Western Conference Finals odds are live:

Wolves -158
Mavs +128

Oh no https://t.co/6H3TuUus2z

— Dave DuFour 🐲 (@DaveDuFourNBA) May 20, 2024

Enviroag02 said:

---

Timberwolves and Mavs played 4 times in the regular season. Wolves were 3-1. Of those 4 matchups, the Mavs were without both Luka and Kyrie for 2 of the losses.. The other Mavs loss was with Luka but no Kyrie. The one Mavs win was with both Luka and Kyrie.

---

And all 4 games were pre-Washington/Gafford and before Lively turned into the defensive monster he is right now, so there's really nothing that can be drawn from the regular season matchups at all. If anything it's concerning for Minnesota how easily Luka/Kyrie scored on them in the one win (I think they combined for 70?).

May be captain obvious, but I am really interested to see the initial chess match in the 1st 2 games.
Both teams are coming out of very different series in terms of how they were played. I know that the Mavs have proven to be versatile in how they can play, will be interesting to see if Minnesota is.

Yea I'm surprised that the Wolves are this big of a favorite honestly. I feel like they match up much better with Denver than they do with the Mavericks. Denver doesn't really have the playmakers to punish Gobert like we do.

Glass half full, Luka and Kyrie can play Gobert off the court. Getting Maxi back would be huge if he's able to shoot and stretch their defense out more. And on defense, Lively/Gafford should be able to roam quite a bit if they are guarding Gobert, which will let them help out on Ant or KAT as needed. I'm assuming PJ will be on KAT, so teat may be an interesting matchup to watch.

I could see both teams somewhat struggling to score. And if that's the case, I like our chances having Luka and Kyrie trying to take advantage of switches to give us a small edge. Luka will need to keep his composure because their wing defenders will likely give him fits at times.

Well seems like all the talking heads are picking the wolves in this series. So many are caught up in the Ant man hype and continually dismiss Luka. Cant wait for this one to tip off.

Yeah Minnesota actually matches up really well with Denver. They can throw all sorts of length at Murray, they can guard Jokic with a 7 footer who can shoot 3s on offense. That allows Gobert to guard Gordon in the dunker spot and just float around the rim, similar to how we had our centers guard Giddey.

Murray and Jokic don't run the 1-5 PNR the same way the mavs do. Either Gobert or KAT will continuously be switched on to Luka. There will be multiple games this series where KAT has 5 fouls early in the 4th or earlier. They may try to have Rudy guard PJ or DJJ and make those guys hit corner threes or put the ball on the floor and create.

I expect Gafford to be much more effective this series where he can hang around the rim guarding a center that won't pull him away from the basket.

DJJ should play every single minute that Ant plays. Guarding Ant with anybody other than DJJ and on rare occasion PJ would be criminal by this coaching staff.

HawthornAggie said:

---

Western Conference Finals odds are live:

Wolves -158
Mavs +128

---

Is there a way to pick Minnesota to win game 1 but Mavs to win the series? That would be the value play, if you can do that. Mavs still haven't won a game 1 with Kidd, if I remember correctly.

You would bet now on game one and then after a loss in game one pick the Mavs to get the best payout.

dallasiteinsa02 said:

---

You would bet now on game one and then after a loss in game one pick the Mavs to get the best payout.

---

This

dallasiteinsa02 said:

---

You would bet now on game one and then after a loss in game one pick the Mavs to get the best payout.

---

I would not. I'm just suggesting that to people looking for value.

NBA.com put up a Mavs in 7 prediction.

Probably my favorite matchup in this series is Luka against the Anthony Edwards Media Propaganda.

You know how much it is driving him that Ant is going to get all the media love in this series. Luka when he is playing basketball against a narrative is deadly.

mavsfan4ever said:

---

Yea I'm surprised that the Wolves are this big of a favorite honestly. I feel like they match up much better with Denver than they do with the Mavericks. Denver doesn't really have the playmakers to punish Gobert like we do.

