06-11-2024, 03:29 PM
(06-11-2024, 03:24 PM)Smitty Wrote: It’s more about trying to get Lively going really. He has been the 3rd most impactful player in the playoffs. If the Mavs have any chance of winning, he needs to get back to being that guy. Starting him is a way of trying to get him there mentally. I think he matches up better against Horford and that both can defend just fine when Kornet is out there. Yes, it has a chance of backfiring for both bigs but down 0-2 in the finals is a good time to try something and hope it has a positive impact.
I'm not sure whether this would help or not, but Lively is absolutely the guy who needs to get going. The Gafford minutes are already going 10x better than I thought they would. Not good, but not terrible, either. The Mavs got this far BECAUSE of Lively, so if he's going to swing completely from huge positive to damn near unplayable, I just don't know where the team goes from there.
The bright side is that this kind of failure, should it continue, is an AMAZING experience for a 20-yo rookie to absorb and use to grow. He was so great and integral to the Mavs' go-to strategies on both sides of the ball that it took getting to the NBA FINALS for a team to force him out of those comfort zones.