How The Dallas Mavericks Can Beat The Golden State Warriors

The Dallas Mavericks, to many people's surprise, took down the Phoenix Suns in seven games in the second round of the playoffs.

Not only did Luka Doncic put up legendary performances, but the Mavs' defense really stepped up at times and limited the effectiveness of both Chris Paul and Devin Booker.

The Suns won 64 games this past season, as they had nearly ten more wins than the second-best team in the league.

That just puts even more perspective on how impressive the Mavs' series win was.

Now with the Golden State Warriors next on their docket, the Mavs are again getting the underdog treatment.

However, people better think twice about sleeping on Dallas yet again, as this team has fully proven that they have the personnel that can go up against just about anybody.

Reggie Bullock was tasked with picking up CP3 from halfcourt during their previous matchup, which appeared to overwhelm the legendary point guard.

With Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith serving as tenacious defenders, expect the Mavs to employ the same strategy towards Stephen Curry, who the Mavs will need to account for anywhere on the court, even before the halfcourt line.

What's more? The Mavs defended Curry better than any team this season, as they limited him to just 29.4 percent shooting from behind the arc on 34 attempts.

While the Warriors were missing Draymond Green, who is known for freeing up Curry with his ball screens and dribble handoffs, for three of those games, it's still a testament to the Mavs' defense for keeping Curry in check.

It also helps that Mavs head coach Jason Kidd proved he can make adjustments on the fly throughout the entire playoff run, as he threw traps Booker's way to hurry him up and throw him off his rhythm.

Obviously, the Mavs' success starts and ends with the success of Luka Doncic.

Doncic averaged 32.6 points on 47.6 percent shooting to go along with 9.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 2.1 steals per game during the Mavs' series win against the Suns.

The Warriors will likely try and throw traps toward Doncic, double team him, or hope that a combination of Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Jonathan Kuminga can take their turns guarding him one-on-one and hope their length and defensive instincts can do enough to throw him out of rhythm.

If the Warriors try too hard to trap him, then they better have a backup plan, as the Mavs have several shooters Doncic could easily kick out to using his playmaking skills.

The shooters also help space the floor for Doncic to do serious damage as an isolation scorer.

No matter who ends up winning this series, this should be a fun one!