2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #4 Los Angeles Clippers vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[Clemenza]

Crazy thing is The Clippers still haven't see the Real Luka or Kyrie yet and that's really scary.

And the Mavs haven't seen the real Kawhi yet. Also 40 plus minutes for Luka and Kyrie and them having to do 75% of the scoring might take its toll as the series goes on.

I'm not scared of Kawhi. It wont take a toll there's days off between games and 2 days off for travel. Luka and Kyrie will be fine. Our roll players haven't really got going yet.

You're on the team?

[MrGoat]

Yea, sounds about right, can't score if you don't take shots, and I'm not particularly sure the Mavs have anyone in mind they want to push more shots to.

Crazy to think Tim Hardaway jr. used to be Mavs 2nd or 3rd scorer in previous LAC series. And that was still with KP on the team. We hoped THJ could provide serious boost from the bench but his downfall has been simply incredible.

Before the trade he was a serious 6th man candidate. Then his dad made some public comments and he suddenly turned into Reggie Bullock.

[og15]

Again I'm not scare of Kawhi healthy or not it doesn't scare me. Luka is the best player in this series. Plain and simple. This Mavs team isnt the same as the 2 teams yall played before.

You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series. Whether the Mavs or Clippers win this series it's going 6 or 7 games and will be hard fought.

I don't understand why anyone should be scared of anyone? And when someone plays Jokic, they better forfeit the series? Luka is clearly better player than Kawhi at the moment, that doesn't mean Clippers can't win or should be scared of Luka, they just need to limit him.

Nobody knows how long will the series last, but we know that the team, who/if wins next 2 will be in pretty good position. Mavs are playing next 2 at home so should feel optimistic.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

[ChipotleWest]

Gafford didn't practice and is questionable for Game 3. Ugh.

[MFT5]

You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series. Whether the Mavs or Clippers win this series it's going 6 or 7 games and will be hard fought.

I don't understand why anyone should be scared of anyone? And when someone plays Jokic, they better forfeit the series? Luka is clearly better player than Kawhi at the moment, that doesn't mean Clippers can't win or should be scared of Luka, they just need to limit him.

Nobody knows how long will the series last, but we know that the team, who/if wins next 2 will be in pretty good position. Mavs are playing next 2 at home so should feel optimistic.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

You are lame as hell, yu answered your own question, the poster clearly doesn’t mean players are frightened by another player… they’re simply stating that there’s no fear en the exact context that yu are referring to. jesus y’all are weird, who tf thinks a nba player is literally scared of another nba player

[Bob8]

You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series. Whether the Mavs or Clippers win this series it's going 6 or 7 games and will be hard fought.

I don't understand why anyone should be scared of anyone? And when someone plays Jokic, they better forfeit the series? Luka is clearly better player than Kawhi at the moment, that doesn't mean Clippers can't win or should be scared of Luka, they just need to limit him.

Nobody knows how long will the series last, but we know that the team, who/if wins next 2 will be in pretty good position. Mavs are playing next 2 at home so should feel optimistic.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

I'm not talking about players being scared, I'm talking about sudden change of narrative. Before the series the narrative was that Clippers are better team and Mavs will hugely depend on Luka and Kyrie. Now suddenly, and after Kawhi looked far from optimal condition, he's the player Mavs should be scared of. Really? Clippers might beat Mavs, because they have more talented players, I doubt very much they will beat Mavs, because Kawhi beats them alone. I would say Luka or Kyrie are far better candidates for that, if not for the other reason, because Mavs game is far more, I would say totally, dependent on them.

The only important development in this series is Mavs winning 1 game in LA. Clippers fans are obviously downplaying that huge win.

[nickhx2]

guys, did you know that the less scared you are as a fan that the better your team will do in real nba games? and that your team will do even better the more you tell random internet people all about how not scared you are?

[og15]

I don't understand why anyone should be scared of anyone? And when someone plays Jokic, they better forfeit the series? Luka is clearly better player than Kawhi at the moment, that doesn't mean Clippers can't win or should be scared of Luka, they just need to limit him.

