Post#36 » by ozwizard8 » Thu Dec 21, 2023 11:42 am
PLAYOFFS for Luka Mavs in the last 4 years
Lost series against Clippers(x2), Warriors:
- Mavs still have no answer to Kawhi-PG. Both teams were able to score in the paint effortlessly.
- Wiggins-Draymond-Looney frontcourt win their matchups. We did not have plus defenders in the frontcourt to offer help defense against Steph without conceding easy points.
Win series against Jazz, Suns:
- Jazz is supposed to have a better frontcourt against us with Gobert. Kleber won his matchup against Gobert due to the small ball lineup, and Maxi making 3s. Gobert couldn't dominate and infact Maxi-plan was better which made Gobert be benched at times! Jazz lacked have elite size at SF-PF to overpower DFS-Dinwiddie-Maxi. Even without Luka, Mavs were on par with Jazz.
- Suns had bunch of 3&D defensive wingmen who couldn't overpower DFS-Dinwiddie-Maxi as they were able to switch. Their center Ayton, was not expected to dominate and their guards did not feed him well so Mavs did not lose the frontcourt battle much. Their frontcourt rotation was better, they offered rebounding, steals, and blocks for sure but not dominate totally.
Luka-Brunson vs Booker-Paul, and we know who would win!
I dont think Mavs lost playoff series due to lack of scoring, or lack of offense created by backcourt players. Luka is crazy good, he can easily score 40-point triple-double even against the best defensive teams like LAC of 2021.
Mavs lost against better frontcourt rotations.
2023 playoff matchup that Mavs would suffer: Denver, TWolves, Clippers
If healthy and on-form these teams would overpower our frontcourt: Lakers-Warriors-Pelicans
If Mavs are lucky to play against teams like Kings, injured Pels, Suns, we may still make WCF. Otherwise, this team looks like first-round exit even with Luka's greatness.
I feel similar things about Suns. Durant-Booker-Beal is great offensive power but that's not a solid balanced playoff team.
Kyrie sounds great offensively but his playoff teams suffered for last 6 years.
Mavs team would rather have Wiggins+6th men guard scorer, Gordon+6th men guard scorer, J.Grant+6th men guard scorer than only having Kyrie.