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

[UNCBlue012]

The Celtics kicked the Mavs’ ass. It’s a fact. This series isn’t even remotely close to being over. The idea is silly. That’s also a fact. Now, enjoy your Friday!

[Archx]

Yeah, i'm not sure Mavs will continue to shoot this horrible from 3 for the rest of the series. They looked bad in previous runs as well and then when those %'s balanced out, they were a completely different team. Missing a ton of open looks and losing game 1 is basically a tradition for this team now.

[Fencer reregistered]

Might have to try, even now as I type using chrome the entire bottom of my screen is covered by a white ad that is like a bar across the screen taking up the bottom 2 inches. The ad blocker makes it not show but it still ruins the experience to the point I had to scroll down to even see the submit button!

Firefox is great for a LOT of sites. I usually have to go into NoScript and turn a couple of things on, but that's easy to learn how to do.

There are a few sites that can NOT be handled easily that way, so one needs to use a different browser for those.

I actually use three browsers, because I reserve Chrome for Gmail and a few sites I open from it, and don't want a lot of more dubious sites in the same browser I use for mail, banking, and other sensitive stuff.

What is the 3rd one you use? I actually have chrome, firefox and edge installed but only really use chrome. Edge to me was so slow but my windows 11 gaming PC I bought tried to say it was the best for it haha. Never used it again after 2 days of giving it a chance. FIrefox I have but I'm just used to Chrome I guess, usually ads aren't a problem but suddenly here they are now.

Those three.

For the vast majority of sites, it's Firefox. The others are for sites that I deliberately want to separate from my main browsing.

[Yinwest]

Gafford/Jones/Washington being 3/5 of a starting lineup in an NBA Finals game is pretty crazy. Luke and Kyrie are gonna have to go crazy every game for them to have a chance. That's just not enough talent man.

Mavs fans have been saying that Lively is the key. OK. LMAO.

At the end of the day, he is still a rookie.

[Celts17Pride]

Celtics happy they don't have to play the Nuggets.

Nuggets not good enough to get there and neither were the TWolves

[SerialChiller]

Firefox is great for a LOT of sites. I usually have to go into NoScript and turn a couple of things on, but that's easy to learn how to do.

There are a few sites that can NOT be handled easily that way, so one needs to use a different browser for those.

I actually use three browsers, because I reserve Chrome for Gmail and a few sites I open from it, and don't want a lot of more dubious sites in the same browser I use for mail, banking, and other sensitive stuff.

What is the 3rd one you use? I actually have chrome, firefox and edge installed but only really use chrome. Edge to me was so slow but my windows 11 gaming PC I bought tried to say it was the best for it haha. Never used it again after 2 days of giving it a chance. FIrefox I have but I'm just used to Chrome I guess, usually ads aren't a problem but suddenly here they are now.

Those three.

For the vast majority of sites, it's Firefox. The others are for sites that I deliberately want to separate from my main browsing.

I'm looking into the no script add on now. I'm new to PC gaming as a longtime xbox guy so I usually use a laptop for my browsing and sport streaming etc. But just bought a PC for video editing and gaming. It didn't come with any kind of antivirus but I downloaded the free avast. So far I don't even browse on it except for checking my gaming channel. Is firefox like a safer option with that no script than chrome for avoiding any issues with an expensive PC. This laptop I don't care it's almost 10 years old but I just don't know much about this stuff.

Sorry don't mean to derail the thread

[Celts17Pride]

Expected Vegas lines when the games shift to Dallas:

Mavericks to be favored by 2.5 points (They are 6 to 7 pt favorites in Games 1 and 2).

No, Vegas does not predict results but they are pretty good setting the expected quality of these teams-- those lines, i think is saying that Celtics will steal one of two in Dallas.

Celtics haven’t lost on the road in the playoffs. Game 2 is HUGE for the Mavs

[Yinwest]

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.

Used to see the same stuff with Curry

Never forget Durant cooking midgets and slow guys in mismatches because the Cavs would send two or three defenders to Curry.

Not saying Tatum is Curry but both dudes have had the fortune of playing on very good teams and knowing if they give up the ball willingly then good things will happens

That is literally what team basketball is all about.

