There's never a good time to lose a talented player like Maxi Kleber, especially in the postseason.
But if Mavericks fans are looking for a sign of hope after it was confirmed on Sunday that Kleber will be out for at least three weeks due to a separated right shoulder AC joint, it's clear that the Thunder There will be bad second-round opponents.
“Oklahoma isn't a big team,” coach Jason Kidd said Sunday after the Mavericks' first practice in preparation for Tuesday's Western Conference semifinals in Oklahoma City. “We have a lot of big sites to go to.”
Kidd is by no means downplaying the importance of losing Kleber, Dallas' best defensive big man. The reality is that the Mavericks can't do anything about Kleber's absence, and if anything, on paper Dallas has a definite muscle advantage in the middle of this series.
Sure, Thunder rookie sensation Chet Holmgren has a 7-1 record, but at 195 pounds, he's far better than the Mavericks' Daniel Gafford (6-10, 234) and Derek Holmgren. If Lively II (7-1, 230) catches the basketball somewhere, he will be challenged to contain them. Near the basket.
Starting with MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (57 wins, No. 1 seed), Oklahoma City is loaded with talent that belies the average age of the team, which is 24 years old. New Orleans only scored one goal.
But Dallas' two most notable matchup advantages are having two superstars in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving against OKC's superstar. And he said he has become more physically imposing since acquiring Gafford and P.J. Washington Jr. on Feb. 8.
Two days after these trades, Dallas hosted OKC, the Mavericks' only matchup with the Thunder this season, with both Doncic and Irving on the court.
Oklahoma City was playing on three days of rest, but the Mavericks defeated the Thunder 146-111. Despite playing without Lively (broken nose), Dallas outscored OKC 54-40 and dominated points in the paint 66-34.
“It's just a regular season game. The playoffs are a little different,” Kidd said. “But by making these trades and having Kai and Luka play for the first time against Oklahoma City, we can see some of the things that were successful and hopefully we can do it again on Tuesday.”
However, Kleber not only played in the game on February 10th, he started and recorded 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Kleber was limited to 43 games this season, 38 of which he missed due to a dislocated little toe on his right foot. How important is he to Dallas' success? The Mavericks went 27-16 with him this season. Without him, we have 23 wins and 16 losses.
Opponents are shooting 43.1 percent from the field this season when Kleber is guarding him, the lowest shooting percentage of any Mavericks this season, according to NBA.com tracking.
In the first round of the playoff series, Clippers players shot 27.9% against Kleber, before a frightening fall and hard landing on Amir Koffee's charge in the second quarter of Game 6. This was after Clever was in the air.
“Just seeing one family member go down like that takes a toll on all of us,” Lively said Sunday. “There were a lot of people looking at us just knowing we had to pick him up. A lot of people were wondering what we were going to do.
“Maxi knows we have his back and we know he will do everything we can to help him get better. You have to accept that.''
Mavericks officials said Saturday. news Kleber suffered a third-degree sprain in his AC joint ligament. Chris Paul of the Clippers suffered a similar injury in 2014, which did not require surgery but caused him to miss 18 games.
The Mavericks announced Sunday that Kleber will be reevaluated in three weeks, which likely means he will be cleared to practice until May 26th at the earliest.
The conference finals are scheduled to begin May 21-22. If Dallas can get past Oklahoma City, it will face either Minnesota, which has a deep and strong frontcourt, or MVP candidate Nikola Jokic in Denver. If the Mavericks are still alive, they'll gladly accept the challenge, with or without Clever.
Until then, they'll be missing out on him, but things could have been much worse when it comes to second-round matchups.
“There's nothing we can do,” Kidd said. “Move on to the next person.”
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