2024 NBA Playoffs: Western Conference Finals: #3 Minnesota Timberwolves vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL leads 3-0)

[___Rand___]

Results came back good on his neck but they haven’t said if he’ll play Tuesday or not. My guess is he will play.

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What I find weird is they said NOTHING about his concussion. He clearly was concussed.

[Emhoward]

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.

There's one piece that resolves this scenario for the Mavs, is the return of Maxi Kleber, which by reports is likely by the Finals. He unlocks that 5 out offense where you can still keep PJ at the 4, and he can also play at the 4 with one of the bigs for extra size too. He isn't quite the vertical threat Lively and Gafford are, but he can bring that as well as space the floor. Despite how well the Mavs have played, we've missed him in terms of the insane flexibility he gives us on both sides of the ball. Basically the Mavs defense could be even better when he's back.

Yeah his return is big. Shortly after this post I was listening to a pod that talked about how creative Dallas has been in keeping their bigs in the paint for rim protection even against 5 out offenses -- now none of those offenses were Boston, but I may have overstated how hard a 5 out offense would be to cover for Dallas, they've seen it before.

[MrGoat]

Results came back good on his neck but they haven’t said if he’ll play Tuesday or not. My guess is he will play.

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What I find weird is they said NOTHING about his concussion. He clearly was concussed.

I'm not going to lie, I was suspicious about that. The NFL is notorious for having their medical staffs sometime lie about concussions to keep someone on the field. Probably easier to get away with that in the NBA because the concussion risk is much lower.

[EricAnderson]

Is it crazy to think the Mavs have a decent shot against the Celtics?

If the game is close at the end the Mavs have a huge advantage

Also if they win game 4 having nearly 10 days off would be huge for guys like Luka who aren’t 100 percent

[mademan]

Has anyone found out yet why Luka and kyrie are being allowed to cook defenders in single coverage? It's just amazing how bad Minny's defensive schemes are.

Another question, Dray, Luka seem to really hate Rudy. Why is that?

You saw them blitz and put 2 on the ball in the 1st half and DJJ made them pay. Dallas's forwards are historically shaky shooters, but theyve been making teams pay this postseason for giving them shots.

I think Boston will play the numbers like OKC and see if DJJ and PJ can win the title for Dallas. I think its the correct strategy, and if they do, you tip your hat.

[CodeBreaker]

Is it crazy to think the Mavs have a decent shot against the Celtics?

If the game is close at the end the Mavs have a huge advantage

Also if they win game 4 having nearly 10 days off would be huge for guys like Luka who aren’t 100 percent

They'd beat the Celtics in 6

[Pelly24]

At this point I'm just genuinely sad for the T'wolves fans... They had legitimate reasons to expect a very strong, even dominant run in this series. Many of them were already looking forward to how the T'wolves would handle the Celtics in the Finals...

...Only then to be completely blindsided by a squad of underdawgs who didn't get the memo how they were supposed to be easy wolf-fodder, and led by a pair of cold-'ice-in-their-veins'-blooded assassins, among the deadliest in recent times.

And so Luka's "real MVP" campaign, as well as Kyrie & Kidd's redemption arc rolls on. The Celtics watch & wait with keen interest.

Honestly, it's mystifying to me that anyone could look at Luka Doncic at the other side of the court and think they're going to have an easy time. It's like people forget him torching Kawhi and PG by himself in consecutive postseasons, or when he destroyed the Suns on his way to the western conference finals. I'm not sure people comprehend what they're seeing. Luka is essentially an unstoppable dynamo destined to be one of the 10 or so greatest players ever. He's 6'8" 230, has a good first step and incredible strength and balance to go along with a Kobe midrange package and 38% three-point range on high volume, on top of being a top 3 passer/playmaker in the entire league. He's basically wing Jokic. I've had Luka pegged as a top 5 player since the bubble, and really, to me he's clearly No. 2 right now.

People try to compare other people to him, but really, there's Jokic . Then Luka. then everyone else. I think it's just that he was injured through the first 1.5 series and he's healthier now, so people forgot. If Jokic were 100%, clippers would've been over in 5 games, same with OKC. I said back in February that Dallas would destroy the wolves in 4 or games with Luka healthy. With a low-maintenance, do everything version of Kyrie at his side, good luck beating this team if it''s close. You gotta be up 12 points with 2 minutes left to be feel safe.

[Quentin]

scratch that, I got my series mixed up. I'd put money on the Pacers to force a game 5 in Boston because of Porzingis being out and BOS getting to host a home playoff game which is worth millions of dollars and a small market team in the luxury tax needs that. I think DAL sweeps the Wolves but I wouldn't bet on it since Lively is out and Game 5 would be in MN.

Don't think theres any confirmation on Lively, but def gives Wolves an opportunity to steal one. Thing is I think Dallas role players are much better at home, and I think if they can play Gafford big minutes and limit Powell's time, Gaff is not as good as Lively, but still good enough at Lively's main strengths to where it prob won't make too much difference.

Dallas sweep and then the break to give Luka rest, as well as time for both Lively and Kleber to get healthy should make a damn good finals series. Kleber could be a huge addition for the Mavs in that series, especially with Celtics potentially getting KP back.

Results came back good on his neck but they haven’t said if he’ll play Tuesday or not. My guess is he will play.

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How'd the test come back on his nuts? Karl's knees were the only thing that showed up last night.

[Mavrelous]

Mavs beat writer is downplaying the Woj report and saying further tests are needed, he's also strongly hinting Lively isn't playing tomorrow.

[Pelly24]

Clippers and OKC put up a better show against Mavs, in retrospect they were tough competition

Luka seems healthier now than those series'.

