NBA FINALS 2024 BOSTON CELTICS DALLAS MAVERICKS I LOVE HOOPS THREAD

Not sure who to root for here

boston celtics

MAVERKICKS*

boston in 6 prob

can someone please tell me anything good about the Dallas mavericks?

no

the matchup favors boston but luka-kyrie could go nuts and win the series is how i break it down to an extent

those guys are lames though so i don't want to see that

all of the celtics non center starters can credibly guard luka, hes called jrue the best perimeter defender in the league, but can anyone really guard luka kinda no but you can make him work, which is why imo the celtics advantage re luka lies more on the other side of the ball theres just nowhere for him to hide on defense and theyll def make it a major point go after him, which with most teams you have to get yr main guy the ball bring luka over in a pick and roll and if everything goes well youre making him play defense, but the celtics since all their guys are good at offense can just have whoever hes guarding attack him, the mavs are the ones left having to try to scheme their way out of it, i think as far as defending him theyll prob play him straight up let him get his as part of the wear luka down strategy, and thats just their typical star defense anyway, then late once hes worn down theyll mix in more doubles stunts and whatnot, think well prob see jaylen and jrue guard him and then maybe tatum late, thats how i see them addressing the luka issue

tho tbf its not as easy to wear luka down as it used to be since the mavs have kyrie now and luka sometimes lets him dribble the ball, particularly in the 4th quarter the mavs go to a kyrie based offense so luka can rest up for crunch time, which just points even more to how important its going to be to make him work on defense, and making him play d is just good offense too which is nice

Luka Doncic was chilling with his dad while drinking a beer, and Michael Finley just took it away 😭

(via @GrantAfseth)pic.twitter.com/5yjKYsstq3

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 31, 2024

can’t even drink beer now thanks biden

Luka’s reaction was like when your dad catches 16 year old you drinking a beer at your older cousins wedding

lmao

the matchup favors boston but luka-kyrie could go nuts and win the series is how i break it down to an extent

this pretty much sums it up

my finals wishlist in order

1- good series with close games
2- no injuries
3- lots of drama
4- celtics win

celtics in 6, mavs win a big one at home and luka/kyrie steal a close one, but the c’s are too much. my other prediction: tatum plays well but does not win mvp and the series somehow still doesn’t answer anyone’s questions about him

Mavs in 7. Kyrie wins it at the buzzer in Boston with a left handed runner that rolls around the rim approximately 42 times before dropping in.

prob not gonna happen but i hope the celtics crowd doesnt get too preoccupied with booing kyrie i know he purposely provoked it with his silly bitchy stunts but its just tedious at this point you gotta stay focused on the positive in life, like making fun of luka for being a crybaby

if it gets in his head they should keep doing it obvs

tatum plays well but does not win mvp and the series somehow still doesn’t answer anyone’s questions about him

― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, May 31, 2024 12:23 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

prob true and also very funny that the answer has been staring them right in the face the entire time but they just refuse to accept it for whatever reason

I think the series hinges on how much KP can give Boston. If the Mavs played Boston last week, I think Dallas would've won.

i think the celtics could beat the mavs without kp, if they 90% kp thats a pretty clear advantage

one very interesting question about this series is does dallas according to podcasters "elite defense" hold up, celtics are the perfect team to stress test it theres nowhere to hide luka or kyrie, theres no one really even for kyrie to guard every celtics starter is well bigger and stronger than him and all of them can do all of the offensive things

even derrick jones jr who by all accounts is a very good defender is at a major strength disadvantage to the jays, so what if he moves his feat well and stays in front but then jaylen just drives right through him, how does lively protect the rim with kp or horf camped out at the 3pt line, mavs havent had to answer these type of questions, theoretically okc presented some of the same issues but they just werent ready to force the issue, where the celtics have been playing a force the issue style all year

i guess kyrie guards white and luka takes jrue jones on jaylen and washington on tatum, wonder if they just let jrue and white cook or they try to get luka and kyrie switched onto the jays, guess you can do both but you have to make an effort to get the switches where they already have an advantage with the standard matchups, tho jrue shoots the least out of the starters and luka might be able to guard him a lil since a lot of jrues game is based on strength and luka is strong and its not like hes an amazing one on one player anyway so im not sure hes exactly the guy you want to be like just attack this matchup, tho he can, getting the switches will prob be a big part of the mix and its not like they have to hunt one particular match up more like just get them moving around and back on their heals then attack

pulling lively and gafford away from the basket seems pretty key too and not necessarily as easy as the other stuff celtics are gonna have to hoist and hit before the mavs make changes

my finals wishlist in order

1- good series with close games
2- no injuries
3- lots of drama
4- celtics win

― I Chet the Holmgren (Spottie), Friday, May 31, 2024 12:21 PM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

1 celtics win
2 kyrie does a slapstick turnover where he falls into the crowd and gets nacho cheese all over himself

whats the word on zinger?

no ones saying anything but all signs point towards hes gonna be good to go

no ones saying anything in english at least

https://i.imgur.com/o1dcgvU.png

seems like simmons knows something

Bill Simmons says the Porzingis will be back for the finals and that the Celtics “threw him in the cooler” pic.twitter.com/9gnmviWyCH

— Micah Sharon (@MicahSharon2013) May 27, 2024

Porzingis is on the floor as practice ends. pic.twitter.com/pdQeXhjqDK

— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) May 31, 2024

Joe Mazzulla on Kristaps Porzingis:

“I’m confident in where he’s at right now.” pic.twitter.com/DgWNWO0WU4

— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) May 31, 2024

.@F1 @yukitsunoda07 pic.twitter.com/AY0kGlskcT

— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) June 4, 2023

Tsunoda is a great shooter but with his lack of size it's going to be hard for him to defend on the perimeter

thanks for the zinger updates. i believe bill

they threw him in the cooler

the cooler king

luka should go back to the headband

JAYLEN BROWN DROPS LUKA.

pic.twitter.com/8TMXJupPND

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 23, 2024

i knew tsunoda was a little dude but that picture is staggering

jfc an entire week off????

it’s inhumane

calling amnesty international

should have saved the 'in-season tournament' for this

not even joking; imagine it as like the big east tourney

16 teams, four days, play it at rucker park

I saw someone today wearing an NBA In-Season Tournament T-shirt. no team logos or anything, just the tournament. if he paid money for that he might be the weirdest hoops fan I've ever seen

lol pretty cool

gotta rep the ist irl

he's getting in on the ground floor

it can be yours

https://fanatics.frgimages.com/nba-events/unisex-nike-black-2023-nba-in-season-tournament-semifinals-t-shirt_ss5_p-200952135+pv-1+u-zun0bruncserkayjiwuw+v-35xccsw4ivemiqedgtyj.jpg?_hv=2&w=900

https://store.nba.com/nba-events/unisex-nike-black-2023-nba-in-season-tournament-semifinals-t-shirt/t-1256478211+p-46559976383673+z-9-4019884821

https://i.imgur.com/MK5C4Pv.png

the sort of thing i wouldn't buy but would wear if i already had it somehow

real hoops fans hate teams

Only for small bois

update

🚨 Kristaps Porzingis fully participating in 5 v 5 scrimmage during Celtics practice pic.twitter.com/NZJ9eMtlMm

— CelticsForum (@CelticsForum0) June 1, 2024

wonder if the mavs are gonna double tatum when lukas switched on to him, getting into rotation v the celtics is generally not the recipe for success, prob better to have luka try to guard him 1v1 with a shot blocker lurking

The Mavericks consistently sent two at the ball when Luka matched up with Tatum in this game. Celtics got easy advantages in the halfcourt with fast ball movement and attacks pic.twitter.com/WGjJnm1hHK

— Nik☘️ (@__Kingnik) May 31, 2024

I saw someone today wearing an NBA In-Season Tournament T-shirt. no team logos or anything, just the tournament. if he paid money for that he might be the weirdest hoops fan I've ever seen

dalano banton's in that zinger video fwiw

oh no lol

guess it is kinda true tho, dont know if they scrimmaged but sounds like hes ramping up

Big Kristaps Porzingis update from practice today:

“He did everything the team did.” pic.twitter.com/JZnUSrPQaJ

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) June 1, 2024

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I've no problem rooting either for the Celtics or against the Mavs this time around. Kyrie has been a loose cannon and team-killer most of his career and Luka's a ref-baiting whiner. Their winning a ring this season would not be a feel-good story imo. There's no player on the Celtics atm that I'd feel weird rooting for.

