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

[ryguy613]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

[Texas Chuck]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

I mean its all perspective. Dallas isn't likely to have another 8 point quarter and 30 point half and they've been the better team for 6 of 8 quarters now. Is that first half of game 1 the true reflection of the series? Maybe. But probably not, right? Dallas should get a bump from now having HCA.

I suspect we are looking at a 7 game tough fought series. No reason this one should be different from the first two. Neither side has any kind of clear edge overall. Not one I can see anyway.

[CobraCommander]

I did not enjoy watching the game. Don’t know what’s putting me off, but I thought both teams played pretty poor…

It’s the 90s ball- you have to play through contact. It made the fg% crater… I loved it -

It proved these guys can play physical. Which is something I wondered. They will stop crying about not getting calls when they realize that a love tap ain’t a foul.

Watching Kyrie and Luka have to figure it out against 4 HOF level scorers is amazing.

Fav series so far has been Denver lakers but then this one followed by Philly nyk

[ChipotleWest]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

Mavs had a bad first half in Game 1 that I still can't explain, but the other 3 halves Mavs have outplayed the Clippers. Now Mavs have homecourt advantage, Clippers are forced to win 1 in Dallas where usually roleplayers play better. Luka/Kyrie in two games have 119 points rest of Mavs 70 points. If the role players can score more at home I see the Mavs winning both games in Dallas.

[CobraCommander]

Why would Luka need to keep up with SGA? It's the other way around. SGA does not have 10% the resume that Luka does, despite being the same age.

Neither has done anything yet - actually -

Both were top 5 mvp last year with sga 4 and Luka 5

This year they will both be 2 and 3

All nba and the other accolades are interesting- but these guys are neck and neck to most people. Like how Giannis and Jokic were.

You can disagree but check the mvp voting last year and their records over the last 2 years - these guys are playing equivalent ball.

I anticipate sga to be better than Luka long term if Luka doesn’t up his defense and get in better shape…. But…. Luka is playing good defense and Luka looks like he is in decent shape…. So this is the best outcome for a non-Dallas non-okc nba fan. I get to watch these two young guns battle in the same conference- this is perfect.

Biggest problem I have about mj and Hakeem is they never met in playoffs -

I’m worried I’ll never see Giannis or Embiid face off with Jokic…

Fortunately lbj played every one

Well if Mavs beat Clippers and OKC beats Pelicans we get Mavs-OKC.

Which is best case scenario-

I would love for these players to prove it on the court.

Booker had beef with Luka.:. Luka settled it.

Let’s hope sga and Luka settle it on the court too. I don’t care who wins… I just want to see this play out - the nice guy quiet superstar with game vs the brash mean mugging superstar with game… the juxtaposition between these two is perfect

[CobraCommander]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

I mean its all perspective. Dallas isn't likely to have another 8 point quarter and 30 point half and they've been the better team for 6 of 8 quarters now. Is that first half of game 1 the true reflection of the series? Maybe. But probably not, right? Dallas should get a bump from now having HCA.

I suspect we are looking at a 7 game tough fought series. No reason this one should be different from the first two. Neither side has any kind of clear edge overall. Not one I can see anyway.

Agreed-

8 points in a quarter is definitely never happening again- but I love seeing a game that didn’t end 150 - 147

[ryguy613]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

Mavs had a bad first half in Game 1 that I still can't explain, but the other 3 halves Mavs have outplayed the Clippers.

A bit reductive dont you think? I mean, the clippers were literally leading game 2 in the 4th quarter. It was VERY close throughout the game, even when the Mavs were holding an edge for longer periods of time. Mavs needed some relatively tough shots to fall in order to win this one. When you have Luka and Kyrie, making tough shots comes with the territory, but i wouldnt consider it a formula for success in a playoff series against a talented team. The thing that worries me so far is I just havent seen the Mavs run much of an offense through 2 games in this series. Lots of iso... lots of pretty ugly 2 man game offense where Luka passes out of a double team to a rolling big who cant seem to finish at the rim for some reason. it just hasnt looked very impressive.

[ChipotleWest]

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

Mavs had a bad first half in Game 1 that I still can't explain, but the other 3 halves Mavs have outplayed the Clippers.

