Post#1304 » by Emhoward » Mon May 27, 2024 4:08 am
It seems like most Non-Boston fans are leaning Mavs>Celts in the next series, as am I. But something tells me that Boston is a bad matchup for them and I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this --
How has the post-trade deadline Mavs fared against teams that play a lot of 5 out like Boston? Did OKC play any 5 out with Chet? I remember him out at the 3 point line some, but remember him being in the dunker spot a lot as well. My thinking is that Horford/Portzingis pulls Gafford/Lively out to the 3 point line, making their rim protection null and void. Then Boston has freer lanes to drive and either Dallas collapses, closes off driving lanes and leaves open three point shooters (Part of the reason Boston spams so many 3's) or Dallas stays home on shooters and Tatum, Brown, White and Jrue has open lanes with no rim protection... Am I thinking about this right?
One obvious counter is to go PJ Washington as the 5, but I'm not sure that's the move -- it provides them more spacing on offense -- which is great, but it removes the lob threat that's been so great for them. Plus it doesn't solve the issue, Dallas on defense with Boston on offense.
It seems to me the way Dallas wins this is to go PJ at 5 and just play the outscore them game. I don't see Dallas' defense being nearly as effective as they have been against the Wolves and Thunder. I actually think Dallas is built to play this way as well. Doncic, Irving, DJJ, Washington and either Green, Hardy, or THJ depending on who's the hot man, is a heck of an offense squad -- the question becomes if it does play out this way, how long will it take Kidd to make this adjustment, and second, will PJ hold up at Center on the boards against Horford and Portzingis.
