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

[Drakeem]

People keep pointing out Dallas's offence as a reason why they can't advance past this series without noting their great defense AND the fact that they were the away team. They did what they needed to do. They stole a game from the Clippers.

[MrGoat]

If the real Daniel Gafford can show back up the Mavs got this. Him being a non entity has killed their offense in the first two games. We know there is a cap to what this team can do when they have to overly rely on Maxi Kleber. If there isn't a feeling of danger around the rim it makes Luka and Kyrie's job much harder. There's still Lively but Kidd will keep him on a leash because he's a rookie. The 30 point half felt like an adjustment to the different reffing in the playoffs so I'm not expecting to see that again. That was the worst half of playoff basketball offense I'd seen since Dallas-Phoenix game 7

[NBA4Lyfe]

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

Share the stats

james harden in the 2024 playoffs through 2 games


second in vorp behind only jokic at 0.3

.343 ws per 48

over 27 PER

145!!!! offensive rating/ 108 defensive rating

over 12 bpm

only behind jokic this playoffs in total win shares

[NBA4Lyfe]

so now that i have laid out hardens stats for this playoffs, and the preemptive notion was that harden did not recieve a max deal because he struggled in last years playoffs. does that standard still apply here if harden keeps up this level and the clippers still lose or will the goalpost be moved yet again

[Texas Chuck]

Maybe wait for Harden to IDK finish a series before you declare him GOAT lol. I mean that 6/14 2/10 is pretty amazing and all but....

[NBA4Lyfe]

Maybe wait for Harden to IDK finish a series before you declare him GOAT lol. I mean that 6/14 2/10 is pretty amazing and all but....

i’m not declaring harden anything, i just said if harden continues this level will he recieve a max deal. if the clippers and harden still has these stats will he get a max deal or will the narrative change once again lol. o could care less about whether the nba allows to win a ring or not. i just want to know if harden continues the level will the goalpost be moved. remember last season harden did not receive a max deal because of his struggles in the playoffs. is that still the prevailing thought

james harden getting blasted on twitter because so many nba fans are clueless about impact. it’s so funny how the media is glazing luka while he is sporting a 55% true shooting percentage

[Texas Chuck]

also Harden didn't get a max because he took less from Philly to help them build out the roster with a wink wink nod that they'd make him whole on the next deal. When they didn't honor that agreement he demanded out.

Nothing to do with previous playoff performances. So you have a fake premise to go with a tiny sample size that is really one game with unsustainable shooting and then another mediocre game.

Really don't understand the point of any of that.

[Texas Chuck]

odd its almost like people are talking better about Luka after he played a really good game after being critical of him for playing poorly in game 1. Instead of it all being some anti-Harden agenda lol. Players get credit when they play well and face criticism when they don't.

[NBA4Lyfe]

also Harden didn't get a max because he took less from Philly to help them build out the roster with a wink wink nod that they'd make him whole on the next deal. When they didn't honor that agreement he demanded out.

Nothing to do with previous playoff performances. So you have a fake premise to go with a tiny sample size that is really one game with unsustainable shooting and then another mediocre game.

Really don't understand the point of any of that.

lol harden in game 2 finished with a higher total box plus minus than luka. so you are the one that’s ignoring the facts. like i said i could care less if the clippers win, my goal is to find out if the goalposts will be moved yet again if harden keeps up this level of play. since i was told the playoffs matter more than the regular season

[NBA4Lyfe]

odd its almost like people are talking better about Luka after he played a really good game after being critical of him for playing poorly in game 1. Instead of it all being some anti-Harden agenda lol. Players get credit when they play well and face criticism when they don't.

if you deny that an anti-harden agenda exist. then we have no use in continuing this conversation. no other player could average 20/10 and not make an allstar or all nba team. let alone to produce that statline at over 60% true shooting with over 5 rebounds, only magic has done that

[Texas Chuck]

nobody is moving goalposts. I literally just told you why he's not on a max deal now and you ignored it and went right back into your agenda.

And you sure love cherry picking one stat. I mean imagine if I told you Josh Green has almost as high a win share percentage as Harden in these 2 games. You'd laugh and rightfully so. Stats are meaningless in this small of sample size. You do get this right?

Harden was great in game 1. Couldn't miss his 3's. He came back down to earth in game 2. We'll have to wait and see but as well as both teams are defending I'd expect his stats to look worse at the end of the series than they do now. But they might not. He's very capable still of great games.

But you are wilding out here man.

[Archx]

also Harden didn't get a max because he took less from Philly to help them build out the roster with a wink wink nod that they'd make him whole on the next deal. When they didn't honor that agreement he demanded out.

Nothing to do with previous playoff performances. So you have a fake premise to go with a tiny sample size that is really one game with unsustainable shooting and then another mediocre game.