I don't follow them closely but Tatum seems like a real decent dude right?

by any account i have ever heard tatum is a nice dude who is mostly focused on raising his son

go green its the only way the boston celtics baby hell yes

who could root for a team called the mavericks thats a contradiction in terms

I guess I’ll cheer for the Celtics bc Horford.

thats our guy big al

dunno how I feel about cheering for Horf, I know he's a cool dude and a great story but watching him destroy Milwaukee over and over again has really soured me on him. though seeing him do that shit to other teams has turned me into a fan sometimes

and yeah I just can't bring myself to root for Dallas, dont get me wrong this team is entertaining as hell but Luka seems like a real asshole, you know Kidd is, Mark Cuban can go fuck himself, and I have no interest in a Kyrie redemption arc, I mean he's not Kanye-level but everyone I know who likes him as a *person* is totally insufferable, meanwhile Boston does seem to have a lot of decent dudes on the team, so yeah painful loss for Dallas seems ideal

i'd settle for complete humiliation

dallas is so deep in unlikable guys its easy to forget about cuban

sure a sweep would be funny but I do really enjoy watching Luka and Kyrie play plus Boston fans deserve to sweat a bit, I mean this whole season has been a cakewalk

the kyrie redemption story is so funny everyones all hes so centered hes come to terms with everything hes in a good place, do they not know that bad kyrie will be back, when yr that deep into being a contrarian dickhead it doesnt just go away overnight, if anything the fact that hes on good behavior is building the pressure

It’s funny because he will redeem himself and them immediately do another heel turn, likely by defecating on Lucky post series win.

no kink shaming itt

i can buy the idea that kyrie is happier and perhaps even more mature overall (tho nba player podcasts would really argue against that idea generally) and thus less prone to screw things up for no reason. what i think ppl are more so forgetting is that he has a really checkered injury history and is a small guard entering his mid 30s. if this whole thing ultimately rests on the mavs having a borderline superstar guard next to luka in the playoffs, i think it’s a real stretch to just pencil kyrie into that spot for three more years

kyries health def an underrated factor in dallas run

dallas is so deep in unlikable guys its easy to forget about cuban

cuban schmuban, can we talk about miriam adelson?

see theres another one

tbf adelson is more than unlikable shes a villain

true

it feels simplistic but i think the series will ultimately come down to whether porzingis has a big series. if the mavs have to start coming up w/ a bunch of ways to guard boston while still trying to keep their centers by the rim then they're in trouble. if zinger isn't commanding that gravity as the series goes on, and if smaller players are allowed to roughhouse him in the post like we saw in round 1, then dallas will be in a much more comfortable spot defensively. i think the same dynamic somewhat applies to jrue -- he's been much better in the playoffs this year but he's still a guy who was sub 40% from the field and sub 30% from 3 in the playoffs in three seasons w/ the bucks. if, in a theoretically more competitive series, that side of jrue comes out more, then the mavs may have a soft spot in boston's 5 that they can work w/ defensively.

i don't think boston has as many defensive options on luka as lagoon does. i think white and jrue are just too small -- obv those are two of the great guard defenders right now, it also was also just last year we saw that jimmy butler repeatedly roast both of those guys by exploiting their lack of height in iso match ups. i think tatum has a lot of the same issues that mcdaniels had in terms of not having the right center of gravity to defend luka. i think jaylen is the best equipped, and probably horford after that. but horford on the floor makes defense pretty comfortable for dallas.

now what i would agree w/ is the idea that boston has a ton of guys to throw at kyrie. i think tatum would have a lot better time guarding kyrie, i think his length would turn kyrie into a jump shooter and there is no way for tatum's wiriness to be exploited there. white and holiday have no discernible disadvantage vs kyrie on paper, kyrie is just going to have to cook them to the point that we're all like "well what are you gonna do."

i do think that gafford will have a much harder time defensively in this series. he isn’t that great in space and boston will have a lot of ways to bring him out… i assume dallas wouldn’t let him get repeatedly iso’d, so then you start getting into defense bending mitigation strategies.

it feels to me like a lively and kleiber series, it wouldn’t surprise me if gafford gets dropped from the starting 5 at some point. i think there’s a scenario where dallas plays a lot of mins w/ kleiber at 5, switches everything, and basically just tries to turn the game into 1 on 1 on both ends. idk if that’s a great or viable strategy but it would more likely play into boston’s devil on the shoulder tendencies than having gafford out there and trying to trap and rotate or be in drop etc and letting boston swing it around or walk into open 3s

also think w/ porzingis if anything im looking at whether he can match the physicality of dallas’ bigs after not playing for a month. it’s great that he’s doing everything in practice but that is not the finals and dallas’ guys are used to banging and are gonna be throwing their weight around. now if gafford’s mins get slashed and maxi is out there that concern goes away. i think porzingis will shoot just fine.

well i shouldn’t say it goes away, i remember liking how lively looked the last time they played even tho dallas got killed. i think he’ll test zinger’s athleticism and durability, but gafford is like a beast 5 and if boston can sorta eliminate him i think it makes zinger’s life a lot easier

re jrue, on offense kinda doubt the series is going to turn on the celtics fifth leading scorer, along those same lines his bad numbers with milwaukee had a lot to with the fact that he was asked to be a primary scorer for them which is something that never happens with the celtics, on defense think i already said this upthread but theres not really a question of if he can do it hes guarded luka before and held up as well as one can against him i mean luka might smoke him but he might smoke anyone jrue is a good option against him

i think jaylen is the best equipped, and probably horford after that.

gonna have to disagree here lol

i think if this is a big kleber series it just means dallas is losing and needed to try something i have a hard time seeing that lineup holding up on d, i do agree that zinger is key if hes hitting on all cylinders which seems unlikely considering the time hes missed then the celtics have a big advantage theyre much better when he plays the mavs will need play really well to keep pace

big question if dallas can play their centers and continue to pack the paint if the celtics start hitting threes could be tough, if they have to give up on that im not sure what they have on d, conversely if they keep the celtics out of the paint and make them slow down take mediocre threes it could work

The more I think about it the more I like Boston.

i just don't see how gafford plays a lot of minutes in this series personally unless he's going crazy on alley oops and on the offensive glass. i just think he's slow footed in space, his only move is to let the ballhandler get past him then try and block the ball off the backboard. otherwise he can't really defend competent iso players. i just don't think it's the right match up for him. if that's the case it stresses dallas obviously, but i don't think that kleiber getting the large share of back up 5 mins is necessarily fatal

just think the thing thats been keying dallas defense is protecting the rim and if they cant do that im not sure what they have, they might be able to slow the celtics down a little with switchy zoney stuff but theyll figure it out before long, also kleber looked really bad coming back after being out v minny. hes had some time now so many hell be ok but idk i dont like it for dallas

but of course there is a scenario where dallas d doesnt hold up and they win anyway which is luka and kyrie going nuts, not hard to imagine

also if dallas role players hit three like they did v okc

What's up with Boston's bench dudes beyond Horf ... are they difference makers?

pritchard and hauser their two other bench guys who got consistent minutes all year are both very serious shooters who hold up on d better than you might think for unathletic whites, pritchard has an all around point guard game and is the best six foot tall offensive rebounder in the league, hauser is a pure shooter who can hit on the move side steps relocations all that stuff sadly hes been cold all playoffs but he could catch fire at any time, could see pritchard getting played out of the series just cause if dallas targets him even tho hes a bulldog he you know cant guard luka maybe they can play him when lukas out, hauser is 6-8 and defends pretty well so the question with him is more can he hit a shot, tho the mavs could target him too just cause hell prob be the worst defender on the floor while hes out there but if hes hitting shots hell get minutes regardless

past that theyve got some guys who could pick up a few minutes here or there kornet is a big slow center who can actually ball a little protect the rim roll etc but his feet very slow, tillman forward/center defensive specialist who moves his feet insanely well for a man his size hes their best switching big if they decided thats what they need to do but as long as horf and zinger are healthy cant really see the need to give him minutes, brissett is a big athletic wing without much offensive game but he defends well crashes the offensive glass gets dunks on cuts energy guy more or less

the celtics top eight are just a very skilled ballers thats what makes them tough

btw re the who guards luka conversation i agree that jaylen is prob the best guy for that but i think theyll start jrue there just cause jaylen needs to do offense, but im sure jaylen will get chances as the game goes on, jaylen no doubt wants to guard luka, theyll throw a lot of looks out there but i think theyll mostly let luka get his and stay home as much as possible on their other guys thats how theyve guarded him in the past and is generally their approach to guarding stars, then late after theyve hopefully worn him down by going at him on the other end they might mix in some doubles and whatnot throw tatum on him, tatums much stronger than mcdaniels as far as that comparison goes prob has 50 pounds on him, i think i made this exact post a few days ago anyway enjoy

actually kinda think tatum is their best luka defender but maybe jaylen

tatum is such a good defender people dont even know which is sad

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the ppl have spoken

according to the recent simmons pod the thunder were favored over the heat in 2012 — that’s shocking to me

NBA FINALS 2012 OPO

ok I guess we felt the same way. that was the year they steamrolled the spurs who had won 16 straight games (iirc) and were up 2-0 in the series

I’m getting old. that series being 12 years ago makes me pretty sad

that is interesting. the heat hadn't made it over the hump yet and probably there was an assumption that whatever team came out of the west would be a really tough out.

the last gasp of the big 3 celtics also took that miami team to the wire so they weren't exactly rolling

NBA FINALS 2012 OPO

ok I guess we felt the same way. that was the year they steamrolled the spurs who had won 16 straight games (iirc) and were up 2-0 in the series

― brony james (k3vin k.), Tuesday, June 4, 2024 7:42 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

whoa i was a spo hater itt, totally missed the mark there

you know who else hate spo... our lord and savior jesus christ, i mean lebron james

That thread is such a trip.

lebron hates all coaches

xp

that was the good job good effort year

I wonder how that kid is doing now

that kid is in jail for jan 6, he did the whole thing

god, perk is having one of the worst quarters i've ever seen.

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 12, 2012 9:25 PM (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

perk started in three finals, crazy

it was a different time

Hey! You know what would be fun right about now? Watching an NBA Finals game.

