2024 NBA FINALS: #1 Boston Celtics vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (BOS leads 2-0)

[bisme37]

All playoffs long teams have been guarding Tatum and the C's like this...



And then Tatum plays a smart game and passes out to shooters and the C's win and everyone says Tatum sucks. Which I am over arguing about that, but point of this post is... should the Mavs play JT straight up like the Celtics are playing Luka? There are too many high level players/shooters on the floor to swarm one guy, but 4 straight coaches have done just that in this postseason.

It's badly executed 2-3 zone, no one is triple teaming Tatum here, Tatum himself was wide open few times for the same rerason.
Mavs in general are bad at zone, which would've been useful change of look.

How about these possessions?




Or any of this:

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Read on Twitter

[Jaqua92]

The hubris from dallas fans and dallas-supporting neutral fans is hilarious to me. 10-20 years from now this Finals series will be looked at as a 64-win team beating down on a 50-win team. Simple as that.

Just when you think Celtics fans can't get more insufferable and obnoxious, you find a way...
You're coming off losing to 8th seed last year, tough keyboard guy, wait till you secure it to talk trash.

You're a mod, acting like this?

Jesus.

[Jaqua92]

I'm not a sore winner. There's no joy in boasting once it's done. I'll be happy and then move on with my life. The time to trash talk is now when the other side still thinks they can win.

Mavs posters making a good habit of being really sanctimonious about other posters while doing just what they are complaining about.

100%

That is a forum moderator acting like that.

[Slax]

All playoffs long teams have been guarding Tatum and the C's like this...



And then Tatum plays a smart game and passes out to shooters and the C's win and everyone says Tatum sucks. Which I am over arguing about that, but point of this post is... should the Mavs play JT straight up like the Celtics are playing Luka? There are too many high level players/shooters on the floor to swarm one guy, but 4 straight coaches have done just that in this postseason.

I'm not sure the Mavs have the personnel to consistently guard Tatum straight up like that. Even the Celtics are employing a lot of creative tactics to hide KP from getting switched onto Luka. It's a lot harder to do that if there are like three guys on the court who can get blown by or shot over on the perimeter. But we'll see, maybe Kidd figures something out.

[Mavrelous]

Or any of this:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

I don't think this has anything to do with Tatum, it has to do with targeting Lively in the P&R so DAL loads up on the drive and leaves 1 player to cover 2 on the weak side. If it was Jrue/KP P&R it would be similar, but hey, you may be right, Tatum is being triple teamed...

[bisme37]

Some notes on the Celtics Game 1 defense from the email NBA.com sent this morning...

Boston played Luka one-on-one for much of the night, but mixed up its coverages just enough to not let Luka get comfortable.

Double Teams: As the Celtics built their 29-point lead in the 1st half (and rebuilt it back to 20 at the end of the 3rd quarter), they only double-teamed Luka five times. Then, they doubled him four times in his seven 4th-quarter minutes to prevent one final run

The Mavs scored just 0.78 points per possession when Luka was doubled, compared to 0.98 on all other possessions

Switching: Luka drew a game-high 31 on-ball switches in Game 1, in which Dallas scored 1.12 points per possession compared to 0.88 points per possession without a Luka switch

Boston’s switching led to Luka being defended by Boston’s bigs, which Luka tried to exploit – 15 of his 26 shot attempts came in the 2:12 of matchup time he had against Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis.

Horford held Luka to two points on 1-of-8 shooting (0-of-4 from 3) with one block, while Porzingis allowed 13 pts on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-4 from 3) to his former teammate

Luka’s two primary defenders – Jaylen Brown (7 minutes) and Jrue Holiday (2:15) – combined to allow 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two turnovers

By playing Luka one-on-one and staying home on Dallas’ shooters, the Celtics forced the Mavs into historically-low playmaking.

As John Schuhmann noted in his Game 1 film study, Dallas’ 25.7% assist rate was the lowest for any team in any game in the last seven seasons.

[brackdan70]

As a fan of another team, the only good part about seeing the Celtics win yet another title will be seeing Al Horford finally raise the Obrien trophy at 38 years young after playing many seasons of stellar basketball.

Als age is overemphasized. Dude is in fantastic shape and such a smart player. He knows what it takes to win. He is a pretty solid perimeter defender.

