I'm not a girl who likes to say I told you so, but......
The Western Conference Finals are tied at one after Dallas lost to the Thunder 106-100 on Thursday. It's only one loss to but I definitely feel the Mavericks Game 1 win masked a few areas of concern that enabled the Thunder to win Game 2, particularly on defense. Remember the Thunder were within six with under three minutes to play in Game 1. We pointed this out on Mavericks Game Night prior to Game 2 Thursday night.
This series is still right on pace for what I predicted to be a win for the Mavericks in six (I had OKC winning Game 1). But have the Mavericks lost their edge defensively? OKC is averaging 109 points a game through the first two. Dallas didn't given up more than 100 in the entire postseason prior to the Conference Finals. At least one Mavericks player admitted that they're concentration is off, perhaps they're taking OKC too lightly and that, yes, they have lost some edge.
Dallas allowed OKC to shoot 58% percent in Game 2 and, for the first time in a while, was outplayed by an opposing team's reserve players. The Thunder bench outscored the Mavs second unit 50-29, led by James Harden's 23 points.
Much more in the video blog.
Great analysis of the game. The Mavericks will respond but anyone who watches NBA/Maverick Basketball before this series has to be realistic about the situation. If the Mavericks advance to the finals it was never going to be from a sweep. Oklahoma is a great, young, deep team and you were right on all accounts with their bench play out playing Dallas tonight. However, the bench did play quite a bit more than the Mavs bench as Westbrook sat the entire fourth quarter while Hardin and other bench players were on the floor. Loved the analysis! Keep it up! and GO MAVS
ReplyDelete-JD