(checks schedule)

Oh, drat.

soon

ive consumed so much series preview information ive achieved the perfect state of not knowing anything

it might not matter who guards luka cause the celtics will just switch everything, but luka feasts on switches, but the celtics are good at switching, what will happen, thats why they play the games baby

oh hey are Celtics fans gonna be mercilessly booing Kyrie the whole series or are they over that now

i think they prob will someone said people were chanting fuck kyrie at a red sox game the other day lol, its pretty tedious at this point but whatre you gonna do booing is one of the primary sports fan sounds, if it gets in kyries head then its good tho

you gotta hate your old guy on the biggest stage come on

tho I think kyrie has ascended to the sixth plane and cannot hear the boo sound

Chief Hèlá has transcended boos

Villains feed on hate, booing unwise imo

the celtics advantage re luka lies more on the other side of the ball theres just nowhere for him to hide on defense and theyll def make it a major point go after him

― lag∞n, Friday, 31 May 2024 10:36 PM (six days ago)

see it is an interesting question if it is worth attacking luka over and over in the hope of wearing him out. he is not the worst defender on the floor - that will probably be kyrie or gafford on a switch - so are the points you hope to get back from luka being gassed greater than the points you could be scoring against an optimal matchup?

you can always overdo matchup hunting but i think generally yeah its worth it, and i think he might be their worst defender but hes at least bad

espn picks are in, its espn vs ilx now

Kendra Andrews
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Kyrie Irving

Jerry Bembry
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Luka Doncic

Tim Bontemps
Celtics in 6
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Jamal Collier
Celtics in 6
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Israel Gutierrez
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Luka Doncic

Chris Herring
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Luka Doncic

Tim Legler
Mavericks in 7
MVP: Luka Doncic

Andrew Lopez
Celtics in 7
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Zach Lowe
Celtics in 6
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Bobby Marks
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Kyrie Irving

Dave McMenamin
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Luka Doncic

Kevin Pelton
Celtics in 7
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Omar Raja
Mavericks in 6
MVP: Luka Doncic

Ramona Shelburne
Celtics in 7
MVP: Jayson Tatum

André Snellings
Celtics in 7
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Marc J. Spears
Celtics in 7
MVP: Jayson Tatum

Ohm Youngmisuk
Mavericks in 7
MVP: Luka Doncic

Final tally
Winner: Mavericks 9, Celtics 8.
Series MVP: Jayson Tatum 8, Luka Doncic 7, Kyrie Irving 2.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40279206/2024-nba-finals-predictions-celtics-mavericks-series-mvp

celtics officially underdogs chip on their shoulder no one believes in them

I dont get why no one believes in the Celtics, they've been far and away they best and most complete team all year, they won their conference by 14 games, they've only lost 2 playoff games despite missing a key piece, feels weird to say it but yeah it feels like they're being disrespected

part of it is reasonable basketball stuff mavs have the best player and just rolled through the much tougher conference playoffs, but then also the media stuff has been absurd media just got tired of them concocted this whole story about how the celtics had been knocking on the door forever and couldnt get over the hump when none of them even picked the celtics to contend before last year because the teams they were getting to the conf finals with were scrappy over achievers young teams ahead of schedule teams with a bunch of injuries etc, theyre also into the celtics crunch time struggles of years past when the celtics have been an excellent crunch time team this year not just in results but in process too which has been on display in the close games theyve played this offs, but the storys already written whatre you gonna do those guys have to get on tv and talk every day lol

i now hope the celtics blow them off the map. would be funny

I admit given the strength of competition you could probably argue the Mavs are playing better than the Celtics right now, sure they're 12-2 but a lot of those wins were close games where they looked discombobulated for long stretches of times, otoh it does seem like the Celtics are only playing at 90% and just turn it on when they need to, I wouldn't be surprised if they just wipe the floor with the Mavs

i think one of the things that the media and people in general find unsatisfying about the celtics is theyve really embraced the make or miss league they get the most threes up and are happy to ride out the variance, theyre a lil too mathy, i think they should be able to get good looks from three against the mavs paint packing d and if they make them they will win, if they dont make they can still win

re celtics math ive noticed an increasing fascination with mazzulla amongst the more analytically minded basketball media, theyre like hes actually doing it hes doing the thing

they're 12-2 but a lot of those wins were close games

― frogbs, Thursday, June 6, 2024 9:51 AM (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

think they played four games with crunch time minutes, three of them were in the indy series tho

two of those they turned off indys offense like a faucet after itd been running all game, they were a top defensive team this year but theyve also shown flashes of another level above that, wonder if they could do it for longer or if its just too much effort to sustain

they did it without Zinger though so maybe they will have the juice

zinger is such a huge question mark here hard to know what this series is going to look like until we see how hes moving, if hes just rusty thats one thing but if hes not healthy celtics are gonna need to play real good to win

even if he’s 100% you gotta think he only plays like 15 minutes in game 1, just to ease him into things. everybody’s a step slow after time off

i think this is the most info weve gotten on his condition

Xavier Tillman asked if Kristaps Porzingis looks 100%:

“I would think so.” pic.twitter.com/0L0G92tQe2

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) June 5, 2024

I look forward to reading the excited overreactions in the media to each game and what it means for predicting the remaining games.

listened to zach lowe’s finals preview pod & he was saying a lot of the same stuff as i did about it being a heavy kleiber series. he actually specifically referenced the idea of the mavs having to use kleiber from a place of weakness and said he thinks it’s more coming from a place of strength. not sure i agree with that, but it will be so dependent on whether he can make threes. both lowe & mcmahon said that they think the mavs will have kleiber checking tatum a lot as well. zach talked about it being a heavy switching series etc in that case there’s prob been too much talk about porzingis coming back from injury and not enough about kleiber

i tried to listen to it but the opening segment was which team has the most pressure on them and he started talking about what perk had said on tv i was just like jesus christ zach, i do stand by my statements re kleber tho i dont think the mavs can defend the celtics with him at center its just too easy to get to the rim

whether the mavs can defend the celtics at all is in question tbf

if the mavs can't stay afloat w/ kleiber out there i think they're in trouble bcuz i just don't see how gafford plays much in this series

i tried to listen to it but the opening segment was which team has the most pressure on them and he started talking about what perk had said on tv i was just like jesus christ zach

this part made me wonder if there is a site or service that archives podcast episode transcriptions and if so what you would find if you took the last year of zach's podcast and searched for the word "perk"

that said i did oddly enjoy the memory lane part of the podcast before they actually talk about the series. when they started i was like "well this is gonna be pointless" but i actually liked being refreshed on the overarching stories of these franchises

if the mavs can't stay afloat w/ kleiber out there i think they're in trouble bcuz i just don't see how gafford plays much in this series

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, June 6, 2024 9:03 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

is lively hurt?

no but he can't play 48 mpg

theyre prob gonna have to up livelys minutes then just live with whatever gafford or kleber gives them

Weird that everyone picking the celts picked Tatum for mvp. Woulda thought Jaylen would get a look in. Think he’s played better in the first couple of rounds

imagine the thinking is if tatum's not playing well enough to win mvp then the celtics aren't winning the series. though i don't agree with that

yeah hes been playing such a great overall game throughout the playoffs but his shot isnt falling, i think that could continue and the celtics could win

yup

agreed jaylen should get some of those looks. he's having a stellar postseason and he's been the c's alpha throughout. but considering the way jayson's story has been told over the last several years and considering the expectations and considering the stake every voter seems to have in either affirming or denying his legacy, it would take an almost possible collection of miracles and coincidences for him to *not* get the trophy if the c's win.

*impossible collection*

ya true the voters (media) need it for their story

bontemps was a voter for the ecf mvp and he said it was jaylen 3 jasyon 2, only 5 voters, wonder if they have more for the finals

Stephen A and the gang (including Josh Hart) are big on Dallas due to the genetic testing results that have uncovered Tatum's lack of "the clutch gene"

it's well known that the clutch gene skips generations. just wait till deuce gets into the league.

its crazy how the clutch gene was just a recessive accident that helped our ancestors beat neanderthals at h-o-r-s-e (killing horses for food)

i’ve been laying low because i realized about a month ago that consuming any more national media analysis of the celtics would give me an aneurysm. at least the games are finally here.

It’s like they’re all so dumb but ppl demand constant coverage so what are you going to do. My friend told me how happy he is that his 7 yr old kid won’t leave the house in the morning until he sees the top ten on sports center and I couldn’t not smile in a way that did not show extreme discomfort

at least the sports center top 10 is fun, not just an idiot sitting at a desk shouting about stuff

top 10 is classic everything else is not

His kid also has a visceral hatred of Duke. I mean more power to you because t this kid is gonna need some content.

damn hauser should not have the kind of confidence to take that kind of heat check lol

zinger looking spry

hauser blowing up kyrie in the corner lol

lol zinger has the luck of the irish as they say in beantown

boston celtics

what if there were boston celtics

game officially "interesting"

back to normal

The staggering stat of the night, Luka Doncic with 1 assist in 35 minutes. #Celtics #Mavericks #NBAFinals

— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) June 7, 2024

one wish for the rest of the series, at least for celtics home games: less aerosmith. more cars and/or donna summer.

boston celtics

the celtics of boston

luka one assist is beautiful they shut down the lob game and barely doubled

there's a lot of places i could go, but i thought jaylen was awesome outside the box score and i love how he's playing

My two big takeaways from Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals:

- The Boston Celtics proved they can win against the Dallas Mavericks.
- The Dallas Mavericks proved they can lose to the Boston Celtics.

I will now hand the microphone to Magic Johnson. Your thoughts, Magic?

also beautiful: if i'm not mistaken, there was exactly one possession in the entire game where jay or jay aimlessly dribbles for 23 seconds and then takes a terrible shot. ball movement tonight was brilliant.