To make a sacrifice to win is maturity, he knows he has a stacked team, make the right play is the most important

[Bergmaniac]

Just as I expected the Celitcs are a very tough matchup for Dallas and just have a lot more talent. Both Luka and Kyrie have to play great for the Mavs to have a shot and they would also need some of their inconsistent shooters to get hot. This game Kyrie was terrible and their shooters outside of Luka couldn't hit a three to save their life. Part of this was of course on Boston's D which focused on limiting their corner 3 looks and did a great job at this but Dallas' shooters also missed some good looks above the break.

The Celtics are definitely favourites though with Porzingis back and looking healthy, there is a reason this team was historically dominant in the regular season.

[hugepatsfan]

The tough part for Tatum is that he’s a step down from the “elite of the elite” class of players but he’s close enough and consistently playing deep in the playoffs to where he gets held to that standard.

Guys like Luka, Jokic, Lebron in his prime, Curry/Durant in theirs, etc are good enough to take that defensive pressure and still make plays for others while scoring with efficiency and volume themselves. That’s why they’ll all go down as top 5/10/15/20 whatever players in the history of the game.

Tatum just isn’t on that level. So yeah he’s not scoring as efficiently as you’d like in the face of that pressure, but he’s still drawing that pressure and making the right play for others at an extremely high clip.

[Crunch 99]

Might be an overreaction, but the Celtics have too many, seriously good, two-way veteran players in addition to their Big Two to not win these Finals. They blew out the Mavs despite the Celtics' alleged best player only scoring 16 points on 16 fga, 47.4 TS% along with 6 tovs. They don't even need their best player to have a great game to dominate.

[hugepatsfan]

Outside of Luka/Kyrie, the Mavs were 3-10 from 3:

PJ: 0-3
Hardy: 1-3
DJJ: 1-2
Green: 1-3
THJ: 0-1

3-10 isn’t great (30%) but making just one extra shot takes it to 40% which is better than they should expect out of that group based on career percentages. If the Mavs are relying on that group to hit a higher percentage of their shots then they’re in trouble.

The problem for the Mavs there isn’t the 3 in 3-10, it’s the 10. They need more attempts if they want to keep pace with BOS. What the Mavs have working against them is that they had to build their team to compensate for Luka and Kyrie being weak on defense. They had to rely on those guys to generate offense and open looks for others in favor of more defensive skill sets at the other spots. They lack much individual offensive shot creation outside their top 2, instead banking on Luka/Kyrie spoon feeding them shots off of the extra attention they draw. And then on the other end those guys can compensate for the stars on defense.

But Boston doesn’t have to devote as much extra attention to the stars as most team because of their perimeter defensive talent. So it’s going to be tougher to spoon feed the Dallas role players a ton of open 3s and lobs to make up for their severe lack of shot creation themselves.

[Mavrelous]

Outside of Luka/Kyrie, the Mavs were 3-10 from 3:

PJ: 0-3
Hardy: 1-3
DJJ: 1-2
Green: 1-3
THJ: 0-1

3-10 isn’t great (30%) but making just one extra shot takes it to 40% which is better than they should expect out of that group based on career percentages. If the Mavs are relying on that group to hit a higher percentage of their shots then they’re in trouble.

The problem for the Mavs there isn’t the 3 in 3-10, it’s the 10. They need more attempts if they want to keep pace with BOS. What the Mavs have working against them is that they had to build their team to compensate for Luka and Kyrie being weak on defense. They had to rely on those guys to generate offense and open looks for others in favor of more defensive skill sets at the other spots. They lack much individual offensive shot creation outside their top 2, instead banking on Luka/Kyrie spoon feeding them shots off of the extra attention they draw. And then on the other end those guys can compensate for the stars on defense.

But Boston doesn’t have to devote as much extra attention to the stars as most team because of their perimeter defensive talent. So it’s going to be tougher to spoon feed the Dallas role players a ton of open 3s and lobs to make up for their severe lack of shot creation themselves.

It's the 10, they passed up a lot of shots, sometimes to drive into 2 defenders + KP, that's how Boston ended up with 9 blocks, Kidd told them in the post game that they put on NBA site, they should let it fly.
Another problem is the 0-5 from Kyrie, 2 wide open misses and a TO came at crucial stretch when the Mavs were trying to mount a comeback.

