Mavs-Wolves Reaction! Luka & Kyrie dominate & Mavs head to NBA Finals

Mavs-Wolves Reaction! Luka & Kyrie dominate & Mavs head to NBA Finals

the Mavs are headed to the NBA finals and what an absolute Beatdown we just witnessed in Minnesota the Mavs up by as many as 36 points they Hammer Minnesota today 124 to 103 the t-wolves could not handle the physicality from the start I mean the tone was set from the start I I think there was a few times in this one I was like oh it’s a 21 point game now and there’s just no magic no nothing nothing that was Lively coming from the Minnesota Timberwolves pun intended Luca came out and was like this is a big game I’m going to the NBA finals and I felt like he sucked the life out of them in that first quarter they way they finished that quarter and luuka was hitting everything like the fact that Lively’s coming up and setting a screen for him at the logo and goar is not even coming close to it Luca is going to launch that three he’s knocking it down he was already on fire this guy finishes with 20 points he hit contested threes he hit mid-range shots he he was great he he did it all and I I mean when you’re making your outside shots and you’re that guy especially coming off of that last game and going hey your stars have to be Stars I mean he was an effing star tonight and and it was it was starting the game off as a star that I think made it even more impactful you know where you didn’t have to go down by 15 and then find your way back into this one or find a way to win it at the end of the game it was we’re going to the NBA finals and we’re going to start that Journey right now and dece you talk about even the way that he was knocking down some of those thre specifically that high one where Kyle Anderson was trying to fight around the screen and Rudy goar was in drop so far away like that’s a far that that range I’m not even used like I feel like this series it’s not like Luca’s been shooting the out of the ball out there but in this one he was feeling a different type of fire he ends up with 36 points the Clincher along with 10 rebounds five assists a couple of steals he was six of 10 from three Kyrie and him combined for 10 of 20 from downtown because Kyrie also had 36 points both those guys were absolute stars and that’s what I was talking about after game four you know so much talk about man Minnesota what a response could they make this interesting my perspective was pretty simple Kyrie did not shoot the ball well Luca didn’t shoot the ball well and Lively was out and they lost by Five Points you get Lively back in the F tonight that made a big difference but it’s like it’s up to your your guys and the fact of the matter is this Luca and Kyrie are disgustingly talented offensive players and everyone wants to come up with different ideas about how do you slow them down oh do this do that I go good luck because I’ve seen teams make life more difficult and these players are so gifted and so smart their scoring ability and tough shot making it’s hard to really do anything to prevent it yeah I I think and and that alone can become deflating but then you just go like not even from that mental standpoint of being deflated go to a like a strategical standpoint of of what you’re supposed to do next what type of Defense you throw at them and when they’re on fire like that there’s there’s nothing to stop them except not allowing them to have the basketball and that’s going to be so difficult to do I mean Mick Daniels ended with five fouls in this one I know Rudy gar was fouling a lot in the beginning of the game he ended up finishing with what oh he only finished with one foul so I I’m sorry it was uh aunt was also being really aggressive obviously along the perimeter and as well but I’m like what do you do you deny these humans the basketball the entire game like that’s close to impossible to do especially in a series right yeah and the other guy you’re thinking McDaniels had five FS he had three okay yeah I mean they Blitz these guys yeah and if you’re blitzing Luca with Kyrie on the floor that’s cute he’s going to make you pay and they took advantage of it I mean they they found the guy in the short role there a couple times early that you know oh they throw him and Luca maybe threw a high pass to Lively and but they cleaned it up and then they made the right play every single time the ball was flowing moving like crazy 15 of 30 from downtown HS things too that goes a long way in helping you tonight and then what they did defensively where I felt like early on you know they’re blitzing ant but everyone’s like recovering and even if ant got a step on somebody the help defense was there the recovery was there this team looked locked in from the start of this game like we are here to win where Minnesota was like hey are you are you okay you talk about the defense for the Mavs and how everyone was recovering Moving On A String all the things the anchor my defensive player of the game I’m not even going to say of the series the defensive player of the game I mean of the last couple of games that second line of defense d Daniel gaffard making such an impact down there his presence being felt in so many more ways than one not just as a rim protector but like his ability to to make teams think twice about coming into him where when you think about goar and you think about some of these other big players in the league you go okay how do we attack that what do we do and I feel like Gafford really showed up in a different way this season especially after the trade really showing up um and showing what he can do if he has other good pieces around him well and getting Lively back was huge I mean Lively tonight filled up the stat sheet and then of course you had the thing with nas Reed where Nas Reed oh connects with him and he looked like he was Lively looked like he was in tremendous pain I thought Deuce was going to jump through the TV for a second and like go after Nas Reed like I understand why you were so