2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[AdagioPace]

Lively +26
Gafford -25

Yin and Yang. The world is almost balanced

[ChipotleWest]

Lively +26
Gafford -25

Yin and Yang lol

Not making excuses but Gafford dislocated his finger in Game 1 I believe. He hasn't been the same since. I love Lively.

[Patches Perry]

Eh. I don't get the frustration. The Thunder could have definitely looked to get a big man this season and Richard Jefferson said it a few times during the broadcast. But guess what? The Thunder can still do that this off season!!! AND they're all still young. NO RUSH.

More than likely you are correct, however, the future is not written in stone. SGA may suffer a season-ending injury at some point next year. You just never know...

All one has to do is look back at the OKC team of Durant, Harden and Westbrook. That core never made it back to the Finals.

This logic works both ways though. Mortgaging some of your assets and future flexibility for a temporary win-now piece may fail completely because SGA may have suffered a season-ending injury after the trade deadline. We have the benefit now of knowing that didn't happen, but that's pure hindsight. We can't really judge which approach is better until we see how the next few years materialize.

[Forbes]

Mavs are the best defense in the League since the trade deadline and they proved it against OKC.

I give Boston has a little more firepower on offense, but Mavs are better on defense. It would come down to Boston hitting 3s like OKC couldn't for most of the series. Mavs can pack the lane like no other team you're not going to get a layup line against them you're going to have to hit 3 pointers.

To be honest we are pretty much the same on offense. 3 pointers are a must. PJ and DJJ need to keep up the shooting. Would be great if the THJ that makes shots showed up.

You're just overhyping Boston because they won 64 games. Phoenix also won 64 games and Luka beat them with a worse team. Boston has no one that can stop Mavs from getting in the lane. Luka and Kyrie would eat. Yeah Tatum and Brown are good defenders but they're not going to play football like Lu Dort and they don't have a shot blocker like Chet, that was huge for OKC and they still got beat.

Anyway I'll let you continue if you want the results will speak for themselves if we get there but first we have to get through another IMO harder series in either Denver or Minnesota so it may not even matter.

Not overhyping Boston at all they’ve had the same core of Tatum, Brown, Horford for a while now. Jrue holiday is still one of the best defenders in the league. Derrick white is also one of the top defenders in the league. With the team defense they will play it won’t be easy for us at all. Horford is old but still takes our big man out of the paint by hitting 3s at a higher % than Chet. If KP is back they got a little defense.

I’m not doubting my team, I’m saying they are def a formidable match up and we need our guys to show up. Boston simply has more talent but I think mentally they are weak don’t have a leader. Thats going to play a huge part in the series.

Series would come down to defense and 3 point shooting. Im looking forward to getting there and seeing it play out.

[FarBeyondDriven]

tried telling people. Luka vs Jokic is pre-ordained since the all-star game. Luka winning a championship will happen this season because the NBA wants to lock him in as one of the faces of the league. They want that Euro market fully invested in him and the NBA. He can't ascend without first winning a title. League is rigged y'all. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy watching world-class athletes play the game you love. Like a scripted TV show it's still enjoyable

[Handlez]

I’ve got one question: Spencer Dinwiddie, who is your daddy now?!?

Dinwiddie on signing with Lakers over Mavs: "The two situations kinda felt like this, right? Let's say you were a kid, and you got your ass whooped by the bully. Dallas would've been like your momma being like, 'It's OK, baby. Don't worry about it.' Lakers are like your dad: 'Nah, you better go out there and fight till you win.'

This win was for you too Kyle Kuzma!!

Wtf .

Exact opposite.

Dallas is a fighting team.

[Handlez]

tried telling people. Luka vs Jokic is pre-ordained since the all-star game. Luka winning a championship will happen this season because the NBA wants to lock him in as one of the faces of the league. They want that Euro market fully invested in him and the NBA. He can't ascend without first winning a title. League is rigged y'all. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy watching world-class athletes play the game you love. Like a scripted TV show it's still enjoyable

Did you not watch this game?

They literally tried giving OKC the win to force game 7.

On the last foul, Kyrie rebounded it and scored, so it wouldn't have mattered.

[ChipotleWest]

I’ve got one question: Spencer Dinwiddie, who is your daddy now?!?

Dinwiddie on signing with Lakers over Mavs: "The two situations kinda felt like this, right? Let's say you were a kid, and you got your ass whooped by the bully. Dallas would've been like your momma being like, 'It's OK, baby. Don't worry about it.' Lakers are like your dad: 'Nah, you better go out there and fight till you win.'

This win was for you too Kyle Kuzma!!

Both losers that made bad choices. Oh well.

[Myth]

That actually was a smart call by Kidd telling PJ to intentionally miss the shot

And specifying don’t foul, because it would be a disaster to miss on purpose with a 1 point lead and then give them 2 free throws.

This is some pretty basic **** though. I can’t see that really being of much evidence that Kidd is a good NBA coach.

The bar is low, because we have seen coaches not do that and dumb players make the dumb choices.

[Potential]

JUST SAW THE FULL 4TH QUARTER HOLY **** **** WHAT A **** GAME IN DALLAS!!!!!!!!!

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

CANT WAIT FOR TOMORROWS 2 GAME 7S LETS GET IT!!!!

[sunsbg]

Very interesting game and tough loss for OKC, but the future is bright for this team. Mavs role players were great. WCF will be another great battle.

