06-02-2024, 02:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-02-2024, 03:01 PM by KillerLeft.)
(06-02-2024, 02:41 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Another interesting aspect. And this one isn't favoring the Mavs. The Celtics might be the only team in the league that can get away with 1v1 defense vs Luka for an entire game/series. If Luka cannot force the double team the Mavs are in trouble. Mavs need the best version of Luka. Especially when it comes to his shooting.
There is no easy matchup to exploit if the Celtics can keep their bigs out of the pick and roll. And even though the Mavs aren't the same team that we saw in the regular season matchups vs Boston it should be mentioned that the Celtics did an incredible job with preswitches. Brown on the ball and Holiday switching onto the big to defend the pick and roll.
This is a good point, and it will be a huge talking point this week on the analyst circuit.
Let me just say that with how Luka is playing right now, I'm not worried about Tatum or Brown guarding him. I would've said something totally different during the LAC/OKC series, but thankfully, he's looking more and more like himself with each passing day and now has a week of rest. They might make it a little tougher at times than McDaniels, but that will come at the heavy cost of foul trouble, reduced energy on offense, and ultimately, I don't expect that either can shut Luka down enough to make it a winning proposition in the wash of both ends.
But...
I have a little bit of concern that Holiday and White might both be uniquely qualified to slow Kyrie down. And, if Luka does beat Tatum and/or Brown, as I expect he will, they'll try Holiday on him (probably will, anyway, at least for stretches). That might put Tatum and/or Brown on Kyrie for important stretches. THAT could be a problem.
So ultimately, while I'm not exactly shaking in my boots over the "who guards Luka" aspect of it, I totally agree that Boston having FOUR plus defenders gives them lots of options that could potentially make life extremely difficult for the Mavs, in general. In the worst case scenario of this series, I envision a lot of DJJ and/or Josh Green attacking the paint off the dribble, and we all know how most of those possessions end.