2024 NBA FINALS: #1 Boston Celtics vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (Game 1: Thursday June 6th)

[ajones9219]

In terms of ball-movement vs iso greatness, I keep coming back to this Durant quote:

"The motion offense we run in Golden State, it only works to a certain point. We can totally rely on our system for maybe the first two rounds. Then the next two rounds we're going to have to mix in individual play. We've got to throw teams off, because they're smarter in that round of playoffs."

Pacers style allowed them to stay in every game vs Boston, but when it came down to the last 2 minutes you needed that individual greatness, that step-back Luka 3 over the DPOY that everyone in the arena knew was going in because of who shot it.

Off course Mavs also have the personnel to play with pace for large chunks of the game.

The Pacers entire plan is to blow teams out with offense. They score so effectively that most teams appear to struggle vs them because it's hard to get separation when they can score so quickly.

It's why I think Boston will have far more comfortable wins in this series in the games that they win.

[Kurtz]

In terms of ball-movement vs iso greatness, I keep coming back to this Durant quote:

"The motion offense we run in Golden State, it only works to a certain point. We can totally rely on our system for maybe the first two rounds. Then the next two rounds we're going to have to mix in individual play. We've got to throw teams off, because they're smarter in that round of playoffs."

Pacers style allowed them to stay in every game vs Boston, but when it came down to the last 2 minutes you needed that individual greatness, that step-back Luka 3 over the DPOY that everyone in the arena knew was going in because of who shot it.

Off course Mavs also have the personnel to play with pace for large chunks of the game.

The Pacers entire plan is to blow teams out with offense. They score so effectively that most teams appear to struggle vs them because it's hard to get separation when they can score so quickly.

It's why I think Boston will have far more comfortable wins in this series in the games that they win.

I think you'll definitely have a blowout win or two vs the Mavs due to your propensity to spam 3s against a Mavs team whose strength appears to lie in their interior defense. Wolves perimeter defense would have probably troubled you more.

[Mr B]

Aaaaaaand there it is.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40271355/kyrie-reflects-celts-tenure-great-reflection-am

This is actually a very measured, thoughtful, and mature answer by Irving. Acknowledgement, regret, moved forward. Better focus elsewhere.

I still see the Cs crowd sizzling though it may help Mavs to have a guy bear the burnt of the angst while others cook.

CS have to make every home court moment count.

This is going to be a great series.

I hope the Celtics crowd turns that angst against Luka.

[Mr B]

The Mavs winning this series would literally be unprecedented. That's how big the difference is in the numbers.

Sorry I buy into the evidence.

This is also unprecedented, until this year.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=3KaI_3QT7XTTm5N8gt4yQg

now do averages

However you want to look at it, Luka is going to cook.

[Mr B]

Celtics fans going all in. Just can't figure out if this is NBA finals or kindergarten.

Luka is going to eat these fans up, and they don’t even know it. Lol

[dygaction]

Assuming adding Luka slows down the pace of the game, I'd bet the Celtics would welcome the swap. Fundamentally changes how the team plays more towards how Boston likes to play.

Nembhard shot 66% TS in the conference finals. Luka is currently shooting 56.4%. IDK how much more Luka could have done. Nembhard literally went superhuman for most of that series.

What motivated you to find Nembhard's TS% in the conference finals but could not find the same for Luka and use "currently" instead?

If Nembhard was literally superhuman, at 21/3.8/7.8a/0.5s .647TS% in a 0:4 losing effort, what do you call Luka when he had 32.4/9.6/8.2a/2.2s/ at 47/43/85 shooting or .627TS% facing league best D, second team all-D McDaniels and DPoY center, leading Mavs to 4:1 win?

I cannot wait for this series to start and for Mavs fans to be confused why they can't score as effectively as they did on the "league best d".

We just pretend like matchups don't exist when it fits the narrative we are trying to push.

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

[Texas Chuck]

NBA with a tweet of Luka Magic moments. Sometimes I take for granted the stuff this dude is capable of. I mean most of that stuff is just stupid, impossible stuff. And he makes it look like just another day.

I know our C's fans are mostly brimming with confidence, but I can't imagine it being a clutch game situation and that guy is playing for your opponent and ever feeling good about the situation. And that's before we get to 4th quarter Kyrie.

C's fans predicting blowouts and I kinda feel like you guys have to be right because close games sure figure to be advantage little spunky, underdog Mavericks.

Love knowing that guy fights for us. Now its more high wire than the days where Dirk would just calmly execute, make every FT and Dallas wins basically every close game. But the end result tends to be the same. Less peace, more excitement. I guess I'll take it?

[ajones9219]

What motivated you to find Nembhard's TS% in the conference finals but could not find the same for Luka and use "currently" instead?

If Nembhard was literally superhuman, at 21/3.8/7.8a/0.5s .647TS% in a 0:4 losing effort, what do you call Luka when he had 32.4/9.6/8.2a/2.2s/ at 47/43/85 shooting or .627TS% facing league best D, second team all-D McDaniels and DPoY center, leading Mavs to 4:1 win?

I cannot wait for this series to start and for Mavs fans to be confused why they can't score as effectively as they did on the "league best d".

We just pretend like matchups don't exist when it fits the narrative we are trying to push.

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

I'm not talking about Luka, I'm talking about the Mavs.

In the OKC series Kyrie struggled. Luka will get his numbers but unless he gets help the Mavs won't win.

Mavs vs OKC:
Offrtg: 112
Defrtg: 111.8
Netrtg: 0.2

If the Mavs play like this against Boston, they will get swept and Boston has by far a better defense than the Thunder.

[iggymcfrack]

I cannot wait for this series to start and for Mavs fans to be confused why they can't score as effectively as they did on the "league best d".