(also, since i don't think anyone's mentioned it: those "walton" warmup jerseys!)

also beautiful: if i'm not mistaken, there was exactly one possession in the entire game where jay or jay aimlessly dribbles for 23 seconds and then takes a terrible shot. ball movement tonight was brilliant.

not sure ive seen something quite like what zinger did step onto the finals court after missing a month+ and dominate the first half on both sides

ball movement tonight was brilliant.

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, June 6, 2024 11:03 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the beautiful game is back baby just needed to face a paint clogging defense

jaylen was awesome outside the box score and i love how he's playing

― call all destroyer, Thursday, June 6, 2024 11:02 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he is so locked in salute to him

beautifully unselfish game from him and everyone

this

a lot went right for boston tonight but the general plan seems pretty repeatable, wonder what dallas is gonna try next game

lively 2 points 5 fouls

The Celtics defense smothered the Mavs and took them completely out their game. Like I said earlier this week - the Celtics just have more depth and firepower than the Mavs and it was on full display tonight!

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 7, 2024

bullseye

Good all around game from every Celtic it seems like.

mavs had like five open shots all night

Mavs 0-1 since Michael Finley took Luka’s beer

— ¡BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL! (@edsbs) June 7, 2024

Dallas was the first team since 2007 to have less than 10 assists in a Finals game (Cleveland vs. San Antonio).

— Dick Lipe (@DickLipe) June 7, 2024

lmao

"Even our white guys guard"

Jrue Holiday on team effort guarding Luka 😅 pic.twitter.com/roOVgIgmMx

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 7, 2024

this is what you call "the stuff"

PORZINGIS 30 FOOT THREE

PORZINGIS STUFFS KYRIE LEADING TO A HAUSER THREE

BEST SEQUENCE EVER!!
pic.twitter.com/dn04BIeoIf

— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) June 7, 2024

if they go all the way that type of sequence is going to be how i remember them

yeah thats peak celtics 2024

btw watch gafford running back to the rim there realize his man is trailing stop watch zinger catch the ball not considering that hes going to shoot and then make a pretend contest, he wasnt ready

didnt get to watch but I gather Tingus Pingus looks okay

tingus pingused

jaylen in the zone lol

Jaylen Brown dropped this African proverb when asked about criticism he and Jayson Tatum have received:

“The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth”

Maybe some fire is in store for the J’s 2nd run at the Finals https://t.co/xIs4QQTHeG

— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) June 6, 2024

luka one assist is beautiful

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 6, 2024 10:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

only six assist chances!

the number of times luka "improved defense" doncic got blown by last night was high

JAYLEN BROWN POSTER. 🔥🔥🔥

pic.twitter.com/3nFwf4aKTs

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 7, 2024

Really enjoy this action. Seems to have several layers built in depending on how the defense reacts.

Also forces Luka & Kyrie to defend pic.twitter.com/gvnEjit5MO

— Pull up shoot  (@NElGHT_) June 7, 2024

Luka is going to have to play *much* better defensively on the perimeter if Dallas is going to win this series.

He gave up too many blow by's that directly led to baskets or put the Mavericks in rotation: pic.twitter.com/d3C6DJFAVD

— Eric Shapiro (@eric_shap) June 7, 2024

feel like boston rolling out a lineup with 4 guys who are all credible outside shooters AND can handle, drive, and pass just makes it that more difficult to hide guys like luka on defense.

yup, 5 guys even

everyone should probably dispense with the fantasy that luka’s going to be able to stay in front of jb

getting wrecked by a jaylen crossover is one thing, jrue jogging by you with the slightest hesitation move is just bad defense

Annual Luka Skinny Summer seems to have been postponed, probably because he's busy right now.

the celtics did end up using jaylen on luka (s/o jordan) and they did switch a bunch but it was just luka working against jaylen a lot of the time, which i was kind of surprised by just cause thats a lot for anyone to handle, particularly considering they rely on jaylens offense, and then jaylen was attacking luka on the other end a bunch too so their tire luka out program was primarily administered by one guy, youd think that jaylen wouldve been tired out by it but it didnt seem like it, luka did seem a lil worn down tho it was hard to tell since the game was out of hand early

two days off fml

after having consumed a tremendous amount of post game information i think a really key thing thats been under mentioned by the basketball commentariat is how committed the celtics were to playing in the gaps, everyone talking about how well all the celtics held up on switches v luka and kyrie thats because they had nowhere to drive since there were other celtics in their driving lanes, heres a video about it (cw yelling)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjp_p23hi0

so how do the mavs deal with these lurking celtics, the obvious answer is ball movement, once you swing the ball there are different driving gaps and the celtics need to move to get in them, get them moving and maybe yr life becomes easier, of course the mavs arent known for their ball movement mostly they rely on luka or kyrie creating an advantage then they shoot or pass the ball to a supporting player who finishes the play, they had the fewest passes of any game in the playoffs game 1, they had the fewest touches of any game this season, considering those are rock bottom numbers they should be able to improve on them pretty easily but will they be able to improve on them enough, they might have to try some stuff thats not in their comfort zone, which is not really what you want to do in the finals

also the celtics putting tatum on the mavs centers causing those lob buckets to go away since it allows the celtics to switch the pick and roll why didnt other teams do that its not some weird secret its a known idea, tatum is more suited for doing it than the other teams guys since hes big and strong and a great rebounder but the wolves couldve given it a try with mcdaniels why not youre getting wrecked

the mavs didnt have the bench players to fill out a switching lineup except for anderson. i did think that he could have played more though, and his minutes trended up through the series

the mavs in game 1 looked a lot like minny after beating denver - tired and oddly unprepared

they only had a week to get it together

what come on be serious

Luka Doncic is now listed as questionable for Game 2. He has a thoracic contusion in addition to the right knee sprain and left ankle soreness he has been playing through.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 9, 2024

thoracic contusion aka chest bruise

injury report on doncic: he hurts all over

he shd probably stop pounding his own chest in defiance of every ref decision idk

love how hes working the expectations game, cant hold me accountable if i shoot 7-23 tonight my chest hurts!!!!

my supervisor: u let 12 kids use the bathroom at the same time and all the kids in ur class are asleep or on their phone
me, sobbing: do u even care that i have pooped twice today already

first kidd saying jaylen is the celtics best player so they all get asked about it now luka pretending like he might sit tonight, mavs playing sad little mind games

gotta say the kidd press conference shenanigans give me very bad wade-bron coughing vibes

kidd has a weird disposition up there, like a guy who hasnt slept in days

listening to the hoop collective game 2 preview pod and stats williams talks about how luka could not score on horford at all in game 1 patting myself on the back for my scouting report. the kyle anderson stuff in the WCF kinda tipped me off, guys who are similar to him aka 6-8/6-9 and slow footed seem to be able to neutralize his ability to drive better than other types of players

yeah good call, horf was getting wrecked on pick n rolls all playoffs too, he stepped up even blocked lukas jumper, obvs luka being slow helps and the celtics did a great job shading luka all game as detailed in the yelling video

luka should be able to beat horf tho maybe his thoracic contusion prevented it

guess well see what hes got tonight, or maybe not, all the mavs were saying losing game one was no big deal since they did the same in two of the other series, but idk theres only seven games

all the mavs were saying losing game one was no big deal

there's nothing else they could say. just trying to stay positive and psych themselves up after a drubbing. it works pretty good the first couple of games. if they get down 3-0, they'll fall back to 'playing with a sense of desperation' cliches. seems likely to me that the celtics will have at least one game where their threes don't fall and the rebounds all bounce in the Mavs direction. if that's tonight's game, then all the commentary on the series will change. I've given up on predicting the future. too many variables. but I really like the c's chances for a ring this time.

theyre saying luka got the chest bruise taking a charge lol thats what he gets for playing defense

Luka with 20 already

bit of a refball game

this doesn’t feel sustainable for the mavs

they’re playing super hard and are barely staying above water

Exactly, the Mavs are playing about as well as they can and the Celtics look like trash but they are somehow tied.

Yeah no one besides Jrue is playing well for Boston and yet it’s tied doesn’t seem great

i don’t think the mavs are playing as well as they can by any stretch but it’s just obvious that one team has to work much much harder to score than the other

one thing i'll say about the boston celtics is they have a lot of really good players on their team

Luka doing all this while being double teamed all game too

theyve doubled him twice i think

the celtics want him to go one on one and shoot, obvs theyd prefer him to make fewer shots but thats the plan

see how long before hes taking all threes

tatum 2-10 with 8 assists he should just pass every time

jaylen dropping some inspirational nuggets here good stuff lets go

luka dribbling until theres 8 seconds on the clock then turns it over

Loved Tatum swiping the behind-the-back pass, you can't shit a shitter!

hes been studding

Holy shit amazing pass by Tatum

payton pritchard baby

Nice heave.