mad because Lively obviously what happened a and then you saw you saw him go down like his neck just kind of flailed it was really weird and you’re so mad at NAS Reed it was Reckless but it was not intentional it was but exactly that it was Reckless and that is why the M’s bench wanted a flagrant 2 The Wolves bench didn’t want any flagrance and so they settled on a flagrant one Lively and gaffer tonight combined for 20 points 17 rebounds four blocks three assists on six of six shooting and they were eight of 12 at the free throw line what those guys have meant to the Dallas Mavericks they’ve been so vital to everything they do as a vertical lob threat too especially offensively you think about Kyrie and Luca’s ability to get inside the paint and they’re so they’re such great threats to finish at the ram they’ve got so many different ways to finish with a floater attacking left right and then the ability to have the vision to find open guys oh you add in two legit lob threats the defenses don’t know what to do I mean how many times do you see Luca leave his feet for a floater and at the last second after he sees the defense commit he’ll throw it up a little higher and get it to someone like Gafford to finish the lob hell LCA driving Baseline tonight Morgan and they’re playing him up tight and there was a miscommunication between Anderson and gobear they saw Luca looking like he was going to get ready to go up they Retreat to the lob man and so what does Luka do just take the mid-range shot and if that’s not there he’s going to pass it and make the right decision when you have two guys like Kyrie and Luca that can make all the right decisions coupled with shooting on the perimeter and legit lob threats you you’re a tough team to stop yeah it’s huge and I think too when you look at the bigs and you want to compare them to even what the Mavs are able to do with their bigs on the offense then compared to let’s just say Rudy goar not even not throwing cat in there I mean he’s obviously just an incredible Dynamic big but with Rudy goar you just see so many different flaws especially when he’s given the ball somewhere he’s uncomfortable he’s not going to make the right play where I feel like sometimes when gaffard or Lively would get the ball at the high post because a double would come on Luca and that’s where they would end up getting it they wouldn’t try to scramble travel and make some play going down into the paint make some move they would take a second stay poised and make the right play pass it out spray three if people collapse them whatever and then you saw on the other end with someone like Rudy goar where it felt like at times where he’s just moving his body weird when he gets the ball and trying for some layups in the beginning he was being super aggressive and I think that’s another reason why uh when you do look at Minnesota in the beginning of the game wasn’t just Luca going off it was also a little bit of that it was like wow where do go bear sure being aggressive on the offensive end and getting a lot so The Bigs just are different in that way too those guys are a star in their role right gobear tries to do a little too much offensively like I feel like he tries to prove a point sometimes well I mean but what are you supposed to do when you get the ball that low like you want a big to be able to make a move and go but I feel like there’s so much discomfort there how many years has he played in the NBA he’s not doing it it’s not starting so like him being a threat if he’s not good at it it’s like he’s a lob threat and a guy who tries to clean it up if anything that’s it and if that’s not there I don’t need to see Rudy goar putting the ball on the floor okay I don’t need you to be doing too much you have to know what you’re good at Gober tonight think about all the money he makes he had nine points and five rebounds Lively Gafford outplays Rudy goar so that was a pretty significant thing for the Dallas Mavericks and to think about where they were at this time last year well they were in the playoffs one but they were playing like Dwight pow they had chrisan wood they had javel McGee on the team and what a makeover what a shift for them even at the start of this year they had ran Holmes and then another big like Grant Williams obviously at the center spot Dallas deserves so much credit for the pivot they made this year yeah and I know we’ve talked about this before but multiple times you go back to late March those two games in Sacramento and But after those games we we there podcast and we were like man this Mass team looks like they can make a run here yeah I didn’t think it would be to the NBA finals and to think that they beat the Clippers in the first round they beat the number one seed OKC Thunder and then to do what they did against Minnesota yeah they crushed them I mean they crushed especially tonight on a on a game where you can like send them home and it’s on their home floor and I think not only did they crush them and do their job but you feel a little disappointed in Minnesota in their ability to bring it tonight and again cat 28 points he had a good game uh aunt had 28 points and with his his game it was just a little different because I felt like the doubles that were being thrown at him they were hounding him and we’ve seen throughout the regular season and even throughout some of the postseason like he’s been able to break through find a way to dominate through it but it just felt like it was becoming too much and I think he’ll learn so much from this experience he definitely will but is also I think Minnesota’s offensive flaws were highlighted at times and I think think one of the things you notice is like okay who else is going to create it out there like Cat when he’s on he could hit from three and attack the basket okay but who else can create goar can’t create McDaniels you know he’s taken steps to become a better offensive player but he’s so inconsistent one night he’s giv you 24 the next he’s not