@@lkhguycrazy don’t disagree but it would be interesting for them to give out a (total) playoff mvp in place of the conference mvps either before or after the finals like the lebron vs the warriors year‘s (at least 2015,2018) he was clearly the best player or I would say jimmy last year but he fizzled out in the finals
“If the losing team wants to win this game, they are going to have to play better. Absolutely, the reason the winning team is winning is because they are playing better than the losing team Yes, in talking with the coach at practice this week, he said the key to winning this game would be for his players to play betterthan the other team.”
It’s hard for me to say THJ is the Mavs X Factor because there’s a very good chance he plays less than 10 minutes a game. If the Mavs go to an 8 man rotation then the 3 guys off the bench will be Exum, Lively, and Kleber. THJ will get a chance but if he’s bad he won’t play. I think Exum is their X Factor; if his 3 point shooting sticks he’s the difference maker.
@@bornashamloo I don’t disagree, but at the same time Exum is our best guard defender and crucial 3rd ball handler. Either of those guys can flip things.
@@Smido83 how much of Josh Green have you watched of late? He is the most overrated Mavs defender for some reason, he’s in the same boat as THJ. He could play 15 or 20 minutes if things are going well for him or he could be completely benched.
It’s also not like coaching absolutely decides whether you go far in the playoffs anyway. Budenholzer and Vogel both won the chip relatively recently despite not being exactly known as great coaches, there’s also Monty Williams who went on a couple deep playoff runs but now he’s on the Pistons struggling to get any wins
The Luka vs Kawhi match up is the best discussion to tell if an individual/ content creator understands the game of basketball.....when a content creator focuses only on the offensive aspect of the game to justify whom is better between Luka and Kawhi...........they are emotionally invested. These are the numbers for both individual in their 12 playoff games against one another. Luka........34/9/10 +/- (-31) Kawhi......33/9/6 +/- (+54) Oh yeah Luka averages 5 TURNOVERS........... I haven’t even mentioned the other aspect of basketball DEFENSE!!!
Lol. “Luka averages 5 turnovers” is such a bad argument to use against him. Look at team turnovers. He is the ball handler almost every possessions and goes for crazy passes. The mavs are always a super low turnover team. Turn it over way more when he’s off the floor. And his defense is much better than this year. Luka is better than he was in those series. And +/- is an awful stat. Look at Luka’s teammates that series
I think it’s close personally, Kawhi isn’t the same as he was on the raptors or spurs but he’s still a powerful force on defense and an efficient scorer, despite this Luka isn’t as bad on defense this year and has evolved again on offense to be arguably the best offensive player in the league (though it is jokic)
Using plus minus there is quite crazy considering THJ was the second best maverick for most of those 12 games. Seth Curry was a primary Kawhi/PG defender. Porzingis was either hurt, ejected, or crying internally about not being better than Luka. Brunson was either injured or a non factor playing 10 minutes a game. Oh yeah and Trey Burke played 35 minutes in a bubble game 6. Boban was playing 31 minutes in a game 7. The supporting casts were nowhere near comparable. Massive L Take.
Their first match up happened shortly after Harden trade where Clippers were pretty bad (0-6 run or something like that). Next two games happened when Clippers figured it out and were pretty good. That being said there not much we can take from those games as Mavs played completely different basketball. Not only defense was different. Last year Mavs still lived or died by a three, and now they no longer are. It will be super interesting series.
The kawhi take is bad in terms of playoffs the only person i would take over him definitely is Luka and jokic but bro saying he might not even be 10 is a joke
Then take a look at their 21-7 record since the trade deadline, which was the second best in the league. They beat the nuggets, beat the kings twice in a row, beat the rockets who were on an 11 game winning streak, the Knicks, the Heat, etc.
@@AveChristusRex789Pretty sure they beat OKC also unless that was before the deadline. I know they lost to them when Luka wasn't playing after the deadline
There is absolutely not a big gap between Luka and Kawhi. Kawhi isn't that much worse offensively and far better defensively, and the clippers are also much deeper and better defensively like you said. Clips in 6
Hey Jacob aka RustyBuckets great video, as a Mavs fan I can tell ya that Josh Green and Hardaway are most likely not going to play much in this series. Hardaway might get more run if he gets hot but when he is off he cannot be out there I think we’ll have a short rotation with Luka, Kai, PJ, DJJ, and Gafford starting with Lively, Maxi Kleiber, and Dante Exum off the bench. PJ is my X factor, he’s a lock down defender and if he can slow down Kawhi and hit 3s we’re gonna run away with this series. Mavs in 5, keep up the content
how do you miss. PG was an all star this year. and he definitely picked up form towards the end of the season. I think the only way clips win is if they fight fire with fire.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dante goes off in this series. They rested him in the last game of the season. That being the case, he must be in there finals plan.
Pg is a terrible defender. Let's players blow right by him. Mann is actually an elite defender and will be sticking Luka. I think Westbrook may be on him a lot too.
I can’t tell if you don’t watch the clippers or you’re just super biased lmao Half of PGs shots are iso and saying kyrie is better than him is just wrong. Kawhi is obviously a top 10 player and on paper LA is just the most complete team after Boston including team staff
3:28 Porzingis only didn't show up because he got injured in the 2020 series and the 2021 series, Rick Carlisle just had Porzingis sit in the corner most of the time. Idk what he and the Mavericks were thinking was going to happen when they did that.