A bit reductive dont you think? I mean, the clippers were literally leading game 2 in the 4th quarter. It was VERY close throughout the game, even when the Mavs were holding an edge for longer periods of time. Mavs needed some relatively tough shots to fall in order to win this one. When you have Luka and Kyrie, making tough shots comes with the territory, but i wouldnt consider it a formula for success in a playoff series against a talented team. The thing that worries me so far is I just havent seen the Mavs run much of an offense through 2 games in this series. Lots of iso... lots of pretty ugly 2 man game offense where Luka passes out of a double team to a rolling big who cant seem to finish at the rim for some reason. it just hasnt looked very impressive.

First of all you're ignoring the part that this was in L.A. where the home team is supposed to clearly be better, but other than that one half the Clippers weren't. In the second half of Game 1 Dallas won by 14, in first half of Game 2 Dallas won by 4 and while Clippers outscored Dallas by 1 in the second half you said it they had the lead and Dallas took it back. You can't ask for much more when you're the road team when it's rare that you're going to beat the home team both games. I don't see what you're seeing that the Clippers are the better team at all. If they can go in to Dallas and win it's a different conversation. Mavs roleplayers missed quite a few easy shots at the rim that they probably won't miss in Dallas as well.

If you told me Game 2 would be an ugly defensive struggle where both teams shoot a low fg% I would have predicted the Clippers would have won, but they did not. I believe Dallas will play better at home, do you think Clippers will play better on the road than at home?

[Texas Chuck]

The thing that worries me so far is I just havent seen the Mavs run much of an offense through 2 games in this series. Lots of iso... lots of pretty ugly 2 man game offense where Luka passes out of a double team to a rolling big who cant seem to finish at the rim for some reason. it just hasnt looked very impressive.

You don't watch much Dallas RS basketball I guess. I mean this is how Dallas plays offense. It's just most teams don't have the bodies to switch everything and its much harder here for Luka to get a matchup to abuse. Give some credit to the Clippers defense here man. They are really good. And normally Gafford/Lively are elite finishers, particularly Gafford. I mean he led the league in FG% and challenged a Wilt record for consecutive makes. And Dallas with Gafford starting lost like one game.

It's not pretty offense. It's reliant on Luka being the best combination of scoring/passing in the league and Kyrie's absurd shot-making ability. I wouldn't recommend other teams try this. But its how Dallas plays. This isn't new to the playoffs. It's just the Clippers are defending really well and Dallas had a disastrous shooting half. Which is going to happen when you take a bunch of 3's. It's natural variance.

[Deshaun Taden]

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

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

Mavs had a bad first half in Game 1 that I still can't explain, but the other 3 halves Mavs have outplayed the Clippers. Now Mavs have homecourt advantage, Clippers are forced to win 1 in Dallas where usually roleplayers play better. Luka/Kyrie in two games have 119 points rest of Mavs 70 points. If the role players can score more at home I see the Mavs winning both games in Dallas.

I don't expect the Mavs to have another 1H, and especially 2Q as bad as G1 for sure. That was an anomaly, which happens sometimes, but is unlikely to repeat.

However the 2H of G1 means little to me. Clippers obviously coasted through. If they had needed to, they would have played that harder, but they didn't, and it wasn't even close.

G2 is far closer to a normal game. However Clippers also shot poorly. G1 they shot lights out. The norm is probably in between. Mavs can also be a bit better than they were in G2, but overall I'm not sure why RealGM is so high on the Mavs right now. This still looks like LAC in 6 to me, barring a Kawhi injury.

Mavs are way too reliant on LuKai, the rest of the team just goes into bad scoring droughts. They are not alone in that regard, to some extent every team goes through this and that's why playoff basketball has always hung on your defense and rebounding to see you through that. But the Mavs are especially bad on that and too reliant on their superstars. Whereas the Clippers just have so many more options to work with, and in a series more options typically end up being the difference.

[ChipotleWest]

Im rooting for the mavs to win this series, but so far i think the clippers have looked like the better team overall. The mavs needed to eek out an ugly win last night, whereas a Kawhi-less clippers team pretty much yawned their way to victory in game 1. id like to be wrong here, but i just dont see the mavs matching up well against this clippers team. maybe Luka and Kyrie will eventually find a groove... then again... maybe Kawhi finds HIS form. Or maybe he doesnt even play in game 3. who the hell knows.

Mavs had a bad first half in Game 1 that I still can't explain, but the other 3 halves Mavs have outplayed the Clippers. Now Mavs have homecourt advantage, Clippers are forced to win 1 in Dallas where usually roleplayers play better. Luka/Kyrie in two games have 119 points rest of Mavs 70 points. If the role players can score more at home I see the Mavs winning both games in Dallas.

