(05-20-2024, 11:53 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: Timothy Legler (@LegsESPN)
Sitting here trying to decipher this @dallasmavs @Timberwolves series. This morning on @GetUpESPN I was asked who SHOULD be the favorite to win it all and I said Wolves. Bc they have earned the right to be viewed that way. BUT… I wasn’t asked who I BELIEVE wins this WCF SERIES. And my answer to that is… DALLAS.
I sort of get this. The issue really is that we have absolutely no baseline for understanding how these teams match up except on paper.
This year's regular season matchups really can't be used very well. Consider all of this in regard to our regular season matchups:
1. Grant Williams was a complete nothing-burger in those losing games with Minnesota, and we lost two of the losing games by single digits. The third was a blowout because we played without Doncic, Lively, Exum, or Irving. Seriously. I think Hardaway was our point guard in the blowout and R. Holmes was our center (that should tell you all you need to know).
2. In another one that was a close single-digit loss, Neither Doncic or Irving played and we only lost by 8 points.
3. In the two games Doncic did play, he scored 39 and 34 points. In the only game we won, Dwight Powell was our starting center (and our biggest player because neither Lively nor Kleber were available !!!).
4. Irving and Doncic as a tandem have both played against Minnie in just one game this season. The Mavericks won. Irving had 35 points and Doncic 34. The same game in which Dwight Powell was our only center. In the win, Grant Williams came off the bench replaced finally by DJJ as a starter. Minnie was healthy and played their entire lineup.
Trying to figure out how these teams matchup is a total crapshoot now. The lineups are entirely different for Dallas. Lively played in only two games, Doncic played in only two games, Irving in only one game, and of course Gafford and PJ in none of the games. For Minnie, they competed without Towns once, but were healthy for all the others.