This team is so fun to watch between being lob city, playing great defense and never giving up. You can see the chemistry they have and it's special not to mention the entire roster is under contract heading into next year aside from DJJ(BRING HIM BACK NICO) and they can only build on this success.
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Sports NBA Thread: 2023-2024 Season
- Thread starter awyp
- Start date
Well, what do you know?
No
Told ya, as a Thibs fan idk why they extended him bro has a solid bench but decides to play a 7 man rotation
as a mavs fan, be honest are we really getting past the nuggets / wolves?
Luka has a shot at the ring, huh.
As a Mavs fan I'm gonna say it's highly unlikely, I think matchup wise it's just difficult for the Mavs, Edwards will lock down Kyrie, McDaniels / Alexander Walker for Luka (Injured), KAT / Naz Reid I think will be a bit much for PJ Washington, and if they decide to put either at the 5 I think we're fucked. Would love to be proven wrong though.
I wouldn't say impossible not with how good we've been defensively but definitely tough especially with Luka hurt
don't think ant can lock down Kyrie though he's a good defender but Kyrie will get his I do unfortunately agree Luka probably will struggle with McDaniels due to his knee and him being an elite defender. It'll come down to kyrie and the role players stepping up again like PJ, DJJ and lively did vs thunder.
My initial thoughts on Mavs/Wolves is that this is the first time in the playoffs the Mavericks will play a team longer and bigger (as far as size) than they are. OKC and Clippers were primarily wingmen trying to drive and shoot. Wolves are aggressive and (strangely) aren't a strong defensive rebounding team but still managed against Denver.
Honestly Edwards could bother Kyrie quite a bit if Murray was any indication. It's not like Kyrie has had a great OKC series. I think the Wolves being early slight favorites makes sense.
Honestly Edwards could bother Kyrie quite a bit if Murray was any indication. It's not like Kyrie has had a great OKC series. I think the Wolves being early slight favorites makes sense.
Oh I'm not saying ant can't bother him he definitely has the ability to slow Kyrie down I just disagreed with locking him up Kyrie has a bigger bag and far better handles compared to Murray. I expect a good series that probably goes 6 or 7 and could go either way.
I hope so our def is why I have faith we can pull it off. Ngl it feels weird saying that after we've been so bad on that end for so long lol but things change fast.
I think the Mavs have a much better defensive matchup against the Wolves than Denver did. The Wolves offense is contingent on KAT having a good game. Mavs will have Lively + Gafford and hopefully Kleber returns within a few games, so the rim shouldn't be very exposed. If Luka was healthy I would take the Mavs in 6 but I also had Denver in 6 lmao.
Ngl Naz concerns me more than kat he always kills us lol I think we can contain kat fine we don't struggle with shooting bigs anymore after the deadline.
I swear if she picks Dallas a third round in a row...
Cat knows ball lol
It's like that gambling ad where the dude has his cat pick between balloons labelled "HOME" and "AWAY" to decide his bets.
I think she picked Indiana just because it's yellow.
(1)The Finals Coasters versus (6) The Alex Burks World-Beaters
Boston has all the tools to theoretically win a match-up like this, but you know Boston.
Indiana plays fast and drives hard, and that’s not necessarily what Boston is afraid of. They have more than enough tough-minded defensive personnel to switch most things. Boston’s individual defenders should be comfortable guarding multiple players in transition or switches. The big concern is mostly with Horford. Pull-up shooting from guards like Herro and Mitchel have lit him up these playoffs. Haliburton is along that same archetype although he’s not as hot of a shooter. Indiana can try to prod Horford with speed and see what they come up with. Then there’s Turner, who has been one of the main beneficiaries from Haliburton. Turner/Horford I’d keep an eye on as far as, who is beating who in transition, who is shooting better from three, and who takes more advantages of switches.
To talk more about switches, during the Indiana/New York series, Haliburton struggled mightily when it came to guard/guard screens with Brunson and McBride. Tatum/White/Holiday is a bigger beast, and I’m unsure Haliburton is equipped to handle switches onto forwards or close outs on White/Holiday.
