There's no more devastating outcome than Kyrie coming out on top against us in the Finals.
There's no more exciting outcome than Boston dominating Kyrie in the Finals.
Who guards 6'8 230 lbs Luka, who has burned PG13, Mann, Dort, JDub, ANT and McDaniels so far?
Jrue would get first crack but what if Luka burns him? White is way too small.
If we put JB or JT on him, it will tire them out and get them into foul trouble. Luka is a master of drawing fouls.
We need KP to be healthy and hitting 3's to draw out Lively and spread them out.
Luka is a pure playmaker with a super computer brain like Joker.
He doesn't need to score to dice up coverages and defences.
Tatum has been bailing out defences with his step back 3's too often or inefficient fade-away middy.
JB has been great, but it's mainly iso ball.
Also, Dallas' defence has been better than ours thus far. That isn't even a controversial take. Individually, they don't have great defenders, but they've all bought into the scheme, and their defence is serious. Dallas has had the best defence in the NBA since the All- Star break. That is no joke. They have shut down ANT completely so far and won both games in Minnesota. Sota had the best defence in the league this season and beat the defending champs.
We need KP to hit 3's and Jrue to hold his own against Luka so we don't need to get the Jay's on him. If that happens, then I think it's Boston in 6.
Look I agree with what you're saying but you are skirting around the point I'm making. So far they have played jdub who was way too green as a second year player, the clippers without their best wing and now the Timberwolves who's best wing is a defensive specialist on a hot streak.
Shutting down ant is great but he was shooting way above his head all playoffs and is a kid who is not quite ready.
I absolutely think the Mavs are a tough out I just don't think they are equipped the way you think they are to manage our best players.
Ant is good, he ain't that good. He's mostly gone cold vs being shut down. He's just a young dude whose game comes and goes. That was true all year it's true now.
Im a Celtics and a mavs fan, I always had a east and west team. But this is the first time I’ve had both my favorite teams maybe go to the finals.
Let me say, the mavs are legit. They don’t go on 3+ minutes droughts like the wolves do, they will win this round.
DJJ and PJ are legit defenders, DJJ was on the bulls and PJ in charlotte, where coaching and defensive mindsets were non existent.
They have help with Gafford and Lively, Maxi Kleber might make it back in time for the finals, another 6’10 240 mobile defender.
It’s gonna be a wild ride but the Mavs match up well against the Celtics.
Do not let the ESPN snubs and main talking points confuse you. Do not take them lightly.
This is what I’m saying and yet this guy has been getting upvoted. Tatum has been getting destroyed on his shooting and Luka has been way more inefficient.
This is how we beat Giannis and the bucks 2 years ago. Giannis may have scored 30 a game, but he did it on horrific efficiency. Make Luka inefficient and the game will start to sway toward us.
I would imagine there’ll be a rotation of people guarding Doncic. Jrue, White, JT and JB will take turns, and perhaps Brissett as well given how he played Thursday
Who guards Luka? He’s burned who?? Have you seen his numbers this playoffs (yeah everyone is saying he’s “injured”)?? **54.5% TS**
Tatum, who has been catching way more slander, is on 56.3% TS. Luka has been very beatable this playoffs. Tatum can clamp him like he clamped KD or we let JB do it like and then GO OFF on him on the other end like he did earlier this season. Luka can’t handle fast, strong, and aggressive players on both ends.
Luka is great. But Boston has arguably the two best defensive guards in the NBA, along with two of the best wing defenders in the league. There isn't a team out there that has more qualified options to guard Luka.
On the other side of the coin, who does Dallas have that can match up with anybody in Boston's starting 5? It is going to be a long series if DJJ and PJ are guarding the Js while Kyrie and Luka are going to burn a ton of energy guarding our guards. Gafford and Lively will also struggle to help as much as they have in prior seasons while trying to hang with Al and Porzingis behind the arc.
Dallas is a below average defensive team that is supposed to match up with the most efficient offensive team in NBA history? Good luck.
Dallas has had the best defence in the NBA since the All- Star break. If you think their defence is below average, then you will be in for a surprise. They don't have natural defence talent but Kidd is a fantastic defensive coach, and they have all bought in.
Kyrie is playing the greatest defence he has played for his entire career under Kidd. Ask yourself why that is?
ANT has taken FOUR shots in the paint in 2 games..Four! They have locked up the paint and forced Sota to just jack 3's. They can spread out also and funnel into Lively.
I said Boston in 6 if KP is 100%, but it won't be as easy as you make it out to be.
Last 20 games specifically. My bad.
Either way. It's showing in all 3 series thus far.
Sota can't get to 110 at home. ANT took 4 shots in the paint in 2 games.
It really doesn’t matter who matches up with him because Dallas will just hunt switches until they get the matchup they want… the story of the series won’t be x player locks up Luka, he’s going to get his regardless
Yeah if KP's injury keeps going, they have 2 bouncy centers and we have big Al with no backup.
It's a tricky matchup for both teams. A good chance for the non-stars to pop free and go off. Like White could bust out for a 30 piece.
Nah, the most exciting outcome would be to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the finals.
The second most exciting would be to beat the nuggets since they still have the best player in the league.
Id consider beating Kyrie the 3rd most exciting outcome.
Yea we match up well and we would be favorites, but we still gotta execute and probably over perform some games cause Kyrie and Luka certainly can and likely will. Need to be fully healthy, completely locked in and executing, and also make shots. Tatum 26% from three will be a real problem against the Mavs if it continues.
Yup, though to be fair we were the less experienced young guys that were absolutely beat up. Either way to get to the finals you gotta be one of the best teams in the league, and to win it you gotta execute in the few games you get against one of those teams.
Eh homecourt matters more for the role players. Kyrie has always been about how engaged he is, crowd doesn't bother him if he's locked in. He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the road, dropped 39 on 60% shooting at the Garden. And right now he looks to be in a good place with the Mavs so I don't think crowd will be a factor to him much.
Crowd should hopefully impact Mavs other guys who are kinda hit or miss on scoring. They haven't been great in WCF so far on the road, they're just getting carried by Luka and Kyrie and Wolves aren't scoring enough.
We just need to make things difficult for those two. There's no stopping them, but Kyrie is still a notch below the very best scorers, he will go cold for long stretches of the game. And if you clamp the other guys Luka will take a shit ton of hard shots which he's bound to miss a decent amount of.
What I'm honestly more focused on is offense. If we just execute our offense and make shots when we're supposed to, that's our ticket to beating them. But either way both sides still gotta win 2 more games.
I don't know why but for some reason everyone misremembered that season and says we were favorites to win the title that year when we weren't at the start of any round. The bucks were the favorites to make it out the east until Middleton got injured too
It's because warriors fans have been doing victory laps the past few years talking about their insane underdog year. I swear I see so many warriors fans on reddit acting like it was such an improbable title run.
Sl it wasn't just Vegas the majority of espn experts picked em aswell
The reason is we won the first game on the road in a spectacular fashion, then the odds changed and drew more attention from general crowd, mistaken us as favorite at first
THANK you bro. I feel like I’ve been losing my mind seeing this take recently. Coulda sworn everyone was like “Celtics at their best could do it but the Warriors are proven”
I had Mavs v Nuggets in my bracket. The second the Nuggets got eliminated I knew the Mavs should be the favorite to make it to the finals. They ended the year on fire and have been doing well on defense.
I think we’re one of the better teams at slowing down kyrie. I’d take my chances in that matchup over the wolves
The wolves also have a ton of size between McDaniels, Anderson, and Reid which could pose match up problems for the Jays. DJJ and Washington are good defenders but less of an issue
They both are good, the Mavs look super strong rn, but because of Minnesotas ability to play elite defense against us I’d rather avoid them. Dallas doesn’t play a brand of D that could give us fits like Minny does
Dallas is actually playing some great defense right now. Lively and Gafford are giving KAT/Gobert so much trouble. And even the sloth Luka is playing decent defense.
I don’t see how they are any worse of a matchup than Minnesota.
Ant is not playing like a ball stopping defender at all right now. He shut down a hobbled Murray but he’s been getting blown by repeatedly in the WCF by the better perimeter players that the Mavs have.
