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

[zimpy27]

Pacers are by far the better offensive team, while the Mavs are by far the better defensive team. Having said that, the Pacers got Boston out of their comfort zone more than I think the Mavs will. That's not a shot at the Mavs (they are better than the Pacers), it's just that the Pacers play by far the fastest pace in the league while Boston plays the slowest. Boston would much rather a slower, half court based game vs sprinting in transition.

Pacers were 99.71 pace after ASB
Mavs were 98.75 pace after ASB
Cavs were 94.46 pace after ASB
Celtics were 94.27 pace after ASB
Heat were 94 pace after ASB

I think Celtics were in a comfort zone with Heat and Cavs pace, it's their pace. Mavs are actually far closer to Pacers pace and Kidd has just seen the Pace was effective. I can certainly see the Mavs pace being equal to Pacers for this series.

I think people are thinking the pace is what got the Celtics struggling with Pacers, but it’s actually the ball movement.

They have by far the best assists percentage and assist ratio in the league. There’s no ball stoppers. It’s constant movement which is why their offensive efficiency was #2 in the league.

They were 2nd least in iso possessions while both Celtics and Mavs were 1 and 2.

Same with shots at the rim, with Pacers, it’s either a 3 or a layup, while Celtics and Mavs are more mid range to 3. Both Mavs and Celtics were near the bottom of attempts within 5 feet with 24 per game. Celtics at 70%, Mavs at 64%.. while Pacers took 28 per game at 67%.

So while the pace may be similar, the style of play is completely different.

Cavs are like the Pacers in passing and assists. They play at a slow pace. Felt like Celtics handled them easily.

[JJtheBricklayer]

The only ones whining about posts are you all.

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

[djw]

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

So on average he is
7th in ppg at 28.8 (1st out of all players in the finals)
9th in rpg at 9.6 (2nd out of all players in the finals behind Tatum's 10.4)
1st in apg at 8.8 (1st out of all players in the finals)
4th in spg at 1.6 (1st out of all players in the finals)

He is also
1st in DD at 13
1st in TD at 6

I don't really get what you are arguing here? Are you trying to say he's not a generational player and the best player in the finals?

It is an impressive postseason run and something other offensive hubs such as Lebron, Harden, Westbrook et al. have never done. Also he played 3 more games than the Celtics, you make it sound like he played double the games but was just a scrub who happened to play in the most games.

Anyways, can't wait for the finals to begin. It's been a week almost and plenty of time to adjust game strategies to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. Let's see who does a better job here and how each time will adjust during the series.

[dygaction]

Are the Pacers and Mavs similar? I'm kind of expecting the Mavs are similar to the Pacers with better closers.

Is that too simplistic?

What happens if Boston replayed that series and had Luka closing the last 5 minutes instead of Andrew Nembhard.

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?

[zimpy27]

What happens if Boston replayed that series and had Luka closing the last 5 minutes instead of Andrew Nembhard.

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?

Have to pick the right cherries

[jc23]

Had to shut off the Bill Simmons podcast about this series. just too much homerism.

[Archx]

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

[Bob8]

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

Luka likes this stuff a lot, I hope Celtics fans go all in.

[BliscoSantos]

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

Luka likes this stuff a lot, I hope Celtics fans go all in.

If i'm cuban I'm hiring a couple of people for the Mavs home games to wear Boston shirts and talk **** to Luka...that would fire him up

[RB34]

JJ and the Dunkers Spot talking about crowds. They “awarded” NY the best followed by Dallas and Boston.

Sounds like Espn were pulling shady **** with their broadcast.

Edit: tried to link. Didn’t work.

[Johnny Firpo]

JJ and the Dunkers Spot talking about crowds. They “awarded” NY the best followed by Dallas and Boston.

Sounds like Espn were pulling shady **** with their broadcast.

Edit: tried to link. Didn’t work.

