2024 NBA FINALS: #1 Boston Celtics vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (BOS leads 1-0)

[___Rand___]

I'm just talking from a team defense perspective, both of these guys are very good at pressuring and also doubling the ball handler. There's really nothing anyone can do to him one on one, Brown's staying in front but Luka's just drilling middies in his face.

Yeah Boston have the personnel to defend Luka and Kyrie like NO OTHER TEAM. It's bearing out. I thought Lively and Gafford will make Horford look old, but KP's return this healthy has negated that advantage. He's the biggest X factor out there.

Jrue and White is an all-defensive backcourt, but Dallas has been shredding some pretty impressive defensive backcourts. Dort/J-Dub/Shai in OKC, then Jaden/Ant/NAW in Minnesota. Even if you like Boston's backcourt best, it's not like this is the first time Dallas is seeing elite defensive guards in this playoff run.

Dort JW and Shai aren't as capable to defend Kyrie as White and Holiday can. Shai is a good defender but he's not a stopper. I didn't see him trouble Kyrie. J Williams a decent defender, but he's not quick enough for Kyrie and a bit small to defend Luka. Celtic's combination of White Holiday Brown and Tatum to defend Luka and Kyrie is unmatched in the league. We saw that tonight.

[The Corey's]

God bless the Mavs fans. Relentlessly taking it on the chin over and over.

How many points does Luka need to get to make this competitive? 60?

[Fencer reregistered]

lmao Lively fouled him with his jaw?
cmon refs

Kelly Oubre once fouled Kelly Olynyk twice in a game with his face.

It was in the best game of Olynyk's career.

[Patches Perry]

scheduled loss. You could just tell by the Mavs body language. None of the other games will remotely resemble this one. Series will be tied 2-2 heading back to Boston for Game 5

Dallas had 6 days off. Scheduled loss. LMAO.

I think he's saying something even dumber, that they sandbagged this game knowing they weren't going to win it so they could come back with a vengeance, or some nonsense.

It's actually even dumber than that. This is the same user who thinks all NBA outcomes are scripted and the league has already decided that Luka will win the championship. "Scheduled loss" means scripted lol.

[Riverwalk2021]

Celtic haters are so desperate for them to lose lol

[zshawn10]

The fact this board is so focused on Tatum’s performance compared to Dallas’ garbage performance as a team tells me all I need to know about the hate. Kyrie Irving was literal trash out there yet not a peep made about him. Or anyone really in Dallas including Doncic who wasn’t even good for his standards. That’s what should be focused on

Lotta posts about how bad Kyrie was. He was worse than the halftime show.

Hardy had more points than kyrie

[brackdan70]

Good win for the Celtics, but it’s not going to easy. Still need three more wins against a really good team. So important to have KP back.

[scrabbarista]

Dallas in 6 was realgms most popular prediction lol

It probably just shows people don't like the Celtics if they're taking Luka and Kyrie over them. Betting wise where money is placed everyone picked the Celtics easily.

Again, 89% of the espn bet money went on Dallas. People liked the odds.

[fallguy]

scheduled loss. You could just tell by the Mavs body language. None of the other games will remotely resemble this one. Series will be tied 2-2 heading back to Boston for Game 5

Schedule loss. LOL. Mavs had a week off.

[Sweet Serenity]

Too many hot takes in this threqd, game was within reach in the 3rd but Kyrie refused to take it, Mavs were blown out in all their game 1s except against the Wolves.
Mavs have no chance if Kyrie keeps **** his pants every time he sees Lucky, but it is a winnable series if he snaps out of it.

Kyrie has nos lost 11 straight against Boston.

[PeteW]

Series is over. Kyrie has a mental block against the Celtics. 0-11 since stepping on Lucky?

[durden_tyler]

logic isn't allowed. tatum needs to force his own personal offense to please rgm users.

Tatum learned two years ago what Edwards learned this season.

LeBron carrying teams for years and people loving it has got people obsessed with having one dude carry their team all season.

It’s absurd.

How can you watch that game and think Tatum simply has to score more???

He missed some shots but his unselfishness led to easy 3s for the Celtics all night.

Mavs don’t have a chance at defending that.

Generally casual fans just appreciate scoring. Surprised to see we still have a bunch of those on "hardcore" basketball forum like RealGM. Tatum played beautifully tonight, just made the right and non-flashy plays.