scoring or he’s giving you five points or eight points or he’s picking up foul troubles you know for them to take a step they need like another guy that can go get them a bucket mikee Conley can hit some Corner threes and you know every once in a while he’ll come out and give you 18 but he’s also 36 years old and you go to the bench tonight I’m going I understand why you’re playing Kyle Anderson for defense and stuff but he’s not spacing the floor goar is not spacing the floor all of a sudden we saw Jordan mlin tonight he’s not spacing the floor you’re like who’s creating the offense it all kind of falls on ant in that situation as you mentioned he’s getting Blitz he’s being asked at times to go out there and defend Kyrie it that that’s what makes it tough you know Minnesota had a hell of a year and and how of a roster a hell of a team like a lot of different things that they had that you see why they were as successful as they were but yeah when you do look at what you can tweak on the offensive end with the roster I mean there’s definitely steps you can take their defense was awesome during the regular season absolutely awesome at times during this playoff run who could forget that game two against Denver we’re like what the hell did we just witness but against those two guys in Dallas it’s I mean it’s different we’re seeing something that’s like Beyond special right now what Luca is accomplishing like it’s clicking we all know no one’s denied Luca’s Talent over the years it’s all like Hey when’s he going to end up making that big run he is making it now and now he’s in the NBA finals and he’s playing tremendous basketball that’s the thing it’s not just because he is making it to the next step and within the playoffs and now the NBA Finals it’s how he’s doing it it’s how he’s playing as a star it’s not and even Kyrie said it after the game he was like you know it’s not just me and Luca it’s like the rest of and it’s true though because how many times have we talked about this team creating these team wins your stars being Stars you pointed it out early in this in this game to me you’re like Dante exom and Josh Green are out there just doing the little things they’re tipping balls out they’re contesting well it it’s like those things don’t always show up on the box score but defitely don’t just good moments there you know what Derrick Jones has done during the playoffs PJ Washington it’s yeah it’s not just them either but those two guys get so much thrown their way and they’re able to respond yeah and and I think I think that’s it too like the way that they’ve been able to rely on others to to really play their roles like no one’s ever doing too much I would say the only person that ever does you know a lot when he comes in is like Jaden Hardy the but even that I appreciate his confidence and his ability to be that way to have that type of mentality when sometimes he’s like no F this I’m going to create I’m going to do something else um but overall yeah you look at you look at both these rosters and then you look at what what the Mavs have been able to to accomplish and with some of these names and just some of these names playing some of their best basketball around one another I mean a lot of the league is situational for players when you plug in the right players around the right people and all the different it’s like it can work and even Kyrie no drama this year that alone Luca like not he his game is taking a leap even with his maturity it’s the same thing that we talked about with uh aunt and Cat uh throughout this entire season for them but yeah Luca is on a different level now it’s fun to watch man it it’s really fun to see that and dude we set up before the series min Minnesota was playing the best basketball of any team headed into the series oh yeah and Dallas showed up in a major way Big Time impressive stuff as the Mavs are now headed to the NBA finals to take on the Boston Celtics uh we get this comment a lot from people and it’s like how how do you guys deal with this how do you handle Luca’s success because you’re in Sacramento oh so for those who don’t know in that 2018 NBA draft the Sacramento Kings jumped up in the draft lottery moved up to number two and there’s so much talk are they’re going to draft LCA Luca the guy oh we hit it hopefully the Suns don’t take him number one well if he’s at number two you’re taking him and of course there’s that famous picture of Luca with King’s officials at dinner before the draft proc during the draft process so now all these years later like H how do you handle that mentally Morgan Reagan uh at first it was hard and then I also I enjoyed all of his immature years because it made me go God I’m so glad that that’s not on the Kings you know when he was bitching a lot and it wasn’t leading to postseason it’s also your way of trying to make yourself feel better 100% but like you you you have to you have to find a way to cope and to um get past it but there were times it was triggering because we had a player on the Sacramento Kings and his name was DeMarcus Cousins and when you watch that night in and night out it it be in Demarcus never changed the thing about Luca is that not only has he talked about changing not only has he reflected you’re seeing him actually put in the work in changing and he wins and and and on top of that he wins and his game only keeps getting better so yeah now it’s become this this thing for me where I just take a step back and as an NBA fan I take a step back and I just I’m I I go okay respect and I can play the what if game with so many things in life and with this this specific thing I’m not going to do it and I’m just going to respect basketball and the game that I get to watch even if he’s not in a king’s Jersey yeah I I feel like I moved on from it too you know I think anyone would be like yeah that was a big time blunder a franchise altering mistake I think we knew that relatively early on but for me at some point it’s just like it is what it