2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #4 Los Angeles Clippers vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[MMyhre]

His priorities and mindset made him top5 player in the World and will bring him 1 billion dollars in his career. I'm hope your priorities and mindset is as good as his.

His talent and hard work as a child and teen did that, not the adult version with his head up his ass. He can have 1 billion dollars and still not be happy, so that`s just materialistic bull.

Materialistic bull? Tell that to people, who are fighting every day just to survive or to have a decent life.

Yeah man, you need to get a billion dollars to be happy, more money, that`s the way. You talking about his overwhelming money is, indeed, materialistic bull, no one needs that much. You should be the one "telling" it to happy people with way, waaaaaaaaaaaay less money than that.

[MMyhre]

Mavs are losing games, when Kyrie is playing without Luka.

Seems like we have one of Luka`s yes men here, keep taking those shots and lose, Luka

In 9 minutes in which he didn't take a single shot, because he was out, Mavs were - 30 in both games they have lost. It looks to me that he shooting too much isn't Mavs' biggest problem, on the other hand Mavs offensive rtg being 68 without him is the big problem.

Luka could probably score 10 own baskets and you would find a way to spin it as him being a positive out there. Go Clippers. Finish these homers

[Bob8]

Seems like we have one of Luka`s yes men here, keep taking those shots and lose, Luka

In 9 minutes in which he didn't take a single shot, because he was out, Mavs were - 30 in both games they have lost. It looks to me that he shooting too much isn't Mavs' biggest problem, on the other hand Mavs offensive rtg being 68 without him is the big problem.

Luka could probably score 10 own baskets and you would find a way to spin it as him being a positive out there. Go Clippers. Finish these homers

You're missing the point, I'm not saying that he's playing great, I'm saying that he's playing good enough, with incredible Kyrie, that they would be at least 3:1, if they didn't have total collapse without him in both games. Don't you think that - 30 in 9 minutes is absurd? +74 on/off? The right question is, how Kidd has no game plan whatsoever without him on the court? If Kidd did his job, not only Mavs would play better without Luka, Luka wouldn't need to play 45 minutes and be more rested, when he plays.

[Bob8]

His talent and hard work as a child and teen did that, not the adult version with his head up his ass. He can have 1 billion dollars and still not be happy, so that`s just materialistic bull.

Materialistic bull? Tell that to people, who are fighting every day just to survive or to have a decent life.

Yeah man, you need to get a billion dollars to be happy, more money, that`s the way. You talking about his overwhelming money is, indeed, materialistic bull, no one needs that much. You should be the one "telling" it to happy people with way, waaaaaaaaaaaay less money than that.

I would say that those professional basketball players are having fantastic life, if they win something or not. And Luka has won everything in Europe already, so he's basketball legend there no matter what he does in Nba. I'm sure he would like to win Nba title someday, but I doubt very much that he will have unhappy life, if he doesn't. So yes, I would say he did most things in his life absolutely right.

[Texas Chuck]

can we not have just troll posters in these threads please? This is a great series.

[Bob8]

can we not have just troll posters in these threads please? This is a great series.

Can you please name those troll posters?

[CoP]

Mavs offensive rtg with Luka on court is 113 and 68 when he's off court. Mavs offense is nonexistent without him.

More specifically, the Mavs offense is nonexistent without Luka and Irving on the court.

Not sure where you got your on/off numbers. BBREF shows 115.4 on court and 83.3 off court for Luka. Irving's is similar: 116.5 and 89.7.

Either way, these numbers kind of prove my point, which is that looking at on/off numbers in small sample sizes is not a good idea.

I'm not saying Luka isn't amazing on offense - even in a series when he's not shooting well, the attention he draws boosts an offense. No doubt about it. I'm just saying his on/off numbers in small sample sizes absolutely can get boosted by him getting subbed off for defensive possessions late in close games.

On Nba.com.

Kyrie is playing a lot better, but he's having a lot worse +/-, on/off numbers, because Mavs without Kyrie still somehow survive, but when Luka goes out everything stops. That shows +/-, on/off on BBREF too.

