why Denver struggled against Minnesota last year. If you don't touch the paint you won't hit from outside. Rim protection is the key to winning. Things tighten up in the playoffs and the only teams remaining can keep you out of the paint. If not they don't last long.

You will hear that from nearly every past player. It's just the nature of how we think. You stop the paint touches and teams will struggle. That's why you'll see Curry go in for a couple of easy layups before he starts jacking 3s. If he misses some 3s he runs in for a transition layup to get going.

So, I don't think I'm being a homer looking at it that way. If the Mavs aren't full strength they are done. If full strength they are a contender.

If you are worried about how Lively and AD will look just go back to the bubble run. Kidd was coaching the Lakers then as an assistant. AD was at the 4 with a 5 not near as good as Lively. For the most part they kept Miami in check. Lively and Gaff are considerably better than the 5 they had at the time. (Javale McGee and a 34 year old Dwight Howard)

AD and LeBron were heavily relied on for scoring then they had Kuzma off the bench. Dallas has Kyrie and AD who can pretty much get shots at will. Klay is one of the best 3 point shooters of all time, PJ has proven himself to be a good shooter this year. Max is a good shooter and defender. Naji can shoot, pass and rebound. Dallas is much better than last year. As long as AD is healthy.

It all depends on the team being healthy. If they aren't healthy they will be scrappy but that's about it.