Feel like Kyries gotta take over but idk if he has the juice

luka settling for one legged fadeaways with pritchard on him, he is playing like he’s checked out of this game

Pritchard is doing an impressive job of covering Luka

tough series for kyrie because of the celtics defenders xxp

when luka is playing like luka he’d destroy a back up PG. there has been little step back threes & snarling tonight. def not in the second half. his stats look fine superficially but i think his body is hanging on by threads and the celtics are wearing him out

i hate these line ups kidd is playing with jones jr, kleiber, and gafford. that is about as anti-spacing a line up as you could possibly run out in a finals game. and somehow with all 3 of those guys out there they still end up with kyrie on porzingis

otm xp seems frustrated with his teammates inability to play basketball too

why is belichick wearing a weird index finger ring

rip mavs

celtics have finally hit a three the weird ring is lucky

ok this feels like we’re headed to the worst possible outcome which is a boston title that somehow only intensifies debates about jayson tatum

huge 3 by White

that sounds fine xp

kyrie is really playing horrible basketball

maybe hes trying to make it up to the celtics for all the harm hes caused

i do enjoy watching luka bend space and time it's definitely interesting

wow White is balling

nice play by white but that PJ fast break had no chance how about i dunno you pass the ball to luka doncic. good lord

looked like the Mavs had a chance to make it interesting there

derrick white and jaylen brown thank you good block

c's ball movement spectacular for the second game in a row

weird game but dallas doesn’t seem to have many more outs

yeah incredible to see them do it on the biggest stage xp

dallas under 100 both games

a little concerned about kp; glad they got him out of the game quick.

Mavs just won't have a chance if Kyrie's gonna play like this

truly incredible listening to the espn booth ride luka's dick for 2 and a half hours on his way to like a 1.3/1 assist to turnover ratio

this is pretty funny watching the espn crew brainstorm dallas adjustments

I’m really mad watching this series knowing the nuggets should be there >:[

I’m glad one of the best teams of all time is beating the 6th best team in the west tho

its nice

not dissimilar from last year's finals

got him

luka is the best player on the floor - not by a lot, but enough to count as the top guy out there. however, the conventional wisdom about playoff hoops favoring the team with the best player on the floor doesn't apply when one team has no offensive weaknesses in its top 6 rotation and can play team defense the way the celtics do. even their next two guys off the bench can deliver on both ends.

yeah a lot of times people deicide who the best player is after the series

this is pretty funny watching the espn crew brainstorm dallas adjustments

― lag∞n, Sunday, June 9, 2024 10:39 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

josh hart saying dallas should play fast, use luka off ball more, lol hes not wrong

dallas was doing so good easing up on the lukaball until this series but the celtics are insisting they go back to it

some of their most effective plays tonight were pj washington aggressive drives, of course that didn't work so well late in the 4th but it's a different energy than kyrie and luka dicking around with dribble moves 25 feet from the basket

yeah their other guys have to do something, some media person was saying that its just really hard for them to get loose when luka and kyrie have the ball all the time which is a reasonable observation imo

they had open shots too

celtics are just letting them shoot above the break threes

the one that exum made above the break had a replay where you could get a pretty good look at his form, i was like if you want to shoot more of those be my guest

also i just noticed jason kidd has different glasses during the game and postgame, has he cleared this with scott brooks

lmao

kidd has such a weird disposition in press conferences seems like he hasnt slept in days which tbf maybe he hasnt

it's generally agreed that mazzulla is a bit of a strange dude but guess what folks so is jason kidd

they should have a weird guy podcast where they tell each other theyre making great points when they say weird things

i'm not gonna be able to watch games 3 and 4, hope nothing too exciting happens

maybe the mavs will win a game

i hope Porzingus only tweaked his knee a bit and a thorough icing is good enough. there's only so many minutes big Al can play per game.

it didnt look bad like the initial injury did but you never know

i thought i saw more of an ankle twist but have seen multiple reports that they were working on the calf. they're saying all the right things postgame, hopefully a couple days of rest and treatment get the job done.

maybe there’s nothing they can do but to me it doesn’t look like the mavs are doing a ton to get kyrie the ball in places he might be able to score with any sort of ease. be it a spot on the floor or some match up. just seems like it’s been a lot of pick and rolls at the three point line that don’t actually end up with him gaining any sorta advantage. he was rejecting them early and that just ended in tough 1 on 1 match ups. but holiday is just slithering over every pick when they do try and run it. kyrie also isn’t playing decisively, he’s letting himself get into iso situations vs guys extremely well equipped to guard him. he has to play w/ a different mentality

Jrue has incredible court vision, I mean it's not like he was shooting really well even he just was constantly in position for an easy bucket

jrue is so good hes always up to something out there

lol

Kristaps Porizngis said he feels good but they will have to take a look at his leg injury tomorrow.

But it doesn’t sound like he plans to sit Game 3.

“I will die out there.”

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) June 10, 2024

Luka Doncic by quarter in Game 2:

Q1: 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting
Q2: 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting
Q3: 6 points on 2-of-2 shooting
Q4: 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting

Sometimes the eye test and stats match up pretty well. It looked like Doncic was gassed by the end of the game.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 10, 2024

turning Smart into Zinger and two first round guys gotta be an all-time great deal

brad stevens is good at work

the thing thats really standing out for me so far is the celtics get a good look almost every time and the mavs almost never do

look at lukas shot chart one shot at the rim two within ten feet

https://i.imgur.com/JLzdnqz.png

jrue, heh

https://i.imgur.com/rnhqPN7.png

where’s his made three from the corner?

yeah they missed one good eye he was two for four form three

i demand truth in shot charts!

its a reasonable stance

feel like Dallas really needs to win the games where Boston shoots 25% from 3

yeah unfortunately for them they shot 23%

Porzingis listed as questionable for game 4 after dying in the court in game 3

yeah unfortunately for them they shot 23%

― lag∞n, Monday, June 10, 2024 9:41 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

maybe there's some hope for the Mavs since a lot of those were open shots that they just missed, however Boston is the team that lives and dies by the 3 (mostly lives, it turns out), outside of having both Luka and Kyrie go supernova the only way they can win this series is by taking advantage of variance there and this was the game to do it

I haven't been watching too closely - I missed most of Game 1 and some of Game 2 - but it looks like Jrue is shutting down Kyrie which seems like a big problem for the Mavs, like at the core of the Mavs first 3 WCF wins was some truly insane shots by him which essentially made Minnesota's monster defense not matter

People saying Luka is the best player in this series… have they been watching him on defense? Probably the worst defense I’ve seen from a star on the biggest stage.

yeah long term he needs to find a way to get to being a passable defender, one of those things where you start pulling on that thread and its attached to all sorts of other problems conditioning, lukaball, mavs roster not having enough guys who can make a play

injuries are in the mix too

is he actually a bad defender or does he just exert himself too much on the offensive end

exactly, i think its some of both but it doesnt really matter cause the way he plays hes effectively a bad defender

between taking all the shots in the first half celtics going at him on d injuries and general end of season exhaustion he was gassed by the time the second half started

the fact that none of his teammates are doing anything has got to be psychologically deflating too

windy said game 2 celtics had the most blow bys of this years playoffs and the third most of any playoff game since they got the tracking cameras ten years ago or whenever

it looks like Jrue is shutting down Kyrie which seems like a big problem for the Mavs

― frogbs, Monday, June 10, 2024 1:05 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

its not just jrue celtics have a lot guys who are making life hard for kyrie

Jaylen Brown with EXCEPTIONAL defense on Kyrie Irving, whew pic.twitter.com/JmFG1h3PlU

— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) June 10, 2024

is he actually a bad defender or does he just exert himself too much on the offensive end

― frogbs, Monday, June 10, 2024 1:29 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

hes bad cos he cant do both. gotta get your body to a spot where you can be passable on that end when it matters. getting blown by happens but this is astronomical levels and then he just dies on the play and doesnt move after to make the rotations, so the kickouts are wide open once the help meets the ballhandler.

what i think about when i watch luka on defense in this series is what we talked about with ant reaching a new level of the playoffs and being out of gas. of the same thing happening to boston when they made the finals. everyone completely underestimated the possibility of luka making the finals and hitting the same wall. he looks tired and disengaged on both ends of the floor honestly, but where he’s so otherworldly good on offense by default that his stats still look amazing, on defense he’s been a total disaster. but i do think it’s more of an effort issue than a skill issue. i think he’s actually a pretty decent defender. there was a possession last night where he locked in and clamped down on tatum. but he might as well have lit up a neon sign that said I AM NOW PLAYING DEFENSE LIKE IT’S THE NBA FINALS. on most possessions he’s like not even getting into a real defensive stance

similar to harden where he CAN be a good defender one on one but effort comes and goes yea

celtics shooting 83% at the rim this series, wow

thats p high, thats almost a 100

basically 100

rounding error if u think abt it

re: blowbys

Bro this video has my dying😂 pic.twitter.com/VQTVMBqWi0

— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) June 11, 2024

hes been so bad cant think of a worse individual finals defensive performance cause who would be allowed to be that bad only a guy who does all of the offense for his team

celtics had their season high in drives game 2 thats not what you want to see if youre the mavs

the pointing to phantoms one lmao interesting that a guy who has the court totally mapped on offense is calling for someone to cover an empty corner on d

That shove Kyrie gives him to try to get him to rotate lol.

when kyrie is teaching you how to play d you know youre in trouble

he looks really physically compromised in that video to me. in particular he has zero ability to close out, guys are catching the ball and going right past him like he's a mannequin. you see zero stop/start ability in that video. that isn't normal. i feel like the deceleration part of his game isn't there on offense either. nor do you really see evidence that he can move side to side, his feet are glued to the floor

he looked fine in the minny series all he had was a week off

It is kind of funny to me how similar he and Trae are.

it is pretty funny

luka is so much better of a defender than trae

low bar lol

he looked fine in the minny series all he had was a week off

― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:31 PM (three minutes ago)

idk what to tell you, i'm not his doctor but he looks stiff as a board in that video. if he played defense like that normally this team wouldn't be in the finals

low bar lol

― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:36 PM (fifty-seven seconds ago)

i wasn't the one who brought it up!

