PLAYOFFS ROUND 1: #4 DAL (4-2) vs #5 UTA (2-4) |

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/SloHoopsFan/status/1...2423197696

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/DLocke09/status/1513720318711382017

[ThisIStheYear]

“Some optimism”  that doesn’t sound great.  What a break for the Jazz.
Brutal for Mavs fans.

[KillerLeft]

“Some optimism”  that doesn’t sound great.  What a break for the Jazz.
Brutal for Mavs fans.

Yep. I'm officially prepared for the worst. Such a bummer.

[Branduil]

I think the lucky, best-case scenario is Luka only misses the first two games and the Mavs manage to steal one of those. That's the best possible case.

[Jym]

I think the lucky, best-case scenario is Luka only misses the first two games and the Mavs manage to steal one of those. That's the best possible case.

Yeah sucks since we finally got homecourt but please, please do not rush him back. Hold him out the whole series if he's not right.
He's too young and the team around him is way too meh to risk a further injury

[ItsGoTime]

Yeah sucks since we finally got homecourt but please, please do not rush him back. Hold him out the whole series if he's not right.
He's too young and the team around him is way too meh to risk a further injury

Absolutely, this team with Luka might win the first round, because they got HCA. They for sure aren’t winning more than that!

[Smitty]

The players that will have to step up in Luka's absence, should he miss a game or two.
Brunson - Dinwiddie - DFS - Green - Bertans

Brunson in 17 games without Luka this year:
34 MPG / 20.4 PPG / 7.5 AST / 3.9 RBS

Dinwiddie in the 2 games without Luka:
35 MPG / 31 PPG / 6.5 AST / 3.0 RBS

DFS in the last 20 Games:
34 MPG / 13.6 PPG / 4.2 RBS / 1.9 AST / 44.6 3P% on 6.5 3PA/g

Green in the last 20 Games:
18 MPG / 5.7 PPG / 2.9 RBS / 1.0 AST / 41 3P% on 2 3PA/g

Bertans in the last 11 Games:
13 MPG / 5.5 PPG / 2.5 RBS / 0.8 AST / 50 3P% on 3 3PA/g

[ItsGoTime]

Someone posted Luka’s stats with Gobert in and out of Uta’s lineup. Any chance we can get that for Brunson? He’s a bit bigger concern now that Luka might be out for a bit and considering JB’s performance in last year’s playoffs.

[ItsGoTime]

How about this exercise? From best player to worst in the 9 man rotation (with Luka and without), how do these teams match up?

With Luka:
Donovan vs Luka - heavy advantage Mavs
Rudy vs Jalen - heavy advantage Jazz
Bojan vs Dorian - advantage Mavs (IF he plays on offense like he has lately! If not, it's a push, great defense for great offense)
Jordan vs Spencer - advantage Jazz
Mike vs Dwight - advantage Jazz (IF Luka keeps connecting with him like he has, this swings in favor of Mavs)
Royce vs Reggie - push
Hassan vs Maxi - push 
Rudy vs Josh - advantage Jazz
Danuel vs Davis - push (IF DB shoots well)

Without Luka:
Donovan vs Jalen - advantage Jazz
Rudy vs Dorian - heavy advantage Jazz
Bojan vs Spencer - advantage Jazz
Jordan vs Dwight - heavy advantage Jazz (esp with no Luka feeding him)
Mike vs Reggie - heavy advantage Jazz
Royce vs Maxi - push (IF Maxi gets his groove back)
Hassan vs Josh - advantage Jazz
Rudy vs Davis - advantage Jazz (unless he goes otherworldly)
Danuel vs Frank - advantage Jazz

Next, the general position for position matchup (with and without Luka).

With Luka:
Mike/Donovan vs Luka/Jalen - very, very heavy advantage Mavs (unless JB is bothered by Utah's length, then it's sans the very's)
Royce/Bojan vs Dorian/Reggie - advantage Mavs (IF Dorian keeps his offensive flow, if not it's a push)
Rudy vs Dwight - very, very heavy advantage Jazz 
Jordan/Hassan/Rudy/Danuel vs Spencer/Maxi/Josh/Davis - advantage Jazz

Without Luka: 
Mike/Donovan vs Jalen/Spencer - advantage Jazz
Royce/Bojan vs Dorian/Reggie - see above
Rudy vs Dwight - see above
Jordan/Hassan/Rudy/Danuel vs Maxi/Josh/Davis/Frank - heavy advantage Jazz

Without having a great grip on Utah's player hierarchy, I mainly went with MP for their ranking. For the Mavs rankings I generally went with the mvossman post in the impact ranking thread. I went with the feeling of who I would rather have on my team for 1 playoff series if my life actually depended on it.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

You can throw anything that happened in the regular season out the window.  The Jazz has struggled, but that's not a barometer that it continues and vice versa. Luka's unknown availability changes everything. With him, they're obviously heavy favorites.

