NBA Finals Thread - Celtics vs Mavericks

[REB1094]

More geared towards Twitter than here, but it’s funny to see people start hyping the team that is very obviously going to lose because they had 1 good game

 

[JohnFSilver]

In this error of pace and 3-point shooting we get a ton lopsided scores. T

Everyone assumes they're just messing around, but the reality is that, despite the gaudy record, they haven't been the same dominant team in the last three rounds that they were for most of the regular season. Minus Porzingis, they're not much better than the Mavs.

what?

They are 15-3 in the playoffs. What am I missing here?

They are so much better than mavericks talent wise it isn’t even with comparing.

Has Stephen A smith and all these hot take shows really destroyed the ability to interpret the game of basketball?

 

[HitDog]

Boston better be great on Sunday.

Monday would be even better

 

[IndyLives]

First time this playoffs that the Porzingas injury was very noticable. C's had nothing inside. Big Al looked slow and tired and was continuously beat. Mazulla had no in-game answers and threw the white flag. C's better come out strong on Monday as this Mavs team thrives on momentum even on the road. They can steamroll teams when clicking.

 

[pj]

Nobody has ever came back down 0-3.

The Red Sox did.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

The Red Sox did.

They weren’t working against the Drake and Chuck curses

 

[champs99and04]

In this error of pace and 3-point shooting we get a ton lopsided scores. T

what?

They are 15-3 in the playoffs. What am I missing here?

They are so much better than mavericks talent wise it isn’t even with comparing.

Has Stephen A smith and all these hot take shows really destroyed the ability to interpret the game of basketball?

Records can be deceiving over small samples because of variance in quality of opponent and results in close games, among other things. Since the start of the Cleveland series they're only +59, or +4.2 per game, compared to +11.6 during the regular season. Take out the Porzingis minutes and that drops to around +34 and +2.4, respectively. Dallas, by comparison, is +2.3 since then despite playing a much tougher schedule.

Some of that is skewed by last night's game, which is probably a bit of an outlier for a number of reasons. But I also think the extra days off have helped Boston with Porzingis being out and Horford being relied upon to play more minutes. These teams aren't that different once you give Dallas a guy to help off of and a 39-year-old that actually starts to look 39 to attack on the other end.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Monday would be even better

Yeah these long stretches between games are getting to me.

 

[JohnFSilver]

My concern is really that the shooting continued to be bad while Dallas got incredibly hot. Don‘t ever give the team that is down confidence that they can win. Now Dallas knows it’s possible. Boston better be great on Sunday.

Records can be deceiving over small samples because of variance in quality of opponent and results in close games, among other things. Since the start of the Cleveland series they're only +59, or +4.2 per game, compared to +11.6 during the regular season. Take out the Porzingis minutes and that drops to around +34 and +2.4, respectively. Dallas, by comparison, is +2.3 since then despite playing a much tougher schedule.

Some of that is skewed by last night's game, which is probably a bit of an outlier for a number of reasons. But I also think the extra days off have helped Boston with Porzingis being out and Horford being relied upon to play more minutes. These teams aren't that different once you give Dallas a guy to help off of and a 39-year-old that actually starts to look 39 to attack on the other end.

At a 4.2 differential. No. 1 the three losses for Boston gave all been lopsided losses. That is a statistical links what is their point differential in wins and plot. Differential in wins and what is it in losses.

Also, margin of victory in an era if 3-point shooting is kind of crazy stat to look like.

Mavs still win by 25 last night if Tim harden he never steps in the floor.

He scored 15 point an and hit 5 3s in 6 minutes. That is what got the lead to historic standards.

Boston has won every close game it has played this postseason. So, the thought of some people saying they can win close games makes no sense.

 

[aceboon]

Can't believe the noise being made over winning 1 game to avoid a sweep, game 4 of the Finals was very similar to the 2022 Mavs game 4 of the WCF vs the Warriors. If the Mavs were heading home down 3-1 I would get it, but on the road??

 

[DMIL]

In this error of pace and 3-point shooting we get a ton lopsided scores. T

what?

They are 15-3 in the playoffs. What am I missing here?

They are so much better than mavericks talent wise it isn’t even with comparing.

Has Stephen A smith and all these hot take shows really destroyed the ability to interpret the game of basketball?

This take is not accurate. The core Celtics team is more experienced on this stage and carry with them the pain of losing in the conference and NBA Finals. It's hard to skip steps in the process to learning how to become a Champion. 2 of the 1st 3 games could have easily went the Mavs way if they played their avg. brand of ball and executed at a higher level of efficiency. This starts with Luka, the discipline, shot selection, free throw and 3 point percentage, effort on defense. The little things that are needed to win in the Finals the Mavs were not doing consistently and they hadn't quite figured out Boston yet.

