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

[windjc]

I think Dallas would beat the Celtics pretty easily. They are giving up 200 points a game to the starless Pacers and even with Zingas, they have no rim protection. Unless Zingas has learned to rebound with maximum effort, then our two headed towers are going to be dunking and rebounding all series long.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I think Dallas would beat the Celtics pretty easily. They are giving up 200 points a game to the starless Pacers and even with Zingas, they have no rim protection. Unless Zingas has learned to rebound with maximum effort, then our two headed towers are going to be dunking and rebounding all series long.

You have a lot to learn son. Nothing is easy. And if I remember correctly, Boston handled Dallas pretty good in two blowout wins during the season. I don't remember if one or both of those games was after the TDL, as they're team is obviously better. Still, I won't make silly predictions, when this series isn't over.

[daGuru1123]

Mavs went from one of the oldest teams to the youngest. Now they are going from a very small team to a very big team, so it will be a whole new experience. Keys to victory will be the rebounding battle and how well role players will be executing opportunities stars will create. DJJ and PJ were awesome against OKC, McDaniels was probably the key against Denver. Luka and Kyrie will be hunting missmatches against Gobert, Towns and Conley, but we can expect Minny will use similar tactics as Clippers and OKC by clogging the paint with their bigs and daring DJJ and PJ to beat them.

I will take same principle as in first two series. Win one on the road and then go from there. Mavs in 6!

yes, .. very much thanks to player director Nico Harris  . in both drafting center Derrick Lively ..and the brilliant trade for PJ Washington and vet center Daniel Gafford .. those moves are leading the difference this year alone 
in our NBA title push . 

Teams having issues and difficulties with the lob dunks to our center ..and those centers are ultimate shot blocking rim protectors and rebounders ..

[daGuru1123]

I think Dallas would beat the Celtics pretty easily. They are giving up 200 points a game to the starless Pacers and even with Zingas, they have no rim protection. Unless Zingas has learned to rebound with maximum effort, then our two headed towers are going to be dunking and rebounding all series long.

Ditto here 

the Celtics are having it easy becuz neither the Cavs, nor Pacers offer much resistance. they won't be able to handle combo of Luka and Kyrie ..and despite Robert WIiliams and Unicorn ( if he is ever healthy)  they won't be able to handle the lob dunks to Lively and Gafford. ...

 if DPOY Gobert is having issues, what chance does the Celtics interior have ?  

The Celtics also have not had to deal with a team as defensively stout as the Mavs who have held the Ant Man in check ... and their shooting can be sporadic. 

* Much simply depends upon Luka's health and injuries ...and if Kyrie can step up his game - although i truly wish we had a much better bench than we hac with the likes of Hardaway & Xam ..who are proving so useless. 

thank goodness for hardy's surprising emergence

[SleepingHero]

Game 3 is going to be tough. Probably the toughest one of the series. A win means the Mavs are on the precipice of making the Finals and are going to enact Kyrie's Rule, where in any closeout game, a team with Kyrie on it automatically wins. Hopefully they get to that point.

So far Minny has been playing the Mavs off the 3pt line first, selling out for any corner 3 (its not a surprise almost every 3 taken by DJJ and PJ are above the break), and making Luka/Kyrie beat them. That came to a head last night with 12 dunks in the paint and just general dominance by Gafford and Lively who combined for 30 points and 14 rebounds. I think the major adjustment the Wolves are going to make is completely switch up and try and take away the lob by any means. Forcing DJJ and PJ to beat them. Given that, I hope the Mavs are ready to hit their 3s tomorrow cause if they do they can break this series open.

Luka faked out their bigs so many times by just looking to the corner and getting a dunk. Luka maybe should actually hit the corner a couple of times to get the Wolves guessing.

Absolutely have to come out ready and strong. Hopefully the crowd at the AAC is rowdy, proud, and loud.

[SleepingHero]

I would love for you to be right. I think it was ‘03 against Portland that the Mavs were up 3-0 and I thought it was over. Mavs eventually won in 7. I just hate all the talk is all. I don’t remember the exact number but something like Mavs have led 12 of the 96 minutes. Heroics in the clutch is the difference and the Mavs have certainly earned the 2 wins but I think it’s far from over is all.

My only confidence is that after game 1, Kyrie in his TNT interview was asked "What does winning game 1 mean to you and for the series?" And he said; "In 30 minutes, this will mean nothing."