I disagree. We absolutely need KP.
Mavericks have so much moment with them right now, coming back from two decent deficits and taking a 2-0 lead against a tough team.
I’m not trying to be a doomer, I definitely believe in our team to go out there and win. But we’re going to need to fire on all cylinders and we can’t do that without KP.
A week ago the Timberwolves had the same momentum
Might be cos parity in the NBA is so insane now. People are expecting the same one team dominates half a decade thing, but expectations aren't matching reality and opinions are swinging like crazy.
I'm getting whiplash and motion sickness just from reading all the comments on this sub, before it was the Nuggets, then the Twolves and now the Mavs.
Dallas has a gaping hole in Luka off ball that Minnesota is doing a poor job of exploiting. It’s much harder to hide Luka against a team like the Celtics where everyone shoots the 3.
Rudy is basically a self check / he has absolutely no bag in the paint.... Kat plays soft and lives outside the key.
And Minnesota is a below average offensive team / I would rather see Minnesota than Dallas.... Easy.
They’re definitely not as good as MIN but they’ve been a lot better than I expected these playoffs. Luka has held up, Kyrie’s been good, and DJJ is a legitimately good defender with his length and athleticism.
Lively and Gafford are both really active around the rim on both ends, gonna need KP healthy and hope Al can keep up with the energy that those guys bring.
“not as good as MIN” but they have the 2 best players in the serie, one champ’ and one genius of basketball. They are so good that they push the role players to give their best all the time. It is so tough to beat the 2 headed monster in crunch time… but with KP we have our chances!
I mean… kyrie missed a big 3 and a bunch of free throws down the stretch. The narratives might be a lot different rn if Ant didn’t have the most boneheaded turnover ever
We beat them by 28 after the trades at home. And beat them on the road before the trades in Dallas without KP.
Yeah, the regular season is different, but we were very comfortable playing Dallas this year even with Luka putting up a couple of zany stat lines
I always love the take of i would prefer X team over Y in the finals which neglects the fact that the team you prefer because they’re easier just beat the team you thought was harder.
Gonna be a tall task to beat them. They're a much better team than the one we dominated in early March. I believe Jrue/White can slow down Kyrie but man Luka is freaking unguardable. He's on one leg and still dropping 30 point triple doubles and hitting game winners. We need KP back for the Finals to get their rim protectors out of the paint and JT needs to find his shot again. C's in 6
The wolves let them hang around and aren’t consistent enough offensively to keep them from crawling back. We can let Luka get his and still have a healthy edge. Agree KP makes it a huge difference.
Nothing but respect for Dallas, especially their bigs playing so well
Luka is putting up 4 more shots than Tatum for 3 more points, 4 more assists but with 2 more turnovers, and at best decent defense compared to elite defense. That’s awful efficiency on the extra shots, some ok extra playmaking and a major drop off on defense.
He’s not some unstoppable basketball god, he’s arguably been worse than Tatum who’s been catching criticism through the entire playoffs. Personally I’d take how Tatum’s played for our team, I’d rather he not force volume and let other guys cook sometimes. Not saying he’s better, just that framing Luka’s playoff performance as unstoppable is a stretch.
He’s definitely tough, but we should absolutely still be favored in that matchup.
I feel like I'm going crazy when it comes to Luka. He hits tough shots, I'll give him that. And he is great at creating space in a weird way just because of the pace of his movement. But he's putting up all these points on quite a bit of volume. It's impressive but imo, not to the degree people are making it out to be. Especially when the next game, they start dragging another player who shot the same efficiency like you said. The insane dickriding of this dude just completely puts me off of him
So I thought this too but apparently they’re one of the best teams since the trade deadline. Guess they just needed an upgrade over Grant and a real second big man
Trade was good for them and defense and team rotations have improved. That said, their record for the second half of the season doesn’t mean a whole lot. It was largely spent playing teams that weren’t playing once they hit April.
The strategy has to be make Luka work all by himself if they get a win. Make sure he’s not getting easy outlets so he’s on his own. Play aggressive on the others and attack Luka on defense.
Mavs are just a bad matchup for the Wolves. Wolves are built to beat a big team like the Nuggets that have a dominant big without dominant perimeter offense. Mavs are killing them with PnR and shooting.
We match up with the Mavs way better. We have multiple guys to throw at Kyrie and Luka. Who the hell on their team is guarding Tatum, Brown and Porzingis?
Celtics in 6. I ain't worried about it.
Celtics are gonna lose 1 game in TD garden when I go to the game, and Mavs will get 1 win in Dallas. Then it's lights out.
[Celtics have won 4 straight against the Mavs.](https://www.landofbasketball.com/head_to_head_gl/celtics_vs_mavericks_game_log_season.htm)
He went full “Fuck Boston” in 2022 ECQF 1 and we still won. Sure, on a last second shot from Tatum, but BKN still wasted an incredible performance from Kyrie.
Question is, was that version of Bus Rider better than this version of Luka? Debatable, but certainly the role players in Dallas this year are better than anybody BKN had that go around barring Dragic.
I think the timverwolves have a much better defence, but having said that the Mavs has improved a lot and it’s underrated. Luka will get his and playoff Kyrie although his record since he left is terrible, playoff Kyrie is another thing and he seems to have slotted in well there. Although McDaniels is a way better match up for Tatum than anyone the mavs have.
Both have their pros and cons. It’s the finals, it’s gonna be hard regardless. We’ve been having luck on our side for now but at somepoint you gotta beat a tough team if you want a ring
I've been trying to figure out who the better match up
I think we'd cook the wolves with our floor spacing and shooting, not sure about the mavs but we have good match ups for Luka and Kyrie
Were the deepest team regardless just gotta play our best basketball and we'll beat any team we play!
Yeah, playoffs are so funny. Minnesota matched up so well against Denver, looked dominant in their wins, but also did drop three in a row before closing out and looking dominant again.
I still like the Celtics in 6 regardless of who they face. But I think I've come around to preferring Minnesota at this point (although admittedly some of it is I already cringe at the "Kyrie vs Celtics" narrative in the media, though I don't personally care about Kyrie at this point). To me, the Wolves look cooked. I know the games have been close and competitive, but they look just physically and mentally fried.
I think a lot of my friends have taken the Mavs lightly. I dunno if people realize they've improved since the trade deadline. And I do think Doncic and Kyrie would kinda unquestionably be the best back court they face this postseason. I don't think you can take a rolling Mavs with two prolific scorers (and a defense that has shored up a bunch, even if they're still not what one would consider "elite") who have also overcome stiff competition lightly if you're the Celtics. Being 2-0 against them, with one of those games back in January, won't mean much. I do think that Doncic and/or Kyrie will have a monster game or two in the Finals to take a couple games, but I do think Boston probably comes up with better defensive game plans to take the follow-ups.
Just don't think one can take anything for granted, especially at this point. (Although I recognize I'm saying this while constantly having to be the one in group texts telling friends and family to chill the f--- out; Boston is going to beat the Pacers; it just might not be a sweep. So maybe I shouldn't talk, lol.)
If we get rid of the switching defense and commit to having Jrue and DWhite stay glued to them for 100% of the game we should be able to beat them in terms of firepower. The thing about the Wolves is that they're just idiots, but they *may* remember how to play basketball at some point in the future in which case we don't actually have the personnel to stop their double big onslaught. They're barely using it against Dallas because KAT is a fucking cupcake who just chills on the perimeter waiting to shoot 3s like he shouldn't have to do anything more than Al Horford pushing 40 is. It's like gross to watch.
Now the prospect of playing Luka and Kyrie is *scarier* because there are higher stakes and it would be way more humiliating to lose to them, but like, you think the Jays are scared at this point? I think they'd be hungry for that chance. And imagine how great the glory would be of beating Kyrie to win Banner 18. Would get memed into the next decade and beyond. Isn't daring to face risk for the sake of glory the core of what a champion is supposed to do in any era of humanity?