I don't expect the Mavs to have another 1H, and especially 2Q as bad as G1 for sure. That was an anomaly, which happens sometimes, but is unlikely to repeat.

However the 2H of G1 means little to me. Clippers obviously coasted through. If they had needed to, they would have played that harder, but they didn't, and it wasn't even close.

G2 is far closer to a normal game. However Clippers also shot poorly. G1 they shot lights out. The norm is probably in between. Mavs can also be a bit better than they were in G2, but overall I'm not sure why RealGM is so high on the Mavs right now. This still looks like LAC in 6 to me, barring a Kawhi injury.

Mavs are way too reliant on LuKai, the rest of the team just goes into bad scoring droughts. They are not alone in that regard, to some extent every team goes through this and that's why playoff basketball has always hung on your defense and rebounding to see you through that. But the Mavs are especially bad on that and too reliant on their superstars. Whereas the Clippers just have so many more options to work with, and in a series more options typically end up being the difference.

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.

[PeteyPablo]

Clippers were among the best road teams this season at 26-15.

One guy in here was talking about season averages. How Zubac would not score 20 and 15 again. He had to leave early in the 1st quarter yesterday due to foul trouble and finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Mason Plumlee had a terrible game and maybe Ty Lue should have used Theis instead. Clippers still have Thiess, PJ Tucker and Kai Jones on the bench. Ty Lue will adjust for game 3 and Clippers will come out ready to play. This will be a great series going to 6 or 7 games.

Clippers role players played terrible and had anyone played to their season averages yesterday, Clippers win. Again , give Mavs credit for the hard fought win. They played hard for 48 minutes.

[ryguy613]

The thing that worries me so far is I just havent seen the Mavs run much of an offense through 2 games in this series. Lots of iso... lots of pretty ugly 2 man game offense where Luka passes out of a double team to a rolling big who cant seem to finish at the rim for some reason. it just hasnt looked very impressive.

You don't watch much Dallas RS basketball I guess. I mean this is how Dallas plays offense. It's just most teams don't have the bodies to switch everything and its much harder here for Luka to get a matchup to abuse. Give some credit to the Clippers defense here man. They are really good. And normally Gafford/Lively are elite finishers, particularly Gafford. I mean he led the league in FG% and challenged a Wilt record for consecutive makes. And Dallas with Gafford starting lost like one game.

It's not pretty offense. It's reliant on Luka being the best combination of scoring/passing in the league and Kyrie's absurd shot-making ability. I wouldn't recommend other teams try this. But its how Dallas plays. This isn't new to the playoffs. It's just the Clippers are defending really well and Dallas had a disastrous shooting half. Which is going to happen when you take a bunch of 3's. It's natural variance.

i do give a lot of credit to the clippers defense. thats why im concerned. it would be one thing to just have a couple of uncharacteristically bad offensive games where shots arent falling, but to me it just looks like the clippers defense is really bothering this team, which has resulted in a not great shot selection overall to this point. If Kawhi can continue to get healthier and shake the rust off, that might get even worse for you guys... though like i said earlier, who the hell knows where that guys health actually is. I personally like the Mavs to win game 3, with the help of some home cooking. Game 4 is going to be when we see how this series will shift, in my opinion. If Im right about game 3, youd have a desperate clippers team against a confident mavs team. Mavs take a commanding lead by winning both home games, then id happily admit i was wrong... Clips claw their way back into the series by winning game 4... not sure the mavs would have enough in the tank to take back control of the series. We'll see

[ChipotleWest]

Clippers were among the best road teams this season at 26-15.

These teams are as evenly matched as it can get

Clippers 25-16 home 26-15 road
Mavs 25-16 home 25-16 road

And Mavs did not have this team all year they improved at the trade deadline.

Clippers can take a game in Dallas, but there's nothing that says Dallas can't win yet again in L.A. either.

[Texas Chuck]

in a series more options typically end up being the difference.

I think you analysis is pretty good in your post, so let me start with that.

But I feel it important to point out that what wins most series is not having the most offensive depth, but rather having the best player. Clippers beat Dallas last time around because playoff killer Kawhi had arguably the best series of his career. As good as Luka was, Kawhi was better and his team won the series. But this is true throughout the playoffs every year going back nearly forever. The best player in a series has their team win an overwhelmingly large portion of the time.

With healthy Kawhi it feels like a real debate who has the best player. Luka had a better year, but Kawhi is a known playoff killer at both ends. But he's clearly not 100%.

