05-18-2021, 09:13 AM
Here's the thing ya'll. All of these western matchups in particular are going to be difficult, primarily bc the Lakers ended up a low seed which means their first round opponent will get a tough matchup.
On paper the easiest matchup might be whoever the Jazz plays but then again that could be Warriors or a very fiesty Memphis team.
I think most (all?) of these first round matchups are going 6 or 7 games. Mavs being in the middle of the pack, healthy with Luka and Rick should be good for 6 games. Rick with Dalembert only beat the Spurs in 7 games. So you have to have confidence Mavs will be able to get this thing to 6 or 7 games which means they have a chance. This is where Rick makes his money.
I know people overrate Tyron Lue and I think he has value as a player's coach that can motivate guys but lets face it, he coached LeBron which means LeBron was the coach. He has yet to prove anything as a head coach. I believe Doc Rivers is a far superior coach to Lue until proven otherwise. Doc had a rough time last year mostly bc he lost the team to in-fighting I guess.
But this year give me Rick all day long being able to put Mavs in a good position to win. Last year Mavs had a skeleton crew, no KP, banged up Luka and still went 6 games. We also have the advantage of the refs keeping a close eye on Marcus Morris this year. Luka pretty much torches all the Clippers but I don't think Morris can get away with stuff he did last year.
Mavs have played tough this year which gives me hope. They have played Clippers, Lakers, Knicks teams well. The only team that really gives them fits are the 76ers and we don't have to worry about them.
Last time these teams met Rick went with playoff-level rotations and minutes which was pretty much Luka, THJ, DFS, Maxi, KP, Richardson all getting heavy minutes + WCS, Brunson and Iwundu.
Brunson's got a tough matchup so its hard to say if he can figure out how to combat the length of the Clippers. If he can't then I would expect more Richardson and less Brunson. Powell has come on sense then so its unclear how minutes will go btwn Maxi, WCS & Powell. Maxi has looked really rough defensively as he is just banged up. I am not sure yet how much we will get out of him.
All that to say Rick will figure it out and put the best team out there. Even if it takes him a couple games he will get the right mix in there to push Clips to a long series.
On paper the easiest matchup might be whoever the Jazz plays but then again that could be Warriors or a very fiesty Memphis team.
I think most (all?) of these first round matchups are going 6 or 7 games. Mavs being in the middle of the pack, healthy with Luka and Rick should be good for 6 games. Rick with Dalembert only beat the Spurs in 7 games. So you have to have confidence Mavs will be able to get this thing to 6 or 7 games which means they have a chance. This is where Rick makes his money.
I know people overrate Tyron Lue and I think he has value as a player's coach that can motivate guys but lets face it, he coached LeBron which means LeBron was the coach. He has yet to prove anything as a head coach. I believe Doc Rivers is a far superior coach to Lue until proven otherwise. Doc had a rough time last year mostly bc he lost the team to in-fighting I guess.
But this year give me Rick all day long being able to put Mavs in a good position to win. Last year Mavs had a skeleton crew, no KP, banged up Luka and still went 6 games. We also have the advantage of the refs keeping a close eye on Marcus Morris this year. Luka pretty much torches all the Clippers but I don't think Morris can get away with stuff he did last year.
Mavs have played tough this year which gives me hope. They have played Clippers, Lakers, Knicks teams well. The only team that really gives them fits are the 76ers and we don't have to worry about them.
Last time these teams met Rick went with playoff-level rotations and minutes which was pretty much Luka, THJ, DFS, Maxi, KP, Richardson all getting heavy minutes + WCS, Brunson and Iwundu.
Brunson's got a tough matchup so its hard to say if he can figure out how to combat the length of the Clippers. If he can't then I would expect more Richardson and less Brunson. Powell has come on sense then so its unclear how minutes will go btwn Maxi, WCS & Powell. Maxi has looked really rough defensively as he is just banged up. I am not sure yet how much we will get out of him.
All that to say Rick will figure it out and put the best team out there. Even if it takes him a couple games he will get the right mix in there to push Clips to a long series.