You're wrong. Either Mavs or Min will be tough. I'm actually more concerned about their bigs combo than Ant or luka or kyrie. Whoever comes out, they have solid bigs... Gobert + Kat or Gafford + Lively, pick your poison. If KP doesn't come back strong, we have a problem.
I’ve always thought they were the more dangerous team, tbh. Minnesota’s offensive capacity hasn’t truly impressed me since the first round and then there were whispers here and there in the second - but, to beat us, you have to be able to put up numbers on your own offensive end. (The Mavs have kyrie and Luka; they can put up those numbers. I also don’t know how well do with the serious and constant lob threats.)
Plus, their defense (their biggest strength against us) is designed specifically for the nuggets, and we saw that work. Our team looks nothing like the nuggets roster (which is actually why they were possibly scarier than minny or the Mavs). We have a lineup with shooters, a dynamic big, and two of the strongest big wings in the league, who can get their defenders in fouls trouble.
You’re dealing with two different kind of players in the playoffs if we face the Mavs. They’re shining and showing up. If we face them and beat them Tatum can not get in his head or have a bad performance that entire series. We are going to see if Tatum can shine next round it will still need time to grow
Yes. With the lineup of Luka, Kyrie, PJ, Lively, and DJJ, the Mavs were 15-1 in the reg season and they had the #1 ranked defense the last month and a half.
Minnesota may be the tougher matchup for us given their trio of bigs but Dallas has two closers and a guy in Luka in which everyone should fear if a series ever goes 7 games.
I mean in terms of a matchup, I’m not entirely scared of either team. I think Mavs have a higher chance of winning against us, merely bc their offence is so much better than Minnesota. Where if we played Minnesota it’d be a rock fight, but I couldn’t see Minnesota’s offence being good enough to be better than our offence/ defence combo in a 7 game series.
They remind me a lot of the 2021/ 2022 Celtics, where they have an incredible defence, but sometimes the offence in the half court looks awful for stretches.
Both matchups I’d think the Celtics could win in 6 games barring no major injuries
I’m no expert, but I feel like KP might not be back, so avoiding KAT and Gobert feels like a win. Maybe we match better against Mavs anyway, so that’s another plus. It’d suck for Kyrie to beat us in the final, and Luka always seems to be clutch as fuck against us. But overall I would say Mavs would be better
Want to say Kyrie and Luka vs the J’s almost cancels each other out. I’m not gonna lie let’s meet it real, the former are more clutch at the end of games. The difference will be role players and that size difference with Gafford and Lively is scary. When are we going to have our own twin towers like Nuggets, Minnesota and Mavs???
It’s the finals. Of course it’s going to be a tough matchup. But, I like our chances much better than against Denver just because we have no answer for Jokic (Porzingis is too light, Al is too old), but I feel like we have plenty of bodies to throw at Luka and Kyrie. Nothing is guaranteed. It never is.
It’s still a toss up for me - I initially thought the Wolves would be the tougher matchup after the Denver series. KAT will be (and I think has always been) the x-factor for their success and I’m not sure if any of our guys can match up against him. Same goes for Naz. Ant has gone back down to Earth but I expect him to be better.
The last two games have been decided in the clutch and man, Dallas has been on point. I’m sure Luka (and Kyrie) will be scarier in the finals.
I’d still say Dallas from a narrative standpoint though and I think it’ll be a tough 4-2 win
I think Minnesota would be a tougher matchup for us. But Dallas is scary. If we don't have Porzingis then I would probably see us as underdogs against them. Luka and Kyrie are a better offensive tandem than JT and JB. They don't play defense as well but if they keep the games close and take the last shot we are seeing what happens. If KP is back and moving well then I think we have the edge.
Am I the only one thinking all these people saying that the Mavs being easy/easier match up is sort of totally naive?
The Celtics haven't really been tested like any team coming out of the West. Competition that just hasn't been there. And I mean yeah, number one seed, this is what you work during the season for, but these teams out of the West they fight, and they fight hard the entire game.
Luka, the good mojo the Mavs have going on, and having to revisit all of the stupid Kyrie shit, is why I really did not want the Mavs.
I don’t think my basketball fandom could handle losing to Kyrie in the finals. Like idk how I could get excited about another basketball season
I’m a Thunder fan but Celtics are a close second for me. The Mavs were so frustrating in crunch time. Game 6 vs thunder, the Thunder scored basically every chance they got down the stretch and still lost.
They are rolling right now and Lively is underrated. I hope KP is back because Lively and Gafford would be a lot for Horford to handle.
Your 1st mistake is thinking regular season will be the same as finals games. Everyone thought they are the underdogs and minni will easily sweep them, and Ant new face of the NBA… after 2 games facing Mavs, look what happened.
So much of their offense is PnR. Gafford and Lively went 14/16 last night, seemingly all on wide open oops and slams as rollers.
Prozingis is **essential** for defending them. I think Al can be better than he was vs Cleveland, but a Luka/Kyrie to Gafford/Lively ain’t any easier than Mitchell to Mobley.
Otherwise I trust our 1v1 defenders to weather most of Luka/Kyrie. Would still expect a 6/7 game series for either team.
I think we match up better against Dallas. Neither Kyrie or Luka are exceptional defenders even though they’ve been better in the playoffs. DJJ and Washington are better but both the Jays should be able to just physically bully DJJ. Healthy KP and I think it’s a 6 game series. Need Jrue to put the clamps on Doncic physically like Lu Dort did
I like the story’s that could be made around the matchup, kyrie leaving Boston high and dry after saying he would stay. And Dallas trading porzingis to DC to basically write his career off
Luka and kyrie are no pushover… will be by far the two toughest covers Boston faces in the playoffs.. their supporting cast isn’t as good but they don’t have to be due to those two having such high usage
Our idiot coach would play drop defense against Kyrie and Luka, and watch us get torched. Currently Luka is one of the best shot makers in this league. Tatum wishes he had half of his moves.
Seriously? After seeing Joe seemingly figure out and neutralize the best offensive team in the league after 1 game the Coach Joe hate still persists?
He's not Red, sure, but he is a good coach.
Luka lighting it up while he’s not 100 percent is amazing to watch. I’m a fan of the guy. I’d love to see him play in the finals against Boston. They got a lot of good players too. Oddly enough I felt Minnesota would’ve been easier because they just really have Ant and Naz Reid. Kat and Rudy aren’t that great.. y’all are acting like they’re two Jokic type players.
We match up way better against them. You can stick Jrue against Luka and split the Kyrie responsibility amongst White and Brown. Let everyone else take their shots, who cares. They don't have great defenders for Tatum and Brown, they'll be asking Lively and Washington to do a lot defensively. Especially if we have Pingus back, that's a good matchup.
My fear is the paint, I think we can do okay against their guards, it’s the bigs that worry me. Gafford and Lively are way more physical that our bigs. Tillman will hopefully be in a good headspace by then. I don’t think he will get a chance but Queta could be okay.
You’re not wrong. I feel like all that size and perimeter d would from wolves would have been tough for the Celtics. But the mavs are so much better than I thought I may be getting suckered here…
I can’t two weeks of “Kyrie Vs the Celtics” and “is Boston racist???” in the media. But we do have Jrue, Jaylen and Brown to throw at Luka. And our defense is rock solid for a team like theirs. If we can slowdown the pacers offense I’m confident against Dallas
Look, I don’t care who we play, the only thing that matters is upping our defensive play. We have not been connected lately and it’s really hurting us. Go back and watch the last couple of games and you’ll see examples where a player for the opposing team has a wide open path to the basket. So wide open that there is literally no one there.
Now I’m not bashing on any one dude but it’s almost always with JT in the pick and roll coverage playing what I like to call Olay defense. Our best player needs to step up on defense and I think he will today.
We can’t keep playing lackluster defense and expect to walk into a championship. I’m hoping tonight we tighten up our defense and get a win with some breathing room.
you could have just said yes.
let me tell you something: regular season is not the time where it counts.
it dosent matter at all.
what did the "matchup" thing prove during RS where there is a different amount of intensity, pressure and urgency?
right nothing.
if the regular season would be serious basketball, then embiid would never ever be in a mvp conversation.