Yeah that wasn't the original gameplan, but Porzingis played so terrible in the post that they had to get him out of there. Porzingis in an interview talked about how he mentally quit on the team. It's pretty interesting because if he had just one good game the Mavs would have won that series
Please go back and watch him trying to post up small guards, settling for shooting over them and bricking. All the time. Carlisle parked him in the corner because that's where he was more efficient and helpful to the team. He didin't rebound. He had a few good games when healthy and engaged but man, a hurt and checked out KP was no real co star help. I'm glad he's healthy and thriving as a 3rd option now, but we can't just rewrite history and ignore the man was having a tantrum at not getting his inefficient post touches. The Mavs org did a horrible job trading for him, he was an All Star in NY, went to a team with a rookie Luka expecting to be number 1 or at least 1a 1b. Nobody knew Luka was going to be a top 10 player in his sophomore year. Cuban shouldn't have traded for him before the pecking order was set. Brunson became a very good n2 once KP was traded, maybe he would have developped sooner without him too. Terrible rushed trade by the Mavs, they are still paying the consequences.
two teams of this kind of quality should be seen in a conference final, I’m willing to bet the winner goes there bare minimum, at least until I see what this thunders playoff game is like
I want the Clippers to sweep Dallas so bad. For all the talk of Dallas’ offense versus LA’s defense no one is turning that around. How is Dallas playing defense? You can only hide either Luka or Kyrie in this series the other will have to deal with Kawhi, PG or Harden.
Hope you didn't bet the ranch on your want. You need to remember that the mavs are the most feared team in the nba. Double+ luka he will get 15+ assists from wide open shooters including KY. Don't double luka and he scores 33+ 10+ assist 8+ rebounds
@@Davidstone568As good as the Mavs are, I doubt that they're feared. Luka and Kyrie, for sure, but not the rest of their teammates. Both Washington and Lively will be stepping into their first postseason. Gafford has played in only one playoff series in his career so far, and Hardaway Jr. drops off in the playoffs. Luka's chances of getting 15+ assists does not depend on his shooters getting wide open shots-it depends on whether or not they MAKE them. Also, it's possible that the Clippers would be comfortable letting Luka cook while neutralizing his teammates.
I feel like Terrance Mann is a better defender than Paul George, or at least a better off-ball defender. I probably expect him to be switching between kyrie/luka depending on who takes the ball down court
Everyone rides the mavs cos they been good the last 20 (w a weak schedule btw) and completely forgetting the clippers were the best team in nearly every category for nearly 3 months? Like luka is 0-2, at some point someones gotta have an argument that luka still has an uphill climb.
They are 21-7 since the trade deadline which is the second best in the league…they didn’t have a weak schedule during that stretch considering they beat the nuggets, kings (twice in a row), thunder, rockets (who had an 11 game winning streak), heat, Knicks, etc,.
Yooo new sub here after this vid! I love the setup you got going on and it’s just vibes. You’ll be part of my hoops podcasts vids during work haha. Keep going man🙌🏼🫡
What are we talking about... Luka 35ppg + Kyrie 25pp.. after that what? vs K 25ppg + PG13 25ppg + 15Russ +15 Harden this is PLAYOFF with Lue as a Coach???
Jason Kidd has been good when given a "competent" roster. He's won 50 games in 2 out of 3 seasons in Dallas, and they really overachieved making it to the WCF in 2022. Kidd has implemented a lot of changes this year that are paying dividends, and so many guys are having career best seasons. The Mavericks as a franchise haven't won a playoff series without Kidd being a player or the coach since 2006.
For all people praising Carlisle, they forget he hasn't won a playoff serie after 2011. Very good tactical coach, but bad idea to give him job security because of 1 ring. Very bad at player managment, they had to elect Mosley as intermediary communicator with players. The rosters were trash, and Dirk being who he is, never complained, to a fault. It's a good thing he has to work to keep his job in Indianna now.
If PG wants to get fouled out, yes he should guard Luka. Also the Clips use a switch everything defense and PG's off ball defense is his bread and butter. He gets in the lane to help and his rotations are amazing.
Mavs fans aren’t sleeping on the clippers, we’re calling it like we see it. Yes y’all have 4 aging stars who can produce but they don’t do it like they use to and they are injury prone, there’s a new sheriff in town, can’t stay on top forever.
i think he's the actual X factor for the series, defensively matching up against kyrie and giving the downhill juice and testing that interior defence in a playoff setting
Luka is no different than Rockets James Harden......to say Luka is better than Kawhi shows me you know nothing about basketball........doesn't matter which team wins!!!!
Oh man, I'm so sorry, the delusion is so strong with you. Just keep watching Luka will show you soon how he is the best player in the world, and the scales will fall from your eyes. Just keep watching, though I'm sorry for what Luka will do to your Clippers.
@@BrightNights645 lol, nope, but I'll stand by it for the series and rest of the post season. All said and done this game will be a footnote. Glad I didn't predict a sweep.
Luka's better now, he has Kyrie, and he has an actual defense. That being said, this is the best Clippers group we've ever seen, so it really could go either way Adding that the Clippers could go small with Russ, Powell, Harden, Kawhi, and George. Dunno how successful that could be, with Russ as your center offensively, screening for the guys and doing short roll stuff, crashing the offensive glass. Is that something the Clippers have even gone to this year? Plus, small ball was more effective when Kleber was the center, so I doubt they go with it now
The X factor is that Luka isn't tiring out in 4th anymore...the strategy the Clips exploited b4 was to lock him down with Kawhi in the end when Luka was gassed and a more manageable task.
