NBA Playoffs 2022 on Saturday, 07.05.2022
According to our NBA Playoffs schedule, the Phoenix Suns now travel to the Dallas Mavericks! However, I don’t see any way the Texans can win even one game in this series – not against this overachieving team!
Luka Doncic is the mainstay of the Mavs’ game, but as I’ll also point out in my Mavericks Suns tip, not enough to overcome arguably one of the most versatile starting fives in recent years!
It’s just insane how often Chris Paul now manages to push the tempo in the 4th quarter! If the Suns were still behind against the Mavs at the break, it was suddenly 129-109 for the favourite at the end of a hellish final section!
Phoenix won the 4th quarter alone with 40:26, while the home side put an outstanding 84.2 percent of their shot attempts in the basket – only two other teams have managed something similar in the last 25 years.
The moral of the story? Whenever the Black and Violets are in trouble, they have the opportunity to increase the tempo at will. That’s because in CP3 and Devin Booker, they have two players who allow them to step up the tempo at any time.
What also makes the Series that much more lopsided is the fact, mentioned several times in my Suns Mavericks tips, that Dallas can’t put the favourites on the board nearly as much as the Pels did before! Because in terms of rebounds they were again clearly behind.
By the way, I would still recommend a player bet on Luka Doncic – even if the Mavs will probably not win a single game in the end because they simply lack quality across the board.
The Slovenian is in an outstanding form! His 24 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in the first half of Game 2 were the first fifth time the superstar has put up such numbers in the first half of a playoffs game.
Luka Doncic, for all his praise, is a great offensive player who will finish somewhere beyond the 30-point mark in Game 3, but that doesn’t make him an all-rounder. The Suns exploited his weaknesses on the defensive end.
The moment when the home side turned yesterday’s game around was when Booker and Crowder – but later also Paul – went after the Slovenian in a 1-on-1 and got past him again and again with ease.
The problem with the Mavs remains that they’re not set up well enough as a team – especially in the backcourt – to take on such a complete team that can beat them in ten different ways.
Of course, home-court advantage will play into the Texans’ favor in the upcoming game, but not enough to win the game. Because the Suns’ hitting prowess during this series is beyond belief.
The aforementioned dominance of the Black-and-Violets at the board was reflected not only in a clear preponderance of rebounds, but also in significantly more points from the paint – Phoenix converted 18 more of those than Dallas!
Somewhat surprising for me: The bookmakers are assuming a 50:50 affair. In fact, quite a few are offering as much for a Texans win as they are for another Suns success.
As far as the direct comparison is concerned, however, the situation is more than clear, as Phoenix has already won eleven games in a row against the Mavs.
Conclusion: Luka Doncic will certainly put in another strong performance, that much is certain. However, he doesn’t get enough support from his teammates offensively and defensively to be able to steal the win from the Suns.
Phoenix, meanwhile, seems to have everything under control, because even when the Mavs start to struggle, from the 3rd quarter onwards at the latest, the Texans simply can’t keep up with the pace.
In addition, of course, there is the tremendous accuracy of the Black and Violets, which was beyond good and evil in Game 2. Combined with the air supremacy on the board, I don’t see any way the Mavs are going to turn this around.
My Mavericks Suns tip is therefore: The guests also win Game 3!
