20+10!20+16! Doncic wants to win the championship up to him, not Irving, and become the third giant
Last season, the Mavericks formed a duo of Doncic and Irving, however, last season, the Eastern European duo led the team to a poor record, only finishing 11th in the West, missing the play-offs and playoffs. In the 2023 offseason, the Mavericks signed Irving to a three-year, $126 million contract, and they continue to build around the Eastern European team. This season, the Mavericks have a top-five record in the West (18 wins and 12 losses), and the team's record and form are much better than last season. However, the Mavericks want to compete for the championship and Doncic wants to compete for the MVP, and that's not enough. 20+10!20+16! Doncic wants to win the championship up to him, not Irving, and become the third giant.
Doncic and Irving are both scorers, and Doncic still takes into account the attributes of organizing point guards, crazy scoring and passing assists, which are Doncic's forte. In the last game against the Suns, Doncic faced Durant and Booker, bombarding 50 points + 6 rebounds + 15 assists + 4 steals + 3 blocks. Irving is currently out due to injury, and he is averaging 23.0 points + 3.9 rebounds + 5.2 assists + 1.2 steals per game this season. Whether it's Doncic or Irving, both of them are players who tend to attack and score. However, if the team wants to win the game, if it wants to win the championship, it is not enough to attack alone, and the defense must also be good.
The weakest point of the Mavericks' roster is on the inside, on defense. In the offseason, Mavericks management brought in forwards such as Gwee, Holmes, Big Morris and Jones, and the forward defense has changed at least a lot, and Gwee, Big Morris and Holmes are all defensive stalwarts. At the beginning of the season, Mavericks head coach Kidd originally arranged for Powell to continue as the starting center, and Powell has been the starting center for the Mavericks for the past two seasons, but he is one of the weakest interior players in the league. Later, Mavericks rookie center Lively played as a backup center, and because he played too well, Kidd began to use Lively as the starting center and put Powell off the bench.
Lively is the No. 12 pick in 2023, he is 2.16 meters tall, weighs 105 kilograms, has strong athleticism, and is quite good for both static and dynamic talents. Lively is a defensive blue-collar center, he is extremely good at eating cakes, grabbing rebounds and protecting the basket, and as a rookie, he averaged 8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. In the game between the Mavericks and the Suns, Lively also killed all sides, he shot 8 of 9, and efficiently slashed 20 points + 10 rebounds + 2 assists + 1 steal + 2 blocks. The Mavericks played against the Thunder before, and Lively shot 9 of 9 efficiently, slashing 20 points + 16 rebounds + 1 steal + 7 blocks The data broke the list Holmgren.
The Mavericks and Grizzlies battled, and Lively scored 16 points + 16 rebounds + 2 assists + 3 blocks. In the game between the Mavericks and the Hornets, Lively efficiently cut 15 points + 14 rebounds + 1 assist + 2 blocks. Leliv and Doncic are clearly getting better and better together, Doncic can perfectly pass and assist Lively, and Lively is extremely effective in finishing under the basket and is very efficient in eating cakes. It is worth mentioning that Lively has shot 74.5% from the field this season (first in the league). Harden can feed Capela to be the king of cakes, and Doncic can also develop Lively into a top blue-collar center.
American media NBA experts wrote an analysis that when Lively played, the Mavericks had a record of 17 wins and 7 losses, and in the games that Lively was absent, the Mavericks were 1 win and 5 losses. If the Mavericks want to compete for the championship, and Doncic wants to win the MVP, Levery must quickly grow into the third big man of the Mavericks, and he must become the interior pillar of the team, so that the Mavericks can have no weaknesses and compete for the championship. Doncic has reached the level of an MVP superstar in terms of stats and strength, but he has always lacked a good record to compete for MVP. The Mavericks' ceiling is not on Irving's side, but depends on how many interior shortcomings Lively fills. Now, Mavericks fans are expecting Lively to grow into Doncic's Big Three.