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

[prejt]

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.

Not really
Phil Jackson played the same sorts of mindgames

[Texas Chuck]

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

If I was a Celtic fan I'd mention how we won't need but half of that.

[bisme37]

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[HotRocks34]

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[Capn'O]

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

The rest of the playoffs was breakneck too. Such a momentum breaker. I'm perplexed.

[Darth Celtic]

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.

The Mavs fill the paint hard on drives. Worked well cuz it stopped the wolves completely as they have non shooters in main lineup. Bad strat to fill the paint, man or zone against the Celtics.

[Mavrelous]

The Mavs fill the paint hard on drives. Worked well cuz it stopped the wolves completely as they have non shooters in main lineup. Bad strat to fill the paint, man or zone against the Celtics.

The defensive breakdowns for the Mavs looked really bad, but bottom line, I thought it was just a little bit less than what would be good enough, dropping 125 PPP offense (Celtics rating at home) to 115, including some impossible shots falling, is good enough in my book, the main failure was on the other side, total opposite to what I expected TBH, I expected the struggle to be mainly on defense, not on offense.

[brackdan70]

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.

26/27 assuming the expected extensions for Tatum and White the Cs would be right around 200 million with Tatum, Brown, Jrue, White, Prichard, Walsh and couple / three known draft picks. Tax level is estimated at 207 million. Depends on the direction they go and a lot can change with where that tax level is in 3 years but they could have that still have a pretty strong roster and be near the tax level. So much could change it is probably silly to worry about that now. If they decide to stick with Porzingas then they definitely keep paying tax.

[Texas Chuck]

so I don't expect Kidd's gambit to work at all. But its clearly not aimed at Tatum. It's aimed at Brown. A guy we know continues to feel underappreciated and definitely sees himself higher than the NBA world at large does. Kidd wants Brown to try and do too much.

Again, its not going to work. Brown isn't falling for that. But that's definitely who Kidd was targeting not Tatum. Because Brown is the guy who has openly talked in ways to make one think it could work.

[dygaction]

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If Kidd call Jason Tatum best player, Steven A Smith and lots of Brown supporters will jump out saying this brother does not get enough love.

I have not heard anyone having problem with SAS, Perkins, or anyone calling Kyrie the leader and/or the best player of the Mavs. More peace of mind between these two whether you agree or not. Brown's camp and supports have not been happy of him not getting all-nba selection and lack of commercial deals.

[bisme37]

I mean I thought I made a pretty good case for who Jason Kidd actually thinks is the Celtics' best player in the previous page of this thread like 20 minutes before Kidd's comments.

If he really thinks it's Brown then his defensive coverages in Game 1 are a fireable offense lol.

[Mr B]

Why is everyone upset that Kidd called Brown the Celtics best player? Based on what we’ve seen he is their best player. Seems like that would be a compliment.

[Fencer reregistered]

I mean I thought I made a pretty good case for who Jason Kidd actually thinks is the Celtics' best player in the previous page of this thread like 20 minutes before Kidd's comments.

If he really thinks it's Brown then his defensive coverages in Game 1 are a fireable offense lol.

Unless perhaps he thinks there's a HUGE defensive gap between the two ... and he correctly does not think that.

[Potential]

Been saying for years Jaylen Brown is their best player. J Kidd is definitely not wrong

[dygaction]

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?

I think it is a good gamble if he wants to play mind game, or people may just read too much into it. It would be weird to say we did not pay attention to their 2nd best player Jaylen Brown... not to mention Brown just got Larry Bird MVP and actually their best player in game 1.

Brown has indeed played bigger on bigger stage, including 2022 Finals and ECF 2024. Let's see whether Kidd makes Tatum much more motivated into suprenova mode or thinking too much into bigger slump.

[bisme37]

Why is everyone upset that Kidd called Brown the Celtics best player? Based on what we’ve seen he is their best player. Seems like that would be a compliment.

It made me laugh and roll my eyes, not get upset. It's cool with me if you think Brown is the C's best player but Jason Kidd clearly does not.

Spoiler:

[Mi Scusi]

The Mavs are gonna need a third player to step up, and have the series of his life similar to Martin last year for them to have a chance. They don’t have the firepower, or defense to keep up with Boston in a series.

If your hope is to rely on Gafford, and Lively lobs for those points, you’re screwed.

[Slax]

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

If I was a Celtic fan I'd mention how we won't need but half of that.

Ha. As a Celtics fan I'm just extremely grateful Porzingis and Horford are getting a lot of rest, because they are both important to beating this Mavs team, even if the wait between games is torture.

[LaLover11]

Kyrie revenge game

He's giving Celtics 45 game 2

That's a lot of minutes.

I smiled

[Slax]

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If Kidd call Jason Tatum best player, Steven A Smith and lots of Brown supporters will jump out saying this brother does not get enough love.

I have not heard anyone having problem with SAS, Perkins, or anyone calling Kyrie the leader and/or the best player of the Mavs. More peace of mind between these two whether you agree or not. Brown's camp and supports have not been happy of him not getting all-nba selection and lack of commercial deals.

I don't think I've ever actually heard anyone call Kyrie better than Luka literally ever.