Poll: Mavericks vs. Celtics Series Predictions

[Who]

Tim Legler says the two best under pressure players in this series both play for Dallas. Luka and Kyrie. The longest track of consistent clutch play under pressure.

 You know it's funny because Kyrie has never won anything without LeBonds.  And even then he won just one title. It's pretty ridiculous the reputation he's gained just because of that one shot in one game.

 Where has all this clutchness been in other seasons?  Like when Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and the celtics manhandled his Nets a couple years ago?

 Also hasn't Dallas had some pretty big chokes this Post season?

So one of the most clutch shots of all time to win the title against a 73-9 team shouldn’t count?
Sorry but Tim Legler isnt wrong until the Celtics prove him wrong.

he was 1 of 4 down the stretch of that game. Obviously the 1 was huge, but he missed plenty of other shots

So again, dont count arguably one of the most clutch/important shots in nba history because he was 1 of 4 down the stretch?
Kyrie was sensational in that finals and until the Celtics prove otherwise the mavericks do indeed have the 2 most clutch players in the series.

Kyrie was great in that series. The Celtics have 7 or 8 of the 10 best players in this series. I'm not particularly worried.

I definitely see 5 of the best 10 in the series, one of which is a 7’3 made of glass guy that hasn’t played in a month.
Anything beyond that I’m not guaranteeing

I know you love to underrate the Celtics talent. But PJ Washington is their #3 it’s debatable if he’s as good as even Jrue/white

Dallas has 3 players averaging double figures. That’s it

I was listening to Tim Legler's recent video on the most important players in the series. He went

(1) Luka
(2) Tatum
(3) Jaylen = very high on Jaylen, near Tatum level
(4) Kyrie

(5) Gafford / Lively
(6) D White

Legler admitted he cheated a bit with Gafford / Lively as a duo. They are not as good as BOS guys as individuals but as a tandem they have had a huge impact on games. So he cheated and added them as a tandem. Fair enough. I get his reasoning here.

Legler then picked D White as his last guy. He could have gone Porzignis or Jrue. Or even PJ Washington. He had PJ Washington as close to D White and Jrue. That shocked me. I don't rate PJ anywhere near that level. I wouldn't even have him in the discussion.

I see Jrue and D White as borderline top 10 PGs. Or top 10 SGs. Porzingis as a sure fire top 10 center. I have PJ Washington more in the low 20s among PFs. I don't see him as anywhere near the same caliber of player as our guys.

well important is not the same thing as best

That is true. Maybe I misunderstood by what Legler meant as important rather than best. The title of the video said important. Not best.

Although it felt like he was talking about how much impact they would have on the series. He was talking about Jaylen and Kyrie. His reasoning for Jaylen being higher than Kyrie was that Tatum makes more space for Jaylen than Luka does for Kyrie. That Kyrie has less time on the ball and opportunity to do things than Jaylen does. That is why Jaylen can / is likely to have a bigger impact on the series than Kyrie.

It felt similar for PJ Washington. About how much impact he would have on the series vs Jrue or D White.

The title of the video said most important but it also said role players. They were talking about the 4 main stars for 30-40mins of the video. Then 15-20min of a couple of role players. I don't know how carefully they chose their wording / video title here.

[angryguy77]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

[0003323344]

Yea every time I read a story about who is going to win the series most have Dallas winning which as you said makes no sense. Yes, Doncic is the best player in the series and Kyrie is not far behind and they picked up valuable pieces at the trade deadline but look, if things play out like they have all year Boston is winning this series and Vegas backs it up. Vegas isn't always right but I just feel this is the Celtics year. Let everybody jump on the Doncic bandwagon the wheels will fall off soon enough.

[celticinorlando]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

ESPN needs people to watch, therefore pump up the mavs

[cman88]

Tim Legler says the two best under pressure players in this series both play for Dallas. Luka and Kyrie. The longest track of consistent clutch play under pressure.