Nobody knows how long will the series last, but we know that the team, who/if wins next 2 will be in pretty good position. Mavs are playing next 2 at home so should feel optimistic.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

You are lame as hell, yu answered your own question, the poster clearly doesn’t mean players are frightened by another player… they’re simply stating that there’s no fear en the exact context that yu are referring to. jesus y’all are weird, who tf thinks a nba player is literally scared of another nba player

I'm not even sure what you're going on about here, sorry.

I don't understand why anyone should be scared of anyone? And when someone plays Jokic, they better forfeit the series? Luka is clearly better player than Kawhi at the moment, that doesn't mean Clippers can't win or should be scared of Luka, they just need to limit him.

Nobody knows how long will the series last, but we know that the team, who/if wins next 2 will be in pretty good position. Mavs are playing next 2 at home so should feel optimistic.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

I'm not talking about players being scared, I'm talking about sudden change of narrative. Before the series the narrative was that Clippers are better team and Mavs will hugely depend on Luka and Kyrie. Now suddenly, and after Kawhi looked far from optimal condition, he's the player Mavs should be scared of. Really? Clippers might beat Mavs, because they have more talented players, I doubt very much they will beat Mavs, because Kawhi beats them alone. I would say Luka or Kyrie are far better candidates for that, if not for the other reason, because Mavs game is far more, I would say totally, dependent on them.

The only important development in this series is Mavs winning 1 game in LA. Clippers fans are obviously downplaying that huge win.

I'm not really understanding what you're arguing here. Where are you getting things like Kawhi beating them alone from? The poll results in here for example are impacted by how much people trusted Kawhi's health. Most people don't believe a Clippers team without Kawhi or with a very limited Kawhi is better than the Mavs.

The initial comment this is based on was:

"Crazy thing is The Clippers still haven't see the Real Luka or Kyrie yet and that's really scary."

The response is that sure, but the Mavs even more so haven't seen anything close to the real Kawhi who is the Clippers best and most impactful player. Luka has still averaged 33/10/8 on 56% TS and Kyrie 27 ppg on 65% TS.

Both teams have upside left and the Clippers have even more upside possible from Kawhi than the Mavs do with Luka and Kyrie since those two haven't been injured.

Kawhi doesn't need to beat the Clippers "alone", I'm not sure if you're dragging arguments from YouTube comments or Reddit or something into this discussion, but I don't know what you're arguing because no one in this thread is saying the things you are debating against.

[Bob8]

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

You are lame as hell, yu answered your own question, the poster clearly doesn’t mean players are frightened by another player… they’re simply stating that there’s no fear en the exact context that yu are referring to. jesus y’all are weird, who tf thinks a nba player is literally scared of another nba player

I'm not even sure what you're going on about here, sorry.

What's the context here? Lol. No one said the players should be scared of any other player.

No one even said anyone in general should be "scared". Clemenza simply rightly reported that any lack of production argument that can be made about the Mavs stars is negated by the fact that this series has yet to see anything even close to regular season or past playoffs level Kawhi.

Swish then said they are not scared, scared in this context would have to imply that they are not concerned about Kawhi's production level being a relevant factor to limiting the Mavs ability to win.

There's nothing in this discussion as far as I know about any players being scared of other players or anything like that.

I'm not talking about players being scared, I'm talking about sudden change of narrative. Before the series the narrative was that Clippers are better team and Mavs will hugely depend on Luka and Kyrie. Now suddenly, and after Kawhi looked far from optimal condition, he's the player Mavs should be scared of. Really? Clippers might beat Mavs, because they have more talented players, I doubt very much they will beat Mavs, because Kawhi beats them alone. I would say Luka or Kyrie are far better candidates for that, if not for the other reason, because Mavs game is far more, I would say totally, dependent on them.

The only important development in this series is Mavs winning 1 game in LA. Clippers fans are obviously downplaying that huge win.

I'm not really understanding what you're arguing here. Where are you getting things like Kawhi beating them alone from? The poll results in here for example are impacted by how much people trusted Kawhi's health. Most people don't believe a Clippers team without Kawhi or with a very limited Kawhi is better than the Mavs.

