Like I told you guys most in my posts about the Dallas Mavericks, Kyrie Irving will be the key player of the game. If he starts aggressive early in the game, the Mavs will survive anything and it will boost the offensive energy of his teammates which happened today.
A very close game and it was so damn entertaining, teeth-clenching, heart-stopping, and exciting. I cannot even count how many times I stopped breathing for a while because of how close the game was. This is the playoffs that we had been waiting for.
The Mavs stopped AntMan at 19 points, Gobert at 7 rebounds only (not normal), and Towns at 16 points. That's the recipe to win a game. Don't let Ant get his rhythm and get offensive rebounds as much as possible which I believe is credited to their Twin Towers Lively (4/11 off. rebounds) and Gafford (4/9 off. rebounds). All of that could've been for Gobert but those two did a great job giving their team a second chance opportunity.
Yea, as what we have been seeing, Kyrie doesn't have a good series OKC, but here he did step up and that is scary for the Wolves in game 1. He looks like he is looking for this kind of game to show his talent again, whether he goes left or right of even if it is the DPOY in front of him, he will take his shot.
I thought it will be a good match up down with Gafford and Lively against Gobert and Towns, but it was the Mavs who are more dominant and Gobert didn't get his usual rebounds. Although Towns scores, he has difficulty against Lively as he was blocked twice in one possession.