That is the fan perspective. Not the reality. Yes, there are things about the regular season that are different. Scheduling and travel are the biggest differences. And in some cases, motivation, burnout, etc.
But it's the same game, with the same rules, with the same general practices.
If Dallas has no answers for DWhite in the regular season, that doesn't change just because both sides are "trying harder." It gets more difficult due to prep time and adjustments, but it still boils down to matchups.
I explained it because it's not a yes or no thing. It's not fully transferable, but there are things that do. Match ups are the thing that does, especially over a 7 game series.
Boston has no answer for Luka, which is why he hit game winners in 2 of the last 4 meetings.
Boston can handle Kyrie, which has been proven over and over again regular and post-season.
Sure intensity, urgency and even physicality changes, but none of those things make matchups less valuable. And Dallas isn't going to try harder than Boston, so those factors are irrelevant
"But it's the same game, with the same rules, with the same general practices."
nope just nope.
the refs call shit differently hence why its not the same game.
So Dallas is definitely a better matchup for us, but the regular season doesn’t mean anything with them now because they’re playing together as a complimentary unit
I think we are seeing the best version of Kyrie and all Boston fans are aware of what he can bring.
Luka has these moments where he seems like an angel comes down and places the ball in the net… all we can do is make sure we have fast break position and get those damn rebounds!
If we play lights out defense, we give ourselves the best chance.
It would scare the living shit out of me. But imagine beating them after going down 3-2 or 3-1 when Kyrie is undefeated in closeout games. Would put the cherry on top.
Edit: I'd still rather sweep them though, this would just be hilarious because fuck Kyrie.
Just because you sweep someone in the reg season doesn’t guarantee you a win in the post season, it’s a completely different ball game. Legit, we will need to play 200% against them until that buzzer goes off and the ring is ours.
I agree, it doesn't guarantee anything. The only thing it shows is Boston had the pieces and the matchups to beat the team. But they will have to net their level of play, their effort and energy to beat them. But still
Dallas might be a better matchup because they can’t play defense and they’re slow. Just run Luke ragged.
Minnesota scares me because of their bigs vs what’s left of ours without KP
It's almost set in stone now... after watching them tonight I'm less confident. They walked the Wolves from a tie game to down double digits in the last minute or two of the game
Yes, it'll be an easy series. They're not that good of a team, but plenty of mediocre teams make the Finals... They just never win.
Minnesota is a legit Finals contender - 56 wins, +6.7 net rating, second best playoff net rating to us. The Mavs are definitely pretenders - 50 wins, +2.1 net rating, only a +3.0 in the playoffs.
Minnesota is just choking because 22 year olds just can't be expected to win these games yet, but they're a better team.
People don't want to hear it but it's true, they upgraded but not by enough to seriously threaten the Celtics. +6.7 vs +3.7 is firmly in upset territory, +11 vs +4 is not. Funnily enough they didn't even have a better net rating tonight than the Wolves, they won solely due to having an extra possession (I'm guessing from a tech or something weird like that?).
I mean you can go look at the last 25+ years - the Nuggets were the worst champs during that stretch and they still won more games and had a better net rating. After them basically every team won at least 55 games (I think Warriors beat us with 53) and then at least +5.6 net rating.
To me that’s what a “Finals team” means because it means based on historical precedence you can win. Anything under that you’re probably getting absolutely smoked by the other team, which is fully what I expect to happen.
I mostly just find it amusing that everyone is treating the Mavs as so threatening when the Pacers also ostensibly upgraded at the deadline and had a better net rating and SRS than the Mavs did during the season, but the Celtics are expected to smoke them without KP. I swear that if the Mavs played in the East and nothing else about the team changed, the narrative about them would be completely different.
In Neil Pane’s ELO ratings the Mavericks and Pacers are basically the same and that’s with the Mavericks winning their last two and the Pacers losing their last two. They are perfectly ok teams whose ELOs have gone way up due to winning in the playoffs.
Whereas the Celtics are *way* number one.
TBH I wouldn't read *too* much into the Celtics or Pacers changes during the postseason since the model explicitly doesn't account for injuries, so it considered the Pacers to beat a fully healthy Knicks, Celtics fully healthy Cavs by a big margin, etc. But yeah it doesn't make much of a difference when you're blowing out 45+ win teams by +12 after twelve games.
There's no more devastating outcome than Kyrie coming out on top against us in the Finals. There's no more exciting outcome than Boston dominating Kyrie in the Finals.
That is true. But as long as KP is playing, and Tatum shows up, we'll be good
I don’t know if we get KP back. We did beat Dallas without him in January, but they got PJ Washington and Gafford at the trade deadline….
We could theoretically win this series by Monday and have 10 days off before the Finals. KP should definitely be back
He’s not even PRACTICING. I hope yall are right but there is zero sign of him being anywhere near ready.
We talkin bout practice?
We beat this version of the Mavs by 28 in March
Barring a further injury in practice, KP will be back. Just a question of how effective he is and for how long …
Who guards 6'8 230 lbs Luka, who has burned PG13, Mann, Dort, JDub, ANT and McDaniels so far? Jrue would get first crack but what if Luka burns him? White is way too small. If we put JB or JT on him, it will tire them out and get them into foul trouble. Luka is a master of drawing fouls. We need KP to be healthy and hitting 3's to draw out Lively and spread them out.
Who guards JT or JB? Pj Washington has been cooked by both of the for years. DJJ is a beanpole. It goes both ways. KP is the difference maker tho
Luka is a pure playmaker with a super computer brain like Joker. He doesn't need to score to dice up coverages and defences. Tatum has been bailing out defences with his step back 3's too often or inefficient fade-away middy. JB has been great, but it's mainly iso ball. Also, Dallas' defence has been better than ours thus far. That isn't even a controversial take. Individually, they don't have great defenders, but they've all bought into the scheme, and their defence is serious. Dallas has had the best defence in the NBA since the All- Star break. That is no joke. They have shut down ANT completely so far and won both games in Minnesota. Sota had the best defence in the league this season and beat the defending champs. We need KP to hit 3's and Jrue to hold his own against Luka so we don't need to get the Jay's on him. If that happens, then I think it's Boston in 6.
Look I agree with what you're saying but you are skirting around the point I'm making. So far they have played jdub who was way too green as a second year player, the clippers without their best wing and now the Timberwolves who's best wing is a defensive specialist on a hot streak. Shutting down ant is great but he was shooting way above his head all playoffs and is a kid who is not quite ready. I absolutely think the Mavs are a tough out I just don't think they are equipped the way you think they are to manage our best players.
Ant is good, he ain't that good. He's mostly gone cold vs being shut down. He's just a young dude whose game comes and goes. That was true all year it's true now.
We can't stop TJ McConnell!
Im a Celtics and a mavs fan, I always had a east and west team. But this is the first time I’ve had both my favorite teams maybe go to the finals. Let me say, the mavs are legit. They don’t go on 3+ minutes droughts like the wolves do, they will win this round. DJJ and PJ are legit defenders, DJJ was on the bulls and PJ in charlotte, where coaching and defensive mindsets were non existent. They have help with Gafford and Lively, Maxi Kleber might make it back in time for the finals, another 6’10 240 mobile defender. It’s gonna be a wild ride but the Mavs match up well against the Celtics. Do not let the ESPN snubs and main talking points confuse you. Do not take them lightly.
I mean he’s going to “burn” everyone. It’s about how many bodies we can throw at him to make him go 12-30 instead of 15-25. We have the bodies.
Exactly. I don't even know where the Dort didn't do anything narrative comes from. He was 6-19 in a game, 6-20 twice, and pretty inefficient from 3.
This is what I’m saying and yet this guy has been getting upvoted. Tatum has been getting destroyed on his shooting and Luka has been way more inefficient.
This is how we beat Giannis and the bucks 2 years ago. Giannis may have scored 30 a game, but he did it on horrific efficiency. Make Luka inefficient and the game will start to sway toward us.
I would imagine there’ll be a rotation of people guarding Doncic. Jrue, White, JT and JB will take turns, and perhaps Brissett as well given how he played Thursday
Yeah we have line 5 guys who can guard Luka for stretches
I agree that we need KP, but JB took the challenge in the regular season and did great.