I'm pretty sure Zion is out for at least the next play-in game after he injured his hamstring vs the lakers. Ingram needs to play way better than he did the previous game to even have a chance so I'd take Sacramento quite comfortably
@@WhiteBeard640 i can't remember the last time he was right about something without taking someone else's prediction lol dude just runs with narratives and reads hot takes on comments he dont know ball, real hoop fans know this is only an even matchup because luka and kyrie can combine for 70+ points a night , nobody else on dallas can create shots or do anything without luka on the floor, does everyone forget that dante exum was so bad he had to go back to australia ? and now he is a backup primary ball handler and defender for a "championship roster" in 2024 lmao be serious man, the ONLY defense that will SLOW kawhi down is his own HEALTH , james harden opens the floor up for pg to operate and go downhill more, this is for sure a 6 game minimum series but i got clippers in 6, defense wins games and the mavericks aren't locking down shit! didnt even get into the benches lol powell clears the mid that dallas has on the bench
PJ Tucker at center time. plumlee might be better to match up with gaff and Washington than zu. He’s a little bit more mobile than zu. Also PJ can probably survive at center vs Washington.
On one side you have kawhi and pg as your best defenders, on the other you are talking about pj Washington and dante exum lol. And on the other end you have luka and Kyrie, vs harden kawhi pg russ powell mann... The last 2 have shown that they can hit their shots consistently... Washington 0 playoffs, , green awful playoffs, djj has never avg 4ppg in the playoffs .. exum 5.1ppg there in 2018! Been out of the league the last 2y.... U can trust 2 guys, on the Clippers you can trust a rotation.... Idk why all of this mavs hype when it's Luka against the world..... And harden can impact the game other than scoring, Kyrie can't... Harden led the league in apg last year, "he doesn't pass like he used to" 😅 I just don't see how someone can say mavs in 6 closer to 5.....
I feel like you emphasized a gap between luka and playoff kawhi a lil too hard, I agree we don't know if Kawhi can get to that level again but if he did i dont think Luka is that far ahead of him personally. I def think Kawhi is a top 10 player also
Peak Kawhi was a waaaaay better player than Luka Dončić. Of course, that guy doesn't exist any more, but at his best this year he was as good as Luka. Everyone just keeps ignoring the fact that Luka is a minus defender that you have to hide on someone. Absolutely fabulous offensive player, but no D. Hope everyone had good health and we get a fabulous series
I think people are acting like he’s a negative defender this season, the last three years I’d agree, but this year he’s a positive defender maybe not lock down or anything but he’s smart and has good hands.
I like Exum as an X factor for the mavs.. has played great D on harden in the playoffs in the past and has shown that when he’s hot he can put teams away.. hit 6 3s on the lakers earlier this year I think? Plus he gets open looks as like the 6th offensive option on the team 👀
As far as the competitive environment arguement I would like to point out that was during the 6 game losing streak when they hadn’t figured anything out with harden
Clippers will win in 7 , I think too many people forget that unproven and young players usually falter in the playoffs; the mavs r full of them. Also, kyrie has been a failure in the playoffs everywhere he’s been without lebron. Although I do believe the mavs have found a great core in this roster they can build around Luka and their time is coming.
On paper it should be Clippers as they have 4 All-Stars and 2 MVPs. But....if you have ageing playoff chokers like Harden, George and Westbrook, and perennial "injured knee" awardee Kawhi, then I go with Mavs!
They, are actually groomed FOR YEARS NOW to win it all. ON PAPER no one can beat them. People get caught up on that now. You still believe they could? Harden disappears in playoffs. Kawhis LOADMANAGE UNTIL of season.
I hope last years Playoff James Harden makes an appearance. He had 2 40 pieces in that Boston series. He wasn't great in the other games but this team has more other stars to play off of. Early Clippers looked scary but haven't been like that in awhile. But I agree, I think the Mavs have this
Yo rusty want your take on this, i think the only way Nuggets lose is to the Wolves but its still unlikely.. but if that happened i think The mavs could then beat timberwolves and luka could make finals earlier then expect put it in a hot takes if ya want
I pray to god Luka wins this series so he beats the narrative. But genuine question: If he doesn’t beat the team, What does that mean to y’all? I mean technically the Clippers are a BETTER team on paper. But what narratives will come from him losing?
depends on how they lose, like the way i imagine dallas losing is luka getting trapped and them not being able to score 4 on 3 because PJ and DJJ are weak shooters. in terms of that theres not much luka can do and the series wouldnt be his fault. but if PJ or DJJ knocks down a couple it would go a LONG way
@@connorkimball3064 If Luka loses this series the amount of hate fans will get and he will get for “Having Help” and losing in the first round will start the narrative that he’s “not as good” “he’s a ball hog” and he’s “like Westbrook (stats only)”
If u goin to do this kind of video , pls do your research bcoz ur info could become misleading . The game kyrie missed Pg was also out . An the game mavs get blown out they had both Luka an kyrie
the clippers will go small at some point because Zubac gets cooked by luka almost every time they play and people keep talking about Gafford forgetting that the mavs have Dereck Lively going small will be the death of the clippers
Clippers in 6. I don't care what anyone says, Dallas cannot guard Kawhi, especially when he is in playoff mode. Paul George has been on a really hot shooting streak to end the season hopefully that carries over, and I'm calling it now, Russ is gonna lock Kyrie down the same way he locked Booker and KD down last season.
