05-01-2022, 08:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-01-2022, 08:13 PM by Jason Terry.)
(05-01-2022, 06:45 PM)Arioch Wrote: Pretty sure his point in bolding THIS DAL team is that none of those games were against the post-trade / current line-up. The first two games were not only in November, but Luka didn't play. KP was featured heavily. Third game was in January and while Luka did play, KP and THJ were still getting heavy minutes.Which is why our best chance is to come out and steal game 1. Suns are already penciled in to the west finals, so we come out and do what was done to Boston. This is the path with the closeout game 6 at home. Win 2 of the 4 in between. It would take near perfect basketball from us.
Our plan should be to attack Paul and Booker relentlessly with Luka and Brunson. Tire them out on that end and use Green and Bullock to guard Paul full court every game. Dorian on Booker. Green being our “Alvarado” and providing 20 min of game changing defense on Paul.
Powell has an important role in this one. The PnR will be heavy on both sides. Without Gobert he must be able to get to the rim on Ayton for us to have a chance. Especially early in the games.
Maxi is a key to the series. If Maxi can hold up in the 2nd halves and hit his shots, then it forces Ayton to the perimeter more and keeps the lane open for us to score
Dinwiddie is another X-factor. They could put Bridges on Brunson and trap Luka. Dinwiddie has the best opportunity to make them pay with his minutes. Possibly even more of the 3 guard lineup if the offense gets stale
Brunson/Bridges, Luka/Ayton, Igor, Kidd…….lots of interesting connections to Phoenix. This will be a great test for us. Really exciting to see what this group can do vs a complete team