NBA Playoffs 2022 on Monday, 16.05.2022
Few would have thought beforehand that the Dallas Mavericks would make life so difficult for the favoured Phoenix Suns, so that it now actually has to come to an all-decisive Game 7.
However, this is a reality the Arizonans have to accept, as they at least have the all-important home court advantage on their side. Still, in my Suns Mavericks tip, I’m assuming a win for the highly motivated – as well as underrated – Mavs for good reason…
The Mavericks had to deliver the day before yesterday – and they delivered! For the 113-86 win over the Suns clinched the series and was highly deserved in its making. This time, the Arizonans beat themselves.
Because in Game 6 Phoenix allowed themselves a total of 22 turnovers – as many as never before this season! This multitude of ball losses led to 29 completely unnecessary opponent points.
The Mavs were incredibly attentive with 16 steals, but I am very surprised that the visitors let themselves be duped in such an important game! I wonder if this nervousness was due to the screaming Dallas fans in the American Airlines Center.
I actually think there might be a lot more to the Suns loss than just having a bad day. Because superstar Chris Paul is currently having an extremely tough time against the attentive Mavs defence.
CP3 is still scoring a lot of points for his team, but with 15 personal fouls and 8 ball losses, he is also producing negative values that have proven to be decisive for the game.
The fact is, Chris Paul scored 13 points in the last game, but his many slip-ups paved the way for almost twice as many opponent points.
Furthermore, for the Mavs, players like Spencer Dinwiddie have finally delivered. The Mavs guard has hit just 28.9% of his shots through the first five games of this series, contributing an average of just 7 points per game.
Then in Game 6, the much hoped for performance improvement: Dinwiddie hit 5 of his 7 three-point attempts and thus contributed 15 valuable points to the Dallas victory. Overall, all Mavs players just seemed a little more motivated on the night.
For the Arizonans, the fact that Chris Paul (8) and Devin Booker (5), the team’s two most important players, were responsible for more than half of all Suns turnovers speaks volumes.
But if the leading players of the Black and Violets show such nerves, then I am not very confident that things will be fundamentally different in Game 7 – especially since the Mavs have now tasted blood.
Moreover, the Suns also showed unusual weaknesses in their shooting! In the last game, the Black and Violets failed to reach the 90-point mark for the first time this season.
The poor success rate of only 39.7% of all attempts was also the lowest during the current playoffs. In short: Phoenix had a very bad day in every respect!
The average payout for a win by the Arizonans is only 1.5 times the original wager, whereas a repeat win by the Mavs is worth three times the original wager.
Conclusion: It’s going to be a hugely exciting game, of course – that’s pretty much every Game 7. However, I’m not sure the favourite has fully recovered from possibly their worst performance of the season yet.
After all, the Black and Violets caused a plethora of turnovers in their last performance – their most so far this season. The main culprits were Devin Booker and Chris Paul, of all people, the two best players by far!
The Mavs, on the other hand, have definitely tasted blood and are motivated to the hilt after the outstanding win. With Luka Doncic in top form, I actually believe in a bang!
My Suns Mavericks tip has the Texans going into the Conference Finals tonight!