im sure luka is banged up but i think some other things influencing his horrible defensive performance are he is generally a bad defender so the baseline is not good, theres nowhere to hide him against the celtics, and the celtics are putting a ton of pressure on him on both sides of the ball and its just too much for him hes just not holding up

tbf im not sure who could hold up under those circumstances, prime lebron maybe, but on the other hand no one would be attacking prime lebron every play because he was a great defender

i only brought it up because of that video, it looked eerily similar

teams have tried to attack luka in the playoffs before, it's not like being able to hide means he can't be stressed. he's always gonna get brought into switches etc. if the argument is that boston ratchets that stress up to the max that's cool, i'm also just watching him move around and he doesn't look right. we've seen him play in high level playoff series before.

to me luka is one of those players who is pointedly better in games after he is bad. like he might put up a stinker on defense or have a game where he is whining to the refs to the nth degree and it hurts the team; my perception or memory is that he usually comes back the next game and is on his best behavior. the series against phoenix two years ago comes to mind bcuz there was that game early in the series in phoenix where cp3 and booker scored on him on like 20 straight possessions or whatever it was. they went down 2-0 then everyone was like, oh well luka just can't play defense in the playoffs. he's just like trae young. but then he was better largely bcuz he just put forth more effort to be better. the fact that the mavs set some synergy blow by record or whatever in game 1 and then luka in particular was even worse in game 2 leads me to believe that regardless of whatever boston is doing luka is legitimately physically compromised. because he is never just worse again after showing up like he did in game 1. imo

not everyone can do what the celtics can, just look at the lob situation mavs were eating off that now its gone, instead of luka throwing easy passes to the rim or the corner theyre making him try to get all those points himself working against very tough defenders, all their guys can attack luka and the mavs cant afford to bring a double cause theyll just swing the ball to an open shooter, in the minny series the mavs just doubled every time luka was isoed

idk about diagnosing an injury because a guy had two bad games in a row but luka was much better in game two he was just exhausted by the second half, the celtics are trying to exhaust him and its working

I'm sure the Luka oncic joke has been made before, but not yet by me.

the thing is usually Kyrie takes over long stretches offensively which gives Luka a chance to not have to do so much but these last two games he's looked like Boston Kyrie

luka was much better in game two

was he on defense? i'm not getting that sense

he wasnt better if anything he was worse but he was also taking every shot for his team, im listening to legler right now speculate that hes trying to avoid fouls which makes sense, a lot of this non defense might just be a calculation by luka that he cant afford to try on that end

yeah maybe it's that. even if a guy is bad at defense you will at least see him plant his feet, get into a defensive stance and attempt to stop a close out. luka is declining the effort. at the end of the day not trying is not really a great excuse so it's not to give him a pass, but if we're talking strictly about his defensive ability personally i don't think this series is reflective of that and there is something else going on

it might be a reasonable trade off on his part, mavs are in a tough spot

meanwhile this might help explain the whole thing where cuban sold the mavs but regained functional control of the franchise

When Miriam Adelson bought the Mavericks last year, sources tell @PabloTorre that the NBA and Adam Silver would not allow her to be the franchise's primary owner, or governor, because "her political reputation was apparently so radioactive."

"The reason why the ostensibly… pic.twitter.com/ruDNnJELFx

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) June 11, 2024

a win for the celtics is a win for america

usa usa usa

celtics only have a normal bad colleague of mitt romney owner

classic abortions for some, miniature american flags for others ass choices

this also might somewhat explain why luka seems allergic to staying in front of ppl on defense

Luka Doncic received a pain-killing injection before Game 2 to numb the area of his thoracic contusion, sources tell @malika_andrews and me. The expectation is that Doncic will get another shot before Game 3. https://t.co/WKJzW7CiAn

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 11, 2024

it is true that taking hits to the chest is pretty central to playing defense

Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 11, 2024

day to day i guess

Celtics announce Kristaps Porzingis torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg at 3:27 of the third quarter of Game 2. They say the injury is unrelated to Porzingis’s prior right calf injury.

According to the Celtics, after…

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) June 11, 2024

Just walked past Porziņģis and he seems to be in good spirits and walking comfortably. https://t.co/ydRD0goo29 pic.twitter.com/dKvCHDRMVd

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) June 11, 2024

Not to further confuse people but there is a medial retinaculum in the knee too. Porzingis' problem is in his ankle.

— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) June 11, 2024

so uh is that bad

apparently no ones had this injury before porzingis is innovating, he said hes playing fwiw

Re: Porzingis: The medial retinaculum is connective tissue that serves as the roof of the tarsal tunnel (think carpal tunnel but in the foot). It anchors multiple structures in place, including the tendon of the posterior tibialis.

— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) June 11, 2024

magic johnson on the future 23-24 celtics 30 for 30 doc: kristaps porzingis changed the way we think about leg injuries

lol

feel like it's probably a bad idea to play through that but idk if they can get like 30-40 more good minutes outta him this series that'll be enough

playing through anything torn seems not ideal

its just a lil sleeve for the real stuff

kinda feel like the celtics will be fine for two more wins even sans porzingis. not really sure where this belief has come from but I am staunch in thinking jrue has FMVP locked in

i think they'd give it to jaylen unless he has some bad games or tatum suddenly comes alive

The oddsmakers don’t think so but I would argue he deserves it

i think its jrues right now but as to whether its likely hell play up to that the rest of the series, probably not but could happen

btw i watched the youtube doctor on zingers injury and he said its fine to play through but will prob limit his effectiveness

no zinger tonight. have a hard time believing the mavs wont pull this one out tonight. celtics gonna have to beat the refs tonight too.

time to hit a bunch of threes

My prediction is Celtics by 20

Maybe not Luka is actually playing defense tonight

luka is settling for the stepback 3 too often, celtics are sitting on it

Never mind Luka still taking a few seconds to bitch at the refs after every missed shot

Mavs were absolutely dominating the paint with Zinger out wonder why they got away from that

Pritchard just stopping Luka is not great if you’re rooting for the mavs. Luka also starting to get his whine engine revved up

Lol I think they had to mute the broadcast for a few seconds because Luka was in front of a mic

at this juncture (15 point lead going into the fourth quarter while up 2-0) for boston to not win the title it would have to be one of the worst collapses in NBA history

I think Luka is getting the Allen Iverson treatment. by whining so much he's not getting the calls he should

he should try whining less, showcase some of that basketball iq

btw i started watching this game on a british stream, its incredible did u know they have other consumer goods there?

maybe some smart hoops people can answer but it seemed early on they were dominating the paint and taking full advantage of Zinger being out, they stopped doing that and just started chucking and Boston immediately came back, why didn't they keep doing what was working

they've taken a ton of shots in the paint they just have missed many of them

well ok I did miss the 3rd maybe that's what happened

anyway Boston might wanna start playing defense again

no, tatum needs to hero ball some more

20-2 run wow

like 15 straight horrible offensive possessions for boston

tatum is doing well d’ing up luka tho

luka is playing so poorly

i’ve never seen luka pump fake so much and still end up getting off a horrible shot every time

yeah his temper may wind up costing Dallas this game

not just in terms of making bad decisions but like whining at the refs instead of getting back on defense and letting Boston play 5-on-4 for a bit, that's cost them several times

i don’t think that’s really the issue

welp

22-2 run

Kyrie saying let’s be legends

that pass by Holiday was incredibly sick

tatum calling “kobe!” as his stepback clangs off back iron

hehe

boston really wanted to blow that. alas

never a doubt :)

i am so happy that dallas is sad, if only the germans had a word for this shameful joy i feel

plus Celtics fans had to sweat a bit for the first time all season I think so its a win/win

no idea what you're talking about, they had it all the way

i will sweat when they have fewer points than the opposing team

otm

surprised Kidd took that timeout when they got to within 3 or so with like 5 minutes left. feel like you wanna let what's going on out there ride as long as possible

boston celtics

thought the same xp

luka tried to play d and fouled out

luka oncic rides again

Congrats to the Celtics man well deserved awesome team building.