Siakam is another key player on Indiana’s side. If we can expect to Boston switch most things, how is he against potential crossmatches with Tatum/Brown/Holiday/White? Indiana needs a big series from him if they have any hope of standing a chance.
Pace is interesting subject, but not for the reasons I normally think. Boston can play any tempo, but they depend on three-point shooting more than most. If they get into a fast-paced shootout with Indiana, that makes the game have a much higher variance which would play in the favor of Indiana. Will Boston be lead down a path of shooting themselves out four out of seven times?
Boston is the clear favorite but their history and the amount of potential variance in the series makes me hesitant to choose them again. They had good transition defense during the regular season, they have more size, talent, and versatility. So, what’s the problem then? If Boston loses, you’ll see the problem.
Boston wins if: Horford has meaningful minutes over Turner on the floor, Tatum manages the offense efficiently despite any pace. Haliburton is picked on excessively. Holiday/White prove to show great on-ball defense and post-defense. Boston’s versatility in general gives them tools to keep Indiana out the paint.
Indiana wins if: Horford is exploited. Turner is too comfortable around Horford. Indiana’s bench dominates Boston’s bench. Tatum/Brown don’t make good offensive decisions and get sucked into shootouts. Boston just loses the variance three-point battle. Haliburton shows some offensive and defensive chops.
Boston in six.
(5) The Donatellos versus (3) Our Offense is shit but so is yours
Both teams have advantages and disadvantages against each other. Both teams have made tons of adjustments throughout the playoffs. Projecting a playoffs match-up is truly theoretical once again since the regular season meetings are mostly pointless.
I’ll start with the most important early question going into the series: Who will blink first? What I mean by that is, which coach will be the first to put two on the ball? Whoever can establish a winning defensive identity will have an early series advantage. Minnesota may want to try drop coverage and McDaniels/Doncic and Irving/Edwards in single coverage. See if Luka and Kyrie can beat Minnesota one-on-one. On the other side, Dallas may want to see if Edwards and KAT can beat them one-on-one. Whoever decides to involve help first has the early series advantage.
Things should steadily fall into place after that. Dallas does have the privilege of resting Kyrie/Luka on defense since Minnesota only has one exceptional perimeter scorer. If Kyrie/Luka are more comfortable this series simply due to less fatigue, that’s a big deal. Ant can’t be alone with the scoring load, so KAT will need to find his spots be it from doubles or post-ups.
Conley is a good x-factor for Minnesota. He shot a good percentage against Dallas during the regular season (52% FG). The only takeaway you can really use is his ability to sort through Dallas’ help and rotations if/when they do send doubles. He is the only other perimeter player who can punish Dallas for how they cover Ant.
Jones/McDaniels essentially share the same role this series. Whoever can stay out of foul trouble, make more shots, and defend adequately can give their respective team a leg-up.
Other than that, not much more can be taken with a grain of salt until I see how the coaches want to play it out.
Dallas wins if: Kyrie/Luka are comfortable offensively. Dallas stays closer to their team identity defense. Minnesota’s halfcourt offense finally comes back to bite them. KAT/Conley can’t help Edwards out.
Minnesota wins if: Minnesota forces too many turnovers. Minnesota either wins through Luka/Kyrie going one-on-one too much, or role-players like Jones/Green don’t make enough shots. Conley/KAT find their rhythm. Minnesota’s bench is king.
Dallas in six.
(1)The Finals Coasters versus (6) The Alex Burks World-Beaters
Boston has all the tools to theoretically win a match-up like this, but you know Boston.
Indiana plays fast and drives hard, and that’s not necessarily what Boston is afraid of. They have more than enough tough-minded defensive personnel to switch most things. Boston’s individual defenders should be comfortable guarding multiple players in transition or switches. The big concern is mostly with Horford. Pull-up shooting from guards like Herro and Mitchel have lit him up these playoffs. Haliburton is along that same archetype although he’s not as hot of a shooter. Indiana can try to prod Horford with speed and see what they come up with. Then there’s Turner, who has been one of the main beneficiaries from Haliburton. Turner/Horford I’d keep an eye on as far as, who is beating who in transition, who is shooting better from three, and who takes more advantages of switches.