in the same sense I’d argue the clippers can’t guard Luka especially now that he has competent teammates and isn’t the only person on his team worth being focused on. It hurts that Kawhi is questionable at best for game 1 because of injuries
Clips fans dont watch the mavs and they havent had to play them in a long time. I'll say the same thing now that I said to the kings fans when they played them for the 6th seed. This is a completely different mavs team. Full stop. They don't live and die by the three anymore, they can speed up/slow down whenever they want, they can rebound now. They play good team defense which is all you need when they can score at will. THJ isn't a factor, like at all, its exum/hardy/maxi/green and any one of them can get hot. Luka is gonna get his early and down the stretch kyrie can take the game over.
How tf you gonna ignore the fact that Kawhi is an all-defense player again this year? On top of being drastically more efficient than Doncic... theyre very comparable, Luka is better regular season, playoffs tho...
![Who Will Be The WORST Team In The NBA? [2024-'25]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k3a69jQ_95c/mqdefault.jpg)
![Who Will Be The WORST Team In The NBA? [2024-'25]](/img/tr.png)
We had Kofie on the pod yesterday as well: ua-cam.com/users/liveYIR13Cv17Rc
I dont car
@@pdr_127I have car and need a Kofie
Whoever you said wins is who loses thanks for choosing my bet for me
“Zion really stepped his game up, Pels win”
How are we gonna tell him, boys?
every one of these first round matchups in the West feels like it should be the second round or above 😭 just too many good teams
East and West teams should merge. Get the best team to win the trophy.
The league isn't going to merge into 1 big conference now that they're handing out Conference Finals MVP awards
@@lkhguycrazy don’t disagree but it would be interesting for them to give out a (total) playoff mvp in place of the conference mvps either before or after the finals like the lebron vs the warriors year‘s (at least 2015,2018) he was clearly the best player or I would say jimmy last year but he fizzled out in the finals
definitely not denver v LA lmao
@@shinysniper9537That has been a WCF matchup twice.
Definitely a team playing in this series will get the win.
Could be one of the teams of all time
@@grocefamilyfarm3062 extreme take
I think you got the right pick.
The refs will win
“If the losing team wants to win this game, they are going to have to play better.
Absolutely, the reason the winning team is winning is because they are playing better than the losing team
Yes, in talking with the coach at practice this week, he said the key to winning this game would be for his players to play betterthan the other team.”
5:51 Paul George DID make the all star team this year.
It's absolutely insane he made it over Sabonis ngl
@@jaceygaither2581 the real crime is putting kat over him, sabonis couldnt have replacdd pg cause hes a guard
@@jaceygaither2581 Why ?
@@LuisLRCpg isn’t a guard??
I just hope Luka and Kawhi go full insane mode once again. They've been nuts vs each other in the playoffs.
It’s hard for me to say THJ is the Mavs X Factor because there’s a very good chance he plays less than 10 minutes a game. If the Mavs go to an 8 man rotation then the 3 guys off the bench will be Exum, Lively, and Kleber. THJ will get a chance but if he’s bad he won’t play. I think Exum is their X Factor; if his 3 point shooting sticks he’s the difference maker.
I think PJ is the X- Factor with all the good looks from 3 he's missed as a Mav. Whenever he hits those corner 3's, it's a different kinda Mavs game
@@bornashamloo I don’t disagree, but at the same time Exum is our best guard defender and crucial 3rd ball handler. Either of those guys can flip things.
if Dante Exum keeps shooting 50% from 3 then that’s a wrap, we’ll see yall at the parade in June
Dallas will play at least 9 men. That being said, if THJ doesnt start hot, that 9th spot will be Green because of defense.
@@Smido83 how much of Josh Green have you watched of late? He is the most overrated Mavs defender for some reason, he’s in the same boat as THJ. He could play 15 or 20 minutes if things are going well for him or he could be completely benched.
you forget that Killa Kidd is a playoff riser just like luka
Who
I know you're not talking about ason kidd
@@AWGEplazaI thought he had a questionable season, but he was coaching circles around Monty Williams in 2022 so imma have a little faith 🙏
It’s also not like coaching absolutely decides whether you go far in the playoffs anyway. Budenholzer and Vogel both won the chip relatively recently despite not being exactly known as great coaches, there’s also Monty Williams who went on a couple deep playoff runs but now he’s on the Pistons struggling to get any wins
@@saltedbagel6765Monty is ass tho.
I think one of these teams will win this series, not completely sure though
I think the refs will win
What’s your lyric lyric?
This is a crazy ass take
For sure. And whoever wins will definitely not lose. I'd bet on that
key will be to win more games
No matter how you see it, ONE ☝️ of these teams is beating the other in order to advance
😱🤯 really?!?!?
astute observation
what's up brother
Insane análisis Iq
Whoever wins this series is the only team in the whole bracket that can challenge the nuggets
George did make the all-star game.
Paul George was an all-star this year
The Luka vs Kawhi match up is the best discussion to tell if an individual/ content creator understands the game of basketball.....when a content creator focuses only on the offensive aspect of the game to justify whom is better between Luka and Kawhi...........they are emotionally invested.