The initial comment this is based on was:

"Crazy thing is The Clippers still haven't see the Real Luka or Kyrie yet and that's really scary."

The response is that sure, but the Mavs even more so haven't seen anything close to the real Kawhi who is the Clippers best and most impactful player. Luka has still averaged 33/10/8 on 56% TS and Kyrie 27 ppg on 65% TS.

Both teams have upside left and the Clippers have even more upside possible from Kawhi than the Mavs do with Luka and Kyrie since those two haven't been injured.

Kawhi doesn't need to beat the Clippers "alone", I'm not sure if you're dragging arguments from YouTube comments or Reddit or something into this discussion, but I don't know what you're arguing because no one in this thread is saying the things you are debating against.

Maybe you should check, who I was replying to. To help you, it was, "You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series."

My position is, I don't care what Kawhi is theoretically capable of, Mavs have 1:1 and have 2 home games next. Pretty solid position with Kawhi playing or not. And imho Kawhi is not looking scary at all. (Yes I know, he's just rusty.) I would imagine that current result impacts poll too, don't you think?

Luka was overall solid, but not great, do you understand what happens with Clippers' defensive game plan, if he starts hitting those step backs with better %?

Kyrie's far best Q was Q3 in game 1, when game was already decided. I expect from him far bigger impact on winning in next games.

Kawhi could and probably will play better too, but nobody should be scared of that. Mavs can win against any kind of Kawhi, because they have much better roster than 3 years ago, when it was freeway in the paint and around the paint with disgruntled KP and unmoving Boban. Mavs D is light years better then 3 years ago, so even, if we miraculously see 3 years younger and totally fit Kawhi, he won't be able to do what he did back then.

Btw. I'm not arguing with you, you're for some unknown reason arguing with me, not liking what I'm debating. Maybe I should stop debating and agree with you?

[Deshaun Taden]

For the Clippers to win in 6 you've got Clippers winning 2 games in Dallas since 3 out of the next 4 are in Dallas and Clippers need 3 games to win the series. The Mavs haven't even played at home yet, just tells me you don't have any respect for the Mavs. That's cool and all it's your opinion.

I think it's a lot more likely Clippers win 1 in Dallas than 2, but then they'd have to win it in 7.

Shrug, I got no dog in this hunt, I just call it as I see it.

To me it seems more likely the Clippers can go 3-2 against the Mavs than the Mavs can go 3-2 on LAC, I don't quite see why the same record either way makes it a matter of respect.

Just to make it perfectly clear. If the Clippers win in 6 it means they went 3-2 the final 5 games. If this series goes 7 games it means instead Dallas went 3-2 in those 5 games. You insisting Clippers cannot go 3-2 but Mavs can, by your own logic, indicates you do not respect LAC. That's cool and all it's your opinion. Nothing more than that for either of us.

[Bobbymcgee]

Clippers need to win one of the next two in Dallas to make it a best two out of three game series with homecourt advantage. Simple as that.

[Astaluego]

different contexts...but the last time we faced each other the home court factor was not decisive...we won the first 2 in LA and then lost the next 2 at home...I think that with what we have seen so far, making a prediction is simply guessing. too even...

[ChipotleWest]

Read on Twitter

[og15]

You are lame as hell, yu answered your own question, the poster clearly doesn’t mean players are frightened by another player… they’re simply stating that there’s no fear en the exact context that yu are referring to. jesus y’all are weird, who tf thinks a nba player is literally scared of another nba player

I'm not even sure what you're going on about here, sorry.

I'm not talking about players being scared, I'm talking about sudden change of narrative. Before the series the narrative was that Clippers are better team and Mavs will hugely depend on Luka and Kyrie. Now suddenly, and after Kawhi looked far from optimal condition, he's the player Mavs should be scared of. Really? Clippers might beat Mavs, because they have more talented players, I doubt very much they will beat Mavs, because Kawhi beats them alone. I would say Luka or Kyrie are far better candidates for that, if not for the other reason, because Mavs game is far more, I would say totally, dependent on them.

