In the recent Western Conference semi-finals, the Dallas Mavericks took a two to one lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tonight the two teams will match up once again for a chance to see the Mavs either take a commanding lead at 3-1 or for the Thunder to even the series at 2-2.
The Thunder were the number one seed this year in the very competitive Western Conference. The Thunder hold a lot of young raw talent and have put together a genuinely impressive season regardless if they can win this series or not. The Mavs on the other hand were the fifth seed this year in the Western conference and struggled early on in the season. With a number of injuries and struggles in trying to find a consistent line up it was hard for them to string together multiple wins. Making the move to acquire both PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline was something that completely changed the course of their season. Adding in a healthy Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving to that mix made for a line up that was truly dangerous and was one that helped them close out the regular season on a positive note.
Then, defeating the four seeded La Clippers in round one of the playoffs gave us a good look at how dangerous this Mavs team can really be. Beating a team with Kawai Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden is no easy task yet the Mavs managed to do it pretty easily. The scoring combination of Luka, Kyrie, and Pj Washington, as well as the defensive anchor in Daniel Gafford has been hard for teams to figure out and it was too much for the Clippers to handle.
Now up two to one, the Mavs look to continue this hot streak and hopefully carry this into the Western Conference finals. The interesting thing is that Luka who is known for his premier level scoring and shooting ability, has been shooting some his worst numbers yet in this years play offs, and they are still winning these games. This makes us fans wonder how dangerous the Mav's really are if Luka is playing at the top of his game. With his premier level scoring and also having Kyrie Irving as your second option with years of playoffs experience under his belt, team's are in trouble when it comes to trying to stop this duo.
In the coming week we will see how this competitive series will play out. Weather that be the one seeded Thunder coming out on top, or the fifth seeded Mavs. No matter how the series ends, both teams have proven there talents on both ends of the floor and have each made remarkable strives and improvements throughout the season. The Thunder have lots to look forward to as they are one of the youngest teams in the league and have lots of draft stock in the coming years. The Mavs are more on the older side, but with Luka still being so young and Irving still playing at a high level, they should be able to compete at a top tier level for a number of years.
The Mavs are favored by -1.5 points tonight according to ESPN but it could really go either way. The Mavs hold home court advantage tonight which has been a driving factor in winning teams so far in the playoffs. The game will tip off at 8:30pm central time on TNT in the American Airlines Center.
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