2024 Playoffs- 4th Round: Boston Celtics - Dallas Mavericks

[KillerLeft]

Good post from Killer above.

I'm guessing Dallas will wait to see if KP is hitting his perimeter shots. His perimeter percentage may determine rotations. I agree that there will be minutes where only Lively and Kleber will be the only real options, but I suspect Gafford to get the start and play good minutes.

There's a world in which Porzingis falls on his face, offensively, and the Mavs' first, go-to defensive strategy crushes Boston's offense. We know that world exists, because we just watched Holmgren not reach a PPP on open shots sufficient to pull the Mavs' bigs out of the paint. I so hope that's the world we're about to live in, and being the "Porzingis sucks" truther that I am, I kind of find it likely, even, at least to start the series. 

But, I might have to eat those words after game 1, and if I still had the respect for KP that some of you have maintained for years, I would be pretty scared about the first game or two of this series.

I'm even less confident Gafford can hang while Horford is out there. I know he's old, but spreading teams out and hitting big shots is something he has been doing for over a decade, and why he's going to have a job for literally as long as he wants one.

The flip side is that neither of those guys are tough enough to be ready for what's coming for them with Gafford and Lively rolling to the rim. I just can't predict which will advantage will be more impactful. It might come down to which is more impactful in important moments, in which case...*gulp*...I actually think Kidd might be the better coach (can't believe I just typed that) and that might be advantage: Dallas.