I am expecting *starving Al to be effective in these Finals. He's in good shape; he's getting plenty of recovery time lately --- nine days off between ECF and Finals and two days off between nearly every Finals' game; KP is going to be reducing Al's workload, and Horford likely knows and reads the game of basketball better than Dallas rookie Lively and Gafford put together. Horford has the Celtics' highest net rating for the playoffs so far.

*"How hungry are you to finally get that title?" ESPN's Salters asked.

"Starving. Starving", Horford said.

So Hungry he could eat several Maverick steak Burritos.

[Fencer reregistered]

One of the examples is the same play as in Bisme's post.

Read on Twitter

[dygaction]

The hubris from dallas fans and dallas-supporting neutral fans is hilarious to me. 10-20 years from now this Finals series will be looked at as a 64-win team beating down on a 50-win team. Simple as that.

Or those Celtics teams paying multiple years of hefty luxury tax had frequently reached ECF and even played in the finals multiple times,,

You might want to look up the Celtics tax history before commenting on it.
Paid tax 3 times in the last 10 years. This year, last year, and 2018-19. 2018-19 was a small bill of 4 million.

I mean also including in the next 3 years, unless in the rare case they blow the team up.

[bisme37]

I'm expecting the Mavs to raise their intensity and focus in Game 2 and make for a much tougher game. I was impressed by their defense in earlier rounds and know they can create havoc on that end when they are locked in.

[jkvonny]

Must win for the Mavs. Can not go down 0-2 against Boston.

If Celtics 3s goes in at a high clip again , series could be over soon. Demoralizing for Dallas.

[Tor_Raps]

Kidd trying to play head games with the Celtics by trying to make it Tatum vs Brown to cause infighting loll.

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[whatisacenter]

Kidd trying to play head games with the Celtics by trying to make it Tatum vs Brown to cause infighting loll.

Read on Twitter

Same guy. His games never work.

[Tor_Raps]

Kidd trying to play head games with the Celtics by trying to make it Tatum vs Brown to cause infighting loll.

Read on Twitter

Same guy. His games never work.

That play actually did work at the time. He just ended up getting fined after the fact lol

[24istheLAW]

I guess it's a good sign of where the basketball matchup is at, that Kidd is trying to screw up the Celtics' chemistry via the press to give his team a chance.

[brackdan70]

Or those Celtics teams paying multiple years of hefty luxury tax had frequently reached ECF and even played in the finals multiple times,,

You might want to look up the Celtics tax history before commenting on it.
Paid tax 3 times in the last 10 years. This year, last year, and 2018-19. 2018-19 was a small bill of 4 million.

I mean also including in the next 3 years, unless in the rare case they blow the team up.

Right they are looking at a tax bill next year that won’t be huge, then 2025/26 will be the first big one as repeater kicks in and Tatum and White extensions kick in. Porzingas is a FA in 2026/27 in his early 30s so will be interesting to see what they do there. As the cap rises they will have an opportunity to ease under the tax after that without blowing it up.

[MrSparkle]

This 3 day break between each game makes me lose all interest. Dumbest scheduling ever to stretch a series out over 20 days.

[brackdan70]

Kidd trying to play head games with the Celtics by trying to make it Tatum vs Brown to cause infighting loll.

Read on Twitter

Lol. Set your defense up to focus on Brown then and see how Tatum operates with a bit of space.

[Fencer reregistered]

You might want to look up the Celtics tax history before commenting on it.
Paid tax 3 times in the last 10 years. This year, last year, and 2018-19. 2018-19 was a small bill of 4 million.

I mean also including in the next 3 years, unless in the rare case they blow the team up.

Right they are looking at a tax bill next year that won’t be huge, then 2025/26 will be the first big one as repeater kicks in and Tatum and White extensions kick in. Porzingas is a FA in 2026/27 in his early 30s so will be interesting to see what they do there. As the cap rises they will have an opportunity to ease under the tax after that without blowing it up.

Unfortunately, the numbers don't work for getting under the second apron, unless the Cs actually shed talent.

[Scarletfire81]

Not sure why Jason Kidd would say Jaylen is their best player, I think Jaylen has played great these playoffs but Jayson hasn’t exactly played bad. Is he trying to get into JTs head?