By Jacob Bugarin
The NBA Finals are coming up and with the last four teams in the league right now, we are starting to make predictions. We have seen the Celtics and Pacers game in the Eastern Finals which was going to be a breeze for the Celtics and are already in the finals. The Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves is the game to watch with Anthony Edwards being the main focus in this series. But this series hasn’t been the case, the Timberwolves team have been shutting down every offense that has come their way. Shutting down 2 time champion Kevin Durant and Devin Booker beating the Suns 4-0 in the series. They also locked down the MVP Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, beating them in a Game 7 series. A lot of people thought this was going to be the case for the Mavericks where Anthony Edwards and Jaden Mcdaniels were going to shut down the backcourt duo. This isn’t the case for Mavericks where the Wolves find themselves being down 3-0 in the series. Here are the few reasons why the Mavericks are winning the series against the Wolves.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Iriving
Yeah that’s not wrong, these two are a duo and they are absolutely cooking on this series. In game 3, we just saw Kyrie and Luka both drop 33 points combining 66 points in the game. Luka hit a game winner of defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert in game 2, with Luka being unguardable this series and Kyrie being another star to rely on, this backcourt duo’s star power is killing the Wolves.
The emergence of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford
If you have watched these last few games of the series, you may have noticed these two guys always catching alley-oops from the backcourt duo. Those two are rookie Derek Lively and former Washington Wizard Daniel Gafford. Not only are these two good on the offensive side of the ball, they are able to defend the post and are able to guard some of those fast guards in the game. Those two help mostly Kyrie and Luka have another option if they cannot kick out to an open person or be able to get another shot. Lively and Gafford have been the decoys and reason why the Mavericks always score in the paint during the series.
The role players being able to step up
Though the Timberwolves have role players like Jaden Mcdaniels who is mainly a shutdown defender and three point shooter or Naz Reid who is rebounding big who can shoot the three consistently, the Mavericks role players have been able to step up. We see this in forwards PJ Washington and dunk contest winner Derrick Jones Jr has been stepping up a lot in this series. We Pj Washingotn being a spot up shooter or a third option in the offense, but the one who has been stepping in the playoffs, Derrick Jones Jr. Being the main defender on Anthony Edwards and another spot up shooter, he has been able to generate points in the offense and able to have a role on the defensive side. The Mavericks still need to finish the job against this physical Timberwolves team, but I think if they adjust and keep doing what they’re doing, the Mavericks might be able to sweep.
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