DALLAS – The second round of the NBA playoffs will feature three more Hogs that Arkansas fans actually know more about than they will see when John Calipari makes his debut as the Razorbacks' coach this fall.
Daniel Gafford, Isiah Joe, and Jaylin Williams each represent different eras of Arkansas basketball, with the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder making it to the Western Conference Finals, and Minnesota and He will play a key role in determining who will face the winner of Denver. No matter the outcome, Arkansas fans win because not only will the entire series be held less than three hours away from many Razorbacks fans, but the conference finals will also feature at least one former player. This is because playing is guaranteed. He has two games within easy driving distance.
Early in the game against the Clippers, Dallas got rid of the factors that made the Mavs so dangerous when Gafford arrived in February along with stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Instead of involving the former Arkansas center, coach Jason Kidd opted for a smaller lineup with Gafford barely on the floor.
Gafford technically started Game 1, which fell short of the final score of 109-97, but he had three points, one block and zero rebounds in just 14 minutes. This trend continued in the next game, as Dallas struggled against Los Angeles, and Gafford again started, playing less than 10 minutes, with one assist, one rebound, and no points in a 96–93 victory.
Finally, after watching the team struggle in the first two games and let Gafford go, Kidd relented. In their three wins to close out the series, all of which were double-digit wins for Dallas, the Mavs showed the same value they showed in the regular season, playing their centers 19 to 26 minutes.
Gafford relied on his signature shooting efficiency in those three games. His 11-of-17 shooting was a far cry from his borderline historic regular season, when he came close to Wilt Chamberlin's league record of 35 consecutive shots, but he was still very effective. He also provided a commanding presence inside defensively, racking up blocks, steals, and rebounds, stopping the Clippers' free flow of scoring in the paint.
“I'm trying to forget about the second thing. [game I played against Oklahoma City] Because I missed Wilt Chamberlin's record,” Gafford said Monday. “Honestly, I just go out there and do my job. At the end of the day, when there's so much attention and what I would call gravity that Luka and Kylie are drawn to, they're there. It just opens up the floor for everybody. I feel like it's going to be a really good series for the big teams just to get in shape physically, and once they get in shape physically, they can go to a good place. Body.”
Meanwhile, Williams and Joe proved to be the typical role players that every successful team in the playoffs needs as a No. 1 seed to avoid an unexpected upset. The two played 100 minutes in Oklahoma City's four-game series win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
That's the equivalent of 2.5 games played by a top-tier starter. With lineups being shortened, the key for role players in the playoffs is to provide production as similar to the starters as possible.
Combined, Joe and Williams average roughly 14 points, six rebounds, two assists, and one block per game, extrapolated over the typical 40 minutes played by reliable starters. That means he's on par with or slightly better than the Thunder's starting guard Luguentz-Dolt, but Dort will probably rest most of the time this series as well, as he's tasked with slowing down Doncic. Probably not.
The two former Razorbacks scored the game-winning goal in the series opener against the Pelicans. Oklahoma City needs 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal in 22 minutes to survive the 94-92 upset in Game 1, and the series could go differently. .
At some point, both Joe and Williams will have to deal with Gafford in this series. Whether Williams is tasked with guarding Doncic upon his arrival or finds himself guarding Doncic as part of a defensive switch-off, one thing he will undoubtedly face is: It's Gafford's patented screen to unleash the Mavs' most prolific shooter.
Williams, on the other hand, will spend 10 to 20 minutes every night in an absolute war with Gafford. Both are scrappers, looking for rebounds and second-chance points to get on the board and frustrate all challengers on defense.
Either way, this series will focus on the efforts of one or more Razorbacks. It's hard to tell which one these teams are because they've played each other four times, but the last time all of their star players were on the floor together was in Gafford's debut, a 146-111 rout of the Thunder. He recorded 19 points and 9 rebounds only once. In just 17 minutes, you'll be fresh off the plane.
Either Dallas or Oklahoma City will go home heartbroken after this game, but Razorbacks fans will win either way. Game 1 will take place tonight at 8:30pm on TNT.
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