WCF Discussion

[KGdaBom]

I think Jaden may take Luka or Kyrie. Our best defender against one of the 2 best players there make sense. The most important will be as previous games to make them work as hard as possible and make them gassed after 40 min. Luka is a fantastic player but he is not very physical. FT will also be a key as Luka is a fantastic flopper on top of being a crying baby.

Luka is not very physical? His entire game relies on bulldozing through one or two guys on his way to the rim for the kickout or finish. He's not fast, but he compensates by being extremely physical.

Absolutely correct. Luka is as physical as they come. I wish the refs would call him for all of his physicality. He'd be out of the game by halftime.

[KGdaBom]

I think Jaden may take Luka or Kyrie. Our best defender against one of the 2 best players there make sense. The most important will be as previous games to make them work as hard as possible and make them gassed after 40 min. Luka is a fantastic player but he is not very physical. FT will also be a key as Luka is a fantastic flopper on top of being a crying baby.

Luka is not very physical? His entire game relies on bulldozing through one or two guys on his way to the rim for the kickout or finish. He's not fast, but he compensates by being extremely physical.

What i wanna say is that Luka is not physically able to play 45 min without slowing down. We have to take advantage of that. If he ended the game gassed, he may miss important shoots at clutch time.

Maybe the words you're looking for are physically fit. Not in great condition. However, I don't know if there's a player in the NBA who is able to play 45 minutes without slowing down.

[bluethunder0005]

So initially I was viewing this similar to the Suns series in that the Mavs don't have enough firepower to beat us. But I've been rethinking it. I still don't think they have the firepower to just beat our defense with their offense, it's not going to happen. But their defense is incredibly good and we all know that our offense isn't always the best. Luka is a hard assignment that doesn't really fit in line with a lot of other great scorers due to his size. I worry that he'll bully Jaden and be too big in general for Ant if they decide to switch.

Wolves need to remember the philosophy that they used for Jokic in the games they won, which is let him get his. Don't be doubling onto Luka or Kyrie and letting the role players get it going. Guys like PJ, Gafford, DJJ, Lively, and Hardaway are products of Luka and Kyrie. Force Luka and Kyrie to get 35+ every night.

[shrink]

Watch on YouTube

Luka and Kyrie? Bring ‘em on.

[minimus]

Watch on YouTube

Luka and Kyrie? Bring ‘em on.

Last time Kyrie killed us, Edwards better be prepared

Watch on YouTube

;t

[UglyBugBall]

Since I'm in Eastern Europe (hence why Mavs fan), I'll be watching the game in the morning. Going dark till then to avoid spoilers. Hope we get a good game, looking forward to seeing that Luka/Edwards matchup, even if they won't be guarding each other.

I don't think most had either team making the WCF, so respect to ya'll for getting here. May the best team win, without injuries or ref meltdowns. Whoever wins this series I'll be rooting for in the finals.

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

[UglyBugBall]

Spoiler:

10 votes so far and not one predicting a sweep or a 7 game series. 2 people posting on our board expect us to lose. After all we've done this season that is so depressing if those are our fans expecting us to lose. Hopefully just trolls coming over.

One can be a fan and still be objective. No need to call out people trying to vote with their brains and not with their hearts.

We've been a far superior team all year. Being objective means picking the Wolves in 5 or 6. Only way somebody picks the Mavs is if they have a vibe.

We've been a far superior team all year. Being objective means picking the Wolves in 5 or 6. Only way somebody picks the Mavs is if they have a vibe.

We've been better during the last 20 games of the season on both offense and defense. Before that is irrelevant since it was a different team.

At least I know one of the people in our Wolves poll picking the Mavs is a Mavs fan. The other 3 probably are also.

I also heard a stat that Kyrie is 14-0 in close out games. Interesting

Exactly why you don't underestimate him. Dude has a reputation for hitting big shots. Kobe-esque. I don't want any close games with the Mavs.

10pt leads all the way.

What has Kyrie accomplished without LeBron? He's been on nothing but super teams.

I don't even know if he meant they were better than us the final 20 games or better than they had been in the first 62. Ugly could you clarify?

Technically we were better than than wolves in defensive rating in the final 20. Now if you make me pick who has the better defense, I'll give the slight edge to the wolves anyway, although I think it's close to a wash. I think offensively though the Mavericks have a higher ceiling with Luka and Kyrie which tips the series for me in their favor.

