05-12-2024, 04:15 PM
(05-12-2024, 02:40 PM)The Jom Wrote: I’m not defending it. But I think it’s understandable. Dort had 5 fouls. Team had 4 fouls. Officiating tide had turned and the Mavs were gonna get some FTs. Why not make it Lively instead of Luka or, much worse, Kyrie shooting em? Besides, what a high reward if it worked (as it seemed to at first). Play Lively off the court and this turns into a very different series.
Yes, there are other reasons not to do it. Yes, it backfired in a major way. But I can see the thinking.
I thought their coach defended it pretty logically. Still wouldn't have done it, personally, but apparently they were trying to find a way to keep the lineup they wanted (best offensive lineup, but struggling, defensively) on the floor. The thinking was that even if Lively managed to hit some of the free throws, it would prevent Dallas from running their offense, and the probabilities (again, with that offense over defense lineup OKC wanted to play) favored the strategy over trying to defend Dallas straight up down the stretch.
Overall, I recommend everyone listen to the OKC coach do an interview or two. He's pretty transparent about his thinking, and comes off as really intelligent, imo. That doesn't mean he's the best coach ever, or that he can't do anything wrong, but I respect him more as a result of hearing him talk.