Manifest Destiny: Claiming the West Starts with Taming the Wolves! Official Mavs (#5) vs. Timberwolves (#3) WCF Thread

[dubsmith_nz]

Man, Kat has absolutely disappeared. That man is not built for playoff NBA. Never thought I'd see them go 3 and 0 after the Nuggets series.

Looking forward to watching Luka and Kyrie take it all the way.

 

[T.he I.nformant]

I ain’t think this would be the series after three games

 

[Trav]

They wouldn't be on the verge of the Finals if that bozo Kuzma was on the team.

But Lakeset young core?

 

[Copy Ninja]

Luka is a neutron bomb…

He just scores & scores & scores

People gave The Clippers shyt about Luka’s scoring as if anyone could do better lol

Man this guy is unbelievable

If he was American he would be a huge superstar.

 

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

Imagine if the Rangers and Mavs bring Dallas ships. Jerruh finna be sweating this season.

Stars too....

We need this to happen because I wanna see how local media (especially The Ticket and WFAA) handles it. Them Cowboys training camp questions gon be rough.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

Lebron fans in shambles in here

 

[Trav]

IYKYK

 

[Tookalossfellbackcameback]

Gafford is a 6'9", undersized Ben Wallace type big...you'd think Tin Man Towns would stop bricking 3's and bring his 7 foot ass down to the block. Why not exclusively post up Towns and let him work?



Does Towns still know how to bang down low or is he too p*ssy?

 

[get these nets]

Last time we saw Luka and D12....

Deep into his career Howard's lack of fundamentals remained evident. He couldn't have accounted for Luka, but he didn't box out the nearest Mav.

He's one of the guys that would have been a much better pro player with 1-2 years at major college program.

 

[mbewane]

Never trusted this goofy. And some rumors were sending him to the Knicks

 

[Shutdown10]

the Mavs are so winning the whole thing, i feel sorry for anyone who thinks Tatum and Brown are going to out best Kyrie and Luka even with Porzingas

Mavs have a great shot at winning the whole thing. If Lively and Kleber are back for the Finals, then they will have the frontcourt advantage in that series. The perimeter battle between both teams seem like a wash to me. Both teams have guys to throw at Kyrie. Luka, Jaylen, and Tatum. It could end up coming down to who controls the paint. Dallas has the front court advantage, and the better closers in Kyrie and Luka.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Definitely but people need to remember Kyrie was viewed as a toxic asset at the time and also he was technically a rental
So any team trading for him was only guaranteed half a season
Dallas didn't even make the play in last year with Kyrie and Luka
It's not just the Kyrie move, it was the Lively pick and pivoting off of Grant Williams once they realized he sucks and getting PJ Washington as well as getting Gafford so Dwight Powell never needed to see the floor again

I remember. And still, you have to take risks when certain opportunities arise. Cuban is an owner who had the foresight to recognize that Kyrie would re-up because of his rep at the time and because he had limited options. This would have been the case for any team that took a swing on him.

Dallas went from a treadmill team with a generational talent to a Finals team in less than a year. Look at Toronto a year ago with Van Fleet, OG, Pascal, the pick they used to get Poeltl etc. They don't make a move then and then trade away/lose all those assets for RJ Barrett, Quickley and scraps from Indy they'll be flipping again.

If you're a team that doesn't want to bottom out and tank for high end talent, then you make trades for guys like Irving when they become available, period

 

[Damnshow]

What a disappointing conference finals. Nothing to watch here pretty much until June 7th

Mavs missed the playoffs with Luka and Kyrie. What they did is apparently they made excellent complementary piece trades. Sort of what they did with Dirk Mavs when they finally gave him more defensive guys like Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, etc.

Hornets gotta be looking stupid as hell. PJ looked kinda underwhelming in Charlotte, now he's a 3rd option on a championship contender. Oh word?

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

If Lively is hurt, this is the way for Minnesota to get back into the series. Just go crazy down low against Gafford and Washington, tire them out and get them into foul trouble. Dallas doesn't have good backup options at all if they don't have Lively.

They should get the calls in Game 4, especially considering the NBA wants to extend the series and not have a huge break. Then Game 5 at home. If the Timberwolves win a couple and get their confidence up, and are going into Game 6 with Lively still out and the Mavs struggling to defend inside, it could get spooky.

No team has ever come down from 3-0 and it's not going to happen now, so no need for people to try and speak it into existence.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

What a disappointing conference finals. Noting to watch here pretty much until June 7th

You’re so right

I feel like Minny might get the next one maybe two games to “make it interesting “ I wouldn’t be shocked if a total sweep happens though.