For the 2nd time in 3 years, Luka upsets #1 seed to make WCF

[ChipotleWest]

But BSPN told me you can't win with Lucas Doncacheese.

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[Pelly24]

Luka has almost everything he needs now. If Luka were 100% I actually would've had the Mavs winning this series in 5.

But this is really a major triumph for the Mavs front office. Getting Kyrie was panned at first, but I knew as long as they were afforded enough time on the court together, it would work out. It's basically a remix of LeBron x Kyrie. Kyrie is a head case, but he's so good that even his bad games are kind of good. He's a top 20 player in the league and has been for like 10 years now. People gotta give him his props for being able to step up when Luka was really banged up to eviscerate the clippers, and even this series, he played great defense and made timely shots even if he was way too passive. So that was a great calculated risk for the Mavs.

And then they just did an incredible job drafting Lively, who should be a strong defensive big for years to come. Getting Gafford and PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. was just huge. You surround high IQ, elite-shot-making guards like Luka and Kyrie with gritty defenders and it becomes a huge problem, because even if the game gets mucked up, these two can always heat up and hit shots everywhere from 30 feet in. It's a recipe that's ideal for Luka. I think they should definitely upgrade THJ and get a legit third-scorer or a more consistent 3&D guy. Lively will just get better as time goes by, hopefully he improves his hands a little bit and develops better post moves. PJ is great for this team.

[KodiakBear]

Good for him. He's an elite player. OKC was a paper tiger. They're still a few years away.

[HotRocks34]

Dallas has played 12 games this postseason.

Luka has a positive plus/minus in 11 of those games, which is the best on the team. The only game he was negative in was Game 1 vs OKC.

His On/Off so far in this playoffs, according to BBREF, is +18.6, which is third on the team behind Kyrie and Lively.

[Pelly24]

Luka needed a lot of help today. He played an average game based on the standards we have to set for him.

Expended way too much energy on the refs, compared to Shai who just kept playing and was composed and his team followed his lead. Even when Luka got T'd up, he didn't stop and was lucky not getting his second T on a few occasions. Someone seems to have told him, because his mindset was slowly getting back to the game and his team started to play well again. I hope this is a learning moment for him.

The reason the Mavs are in the WCF is because of the unexpected performance of Lively, Washington and Jones.

Guys like Lively, Washington and Jones only are in position to make impact like this because they play on a team with Luka. No Luka, no deep playoff run for them to impress in. Period.

I agree, I mean Jones especially has had opportunities on multiple teams and never looked like this. Washington was in Charlotte for 4 1/2 seasons and they never sniffed the playoffs, in the East. I do think they outperformed their role as role players though, but it doesn't mean they could go to Detroit and become the star player on that team.

They completely sold out and said, "Ok PJ, beat us, cause we're clogging the lane and doubling." And ... that's pretty much what happened. They won those two huge PJ games. But credit to PJ for stepping up

[dygaction]

2022 WCF team, top 7 players by minutes in the playoffs besides Luka:
Bullock/Dorian Finney-Smith/Brunson/Dinwiddie/Kleber/Powell/Bertans

2024 WCF team, top 7 players by minutes in the playoffs besides Luka:
Irving/PJ Washington/Derrick Jones Jr./Lively II/Gafford/Josh Green/Kleber

This is different from a player asking for a trade. Luka and Mavs basically found new players and rebuilt the team in two seasons. That was done with severely limited draft picks, existing talents, and letting Brunson walk without getting anything back.

[Pelly24]

I haven't had much opinion on Luka either way but I do like that he stayed with the Mavericks and allowed this the FO to try and build around him. This is not the ideal way to build a team, Kyrie is not an ideal #2 imo, but it seems to be working in the playoffs. I respect what the entire Mavericks organization has been able to do.....

Why is Kyrie not an ideal #2 when he literally has a championship as the #2 player? It's not like he's any worse than before, less volume scoring now and much better floor game and decision making.

I think that might be a remark of how he's generally a ball-dominant guard instead of a high-value big, maybe?

Kyrie has a lot of skills, though. He's a fantastic shooter and obviously his dribble penetration and mid-range game are just excellent. And Luka (and Lebron) have post ability, so they don't always have to occupy the same spaces on the floor, which is key.

Yeah I think Kyrie's all-around game is drastically underrated. People will look at this series, and a series like the '19 series against the Pacers and think he was really ineffective, but I think this was a solid series. He was actually pretty elite on defense, a big reason why Jalen Williams was so subpar. The Thunder sold out to take Kyrie out of the game, so he made them pay by making the obvious pass, and he made OKC pay again and again rather than forcing tough pull-up threes and midrange jumpers over two or three defenders. He got a bunch of deflections and steals, passed the ball well, kept turnovers relatively low, and he closed out games when necessary. He's not truly a top-tier elite volume scorer like a Kobe or a Dirk or KD, and he's not a GOAT volume scorer like MJ, and he's actually not even a volume scorer like an AI. He's a reluctant chucker, honestly. But what's underestimated is his floor game and his defense. 2018-to-present Kyrie is more like a bigger more athletic, better-shotmaking Kyle Lowry with all the little things he does with his IQ and defense and then still All-NBA level shot-making that can come up at any point. He's very scalable, and when he's not scoring a lot, he's low-key doing important things that won't always show up in the box score, and then his shotmaking can still help you close out the games when he's ready. He' just been typecast as a super chucker because of his flashy skills, but his game is more nuanced than people think.

