Denver Nuggets' head coach George Karl has made it very clear who he would prefer to see in the playoffs...
↵The Dallas Mavericks.
↵Coming off their win yesterday, this should come as no surprise. The Nuggets matchup very well against the Mavericks and their athleticism has given the Mavericks fits in the past.
↵↵↵"If we had to pick and choose on it, we would probably say 55 percent Dallas, 45 percent Oklahoma City, only because Oklahoma City is athletic like we are and they have two great players"
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Karl then offered this candid assessment on this current Dallas team:
↵↵↵In a lot of ways, I think their strength is their weakness," Karl said. "Their strength is they have tremendous ability to score by making jump shots. They are the best jump shooting team in the NBA by far. [Coach Rick] Carlisle is a very good offensive guy in getting good shots and tricking teams into open shots. They're very unselfish in finding the open man and getting open jump shots.
↵"In some sense, the jump shot doesn't go in as much as scoring in the paint. The two things I would say is I wish Dallas would score more in the paint and get to the free throw line more."
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It will be interesting to see how this plays out, the Mavericks have games against the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets remaining on their schedule. All winnable games. Win out and the third seed is theirs. The Oklahoma City Thunder still have games against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers remaining. Which should give the Mavericks the edge on paper heading into the final stretch of the regular season. But that's why they play the games...
↵The regular season concludes next Wednesday, April 13th.