Suns will be too much for Mavericks
The team coached by Jason Kidd has just surprised the always uncomfortable Utah Jazz and is getting ready to do the same with a Suns with all its powers, since its star point guard Devin Booker returned.
Will experience be key in the Suns-Mavs showdown? Also, which unnoticed player could tip the series in his team’s favor?
Fact or fiction: Suns experience will be too much for the Mavericks
Fiction. For starters, experience is just one of many factors that go into a playoff series, and it’s overrated compared to talent, depth, motivation and other technical aspects. If the Suns are the favorites to win this series it is because they have deeper personnel and play better basketball regardless of experience or lack thereof.
Also, the Mavs’ supposed lack of experience is a fantasy because they have a Euroleague ‘final four’ MVP (Luka Doncic) and a coach (Kidd) who was a former player on a championship team and several finalists. If he were to be a decisive element, it’s not like Dallas is at zero (Hiram Martínez).
- Who will be the X factor in the series?
Mikal Bridges. The forward was not only key in the Suns’ offense against the Pelicans, registering 17.3 in the series against them, but also in his defensive role. He was tasked with defending CJ McCollum for most of the series, while also defending Brandon Ingram. New Orleans committed 14 turnovers with him as the primary defender.
An ‘unleashed’ Bridges gets you 31 points, a personal playoff record, as he did in Game 5 against the Pelicans. He has a perfect understanding with Chris Paul. If he plays at the same level, the Mavericks have nothing to look for against a team that already has Paul, Ayton and Booker to worry about.
- Which team will advance in the round and why?
It’s true that the playoffs are played differently than the regular season, but if during 82 games one team has a 12-win difference between them and another, it’s for a reason.
That said, the answer to the question is obvious: Suns are the favorite to win the series. If Booker shows anything close to his pre-injury level, I don’t see Dallas winning four games. The Suns are a solid, compact team with scoring ability and commitment to defense.
In addition, the experience of having reached the finals last season will help them to handle the difficult moments that could appear. It is true that they will face Doncic, Jalen Brunson and even Spencer Dinwiddie who can be a factor. But the whole is always more than the sum of its parts and therein lies the difference in the Suns’ favor.