I won't be shocked if the wolves win. They're a good team although I have the Mavs winning. But I think wolves fans are grossly underestimating the Mavericks here. The Mavericks are much better than the Sun's were, and I think are better when the nuggets were.

Delusions of grandeur for a 5th seed team. If the Mavs had better numbers than the Wolves minus KAT during a quarter of the season I'm happy for them. Denver and Minnesota were the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams because they are both better than the Mavs. I give the Mavs props for pulling out the win against OKC, but they are small and have zero playoff experience. OKC could have easily won that series, but they came up one basket short in game 6.

Semi-related, we gotta collectivize and stop being so defensive on the General Board. Not a one or two poster thing at all, even I am guilty of getting super triggered by the Rudy Gobert hate after game five (still drives me crazy that he gets hate, instead of people realizing that we saw a generational performance from a multi-time MVP).

This fanbase is on a trajectory to get absolutely clowned on if we lose.

True. But I am more worried about a zombie apocalypse than the Mavs getting to the NBA finals.

I freaking love it.

Ooops.

Don't Respond.

[UglyBugBall]

Spoiler:

Except it isn't based in logic. It is based on listening to a talk show or podcast citing that statistic without actually analyzing themselves.

Did UglyBugBall even know Karl-Anthony Towns missed 18 of the final 20 games and was a shell of himself for the other 2 games? I highly doubt it, since the Talk Show or Podcast didn't mention that.

I also doubt his source didn't mention how easy Dallas' schedule is/was.

I think the schedule is pretty irrelevant at this point after Dallas continued to prove themselves by dismantling the Clippers and the number one seed thunder. They lost game one in both series and then proceeded to go 4-1 in each series after that.

I'm not saying that the wolves might not be better defensively. The better well be, because of the defense is anywhere similar they're in big trouble

The Clippers were paper tigers all season - struggling to beat +.500 teams (even when they actually did have their best player ...)

OKC was a great regular season team that isn't built for the Playoffs. The closest things they have to "bigs" are 6'3 Dort and 200 pound Chet.

If The Clippers were paper tigers, are the Timberwolves paper house cats right now?

Don't Respond.

[Domejandro]

We've been better during the last 20 games of the season on both offense and defense. Before that is irrelevant since it was a different team.

At least I know one of the people in our Wolves poll picking the Mavs is a Mavs fan. The other 3 probably are also.

How are those 5 game picks working out now?

Coming to gloat on other forums after a win is exceptionally cringe behaviour.

Been largely unimpressed with Maverick fans who have migrated to the Minnesota forum for this series. A lot of you guys have been pretty annoying throughout, and I say that as someone who is perpetually argumentative towards Minnesota users. This was largely not an issue with Denver fans or Phoenix fans, despite them being open to debating. We are lax with moderation (to mixed reviews), but coming in to antagonize after a win is only going to lead to me having to suspend Minnesota users who inevitably react, so I am making the decision to ban for trolling.

[winforlose]

At least I know one of the people in our Wolves poll picking the Mavs is a Mavs fan. The other 3 probably are also.

How are those 5 game picks working out now?

Coming to gloat on other forums after a win is exceptionally cringe behaviour.

Been largely unimpressed with Maverick fans who have migrated to the Minnesota forum for this series. A lot of you guys have been pretty annoying throughout, and I say that as someone who is perpetually argumentative towards Minnesota users. This was largely not an issue with Denver fans or Phoenix fans, despite them being open to debating. We are lax with moderation (to mixed reviews), but coming in to antagonize after a win is only going to lead to me having to suspend Minnesota users who inevitably react, so I am making the decision to ban for trolling.

If the post is ban worthy isn’t worth removing? Just wondering?

[Domejandro]

If the post is ban worthy isn’t worth removing? Just wondering?

As a general practice, I think removing posts is bad, unless they link to scams. A major issue on the General Board was that we’d look at a user’s strike/warning history and have absolutely no idea if a strike was bogus because the post would be removed or the text would be fully edited. Better to spoiler tag it and indicate to people not to respond, while maintaining transparency.

[_AIJ_]

I firmly believe that Ant and KAT will have big games the rest of the series. I still believe in this team. Wolves in 6. Lets go!

[gandlogo]

I had the Mavs in six in the poll - wishful thinking in retrospect. Without the Lively injury the Wolves likely get swept. Watching them all season it was clear the Wolves were not as good as their record and light years from being far superior to the Mavs. Tip of the cap to Dallas - their deadline moves and getting Kyrie for a song have them well positioned.