The Mavs Are 3 Wins From The Finals??

The Mavs Are 3 Wins From The Finals??

the Dallas Mavericks take game one against Minnesota and just like last game we have to start off with Vibe check the vibe check for the Dallas Mavericks is you’re three games away from the NBA Finals like this is just an unbelievable situation for them to be in they went into Minnesota to take the first game of the series and not only that they look like the better team for large parts of this game especially closing at the end they looked way more comfortable getting into their offense finding their star players there’s certainly a scenario here in which Dallas is just better than Minnesota and as good as the Timberwolves have looked throughout the postseason certainly the series is not over by any means I did not expect Dallas to be as impressive as they were in this game and the vibe check for them is they’re in this thing like they have a legit chance to win the title this season and you have to be feeling great if you’re the Mavs if you’re their fans after game one because even if you obviously expected to have a really good chance in the series game one coming off of a of a longer series and obviously both teams are tired fatigued after long series to come into Minnesota and win game one is absolutely massive for Minnesota the vibe check is like you’re not panicking by any means um they certainly could have played better they got incredible contributions from some of the role players especially McDaniels um a can play better you’re not necessarily concerned but there’s definitely some issues in terms of your late game offense in comparison to what the Mavs have which we’re going to talk about later you certainly could still feel like you’re the better team and you just lost a game that you know where Dallas played really well and you just sometimes you’re going to lose right like it’s okay to say okay they just outplayed us tonight and move forward with the series but obviously not a game that Minnesota or their fans expected them to lose now that we’ve done the vibe check we got to take a look at the box score right the the most unbelievable thing for me about this game for Dallas is they win the game they beat a team in Minnesota that I think most people expected was better than them going into the series and they did it while shooting 6 for 25 from three now Minnesota although they made 18 threes they took almost 50 of them they were 18 for 49 from three that’s 36% whereas Dallas shot 24% on 6 for 25 but still there’s there’s no other real number in here that can explain how they were able to make up that big of a difference in overall three-point volume compared to Minnesota they didn’t get more shots because of turnovers or offensive rebounds both of those numbers were pretty close uh they shot 87 shots whereas Minnesota Minnesota had 89 um they shot better from the floor overall but obviously as we said Minnesota made a lot more threes uh free throws they got a couple more free throws in this game the real difference maker here in terms of the overall team stats is points in the paint and Dallas was attacking the rim time after time they were getting these lobs they were getting out in transition uh Luca was able to get into some of his you know kind of in between game getting in the lane and that to me is the big differentiator between these two teams right now is the comparison between how well we saw Luca and Kyrie play in this game offensively and how you know we saw ant kind of struggle a little bit in this game and that’s also what stands out for me with the individual stats as well I mean Carl Anthony towns 6 for2 from the field ant 6 for 16 he’s 5 for2 from three and he made one two-point basket the entire night those guys have been fantastic throughout the entirety of the postseason uh that’s just not going to be good enough it’s clear that Dallas is locked in and focused on making sure ant Can’t Get Loose making sure Carl Anthony tal Can’t Get Loose they’re okay with giving up some threes but they just want to keep them away from the rim make sure they’re not in a rhythm they did a fantastic job of that in game one and they’re just going to need better performances from those two guys specifically because they lost this game to an awesome McDaniels game like if you’re getting 20 plus from him you’re absolutely just floored not realizing that was a contribution you were going to get Rudy did what he did Mike Conley was also out there like you got a really good McDaniels game and your stars just weren’t up for it unfortunately tonight for Minnesota and yes you know their stars are asked to do a lot more uh defensively in terms of two-way guys especially ant uh compared to some of these other guys so maybe they were a little bit tired I think ant especially down the stretch was tired but statistically those are some of the things that I’m looking at in terms of moving forward in the series my number one takeaway from the game is I always felt confident at the end of the game in the last five six minutes that Dallas was going to get a good shot they were going to get a good look at The Rim every single possession for them when they came down transition whatever the case may be I felt good about whatever shot they were going to end up with even if they didn’t end up with a good one I felt like they were going to get a good look whereas Minnesota partially obviously because of the defensive pressure the Dallas was putting on them but also because of their personnel it never really felt like they were totally comfortable operating at the end of these games because they would try and get ant into some ball screen action and Dallas would just switch it which didn’t really create an advantage because there’s just so much size and length out there for Dallas that they’re just able to be disruptive in in any kind of switching really because they’re able to keep these guys away from the rim as I said a only made one two-point basket the entire night and it was clear that he he still has this mindset of like okay I’m going to drive and I’m going to find people like he’s he’s grown so much as a playmaker and teams have put so much pressure on him to make sure he’s making those