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

[HadAnEffectHere]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

[Residual-Heat]

This one will be very competitive. Clippers in 7.

[Swish1906]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

You didn’t watch the games this year huh?

Healthy Thunder barely beat the Mavs start of December. Irving missing and Curry/Grant/Prosper/Lawson played a combined 99 minutes

Healthy Thunder got annihilated two days after the trade deadline with Gafford/PJ still coming off the bench

Healthy Thunder barely beat the Mavs missing Luka and Green going down 4 minutes into the game..

[Harry Garris]

I think for the Clippers to win this series Kawhi needs to be at the absolute peak of his powers for the entire series.

Is he capable of doing that again? He only lasted 3 games in last year's playoffs before getting hurt. I just don't know if he can summon apex Kawhi and also stay healthy for an entire playoff series.

[JShuttlesworth]

This has got to be the 1st Round matchup that I'm most looking forward to

[Archx]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585376

[ogmagicfan]

Can't wait for this series

[NyKnicks1714]

This and Knicks/Sixers if it happens are as good as it gets for the first round. These two teams are kind of trending in opposite directions, so I'm going with Dallas. I hope Kawhi is healthy.

[Mr B]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

OKC is too young and too small in the front court to beat Dallas.

[inquisitive]

toughest series.

[Clav]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

You didn’t watch the games this year huh?

Healthy Thunder barely beat the Mavs start of December. Irving missing and Curry/Grant/Prosper/Lawson played a combined 99 minutes

Healthy Thunder got annihilated two days after the trade deadline with Gafford/PJ still coming off the bench

Healthy Thunder barely beat the Mavs missing Luka and Green going down 4 minutes into the game..

Can confirm with Swish.... DAL is dangerous and has every tool necessary to beat OKC in a series. Gafford was a huge pickup and Washington too can defend cover on the wing too. The last two RS games are not representative of what the series would look like. both times Dallas didn't have Doncic plying


LAC and Dallas have a tough series first, there's every reason to believe that if Kawhi is healthy this could be the best R1 series in the Playoffs and the winner has a great chance to make the WCF.

[Hoop Hunter]

Mavs in 6

Go Luka!

[jym85]

I love how tough and physical the Mavs are after the trades.
Guess it'll just come down to whether PJW, DJJ, and the bench guys can hit wide open shots
I'm assuming Kawhi will be Kawhi until I see otherwise

[jbk1234]

I think the Mavs get them this time. I didn't love the price tag, but I really did like their trade deadline.

[ChipotleWest]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

And who's going to stop Luka and Kyrie from going nuclear? Together they will make up for what SGA does and then some. OKC would need their other guys to step up.

And I know Shai is a good defender, but nobody is stopping either of them right now.

Be careful what you wish for. I think you should hope for Clippers.

The 4th game Mavs rested, you beat us before the trade deadline before we got Gafford or Washington in a close game, you barely beat us in another game Luka missed which should have been a blow out in OKC, and right after the trade deadline the only real game this squad played yours we beat you 146-111. I didn't see any indications your team dominated the Mavs in those games.

[ChipotleWest]

I think the Mavs get them this time. I didn't love the price tag, but I really did like their trade deadline.

If they keep playing at a high level those draft picks won't be worth much. Drafting a player outside the top 20 is practically a 2nd rounder. Most of the time you're not going to hit on them. Also with a better squad you increase the chance of Luka staying after 2026, if he left then those picks would matter to the Mavs.

[kazyv]

If your the Nuggets your rather face Mavs than the Clippers.

Strongly disagree. The Nuggets have owned the Clippers ever since the bubble. The Clippers won the last two, yes, but Murray didn't play in the latest, and the other one was where Jokic had that 9/32 game, which will likely never reproduce again.

The Nuggets won like 8 in the row against them before that. Denver imo just have the personal to defend Kawhi/PG13/Harden relatively effectively, but that same personal is not as well equipped for Doncic/Irving. Nuggets can obviously beat both, maybe even easily, but I don't agree that they would rather face the Mavs.

nuggets would be a terrible matchup for mavs and luka. jokic can be a defensive presence vs luka and them being a good defensive team in general means that they are not vulnerable on defense, whatsoever. i also don't trust the recent defensive mavs surge. at least not when it comes to containing jokic

[HadAnEffectHere]

If Dallas beats the Clippers, look out.