Kyrie, +1; +8 on/off.
Luka with unbelievable + 7.9; +74.6 on/off.

Kyrie is unbelievable while playing with Luka, much better than Luka, but he's not Pg and when Luka goes out, Mavs offense just stops. Exum is unfortunately unplayable as Pg in this series. That's why Luka has absurd on/off. Luka didn't play especially well but had positive +/- in all 4 games. In both, first and last, they were -15 without him on the court. He didn't play only 9 minutes in those 2 games they have lost. So Mavs were - 30 in just 9 minutes without him.

I have looked at your thesis, there wasn't sub like you're talking about in game 1 and there really were 3 FTS made by Clippers without Luka late in 4Th Q in game 4, but that still leaves -27 in just 9 minutes Luka didn't play in 2 lost games.

My post was in response to yours about the Mavs' offense, and Luka's ORTG on/off. Kyries ORTG on/off is also huge this series, as he has been incredible on offense. However, as I said before, on/off numbers are a bad metric for extremely small sample sizes.

Where do you find on/off numbers on nba.com? I'm curious. I'd probably rather go with nba.com numbers rather than bbref. There's often a discrepancy between the two because of how each of them calculate it. Like bbref says that Luka has a negative net rating for this series, which is bizarre.

[Bob8]

More specifically, the Mavs offense is nonexistent without Luka and Irving on the court.

Not sure where you got your on/off numbers. BBREF shows 115.4 on court and 83.3 off court for Luka. Irving's is similar: 116.5 and 89.7.

Either way, these numbers kind of prove my point, which is that looking at on/off numbers in small sample sizes is not a good idea.

I'm not saying Luka isn't amazing on offense - even in a series when he's not shooting well, the attention he draws boosts an offense. No doubt about it. I'm just saying his on/off numbers in small sample sizes absolutely can get boosted by him getting subbed off for defensive possessions late in close games.

On Nba.com.

Kyrie is playing a lot better, but he's having a lot worse +/-, on/off numbers, because Mavs without Kyrie still somehow survive, but when Luka goes out everything stops. That shows +/-, on/off on BBREF too.

Kyrie, +1; +8 on/off.
Luka with unbelievable + 7.9; +74.6 on/off.

Kyrie is unbelievable while playing with Luka, much better than Luka, but he's not Pg and when Luka goes out, Mavs offense just stops. Exum is unfortunately unplayable as Pg in this series. That's why Luka has absurd on/off. Luka didn't play especially well but had positive +/- in all 4 games. In both, first and last, they were -15 without him on the court. He didn't play only 9 minutes in those 2 games they have lost. So Mavs were - 30 in just 9 minutes without him.

I have looked at your thesis, there wasn't sub like you're talking about in game 1 and there really were 3 FTS made by Clippers without Luka late in 4Th Q in game 4, but that still leaves -27 in just 9 minutes Luka didn't play in 2 lost games.

My post was in response to yours about the Mavs' offense, and Luka's ORTG on/off. Kyries ORTG on/off is also huge this series, as he has been incredible on offense. However, as I said before, on/off numbers are a bad metric for extremely small sample sizes.

Where do you find on/off numbers on nba.com? I'm curious. I'd probably rather go with nba.com numbers rather than bbref. There's often a discrepancy between the two because of how each of them calculate it. Like bbref says that Luka has a negative net rating for this series, which is bizarre.

https://www.nba.com/team/1610612742/mavericks/

Edit: I don't know why pasted link is wrong. Just write in your browser nba stats on/off mavs and you will get Mavs on/off summary, then choose playoffs.

[CoP]

https://www.nba.com/team/1610612742/mavericks/

Edit: I don't know why pasted link is wrong. Just write in your browser nba stats on/off mavs and you will get Mavs on/off summary, then choose playoffs.

Awesome, thank you

[Texas Chuck]

can we not have just troll posters in these threads please? This is a great series.

Can you please name those troll posters?

I'm not trying to embarrass anyone specific, but if you read posts by a poster and they are all trolling, I'm probably talking about them, no?

