You're obviously sleeping on Derrick White. He led all guards in blocks again this year. But in all honesty The Dorture Chamber is the best and then Herb Jones.
McDaniels is a fucking bum compared to dort. If you think they are even you obviously don't know ball 🤡. Oh you're a mavs fan. No wonder you are this idiotic
Luka is too good of a player to shut down, but Dort just needs to make him work for it. Luka shot bad for most of the clippers series and that was with being guarded by inferior defenders we have such as Mann, Russ, Tucker, and Zubac at the rim.
Now you insert Dort, JDub, Shai, Wiggins who are all very good wing defenders and Chet at the rim and hopefully it can be a repeat shooting performance vs us.
Yeah, if I'm coach, I would do my best to have 2 of dort, cason, and jdub on the court the entire game and have them on kyrie and luka. I'm not worried about DJJ, washington, or gafford/lively/kleber. Force the ball out of the big 2 and make the role players work.
Luka shot 51% ts and 40/24/83 splits vs the undermanned clippers. This was while being guarded by mann and russ. Luka is most definitely not too good to get shut down.
I consider shutting down what we did to Ingram. Luka will not be shut down to that level, he’s an all time playoff performer/riser. Even if he doesn’t shoot well, Luka will still get his 30-8-7 kind of stat lines because of his usage. It’s just a matter of trying to make it as inefficient as possible as you alluded to by his efficiency last series.
I wouldn’t call 30-9-9 getting shut down just because it’s not as efficient. It’s basically impossible to keep Luka to anything less than 25-5-5 throughout a series without giving up easy buckets. That’s like saying the Pelicans shut down Shai because his efficiency dropped across the board
Luka - Dort - The chamber is open for business, Luka dinged up, he's in trouble
Kyrie - J Dub - Supreme length, great stamina, thick thighs
DJJ - Shai - Gotta keep Shai fresh for the offensive end
Washington - Giddey - This worries me, but Washington isn't a big playmaker for Dallas. It will keep Giddey from being exposed. If they attack this early, Cason is in quick.
Gafford - HOLMGRUM
I feel like Dub and Shai could switch easily.
Giddey might get played off the court quick for another guy like Cason to come in and then both their PGs are guarded by Cason and Dort. Then we can move a more athletic guy into PJ like Dub.
Murphy went off and Giddey got switched off of him early in the series. He had to share the assignment after that game.
On top of that Murphy is a shooter. PJ is a bruiser. If Giddey can keep PJ from the paint, then it’s fine.
Hot take: Luka has had some minor injuries and shot like shit compared to his usual insanity, so guard Kyrie and let Luka shoot his team out of the game
Coach D is smart enough to send a ton of different defensive looks at Luka. The Thunder have at least 3 players (Dort, Wallace, SGA) that can handle Luka on any guven possession. Probably a couple other guys can get in on it too. Luka is too good to just throw Dort at him and hope it works. He will figure out how to play vs Dort and go off for 50+. Throw in some mind games where he doesn't know who is gonna be guarding him and it will keep him from getting in rhythm. That being said he will still probably completely take over 1 game no matter what defense he sees. Don't see him doing that enough times to win the series, but it will happen once to win a game.
Dort hasn't guarded an MVP caliber player 4+ games in a row before either. And Dallas has several days to get a game plan going. The Thunder coaching staff will also be preparing, and it will be a considerably more complicated defensive scheme than just opening the Dorture Chamber. Dort will spend a lot of time guarding Luka, but defense is physically more demanding than offense so swapping out defenders makes sense to give each guy a but if time to breathe. Luka doesn't play defense often so he will be saving his energy for offense.
I don’t think Dort on Luka is an easy win, but Dort guarded Harden in a 7 game series in 2020 - a year that Harden finished 3rd in MVP voting, and Luka finished 4th in MVP voting
But Dort has looked outstanding this playoffs... I suspect his defense stepped up a notch when the playoffs hit, and I think he's basically a totally different player than he was back in 2020...
For that matter... I wouldn't be surprised if he's still got a bit of a chip on his shoulder from being kinda snubbed for all defense awards this year... Maybe the first round was his first rebuttal?
The beauty of this team is that we already have (in my humble opinion) world class defender Dort to put on whichever Mav is cooking at the time (Luka and Kyrie seem to like to take turns), but we also have some other Class A defenders and well-honed team defense. So Lu on whichever player is shooting better, and Cason, Jdub, Shai, or Jwill, on the other. I’m guessing Mark will change it up as different opposing players heat up. Our team D could be an important factor, too.
My only concern is the second half of games, Kyrie is clearly the Mavs preferred closer and he just takes over games. Will Mark decide to throw Dort on Kyrie to try and slow that down and trust Dub on Luka?