This team is dangerous.

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

And who's going to stop Luka and Kyrie from going nuclear? Together they will make up for what SGA does and then some. OKC would need their other guys to step up.

And I know Shai is a good defender, but nobody is stopping either of them right now.

Be careful what you wish for. I think you should hope for Clippers.

The 4th game Mavs rested, you beat us before the trade deadline before we got Gafford or Washington in a close game, you barely beat us in another game Luka missed which should have been a blow out in OKC, and right after the trade deadline the only real game this squad played yours we beat you 146-111. I didn't see any indications your team dominated the Mavs in those games.

... The big issue for the Mavs is that Chet will still be in the paint for OKC while Dallas will have no one. Chet will be able to just ignore PJ Washington if Dallas tries to go small.

SGA and Jalen Williams are also just way better at defense than Kyrie and Luka.

This is a pretty easy stomping for OKC even before the high risk of a Kyrie injury is factored in.

[ChipotleWest]

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

And who's going to stop Luka and Kyrie from going nuclear? Together they will make up for what SGA does and then some. OKC would need their other guys to step up.

And I know Shai is a good defender, but nobody is stopping either of them right now.

Be careful what you wish for. I think you should hope for Clippers.

The 4th game Mavs rested, you beat us before the trade deadline before we got Gafford or Washington in a close game, you barely beat us in another game Luka missed which should have been a blow out in OKC, and right after the trade deadline the only real game this squad played yours we beat you 146-111. I didn't see any indications your team dominated the Mavs in those games.

... The big issue for the Mavs is that Chet will still be in the paint for OKC while Dallas will have no one. Chet will be able to just ignore PJ Washington if Dallas tries to go small.

SGA and Jalen Williams are also just way better at defense than Kyrie and Luka.

This is a pretty easy stomping for OKC even before the high risk of a Kyrie injury is factored in.

Lively and Gafford are in the paint to stop Chet what do you mean. He scored 13 points in the 146-111 slaughter, 11 points in the 126-119 OKC win without Luka, and 11 points in the game in December. No indication he's some Dallas killer you're making him out to be. SGA and Williams can't stop Luka or Kyrie. No one in the league has. They'll give the Mavs at least 55-60 points in every game like clockwork, the real question would be can the other players for the Mavs give them the points needed to beat OKC. No one on OKC has won anything and usually there is a learning curve in the playoffs. Shai is the leader and he hasn't even won a single playoff series yet. I'm not sure anyone on the roster except Gordon Hayward has.

Seems you throw in a Kyrie injury as a hope because you'd need it.

Anyway Mavs have a tough series and OKC could have trouble with a play in team like the Lakers, so neither team is there yet.

[Swish1906]

I can't think of an easier matchup for OKC, SGA will get to abuse Luka on every possession and Dallas has to go small as Gafford and Lively can't abuse Chet, but Dallas lacks the personnel to go small.

And who's going to stop Luka and Kyrie from going nuclear? Together they will make up for what SGA does and then some. OKC would need their other guys to step up.

And I know Shai is a good defender, but nobody is stopping either of them right now.

Be careful what you wish for. I think you should hope for Clippers.

The 4th game Mavs rested, you beat us before the trade deadline before we got Gafford or Washington in a close game, you barely beat us in another game Luka missed which should have been a blow out in OKC, and right after the trade deadline the only real game this squad played yours we beat you 146-111. I didn't see any indications your team dominated the Mavs in those games.

... The big issue for the Mavs is that Chet will still be in the paint for OKC while Dallas will have no one. Chet will be able to just ignore PJ Washington if Dallas tries to go small.

SGA and Jalen Williams are also just way better at defense than Kyrie and Luka.

This is a pretty easy stomping for OKC even before the high risk of a Kyrie injury is factored in.

Again, let’s just ignore the games this season and make s*hit up

Chet averaged like 11 points in the three relevant games. He couldn’t even punish rookie Lively and Dwight Powell in the first game

In the two games he faced Gafford, Gafford averaged 19 while missing a total of six shots

Again, the ONE time the Thunder faced a healthy Mavs team they were the ones getting stomped. And had in the other two relevant games WAY too much problems to beat a Luka /Irving less Mavs team