To talk more about switches, during the Indiana/New York series, Haliburton struggled mightily when it came to guard/guard screens with Brunson and McBride. Tatum/White/Holiday is a bigger beast, and I’m unsure Haliburton is equipped to handle switches onto forwards or close outs on White/Holiday.
Siakam is another key player on Indiana’s side. If we can expect to Boston switch most things, how is he against potential crossmatches with Tatum/Brown/Holiday/White? Indiana needs a big series from him if they have any hope of standing a chance.
Pace is interesting subject, but not for the reasons I normally think. Boston can play any tempo, but they depend on three-point shooting more than most. If they get into a fast-paced shootout with Indiana, that makes the game have a much higher variance which would play in the favor of Indiana. Will Boston be lead down a path of shooting themselves out four out of seven times?
Boston is the clear favorite but their history and the amount of potential variance in the series makes me hesitant to choose them again. They had good transition defense during the regular season, they have more size, talent, and versatility. So, what’s the problem then? If Boston loses, you’ll see the problem.
Boston wins if: Horford has meaningful minutes over Turner on the floor, Tatum manages the offense efficiently despite any pace. Haliburton is picked on excessively. Holiday/White prove to show great on-ball defense and post-defense. Boston’s versatility in general gives them tools to keep Indiana out the paint.
Indiana wins if: Horford is exploited. Turner is too comfortable around Horford. Indiana’s bench dominates Boston’s bench. Tatum/Brown don’t make good offensive decisions and get sucked into shootouts. Boston just loses the variance three-point battle. Haliburton shows some offensive and defensive chops.
Boston in six.
(5) The Donatellos versus (3) Our Offense is shit but so is yours
Both teams have advantages and disadvantages against each other. Both teams have made tons of adjustments throughout the playoffs. Projecting a playoffs match-up is truly theoretical once again since the regular season meetings are mostly pointless.
I’ll start with the most important early question going into the series: Who will blink first? What I mean by that is, which coach will be the first to put two on the ball? Whoever can establish a winning defensive identity will have an early series advantage. Minnesota may want to try drop coverage and McDaniels/Doncic and Irving/Edwards in single coverage. See if Luka and Kyrie can beat Minnesota one-on-one. On the other side, Dallas may want to see if Edwards and KAT can beat them one-on-one. Whoever decides to involve help first has the early series advantage.
Things should steadily fall into place after that. Dallas does have the privilege of resting Kyrie/Luka on defense since Minnesota only has one exceptional perimeter scorer. If Kyrie/Luka are more comfortable this series simply due to less fatigue, that’s a big deal. Ant can’t be alone with the scoring load, so KAT will need to find his spots be it from doubles or post-ups.
Conley is a good x-factor for Minnesota. He shot a good percentage against Dallas during the regular season (52% FG). The only takeaway you can really use is his ability to sort through Dallas’ help and rotations if/when they do send doubles. He is the only other perimeter player who can punish Dallas for how they cover Ant.
Jones/McDaniels essentially share the same role this series. Whoever can stay out of foul trouble, make more shots, and defend adequately can give their respective team a leg-up.
Other than that, not much more can be taken with a grain of salt until I see how the coaches want to play it out.
Dallas wins if: Kyrie/Luka are comfortable offensively. Dallas stays closer to their team identity defense. Minnesota’s halfcourt offense finally comes back to bite them. KAT/Conley can’t help Edwards out.
Minnesota wins if: Minnesota forces too many turnovers. Minnesota either wins through Luka/Kyrie going one-on-one too much, or role-players like Jones/Green don’t make enough shots. Conley/KAT find their rhythm. Minnesota’s bench is king.
Dallas in six.
