Seems to me like DAL is going to have huge headaches defending Durant and Westbrook. On the flip side, Dirk will obviously have no one covering him who can stop him. I think we see our fair share of OVERS in this series.
My random thoughts
1) Nick Collison can't gaurd dirk, but Ibalka can do as good of a job as anyone. Dirk has a couple of inches on him, but Serge is atheltic and will compensate for size with his explosive jumping. But Serge has a tendency to get into foul trouble. And serge going to the perimiter to guard dirk will leave OKC vulnerable to giving up offensive rebounds. Plus it will be an easy defensive match-up for Dirk, allowing him to save his energy.
2) Westbrook is a horrible match-up for dallas... he is too fast for kidd and too big for barea... My guess is terry and stevenson will spend a good chunk of time guarding him, leaving kidd to guard harden or shefalosha, which he can do. Dallas can also fall into a zone when needed.
3) Can Marion contain Durant? He has the size, but i don't know if he has the quickness. Battier did an unreal job of guarding durant, as good as i have seen anyone in the league. I doubt Marion can match that effort.
4) OKC is very underrated for their size. the center combination of perkins, collison and mohamad is solid and formidable.... but chandler is a bad match-up for each one of these guys because of his athletism and each one of these guys is a much better match-up for Haywood coming off the bench than gasol or bynum.
5) Dallas has much better balance of scoring options than OKC and their last opponent, memphis. OKC did a great job of packing the paint in game 5 and game 7, and forced memphis to beat them from the outside. But the better balance of scoring and outside shooting will make this a much harder task for OKC in this series. Memphis, as great of a covering team they are, were one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league this year, in 3 pointers made, attempted, and 3 point %.
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This is going to be a great series. I do feel dallas is going to win this one because they are the better scoring team on a position by position basis, but -230 is too steep of a price. Is there "value" on OKC at +180? Not enough to lay anything more than a small bet.
My random thoughts
1) Nick Collison can't gaurd dirk, but Ibalka can do as good of a job as anyone. Dirk has a couple of inches on him, but Serge is atheltic and will compensate for size with his explosive jumping. But Serge has a tendency to get into foul trouble. And serge going to the perimiter to guard dirk will leave OKC vulnerable to giving up offensive rebounds. Plus it will be an easy defensive match-up for Dirk, allowing him to save his energy.
2) Westbrook is a horrible match-up for dallas... he is too fast for kidd and too big for barea... My guess is terry and stevenson will spend a good chunk of time guarding him, leaving kidd to guard harden or shefalosha, which he can do. Dallas can also fall into a zone when needed.
3) Can Marion contain Durant? He has the size, but i don't know if he has the quickness. Battier did an unreal job of guarding durant, as good as i have seen anyone in the league. I doubt Marion can match that effort.
4) OKC is very underrated for their size. the center combination of perkins, collison and mohamad is solid and formidable.... but chandler is a bad match-up for each one of these guys because of his athletism and each one of these guys is a much better match-up for Haywood coming off the bench than gasol or bynum.
5) Dallas has much better balance of scoring options than OKC and their last opponent, memphis. OKC did a great job of packing the paint in game 5 and game 7, and forced memphis to beat them from the outside. But the better balance of scoring and outside shooting will make this a much harder task for OKC in this series. Memphis, as great of a covering team they are, were one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league this year, in 3 pointers made, attempted, and 3 point %.
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This is going to be a great series. I do feel dallas is going to win this one because they are the better scoring team on a position by position basis, but -230 is too steep of a price. Is there "value" on OKC at +180? Not enough to lay anything more than a small bet.
I like the Thunder too.
I think it's important to note that the Mavs biggest advantages in the Laker series were:
1) Far better bench
2) Far better 3 point shooting
3) Far better point guard play
The Lakers bench is an absolute joke. I'm a big Laker fan, and it just made me sick every time I saw Steve Blake and Barnes running around out there bricking jump shots. No offensive production at all. However, the Thunder can run Harden and Collison out there and compete with the Mavs bench. Slight edge still goes to the Mavs here, but the disparity isn't as large as it was in the Laker series.
Second, Dallas won't have as big of an edge from beyond the arc against the Thunder. The Lakers don't have a single consistent 3 point shooter, which really hurt them in the Mavs series. If Mavs go wild from 3 again in this series, at least Durant/Westbrook/Harden can keep them around.
Third, and most importantly in my opinion, Westbrook is FAR better than Fisher - and Kidd and Barea destroyed Fish in that series. The Mavs will go from facing a minimal production guy like Fisher to a guy who can go for 30 every night and get to the rim on a consistent basis.
I like the Thunder too.