So Kyrie is actually a great second option. A guy that can maintain a great offense by himself because he can pass, has gravity and has a low turnover rate (even if he's reluctant to do so too much) can play on or off-ball and knock down shots from wherever, whenever, can ISO, and specifically for Luka, Kyrie's well-rounded skillset makes it so Luka doesn't have to look to get him in rhythm (even though I think he should) so Luka can spend time weaponizing the rest of the team. then, Kyrie is like an emergency fail safe. He can even step up and takeover for a series like he did against the clippers. This is what lets guys like PJ, DDJ, Gafford and others be more useful than they would be otherwise. And then he still plays defense and just makes high IQ plays on both sides of the ball all the time. Kyrie would be great next to Jimmy Butler on Miami, Tatum in Boston (instead of Brown, ironically), next to Jokic, next to Ant, next to ... it's a lot of people. He would work on basically every team, and he's scalable, could be a No. 3 option or No. 4 option, too.

[tsherkin]

Yeah I think Kyrie's all-around game is drastically underrated. People will look at this series, and a series like the '19 series against the Pacers and think he was really ineffective, but I think this was a solid series. He was actually pretty elite on defense, a big reason why Jalen Williams was so subpar. The Thunder sold out to take Kyrie out of the game, so he made them pay by making the obvious pass, and he made OKC pay again and again rather than forcing tough pull-up threes and midrange jumpers over two or three defenders. He got a bunch of deflections and steals, passed the ball well, kept turnovers relatively low, and he closed out games when necessary.

Yeah, you don't always come through best for your team with shooting volume, for sure. And he does a lot of other stuff.

He's not truly a top-tier elite volume scorer like a Kobe or a Dirk or KD, and he's not a GOAT volume scorer like MJ, and he's actually not even a volume scorer like an AI. He's a reluctant chucker, honestly. But what's underestimated is his floor game and his defense. 2018-to-present Kyrie is more like a bigger more athletic, better-shotmaking Kyle Lowry with all the little things he does with his IQ and defense and then still All-NBA level shot-making that can come up at any point. He's very scalable, and when he's not scoring a lot, he's low-key doing important things that won't always show up in the box score, and then his shotmaking can still help you close out the games when he's ready. He' just been typecast as a super chucker because of his flashy skills, but his game is more nuanced than people think.

Indeed. He's pretty versatile.

[Harry Garris]

Not trying to take anything away from Luka/Dallas but I wouldn't really call this an upset since the line at the start of the season was about even and OKC was not a typical 1 seed due to youth. I think OKC, Minnesota, and Dallas are all kind of perceived around the same level. Beating Denver would be viewed as an upset.

And nevertheless, I think Denver is a much better matchup for Dallas than Minnesota, if only for their respective perimeter defense.
Denver have basicly no one to guard efficiently Kyrie and Luka.
And also while Joker is obviously unstoppable, I feel guys like lively or Gafford are typically the sort of centers who can slow him down a bit.
Joker himself was saying after their last loss to Dallas that they were a small ball team comparing to this Mavs team.

You're joking, right? Although Dallas plays 2 centers the entire game, those centers are two of the skinniest 5s in the NBA and neither of them physically match up well with Jokic. Jokic has like a 40-50 pound weight advantage against either of those dudes. Dallas is on the tall side I guess but their entire lineup outside of Luka is skinny and can get pushed around. Gafford is skinny, Lively is beanpole, PJ Washington is skinny, Derrick Jones Jr too. I don't see much "size" here.

That's partly why the Mavs are the worst offensive rebounding team in the NBA.

Minnesota is the team that has size, not Dallas. The Mavs are big in comparison to OKC but that's because OKC is what like the smallest or second smallest team in the entire league.

[jkvonny]

as scripted. I'm not a betting man as my state prohibits it but if I was, I'd bet on the Mavericks to win it all. You people don't have a clue how desperate the NBA is to justify the next TV contract and to show how they have faces of the league to take over when Lebron and Steph retire. Luka is that player they're banking on being that guy and he can't be that guy unless he's a champion. Once that happens all the advertisers will come out of the woodwork and he'll be in commercials, print-ads, late night TV, SNL, etc.

When the NBA decides who becomes the face of its league they don't mess around. They merged with the ABA to get Dr. J. They steered (nobody talks about this or will admit it) Bird to the Celtics and Magic to the Lakers. They steered Kobe and Shaq to the Lakers. They steered home town hero Lebron to the Cavs. They steered Luka to the Mavs. They steered Wembanyama to the Spurs. Call me a conspiracy theorist all you want but when I'm proven right give me my props.

The script says that Indiana and Minn wins tonite lol

[Jabroni Lames]

Not sure about the race angle but one thing is clear:

Nurse is getting a massive pass while getting exposed every year. While no one wants to give Kidd any credit.

I would say every coach should get a huge benefit of doubt for winning a franchise the only championship. It happened to Nurse at TOR and Carlise at DAL. Embiid and Giannis/Lillard' injuries saved their coach jobs.

Lets be honest about it though.

Kawhi got them that title. And the only reason the Raptors even won, was because the Warriors collapsed with injuries. Nurses title means less than Doc Rivers did vs a prime Lakers team with Kobe and Pau as a comparison.

The only reason Nurse was even hired was because Casey couldn’t get past Lebron. That’s the other thing Nurse was gifted…. no Lebronto. No prime KD.