Now they have and it might be too late for them. However it will fuel them for the next couple of seasons. Most of their core group of players are under 26 years of age. Kyrie is the old head of that core at 32 years of age.

The pundits weren't wrong to pick Dallas as the upset pick based on their talent and body of work from the trade deadline. What they were wrong about was that it would take Luka and company 4 games to figure it out against a hungry, determined and experienced Celtics squad.

 

[superjohn]

Can't believe the noise being made over winning 1 game to avoid a sweep, game 4 of the Finals was very similar to the 2022 Mavs game 4 of the WCF vs the Warriors. If the Mavs were heading home down 3-1 I would get it, but on the road??

It's been a lousy series and ESPN carries the games so they're trying to hype it.

 

[Mr. French]

Game 3 especially was very winnable for the Mavs. Gotta feel they missed a chance to make it evened up.

It looks a lot cleaner for Boston that it went 3-0 then the blowout happened. Game 3 is that much more critical (esp Luka’s dumb foul) now after this game.

Pretty clearly Boston has the edge still, but I’m guessing fans want it over ASAP.

 

[superjohn]

353K views · 3.2K reactions | Stephen A Smith walking like he ready to drop 40 and go up 4-0 in the series | By NBA NEWS AND VIDEOS | Facebook

Stephen A Smith walking like he ready to drop 40 and go up 4-0 in the series

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[superjohn]

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

 

[Matrim55]

This whole thread is gold.

 

[JohnFSilver]

This take is not accurate. The core Celtics team is more experienced on this stage and carry with them the pain of losing in the conference and NBA Finals. It's hard to skip steps in the process to learning how to become a Champion. 2 of the 1st 3 games could have easily went the Mavs way if they played their avg. brand of ball and executed at a higher level of efficiency. This starts with Luka, the discipline, shot selection, free throw and 3 point percentage, effort on defense. The little things that are needed to win in the Finals the Mavs were not doing consistently and they hadn't quite figured out Boston yet.

Now they have and it might be too late for them. However it will fuel them for the next couple of seasons. Most of their core group of players are under 26 years of age. Kyrie is the old head of that core at 32 years of age.

The pundits weren't wrong to pick Dallas as the upset pick based on their talent and body of work from the trade deadline. What they were wrong about was that it would take Luka and company 4 games to figure it out against a hungry, determined and experienced Celtics squad.

What?

This series was never gonna be a long series.

Pundits missed this. They thought Dallas was going to win because they are enamored with the two star, hero ball approach.

There is no rational metric, historical standard out there that would take a 64-win team over a 5-seed.

But, because of the way we talk about basketball - the focus came down to Luka vs Tatum.

Its dumb.

Don’t over react. The 1984 Celtics, which had Larry bird on the team at his peak, loss a finals game by 33 points. 85 lakers lost a finals game by 34 points.

Mavs didn’t solve anything.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Game 3 especially was very winnable for the Mavs. Gotta feel they missed a chance to make it evened up.

It looks a lot cleaner for Boston that it went 3-0 then the blowout happened. Game 3 is that much more critical (esp Luka’s dumb foul) now after this game.

Pretty clearly Boston has the edge still, but I’m guessing fans want it over ASAP.

They have been down 20 points in 3 of four games .

 

[Mr. French]

They have been down 20 points in 3 of four games .

Right, but they were also up huge in game 3 and it was a 3 point game in the 4th Q in Dallas. And I noted Boston is better.

Which makes everything in my post true, but your point (whether true or not) fairly invalid.

I’m saying Dallas probably is mad they didn’t finish game 3 with a win and they’d feel right there. Not sure what’s to disagree with.

 

[TroyHall98]

Can't believe the noise being made over winning 1 game to avoid a sweep, game 4 of the Finals was very similar to the 2022 Mavs game 4 of the WCF vs the Warriors. If the Mavs were heading home down 3-1 I would get it, but on the road??

Totally agree. Also, not sure why the media wishes to anoint Luka as the next transcendent player so badly. Fact of that matter is he is still a massive hole in their defensive game plan. The Celtics have a game plan to exploit that via drives to the paint and crisp ball movement. They need to get back to the latter and they will be just fine.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Can’t believe a rookie has to speak up about Luka like this. Crazy if it’s true that everyone has to ask this of him and he still has trouble.

 

[TroyHall98]

Can’t believe a rookie has to speak up about Luka like this. Crazy if it’s true that everyone has to ask this of him and he still has trouble.

Good for Lively! Where is Kyrie’s leadership on this issue?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Can’t believe a rookie has to speak up about Luka like this. Crazy if it’s true that everyone has to ask this of him and he still has trouble.

The leadership is fine, but this narrative that somehow the refs are being tough on Luka or on Dallas is ridiculous. If anything, he has gotten away with more than anybody else in the finals and has drawn really the only few phantom fouls handed out with his flopping.