Mavrelous wrote:Bob8 wrote:Johnny Firpo wrote:I'm a little bit of a negative person to begin with, but I'm VERY worried about this series, still. Imo, we almost have to close it out today, because if we don't, this will almost automatically go to a game 6 of total dreadedness, if that's a word. Then if you lose that, you are the first team to ever do it, and it's a huge stain until at least you win one, or possibly even after. Gafford has to stay out of foul trouble. I just can't emphasize enough how important Lively has been for this team during this run, and especially in this series. He was EASILY our 3rd best/most impactful player.
Look, if Mavs can't win 1/4 they don't deserve to be in a final. Secondly, last year Boston came back from 0:3 to 3:3 and finally lost series, si losing 3 in a row is not some uncharted territory. Saying that, Mavs for sure don't want to play game 7. It would be great, if they win tonight, but it won't be end of the world, if they don't. They will probably have Lively and Kleber in games 5 and 6.
Mavs have won RS game against Minnesota without Lively and Gafford, Powell playing 28 minutes. It's great to have Lively+Gafford but don't forget that Mavs were in WCF in 2022 with Powell as starting C.
Mavs also led 3-0 on the Blazers in early 2000s and it went to game 7...
If Kleber is healthy enough for 15 minutes, he can cover for Lively, in different way, but he'll cover for him.
Sure, series is not over, but nobody didn't even believe 3:0 is possible before series has started. Being 3:0 up is dream come through, not a reason for concern.
Having Kleber back means that in potential games 5 and 6, hopefully Lively being back, you have great replacements for Washington, we were missing him for covering Naz for example. Getting Kleber back is kinda huge for Mavs, things looked pretty grim immediately after Lively injury, but yesterday's news were surprisingly positive, because of unexpectedly soon return of Kleber.
