Will Seasoned Veteran Porzingis Outplay Rookie Lively?

[KillerLeft]

I think stat wise Lively will probably be outpaced by Porzingis, but can Lively do all those winning things that he does to help out the Mavs?  If the Celtics get the KP they had during the regular season, I am just not sure the Mavs are beating this team.  

I'm not so sure about Porzingis outpacing Lively, stat wise. 

Scoring? Maaaayyyybe, but it's important to remember that KP's shots, makable as they might be for him, will be tougher, like the type Luka, Kyrie, Tatum and Brown take. And, he won't have the ball in his hands much unless the Mavs dictate that he does. His offense is basically there so that teams can't have the switches they want (or he'll post them) and so he'll hold a defender at the perimeter. If he's successful, Dallas can easily just not help off of him and not switch certain players onto him (though it might come at a very high cost in terms of guarding whomever DOES get the ball). Still, if KP is scoring a lot, I'd say that's advantage Mavs unless it's on insane efficiency, because that means fewer shots for Tatum/Brown. On the other side, all of Lively's shots will be dunks, and if the Mavs get their way, he'll be directly involved in the offense, like a lot. 

Rebounding? Nah, Lively will cream KP in this category, I believe, especially if Tatum is guarding him. Tatum is a good rebounder, better than Washington, probably, but I like PJ or Kleber's chances to win rebounds from Porzingis or Horford more than I like Tatum's chances to rebound effectively against Lively/Gafford. 

Defense? I have literally no doubt that Lively will be a more disruptive defender than Porzingis, and would say that even without the injury. Now? Coming off that injury? I expect Porzingis to be one of the biggest defensive liabilities on the floor. The Mavs should be able to do to KP what Boston is going to do to Gafford. But, I have hope they won't be able to do it to Lively. And hey, if they can, there's always Kleber. 

The more I hear/read about this series, the less I expect an actual, direct matchup between KP and Lively, but I think Dan had the general right of things the other day. Lively has to outplay Porzingis, and if he doesn't, that doesn't bode well for our Mavs, I don't think. That's fine with me, because I sold every inch of land I owned on KP island years ago.