05-24-2024, 02:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-24-2024, 02:16 PM by KillerLeft.)
(05-24-2024, 01:57 PM)BigDirk41 Wrote: The last 3 quarters were great defensively by the Mavs, but had Kyrie not put up 24 in the first half, I believe we lose and this is a whole different argument. I don't feel like they were better prepared. I feel the defense did it's job and our 2 superstars took it upon themselves to win game 1 and they did. Kyrie carried them the first half while the other guys were struggling including Luka and then Luka brought it home in the 4th. The first quarter was atrocious.
Anthony Edwards was NOT prepared for all five defenders to be either next to him or with one foot in the paint every time he got the ball. He had no idea what to do., which is the main reason he was ineffective. The comparison I made the other day was LeBron against Dallas in 2011. LeBron was a much better player already than what he showed in that series, but he didn't UNDERSTAND (at the time) how to attack the defense Dallas designed to stop him.
Luka and Kyrie were both VERY prepared with how to attack deep drop coverage in the pick and roll. They've seen that for years.
I have no idea if Kidd's defense will continue to stifle Edwards. I feel like if it does, the Wolves will have games where the open threes don't drop as well as they did in Game 1. But, if Edwards CAN figure it out, I ALSO have no idea whether or not Kidd has anything else in mind that might be equally confusing, either.
What I do know is that while both PJ and DJJ are amazing defenders, neither of them can neutralize Edwards the way they did in game 1 without the help of scheme confusing him. If he figures out how to break the defense, we're going to see some 40-50 point games from him, a bunch of offensive rebounds for the wolves off of his misses because the Dallas bigs have to help, etc. Kidd's plan to just let McDaniels shoot is absolutely the right one to my mind, even if he's red hot for the whole series. I just don't know yet if that choice will always be up to him, so to speak.