there’s nothing you can do about now it is what it is and you think about over the years like this is going to go down as like when Sam Bowie was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan you don’t think Blazers fans are going God wish we could have had a Keem or Michael Jordan uh you you do have to move on at some point and I love the game of basketball so I’m going to enjoy great talent and sure would have been nice in Sacramento absolutely but if I were to get hung up on all the kings misses over the years could have had Ka Leonard could have had Dame Lillard Steph Curry Klay Thomson you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night there’s so many names that one definitely stands out yeah probably more than any but here’s why that one stands out because a lot some of those names end up being luck like you got you know what I mean where Luca was generational Talent sitting right there for you to choose and it wasn’t like he was like hidden this is not like hey you missed out yic cuz your Scouts didn’t take him the second round I mean we were all watching Euro league basketball at the time going dude oh my God I can’t believe this teenager doing this in a Euro league and like yeah but and I by the way as we talk about it I’m start I start to feeli a little bit but I well because if if I go back to that that night I remember just being like trying to convince myself like okay they know what they’re doing then if this they they know something that we don’t know no yeah so I have definitely I’ve moved on and I’m just enjoying it yeah and the Mavs man they’ve taken some calculated risks you think about it I mean they trade for Kyrie and they got hammered for it they missed the playoffs last year and now they’re headed to the NBA finals like it seems like it’s worked to Perfection those two Vibe Kyrie’s locked in playing amazing basketball they’ve got the pieces surrounding them and I mean they’re going to have a chance here I I like you if you’re going to act like they don’t have a chance against the Celtics then you you’re sleeping on the Mavs again when you’ve got who is if he can finish off the Celtics there’s going to be a case he’s been elevated to the best player in the league I’m not a big fan of all those conversations because let’s be honest it moves so often the reality is he’s one of the best players in the league and then the guy next to him is looking like one of the best players in the league too right and that’s I I I just I really hope we get some really good basketball out of these NBA Finals because these are two really good teams um one with more notable names than the other but at the same time you know who who has more notable n are you talking about I would here’s the only reason why I would say the Celtics with Tatum Brown and then porzingis holiday and I was even just giving three right like I was just going there where I feel like you go to a rookie in Derek Lively who’s coming off the bench and then you go to you think about the tra the at the trade deadline for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford you’re not going those are big names but what is so beautiful is how they compliment the stars and I think sometimes that gets overlooked and it’s not about them being some of the best players in the league it’s be them being some of the best role players in this league so game one in Boston comes next week June six some of the story lines we’re going to get Kyrie taking on the Celtics oh yeah dude that’s going to be nasty I don’t yeah I don’t like it yeah then you got porzingis against Dallas yeah everyone thought that porzingis Luca thing they were going to takeoff and wi championships it didn’t work like everyone thought it would have uh Luca Tatum going for their first Rings yeah Grant Williams sitting at home pissed because he was on Boston last year and then he was on Dallas to start this season and ended up in Charlotte well what do you think gr Williams is thinking right now gr Williams going I was in Boston competing and I side with Luca Kyrie let’s go Grant Williams is is a really good guy so I’m sure he has a very positive attitude he’s rooting for Boston though right like no doubt he’s rooting for Boston yeah like aren’t you kind of like screw Dallas like they pay me and then they get rid of me like no I can’t wait for that series um real fast to Minnesota yeah to put a bow on them oh yeah I think there’s going to be so much talk after this about man like you got to trade this guy go bar I I kind of think they’ll make some subtle tweaks and they’re kind of stuck too just based on salary cap situation right but it got them to the Western Conference Finals you know and I know that’s not the the end all Beall and in some ways I think some teams were more desperate than them to get to the fin but like yeah people are going to be dramatic about it but Deuce you already said it there’s going to be there needs to be Rost tweaks for even their offense and what does Anthony Edwards do this off season from an endurance standpoint fromit how does he work on his craft in his game to come back to get to another level we saw FL and we saw people wanted to push him to another level and now a little bit of a reality check but the guy still went this far that great year for Minnesota can we also acknowledge that for a second you had a couple all stars and all NBA Talent McDaniels Sixth Man of the Year MCD was all defensive team so a lot of good stuff for the Minnesota t-wolves uh in the comments below let us know predictions for MAV Celtics let us know what you thought of this MAV victory tonight and what should the wolves do going forward let us know in the comments below please hit the Thumbs Up And subscribe they tell you what they know de and mo de Mo the podcast that you know

Deuce and Mo recap the Mavs dominant performance in Game 5, what went right for Dallas during the playoffs, Mavs-Celtics and what the Wolves need.
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