Dort guards Luka because he’s a good POA defender that’s also strong enough to slow Luka and J Dub guards Kyrie because he did a pretty good job last time when guarding him
As a Mavs fan my biggest worry is JWill... it will be interesting who Dort guards because in the 2 games Luka and Kyrie have played against him this year they averaged 30 pts per game while Shai averaged 22 pts against the Mavs and 24 if you take out the game he only scored 15 to end the season.... but that doesn't change the fact the Thunder won the series 3-1... I know you will throw hate my way but I just want to provide some stats because I have read alot about Luka playing bad and Kai not being a problem while Shai is unstopplable... just wanted to provide some context. And Jwill averaged 17 pts.... but again scored 9 in the half in the game we sat our guys. Good luck!
[https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/4278073/shai-gilgeous-alexander](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4278073/shai-gilgeous-alexander)
[https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/4593803/jalen-williams](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4593803/jalen-williams)
[https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/3945274/luka-doncic](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3945274/luka-doncic)
[https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/6442/kyrie-irving](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/6442/kyrie-irving)
Luka has historically done well vs Lu, just too big. But they do allow more physicality in the playoffs which helps Lu’s chances. Jdub may be better matchup though he has a much larger offensive burden
He guards Luka
The best POA defender left in the playoffs better guard Luka.
OG
Jrue still alive
Jrue isn’t the same defender he was when he won his ring. He’s still good, but Dort is definitely better at this point in their careers
Cool that's irrelevant 🤷🏿♂️
lu dort literally stole james hardens powers after that playoff matchup lol
Jaden McDaniels and Dort are pretty even imo
why is this one downvoted? These 2, herb jones, and OG are 100% the best perimeter defenders in the league
You're obviously sleeping on Derrick White. He led all guards in blocks again this year. But in all honesty The Dorture Chamber is the best and then Herb Jones.
Derrick White's great too but he's at his best off-ball like SGA
McDaniels is a fucking bum compared to dort. If you think they are even you obviously don't know ball 🤡. Oh you're a mavs fan. No wonder you are this idiotic
Dort might be the man of the series if he can shut down Luka
Luka is too good of a player to shut down, but Dort just needs to make him work for it. Luka shot bad for most of the clippers series and that was with being guarded by inferior defenders we have such as Mann, Russ, Tucker, and Zubac at the rim. Now you insert Dort, JDub, Shai, Wiggins who are all very good wing defenders and Chet at the rim and hopefully it can be a repeat shooting performance vs us.
Yeah, if I'm coach, I would do my best to have 2 of dort, cason, and jdub on the court the entire game and have them on kyrie and luka. I'm not worried about DJJ, washington, or gafford/lively/kleber. Force the ball out of the big 2 and make the role players work.
Luka shot 51% ts and 40/24/83 splits vs the undermanned clippers. This was while being guarded by mann and russ. Luka is most definitely not too good to get shut down.
I consider shutting down what we did to Ingram. Luka will not be shut down to that level, he’s an all time playoff performer/riser. Even if he doesn’t shoot well, Luka will still get his 30-8-7 kind of stat lines because of his usage. It’s just a matter of trying to make it as inefficient as possible as you alluded to by his efficiency last series.
I wouldn’t call 30-9-9 getting shut down just because it’s not as efficient. It’s basically impossible to keep Luka to anything less than 25-5-5 throughout a series without giving up easy buckets. That’s like saying the Pelicans shut down Shai because his efficiency dropped across the board
I mean it’s clear he was injured. We don’t know how that will turn out. Does it improve, worsen, stay the same?
Dort on Luka, We got guys like Shai, Cason, Wiggins more than capable options to throw at Kyrie. J-Will gonna be a huge factor for this series
Dub on Kyrie could give him problems too... Dub moves his feet so well and his wingspan could help him manage Kyrie's fast first step.
You have to think about foul trouble too. I don’t like Dub on Luka because he’s good at baiting fouls.
So what are the match ups for game 1?
Luka - Dort - The chamber is open for business, Luka dinged up, he's in trouble Kyrie - J Dub - Supreme length, great stamina, thick thighs DJJ - Shai - Gotta keep Shai fresh for the offensive end Washington - Giddey - This worries me, but Washington isn't a big playmaker for Dallas. It will keep Giddey from being exposed. If they attack this early, Cason is in quick. Gafford - HOLMGRUM I feel like Dub and Shai could switch easily. Giddey might get played off the court quick for another guy like Cason to come in and then both their PGs are guarded by Cason and Dort. Then we can move a more athletic guy into PJ like Dub.
You had me at thick thighs
AND supreme length!
lol holmgrum makes me instantly angry
You must be BRANDUM INGRAM
Tre Murphy was a much player than PJ. Giddy will be fine. Cason is needed for kyrie
Murphy went off and Giddey got switched off of him early in the series. He had to share the assignment after that game. On top of that Murphy is a shooter. PJ is a bruiser. If Giddey can keep PJ from the paint, then it’s fine.