I think it's important to note that the Mavs biggest advantages in the Laker series were:
1) Far better bench
2) Far better 3 point shooting
3) Far better point guard play
The Lakers bench is an absolute joke. I'm a big Laker fan, and it just made me sick every time I saw Steve Blake and Barnes running around out there bricking jump shots. No offensive production at all. However, the Thunder can run Harden and Collison out there and compete with the Mavs bench. Slight edge still goes to the Mavs here, but the disparity isn't as large as it was in the Laker series.
Second, Dallas won't have as big of an edge from beyond the arc against the Thunder. The Lakers don't have a single consistent 3 point shooter, which really hurt them in the Mavs series. If Mavs go wild from 3 again in this series, at least Durant/Westbrook/Harden can keep them around.
Third, and most importantly in my opinion, Westbrook is FAR better than Fisher - and Kidd and Barea destroyed Fish in that series. The Mavs will go from facing a minimal production guy like Fisher to a guy who can go for 30 every night and get to the rim on a consistent basis.
I like the Thunder too.
I think it's important to note that the Mavs biggest advantages in the Laker series were:
1) Far better bench
2) Far better 3 point shooting
3) Far better point guard play
The Lakers bench is an absolute joke. I'm a big Laker fan, and it just made me sick every time I saw Steve Blake and Barnes running around out there bricking jump shots. No offensive production at all. However, the Thunder can run Harden and Collison out there and compete with the Mavs bench. Slight edge still goes to the Mavs here, but the disparity isn't as large as it was in the Laker series.
Second, Dallas won't have as big of an edge from beyond the arc against the Thunder. The Lakers don't have a single consistent 3 point shooter, which really hurt them in the Mavs series. If Mavs go wild from 3 again in this series, at least Durant/Westbrook/Harden can keep them around.
Third, and most importantly in my opinion, Westbrook is FAR better than Fisher - and Kidd and Barea destroyed Fish in that series. The Mavs will go from facing a minimal production guy like Fisher to a guy who can go for 30 every night and get to the rim on a consistent basis.
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
I like the Thunder too.
I think it's important to note that the Mavs biggest advantages in the Laker series were:
1) Far better bench
2) Far better 3 point shooting
3) Far better point guard play
The Lakers bench is an absolute joke. I'm a big Laker fan, and it just made me sick every time I saw Steve Blake and Barnes running around out there bricking jump shots. No offensive production at all. However, the Thunder can run Harden and Collison out there and compete with the Mavs bench. Slight edge still goes to the Mavs here, but the disparity isn't as large as it was in the Laker series.
Second, Dallas won't have as big of an edge from beyond the arc against the Thunder. The Lakers don't have a single consistent 3 point shooter, which really hurt them in the Mavs series. If Mavs go wild from 3 again in this series, at least Durant/Westbrook/Harden can keep them around.
Third, and most importantly in my opinion, Westbrook is FAR better than Fisher - and Kidd and Barea destroyed Fish in that series. The Mavs will go from facing a minimal production guy like Fisher to a guy who can go for 30 every night and get to the rim on a consistent basis.
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
Smart person
Good points, but also consider that the thunder just played a team that was one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league, and now they are going to play one of the best shooting teams in the league. Mavs will punish them if the thunder don't protect the 3 point line, but this will also spread out their defense.
....And the Mavs biggest weakness against the lakers was that they could not stop bynum/gasol/odom down low. Well guess what, the thunder are barely going to get any production down low from their centers, aside from garbage buckets... No one on the thunder has the low-post scoring capabilities of any of those laker players.
You are justifying your pick by looking at the thunder strengths vs the mavs weaknesses, but not doing the reverse.
Yeah, westbrook is unguardable 1-on-1 ... but all great offensive players are unguardable 1-on-1... its the help defense and rotations that differentiate a great defensive team from a bad one.... so it remains to be seen what defensive schemes both teams will be using....
Smart person
Value does not win games. The team does. Dallas
Value does not win games. The team does. Dallas
Smart person
a pick or play would have been nice. does that write up mean it's a no play? i just read kap and bads quick write ups and i was thinking along those same lines. i think the mavs will be over valued after sweeping a lakers team that had serious internal issues. okc for me in game one. probably under. not even sure what it is which is good. if it's above 191 i'll bet under. good luck with your plays guys.
Smart person
a pick or play would have been nice. does that write up mean it's a no play? i just read kap and bads quick write ups and i was thinking along those same lines. i think the mavs will be over valued after sweeping a lakers team that had serious internal issues. okc for me in game one. probably under. not even sure what it is which is good. if it's above 191 i'll bet under. good luck with your plays guys.
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