Kinda sad we have to watch this lame mavs team instead of the wolves nuggets or thunder but w/e

its fine

windy stop hes already dead

Brian Windhorst goes OFF on Luka Doncic 😳

(🎥 @BoltGangBaby ) pic.twitter.com/Tp7nY2R3Vo

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 13, 2024

Sheesh haha

heroic work by J0rdan on all these threads to jinx the celtics. it didn’t work out this time, but i salute the determination and perseverance

boston got great minutes from hauser finally. not a lot from pritchard offensively but they were both so good on d. and i think i saw pritchard pull a rebound down in front of lively?

embarrassing defensive lapses from kyrie and another just uninterested game from luka on d. it’s not just physical. he stands there like a traffic cone doesn’t know where the ball is and so forth. sad!

windy otm

interesting thing with the windy rant is there are clearly people very frustrated with luka inside the mavs org and they want the public to know about it

and he repeated it on both the hoop collective post game show and on the espn.com wrap up, he was locked and loaded

Windhorst: Completely unacceptable. No one can tell Doncic anything. Not teammates, not coaches, not executives, not media, not fans, not referees. There have been a lot of pleas and promises that he'll improve, but this one is going to leave a mark. He is a truly brilliant player, once in a generation. But he is going to have to look in the mirror and confront his weaknesses before he's on the other side of a Finals. His defensive effort in these Finals has simply been crushing to his team, his complaining to the referees is painful and his frustration fouls probably just cost his team a chance at making this a series because he fouled out. He is one of the biggest stars in the league, and that means he is held to a higher standard, especially at this level. He failed to meet it in this game, and he's going to have to deal with that whether he likes it or not.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GP9OoLSWsAAVC3h?format=jpg&name=900x900

He must be compromised.

whos this

What happened to him? 💔pic.twitter.com/LikV6S03ep

— 🦆 (@8bonz) June 13, 2024

he was playing like that for the first 6 minutes or so when the Mavs got up 13, also hustling back on defense and making some plays there, unfortunately by the end of the quarter he was spending 2-3 seconds every possession yelling at the refs in transition which gave the Celtics a lot of quick wide open shots

could be he just doesn't know how to play defense without fouling, someone upthread mentioned that's why it's so easy to blow past him

even i one of our nations premiere luka skeptics am surprised at how bad hes been, sure hes at least banged up is part of it, but also hes just not playing good banging his head against the wall theres no counters seemingly no strategic awareness just out there playing his game, accusing the refs of things, he really melted down in the fourth quarter last night four fouls in the period and that last one attempting to take an extremely low probability charge with five fouls is just not what youre supposed to do, seemed like he was just challenging the refs at that point was more concerned with them than the celtics

celtics will win the nba playoffs

otm

i'm ready to put my chips down

hes not wrong but this isnt what you want to see from your perennial mvp candidate

Luka was pissed Kidd called a timeout 😭 pic.twitter.com/rkgdDzuvds

— BrickWrld (@BrickWrld_) June 13, 2024

that timeout was really weird

re: luka it’s never one single thing right? he’s banged up, he can still he effective with max effort but he also gets tired, he also gets frustrated, his limited defense gets even worse due to all the above things

yup, hes out of shape, hes getting targeted, his style of play is too tiring, hes yelling at the refs, hes making a pouty face

if the defense wasnt so bad then he wouldnt be targeted and he would have more energy, if he wasnt out of shape maybe hes not so banged up, if he doesnt dribble the ball a million times maybe his supporting cast plays a little better

i think it all stems from the fact that he can’t move around… last night in the fourth q he was trying to guess where guys were going so he could jump to spots to take charges, which is a classic thing guys do on defense when they can’t move well. on offense i think we can say that boston is defending luka well and that luka is not playing particularly well and also acknowledge that we’ve watched luka play hundreds of games and him being consistently unable to score on payton pritchard, sam hauser, and xavier tillman is not normal. i know ppl wanna say they’re doing good jobs on him or whatever, i’ll take the red pill on that one. i mentioned last night how often luka’s repeatedly pump faking and still taking a horrible shot … i think we’re seeing a combination of good defense and him just not trusting his body

the complaining to the refs stuff is a separate convo, idk what’s left to be said about that

I think it's possible the Boston Celtics are a good team

overall what’s happening to the mavs defense reminds me of the gobert era utah teams — funneling everything to your rim protector is great so long as your rim protector can be at the rim. but when he’s pulled away and now you’re team is constantly in scramble mode trying to protect the rim and that’s never gonna work

yeah it is like that you can cover for bad perimiter d by packing the paint until you get the wrong match up then youre done

mavs really shouldve lost in the second round, okc couldnt buy a shot and luka assassinated them in crunch time

okc watching the celtics strategy in this one have got to be kicking themselves for how they approached that series

This pass by Tatum had Kyrie lost 😳 pic.twitter.com/059L6KIkCt

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 13, 2024

this was a funny play kyrie really thought tatum shot it

Well, this is the very first Mavs defensive possession of game 2

That's why I don't buy any of the "he has to carry so much of the offense, it's understandable for him to be not great on D"

No, he simply doesn't have the mental focushttps://t.co/MtNxxkrEcB pic.twitter.com/MlaHgtN0nf

— Jeremias Engelmann (@JerryEngelmann) June 13, 2024

If Porzingis can't go I would play Tillman mostly because I think he'd hit a corner three that would infuriate Mavs fans

— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) June 12, 2024

factoid

Sam Hinkie’s first move, the move that started, “The Process,” was to trade All-Star Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for Nerlens Noel…

Since that deal, Philadelphia hasn’t seen the conference finals and Jrue has elevated two different teams to rings. Wild.

— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) June 13, 2024

oh no dont think they caught it on camera

Luka Doncic just fouled out, and did the money sign at Kevin Scott after doing so.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) June 13, 2024

i thought that's what he mighta been doing but his body was blocking it lol

what a brat

that video of his defense on the first possession is a great illustration of the problem—that is someone who doesn’t think his defense on the first possession should be important.

he plays off of vibes and emotional peaks way too much, it keeps him from locking in.

yeah for sure. not a totally unusual thing to go through for a young great. interested to see how he responds.

watching those bubble clips was really eye opening. forgot how svelt and slippery he was. needs to get his body back to that point. way too young to be lumbering around like embiid out there.

[jason bateman voice] I think you mean they’re blowing me *away*

feel like were about to hear comparisons to lebron losing his first finals appearance at 22 to luka here at 25 as far as needing to patch the holes in his game, but lukas problems are so much deeper than very young lebron just like not having a post game

yeah there’s obvious parallels but it does seem like luka’s game is pretty much optimized at this point
unless he can actually play better defense.

not having a post game and not being a generational athlete

getting in better shape would be huge, that might allow better defense, but the really hard part is the way he plays basketball just isnt the best way, and all the immature bs is bad, also he should prob stop playing for his national team every summer

the trajectory hes on now overweight injury prone stubborn about the way he plays is a short prime, except i guess his prime started basically as soon as he stepped on an nba court so maybe itd be an early prime, but regardless the guys who have long primes are the ones who are in great shape have good luck with injuries are always improving their games and are open minded towards playing different ways

I don’t know if he’s injury prone really, or just out of shape and ineffective at important moments, which is not as bad but probably similarly ceiling-limiting

it seems like hes always banged up by the end of the year which could have more to do with being out of shape and playing a very physical style than being fundamentally injury prone but regardless seems like he ends up with multiple maladies

he needs to get on the jokic program whatever he did to improve his endurance worked insanely well went from a guy who would sometimes poop out down the stretch to one of the most indefatigable players in the league

can’t teach some stuff brother

have to say this series is playing out as perfectly as I could have hoped for. mavs get steamrolled and luka looks bad in the process, and also tatum isn’t playing to standard at all either, jokic keeps the belt

lol all the luka is the best player talk disappeared as fast as it arose

seriously couldn’t have scripted it better! though obviously the people wanted the nuggs to defend the title and some people (like anthony edwards and m@tt h3legson) just want to watch the world burn. sad!

they still made the finals and dispatched some pretty good teams along the way

it was a great run but getting housed in the finals isnt how you want to finish

it’s sad that some wanted to disrupt the natural order of things (the nuggets repeating)

At the very least a Nuggets Celtics final would have been more contentious.

im personally fine with the nuggets not being in the finals

no it’s actually not good?

its fine they needed a break

I mentioned this before but my fiancé, who did not care a bit for basketball until a couple of years ago, and who went to her first NBA game this year (nuggets vs celtics in boston) is now not only a rabid nuggets fan but is also a completely unhinged celtics hater, and I really had nothing to do with it apart from exposing her to that game in person. we watched the game last night with her mom who’s visiting and I was shocked by the level of anti-tatum and -celtics vitriol being expressed, I think she’s been going down some twitter rabbit holes. she even sends jokey work emails peppered with pro-nuggets and anti-celitcs rhetoric, I’m a bit concerned

I keep trying to explain that the celtics are not necessarily the bad guys and them winning is probably best for our narrative purposes but she won’t hear it

haa god bless

got yourself a keeper imo

you guys love getting into a froth about luka. this feels pretty overboard. luka has never been “ineffective at important moments” until this series. his trajectory is as much “multi time MVP and one of the greatest players of all time” as it is “overweight injury prone stubborn.” being humbled in the finals as a 25 year old puts him on the exact trajectory of many champions. if he never changes anything about the way he plays basketball then yeah that might be harder to achieve but i think part of his stubbornness is rooted in the fact that he was always great in the playoffs even when they lost. this is a new level of scrutiny.

it actually is very reminiscent of lebron, not when he was 22 but when he was 26, which was the barrea no post moves year. i think you guys are misconstruing the lebron history a bit — yes he did add post moves to his game, but it was just as crucial that he altered his personality. he’s talked about how he leaned into the villain role his first year in miami and that it really wasn’t who he is. the guy who tried to get spo fired, who was coughing into the mic to make fun of dirk in that series … lebron is still a passive aggressive weirdo so i don’t want overstate the point, but there was a certain level of maturing that he had to do at this same exact period in his life as luka. when lebron had his famous legacy saving game 6 in boston the following season, it’s not like he was putting hakeem post moves on mikael pietrus all game. he had a functional post game but there was something bigger that clicked into place that transcended just deepening his on court bag.

maybe luka is russell westbrook. personally i’m willing to bet that he’s more like lebron.

what in luka's history gives you reason to believe he is more temperamentally like lebron and less like russ?

yeah he should figure out his body like jokic did. his issues are effort, fatigue and being able to lock in mentally for a whole game. things he can def improve... but does he have 'the mindset'

you could see him kinda give up last night, doing that thing carmelo would do w that bratty smirk/smile when things werent going his way... no bro, you're just getting severely outplayed. another observation is he's been doing a lot of pushing off and slapping down on the arms of jaylen in frustration, you can tell hes fed tf up and jaylen is doing the best job of not even reacting at all, just going about his business, not pointing to the ref to take notice, disciplined and mentally locked in:

recoreded this from game 2 cos i couldnt find it anywhere
https://i.imgur.com/MgdSud4.mp4

just play the game dude

I love you Luka but this is unacceptable in the nba finals.

