PG: James Harden 21' - 16.7
SG: Danny Green 21' - 7.9
SF: Julius Erving 82' - 17.6
PF: Kevin Garnett 08' - 13.9
C: Al Horford 18' - 10.5
Bench: Mo Cheeks 81' - 7.2
Bench: Robert Covington 18' - 10.5
Bench: Rick Mahorn 93' - 3.0
Rotation:PG: James Harden 24 / Mo Cheeks 24
SG: Danny Green 24 / James Harden 14 / Robert Covington 10
SF: Julius Erving 38 / Robert Covington 10
PF: Kevin Garnett 36 / Robert Covington 12
C: Al Horford 38 / Rick Mahorn 8 / Kevin Garnett 2
87.3/88
vs
PG: Jason Kidd (39) / Spencer Dinwiddie (9)
SG: Sidney Moncrief (39) / Spencer Dinwiddie (9)
SF: Jayson Tatum (38) / Toni Kukoc (10)
PF: Kevin McHale (32) / Toni Kukoc (16)
C: Brook Lopez (34) / Kevin McHale (6) / Andre Drummond (8)
Matchup:- Defensive assignments: Harden/Cheeks vs Kidd, Erving vs Moncrief, Green/RoCo vs Tatum, Garnett vs McHale, Horford vs Lopez.
- We match up pretty well here. We got a pretty well rounded set of wing defenders in Green/RoCo/Erving to put up fight defensively against Tatum. Garnett is being tasked with guarding McHale which allows him to stay closer to the basket and be effective against Kidd/Moncreif/Tatum's slashing. Our frontcourt duo operates very much further from the basket, which will force Lopez out of his comfort zone, and out center is even more of a reliable shooter than theirs.
- Our clear advantage here is having better top end talent and more reliable offensive producers. Harden/Erving/Garnett is a superb leading trio who all complement each other very well, with Horford as a great fourth option. On the other side Tatum is their best offensive option, but using Tatum 20' hurts as he's not the same level of player as he became afterwards. Tatum is also their best defender against Erving, which will take its toll. Our supporting cast also provides better spacing to keep our offense flowing.
- While they have nice depth with Kukoc as 6th guy, we have a great bench as well with the Cheeks-Covington combo, and we have better overall depth 1 to 7, combined with better top end talent, plus Mahorn who brings hustle and assertive defense.