These are the numbers for both individual in their 12 playoff games against one another.
Luka........34/9/10 +/- (-31)
Kawhi......33/9/6 +/- (+54)
Oh yeah Luka averages 5 TURNOVERS...........
I haven’t even mentioned the other aspect of basketball
DEFENSE!!!
Luka wasn't even in his prime. Get off your knees bozo
@@Andre-yi9us We bout to see who's better.
Lol. “Luka averages 5 turnovers” is such a bad argument to use against him. Look at team turnovers. He is the ball handler almost every possessions and goes for crazy passes. The mavs are always a super low turnover team. Turn it over way more when he’s off the floor. And his defense is much better than this year. Luka is better than he was in those series. And +/- is an awful stat. Look at Luka’s teammates that series
I think it’s close personally, Kawhi isn’t the same as he was on the raptors or spurs but he’s still a powerful force on defense and an efficient scorer, despite this Luka isn’t as bad on defense this year and has evolved again on offense to be arguably the best offensive player in the league (though it is jokic)
Using plus minus there is quite crazy considering THJ was the second best maverick for most of those 12 games. Seth Curry was a primary Kawhi/PG defender. Porzingis was either hurt, ejected, or crying internally about not being better than Luka. Brunson was either injured or a non factor playing 10 minutes a game. Oh yeah and Trey Burke played 35 minutes in a bubble game 6. Boban was playing 31 minutes in a game 7. The supporting casts were nowhere near comparable. Massive L Take.
Their first match up happened shortly after Harden trade where Clippers were pretty bad (0-6 run or something like that). Next two games happened when Clippers figured it out and were pretty good. That being said there not much we can take from those games as Mavs played completely different basketball. Not only defense was different. Last year Mavs still lived or died by a three, and now they no longer are. It will be super interesting series.
The kawhi take is bad in terms of playoffs the only person i would take over him definitely is Luka and jokic but bro saying he might not even be 10 is a joke
Complete joke, nearly had 50,40,90 season on 24 points with the lowest usage
@@WhiteBeard640folks at one point he was shooting 50 60 90 like wdf is this guy talking about
kawhi is barely top 10 if he is top 10
Jokic, Luka, Shai, Embiid, Lebron, KD, Tatum, Curry, AD, Booker, Brunson
That’s 11 already not in order I’m taking over Kawhi this season
@@SomeGoodBroth you’re crazy af
Out of that 16-4 run the Mavs had; 13 of those wins were against teams in the play in or already eliminated…
Take that with what you will
Then take a look at their 21-7 record since the trade deadline, which was the second best in the league. They beat the nuggets, beat the kings twice in a row, beat the rockets who were on an 11 game winning streak, the Knicks, the Heat, etc.
@@AveChristusRex789Pretty sure they beat OKC also unless that was before the deadline. I know they lost to them when Luka wasn't playing after the deadline
@@carefulilickwindows6881 Yeah I forgot to mention that they beat OKC, I’m pretty sure that was the first game right after the trade deadline
Yeah that was their schedule what did you expect them to do? Lose?
There is absolutely not a big gap between Luka and Kawhi. Kawhi isn't that much worse offensively and far better defensively, and the clippers are also much deeper and better defensively like you said.
Clips in 6
Definitely gonna be a series of all time
Hey Jacob aka RustyBuckets great video, as a Mavs fan I can tell ya that Josh Green and Hardaway are most likely not going to play much in this series. Hardaway might get more run if he gets hot but when he is off he cannot be out there
I think we’ll have a short rotation with Luka, Kai, PJ, DJJ, and Gafford starting with Lively, Maxi Kleiber, and Dante Exum off the bench.
PJ is my X factor, he’s a lock down defender and if he can slow down Kawhi and hit 3s we’re gonna run away with this series.
Mavs in 5, keep up the content
how do you miss. PG was an all star this year. and he definitely picked up form towards the end of the season. I think the only way clips win is if they fight fire with fire.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dante goes off in this series. They rested him in the last game of the season. That being the case, he must be in there finals plan.
Replacing THJ with a Caruso type 3 and D wing is the final missing piece for the mavs and the league should be very very afraid if that happens
Have a feeling that the Mavs still have hope that Josh Green will be that guy
Paul george was in fact an all star this year
359 views in 7 mins? Bro is thriving!
I'm hyped for this playoffs.
If Luka becomes a goat candidate in the future,
he should be starting the campaign this series!
Pg is a terrible defender. Let's players blow right by him. Mann is actually an elite defender and will be sticking Luka. I think Westbrook may be on him a lot too.
Russ is actually really good at defending Luka. I’m surprised you failed to mention that
I can’t tell if you don’t watch the clippers or you’re just super biased lmao Half of PGs shots are iso and saying kyrie is better than him is just wrong. Kawhi is obviously a top 10 player and on paper LA is just the most complete team after Boston including team staff
If both teams are in their ideal form, I am betting on the Clippers, but as for now, I see Mavericks winning this.
3:28 Porzingis only didn't show up because he got injured in the 2020 series and the 2021 series, Rick Carlisle just had Porzingis sit in the corner most of the time. Idk what he and the Mavericks were thinking was going to happen when they did that.