I don't know how many people are still in the 2k loop, it's not a great game but I still enjoy myNBA and making rebuilds. Wanted to bring the Knicks a chip, and I believe the roster I constructed could be very applicable to the Knicks in real life. It was a great season for them this year and honestly, I think if OG and Mitch Rob were healthy they could have easily make the finals, and If they had Randle (no disrespect) they wouldn't have beat Philly, just my opinion. Heres some notes on the roster and things that happened in the rebuild:
- Dejounte would be a great addition to this team, efficient, can take the load off of Brunson, especially in clutch time, and is a good fit overall
- Brunson is much more physically gifted than trae, less of a liability on defense, and is much smarter, meaning I don't think the two-star guard lineup is destined to fail, was just not for someone as offensively inclined as Trae
- 2k's logic is usually wack but the final trade for Dejounte was Randle, McBride, a Pistons protected pick, and a 2027 Knicks pick
- This trade would be pretty weird for the hawks, but they would get a John Collins 2.0, probably move Jalen Johnson to SF over Hunter, and of course the picks are a given in a blowup of their core. Frontcourt would be pretty crowded especially if they got Sarr.
- Miles McBride had an explosion in the playoffs, and while I don't think he can be fully replaced, Kris Dunn is a nice option. Mind you only 2 seasons ago he averaged 47% from 3, and his hard-nosed defense matches well with the Knicks system. I don't think the Jazz are dying to resign him because Keyontae, Sexton, and Clarkson give you plenty at the guard spot.
- I ended up drafting Filiposki, Salaun, and then Bronny James in the 2nd, none of them got more than 8 or so minutes in the regular season, Bogdanovic was the 10th man
- Won 58 games, Brunson was all-NBA, Murray averaged 20 points
- During the playoffs only injury was Achiuwa, who was out the first two rounds, we swept the 1st, 2nd round in 6 games, and swept the conference finals, then beat the Thunder in 6. In the finals Brunson dropped 65 points in a game 1 win, he's so him.
- I loved this team, hopefully OG and Hartenstein come back and they can stay healthy.
The next season I had to trade mitch rob at the deadline because of morale, got vanderbilt and a 1st, then we lost to the 76ers in the second round in 7 games, who were starting devin carter (great fit). In the 2026 offseason I traded OG (who was pist for some reason) and Vanderbilt + some 1sts for Scottie Barnes to get a 3rd star, also got Okungwu in the 2027 trade deadline. Other guys I got was Vince Williams and an auto generated rookie center.
couldn't buy a 3 for much of the game and they couldn't miss but we dominated the paint on both ends to compensate. Ant woke up kyrie with his trash talk lol.
Mavs weren't shooting well from three because Wolves kept the corners tight and stuck with drop coverage for most of the game, and Kyrie/Luka just iso'd, drove downhill or lobbed it up.
Wolves were hot but Mavs did give up a lot of open looks. Compared to the Wolves, they were different defensively in that they were willing to make them shoot more threes and rely on their closeouts. This game felt pretty weird overall because Mavs played better in almost every area except three pointers and still felt comfortable.
Ant looked gassed. Guarding Kyrie and he shot more from distance than usual. Wolves were really only in it because of the hot 3 point shooting.
I'd say it's a good sign, but I'm interested in seeing the change from Finch about drop. It's clear Mavs can win relying on twos.
Wolves were hot but Mavs did give up a lot of open looks. Compared to the Wolves, they were different defensively in that they were willing to make them shoot more threes and rely on their closeouts. This game felt pretty weird overall because Mavs played better in almost every area except three pointers and still felt comfortable.
Ant looked gassed. Guarding Kyrie and he shot more from distance than usual. Wolves were really only in it because of the hot 3 point shooting.
I'd say it's a good sign, but I'm interested in seeing the change from Finch about drop. It's clear Mavs can win relying on twos.
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My brother predicted the Mavericks to win it all and low key I thought they stood no chance this postseason. They got walloped in game 1 of the Clippers and Thunder series which only affirmed my beliefs, yet crawled back both times thanks to their role players. If Kyrie's on like this I'm hopeful for them to win the series.