I hope even after a crazy Luka game winner and an 18 point comeback they keep that same energy. Kidd said they did do something this time in the locker room and that was winning 2 on the road. And he's right. Winning both on the road is huge.

But so is closing out the series. I'm with you. I've said it before but I'll say it again, this Minny team scares the shit out of me. So much so that I'd rather have faced Denver than Minny. I don't take them lightly. No one else should either and any Celtics matchup talk should cease until the Mavs are through. 

Game 3 is going to be a huge mental battle. Hopefully the Mavs are prepared for it.

[SleepingHero]

You have a lot to learn son. Nothing is easy. And if I remember correctly, Boston handled Dallas pretty good in two blowout wins during the season. I don't remember if one or both of those games was after the TDL, as they're team is obviously better. Still, I won't make silly predictions, when this series isn't over.

They did hand this current version of the Mavs a loss post TDL. But it was very soon after the trades in the midst of that awful losing streak. 

Mavs actually kept it close until 5 mins left in the 3rd when they just went ice cold and Boston couldn't miss. 

I remember that game so well because I viewed it as a litmus test to see how close the Mavs were to winning a ring, and I was surprised at how competitive the game was until it wasn't. 

So yeah. Boston is scary as hell.

[daGuru1123]

Game 3 will be a strange game. I have no idea what to predict.

The Wolves are probably happy they're getting out of Minnesota - where bad press fills every media outlet
But the Mavs will also love being back with all the fan and media appreciation.

It's a little hard to imagine the Mavs being fully prepared for Sunday after such a big win on Friday. And it's hard to know if the Wolves will play loose with nothing to lose or show a sense of defeat. The Mavs still haven't shot well so they might light it up. But anything could happen, and Minnie is certainly capable of its own 3-point barrage.

After watching these two games though, it seems clear that Minnie can't beat us in a half-court game. We have literally owned everything in the paint. They are going to need a lot of transition baskets and a team effort on three-point shooting.

yeh, while it's very great to be in position of 2-0 lead and taking home advantage away from the Minny Wolves. i am a bit worried about a let up and cruise control and stalled offense and turnover lapses , such as we had games ala Clippers and OKC where we should have easily closed matters at home 

Injuries, turnovers and stalled offense and putting it in cruise control over-confident is what will still have me on pins and needles. 
In addition i'm hearing Wolves are a better team On The Road ,.than what they are at Home.

[Branduil]

They did hand this current version of the Mavs a loss post TDL. But it was very soon after the trades in the midst of that awful losing streak. 

Mavs actually kept it close until 5 mins left in the 3rd when they just went ice cold and Boston couldn't miss. 

I remember that game so well because I viewed it as a litmus test to see how close the Mavs were to winning a ring, and I was surprised at how competitive the game was until it wasn't. 

So yeah. Boston is scary as hell.

The Mavs were still starting Green and Lively at that point. DJJ only played 7 minutes, and Gafford only played 5(!). An informative game, but it doesn't really reflect the current Mavs lineup.

[RGP1981]

Like what? The quote that was in your post seemed good to me.

Like this portion of the quote below, I felt it was unneeded.

"I don’t take it for granted because I played with one of the greatest of all time, arguably the greatest of all time… I want to be supportive and continue to be an all-time great next to him, continue to show him the ropes, and let him continue to fly."

What's the need to talk about Lebron here? Or even to refer to himself an all-time great? Sounds more like grandstanding, when the focus of this particular answer or to this particular question should have fully been on Luka and what a wonderful player and team-mate he is.

It reminds of that time when Shaq was asked something about Penny after winning 2 or 3 rings with Kobe. And Shaq stupidly said that Penny was the greatest player he had been on a team with, instead of giving Kobe his proper flowers. That was silly, especially because it was Kobe who finally helped Shaq win his first ring. That answer upset Kobe, who then stopped being a team player and started playing more selfishly to improve his own legacy. Now Luka is not going to do that, but I just feel that Kyrie bringing up Lebron here is unneeded.

[Knutsen]

I think Dallas would beat the Celtics pretty easily. They are giving up 200 points a game to the starless Pacers and even with Zingas, they have no rim protection. Unless Zingas has learned to rebound with maximum effort, then our two headed towers are going to be dunking and rebounding all series long.