Yeah that wasn't the original gameplan, but Porzingis played so terrible in the post that they had to get him out of there. Porzingis in an interview talked about how he mentally quit on the team. It's pretty interesting because if he had just one good game the Mavs would have won that series
Please go back and watch him trying to post up small guards, settling for shooting over them and bricking. All the time. Carlisle parked him in the corner because that's where he was more efficient and helpful to the team. He didin't rebound. He had a few good games when healthy and engaged but man, a hurt and checked out KP was no real co star help.
I'm glad he's healthy and thriving as a 3rd option now, but we can't just rewrite history and ignore the man was having a tantrum at not getting his inefficient post touches.
The Mavs org did a horrible job trading for him, he was an All Star in NY, went to a team with a rookie Luka expecting to be number 1 or at least 1a 1b. Nobody knew Luka was going to be a top 10 player in his sophomore year. Cuban shouldn't have traded for him before the pecking order was set. Brunson became a very good n2 once KP was traded, maybe he would have developped sooner without him too. Terrible rushed trade by the Mavs, they are still paying the consequences.
Kawhi>Luka. Y'all in for a rude awakening lol
Yeah no….. funnt statement tho
If this mavs team beat the clips in 5 or gets a 3-1 lead and wins in 6, I'm confident they're making rhe finals
two teams of this kind of quality should be seen in a conference final, I’m willing to bet the winner goes there bare minimum, at least until I see what this thunders playoff game is like
I want the Clippers to sweep Dallas so bad. For all the talk of Dallas’ offense versus LA’s defense no one is turning that around. How is Dallas playing defense? You can only hide either Luka or Kyrie in this series the other will have to deal with Kawhi, PG or Harden.
Hope you didn't bet the ranch on your want. You need to remember that the mavs are the most feared team in the nba. Double+ luka he will get 15+ assists from wide open shooters including KY. Don't double luka and he scores 33+ 10+ assist 8+ rebounds
@@Davidstone568As good as the Mavs are, I doubt that they're feared. Luka and Kyrie, for sure, but not the rest of their teammates. Both Washington and Lively will be stepping into their first postseason. Gafford has played in only one playoff series in his career so far, and Hardaway Jr. drops off in the playoffs. Luka's chances of getting 15+ assists does not depend on his shooters getting wide open shots-it depends on whether or not they MAKE them. Also, it's possible that the Clippers would be comfortable letting Luka cook while neutralizing his teammates.
@@urbaindelva7869 Thank you.
@@urbaindelva7869 what are you guys yapping about kawhi is not even playing in game 1 or 2 of the series still injured
I feel like Terrance Mann is a better defender than Paul George, or at least a better off-ball defender. I probably expect him to be switching between kyrie/luka depending on who takes the ball down court
Everyone rides the mavs cos they been good the last 20 (w a weak schedule btw) and completely forgetting the clippers were the best team in nearly every category for nearly 3 months? Like luka is 0-2, at some point someones gotta have an argument that luka still has an uphill climb.
They are 21-7 since the trade deadline which is the second best in the league…they didn’t have a weak schedule during that stretch considering they beat the nuggets, kings (twice in a row), thunder, rockets (who had an 11 game winning streak), heat, Knicks, etc,.
They still eliminated the clippers tho
@@alexy5611 that they did 🥲
Yooo new sub here after this vid! I love the setup you got going on and it’s just vibes. You’ll be part of my hoops podcasts vids during work haha. Keep going man🙌🏼🫡
My long drawn out analysis have brought me the conclusion that either the clippers or mavericks will win this series.
Paul George was an all star btw
What are we talking about... Luka 35ppg + Kyrie 25pp.. after that what? vs K 25ppg + PG13 25ppg + 15Russ +15 Harden this is PLAYOFF with Lue as a Coach???
Clippers in 6 book it!
Lol
haven’t even watched the video but ik this guy already doubting the clippers, you’ve always been wrong about them when we’re at full strength😂
Jason Kidd has been good when given a "competent" roster. He's won 50 games in 2 out of 3 seasons in Dallas, and they really overachieved making it to the WCF in 2022. Kidd has implemented a lot of changes this year that are paying dividends, and so many guys are having career best seasons.
The Mavericks as a franchise haven't won a playoff series without Kidd being a player or the coach since 2006.
For all people praising Carlisle, they forget he hasn't won a playoff serie after 2011. Very good tactical coach, but bad idea to give him job security because of 1 ring. Very bad at player managment, they had to elect Mosley as intermediary communicator with players. The rosters were trash, and Dirk being who he is, never complained, to a fault.
It's a good thing he has to work to keep his job in Indianna now.
Best players in the series (stars)
Luka
Kawhi (if healthy)
Kyrie
PG
Harden
Russ
If PG wants to get fouled out, yes he should guard Luka. Also the Clips use a switch everything defense and PG's off ball defense is his bread and butter. He gets in the lane to help and his rotations are amazing.
Mavs fans aren’t sleeping on the clippers, we’re calling it like we see it. Yes y’all have 4 aging stars who can produce but they don’t do it like they use to and they are injury prone, there’s a new sheriff in town, can’t stay on top forever.
Imma be real. As a mavs fan i think the clippers are gonna run thru us and game 1 without KL made it that mire obvious
Kawhi will have a bigger impact than Luka if he’s healthy. Kawhi>luka
The only way that would happen is if he can STOP luka. So... can he?
No. No he can't.