[Mavrelous]

Read on Twitter

[docholliday99]

I love the irony of Dallas dumping Bertans with the 10th pick to OKC for the 12th pick and then drafted Lively - who helped to eliminate OKC.

[Bob8]

yu predict nba players can’t hit wide open 3s on a steady diet of that same shot that they shoot en expect since the series started and have been making lol

please coach game 6 for the thunder

He was shooting 3:16 in first 4 games, so yes, I don't think it's a sure thing he's repeating game 5.

yu were saying ??

What I said. He had 4 bad shooting games and 2 good. Luckily the right 2 were good.

[Message Boar]

Just got done watching the game. I thought it was a great game to watch. For once the team that takes the lead doesn't go wire to wire with it. That being said, I also thought the Mavs got away with one there, they benefited from some really lucky shooting to get back into that game. Congrats to the Mavs and their fans for advancing to the WCF, those tweaks to that roster have really worked out. As for the Thunder, the future is bright, and it'll be interesting what choices Presti makes going forward.

[madskillz8]

tried telling people. Luka vs Jokic is pre-ordained since the all-star game. Luka winning a championship will happen this season because the NBA wants to lock him in as one of the faces of the league. They want that Euro market fully invested in him and the NBA. He can't ascend without first winning a title. League is rigged y'all. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy watching world-class athletes play the game you love. Like a scripted TV show it's still enjoyable

Not really. Euro market is not profitable, and in Europe, there is a nationalism to a certain degree. You can say a Serbian and a Lithuanian are both Euros but there's no way a Serbian would buy a jersey of Doncic. Lithuania has a population of 2.8m. To be honest, I don't really think a Serbian (who likes Jokic and basketball) would buy Jokic jersey instead of 10x six-pack beers. I don't see a Spanish buying Jokic jersey, as well. You get the point.

And believe me there are way less "regulars" in Europe compared to USA, or any other part of the world. These regulars are the ones who buy Curry jerseys, Lebron jerseys, and become profitable bandwagoners. And while I don't have any data to support this, I can assure you Doncic jerseys were sold more in China, than Europe. At least five times.

Now look at, Premier League. Many teams has Asian players, although they are not known for soccer skills. An NBA team once changed its logo to an Chinese alphabet. What I mean is, if the league is really looking for profit to a degree that they would fix games, they would likely prefer Ant, SGA, Jianlian Yi, and even Kyle Anderson - before any European even Jokic.

[Rainwater]

Lively +26
Gafford -25

Yin and Yang lol

Not making excuses but Gafford dislocated his finger in Game 1 I believe. He hasn't been the same since. I love Lively.

+/- is the most overrated stat in the NBA, don't know why people use it as if it means something. Just based off the plus mins Aaron Wiggins outplayed SGA. Chet played well despite being bodied all night and having 3 rebounds. It's a ridiculous stat when used alone.

[Rainwater]

tried telling people. Luka vs Jokic is pre-ordained since the all-star game. Luka winning a championship will happen this season because the NBA wants to lock him in as one of the faces of the league. They want that Euro market fully invested in him and the NBA. He can't ascend without first winning a title. League is rigged y'all. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy watching world-class athletes play the game you love. Like a scripted TV show it's still enjoyable

Not really. Euro market is not profitable, and in Europe, there is a nationalism to a certain degree. You can say a Serbian and a Lithuanian are both Euros but there's no way a Serbian would buy a jersey of Doncic. Lithuania has a population of 2.8m. To be honest, I don't really think a Serbian (who likes Jokic and basketball) would buy Jokic jersey instead of 10x six-pack beers. I don't see a Spanish buying Jokic jersey, as well. You get the point.

And believe me there are way less "regulars" in Europe compared to USA, or any other part of the world. These regulars are the ones who buy Curry jerseys, Lebron jerseys, and become profitable bandwagoners. And while I don't have any data to support this, I can assure you Doncic jerseys were sold more in China, than Europe. At least five times.

Now look at, Premier League. Many teams has Asian players, although they are not known for soccer skills. An NBA team once changed its logo to an Chinese alphabet. What I mean is, if the league is really looking for profit to a degree that they would fix games, they would likely prefer Ant, SGA, Jianlian Yi, and even Kyle Anderson - before any European even Jokic.

Great post. People seem to give general excuses instead of in-depth answers.

[MrGoat]

Mavs fans you're welcome.

PJ Washington should have never been traded. Can't believe they chose Miles Bridges over PJ smh.

I remember asking Hornets fans after the trade what they thought about PJ Washington, you guys mostly completely dumped on him and I was panicking. I hated it at the time because PJ also had no playoff experience and then proceeded to be largely brick city the rest of the regular season for us. Boy I'm glad I was wrong, the guy clearly has a playoff gear that has been lying dormant

[Mavrelous]

Mavs fans you're welcome.

PJ Washington should have never been traded. Can't believe they chose Miles Bridges over PJ smh.

I remember asking Hornets fans after the trade what they thought about PJ Washington, you guys mostly completely dumped on him and I was panicking. I hated it at the time because PJ also had no playoff experience and then proceeded to be largely brick city the rest of the regular season for us. Boy I'm glad I was wrong, the guy clearly has a playoff gear that has been lying dormant

It was mixed, some fans were really unhappy he got traded and said they hated the deal.
Mavs fans on our board wanted him when he was RFA over Grant Williams, but Grant was more attainable back then.