Two teams that are the cumination of two big trades, Irving to the Mavs and Harden to the Clippers, as well as being familiar playoff foes. The outcome of this series has more impact for these teams than just moving to the second round or going home early, the futures of one or both of these teams as currently constructed could be determined by the outcome of these games.

Clippers

The Clippers are faced with a difficult problem, stopping Doncic. And while they could try to answer it, I’m not so sure they should. Given how many teams have tried the past few seasons to stop Doncic and failed, perhaps the Clippers should take a different route of stopping everyone else. While on paper, the Clippers have a good matchup due to their size and defensive prowess on the wings. Unfortunately, those players are very injury prone, especially Leonard. Do you risk them fully exerting themselves guarding both Doncic and Irving for 35+ mins a game while also carrying a heavy load on the offensive end? Or try the alternative of having them take time on and off Irving trying to take him out of the game while using the other to play help or secondary rim protection to assist the player taking the main assignment on Doncic? Ideally, this will leave them with enough energy to push the Clippers offense to a higher gear to out produce the Mavs, even with Doncic scoring well, but everyone else cut off. From all the games I’ve watched this season, Doncic is very good offensively, but not on the level of Jokic when it comes to creating for others and unlocking the more limited offensive players on the Mavs.

Mavericks

Did they do enough? Did they do enough to make it deep in the playoffs? Did they do enough to keep Doncic happy? Did they do enough to convince ownership to open the checkbook for this team? With a lot riding on the outcome of these playoffs, what do the Mavs do to stop a team that matches up pretty well against them? In my opinion, they should try to stress test the Clippers, especially Harden and Leonard. Target them again and again, run off ball screens and high pick and roll, and make those two work each possession. As unfortunate as it is Leonard has serious questions regarding his durability and health, tiring him out and making him uncomfortable with the amount of pressure he is putting on his body may not pay immediate dividens, the chance of a positive outcome for the Mavs grows exponentially. George is a different story, a great player in his own right, and without as much injury concerns as the other two Clippers stars, there doesn’t seem like much the wing defense starved Mavs can do to really impact him. This seems to me to be a circumstance where you play him straight up and trust your offense to make up for the gap on the other end.