Mavs in 5 with our without kawhi
You can tell this guy didn’t actually watch clipper games
Start Russ and put him on Kyrie. Playing better than Harden lately anyway. Probably less worn out physically too.
i think he's the actual X factor for the series, defensively matching up against kyrie and giving the downhill juice and testing that interior defence in a playoff setting
Kyrie will break russ
Luka is no different than Rockets James Harden......to say Luka is better than Kawhi shows me you know nothing about basketball........doesn't matter which team wins!!!!
Oh man, I'm so sorry, the delusion is so strong with you. Just keep watching Luka will show you soon how he is the best player in the world, and the scales will fall from your eyes. Just keep watching, though I'm sorry for what Luka will do to your Clippers.
I used to think Luka was like harden but honestly this whole season playing with kyrie really changed my perspective on his game
@@Sonicmixer85Your take didn’t age well
@@BrightNights645 lol, nope, but I'll stand by it for the series and rest of the post season. All said and done this game will be a footnote. Glad I didn't predict a sweep.
It's over for the league once we flip that dogshit Hardaway contract for guys who can actually play.
Kai jones is gonna coke up before the game and carry
The crazy thing is they don’t even know if kawhi is playing yet
Luka's better now, he has Kyrie, and he has an actual defense. That being said, this is the best Clippers group we've ever seen, so it really could go either way
Adding that the Clippers could go small with Russ, Powell, Harden, Kawhi, and George. Dunno how successful that could be, with Russ as your center offensively, screening for the guys and doing short roll stuff, crashing the offensive glass. Is that something the Clippers have even gone to this year? Plus, small ball was more effective when Kleber was the center, so I doubt they go with it now
luka-kyrie are right up there in all time duos if they can get a ring
The X factor is that Luka isn't tiring out in 4th anymore...the strategy the Clips exploited b4 was to lock him down with Kawhi in the end when Luka was gassed and a more manageable task.
I'm pretty sure Zion is out for at least the next play-in game after he injured his hamstring vs the lakers. Ingram needs to play way better than he did the previous game to even have a chance so I'd take Sacramento quite comfortably
Yeah he forgot Zion is out
this is a bad take on the matchups
This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. How long has he been watching basketball?
@@WhiteBeard640 i can't remember the last time he was right about something without taking someone else's prediction lol dude just runs with narratives and reads hot takes on comments he dont know ball, real hoop fans know this is only an even matchup because luka and kyrie can combine for 70+ points a night , nobody else on dallas can create shots or do anything without luka on the floor, does everyone forget that dante exum was so bad he had to go back to australia ? and now he is a backup primary ball handler and defender for a "championship roster" in 2024 lmao be serious man, the ONLY defense that will SLOW kawhi down is his own HEALTH , james harden opens the floor up for pg to operate and go downhill more, this is for sure a 6 game minimum series but i got clippers in 6, defense wins games and the mavericks aren't locking down shit! didnt even get into the benches lol powell clears the mid that dallas has on the bench
@@reallynotmateo8805how does it feel to be proven completely and totally wrong after typing out a whole hater essay lmao
PJ Tucker at center time. plumlee might be better to match up with gaff and Washington than zu. He’s a little bit more mobile than zu. Also PJ can probably survive at center vs Washington.
On one side you have kawhi and pg as your best defenders, on the other you are talking about pj Washington and dante exum lol.
And on the other end you have luka and Kyrie, vs harden kawhi pg russ powell mann... The last 2 have shown that they can hit their shots consistently... Washington 0 playoffs, , green awful playoffs, djj has never avg 4ppg in the playoffs
.. exum 5.1ppg there in 2018! Been out of the league the last 2y.... U can trust 2 guys, on the Clippers you can trust a rotation.... Idk why all of this mavs hype when it's Luka against the world..... And harden can impact the game other than scoring, Kyrie can't... Harden led the league in apg last year, "he doesn't pass like he used to" 😅 I just don't see how someone can say mavs in 6 closer to 5.....
I feel like you emphasized a gap between luka and playoff kawhi a lil too hard, I agree we don't know if Kawhi can get to that level again but if he did i dont think Luka is that far ahead of him personally. I def think Kawhi is a top 10 player also
Peak Kawhi was a waaaaay better player than Luka Dončić. Of course, that guy doesn't exist any more, but at his best this year he was as good as Luka. Everyone just keeps ignoring the fact that Luka is a minus defender that you have to hide on someone. Absolutely fabulous offensive player, but no D.
Hope everyone had good health and we get a fabulous series
Facts......it's as if people don't realize defense presence helps win games.....everything these content creators talk about is offensive stats
Kawhi still that guy, just low usage
Kawhi is a great player and a former NBA champ but he has never been as good as Luka 🤣🤷🏽♂️💯
I think people are acting like he’s a negative defender this season, the last three years I’d agree, but this year he’s a positive defender maybe not lock down or anything but he’s smart and has good hands.
Yeah just say you’re a casual. He’s been a good defender this year. Like legit not just “he’s not bad” but he’s been good. Lol
I like Exum as an X factor for the mavs.. has played great D on harden in the playoffs in the past and has shown that when he’s hot he can put teams away.. hit 6 3s on the lakers earlier this year I think? Plus he gets open looks as like the 6th offensive option on the team 👀
Y’all don’t watch games y’all keep up with stats… clippers in 5. Kawhi is definitely a better player than Luka.
Ask the Hawks what happens when you don’t blitz Luka every play. 73 points.