[SerialChiller]

Why didn't Kyrie stomp on center court after this game?

Are people really that worked up about a player stomping on a picture?

I'm cheering for the Mavs lol....I just find dumb stuff like that funny when it backfires like don't you think about how it will look after. Like the vid of him saying it was the T'Wolves superbowl but just another game for them and then sucking and losing. I just don't get the cockiness showmanship BS these guys do. They're almost all guilty of it though. Tatum blowing kisses to the Boston crowd then getting beat by 8th seeded Miami without Butler in the very same game, Curry's dumb sleep thing I hate it all. But I'm a hockey guy that's used to seeing respect because if you disrespect an opponent in that sport you better be ready to fight. Everyone acts the fool and it's annoying to me and I really don't know how it's tolerated like it is in basketball and even football. But whatever insert old man yelling at cloud gif if you want I still think they look like fools and should be more professional or at least have to answer for their BS. But this sport won't allow any kind of payback so they just do what they want. I just can't even fathom acting that way haha whatever end of rant.

[TommyPoints]

logic isn't allowed. tatum needs to force his own personal offense to please rgm users.

Tatum learned two years ago what Edwards learned this season.

LeBron carrying teams for years and people loving it has got people obsessed with having one dude carry their team all season.

It’s absurd.

How can you watch that game and think Tatum simply has to score more???

He missed some shots but his unselfishness led to easy 3s for the Celtics all night.

Mavs don’t have a chance at defending that.

Besides the turnovers he was fine. He will have better games, but I don’t care who plays best as long as it’s a W.

[SweaterBae]

Dallas had 6 days off. Scheduled loss. LMAO.

I think he's saying something even dumber, that they sandbagged this game knowing they weren't going to win it so they could come back with a vengeance, or some nonsense.

It's actually even dumber than that. This is the same user who thinks all NBA outcomes are scripted and the league has already decided that Luka will win the championship. "Scheduled loss" means scripted lol.

OHHH this is the script guy. He's on my do not reply list as "script guy" but I forgot the handle.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Tatum learned two years ago what Edwards learned this season.

LeBron carrying teams for years and people loving it has got people obsessed with having one dude carry their team all season.

It’s absurd.

How can you watch that game and think Tatum simply has to score more???

He missed some shots but his unselfishness led to easy 3s for the Celtics all night.

Mavs don’t have a chance at defending that.

Generally casual fans just appreciate scoring. Surprised to see we still have a bunch of those on "hardcore" basketball forum like RealGM. Tatum played beautifully tonight, just made the right and non-flashy plays.

ESPN’s not any better.

They just said it was surprising that Luka only had one assist.

Do these idiots even study the teams they’re talking about?

The Celtics were always going to let Luka get his points.

The Mavs offence won’t be potent at all with him playing one on one all game.

Luka alone won’t beat the Celtics.

[SweaterBae]

Too many hot takes in this threqd, game was within reach in the 3rd but Kyrie refused to take it, Mavs were blown out in all their game 1s except against the Wolves.
Mavs have no chance if Kyrie keeps **** his pants every time he sees Lucky, but it is a winnable series if he snaps out of it.

Kyrie has nos lost 11 straight against Boston.

Right on schedule!

[bluejerseyjinx]

Tatum learned two years ago what Edwards learned this season.

LeBron carrying teams for years and people loving it has got people obsessed with having one dude carry their team all season.

It’s absurd.

How can you watch that game and think Tatum simply has to score more???

He missed some shots but his unselfishness led to easy 3s for the Celtics all night.

Mavs don’t have a chance at defending that.

Besides the turnovers he was fine. He will have better games, but I don’t care who plays best as long as it’s a W.

[scrabbarista]

Good job, everyone! Hoping to see you again on Sunday!

[Yank3525]

Tatum learned two years ago what Edwards learned this season.

LeBron carrying teams for years and people loving it has got people obsessed with having one dude carry their team all season.

It’s absurd.

How can you watch that game and think Tatum simply has to score more???

He missed some shots but his unselfishness led to easy 3s for the Celtics all night.

Mavs don’t have a chance at defending that.

Generally casual fans just appreciate scoring. Surprised to see we still have a bunch of those on "hardcore" basketball forum like RealGM. Tatum played beautifully tonight, just made the right and non-flashy plays.

Scoring isn't everything, but get real. Dude was mid as **** tonight.