[omahen]

(1) Mavs PR on Twitter: "The Dallas Mavericks announced today that an MRI confirmed a left calf strain for Luka Dončić. Dončić has begun treatment and there is no timetable for his return. https://t.co/L7GPE4Lfe0" / Twitter

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(1) Brad Townsend on Twitter: "In a 3-minute span, Jason Kidd has said several times that Luka Doncic is "in great spirits" but he is being a coy as possible about Doncic's status for Saturday's Game 1, as well as whether he can practice." / Twitter

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(1) Mike Leslie on Twitter: "Luka Doncic (left calf strain) was receiving treatment at the Mavs practice facility, when the media was allowed into the gym. He playfully covered his head with a towel, when we found him with our news cameras." / Twitter

[cow]

The only plus side to Luka missing time (I think he will and further, I think he should) is that we'll get to see Jalen's growth (is he really worth 20m per) and what we really have in Spencer.   The team will still need some offensive spark somewhere and I'm not sure where that comes from.  Is that DFS doing a bit of the playmaking he's showed flashed of throughout the season?  Is that Josh Green hustle?  Is that Bubble Burke?   We also need DFS, Bullock, Bertans and Maxi to be dead eyes to weather this storm.  I know the Jazz have been wonky but our margin of error is nil.

[MaxiThreeba]

The only plus side to Luka missing time (I think he will and further, I think he should) is that we'll get to see Jalen's growth (is he really worth 20m per) and what we really have in Spencer.   The team will still need some offensive spark somewhere and I'm not sure where that comes from.  Is that DFS doing a bit of the playmaking he's showed flashed of throughout the season?  Is that Josh Green hustle?  Is that Bubble Burke?   We also need DFS, Bullock, Bertans and Maxi to be dead eyes to weather this storm.  I know the Jazz have been wonky but our margin of error is nil.

JB has made himself a lot of money.  If Luka is out for part or all of playoffs (and I agree with your take on it) then JB is about to have an opportunity to make even more money.

[Mavs2021]

JB has made himself a lot of money.  If Luka is out for part or all of playoffs (and I agree with your take on it) then JB is about to have an opportunity to make even more money.

Or lose a lot of money. I´m Brunson´s agent, I´m not that happy right now.

Teams don´t pay Brunson $20M to be their back-up PG. They pay cause they think he can be their starting PG. Well, he´ll get a chance to prove it.

[MaxiThreeba]

Or lose a lot of money. I´m Brunson´s agent, I´m not that happy right now.

Teams don´t pay Brunson $20M to be their back-up PG. They pay cause they think he can be their starting PG. Well, he´ll get a chance to prove it.

I almost added that to end of my post but I was trying to be positive. 

100% correct though…JB could definitely lose a big chunk of change.

[Jommybone]

I think the lucky, best-case scenario is Luka only misses the first two games and the Mavs manage to steal one of those. That's the best possible case.

What does “best” even mean then? I can’t get my arms around how losing, especially to a team like Utah that hasn’t beaten anybody in awhile, could be anybody’s idea of best.

[Hogmelon]

Even best-case injury diagnosis, I would sit Luka in games 1 and 2 and hope they can pull a miracle and steal one at home. Preferably bring him back in game 4 which would probably be on April 22 or 23 and give him over 10 days to heal

With the injury, all expectations have gone out of the window. Now you just see if they can hold on and push this to a game 7 at home.

Game 1, Saturday, April 16, at NOON CDT, in Dallas

Game 2, Monday, April 18, at 7:30 PM CDT, in Dallas

Game 3, Thursday, April 21, at 8:00 PM CDT, in Salt Lake City

Game 4, Saturday, April 23, at 3:30 PM CDT, in Salt Lake City

Game 5, Monday, April 25, time TBD, in Dallas

Game 6, Thursday, April 28, time TBD, in Salt Lake City

Game 7, Saturday, April 30, time TBD, in Dallas


https://www.nba.com/schedule

[loki]

What does “best” even mean then? I can’t get my arms around how losing, especially to a team like Utah that hasn’t beaten anybody in awhile, could be anybody’s idea of best.

When life gives you Luka, make Arnold Palmer Lemonade.

[ItsGoTime]

What does “best” even mean then? I can’t get my arms around how losing, especially to a team like Utah that hasn’t beaten anybody in awhile, could be anybody’s idea of best.

Man, I’m glad our team doesn’t have such a flippant disregard for the team that is the Utah Jazz.