Glass half full, Luka and Kyrie can play Gobert off the court. Getting Maxi back would be huge if he's able to shoot and stretch their defense out more. And on defense, Lively/Gafford should be able to roam quite a bit if they are guarding Gobert, which will let them help out on Ant or KAT as needed. I'm assuming PJ will be on KAT, so teat may be an interesting matchup to watch.

---

Ya in theory i agree but this is the same logic everyone used against the Wolves in their first round matchup against Phx. They have 3 tough shot making scorers that "theoretically" should have been able to exploit Gobert's drop coverage. And the wolves summarily wiped the floor with them.

Now the Mavs are obviously better and bigger than the suns, so I'm not saying there's no chance we can't attack Gobert. But the Wolves will have already seen a version of that attack already. It's up to the mavs to be better than that.

M.C. Swag said:

---

mavsfan4ever said:

---

Yea I'm surprised that the Wolves are this big of a favorite honestly. I feel like they match up much better with Denver than they do with the Mavericks. Denver doesn't really have the playmakers to punish Gobert like we do.

Glass half full, Luka and Kyrie can play Gobert off the court. Getting Maxi back would be huge if he's able to shoot and stretch their defense out more. And on defense, Lively/Gafford should be able to roam quite a bit if they are guarding Gobert, which will let them help out on Ant or KAT as needed. I'm assuming PJ will be on KAT, so teat may be an interesting matchup to watch.

---

Ya in theory i agree but this is the same logic everyone used against the Wolves in their first round matchup against Phx. They have 3 tough shot making scorers that "theoretically" should have been able to exploit Gobert's drop coverage. And the wolves summarily wiped the floor with them.

Now the Mavs are obviously better and bigger than the suns, so I'm not saying there's no chance we can't attack Gobert. But the Wolves will have already seen a version of that attack already. It's up to the mavs to be better than that.

---

We'll see, but Luka has played Gobert to the bench before

Ya but that's also because the Jazz didn't have the wing defenders. Gobert def got attacked but he also got absolutely hung out to dry by Dono Mitchell/Jordan Clarkson/Bogdonavic/etc failing to even marginally contain their man. The wolves will be much more stout on the perimeter and have multiple help defenders to protect Gobert in cases where he's pulled out.

M.C. Swag said:

---

mavsfan4ever said:

---

Yea I'm surprised that the Wolves are this big of a favorite honestly. I feel like they match up much better with Denver than they do with the Mavericks. Denver doesn't really have the playmakers to punish Gobert like we do.

Glass half full, Luka and Kyrie can play Gobert off the court. Getting Maxi back would be huge if he's able to shoot and stretch their defense out more. And on defense, Lively/Gafford should be able to roam quite a bit if they are guarding Gobert, which will let them help out on Ant or KAT as needed. I'm assuming PJ will be on KAT, so teat may be an interesting matchup to watch.

---

Ya in theory i agree but this is the same logic everyone used against the Wolves in their first round matchup against Phx. They have 3 tough shot making scorers that "theoretically" should have been able to exploit Gobert's drop coverage. And the wolves summarily wiped the floor with them.

Now the Mavs are obviously better and bigger than the suns, so I'm not saying there's no chance we can't attack Gobert. But the Wolves will have already seen a version of that attack already. It's up to the mavs to be better than that.

---

I think the Suns are a completely different team than the Mavs. Suns did not have a point guard who could figure out the ways to attack the defense. Mavs have two guys who can do that. Suns are the definition of a your-turn-my-turn team with a bunch of ball stoppers. Their non big 3 are Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkic, and washed Eric Gordon. One of their big 3 is washed Bradley Beal lol. We are way more athletic than them. Suns were also ready to lay down and take it at the first sign of adversity and pretty much did just that.

I get your point, but I don't think we will attack them in the same way at all. We have two athletic big men that aren't like Nurkic. Gobert is going to be in conflict this whole series in a way that he just hasn't yet.