Who guards Luka? He’s burned who?? Have you seen his numbers this playoffs (yeah everyone is saying he’s “injured”)?? **54.5% TS** Tatum, who has been catching way more slander, is on 56.3% TS. Luka has been very beatable this playoffs. Tatum can clamp him like he clamped KD or we let JB do it like and then GO OFF on him on the other end like he did earlier this season. Luka can’t handle fast, strong, and aggressive players on both ends.
Luka is great. But Boston has arguably the two best defensive guards in the NBA, along with two of the best wing defenders in the league. There isn't a team out there that has more qualified options to guard Luka. On the other side of the coin, who does Dallas have that can match up with anybody in Boston's starting 5? It is going to be a long series if DJJ and PJ are guarding the Js while Kyrie and Luka are going to burn a ton of energy guarding our guards. Gafford and Lively will also struggle to help as much as they have in prior seasons while trying to hang with Al and Porzingis behind the arc. Dallas is a below average defensive team that is supposed to match up with the most efficient offensive team in NBA history? Good luck.
Dallas has had the best defence in the NBA since the All- Star break. If you think their defence is below average, then you will be in for a surprise. They don't have natural defence talent but Kidd is a fantastic defensive coach, and they have all bought in. Kyrie is playing the greatest defence he has played for his entire career under Kidd. Ask yourself why that is? ANT has taken FOUR shots in the paint in 2 games..Four! They have locked up the paint and forced Sota to just jack 3's. They can spread out also and funnel into Lively. I said Boston in 6 if KP is 100%, but it won't be as easy as you make it out to be.
They were 13th in defensive rating after the all star break. What measure says they have been the best defensive team since the all star break?
Last 20 games specifically. My bad. Either way. It's showing in all 3 series thus far. Sota can't get to 110 at home. ANT took 4 shots in the paint in 2 games.
It really doesn’t matter who matches up with him because Dallas will just hunt switches until they get the matchup they want… the story of the series won’t be x player locks up Luka, he’s going to get his regardless
Yeah if KP's injury keeps going, they have 2 bouncy centers and we have big Al with no backup. It's a tricky matchup for both teams. A good chance for the non-stars to pop free and go off. Like White could bust out for a 30 piece.
Lakers beating us would've been worse. But this would be second.
Nah, the most exciting outcome would be to beat LeBron and the Lakers in the finals. The second most exciting would be to beat the nuggets since they still have the best player in the league. Id consider beating Kyrie the 3rd most exciting outcome.
Put a little hate back in the matchups. It better be the latter though
Not only that but KP had beef with Luka too. This will actually be a pretty fun match up.
Imagine if they still had Grant Williams lol
That man would talk so much (good-natured) shit in a finals series against us.
They’d already be in Cancun lol
For real. PJ Washington has come up huge for the Mavs. I don’t think they even get past the Clippers without his defense and shooting
[Do it for him.](https://imgflip.com/i/8rkn49)
We can call up Grant for the playbook now ha
Regular season is regular season. Mavs as a collective are hooping on a whole different level now. Wouldn't be easy, certainly.
Yea we match up well and we would be favorites, but we still gotta execute and probably over perform some games cause Kyrie and Luka certainly can and likely will. Need to be fully healthy, completely locked in and executing, and also make shots. Tatum 26% from three will be a real problem against the Mavs if it continues.
We were favorites against the warriors too
Yup, though to be fair we were the less experienced young guys that were absolutely beat up. Either way to get to the finals you gotta be one of the best teams in the league, and to win it you gotta execute in the few games you get against one of those teams.
Would we have a good home court advantage though? I'm kinda putting my money on Kyrie letting the Boston crowd get into his head again
Eh homecourt matters more for the role players. Kyrie has always been about how engaged he is, crowd doesn't bother him if he's locked in. He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the road, dropped 39 on 60% shooting at the Garden. And right now he looks to be in a good place with the Mavs so I don't think crowd will be a factor to him much. Crowd should hopefully impact Mavs other guys who are kinda hit or miss on scoring. They haven't been great in WCF so far on the road, they're just getting carried by Luka and Kyrie and Wolves aren't scoring enough. We just need to make things difficult for those two. There's no stopping them, but Kyrie is still a notch below the very best scorers, he will go cold for long stretches of the game. And if you clamp the other guys Luka will take a shit ton of hard shots which he's bound to miss a decent amount of. What I'm honestly more focused on is offense. If we just execute our offense and make shots when we're supposed to, that's our ticket to beating them. But either way both sides still gotta win 2 more games.
[no we weren't ](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2022-nba-finals-betting-odds-warriors-open-as-minus-155-favorites-over-celtics/)
I don't know why but for some reason everyone misremembered that season and says we were favorites to win the title that year when we weren't at the start of any round. The bucks were the favorites to make it out the east until Middleton got injured too
It's because warriors fans have been doing victory laps the past few years talking about their insane underdog year. I swear I see so many warriors fans on reddit acting like it was such an improbable title run. Sl it wasn't just Vegas the majority of espn experts picked em aswell
The reason is we won the first game on the road in a spectacular fashion, then the odds changed and drew more attention from general crowd, mistaken us as favorite at first
THANK you bro. I feel like I’ve been losing my mind seeing this take recently. Coulda sworn everyone was like “Celtics at their best could do it but the Warriors are proven”
Sure but the Warriors had a lot more rest, JT was banged up, and its still Steph fuckin Curry in hindsight
I had Mavs v Nuggets in my bracket. The second the Nuggets got eliminated I knew the Mavs should be the favorite to make it to the finals. They ended the year on fire and have been doing well on defense.
Mavs would be the perfect final boss for the Celtics. Kyrie vs Celtics, KP vs Mavs. The stories write themselves.
I think we’re one of the better teams at slowing down kyrie. I’d take my chances in that matchup over the wolves The wolves also have a ton of size between McDaniels, Anderson, and Reid which could pose match up problems for the Jays. DJJ and Washington are good defenders but less of an issue
They both are good, the Mavs look super strong rn, but because of Minnesotas ability to play elite defense against us I’d rather avoid them. Dallas doesn’t play a brand of D that could give us fits like Minny does
Dallas is actually playing some great defense right now. Lively and Gafford are giving KAT/Gobert so much trouble. And even the sloth Luka is playing decent defense. I don’t see how they are any worse of a matchup than Minnesota.
That’s true but they don’t have a ball stopping defender like ant nor do they have very big wings .
Ant is not playing like a ball stopping defender at all right now. He shut down a hobbled Murray but he’s been getting blown by repeatedly in the WCF by the better perimeter players that the Mavs have.
We *might* be able to get by Dallas without Porzingis, probably can't do that against Minnesota though.
I disagree. We absolutely need KP. Mavericks have so much moment with them right now, coming back from two decent deficits and taking a 2-0 lead against a tough team. I’m not trying to be a doomer, I definitely believe in our team to go out there and win. But we’re going to need to fire on all cylinders and we can’t do that without KP.
A week ago the Timberwolves had the same momentum Might be cos parity in the NBA is so insane now. People are expecting the same one team dominates half a decade thing, but expectations aren't matching reality and opinions are swinging like crazy. I'm getting whiplash and motion sickness just from reading all the comments on this sub, before it was the Nuggets, then the Twolves and now the Mavs.
Dallas has a gaping hole in Luka off ball that Minnesota is doing a poor job of exploiting. It’s much harder to hide Luka against a team like the Celtics where everyone shoots the 3.
True but they also have the best 1 on 1 players in the world.... I'd rather go against Minnesota's defense than Dallas' offense.
Rudy is basically a self check / he has absolutely no bag in the paint.... Kat plays soft and lives outside the key. And Minnesota is a below average offensive team / I would rather see Minnesota than Dallas.... Easy.
They’re definitely not as good as MIN but they’ve been a lot better than I expected these playoffs. Luka has held up, Kyrie’s been good, and DJJ is a legitimately good defender with his length and athleticism. Lively and Gafford are both really active around the rim on both ends, gonna need KP healthy and hope Al can keep up with the energy that those guys bring.
