Finals 2024 - G1 - Mavs @ Celtics (Thursd., 8:30PMEST)

[Darren]

First things first, I think the Mavs has to prove a big lineup work. To start with, let's look at how Webayama, Emiid, Kirilenko and perhaps Giannis guards the perimeter without sacrificing defense. In normal situations, great 3 point shooting resolves zone defense. But both Lively and Gafford have some success blocking shooters from deep. The Mavs may create a favorable mismatch if the bigs can guard their opponents tight without sacrificing the court Vision. Then, you take away their legs power putting bulks on them. On tired legs, shooters do not shoot well. Being dunked on and helplessly witnessing putbacks are demoralizing. This takes away rhythm to shoot. Deny the passing lanes and disturbing the handle may affect the mechanics awfully. I expect 3 point differential a big indicator to success. Is Hardy coming from the Hardy family? Can you prove that the Hardy family shoot better than the Curry family? Corner 3 make it tough for Boston to defend lob and Luka-Kyrie. If PJ and DJJ is on fire from start, this team is tough to beat. I think Boston had trouble to deter backdoor cut as well.

[Darren]

You can't teach size. Mark it tight in their minds, the Mavs could get the favorable mismatch.

[Darren]

Get them into foul troubles. Then, things go super tough for them. Technically, Boston only has 6-7 depth.

[Darren]

Under the hard cap, having great engines and deep team wins. The time is now for this team. The West is going crazy. Under the hard cap, you might not be able to keep the same group with all the cap restrictions. There's no guarantee you get a second chance to win all if you're Western Conference team.

[GermanFan120]

Does anyone know when the big Russian is coming back?

[arkuo]

Best player in this match ups belongs to Dallas. Like Jordan going against Stockton and Malone, Tatum and Brown aren't just going to roll over and die. And Boston, like Utah will bring up the race card with Kyrie. If the boys are prepared for that, and Luka has shown he is, then Dallas has the edge.

My tips, don't eat out. Watch out for tainted pizza. Focus and win 4 games. It's the finals boys. It's June and my team is still playing. Lets get it done!

[Darren]

I think it's about time to train up all frontcourt players to protect the rim and rebound the misses. Boston is a team requiring the 3/4 to protect the rim as well. The Mavs could have been trained up if they face Nuggets instead of Wolves. For years to come, to deal with Webayama, the frontcourt should be able to shut down the paint as well.

[GermanFan120]

I don't think Luka can be stopped by any Celtics.

The problem is Kyrie, who I fear might be struggling in this series. They have many tools to limit him.

[Mavrelous]

I don't think Luka can be stopped by any Celtics.

The problem is Kyrie, who I fear might be struggling in this series. They have many tools to limit him.

I'm not worried about the offense, if they stop Kyrie PJ will get going, if Kidd figures a way to muck up their offense, Mabs will have a chance, but it's a huge if.

[tleikheen]

Boston fans are being delusional .They think theyll beat Mavs in 6 games with Horford and in 4/5 games with KP. This can be a great series as it looks like everyone should be healthy.
Now that Maxi is back I worry Kidd is going to try to outplay Boston at their own game. He will play Maxi at Gaff and Lively's expense ,even though Gaff/Lively are avg 17ppg 13 rebs a game as a tandem. You can't give away games in the NBA Finals.

[arkuo]

Boston fans are being delusional .They think theyll beat Mavs in 6 games with Horford and in 4/5 games with KP. This can be a great series as it looks like everyone should be healthy.
Now that Maxi is back I worry Kidd is going to try to outplay Boston at their own game. He will play Maxi at Gaff and Lively's expense ,even though Gaff/Lively are avg 17ppg 13 rebs a game as a tandem. You can't give away games in the NBA Finals.

Utah fans also felt they'll beat Jordan and the Bulls with tainted pizza. So.. yeah.

[Darren]

I think the Mavs could study OKC with young Ibaka against the GSW in prime. It was a 7 game series which OKC could have won had it not been for mental breakdown of KD and WB. The Mavs has Gafford and Lively in place of Ibaka and Adam with wings with longer wingspan. I think the Mavs zone defense can revolutionize the basketball world. Both Gafford and Lively have to block tons of shots from long range like Webayama, though to make the case.

[Darren]

I don't think Luka can be stopped by any Celtics.

The problem is Kyrie, who I fear might be struggling in this series. They have many tools to limit him.

That's the major concern the whole playoff. Kyrie is 6-2. If Boston can send a 6-10 athlete with good intelligence, then the Mavs is in trouble. But it seems to me that Boston doesn't. Jrue can make things tough but not completely shut down Kyrie the way JWill or McDaniels does. I am somewhat concerned but not over concern about that. I am more worried about the fans booing on Kyrie instead.

[41Dirk41]

Does anyone know when the big Russian is coming back?

He will be 100% healthy for sure and in his best shape ever. Ready for 7/7 from 3s.

The Porzinger-Cop revenge.
No way Mavs can over come him.

Bet all your money on him, trust me.
Easy win
Easy money
Easy bet

[Darren]

The Mavs has to prove that the big lineup work first. Or else, it's a rather short series in Boston favors.