No offense, but I don't see the Mavs crowd as anything special. They are loud during runs of course, but not like an OKC or even a Jazz crowd. Those guys are going hard even when the going gets hard, Mavs crowd, not as much. The Celtics crowd looks/feels legit most of the time.

[BeiBeau]

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?

Have to pick the right cherries

In real life I do statistic full time. And this is exactly why I ignore half the stats we throw around at each other. Most people on here aren’t trying to make sure their analysis is correct, they’re mostly trying to play gotcha games and seem smarter than the next person.

[ryan in Maine]

Hoping for an exciting 7-games series.

[brackdan70]

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?

Have to pick the right cherries

In real life I do statistic full time. And this is exactly why I ignore half the stats we throw around at each other. Most people on here aren’t trying to make sure their analysis is correct, they’re mostly trying to play gotcha games and seem smarter than the next person.

I hear ya. You can cherry pick stats to promote one’s agenda. I think the point here was responding to a question about what if you replaced Nembhard with Luka. The implied assumption was that Pacers wouldn’t have lost. No question Luka is much better, and arguably one of the top 3 players in the world, but Nembhard went off in those final two games. He was Lukaesque. And a big reason for the pacers success is pace and ball movement.

[theFireBlanket]

Pacers were 99.71 pace after ASB
Mavs were 98.75 pace after ASB
Cavs were 94.46 pace after ASB
Celtics were 94.27 pace after ASB
Heat were 94 pace after ASB

I think Celtics were in a comfort zone with Heat and Cavs pace, it's their pace. Mavs are actually far closer to Pacers pace and Kidd has just seen the Pace was effective. I can certainly see the Mavs pace being equal to Pacers for this series.

I think people are thinking the pace is what got the Celtics struggling with Pacers, but it’s actually the ball movement.

They have by far the best assists percentage and assist ratio in the league. There’s no ball stoppers. It’s constant movement which is why their offensive efficiency was #2 in the league.

They were 2nd least in iso possessions while both Celtics and Mavs were 1 and 2.

Same with shots at the rim, with Pacers, it’s either a 3 or a layup, while Celtics and Mavs are more mid range to 3. Both Mavs and Celtics were near the bottom of attempts within 5 feet with 24 per game. Celtics at 70%, Mavs at 64%.. while Pacers took 28 per game at 67%.

So while the pace may be similar, the style of play is completely different.

Cavs are like the Pacers in passing and assists. They play at a slow pace. Felt like Celtics handled them easily.

They weren't comparable in that regard for their series, not in games they lost. Cavs weren't making extra passes for good shots.

Also Cavs won a game. Pacers got swept.

[BeiBeau]

Have to pick the right cherries

In real life I do statistic full time. And this is exactly why I ignore half the stats we throw around at each other. Most people on here aren’t trying to make sure their analysis is correct, they’re mostly trying to play gotcha games and seem smarter than the next person.

I hear ya. You can cherry pick stats to promote one’s agenda. I think the point here was responding to a question about what if you replaced Nembhard with Luka. The implied assumption was that Pacers wouldn’t have lost. No question Luka is much better, and arguably one of the top 3 players in the world, but Nembhard went off in those final two games. He was Lukaesque. And a big reason for the pacers success is pace and ball movement.

I posed the question. And I know Nembhard went off, my thought process was that Indiana had some out of control possessions that ended very poorly to close the games. If you just could put Luka in for only the last 5 minutes he wouldn’t come up empty as much. I honestly think that series goes to 7 if you only put Luka in for the last 5.

My argument is that Boston won because they WAY out closed Indiana. And I think this series Dallas has the much better closers.

[kivancb]

Read on Twitter

[Texas Chuck]

Glad KP is back. Now I selfishly kinda hope he's rusty and plays poorly, but I'm glad its all hands on deck. Best on best, let's settle this in the streets.

[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.

[ajones9219]

What happens if Boston replayed that series and had Luka closing the last 5 minutes instead of Andrew Nembhard.

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.