The scary part is when Naz Reid comes in and gives a completely different look.

Timber wolves don't have a guaranteed 35 point per game robot like Gilgeus Alexander. Guy is insane. Edward's is scary, but not nearly as much as SGA.

M.C. Swag said:

---

Ya but that's also because the Jazz didn't have the wing defenders. Gobert def got attacked but he also got absolutely hung out to dry by Dono Mitchell/Jordan Clarkson/Bogdonavic/etc failing to even marginally contain their man. The wolves will be much more stout on the perimeter and have multiple help defenders to protect Gobert in cases where he's pulled out.

---

They'd have to have a better group of wing players lol. Theres just so many aspects of both teams that make the matchups interesting

shack009 said:

---

Oh no https://t.co/6H3TuUus2z

— Dave DuFour 🐲 (@DaveDuFourNBA) May 20, 2024

---

Ok I give up. Not sure what I'm missing in this photo.

NoahAg said:

---

shack009 said:

---

Oh no https://t.co/6H3TuUus2z

— Dave DuFour 🐲 (@DaveDuFourNBA) May 20, 2024

---

Ok I give up. Not sure what I'm missing in this photo.

---

Phoenix did this after a win in 2022, they finished the season 2-4 then choked against the Mavs in the 2nd round

“Winners work” …the @suns put in extra work following their 4-point road W. 💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/Tp1qeIkApk

— NBA (@NBA) March 31, 2022

The Suns became a meme during the 2022 season when they won a big game (I think fairly early in the year) and a clip went viral of them lifting weights and doing the exercise ball and all that immediately after the game. In one of the videos the Suns released, you can hear Booker saying "Winners work." So "winners work" kinda became a meme making fun of their corniness, especially after the Suns lost to the Mavs.

It should be noted, every single team works out after their games. These guys need to keep their muscle throughout the year, but you don't want to work out during the day and tire your muscles before the game. So you lift and do calisthenics after the game.

I think that's most of the history, maybe someone else can add something more on the Suns part of it where it started.

Edit: Guitarsoup beat me to it. So it was late in the year. That makes it so much worse hahaha.

Haha, that's fantastic. Anything to make fun of Booker and that Suns team. The Luka/Booker memes were allsome.

Yeah it's a really common meme on NBA twitter, so for the TWolves primary account to post that is really risky.

I heard Tim Cato say on his podcast that he has heard that Luka is basically healthy. Would be great news if true.

Not too surprising, but Lively made Second Team All Rookie.

Had no chance at first team because of Chet and Wemby, but it is amazing what we, and the rest of the league, are saying about him compared to what we thought when we drafted him.

was tough to watch, was pulling for Indy. That was maybe even more painful than our Game 4 travesty against OKC

shack009 said:

---

How many more times will it take Carlisle to learn?

But the Pacers crapped all down their own legs for the last 30ish seconds of regulation. When they rebounded the ball up by 3 with 30 seconds left, it was a slow motion train wreck for like 5-10 seconds. My wife was laughing out loud at them from about the time they got the rebound until they ended up out of bounds. Then not being able to get the ball in bounds up by 3 with 8 seconds left was just so bad.

A complete comedy of errors and they blew it when it was in the bag.

If I were a Packers fan I would be sick to my stomach.

---

Yeah I can't stand the Packers either since Rodgers left.

HawthornAggie said:

---

Indiana just cratered at the end of the game and in overtime. Definitely should have won that one.

Carlisle gets burned again by not fouling up 3 at the end of the game. Third time this playoffs if I'm not mistaken.

---

Definitely some major strategic blunders by Indiana, but not fouling up 3 really wasn't one of them. The opportunity never really presented itself. Brown received the inbounds from the spot he shot from. If Siakam fouls there, it's likely going to wind up being a shooting foul and 3 free throws (with a chance at a 4pt play).