I‘m not sure, because there are clear advantages on both sides and it‘s not easy to estimate which ones will outweigh the others in a 7 game series. 

Finals experience is much higher on Boston, most of their key guys have been there and know how bright the lights are. We only have Kyrie in that regard.

Boston has probably the best perimeter defense one through four that can switch everything and has very good to great defenders at each position. Is that enough to stop or limit Luka? Probably not - but it could be to really limit Kyrie and shut off all our secondary scorers. 

On interior defense we are much better and much more athletic, even if Porzingis comes back completely healthy. That will make points in the paint rough for Boston, but since they are playing five out most of the times and able to shoot a very high three point percentage maybe that doesn’t bother them too much.

Which leads me to the last point, they are dangerous from one to five offensively, especially if Porzingis plays, especially from the perimeter so they can stretch you out like no other team can. So there‘s no real place to hide Luka, who could very well have to deliver most of our offense by beating his guy off the dribble or in the post. We‘d probably have him guarding Holiday, but they will try to force him to switch time after time. I‘m not saying he won‘t be able to hold his own after the switch, he has shown that in these playoffs, but it will certainly extract a lot of energy from him he‘d need to be effective on offense for 48 minutes.

But let‘s not get ahead of ourselves, the Timberwolves are going to throw the kitchen sink at us in game three and then some, they were able to win three games in Denver, which is tougher than winning two at Dallas, so let’s focus on the task at hand to not anger the basketball gods (and Killers baseball gods as well).

[mvossman]

I think Dallas would beat the Celtics pretty easily. They are giving up 200 points a game to the starless Pacers and even with Zingas, they have no rim protection. Unless Zingas has learned to rebound with maximum effort, then our two headed towers are going to be dunking and rebounding all series long.

Gafford has been great this series, but I think he is going to struggle against Boston as he did against OKC. If we end up playing Boston, it would be really helpful to have Maxi back.

[Winter]

I think we play Minnesota tonight. That's still going on isn't it?

[The Jom]

Celtics have 2 bigs. Of those, 1 is made of glass and currently out with an injury. The other is 37 years old (and only 6-9 anyway). Our bigs sprint down the court on every single offensive possession, while our guards look to hit them from 3/4 court distance. So if they station their guys in the corner on offense, they’d better be ready to sprint full court about, what, 60+ possessions per game? And do so at equal or better speed than our guys. Which I’m not sure they could ever do, even young and healthy.

When I was 16, in small-town western Kansas, during the off season we’d play ball in the HS gym on Saturday mornings. The coaches would play against us. The principal, the superintendent, a couple teachers, and a couple of guys from the community. Grown ass men. Some of them were better than us. They were definitely bigger. I remember my older brother huddling us up and telling us we were gonna run every single time we touched the ball. No matter what. Turnover. Missed shots. Doesn’t matter. We were gonna run their old asses right off the court. So we did. After about 10 minutes, we were the only ones running. Layup after layup. Till they quit. We played half court after that.

Will the Celtics have a counter move? Probably. They’re watching the same thing we are. And they’ll have a week off to come up with a game plan. But Minnesota is the deepest big team of all, and we’re running them right off the court. (See Towns, Karl-Anthony.) So how is Boston gonna protect their 2 compromised bigs?

[Mavs2021]

Celtics have 2 bigs. Of those, 1 is made of glass and currently out with an injury. The other is 37 years old (and only 6-9 anyway). Our bigs sprint down the court on every single offensive possession, while our guards look to hit them from 3/4 court distance. So if they station their guys in the corner on offense, they’d better be ready to sprint full court about, what, 60+ possessions per game? And do so at equal or better speed than our guys. Which I’m not sure they could ever do, even young and healthy.

When I was 16, in small-town western Kansas, during the off season we’d play ball in the HS gym on Saturday mornings. The coaches would play against us. The principal, the superintendent, a couple teachers, and a couple of guys from the community. Grown ass men. Some of them were better than us. They were definitely bigger. I remember my older brother huddling us up and telling us we were gonna run every single time we touched the ball. No matter what. Turnover. Missed shots. Doesn’t matter. We were gonna run their old asses right off the court. So we did. After about 10 minutes, we were the only ones running. Layup after layup. Till they quit. We played half court after that.