The only important development in this series is Mavs winning 1 game in LA. Clippers fans are obviously downplaying that huge win.

I'm not really understanding what you're arguing here. Where are you getting things like Kawhi beating them alone from? The poll results in here for example are impacted by how much people trusted Kawhi's health. Most people don't believe a Clippers team without Kawhi or with a very limited Kawhi is better than the Mavs.

The initial comment this is based on was:

"Crazy thing is The Clippers still haven't see the Real Luka or Kyrie yet and that's really scary."

The response is that sure, but the Mavs even more so haven't seen anything close to the real Kawhi who is the Clippers best and most impactful player. Luka has still averaged 33/10/8 on 56% TS and Kyrie 27 ppg on 65% TS.

Both teams have upside left and the Clippers have even more upside possible from Kawhi than the Mavs do with Luka and Kyrie since those two haven't been injured.

Kawhi doesn't need to beat the Clippers "alone", I'm not sure if you're dragging arguments from YouTube comments or Reddit or something into this discussion, but I don't know what you're arguing because no one in this thread is saying the things you are debating against.

Maybe you should check, who I was replying to. To help you, it was, "You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series."

My position is, I don't care what Kawhi is theoretically capable of, Mavs have 1:1 and have 2 home games next. Pretty solid position with Kawhi playing or not. And imho Kawhi is not looking scary at all. (Yes I know, he's just rusty.) I would imagine that current result impacts poll too, don't you think?

Luka was overall solid, but not great, do you understand what happens with Clippers' defensive game plan, if he starts hitting those step backs with better %?

Kyrie's far best Q was Q3 in game 1, when game was already decided. I expect from him far bigger impact on winning in next games.

Kawhi could and probably will play better too, but nobody should be scared of that. Mavs can win against any kind of Kawhi, because they have much better roster than 3 years ago, when it was freeway in the paint and around the paint with disgruntled KP and unmoving Boban. Mavs D is light years better then 3 years ago, so even, if we miraculously see 3 years younger and totally fit Kawhi, he won't be able to do what he did back then.

Btw. I'm not arguing with you, you're for some unknown reason arguing with me, not liking what I'm debating. Maybe I should stop debating and agree with you?

Bob, I am sorry. I was thrown off by the whole idea that players are scared of others.

Teams are always conscious of the performance of great players, so of course Dallas is not non-chalant about how the performance of Kawhi can impact the series and they shouldn't be. Similarly, Ty Lue is quite aware that there are greater levels of performance possible from Kyrie and Luka each game. Your goal is that you're not allowing great performances every game and by both.

Dallas accomplished what they needed to do, winning a road game, Clippers have to do the same now to keep the series more comfortable for them.

Both teams are different from when they met in the past, but what we know is that Kawhi if healthy is capable of performing against anyone. The difference he makes for the Clippers is consistency, Harden is not consistent, George is not top level consistent, Kawhi has a performance consistency that matches the top tier of players which is what makes his impact great.

Certainly if the Clippers can't get that, their chances of winning are far lower because Harden is much older and less reliable as a scoring force than when he was in his prime, and even then he could be prone to some disappearing acts. Paul George is a solid player, but he's simply not a super consistent star, which is part of why he's been in the next tier from the top stars.

Both teams will have to keep adjusting to whatever is happening, that's playoff basketball. You just have to hope you come out on top in more games than not, that's all a team can do in a close matchup.

[ChipotleWest]

Gafford is alive, but so is Zubac.

[NBA4Lyfe]

and people wonder why harden hasnt won a ring.. what a joke this league is

[azcatz11]

and people wonder why harden hasnt won a ring.. what a joke this league is

Mind if I ask who you are rooting for tonight?

[ChipotleWest]

and people wonder why harden hasnt won a ring.. what a joke this league is

Nobody wonders why he hasn't, we know why.

[The Rainmaker]

Love that New Balance commercial is using the Hollywood Swinging song.

[RB34]

Who would be awaiting the advancing team from this series?