The Dallas Mavericks have already taken care of business with the Utah Jazz, but that isn’t stopping head coach Jason Kidd from throwing some shade at some of their players.
As the Mavs prepare for a best-of-seven series with the No. 1 seed Phoenix Suns, Kidd lauded the abilities of the Suns’ big men — JaVale McGee and DeAndre Ayton — by taking a shot at Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside.
“They can hurt you in the paint with JaVale and Ayton,” Kidd said. “This isn’t Gobert or Whiteside. These guys can put the ball in the basket. So, our bigs are going to be tested.”
While it may be a shot at the Jazz bigs, it's still a pretty accurate assessment.
Gobert, who averaged 15.6 points per game during the season, was not much of a scoring threat against Dallas, averaging 12 points in the six-game series, including single-digit efforts in the first two games.
Meanwhile, McGee and Ayton are much better scorers (Ayton averaged 17.6 points per game this season) and have Chris Paul and Devin Booker feeding them the ball, creating a huge challenge for the Mavericks.
Dallas went with a smaller lineup against the Jazz but Kidd said they cannot employ the same strategies this round.
“We have to adapt,” Kidd said. “Our game plan against Utah is not going to work against the Suns.”
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