Will the Celtics have a counter move? Probably. They’re watching the same thing we are. And they’ll have a week off to come up with a game plan. But Minnesota is the deepest big team of all, and we’re running them right off the court. (See Towns, Karl-Anthony.) So how is Boston gonna protect their 2 compromised bigs?

1. Let´s finish the Wolves first. They tend to play much better on the road.

2. You all put way too much into how the Celtics have looked in these play-offs.

They were the best (?) team of all-time based on regular season pt. differential. They played in the weaker conference to begin with, and in each series the other team literally was missing their best player for at least half the series, plus more injuries to other starters. This would be like us in the West play-offs and playing the Clippers without Kawhi, the Thunder without SGA, the Wolves without Edwards after they beat the Nuggets without Jokic. This East is an epic shitshow. It´s like a G-League All-Star festival vs. the Celtics. This means absolutely nothing to me, except that the Celtics will be 100% healthy and rested.

The lowest seeded team we have played in the better conference was 4th. The highest seeded team they have played was the 4th seed, who also missed their starting C for the whole series and their best player for 40% of the series. Luka can barely focus, when he´s up a single game in a series against serious opposition, so how must the Celtics feel.

[WildArkieBoy]

Celtics have 2 bigs. Of those, 1 is made of glass and currently out with an injury. The other is 37 years old (and only 6-9 anyway). Our bigs sprint down the court on every single offensive possession, while our guards look to hit them from 3/4 court distance. So if they station their guys in the corner on offense, they’d better be ready to sprint full court about, what, 60+ possessions per game? And do so at equal or better speed than our guys. Which I’m not sure they could ever do, even young and healthy.

When I was 16, in small-town western Kansas, during the off season we’d play ball in the HS gym on Saturday mornings. The coaches would play against us. The principal, the superintendent, a couple teachers, and a couple of guys from the community. Grown ass men. Some of them were better than us. They were definitely bigger. I remember my older brother huddling us up and telling us we were gonna run every single time we touched the ball. No matter what. Turnover. Missed shots. Doesn’t matter. We were gonna run their old asses right off the court. So we did. After about 10 minutes, we were the only ones running. Layup after layup. Till they quit. We played half court after that.

Will the Celtics have a counter move? Probably. They’re watching the same thing we are. And they’ll have a week off to come up with a game plan. But Minnesota is the deepest big team of all, and we’re running them right off the court. (See Towns, Karl-Anthony.) So how is Boston gonna protect their 2 compromised bigs?

I want to believe!

[dirkfansince1998]

Celtics are a perimeter team. They aren't trying to dominate the paint. No team takes more threes. No matter who wins the WCF the finals will be a clash of systems. A throwback to the Warriors-Cavs matchups.

[The Jom]

Celtics are a perimeter team. They aren't trying to dominate the paint. No team takes more threes. No matter who wins the WCF the finals will be a clash of systems. A throwback to the Warriors-Cavs matchups.

Like this. Yes. And they are very, very good. But they are thin in the middle. Will be interesting to see if Tatum can play a few minutes at center because it sure looks to me like Horford and Zing are not gonna be enough. 

If the Wolves come back and take this series from the Mavs, plainly this thread will be the reason.

[SleepingHero]

To all those worried about the Mavs resting on the 2-0 lead, here is DLive

@sixfivelando
I asked Dereck Lively II how the team balances celebrating wins & executing the game plan while not getting complacent w/ a series lead.

“We can be happy that we’re up 2-0 but we can’t take our foot off the gas. We can’t just think the job’s finished bc the job is not finished.”

[HoosierDaddyKidd]

Celtics are a perimeter team. They aren't trying to dominate the paint. No team takes more threes. No matter who wins the WCF the finals will be a clash of systems. A throwback to the Warriors-Cavs matchups.

And when they're clicking, they probably have the best set of perimeter defenders in the league to throw at teams in Tatum, Brown, Holiday, and White. Mix in a healthy Porzingis and they are dangerous.  They have a decent bench with Pritchard, and Hauser that can make shots. And don't underestimate Horford as he's a wily vet, that has seen it all and is still potent from 3pt land.  Again, not to look ahead, but if they both advance, Dallas doesn't have the same advantages vs Boston that they do vs Minnesota. IMO.  They're Bigs might not be as consequential, as Boston always plays 5 out to draw them away from the paint. Lively is more switchable than Gafford and can guard in space.  Let's stick to the task at hand first, before advancing to the next series.