Who doesn't take Mavs +6.5 should not gamble on nba

[texhooper]

You really think OKC will take the defending champs lightly after Dallas ended their season last year?

People think Westbrook is worse than last year?

We are only 3 games in people!!!! Geez.

he might not be worse as in, a shittier basketball player, but his ego will end up killing him. this is durant's team and for some reason he's not ok with that.

i guess that's his problem, i'm not really sure. he just has these moments of being a baby and it translates on the court, like last night. you never see shit like this from truly elite players over and over like you do with westbrook.

congrats on the win last night, by the way. broke my fukking heart!

[suicidekings]

Butler missed the majority of last season, so let's just leave him out of this conversation. Barea was big for them last year, but Roddy Beaubois provides a similar energy, with less experience (but probably a higher ceiling). Barea brought very little to the table at the defensive end. I don't see this change as a big downgrade now, and it will eventually be a plus for the Mavs. Stevenson will be missed, no doubt, however last year it was Shawn Marion that did the majority of the work in defending Durant and he actually did a very good job. Durant still got his points, but Marion made him work for them. Harden is the other guy that needs to be contained/challenged regularly for the Mavs to be successful. Chandler is obviously the one that's missed the most and Haywood is a downgrade, however Lamar Odom is a solid help defender with size that's capable of stepping up and playing physical in the paint as well as playing man to man against strong offensive players. If he can be a presence in helping clog up the paint tonight, it's going to result in the Thunder having difficulty driving into the lane, forcing Westbrook to shoot more from 17ft+. The Mavs now have the ability to really put a big lineup on the floor, with Dirk/Odom capable of working either high or low successfully. It's a different look for sure, but I'm not convinced that this team is worse than last year's team. Perhaps just less hungry. I only have 1u on the Mavs ML, so it's a small play. Should be an interesting and revealing game regardless.

I totally forgot about the addition of Delonte West. There's your perimeter defender to replace Stevenson.

[shawnjohn5]

Delonte West?! Now u r really getting desperate, lol! He plays def on smallish pgs not rangy sgs

[BernardMadoff]

he might not be worse as in, a shittier basketball player, but his ego will end up killing him. this is durant's team and for some reason he's not ok with that.

i guess that's his problem, i'm not really sure. he just has these moments of being a baby and it translates on the court, like last night. you never see shit like this from truly elite players over and over like you do with westbrook.

congrats on the win last night, by the way. broke my fukking heart!

Derrick Rose winning the MVP last year screwed Westbrook's mind up from there, he's been trying to prove he's at least as good ever since.

[suicidekings]

Delonte West?! Now u r really getting desperate, lol! He plays def on smallish pgs not rangy sgs

He's an underrated perimeter defender. I'm not claiming he puts the Mavs over the top, but he offers a lot in terms of defense and steals in pressure situations, and is capable of much of what Stevenson was responsible for.

[lcf]

Great job!

[Tennispro]

Hope you enjoyed the game Kevin Durant is great i am out.

[jbess]

Didn't take the mavs, nor the Thunder, wanted to take the mavs. But good job!

[riskyProps]

The Mavs are looking better. They may actually start winning soon!

[jabro21]

i think trying to break down an nba game based on what a couple of role players are going to do is a waste of time and not a long term strategy. The mavs are worse than last yr, and not motivated right now, but they still have dirk and a nucleus of players that won a championship, they are not chopped liver. the main point is that okc, while younger, better and more motivated than dal so far, was playing their 4th in 5 nights, and was starting to lag during that stretch, you could see it in the last two wins. It doesn't matter that its the 1st wk of the season or that they're young, human instinct is that if you are slacking and still getting it done, its going to catch up to you. there are points in the nba season where your last game determines how you'll play in your next game, its the emotion/motivation angle. I think that's what suicidekings was getting at, and where I agreed with him. okc aren't the 96 bulls, they're a bunch of kids still gelling apparently, and they are vulnerable to blips during the season just like almost every other good or great team thats played in this league, ESPECIALLY cause they aren't laden with vets.
having said all that, dal wasn't showing me enough effort so far to take them in that game, against too good of an opponent, and i didn't, and from judging what the score was with a minute or so left, it was a good no play.

[suicidekings]

I can accept losing the Dallas ML on a buzzer beater 3pt shot from one of the league's top 5 players.

Overall, I would say Dallas played pretty well, although there's still obviously a lot of work to be done for them to elevate themselves to where they want to be. Odom is still not in rhythm yet and that's probably the Mavs biggest issue so far.