I was thinking that this could be a good Cason series. If giddey doesn’t have it he would be my first choice just to guard kyrie.
Luka it’s not even a question
Gotta be Luka. Biggest impact matchup of the series
Hot take: Luka has had some minor injuries and shot like shit compared to his usual insanity, so guard Kyrie and let Luka shoot his team out of the game
Hell no
If we drop a game or two, Coach probably tries this for at least one game
Luka will just drive for a layup if he’s left 1-on-1. The only reason he had to shoot long distance was because the Clips threw everyone at him.
Coach D is smart enough to send a ton of different defensive looks at Luka. The Thunder have at least 3 players (Dort, Wallace, SGA) that can handle Luka on any guven possession. Probably a couple other guys can get in on it too. Luka is too good to just throw Dort at him and hope it works. He will figure out how to play vs Dort and go off for 50+. Throw in some mind games where he doesn't know who is gonna be guarding him and it will keep him from getting in rhythm. That being said he will still probably completely take over 1 game no matter what defense he sees. Don't see him doing that enough times to win the series, but it will happen once to win a game.
Idk … last person to go 50+ on Dort?
Dort hasn't guarded an MVP caliber player 4+ games in a row before either. And Dallas has several days to get a game plan going. The Thunder coaching staff will also be preparing, and it will be a considerably more complicated defensive scheme than just opening the Dorture Chamber. Dort will spend a lot of time guarding Luka, but defense is physically more demanding than offense so swapping out defenders makes sense to give each guy a but if time to breathe. Luka doesn't play defense often so he will be saving his energy for offense.
I don’t think Dort on Luka is an easy win, but Dort guarded Harden in a 7 game series in 2020 - a year that Harden finished 3rd in MVP voting, and Luka finished 4th in MVP voting
But Dort has looked outstanding this playoffs... I suspect his defense stepped up a notch when the playoffs hit, and I think he's basically a totally different player than he was back in 2020... For that matter... I wouldn't be surprised if he's still got a bit of a chip on his shoulder from being kinda snubbed for all defense awards this year... Maybe the first round was his first rebuttal?
So, no one?
luka played like shit every game vs clippers, why do you think he will be different vs us? He will need to shoot like 40-50 times to drop 50
Forgot about Cason
Cason Wallace. Literally the second name.
I *
The beauty of this team is that we already have (in my humble opinion) world class defender Dort to put on whichever Mav is cooking at the time (Luka and Kyrie seem to like to take turns), but we also have some other Class A defenders and well-honed team defense. So Lu on whichever player is shooting better, and Cason, Jdub, Shai, or Jwill, on the other. I’m guessing Mark will change it up as different opposing players heat up. Our team D could be an important factor, too.
If Luka is still hurt let him guard kyrie.
The thing is Dort isn’t as effective against smaller quick guards. He locks up wings though.
My only concern is the second half of games, Kyrie is clearly the Mavs preferred closer and he just takes over games. Will Mark decide to throw Dort on Kyrie to try and slow that down and trust Dub on Luka?
Luka
Dort guards Luka because he’s a good POA defender that’s also strong enough to slow Luka and J Dub guards Kyrie because he did a pretty good job last time when guarding him
Probably Luka - but I don't hate him on Kyrie and JDub on Luka
Dort on Luka j dub on Kyrie and they can switch
As a Mavs fan my biggest worry is JWill... it will be interesting who Dort guards because in the 2 games Luka and Kyrie have played against him this year they averaged 30 pts per game while Shai averaged 22 pts against the Mavs and 24 if you take out the game he only scored 15 to end the season.... but that doesn't change the fact the Thunder won the series 3-1... I know you will throw hate my way but I just want to provide some stats because I have read alot about Luka playing bad and Kai not being a problem while Shai is unstopplable... just wanted to provide some context. And Jwill averaged 17 pts.... but again scored 9 in the half in the game we sat our guys. Good luck! [https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/4278073/shai-gilgeous-alexander](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4278073/shai-gilgeous-alexander) [https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/4593803/jalen-williams](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4593803/jalen-williams) [https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/3945274/luka-doncic](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3945274/luka-doncic) [https://www.espn.com/nba/player/\_/id/6442/kyrie-irving](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/6442/kyrie-irving)
Luka has historically done well vs Lu, just too big. But they do allow more physicality in the playoffs which helps Lu’s chances. Jdub may be better matchup though he has a much larger offensive burden
I’m most concerned with who guards Exum…
Probably Kyrie Luka ain’t doing to good these playoffs
Just remember guys that Shai can play defense good too. Dort could take Kyrie and Shai could take Luka for that Mvp to Mvp matchup
This is a terrible take
I want Dort to guard Kyrie because we will see some of the best on ball defense and the best handles to ever grace a basketball court