Really don't understand the point of any of that.

lol harden in game 2 finished with a higher total box plus minus than luka. so you are the one that’s ignoring the facts. like i said i could care less if the clippers win, my goal is to find out if the goalposts will be moved yet again if harden keeps up this level of play. since i was told the playoffs matter more than the regular season

You really want to do +/- BS after 2 games?

Ok let's do it.

Luka On/Off... +128.4
Harden On/Off...-26.9

[NBA4Lyfe]

also Harden didn't get a max because he took less from Philly to help them build out the roster with a wink wink nod that they'd make him whole on the next deal. When they didn't honor that agreement he demanded out.

Nothing to do with previous playoff performances. So you have a fake premise to go with a tiny sample size that is really one game with unsustainable shooting and then another mediocre game.

Really don't understand the point of any of that.

lol harden in game 2 finished with a higher total box plus minus than luka. so you are the one that’s ignoring the facts. like i said i could care less if the clippers win, my goal is to find out if the goalposts will be moved yet again if harden keeps up this level of play. since i was told the playoffs matter more than the regular season

You really want to do +/- BS after 2 games?

Ok let's do it.

Luka On/Off... +128.4
Harden On/Off...-26.9

according to that chart, russell westbrook is the best player on the clippers through 2 games lol

[Texas Chuck]

there now you get the point.

[ejftw]

I wouldn't be shocked if Ballmer gave Harden the max over two years, but nothing more as they have no real other route to improve the team due to this restrictive CBA.

He played well in G1, and had a nice spurt in G2, but it's hard to criticize any player, too much, from that game due to how both teams mucked it up.

To argue he's been more impactful than Luka is hilarious. He was supposed to prevent the offense from being stagnant, sure didn't happen.. although that could be blamed on the forced reintegration of Kawhi

[MrGoat]

lol harden in game 2 finished with a higher total box plus minus than luka. so you are the one that’s ignoring the facts. like i said i could care less if the clippers win, my goal is to find out if the goalposts will be moved yet again if harden keeps up this level of play. since i was told the playoffs matter more than the regular season

You really want to do +/- BS after 2 games?

Ok let's do it.

Luka On/Off... +128.4
Harden On/Off...-26.9

according to that chart, russell westbrook is the best player on the clippers through 2 games lol

Kind of makes it a good example of how useless advanced stats are over a two game stretch, huh?

[MrGoat]

I just looked at the stats and realized PJ Washington is the only Maverick other than Luka or Kyrie who is averaging more than 5 points per game in this series, that has got to change

[Edrees]

so now that i have laid out hardens stats for this playoffs, and the preemptive notion was that harden did not recieve a max deal because he struggled in last years playoffs. does that standard still apply here if harden keeps up this level and the clippers still lose or will the goalpost be moved yet again

I would love it for the Clippers to offer him a max deal. Please do it. If he keeps up those stats he deserves it.

but harden historically struggles when the pressure it on. No pressure in game 1. He played signicantly worse in game 2. now let' see how he does game 3 with the threat of doing down 2-1 playing on the road.

[Archx]

lol harden in game 2 finished with a higher total box plus minus than luka. so you are the one that’s ignoring the facts. like i said i could care less if the clippers win, my goal is to find out if the goalposts will be moved yet again if harden keeps up this level of play. since i was told the playoffs matter more than the regular season

You really want to do +/- BS after 2 games?

Ok let's do it.

Luka On/Off... +128.4
Harden On/Off...-26.9

according to that chart, russell westbrook is the best player on the clippers through 2 games lol

On/Off can't determent who's the best player but it is one of the tools you can measure about the impact. And you're also wrong, Zubac is ahead of Russ and let's be fair, Zubac was probably Clippers best player in game 1, while Russ also played great.

[og15]

If the real Daniel Gafford can show back up the Mavs got this. Him being a non entity has killed their offense in the first two games. We know there is a cap to what this team can do when they have to overly rely on Maxi Kleber. If there isn't a feeling of danger around the rim it makes Luka and Kyrie's job much harder. There's still Lively but Kidd will keep him on a leash because he's a rookie. The 30 point half felt like an adjustment to the different reffing in the playoffs so I'm not expecting to see that again. That was the worst half of playoff basketball offense I'd seen since Dallas-Phoenix game 7

Clippers partly handicapped themselves offensively last game by trying to run isolations through a sluggish, slow and not ready Kawhi.

I still don't know why they didn't plan to use him in a lesser role for the game, but that ship has sailed.

Gafford being better will help the Mavs. Kawhi getting back to form would help the Clippers even more though. Problem is that until the next game actually happens, we don't know what level of Kawhi we will actually be able to get this series.

I just looked at the stats and realized PJ Washington is the only Maverick other than Luka or Kyrie who is averaging more than 5 points per game in this series, that has got to change

Mavs FGA so far:
Luka 52
Kyrie 35
Washington 20
Jones Jr 10
Kleber 9
Lively 8

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.