I don't have a favorite here. Clippers in 6 as you suggest sounds reasonable. As would Mavs in 7. Neither happening would surprise me. But if we are going by history, you'd take the Mavs.

[Texas Chuck]

i do give a lot of credit to the clippers defense. thats why im concerned. it would be one thing to just have a couple of uncharacteristically bad offensive games where shots arent falling, but to me it just looks like the clippers defense is really bothering this team, which has resulted in a not great shot selection overall to this point. If Kawhi can continue to get healthier and shake the rust off, that might get even worse for you guys... though like i said earlier, who the hell knows where that guys health actually is. I personally like the Mavs to win game 3, with the help of some home cooking. Game 4 is going to be when we see how this series will shift, in my opinion. If Im right about game 3, youd have a desperate clippers team against a confident mavs team. Mavs take a commanding lead by winning both home games, then id happily admit i was wrong... Clips claw their way back into the series by winning game 4... not sure the mavs would have enough in the tank to take back control of the series. We'll see

Oh I'm concerned too. Clippers scare me to death.

Just you acted surprised by what Dallas was running offensively and its not surprising. It's how they play. Oh in the regular season they get more transition stuff which helps, but its a lot of Luka getting screens and rescreens until he gets a matchup to attack or invites the blitz hits a big at the FT line and Dallas plays 4 on 3. Or they just give the ball to Kyrie knowing he can create a shot any time he wants. But he creates mostly for him, whereas all 5 guys have to be accounted for when Luka has the ball.

The offense is 95% Luka PNR or Kyrie iso. Not sure what else you want them to go to. Nobody else on the team can create for themselves or others. Dante Exum seems unplayable this series. THJ, even more so. Luka and Ky are going to play huge minutes. No way around it.

[GeorgeSears]

If Mavs drafted Jaden McDaniels instead of Josh Green they would win the championship.

It literally simple decisions like this that are currently holding the Mavs back. Just having good quality roleplayers. Meanwhile everytime Norman Powell pulls up for 3 I think it’s going in.

If it makes you feel any better, the Nuggets missed out on him twice and drafted Zeke Nnaji and RJ Hampton instead.

2020 was an interesting draft in that there was a lot of value late in the first round: Bane, McDaniels, and Maxey

[ryguy613]

i do give a lot of credit to the clippers defense. thats why im concerned. it would be one thing to just have a couple of uncharacteristically bad offensive games where shots arent falling, but to me it just looks like the clippers defense is really bothering this team, which has resulted in a not great shot selection overall to this point. If Kawhi can continue to get healthier and shake the rust off, that might get even worse for you guys... though like i said earlier, who the hell knows where that guys health actually is. I personally like the Mavs to win game 3, with the help of some home cooking. Game 4 is going to be when we see how this series will shift, in my opinion. If Im right about game 3, youd have a desperate clippers team against a confident mavs team. Mavs take a commanding lead by winning both home games, then id happily admit i was wrong... Clips claw their way back into the series by winning game 4... not sure the mavs would have enough in the tank to take back control of the series. We'll see

Oh I'm concerned too. Clippers scare me to death.

Just you acted surprised by what Dallas was running offensively and its not surprising. It's how they play. Oh in the regular season they get more transition stuff which helps, but its a lot of Luka getting screens and rescreens until he gets a matchup to attack or invites the blitz hits a big at the FT line and Dallas plays 4 on 3. Or they just give the ball to Kyrie knowing he can create a shot any time he wants. But he creates mostly for him, whereas all 5 guys have to be accounted for when Luka has the ball.

The offense is 95% Luka PNR or Kyrie iso. Not sure what else you want them to go to. Nobody else on the team can create for themselves or others. Dante Exum seems unplayable this series. THJ, even more so. Luka and Ky are going to play huge minutes. No way around it.

Fair enough, but that doesnt sound like a lot of confidence that the Mavs are the better team in this series. I dont really disagree with anything you just said, but it does lead me back to my original point... im just not sure the mavs match up well enough to get through this team. High minutes for Luka and Kyrie wouldnt bother me as a mavs fan... high USAGE on the other hand? For my money, that can only take your team so far.

[NBA4Lyfe]

just looked at james hardens advanced stats on basketball reference for this series. dude will forever be underrated and undervalued

[PeteyPablo]

just looked at james hardens advanced stats on basketball reference for this series. dude will forever be underrated and undervalued

Share the stats