The Warriors took down the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed, the Grizzlies. Then the Mavericks eliminated the top-seeded Suns with a stunning Game 7 blowout on Phoenix’s home floor.
What’s left on that side of the playoff bracket is an enticing matchup featuring two of the game’s biggest stars, Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic.
Curry and Doncic fought off late-season injuries to lead their respective teams to this point. Golden State, with its championship pedigree, now takes over the role as the favorite to reach the Finals and capture the title. But anyone who watch Dallas’ beatdown of the Suns on Sunday knows that Jason Kidd’s club shouldn’t be underestimated.
Curry is averaging 26.9 PPG and 5.6 APG in the postseason, though his 3-point shooting has been spotty (35.9%). Splash Brother partner Klay Thompson is averaging 20.4 PPG, including a 30-point outburst in the clincher against Memphis. Jordan Poole‘s breakout season has seeped into the playoffs (19.3 PPG, 4.8 APG).
Andrew Wiggins has added solid production and Draymond Green has been Golden State’s biggest play-maker (6.6 APG) while anchoring the defense, as usual. Kevon Looney delivered a huge 22-rebound, five-assist outing in Game 6 of the conference semifinals. Gary Payton and Andre Iguodala may not be able to go in the series, so Otto Porter Jr., Jonathan Kuminga and Damion Lee will need to deliver quality minutes.
The Mavericks are generating their offense from smaller lineups. Doncic (31.5 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 6.6 APG) solidified his superstar status by putting his team on his back and vanquishing the Suns. Soon-to-be free agent Jalen Brunson (22.9 PPG) has pumped up his price tag and midseason acquisition Spencer Dinwiddie (13.2 PPG) has resurrected his career with Dallas.
Forwards Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock have been defensive stalwarts, while Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber have divvied up the minutes in the middle. Davis Bertans could be an X-factor off the bench.
The chess match between Kidd and Steve Kerr will be fascinating. Dallas will want to slow things down, while Golden State will look to get out in transition. There will be plenty of switching and defensive wrinkles drawn up in an effort to neutralize each other high-scoring backcourts.
So now it’s your turn to weigh in:
Draymond and Wiggins can’t guard Luka, Payton can.
Payton is injured.
No one can guard Luka.
These Warriors are not the same as 2015 Warriors AND not the same as last November and December either
The passing of the torch to Doncic from the Warriors. We will see
So, Doncic is better than Curry, Thompson, and Green combined. Doncic is great. But, he needs the supporting players.
If that’s what u got out of my post then go for it
So, what is your post supposed to mean? You think that Doncic can defeat the Warriors all by himself. Basketball is still a team game. Luka needs a supporting cast.
Doncic doesn’t have a supporting cast? Who were those other bodies running with him when the Mavs beat the Jazz and Suns? U mean to tell me he was playing teams all season by himself? Remarkable. Dude is amazing. You maybe right. There’s no way Doncic can beat the Warriors playing one on five all game.
j817, thank you !! I’m a Warriors fan and that guy argues with me all the time. I think that’s the agenda to cause a stir, because sometimes the logic is left at the front door.
But to each his own and that’s how some people roll.
I am very impressed with Mavs bench. they have some quality players off the bench and Powell always plays like a all star against warriors.
did you miss the whole “we will see” part?
It seems that each of Warriors is a good guy except Draymond.
Wiggins, Looney and Payton are very humble.
Wiggins have never injured and never got a tech.
Play millions of minutes with no tech.
Who did Draymond injure?
Yeah… geez. Picking up techs doesn’t make you a bad guy. Draymond is good for the game. MSU!
Oh my gawd. The basketball gods have spoken. Sillivan has decided that Draymond Green is a terrible Basketball player. Sillivan can’t be wrong.
Giants this is a good example right here. Where did Sullivan say green is a “terrible basketball player?” He did not.
I don’t know what he means LOL but he didn’t say he’s a terrible basketball player.
Don’t really care about either. I’d be rooting for Warriors if Wiseman was playing.
Nice to see Klay making an impact. Matchup wise to me. Mavs have a good shot here. No one is guarding Luka. The Warriors are a better matchup than Suns. Mavs never should of won that series. So I gotta give them a good shot here.
Considering Warriors know what’s at stake here. I don’t see them pulling a choke job ever. I think their experience should win out. They know how close they are to another Finals. Warriors with home field
Fascinating series. X-Factor will be draymond d on Luka. Both teams go small ball. This could be ‘07 lebron esque where a young Luka reaches the finals without a true star next to him.
Lebron beat the Pistons in 6 and then got swept in the ’07 Finals – that won’t happen this series.
Warriors looked great against a depleted Nuggets team and then struggled against the young Grizzlies. This should be another competitive series, but home court will be the difference. Warriors in 7.
Its going to be the series of coaching. warriors win in 7 because of experience of being there before. Just hoping no injuries for either team so no excuses for who wins. Suns didn’t adjust against the Mavs. Kerr adjusted almost every game is the difference.
ARC, exactly !!
Luka isn’t playing alone, and I like his supporting cast, as organized by Kidd, who is once again proving he’s a basketball savant. But Luka is his team’s only star, and only consensus top 75 player, at least going into the playoffs. The result in G7 against PHX wasn’t a big surprise to me. PHX was the better team, and the better team usually wins a series; but if the other team has the single best player, they’re dangerous, and become more and more so as the series goes on.
Beating GSW will be more difficult, if only because it’s very hard to do a pretty hard thing twice in two tries. Stylistically, I think DAL matches up very well. But GSW has the advantages of more talent and multiple stars, and are experienced enough to know how not to squander those. IMO, DAL doesn’t have enough margin for error to ease their way into the series. They need to win one of the first two, preferably Game 1.
DAL led by Luka will beat GSW, always safe to go with the team that has the best player… Luka is lightyears better than anyone from the Warriors!
El Don Always Wrong the entire 1960s proves this to be incorrect. The best player on the face of the planet was Wilt Chamberlain. The best TEAM won the championship 7 years in a row or so.. and eight out of ten in that decade.
Keep going, Michael Jordan was the best player in the NBA but he didn’t win a ring until they put a team around him and a coach that could get it done.
In the 2000s LeBron James was the best player in the league, not just in the series he was in, but the entire league. Wasn’t till he had a team that he won a bunch of rings.