For the Warriors, let’s move past the conference semifinals and right into the conference finals.
Obviously, the Warriors can’t do that, and they’ll have a difficult series prior to the WCF. Hypothetically, though, if it were up to the Golden State Warriors, should they prefer to play the Luke Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks or Devin Booker-led Phoenix Suns?
The Golden State Warriors, if they win their second-round series, will get either the Mavericks or Suns, but who should they prefer to win that series?
The Suns, who were without Booker for a few games in their opening series, closed out the No. 8-seeded Pelicans in Game 6. The Mavs, who finished 4th in the standings, ended the Jazz’s season in 6 games as well.
In my opinion, the answer to the question above is Phoenix, and Doncic is the sole reason why.
As the Jazz quickly figured out, Doncic is going to be a mismatch nightmare for any team he competes against. That’s mainly because of his incredible versatility. He’s also extremely smart with the ball which helps as well.
Doncic averaged 29 points per game on 47% shooting against the Jazz who have a top-ten defense.
If a big is on the floor, Doncic will get the switch and abuse him off the dribble. If there is a smaller player on him, he’ll take them to the post. It’s an impossible player to guard with how most teams just instantly switch on pick-and-rolls.
The Mavs, behind Doncic, were 3-1 against the Warriors this season and only lost when Kristaps Porzingis struggled shooting the ball. The Suns were 2-2 against Golden State.
While they’re led by Booker, he’s more of a pure-scoring option than a do-it-all playmaker. The Warriors will have an easy time defending Booker with players like Klay Thompson who could give them size and Gary Payton II who brings the speed and hand quickness.
There is quite a bit to like against both teams, but with Doncic captaining the way for Dallas coupled with their second-best opponents’ effective field goal rate, I would tend to side with the Mavs being the more difficult matchup.
That’s not to take anything away from the Phoenix, especially after it posted the league’s best home record. Both teams would post an extremely difficult matchup with Golden State, and Phoenix does play better to the Warriors’ weakness, size.
However, Doncicis a game-changing playmaker, one the Warriors have struggled against this season. Let’s get there first then worry about it, but looking into the mid-term future, I’d prefer to see the Suns in the Western Conference Finals.