In the last ten years, if we’ve learned anything about the Golden State team, it’s that you can’t out-Warrior the Warriors. That means that you can’t beat the best backcourt shooters in the league. You don’t go to a duel at dusk, start counting down from 10 and hope your trigger finger is faster. You probably won’t make it out alive. The Dallas Mavericks found out that they can’t keep up with the Warriors in a shooting contest. Warriors achieve Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals 112-87.
The Mavericks only made 11 of 48 long-range shots, or 22.9 percent, and only 36 percent of their shots from the field. They tried 19 three-point shots right away but only made three. That was a sign of what was about to happen. Some of them looked good, but the ball wouldn’t go through the goal. When the Mavs made a mistake, the Warriors took advantage. The home team shot preferable from the floor and 3-point range (10-for-29) (56.1 percent).
“Of course, we can do things to get better, but I think we had a lot of open shots in the first quarter,” Dallas star Luka Doncic said after the game. “The second one, too, but we didn’t in the second half.”
“As a team, we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Doncic said.
Doncic continued to talk about his team’s offensive problems. “Only made 22% of our 3-point shots. We need to attack the paint more. We made a lot of 3s today, so we need to get more points in the paint.”
You can’t shoot better than the Warriors, so you might as well find other ways to score on them. Golden State’s defense may not get as much attention as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole’s shooting, but make no mistake: they are a championship-level defensive team.
Doncic scored 18 points in the first half, but he only added two more in the second half and the third quarter. He made 6 of 18 shots from the field and 3 of 10 from beyond the arc. Doncic had seven rebounds and four assists. Seven of the 13 turnovers the Mavericks made were because of him.
“They did a good job on me, especially in the second half,” Doncic said, “but I think I need to do better.” “That’s my fault. As a leader, it’s my job to make everyone better, so that’s on me.”
Golden State tried a few different things to stop the Mavs’ best player from making as many points. Andrew Wiggins was the leading defender, and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were on either side of him. The presence of center Kevon Looney in the middle also made the Dallas guard think twice before driving into the paint. It’s safe to say that the Warriors’ game plan to stop Luka and the Mavericks was more than ready.
Doncic said he wasn’t surprised by the coverage, but he did say that the other team did an excellent job of making things hard for him.
“I’ve seen a lot of different defenses,” he said
citing a regular-season game against the Charlotte Hornets as an example. In that game, the Hornets used several different schemes against him. “They threw a variety of things. It was a lot of additional coverages. They played zone first, then box-and-one.
“It’s only the first game,” they say. You can’t say enough about how important it is to make changes and adapt game plans. The Western Conference Finals will only be an actual series if the Mavericks fix all their problems.
“We gotta play better. Doncic said, “We have to play tougher.” “In the Phoenix series, I said we have to believe, so the confidence is still the same. It’s hard to win every game, so you’re bound to lose some, but your confidence doesn’t change.”
If these series were a Western movie and the two teams were in a shootout, the Mavs would be the first to go down if they met the Warriors head-on. Doncic and his team must be the first to pull out their guns and shoot. They can’t just rely on their shots from the outside. Instead, you should probably think outside the box and find a different way to win.
The Warriors win the first game
In Game 1, the Warriors didn’t shoot well, but they still beat the Mavericks.
When the Golden State Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks by 25 points, the wrong thing to think is that this will be a short series.
If you look at the Dallas side, there were a lot of obvious warning signs that this was too much: the terrible shooting, the sloppy defense, and did I mention the offensive shooting? It looked like they were having delight on the Warriors’ side. We all know what happens when people have fun in Dub City.
From the start of the game, the Warriors looked as at ease as possible. They could get to the basket when they wanted to and make their shots when they had to.
We all knew that the x-factor in this series would be whoever was guarding Luka Doncic’s face, and Wiggins showed that, at least for Game 1, he was the guy. Wiggins made Doncic work hard for his points, but he also did well on offense. Also, they got 19 points, which was almost the same as Doncic’s 20. He also left a scar on Doncic’s face early in the first quarter. It looked like a scratch from a bad guy, and Doncic will probably use it as motivation.
Wiggins didn’t do it alone when it looked like Doncic
They had beat, and when Doncic was looking for mismatches, the Warriors, like Kevon Looney, could cover for him. He also got help from the Mavericks. The player missed the ball and ended up at a player who was shooting from outside the arc.
The seven-game sequence between the Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns was uncertain and dangerous, and it showed. Sure, they beat the Suns badly in Game 7, but they had already tried everything before that point. On the other hand, the Warriors took care of business by getting rid of the Memphis Grizzlies in six games. It was clear. Warriors hoped that the extra day or two of rest would give them a little extra spring in their step. Otherwise, Curry’s dancing to celebrate wouldn’t have had as much pep.
Seven Warriors scored more than 10 points, with Curry having the most with 21. Even though they didn’t have a great shooting night from 3-point range (10-of-29), Golden State slowly pulled away from Dallas thanks to their strong defense and fast-paced game. Not a big surprise. The Warriors’ speed would keep Jason Kidd, the head coach of the Mavericks, up at night, thinking of another surprise counterattack.
Except for not being able to shoot well from the outside, the Warriors did almost everything right in Game 1. There were still signs of sloppy and careless play, but it didn’t hurt them as much because the Mavericks couldn’t buy a bucket. The Mavericks will make changes. A cut on Doncic’s face will get better. The shooters for the Mavericks should do better than 23 percent.
If they don’t, the Warriors will keep getting what they want, and they won’t stop flexing and dancing. Game 1 showed how a team that has been here before should act compared to a group that hasn’t been here before.
Now that the Warriors are up 1-0, they need to be careful not to act too tough.
Read more: Charlo becomes undisputed champion by KO
Check out OKBET for the legal and safest Sports betting in the Philippines.