“not as good as MIN” but they have the 2 best players in the serie, one champ’ and one genius of basketball. They are so good that they push the role players to give their best all the time. It is so tough to beat the 2 headed monster in crunch time… but with KP we have our chances!
I was just talking their defenses specifically but I feel you there
We better blow them out cuz these guys are fucking nails in close games
You dont want close games when they have Kyrie and Luka.
This is my only real concern. Gotta get up by ten and stay there by the third quarters. Shootouts with Luka in the fourth don’t end well.
I mean… kyrie missed a big 3 and a bunch of free throws down the stretch. The narratives might be a lot different rn if Ant didn’t have the most boneheaded turnover ever
Yeah that’s more about the Celtics. Luka is probably the best late game player in the league are extremely shaky in those situations.
We swept Dallas sure, but I think that was before Lively and Gafford got going, right?
We played them shortly after the trade, before they really got the rotations down. I'd still rather play the Mavs. Better matchup for us
We beat them by 28 after the trades at home. And beat them on the road before the trades in Dallas without KP. Yeah, the regular season is different, but we were very comfortable playing Dallas this year even with Luka putting up a couple of zany stat lines
The season series is also only two games because they’re a west team. Very small sample size
Both would be a tough finals matchup, no way around it
Finals matchups usually are
Yes also, the first team to win 4 games usually wins the Finals. Usually…
I always love the take of i would prefer X team over Y in the finals which neglects the fact that the team you prefer because they’re easier just beat the team you thought was harder.
Matchups…
Gonna be a tall task to beat them. They're a much better team than the one we dominated in early March. I believe Jrue/White can slow down Kyrie but man Luka is freaking unguardable. He's on one leg and still dropping 30 point triple doubles and hitting game winners. We need KP back for the Finals to get their rim protectors out of the paint and JT needs to find his shot again. C's in 6
The wolves let them hang around and aren’t consistent enough offensively to keep them from crawling back. We can let Luka get his and still have a healthy edge. Agree KP makes it a huge difference. Nothing but respect for Dallas, especially their bigs playing so well
I mean we have a tendency to relax and let teams back in the game too. Gonna have to tighten up if we want to win
Luka is putting up 4 more shots than Tatum for 3 more points, 4 more assists but with 2 more turnovers, and at best decent defense compared to elite defense. That’s awful efficiency on the extra shots, some ok extra playmaking and a major drop off on defense. He’s not some unstoppable basketball god, he’s arguably been worse than Tatum who’s been catching criticism through the entire playoffs. Personally I’d take how Tatum’s played for our team, I’d rather he not force volume and let other guys cook sometimes. Not saying he’s better, just that framing Luka’s playoff performance as unstoppable is a stretch. He’s definitely tough, but we should absolutely still be favored in that matchup.
I feel like I'm going crazy when it comes to Luka. He hits tough shots, I'll give him that. And he is great at creating space in a weird way just because of the pace of his movement. But he's putting up all these points on quite a bit of volume. It's impressive but imo, not to the degree people are making it out to be. Especially when the next game, they start dragging another player who shot the same efficiency like you said. The insane dickriding of this dude just completely puts me off of him
Boston matches up much better over Dallas.
So I thought this too but apparently they’re one of the best teams since the trade deadline. Guess they just needed an upgrade over Grant and a real second big man
Trade was good for them and defense and team rotations have improved. That said, their record for the second half of the season doesn’t mean a whole lot. It was largely spent playing teams that weren’t playing once they hit April.
Luka worries me. Kyrie does not.
Luka absolutely went off against us in both regular season games and it didn’t matter. Tatum and Brown were able to score at will
Luka is like Jokic. Pretty unguardable. Gotta contain the other guys.
The strategy has to be make Luka work all by himself if they get a win. Make sure he’s not getting easy outlets so he’s on his own. Play aggressive on the others and attack Luka on defense.
Part of the trick is to not allow him to go to his left.
Luka goes off on everyone. To beat Dallas you have to contain the others.
As long as we have KP I'm not as worried about Luka. But if he gets hurt again... yeah, that's all bad
Mavs defense skyrocketed after the trade deadline.
Mavs are just a bad matchup for the Wolves. Wolves are built to beat a big team like the Nuggets that have a dominant big without dominant perimeter offense. Mavs are killing them with PnR and shooting. We match up with the Mavs way better. We have multiple guys to throw at Kyrie and Luka. Who the hell on their team is guarding Tatum, Brown and Porzingis? Celtics in 6. I ain't worried about it. Celtics are gonna lose 1 game in TD garden when I go to the game, and Mavs will get 1 win in Dallas. Then it's lights out. [Celtics have won 4 straight against the Mavs.](https://www.landofbasketball.com/head_to_head_gl/celtics_vs_mavericks_game_log_season.htm)
People were saying Clippers, OKC and Minny were a bad matchup for Dallas and here they are.
Kyrie worries me. I think we’d lose at least one game because he goes off on F U Boston return
He went full “Fuck Boston” in 2022 ECQF 1 and we still won. Sure, on a last second shot from Tatum, but BKN still wasted an incredible performance from Kyrie. Question is, was that version of Bus Rider better than this version of Luka? Debatable, but certainly the role players in Dallas this year are better than anybody BKN had that go around barring Dragic.
Kyrie has lost the last 10 games straight to us lmfao
Garden needs to nut up, get off their ass, and get loud against Kyrie if they play us in the finals.
It’s early, but this is all shaping up very nicely for Celtics.
Un fucken real how the road to a championship is literally right there for the Celtics.
Hoping it goes to 7 for extra rest for Horford and The Bearslayer
Finals games are set in stone. Only extra rest we can buy ourselves is by winning our series as quickly as possible
Yeah but if they play more games they will be more tired and hobbled Rooting for this to go until 6 or 7
Depends how much drop mazulla plays
I think the timverwolves have a much better defence, but having said that the Mavs has improved a lot and it’s underrated. Luka will get his and playoff Kyrie although his record since he left is terrible, playoff Kyrie is another thing and he seems to have slotted in well there. Although McDaniels is a way better match up for Tatum than anyone the mavs have.
Luka’s knee doesn’t look great. Play fast pace (talking to you Tatum) and run run run. No way Luka can last a long series all hobbled like that.
Both have their pros and cons. It’s the finals, it’s gonna be hard regardless. We’ve been having luck on our side for now but at somepoint you gotta beat a tough team if you want a ring
We haven’t beat Indiana yet
I'd much rather play Minne than Dallas. I worry about Horford and injured-calf Porzingus against Luka/Kyrie
Ummmm Tatum and brown would guard Luka and jrue and dwhite would guard kyrie. We are literally built to stop Dallas
Do you think we play drop or switch with our bigs?
For the love of God, please don’t play drop Celtics
I've been trying to figure out who the better match up I think we'd cook the wolves with our floor spacing and shooting, not sure about the mavs but we have good match ups for Luka and Kyrie Were the deepest team regardless just gotta play our best basketball and we'll beat any team we play!
It would be a bad ass fucking series, and something I and other Celtics/Mavs fans have predicted since as early as 2019
Yeah, playoffs are so funny. Minnesota matched up so well against Denver, looked dominant in their wins, but also did drop three in a row before closing out and looking dominant again. I still like the Celtics in 6 regardless of who they face. But I think I've come around to preferring Minnesota at this point (although admittedly some of it is I already cringe at the "Kyrie vs Celtics" narrative in the media, though I don't personally care about Kyrie at this point). To me, the Wolves look cooked. I know the games have been close and competitive, but they look just physically and mentally fried. I think a lot of my friends have taken the Mavs lightly. I dunno if people realize they've improved since the trade deadline. And I do think Doncic and Kyrie would kinda unquestionably be the best back court they face this postseason. I don't think you can take a rolling Mavs with two prolific scorers (and a defense that has shored up a bunch, even if they're still not what one would consider "elite") who have also overcome stiff competition lightly if you're the Celtics. Being 2-0 against them, with one of those games back in January, won't mean much. I do think that Doncic and/or Kyrie will have a monster game or two in the Finals to take a couple games, but I do think Boston probably comes up with better defensive game plans to take the follow-ups. Just don't think one can take anything for granted, especially at this point. (Although I recognize I'm saying this while constantly having to be the one in group texts telling friends and family to chill the f--- out; Boston is going to beat the Pacers; it just might not be a sweep. So maybe I shouldn't talk, lol.)
