Insane how much heavy lifting the media has done to try to trick people into thinking this will be close. Silver has already locked in the new TV deal, (no need to put a thumb on the scale), Pringus is back, Cs are cruising.
Luka and Kyrie are a great duo, and I think the Cs are hard to talk about in the same way if you're focused on superstars. But the fact that over half of ESPN. commentators had Dallas winning the series is egregious. Game's not over though.
Dirk and the Mavs were a big underdog to the heat at the time... Although they had a pretty complete squad even if they lacked star power. I am comfortable saying Luka > Dirk already solely in terms of peak ability tho (probably pretty controversial for now I know) so who knows hes good enough that it's possible
Is that true?-- Mavs were a 60 win team that got through the Suns and the Spurs. I thought Mavs blew a finals lead and then when they got upset by the Warriors the next year it minted Dirk's pre-2011 choking label.
I'm grasping at straws tbh, everybody thought the Heatles would be unstoppable but in reality the Mavs were also elite that year even if people thought they were outmatched. I think in this series the gap between them and Boston is probably quite large but I would much rather see them win than the Celtics so I'm trying to be optimistic
Ah sorry I was interpreting your comment as referring to Dirk vs Wade in 06. Yes, 2011 was a huge upset, maybe more so on paper than reality (2011 Mavs had an identity, Heatles were still developing).
I just can't see Cs losing to anyone in the west, honestly. No one is/was that good, and they have great D, potent offense, solid stars who can take over but don't need to, tons of experience. Obviously would love to see an all world, goat-peak performance from Luka, but I don't think the last month of playing well is sufficient for developing a great/championship team.
I think the Nuggets or TWolves would've been a lot closer even though the Mavs beat the latter, hard to see Luka carrying an otherwise okay squad over a deep Celtics team. I think the Celtics being able to coast through the East is also a huge benefit in the meat grinder that is the NBA playoffs
Insane how much heavy lifting the media has done to try to trick people into thinking this will be close. Silver has already locked in the new TV deal, (no need to put a thumb on the scale), Pringus is back, Cs are cruising.
Luka and Kyrie are a great duo, and I think the Cs are hard to talk about in the same way if you're focused on superstars. But the fact that over half of ESPN. commentators had Dallas winning the series is egregious. Game's not over though.
VinceCarterGesticulatingwithArmsandSayingItsOver.gif
Dirk and the Mavs were a big underdog to the heat at the time... Although they had a pretty complete squad even if they lacked star power. I am comfortable saying Luka > Dirk already solely in terms of peak ability tho (probably pretty controversial for now I know) so who knows hes good enough that it's possible
Is that true?-- Mavs were a 60 win team that got through the Suns and the Spurs. I thought Mavs blew a finals lead and then when they got upset by the Warriors the next year it minted Dirk's pre-2011 choking label.
I'm grasping at straws tbh, everybody thought the Heatles would be unstoppable but in reality the Mavs were also elite that year even if people thought they were outmatched. I think in this series the gap between them and Boston is probably quite large but I would much rather see them win than the Celtics so I'm trying to be optimistic
Ah sorry I was interpreting your comment as referring to Dirk vs Wade in 06. Yes, 2011 was a huge upset, maybe more so on paper than reality (2011 Mavs had an identity, Heatles were still developing).
I just can't see Cs losing to anyone in the west, honestly. No one is/was that good, and they have great D, potent offense, solid stars who can take over but don't need to, tons of experience. Obviously would love to see an all world, goat-peak performance from Luka, but I don't think the last month of playing well is sufficient for developing a great/championship team.
As a certified Cs hater I'd like to think the Nuggets could take them down lol but yeah you're probably right
I think the Nuggets or TWolves would've been a lot closer even though the Mavs beat the latter, hard to see Luka carrying an otherwise okay squad over a deep Celtics team. I think the Celtics being able to coast through the East is also a huge benefit in the meat grinder that is the NBA playoffs