To be fair, people tend to determine Luka's health by how well he plays, so it's a bit self-fulfilling. He's "healthier" in his good games and clearly very obviously injured in his bad ones. Too convenient imo.

I know people hate Dort but the truth is he was a big part of why Luka struggled against OKC in a way he didn't struggle against LAC or MIN. You'd otherwise have to see his injury as a very weirdly timed injury that was healing, then flared up against OKC somehow, but is now is healing again against Minnesota. It's just a built-in excuse. Luka is on his way to a championship, finals MVP and rightly holding the title as best player in the league, so he doesn't need us to give him security blankets for his potential failures.

I do think he is playing in pain, which he deserves a lot of credit for, but I don't think it's impacting his play. He can do everything he normally does, it just hurts him to do it.

Luka I think was clearly hurt by Game 3 of the clippers series. He was totally lacking foot speed even against slow players, and that continued through most of the OKC series. He's looked mostly fine this series so far, but he's 6'8 and an incredible passer, so he has more leeway to deal with little nagging injuries.

[Dirk]

Ethical buckets.

And the best 3&D player in the league.

Hope Lively is okay.

Hit in the face by Gobert.

Spoiler:

Kneed by Towns.

Spoiler:

And finally taken out on a freak play (I haven't watched the replies because my life ended right there for a second).

[youngthegiant]

Minnesota went to the double big lineup to compete against Denver, which worked but now they're playing a team that can take advantage of two slow bigs on the perimeter. Will be interesting to see if the go away from it in the off-season.

[rockmanslim]

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Hahahaha love Luka!!!

Funny thing is that you can see Luka has some fat on his face. He is definitely not in a great shape fitness wise.

He has a lot of 'baby' fat on his face.

Not just his face. In that last pose he looks like some beer drinking brat eating fan wearing an NBA jersey he bought at Academy, not an actual NBA player

[dygaction]

Is it crazy to think the Mavs have a decent shot against the Celtics?

If the game is close at the end the Mavs have a huge advantage

Also if they win game 4 having nearly 10 days off would be huge for guys like Luka who aren’t 100 percent

Luka past 5 games had 31.6p/9.4a/8.6r on 50/45/88 shooting. He has just played into shape so not sure the 10 days help

[Scoundreldays]

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Comments were pretty funny. I guess he has also been called Big Purr in the past.

[dWadeOwnzYou]

They up 3-0. It be idiotic to risk bringing Lively back for game 4. I honestly would rest him the rest of this series if needed. They have enough to win with the personal they have currently.

[dygaction]

Read on Twitter

Hahahaha love Luka!!!

Funny thing is that you can see Luka has some fat on his face. He is definitely not in a great shape fitness wise.

He has a lot of 'baby' fat on his face.

Not just his face. In that last pose he looks like some beer drinking brat eating fan wearing an NBA jersey he bought at Academy, not an actual NBA player

Yes, more like Jokic's brothers flexing on the sideline

[___Rand___]

Results came back good on his neck but they haven’t said if he’ll play Tuesday or not. My guess is he will play.

Read on Twitter

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What I find weird is they said NOTHING about his concussion. He clearly was concussed.

I'm not going to lie, I was suspicious about that. The NFL is notorious for having their medical staffs sometime lie about concussions to keep someone on the field. Probably easier to get away with that in the NBA because the concussion risk is much lower.

Yeah I think that's what's happening - NBA protocols aren't as strict about concussion so they can say it's something else. As someone who's had concussions, the worst thing to do is subject the brain soon after concussion to shocks again, like jumping up and down or violent hits because the soft tissue of the brain slams against the hard skull each time and makes things worse. It's way better to save him for the Celtics. Mavs are up 3-0. Only bring him back if things look bad, like game 5 or 6.

[Black Jack]

Has anyone found out yet why Luka and kyrie are being allowed to cook defenders in single coverage? It's just amazing how bad Minny's defensive schemes are.

Another question, Dray, Luka seem to really hate Rudy. Why is that?

You saw them blitz and put 2 on the ball in the 1st half and DJJ made them pay. Dallas's forwards are historically shaky shooters, but theyve been making teams pay this postseason for giving them shots.

I think Boston will play the numbers like OKC and see if DJJ and PJ can win the title for Dallas. I think its the correct strategy, and if they do, you tip your hat.

Luka and Kyrie are historically great at scoring without any help, just throw them the ball. Unless its maybe Jrue, I'm not single covering them. PJ win the game if he can but I'm throwing the full Jordan Rules package at those two.

[mademan]

Has anyone found out yet why Luka and kyrie are being allowed to cook defenders in single coverage? It's just amazing how bad Minny's defensive schemes are.

Another question, Dray, Luka seem to really hate Rudy. Why is that?

You saw them blitz and put 2 on the ball in the 1st half and DJJ made them pay. Dallas's forwards are historically shaky shooters, but theyve been making teams pay this postseason for giving them shots.

I think Boston will play the numbers like OKC and see if DJJ and PJ can win the title for Dallas. I think its the correct strategy, and if they do, you tip your hat.

Luka and Kyrie are historically great at scoring without any help, just throw them the ball. Unless its maybe Jrue, I'm not single covering them. PJ win the game if he can but I'm throwing the full Jordan Rules package at those two.

Jrue is really good at navigating screens, but Luka is incredible at keeping guys on his back and keeping them in jail. In these situations, Boston usually just switches as they really do have the best switching roster in the league.

Its gonna be an interesting series to watch, but the bigger question for Dallas will be on the defensive end. Packing the paint wont work so well when every guy that will play for Boston is a quality shooter.