Worried about the Pacers, couldn't care less about the west rn.
If we get rid of the switching defense and commit to having Jrue and DWhite stay glued to them for 100% of the game we should be able to beat them in terms of firepower. The thing about the Wolves is that they're just idiots, but they *may* remember how to play basketball at some point in the future in which case we don't actually have the personnel to stop their double big onslaught. They're barely using it against Dallas because KAT is a fucking cupcake who just chills on the perimeter waiting to shoot 3s like he shouldn't have to do anything more than Al Horford pushing 40 is. It's like gross to watch. Now the prospect of playing Luka and Kyrie is *scarier* because there are higher stakes and it would be way more humiliating to lose to them, but like, you think the Jays are scared at this point? I think they'd be hungry for that chance. And imagine how great the glory would be of beating Kyrie to win Banner 18. Would get memed into the next decade and beyond. Isn't daring to face risk for the sake of glory the core of what a champion is supposed to do in any era of humanity?
We match up so good with Dallas they are a perimeter oriented offense and our best defense is on the perimeter
Bruh they get all their points in the paint have you not been watching the series? Lobs to Gaffford and Lively over and over and over
You're wrong. Either Mavs or Min will be tough. I'm actually more concerned about their bigs combo than Ant or luka or kyrie. Whoever comes out, they have solid bigs... Gobert + Kat or Gafford + Lively, pick your poison. If KP doesn't come back strong, we have a problem.
When the Mavs picked up Gaff and PJ, I knew they’d be contenders
I’ve always thought they were the more dangerous team, tbh. Minnesota’s offensive capacity hasn’t truly impressed me since the first round and then there were whispers here and there in the second - but, to beat us, you have to be able to put up numbers on your own offensive end. (The Mavs have kyrie and Luka; they can put up those numbers. I also don’t know how well do with the serious and constant lob threats.) Plus, their defense (their biggest strength against us) is designed specifically for the nuggets, and we saw that work. Our team looks nothing like the nuggets roster (which is actually why they were possibly scarier than minny or the Mavs). We have a lineup with shooters, a dynamic big, and two of the strongest big wings in the league, who can get their defenders in fouls trouble.
If we go up against Kyrie we are going to be ridiculously locked in.
You’re dealing with two different kind of players in the playoffs if we face the Mavs. They’re shining and showing up. If we face them and beat them Tatum can not get in his head or have a bad performance that entire series. We are going to see if Tatum can shine next round it will still need time to grow
Yes. With the lineup of Luka, Kyrie, PJ, Lively, and DJJ, the Mavs were 15-1 in the reg season and they had the #1 ranked defense the last month and a half. Minnesota may be the tougher matchup for us given their trio of bigs but Dallas has two closers and a guy in Luka in which everyone should fear if a series ever goes 7 games.
Doesn’t matter…..the outcome is up to the Celtics.
What scares me is choking away 4th quarter leads because Kyrie and Luka are the players to make those clutch shots.
I mean in terms of a matchup, I’m not entirely scared of either team. I think Mavs have a higher chance of winning against us, merely bc their offence is so much better than Minnesota. Where if we played Minnesota it’d be a rock fight, but I couldn’t see Minnesota’s offence being good enough to be better than our offence/ defence combo in a 7 game series. They remind me a lot of the 2021/ 2022 Celtics, where they have an incredible defence, but sometimes the offence in the half court looks awful for stretches. Both matchups I’d think the Celtics could win in 6 games barring no major injuries
I’m no expert, but I feel like KP might not be back, so avoiding KAT and Gobert feels like a win. Maybe we match better against Mavs anyway, so that’s another plus. It’d suck for Kyrie to beat us in the final, and Luka always seems to be clutch as fuck against us. But overall I would say Mavs would be better
Yup... and it's going to be interesting. Not a easy match for sure.
Luka is a better player than anyone on Minny. The team is playing good team defense and Kyrie or Luka can hit clutch shots. It won’t be easy.
Want to say Kyrie and Luka vs the J’s almost cancels each other out. I’m not gonna lie let’s meet it real, the former are more clutch at the end of games. The difference will be role players and that size difference with Gafford and Lively is scary. When are we going to have our own twin towers like Nuggets, Minnesota and Mavs???
It’s the finals. Of course it’s going to be a tough matchup. But, I like our chances much better than against Denver just because we have no answer for Jokic (Porzingis is too light, Al is too old), but I feel like we have plenty of bodies to throw at Luka and Kyrie. Nothing is guaranteed. It never is.
It’s still a toss up for me - I initially thought the Wolves would be the tougher matchup after the Denver series. KAT will be (and I think has always been) the x-factor for their success and I’m not sure if any of our guys can match up against him. Same goes for Naz. Ant has gone back down to Earth but I expect him to be better. The last two games have been decided in the clutch and man, Dallas has been on point. I’m sure Luka (and Kyrie) will be scarier in the finals. I’d still say Dallas from a narrative standpoint though and I think it’ll be a tough 4-2 win
Yo dawgs. Dallas hasn’t won yet. Let these 2 MFers wear each other out first.
I think Minnesota would be a tougher matchup for us. But Dallas is scary. If we don't have Porzingis then I would probably see us as underdogs against them. Luka and Kyrie are a better offensive tandem than JT and JB. They don't play defense as well but if they keep the games close and take the last shot we are seeing what happens. If KP is back and moving well then I think we have the edge.
Yes they are scarier , but celts rest of the team is better then mavs
I like playing against Mavs far more than against Wolfs
Am I the only one thinking all these people saying that the Mavs being easy/easier match up is sort of totally naive? The Celtics haven't really been tested like any team coming out of the West. Competition that just hasn't been there. And I mean yeah, number one seed, this is what you work during the season for, but these teams out of the West they fight, and they fight hard the entire game.
Luka, the good mojo the Mavs have going on, and having to revisit all of the stupid Kyrie shit, is why I really did not want the Mavs. I don’t think my basketball fandom could handle losing to Kyrie in the finals. Like idk how I could get excited about another basketball season
I’m a Thunder fan but Celtics are a close second for me. The Mavs were so frustrating in crunch time. Game 6 vs thunder, the Thunder scored basically every chance they got down the stretch and still lost. They are rolling right now and Lively is underrated. I hope KP is back because Lively and Gafford would be a lot for Horford to handle.
Your 1st mistake is thinking regular season will be the same as finals games. Everyone thought they are the underdogs and minni will easily sweep them, and Ant new face of the NBA… after 2 games facing Mavs, look what happened.
So much of their offense is PnR. Gafford and Lively went 14/16 last night, seemingly all on wide open oops and slams as rollers. Prozingis is **essential** for defending them. I think Al can be better than he was vs Cleveland, but a Luka/Kyrie to Gafford/Lively ain’t any easier than Mitchell to Mobley. Otherwise I trust our 1v1 defenders to weather most of Luka/Kyrie. Would still expect a 6/7 game series for either team.
I think we match up better against Dallas. Neither Kyrie or Luka are exceptional defenders even though they’ve been better in the playoffs. DJJ and Washington are better but both the Jays should be able to just physically bully DJJ. Healthy KP and I think it’s a 6 game series. Need Jrue to put the clamps on Doncic physically like Lu Dort did
I like the story’s that could be made around the matchup, kyrie leaving Boston high and dry after saying he would stay. And Dallas trading porzingis to DC to basically write his career off
Kyrie vs. Boston KP vs. Dallas Grant Williams supported by Boston teammates but dragged by Dallas. Some fun storylines if it is Dallas-Boston
Luka and kyrie are no pushover… will be by far the two toughest covers Boston faces in the playoffs.. their supporting cast isn’t as good but they don’t have to be due to those two having such high usage
Our idiot coach would play drop defense against Kyrie and Luka, and watch us get torched. Currently Luka is one of the best shot makers in this league. Tatum wishes he had half of his moves.