We just pretend like matchups don't exist when it fits the narrative we are trying to push.

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

I'm not talking about Luka, I'm talking about the Mavs.

In the OKC series Kyrie struggled. Luka will get his numbers but unless he gets help the Mavs won't win.

Mavs vs OKC:
Offrtg: 112
Defrtg: 111.8
Netrtg: 0.2

If the Mavs play like this against Boston, they will get swept and Boston has by far a better defense than the Thunder.

Boston’s defense and OKC’s defense are about the same. It’s the offense that’s different. Celtics have an all-time offense. If the Thunder were scoring anywhere at Boston’s level in that low scoring series, they roll the Mavs.

[dygaction]

I cannot wait for this series to start and for Mavs fans to be confused why they can't score as effectively as they did on the "league best d".

We just pretend like matchups don't exist when it fits the narrative we are trying to push.

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

I'm not talking about Luka, I'm talking about the Mavs.

In the OKC series Kyrie struggled. Luka will get his numbers but unless he gets help the Mavs won't win.

Mavs vs OKC:
Offrtg: 112
Defrtg: 111.8
Netrtg: 0.2

If the Mavs play like this against Boston, they will get swept and Boston has by far a better defense than the Thunder.

You were literally talking about how Nembhard was literally superhuman, and Luka would not have done better in his shoes...

[HMFFL]

Silver and the league need an American born superstar to win the Championship. Boston has been building for several years and they probably have the best Celtics team they've had in years.

[Texas Chuck]

Silver and the league need an American born superstar to win the Championship. Boston has been building for several years and they probably have the best Celtics team they've had in years.

Association just signed massive TV deals with non-American born stars dominating the league.

I think this is an American media whining point rather than a real thing. I think there are almost no American fans turned off that Luka is from Slovenia and not Alabama. That Giannis is Greek and Nigerian and not from SoCal.

This isn't at all a Larry/Magic situation where it absolutely helped you had the trash-talking farmboy Bird and the engaging, entertaining Magic to pit against each other to lift a league from a low point.

League is thriving. Internationals are a huge reason why. Even Boston is here in part because of their Dominican and Latvian big men....

[Woodsanity]

Silver and the league need an American born superstar to win the Championship. Boston has been building for several years and they probably have the best Celtics team they've had in years.

Why do they need an American superstar? Tatum is alright but he is a pretty boring personality.

[ajones9219]

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

I'm not talking about Luka, I'm talking about the Mavs.

In the OKC series Kyrie struggled. Luka will get his numbers but unless he gets help the Mavs won't win.

Mavs vs OKC:
Offrtg: 112
Defrtg: 111.8
Netrtg: 0.2

If the Mavs play like this against Boston, they will get swept and Boston has by far a better defense than the Thunder.

You were literally talking about how Nembhard was literally superhuman, and Luka would not have done better in his shoes...

"I cannot wait for this series to start and for Mavs fans to be confused why they can't score as effectively as they did on the "league best d".

They being the Mavs. I was making a general statement about how the Mavs aren't going to be able to score effectively

[SlovenianDragon]

ill take the refs in 5.

[TheGeneral99]

Celtics fans going all in. Just can't figure out if this is NBA finals or kindergarten.

Luka is going to eat these fans up, and they don’t even know it. Lol

Yep, don't poke the bear.

[vulture]

First thing I’m watching for is if Celtics switch their centers when luka runs pick and roll. Will the Celtics put their centers on Derrick jones or pj Washington to force luka to use those guys as screeners?

The Celtics have done a good job this postseason of hitting the pressure points and hunting the right matchups. Will the mavs double when Tatum/brown hunt Luka/kyrie?

If the Celtics continue to hit the right notes especially in crunch time, it’s their series. If Luka leads the dance and stresses the Celtics centers then mavs have a good chance.

This should be fun so let’s get it!

[BliscoSantos]

It's funny how a lot of people seem to think the Celtics are gonna sweap the Mavs and that this Mavs team is the same they blew away in the regular season...seems like most people think that Pacers are better than Mavs...the same Pacers that barely beat an injury depleted Knicks team

The Celtics are the favorites and should win but they're gonna have to prove it on the court...nobody(except for Shaq who had Mavs winning the title at the begining of the season) had Mavs in the finals,yet despite being the underdog every series ,they got to the finals rather convincigly...pressureis on the Celtics...if they fail it will be considered another Lost season and once more there will be talk about trading Brown...Dallas won't go down without a fight, the series should be tight

[titlebound1]

Celtics fans going all in. Just can't figure out if this is NBA finals or kindergarten.

Luka is going to eat these fans up, and they don’t even know it. Lol

These fans have done the same thing over the years to Kobe, LeBron, the Rasheed / Billups Pistons, Wade, Durant and Giannis in the playoffs. I promise you that they don't give a crap about Luka.

Ohhh noooo...he's going to score 45??? The horror. It still won't be enough. And they'll make sure he knows it

[Doranku]

You talked just as pretending as TWolves telling us Luka could score on OKC, but not against Edwards/McDaniels/Gobert lineup.

I'm not talking about Luka, I'm talking about the Mavs.

In the OKC series Kyrie struggled. Luka will get his numbers but unless he gets help the Mavs won't win.

Mavs vs OKC:
Offrtg: 112
Defrtg: 111.8
Netrtg: 0.2

If the Mavs play like this against Boston, they will get swept and Boston has by far a better defense than the Thunder.

You were literally talking about how Nembhard was literally superhuman, and Luka would not have done better in his shoes...

It's honestly hilarious seeing these guys act like the Celtics are 2004 Pistons level defense, then turn around and bring up Andrew **** Nembhard torching their supposed GOAT defense as some sort of dig against Luka lmfao I need to stay out of this thread until Thursday.