[makubesu]

I’m seeing a lot of “Mavs role players need to play better” comments. Yeah it’s trendy to see slow FG% and say “next time we need to hit our shots.” But watch the actual game, the Celtics defense was relentless. The Mavs need to rethink their strategy and probe for other weaknesses if they want to win this series. Well it’s a seven game series so that’s on the table.

[Bob8]

I’m seeing a lot of “Mavs role players need to play better” comments. Yeah it’s trendy to see slow FG% and say “next time we need to hit our shots.” But watch the actual game, the Celtics defense was relentless. The Mavs need to rethink their strategy and probe for other weaknesses if they want to win this series. Well it’s a seven game series so that’s on the table.

Especially Kyrie should play a lot better. I would say 25 points from 19 shots is a minimum for him, if Mavs wants to have a chance. There is no sense for DJJ to attack the rim in traffic, shoot 3 or pass the ball. That's not something you need new strategy for.

[bledredwine]

Congrats Boston for game one. Unicorn was insane.

Mavs did not look like a finals team. I'm hoping that game two is more interesting.

[bledredwine]

I’m seeing a lot of “Mavs role players need to play better” comments. Yeah it’s trendy to see slow FG% and say “next time we need to hit our shots.” But watch the actual game, the Celtics defense was relentless. The Mavs need to rethink their strategy and probe for other weaknesses if they want to win this series. Well it’s a seven game series so that’s on the table.

No, the Mavs needed to play better. That was not a finals team up there.
Luka looks injured as hell moving around. Even my girlfriend who doesn't watch said "What's wrong with Luka? He looks
so sluggish, like he doesn't belong out there"

As great as the Celtics defense was, the Mavs got looks, and Luka looks really bad/injured. It's unfortunate
because we want a good series.

If the Celtics win, they deserve it, no excuses, but let's not deny that the Mavs were hot garbage.
That's why you're seeing these comments.

We won't pretend to ignore the obvious just to appease Celtics fans.

[165bows]

The tough part for Tatum is that he’s a step down from the “elite of the elite” class of players but he’s close enough and consistently playing deep in the playoffs to where he gets held to that standard.

Guys like Luka, Jokic, Lebron in his prime, Curry/Durant in theirs, etc are good enough to take that defensive pressure and still make plays for others while scoring with efficiency and volume themselves. That’s why they’ll all go down as top 5/10/15/20 whatever players in the history of the game.

Tatum just isn’t on that level. So yeah he’s not scoring as efficiently as you’d like in the face of that pressure, but he’s still drawing that pressure and making the right play for others at an extremely high clip.

We are still slobbing Doncic after Mavs couldn’t crack 90?

[chrisab123]

The tough part for Tatum is that he’s a step down from the “elite of the elite” class of players but he’s close enough and consistently playing deep in the playoffs to where he gets held to that standard.

Guys like Luka, Jokic, Lebron in his prime, Curry/Durant in theirs, etc are good enough to take that defensive pressure and still make plays for others while scoring with efficiency and volume themselves. That’s why they’ll all go down as top 5/10/15/20 whatever players in the history of the game.

Tatum just isn’t on that level. So yeah he’s not scoring as efficiently as you’d like in the face of that pressure, but he’s still drawing that pressure and making the right play for others at an extremely high clip.

We are still slobbing Doncic after Mavs couldn’t crack 90?

I'm verrrrry interested in the ESPN spin this morning. Probably just pivot to LeBron/Hurley again.

[Bob8]

The tough part for Tatum is that he’s a step down from the “elite of the elite” class of players but he’s close enough and consistently playing deep in the playoffs to where he gets held to that standard.

Guys like Luka, Jokic, Lebron in his prime, Curry/Durant in theirs, etc are good enough to take that defensive pressure and still make plays for others while scoring with efficiency and volume themselves. That’s why they’ll all go down as top 5/10/15/20 whatever players in the history of the game.

Tatum just isn’t on that level. So yeah he’s not scoring as efficiently as you’d like in the face of that pressure, but he’s still drawing that pressure and making the right play for others at an extremely high clip.

We are still slobbing Doncic after Mavs couldn’t crack 90?

What should he do, score 60? Mavs can win only, if Luka and Kyrie score 60+, Luka had 27 few minutes before end of 3rd, Mavs 8 down, If Kyrie had 20 then, it would be open game.

Destroying Mavs in game 1 is kinda normal.