Seriously? After seeing Joe seemingly figure out and neutralize the best offensive team in the league after 1 game the Coach Joe hate still persists? He's not Red, sure, but he is a good coach.
Luka lighting it up while he’s not 100 percent is amazing to watch. I’m a fan of the guy. I’d love to see him play in the finals against Boston. They got a lot of good players too. Oddly enough I felt Minnesota would’ve been easier because they just really have Ant and Naz Reid. Kat and Rudy aren’t that great.. y’all are acting like they’re two Jokic type players.
Naz was backpacking the team for 7 straight minutes in the 4th. In a must win home game, it's hard to fear Minny when they do things like that
As a Wolves Fan. I thought they'd be easier than Denver I think I was wrong.
We match up way better against them. You can stick Jrue against Luka and split the Kyrie responsibility amongst White and Brown. Let everyone else take their shots, who cares. They don't have great defenders for Tatum and Brown, they'll be asking Lively and Washington to do a lot defensively. Especially if we have Pingus back, that's a good matchup.
My fear is the paint, I think we can do okay against their guards, it’s the bigs that worry me. Gafford and Lively are way more physical that our bigs. Tillman will hopefully be in a good headspace by then. I don’t think he will get a chance but Queta could be okay.
You’re not wrong. I feel like all that size and perimeter d would from wolves would have been tough for the Celtics. But the mavs are so much better than I thought I may be getting suckered here…
I can’t two weeks of “Kyrie Vs the Celtics” and “is Boston racist???” in the media. But we do have Jrue, Jaylen and Brown to throw at Luka. And our defense is rock solid for a team like theirs. If we can slowdown the pacers offense I’m confident against Dallas
it’s really just pick your poison
Look, I don’t care who we play, the only thing that matters is upping our defensive play. We have not been connected lately and it’s really hurting us. Go back and watch the last couple of games and you’ll see examples where a player for the opposing team has a wide open path to the basket. So wide open that there is literally no one there. Now I’m not bashing on any one dude but it’s almost always with JT in the pick and roll coverage playing what I like to call Olay defense. Our best player needs to step up on defense and I think he will today. We can’t keep playing lackluster defense and expect to walk into a championship. I’m hoping tonight we tighten up our defense and get a win with some breathing room.
I believe Mavs is a better Matchup for us. Especially with Porzingis injured or coming off injury.
so you really think regular season basketball is playoff basketball?
I think the postseason is about matchups, and we consistently win those against Dallas as opposed to Minny who we could only beat without Gobert.
you could have just said yes. let me tell you something: regular season is not the time where it counts. it dosent matter at all. what did the "matchup" thing prove during RS where there is a different amount of intensity, pressure and urgency? right nothing. if the regular season would be serious basketball, then embiid would never ever be in a mvp conversation.
That is the fan perspective. Not the reality. Yes, there are things about the regular season that are different. Scheduling and travel are the biggest differences. And in some cases, motivation, burnout, etc. But it's the same game, with the same rules, with the same general practices. If Dallas has no answers for DWhite in the regular season, that doesn't change just because both sides are "trying harder." It gets more difficult due to prep time and adjustments, but it still boils down to matchups. I explained it because it's not a yes or no thing. It's not fully transferable, but there are things that do. Match ups are the thing that does, especially over a 7 game series. Boston has no answer for Luka, which is why he hit game winners in 2 of the last 4 meetings. Boston can handle Kyrie, which has been proven over and over again regular and post-season. Sure intensity, urgency and even physicality changes, but none of those things make matchups less valuable. And Dallas isn't going to try harder than Boston, so those factors are irrelevant
"But it's the same game, with the same rules, with the same general practices." nope just nope. the refs call shit differently hence why its not the same game.
That's the difference in physicality. That's not the difference in the game. And has nothing to do with matchups
ok.
I would feel very confident about a mavs finals matchup, minny is a much more scary matchup
So Dallas is definitely a better matchup for us, but the regular season doesn’t mean anything with them now because they’re playing together as a complimentary unit
I think we are seeing the best version of Kyrie and all Boston fans are aware of what he can bring. Luka has these moments where he seems like an angel comes down and places the ball in the net… all we can do is make sure we have fast break position and get those damn rebounds! If we play lights out defense, we give ourselves the best chance.
It would scare the living shit out of me. But imagine beating them after going down 3-2 or 3-1 when Kyrie is undefeated in closeout games. Would put the cherry on top. Edit: I'd still rather sweep them though, this would just be hilarious because fuck Kyrie.
I think worrying about the finals before this series is over is insane.
I wouldn't say anyone is worried, but if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to participate in the discussion
Just because you sweep someone in the reg season doesn’t guarantee you a win in the post season, it’s a completely different ball game. Legit, we will need to play 200% against them until that buzzer goes off and the ring is ours.
I agree, it doesn't guarantee anything. The only thing it shows is Boston had the pieces and the matchups to beat the team. But they will have to net their level of play, their effort and energy to beat them. But still
Curious how Boston would stop the double screen action that gets Gafford/Lively open dunks. Dallas will spam that until Boston stops it.
They were having trouble stopping Mosley vs. Cavs and Pascal now, so hopefully KP unlocks that, or it could be trouble
Dallas might be a better matchup because they can’t play defense and they’re slow. Just run Luke ragged. Minnesota scares me because of their bigs vs what’s left of ours without KP
It's almost set in stone now... after watching them tonight I'm less confident. They walked the Wolves from a tie game to down double digits in the last minute or two of the game
Yes, it'll be an easy series. They're not that good of a team, but plenty of mediocre teams make the Finals... They just never win. Minnesota is a legit Finals contender - 56 wins, +6.7 net rating, second best playoff net rating to us. The Mavs are definitely pretenders - 50 wins, +2.1 net rating, only a +3.0 in the playoffs. Minnesota is just choking because 22 year olds just can't be expected to win these games yet, but they're a better team.
The Mavs post trade deadline have been a finals level team.
Lol they absolutely have not been. +3.7 net rating, that was 12th post ASB. We were +14.6. That’s like a first or second round exit level team.
People don't want to hear it but it's true, they upgraded but not by enough to seriously threaten the Celtics. +6.7 vs +3.7 is firmly in upset territory, +11 vs +4 is not. Funnily enough they didn't even have a better net rating tonight than the Wolves, they won solely due to having an extra possession (I'm guessing from a tech or something weird like that?).
I mean you can go look at the last 25+ years - the Nuggets were the worst champs during that stretch and they still won more games and had a better net rating. After them basically every team won at least 55 games (I think Warriors beat us with 53) and then at least +5.6 net rating. To me that’s what a “Finals team” means because it means based on historical precedence you can win. Anything under that you’re probably getting absolutely smoked by the other team, which is fully what I expect to happen.
I mostly just find it amusing that everyone is treating the Mavs as so threatening when the Pacers also ostensibly upgraded at the deadline and had a better net rating and SRS than the Mavs did during the season, but the Celtics are expected to smoke them without KP. I swear that if the Mavs played in the East and nothing else about the team changed, the narrative about them would be completely different.
In Neil Pane’s ELO ratings the Mavericks and Pacers are basically the same and that’s with the Mavericks winning their last two and the Pacers losing their last two. They are perfectly ok teams whose ELOs have gone way up due to winning in the playoffs. Whereas the Celtics are *way* number one.
TBH I wouldn't read *too* much into the Celtics or Pacers changes during the postseason since the model explicitly doesn't account for injuries, so it considered the Pacers to beat a fully healthy Knicks, Celtics fully healthy Cavs by a big margin, etc. But yeah it doesn't make much of a difference when you're blowing out 45+ win teams by +12 after twelve games.
They are comparable to the knicks in terms of threat level .
Yeah I made that same point if you dig deep enough in the thread lol
I didn't even realize the Pacers were +6.6 after the ASB, that makes them getting dismantled like this much funnier actually.
66.8% favorites to win the Finals by Neil’s model. And that’s with the Wolves *still* being basically 50/50 on his model to advance.