The Mavericks Were Never Supposed To Do This

The Mavericks Were Never Supposed To Do This

right here is the Dallas Maverick’s starting lineup from game six of the Western Conference semifinals and right here is the lineup that they started last year’s regular season with in the span of over a year the maps have turned a team lacking Talent lacking Direction and lacking an identity into a team built on defense athleticism and of course the genius of two of the most skilled basketball players ever and what symbolizes this Mavs turnarounds more than anything is the fact both Luca donic and Kyrie Irving have completely bought into a brand of basketball that is dependent on defense which we all know was not the expectation when the Mavs made that trade with this article not only giving the Mavs a c for the trade but also stating that a Luca Kyrie back courau would be an adventure defensively and I’ll be honest I didn’t know what to expect from those two all the Mavs defensively but it’s amazing what happens when you surround guys with the right Supporting Cast and all of a sudden those flaws that are always highlighted aren’t very big flaws after all just look no further than the Mavs defensive rating prior to trading for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington verse after they went from a bottom 10 defense only hovering a few games above 500 to the eighth best defense and winning 21 of their last 30 Games before having that defensive success translate into the postseason and we might as well start with the defense of lucer and Kyrie because we all know they are Wizards with the basketball but they’ve been locked in on defense just look at lucer on an island against Jaylen Williams who hits him with a couple of crossovers which Luca does well to slide his feet against before he’s then able to get a picture perfect contest on the step back jumper forcing an airball and what’s better than forcing a player into airballing forcing them into airballing twice or even against Shay on this play where Luca doesn’t play great initial defense but it’s his ability to then recover and contest the jumper forcing the Miss let’s not forget at 6’8 with a 7t wingspan even if his direct opponent creates some initial separation off the dribble Lucas still has the ability to affect the shot with a good contest now Kyrie might not have those same physical traits but the effort he showed defensively against OKC was truly Elite I mean if you want to talk about defensive effort look no further than this play Jaylen Williams gets the ball on the wing with Luca helping over into the Gap it allows Dort to take him off the dribble but watch Kyrie do his best Derek Lively impersonation going straight up against D absorbing the contact and forcing the Miss I can promise you most guards his size would just move out of the way with l h moving to the rim like a freight train but Kyrie not only put his body on the line he did so with perfect form and this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the winning plays we’ve seen from this entire Dallas roster however before 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with exter’s Father’s Day sale so just click the link in the description to shop with exter now when I say this Dallas roster has been making winning plays all postseason long two names immediately come to mind guys do I even need to sa the two players that come to mind Tim Hardway Jr and Dwight pal okay no but seriously PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr are two more serieses away from being etched into the role player Hall of Fame guys over the last three games of this series Derek Jones Jr said he’s playoff career high in points not once not twice three games in a row including the biggest shot of the entire series gathered by Jones with one to shoot Jones makes it as the buzzer sounds and it’s wild to think that when Dallas brought in DJJ he was seen as an end of the bench rotation player because after all that’s what he was on a mediocre Bulls te but after earning his starting spot through highlevel defense with Luca even calling him one of the three best defenders in the NBA his confidence offensively has just skyrocketed a play like this is a perfect example where he sets the screen for Kai he gets the ball in the middle of the floor and look at the textbook floater over the outstretched arms of Chad and this was a nice release vow for Kyrie when the Thunder would send two to him again Jones gets the ball in the middle of the floor and hits another floater over Chet now in addition to the added confidence the chemistry he and Luca donic have is something special I mean how many times have you seen a 6ot six forward catch lobs from every spot on the floor in fact this is one of the most evident parts of this Dallas team the chemistry they have is so clear we see lucer and Kyrie showing each other love consistently on and off the court but we obviously can’t forget PJ Washington assuming the enforcer role in the Clippers series and establishing himself as Luca’s personal bodyguard alongside you know having an alltime series against the Thunder averaging 18 and on 47% from three on eight attempts per game I feel bad for Thunder fans because they went from having to deal with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to having to deal with the greatest shooter of all time PJ Washington and I’ve said this before but this is what makes this Dallas team different to teams of the past not only do they have a superstar second option but both Derek Jones Jr and PJ are guys capable of Defending multi positions knocking down threes and making plays off the dribble when the defense tries to sell out on them obviously PJ got hot from three but I promise you regular 3 and D Wings aren’t getting the ball in the post facing up their Defender before taking a couple of dribbles and dropping it in or again on this play where he gives his best Kareem impersonation with a bit of a Skyhook it’s still unbelievable that the Mavs were able to secure the exact archetype of player that every contender end ing team is looking for and secure not just one but two only giving up one first round pick in the process with all of this being said it wasn’t trading for Kyrie or PJ or even getting Derek Jones Jr for nothing that has been the best move Dallas has made over the last year and a half one move trumps them all now I hope Adam Silver isn’t listening but the best move they made was to tank the final games of last year let me be very very clear the Dallas Mavericks are an absolute mess let’s say what it is well you can call last year’s Mavs a disgrace all you want that disgrace of a team landed them Derek Lively and this entire video could be about Derek Lively because after what he’s endured this year he still seems to be the most positive and energetic person on the entire roster and his play his play has also been incredible I know plus minus isn’t everything but in a closeout game 6 to be a plus 20 6 on the court you’re doing something right or in Lively’s case you’re doing everything right offensively he uses his monstrous athleticism to provide a roll threat and a lob threat consistently for both lucer and Kai something Luca has barely had throughout his career now he has two Elite lob threats but it’s the defense that has been special for a 20-year-old rookie just look at him here slide over off the chat screen to stop Shay from getting to his mid-range spot Shay kicks it to Dort who goes past Washington and watch Lively read him like a book before sweating the shot away or in this play where Williams blows past Washington he drives to drive into the chest of lively but Lively doesn’t budge staying vertical and blocking his shots or how about his offensive rebounding securing three offensive boards in the fourth quarter of game six alone including this put back dunk to bring the Mavs level and then a couple of minutes later getting on the offensive glass again sending himself to the free throw line now if you did make it all the way to the end of the video consider subscribing if you want to see more content like this all throughout the playoffs and just going forward either way have a great day bye

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