You can’t foul bait on 2 straight possessions and fall to the floor, then complain to the refs and allow 2 straight easy baskets on the other hand. pic.twitter.com/NxP8hQd8ax

— 𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞 (@SixthManJake) June 13, 2024

imgur video post doesnt embed i guess
https://imgur.com/MgdSud4

what in luka's history gives you reason to believe he is more temperamentally like lebron and less like russ?

― polyamerie "it's more than this 1 thing" (m bison), Thursday, June 13, 2024 2:19 PM (twelve minutes ago)

there were tons of ppl after the dallas series who were convinced lebron would never win a title. and it wasn't bcuz of doubts about his post game. so i think it's an easy in hindsight thing to say that lebron was one thing and went one way and westbrook was another thing and went another way.

the main difference in the situations between lebron and luka is that the heat had riley around as a disciplinarian, heat culture et al. lebron did try and wreck shit. it seems like perhaps there is no one in the dallas org who can stand up to luka, and that is a real issue.

also lebron was never fat and he was better at basketball

yeah fair lebron has always been in insane shape. gonna pass on the second part

you think luka is a good as lebron

hes clearly got the same mental block on defense as like, harden

no but i don't think he's that far off xp

i mean theyre at opposite ends of the spectrum on defense so luka would have to be much better at offense but hes not even better at all lebron is

i think the difference bw the two is legit, bron was already a two-time MVP by this point in his career, the clear best player in the league. luka has been consistently among the best which is v impressive but a tier below bron

also luka throws actual tantrums like russ, i dont remember bron ever being this petulant (i know he complains about calls)

i'm not trying to be so literal. i just think the discussion earlier in the thread that reduced the change in lebron's trajectory to him adding post moves was an incorrect retelling of history. lebron did have growing up to do, even if it was not the exact same kind of growing up as luka

it's pretty funny to imagine luka playing at 39

He's gonna have start winning an MVP soon if he's going to win multiple.

hes been in the mix every year he just needs jokic to have a down year or the voters to get tired of him again

yeah hes prob the favorite next year

wemby looms imo

i dont think hes a year away from being better than jokic

jokic would have to have an absolute monster year to win it a fourth time, i don't think mvp voters are ready to give him as many as lebron and wilt

yeah it will probs be someone new. hard to go to tatum/jokic/doncic with how these playoffs are going, i think you need to leave a good playoff showing in ppls minds if you want to get an mvp the next year. maybe shai

could see ant get some buzz, also wemby if the spurs are a playoff team

i think there’s lots of candidates to get into the top 5 i.e. brunson this year but still think the winner comes from the group of jokic, luka, shai, giannis, embiid, possibly tatum. and i may be listing too many

i predict embiid will not play enough games to be eligible again

that’s entirely likely but still think his name has to be mentioned

luka def at a crossroads in his career rn

a thing that could be tough for him is this run to the finals was pretty flukey the mavs arent that good and they dont much ability to upgrade so if people turn against him and he starts going out in the second round it could get uncomfortable

denver still there, minny still good, okc only getting better, cant forget about wemby coming up

xp theres also the kyrie factor. i cant imagine them getting a better year out of him (on/off the court) than this one.

wonder if memphis will get back to business with their core three healthy, they were top of the west for a couple years there

also what if they fluke into the finals again and looks who's there its the celtics (they would lose again)

yeah the mavs will not be favorites to make it back here next year

luka def at a crossroads in his career rn

― I Chet the Holmgren (Spottie), Thursday, June 13, 2024 7:50 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you’re right…just as lebron did a few years after his first finals failure, he is going to need to join forces with his friend…on the denver nuggets

doesnt sound that good

Luka gonna run back cuts without the ball in his hands?

maybe joker can get through to him

btw re our convo abt if luka not being able to get past any of the celtics is an indication of injury worth noting that theyve played excellent team d and a lot of the time it hasnt been that he cant get by its that he has nowhere to go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMtmwk53WO0

PR team made the call, especially after that Windhorst dialogue last night. https://t.co/R85t36UtiB

— Niko (@nikotaughtyou) June 13, 2024

“My bad, you can’t do that — especially in the NBA Finals.”

true

good thing there's so much time between finals games, players can do apology tours

"Regular season is a little different" = kitty isn't going to change his stripes.

kristaps hello

Kristaps Porzingis is going through a pretty extensive pregame workout. pic.twitter.com/2WLin4gsUl

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 14, 2024

Even if it’s just 10 minutes I really hope he makes it out there

AVAILABLE pic.twitter.com/5o6mdmqD42

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 14, 2024

gyac sighting!! are we allowed to say mon the hoops at this time?

Jason Kidd decries 'personal attacks' on Luka Dončić without naming them in the face of bevy of criticism the Mavs star has faced over whining to refs and poor defense, @TheAthleticNBA https://t.co/f9zw258BE4

— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) June 14, 2024

hot take: luka is never going to be forced to change in this no account org

cs decided to enlist in the "suck real bad" army tonight, questionable decision

i read somewhere that it is against the law to sweep the finals and it has never happened before because of this

What is happening to Bostons offense

this was unexpected

guess they wanted to win it at home

mavs' surprise decision to replace jason kidd with brian windhorst in the middle of the series seems to be paying off.

as a Wolves fan I feel like I've seen this game before

stop it

Thankfully no sweep. Finals a real dud for the non-affiliated.

I was looking back at game 4 in 2017. GSW was up 3-0, game 4 in Cleveland. The Cavs shot 45 3 point shots and hit 53% winning by 21. And then the Dubs closed it out at home in game 5. Same this year with Boston wanting to close it at home or have the Mavs turned the proverbial corner and will win 1 or 2 more.

idk the fact that Boston has played terrible offense for 5 straight quarters may be a cause for concern

If I check the score at the half on Monday and the mavs are up I might watch some of these finals.

mavs' surprise decision to replace jason kidd with brian windhorst in the middle of the series seems to be paying off.

I'm dead. OTFM

Damn

haa

it worked for one game, at least!

all The Athletic writers picking Boston makes me nervous

I hope they remember how to play tonight

all The Athletic writers picking Boston makes me nervous

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, June 17, 2024 12:58 PM (four minutes ago)

there's literally no reason for them to not win the game!

first of all theyre one of only two teams who can win the game so already theyre in a good spot

their offense has been pretty terrible the last 5 quarters, I'd say they just need to revert to the mean hitting 3s but they aren't really getting good shots up

their offense was great in crunch time of game 3

they still scored like 4 points over a 7 minute stretch though

they just did that as a goof

the big game is coming up

could be for all the marbles, or at least a large share of the marbles

I'm locked in (sitting on the couch)

i'm locked in (under house arrest)

#FreeMBison

they cant put an ankle bracelet on my spirit, brother

A good strategy for the Celtics would be to do the opposite of what they were doing in the last game.

Joe Mazzulla can have that tip for free.

mazz reviewing film with the boys: you see how you were *gestures at slow motion replay* sucking right here?

both teams seem p terrified of hitting a jumpshot, who can blame them its so scary

I don't think KP is really ready to be back

he looked like a serious liability in those past few minutes

horford just looking at the scorer's table like im getting too old for this shit

omg he did it again

Pritchard!!

Congrats Boston this game is not technically over yet, but.... it's over.

i assume that's the end of teams letting him walk into those for the foreseeable future

payton an assassin

what lead size and minute mark can celtics start doing harlem globetrotter moves

my only memory of last time is that they spilled the gatorade cooler on the court when there were still a couple minutes left to play

Holiday rulez

poor kyrie

j/k, lol

incredibly ugly second half

pretty amazing how spry zinger has looked

he looked bad in the first quarter but i guess he's loosened up

they really think people are going to tune in for the second round of the draft on its own day huh

reaching standing up and pacing territory

Tatum wants that MVP!

Donnie Wahlberg is happy

feels like it's Jrue

remember how all the mavs fans changed their profile pics of luka with sunglasses and told everyone how locked in they were in tonight? i probably wont if i dont make this post *clicks submit post*

the sun rises, the sun sets, kyrie irving psyches himself out playing boston

celtics won the nba playoffs

nice moment for Horf

Tatum just seems like a good dude

if you didn't blink at tatum and deuce just now you are dead

good job celtics

so happy for the san antonio spur on loan in boston derrick white

celtic fc win the league and scottish cup, celtics win the nba chip to complete the transatlantic treble

Very curious to see who wins FMVP... I could see Tatum, Holiday and Brown all winning it. Could there be a tie?

Congratulations, Boston Celtics on your 2024 championship. You may have noticed that it don't come easy, but you made it to the top.

nba champion boston celtics

this has been all about jayson and jaylen who have done the right things for 7 and 8 years respectively and so deserve this and i couldn't be happier for two athletes than i am right now

three moments:

the jayson jaylen non alley oop

kyrie hugging every celtic with two and a half mins to go

the tatum/mazzulla hug when tatum came out of the game. i cried.

big ups to brother brad, turns out flanders can build a title winner

i take back every negative thought i've ever had about joe mazzulla. he coached a hell of a finals.

I love Jaylen Brown, but this is unexpected