[Wallace_Wallace]

This is going to the wire. If Leonard can be a factor (if he were to play) in game 7, I’m leaning towards LA. If not, Dallas should pull off the victory

[Bob8]

can we not have just troll posters in these threads please? This is a great series.

Can you please name those troll posters?

I'm not trying to embarrass anyone specific, but if you read posts by a poster and they are all trolling, I'm probably talking about them, no?

You have written just troll posters, so we can safely assume everyone, who has written something today is trolling?

[Texas Chuck]

Bob, ignore me. This isn't that hard. There are posters itt just trolling. Its super obvious. It would be cool if they stopped. No idea why you are worried about this unless you feel guilty. But so you can relax, I was not talking about you. Please forget I even said anything lol.

[jg77]

It's probably already been discussed in here but are Clippers a better team w/o Kawhi?

[NBA4Lyfe]

This is going to the wire. If Leonard can be a factor (if he were to play) in game 7, I’m leaning towards LA. If not, Dallas should pull off the victory

how can you sit there and say with a straight face that the clippers need kawhi especially given how the first 4 games have played out

[ChipotleWest]

It's probably already been discussed in here but are Clippers a better team w/o Kawhi?

The Clippers are a better team without the Kawhi that was on the court for Game 2 and 3, but they can't win a championship without a healthy Kawhi. I'm not sure if that Kawhi exists anymore though. It never exists come playoff time.

[og15]

This is going to the wire. If Leonard can be a factor (if he were to play) in game 7, I’m leaning towards LA. If not, Dallas should pull off the victory

Not really interested in the version of Kawhi that we saw playing as that version makes the team worse. Remember he hadn't even had any contact practice and still didn't after game 2.

If he's feeling GREAT and practices with contact before then, maybe, but tossing a guy in for a game 7 is always a risk, even worse if the guy isn't even practicing with contact before the game.

[Bob8]

Bob, ignore me. This isn't that hard. There are posters itt just trolling. Its super obvious. It would be cool if they stopped. No idea why you are worried about this unless you feel guilty. But so you can relax, I was not talking about you. Please forget I even said anything lol.

There is one misunderstanding that many mods don't or don't want to understand. Mods can be normal partner in conversation, if we're talking strictly about basketball. But in the moment mods start to talk about who and what should be written, who's troll...you're not anymore just a basketball fan, you're a mod. We're not equal anymore. It's like talking to policeman until he cuffs you.

[Bob8]

This is going to the wire. If Leonard can be a factor (if he were to play) in game 7, I’m leaning towards LA. If not, Dallas should pull off the victory

Not really interested in the version of Kawhi that we saw playing as that version makes the team worse. Remember he hadn't even had any contact practice and still didn't after game 2.

If he's feeling GREAT and practices with contact before then, maybe, but tossing a guy in for a game 7 is always a risk, even worse if the guy isn't even practicing with contact before the game.

Kawhi shouldn't play in this series. Clippers proved that they can win without him and he won't miraculously improved his form by a lot in a week. If Clippers win game 5 they're going to be favourites to win the series with or without him anyway.

This series will be decided by Luka's capacity to find his 3-pointer, Kyrie's ability to continue his fantastic play, Harden ability to make crucial shots and Clippers 3-pts %.I believe both teams will continue to play very physical game.

[Texas Chuck]

Bob, ignore me. This isn't that hard. There are posters itt just trolling. Its super obvious. It would be cool if they stopped. No idea why you are worried about this unless you feel guilty. But so you can relax, I was not talking about you. Please forget I even said anything lol.

There is one misunderstanding that many mods don't or don't want to understand. Mods can be normal partner in conversation, if we're talking strictly about basketball. But in the moment mods start to talk about who and what should be written, who's troll...you're not anymore just a basketball fan, you're a mod. We're not equal anymore. It's like talking to policeman until he cuffs you.

I am not a mod on this board, Bob. And we've had this conversation too many times for you to keep being so hyper focused on it.

I am not saying as a Mod to not troll. I can't. I don't Mod this forum. I am asking as a board reg if in a really good series, we could please not troll.

But I wish I hadn't because you have turned this into some whole thing. For no reason.

Carry on. Troll or don't troll. Whatever at this point lol.