plays and they put so much focus on him in these screens but he’s got to find a way to get better shots at The Rim I mean like five for 12 from three is good but like there has to be more Rim pressure from Anthony Edwards I thought he was tired at the end of the game uh cat just had a rough shooting night I thought his shots weren’t fantastic either I think there was a pretty significant difference in shot quality especially for the stars for Dallas and they they just outplayed the two stars for for Minnesota and I think it’s very easy to argue that Dallas has two of the three best players in the series between Luca and Kyrie and then obviously ant from Minnesota and Kat despite being really good so far in the postseason I still just have this little thing in the back of my mind that makes me not trust him for whatever reason in these kinds of games whether it be getting into foul trouble whether it be just taking himself out of a game emotionally whether it be uh just taking some ill-advised shots and I think some of that stuff showed up tonight for Minnesota obviously each team feels good about where they are going into game two because there are just ways that each of these teams could have won I mean Minnesota if they made a couple more threes obviously the volume was there you shot almost 53s they certainly could have won the game I mean Dallas Dallas really really executed down the stretch Luca was fantastic in the last six minutes of this game he made defensive plays as well it was a drive where Mike connley was trying to get to the rim and he and he threw a lob to go bear and Luca deflected it because he knew Mike Conley wasn’t going to shoot he was only trying to find a lob then of course he was able to get into his in between game he was making threes and that to me makes me feel really confident in Dallas moving forward in the series I mean Minnesota is very good and defensively they’re fantastic but their late game offensive execution is going to be tested in this game and of course there have been other matchups where it hasn’t been as important obviously a lot of the games against Denver weren’t particularly close seems like a lot of these games are going to be pretty close and they’re going to be forced to execute uh down the stretch and I I’m just less confident in that part of their game than I am Dallas in terms of adjustments moving forward in the series for each team I’d expect to see some shorter rotations for each of them Dallas tried a couple of different guys out there tonight I think by the end of the series we’re probably going to see each team playing Seven guys for Dallas that would be the Five Guys of course that start Lively’s going to play a ton and probably finish games and then they’re just going to have to pick one of hard away for spacing or Josh Green XM uh for obviously being able to guard shoot some threes and then Hardy who they’ve tried a lot as well I’d guess that by the end of the series Josh Green is probably that guy because he’s so good defensively he can be a decent Anthony Edwards match up despite not being you not having you know great length against him I think that’s probably where they would go by the end of the series where it’s for Minnesota I don’t think we’re going to see a ton of Kyle Anderson the rest of the way because Dallas is totally fine with letting Kyle Anderson beat them offensively like if they lose the game because Kyle Anderson makes 5 threes they’re fine with it they’re going to collapse they’re going to send extra guys to ant they’re going to send extra guys to cat they’re going to send extra guys trying to prevent these Rudy Gober lobs at the rim and it’s just it’s really hard to especially execute Laden games as well as just get into any kind of an offensive Rhythm if you’re one of these stars from Minnesota if you’re playing four on five and and unfortunately for Kyle Anderson that’s just where we’re at right now especially because of how slow his release is I don’t think Dallas respects his offensive game at all so I’d expect them to shorten the rotation of seven guys as well the guys that start of course Nas Reed and then Alexander Walker Off the Bench as well and apart from that this definitely felt like a game where you know there was high level basketball being played and they’re both just kind of feeling out what the other team wants to do other than that there’s not a ton of adjustments to be made other than what I’ve already mentioned a getting to the rim more uh putting a little bit more pressure on them to to Really throw a lot of attention at him I love that he’s trying to be a playmaker I love that he’s trying to find these other guys but like he’s going to have to score between 25 and 30 points per game uh for Minnesota to win the series cat is going to have to be better and make some more shots have more Rim pressure don’t put up 53s next game for Dallas keep doing what you’re doing I mean you know guard well find your other guy find your role player guys for threes get a ton of lobs of the rim just really really put pressure on this team in the paint and if it comes down to the last seven minutes of the game and you’re it’s within five or six points you feel really good about your chances if you’re Dallas that’s kind of the way their team is constructed between Luca and Kyrie Kyrie was fantastic tonight I already mentioned how good Luca was down the stretch that’s their game right now they guard they make threes they get to the rim and they’re really good at executing late game because their stars are so good so Dallas certainly really really impressive in this game I’m curious to see how Minnesota is going to try and adjust to that because if they’re going to lose the first two games of the series U at home it’s going to be really tough for them moving forward so massive game two for them coming up and honestly one of my favorite games of the playoffs so far just because of all the little intricacies that we’ talked about this evening

The Dallas Mavericks won game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves behind incredible performances from Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and a poor showing from Anthony Edwards.

#luka #mavs #lukadoncic