[GermanFan120]

I don't think Luka can be stopped by any Celtics.

The problem is Kyrie, who I fear might be struggling in this series. They have many tools to limit him.

That's the major concern the whole playoff. Kyrie is 6-2. If Boston can send a 6-10 athlete with good intelligence, then the Mavs is in trouble. But it seems to me that Boston doesn't. Jrue can make things tough but not completely shut down Kyrie the way JWill or McDaniels does. I am somewhat concerned but not over concern about that. I am more worried about the fans booing on Kyrie instead.

I would actually welcome the idiotic Boston fans doing that, I believe that will only fuel Kyrie.

[GermanFan120]

Does anyone know when the big Russian is coming back?

He will be 100% healthy for sure and in his best shape ever. Ready for 7/7 from 3s.

The Porzinger-Cop revenge.
No way Mavs can over come him.

Bet all your money on him, trust me.
Easy win
Easy money
Easy bet

He will be as healthy as KD for sure, I remember KD's legendary performance in the final against the Raptors. Klay too.

[Apz]

Knowing KP after injuries i bloody hope he is back. He will have spent 2 weeks in summerbreak before he is back to rhytm

[blueberrysticky]

Kyrie Irving and Kristaps are the key for this series. Luka is going to do his thing, if Boston fans are smart they won't aggravate Luka and instead focus their energy on Kyrie.

If luka is able to get into the midrange with his defender on his back (aka in prison) then the mavs will win. From there he will find lobs and 3pters all game long like he has this playoffs. This will force the inevitable blitz high up that teams have been forced to do and then free up kyrie and other options.

On the other end mavs have to limit kristaps from stretching the floor and weakening a strength of our team (rim protection with lively and gafford)

[ozwizard8]

I don't think Luka can be stopped by any Celtics.

The problem is Kyrie, who I fear might be struggling in this series. They have many tools to limit him.

That was seem to be the case in previous matchups. I also think Kyrie has a mentally soft spot against the Boston media.

I wrote this before:

We need our front office and Jason Kidd to save Kyrie from Boston media. They have too much Celtics fans on national media. Kyrie should close the internet and reduce interview hours. Just focus to the game I’ll come to the parade in Dallas with ‘earth is flat’ tshirt.

We need Kidd to have many special counseling sessions for Kyrie and Mavs organization should cut his media time or give extra people around him. Just focus on the game. Find Kyrie some spots and favorable matchups to score 10-15 points each game before clutch time.

Its not going to be easy series for Mavs. I just hope REFs will not be on fully Boston side. In some games, Celtics cant buy a bucket but refs keep giving FTs which ends up the other team loosen up the defense too much. Kidd is a good coach to understand this and finding some semi-solutions. It was like that against SGA. We let him dribble freely, let him do whatever he wants to avoid foul calls. Sometimes its better to give out mid-range, and some lightly-contested layups than open shots for others.

I think we can afford to play Lively-Gafford against Celtics. Horford-KP can take 3s so that'd mean they'd need to step out to perimeter but its still good to have them on the court for defensive and offensive boards. And they can still make rotation inside to offer some help side rim protection.

One issue would be Celtics forcing switch to our bigs. Tatum-Brown vs Gafford-Lively. But I dont think this would be terrible for us. Our roster already have Kyrie and Luka. Its not like Kyrie can defend Tatum 1-on-1 better than Lively. In most cases, we will need help defense, rotations anyway.

The biggest difference between Luka and other players are tough shot making and court-vision/passing. Jaylen Brown and Tatum typically doing better on specific shots, matchups. They choke in big moments or if they have non-favorable angles. Against Miami we saw last year how they looked like. They are not that great of play-makers either. That is the reason Mavs can swarm, bring help defense against those players but opponent teams are not being able to do that effectively against Luka. Luka has too many weapons, moves, shots in his bag and he can pass much better than KAT-Ant-SGA-PG13-Kawhi-Murray-Tatum-Brown. Jokic would be only other player in the same tier with him currently. Kidd-Nash was at this level previously, but they were smaller and Kidd wasn't a good shooter in his prime.

So I like our chances with Luka vs other stars. We need to be able to take some of their players out of the game. Lowering their confidence like we did in the previous series. Celtics coach shown failures in last few years. Even against injury-riddled, easier teams had their moments against Celtics this year. Tatum not trusting KP after couple of turnovers, bad shots, White not wanting to take shots. Their bench, Pritchard, Tillman, Hauser can lose confidence in their shots. Kyrie should look for those matchups during rotation minutes. If Holiday is not playing for a 2-3 minute stretch due to resting or foul-trouble, then Kyrie should go for Pritchard-Hauser-KP matchups especially in transition!

Celtics switching scheme should be punished if refs play fair in this series. Luka and Kyrie can definitely cook KP and Kyrie should find a way to take advantage of f'in old Horford. He's turning 38 tomorrow. Lively-Gafford screens are also important. Luka can take White-Brown on his back and go to the rim for either layup or lob it to Lively-Gafford.