As far as the competitive environment arguement I would like to point out that was during the 6 game losing streak when they hadn’t figured anything out with harden
If James Harden gets in his offense bag… it’s over
Clippers will win in 7 , I think too many people forget that unproven and young players usually falter in the playoffs; the mavs r full of them. Also, kyrie has been a failure in the playoffs everywhere he’s been without lebron. Although I do believe the mavs have found a great core in this roster they can build around Luka and their time is coming.
Correction, Paul George was in all star this year
We'll see how the Pelicans handle the absence of Zion.
Hot take: if the clippers do put PG on Luka, Luka is now guaranteed to hit a 35ft game winner in game 7 of the series
Im gonna say my hot take, one of the teams in this series will win 4 games and advance to the next round of the playoffs.
PJ Washington is also a huge factor
Rusty please change your prediction cause i really want the mavericks to win
Congratulations to the clippers for beating the mavericks in 5 games!
Kawhi dont don’t do first round exits buddy
Just did buddy
On paper it should be Clippers as they have 4 All-Stars and 2 MVPs. But....if you have ageing playoff chokers like Harden, George and Westbrook, and perennial "injured knee" awardee Kawhi, then I go with Mavs!
Bronny is to Bryce as Luka is to the Clippers
They, are actually groomed FOR YEARS NOW to win it all. ON PAPER no one can beat them.
People get caught up on that now. You still believe they could?
Harden disappears in playoffs.
Kawhis LOADMANAGE UNTIL of season.
I hope last years Playoff James Harden makes an appearance. He had 2 40 pieces in that Boston series. He wasn't great in the other games but this team has more other stars to play off of.
Early Clippers looked scary but haven't been like that in awhile. But I agree, I think the Mavs have this
Yo rusty want your take on this, i think the only way Nuggets lose is to the Wolves but its still unlikely.. but if that happened i think The mavs could then beat timberwolves and luka could make finals earlier then expect put it in a hot takes if ya want
I pray to god Luka wins this series so he beats the narrative.
But genuine question: If he doesn’t beat the team, What does that mean to y’all? I mean technically the Clippers are a BETTER team on paper. But what narratives will come from him losing?
depends on how they lose, like the way i imagine dallas losing is luka getting trapped and them not being able to score 4 on 3 because PJ and DJJ are weak shooters. in terms of that theres not much luka can do and the series wouldnt be his fault.
but if PJ or DJJ knocks down a couple it would go a LONG way
If Luka beats these clippers it would be pretty MJ-esque to say the least
@Martydomer I pray to God that Luka loses this series so his fanboys can be quiet and clippers can win the lardy obrien trophy
@@connorkimball3064 If Luka loses this series the amount of hate fans will get and he will get for “Having Help” and losing in the first round will start the narrative that he’s “not as good” “he’s a ball hog” and he’s “like Westbrook (stats only)”
@@AveChristusRex789 he won't and comparing out of shape Luka to the GOAT Michael Jordan is nasty work sin
Luka is that guy. Mavericks in 7
Great content rusty
If u goin to do this kind of video , pls do your research bcoz ur info could become misleading . The game kyrie missed Pg was also out . An the game mavs get blown out they had both Luka an kyrie
the clippers will go small at some point because Zubac gets cooked by luka almost every time they play and people keep talking about Gafford forgetting that the mavs have Dereck Lively going small will be the death of the clippers
If the Mavericks get through? They will be touched up by “The Baby Thunders”.
This dude overrating harden and especially westbrook
Here we go
Clippers in 6. I don't care what anyone says, Dallas cannot guard Kawhi, especially when he is in playoff mode. Paul George has been on a really hot shooting streak to end the season hopefully that carries over, and I'm calling it now, Russ is gonna lock Kyrie down the same way he locked Booker and KD down last season.
in the same sense I’d argue the clippers can’t guard Luka especially now that he has competent teammates and isn’t the only person on his team worth being focused on. It hurts that Kawhi is questionable at best for game 1 because of injuries
Lukas best teammate while cooking the clippers was THJ those past series. THJ may not even see 20mins game time this time around 😂
If kawhi Can stay healthy they will win but he will play like 3 games like last year
@@konorkaotic9657Your take aged terribly
@@BrightNights645 that’s on god, no way I could’ve predicted these dudes scoring a mind shattering 8 points in a quarter
ok but I like kawhi a lot so clippers in 7
I'm going with the team that ended the regular season hot. In this case, it's the Mavs. They're actually my dark horse pick to make the Finals
PG was an all star this year though
Clips fans dont watch the mavs and they havent had to play them in a long time. I'll say the same thing now that I said to the kings fans when they played them for the 6th seed. This is a completely different mavs team. Full stop. They don't live and die by the three anymore, they can speed up/slow down whenever they want, they can rebound now. They play good team defense which is all you need when they can score at will. THJ isn't a factor, like at all, its exum/hardy/maxi/green and any one of them can get hot. Luka is gonna get his early and down the stretch kyrie can take the game over.
How tf you gonna ignore the fact that Kawhi is an all-defense player again this year? On top of being drastically more efficient than Doncic... theyre very comparable, Luka is better regular season, playoffs tho...
Ngl I think Maxi Kleber and Jaden Hardy is more of an X-Factor than THJ imo
the mavs are now the hot pick, sleeping on the clippers, clips in 7
Mavs will win. Kyrie is on fire . But you forgot about him in the video ..you should but Luka news in the title
Imma go full ESPN mode rn...Kawhi overrated Luka better.