 You know it's funny because Kyrie has never won anything without LeBonds.  And even then he won just one title. It's pretty ridiculous the reputation he's gained just because of that one shot in one game.

 Where has all this clutchness been in other seasons?  Like when Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and the celtics manhandled his Nets a couple years ago?

 Also hasn't Dallas had some pretty big chokes this Post season?

So one of the most clutch shots of all time to win the title against a 73-9 team shouldn’t count?
Sorry but Tim Legler isnt wrong until the Celtics prove him wrong.

he was 1 of 4 down the stretch of that game. Obviously the 1 was huge, but he missed plenty of other shots

So again, dont count arguably one of the most clutch/important shots in nba history because he was 1 of 4 down the stretch?
Kyrie was sensational in that finals and until the Celtics prove otherwise the mavericks do indeed have the 2 most clutch players in the series.

Kyrie was great in that series. The Celtics have 7 or 8 of the 10 best players in this series. I'm not particularly worried.

I definitely see 5 of the best 10 in the series, one of which is a 7’3 made of glass guy that hasn’t played in a month.
Anything beyond that I’m not guaranteeing

I know you love to underrate the Celtics talent. But PJ Washington is their #3 it’s debatable if he’s as good as even Jrue/white

Dallas has 3 players averaging double figures. That’s it

I was listening to Tim Legler's recent video on the most important players in the series. He went

(1) Luka
(2) Tatum
(3) Jaylen = very high on Jaylen, near Tatum level
(4) Kyrie

(5) Gafford / Lively
(6) D White

Legler admitted he cheated a bit with Gafford / Lively as a duo. They are not as good as BOS guys as individuals but as a tandem they have had a huge impact on games. So he cheated and added them as a tandem. Fair enough. I get his reasoning here.

Legler then picked D White as his last guy. He could have gone Porzignis or Jrue. Or even PJ Washington. He had PJ Washington as close to D White and Jrue. That shocked me. I don't rate PJ anywhere near that level. I wouldn't even have him in the discussion.

I see Jrue and D White as borderline top 10 PGs. Or top 10 SGs. Porzingis as a sure fire top 10 center. I have PJ Washington more in the low 20s among PFs. I don't see him as anywhere near the same caliber of player as our guys.

Imo gafford/lively lose some of their effect on the game with porzingis and Horford playing. Will they guard the 3? Or play drop coverage on those 2?

[celticinorlando]

Gafford/Lively were able to have a lot of success vs Minnesota because Gobert was no threat to pull them out of the paint. Same with Zubic when they played the clippers.

Holmgren went for 19, 11, 13, 18, 13 and 21 in the games vs Dallas. Of the bigs they played, Holmgren and Naz Reid would be the ones that were willing to take the outside shot. I would say KP and Al are much better shooters from 3 than Holmgren is. This will be the toughest test the Dallas bigs have faces.

If Gafford or Lively play the 3 point shooting bigs of boston by coming out that leaves the lane open. My guess is they give the 3 point shot up to AL and KP and role the dice.

[Who]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

No, not really.

Boston have had a boring playoff run. They have beaten up on some middling teams often struggling with injuries. It is hard to build up much excitement about a team in this circumstance.

Dallas on the other hand have beaten good teams. Denver was the favourite in the West. Minny knocked them off. Minny became the favourite. Then Dallas knocked Minny off. So Dallas got all the acclaim. Not just their own acclaim but Denver's praise & Minnesota's praise as well. Along with beating OKC and LAC themselves. It has been much more compelling.

ESPN and these media companies tend to focus on what is recent rather than what is important. So Boston's 64 win season is more in the rear-view whereas Dallas and their big playoff series / battles / victories is recent. So that is what they are focusing on.

This is standard behaviour for ESPN and the 24 hour sports media cycle.

It is recency bias. Not out of the ordinary. They do it all the time.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Yea every time I read a story about who is going to win the series most have Dallas winning which as you said makes no sense. Yes, Doncic is the best player in the series and Kyrie is not far behind and they picked up valuable pieces at the trade deadline but look, if things play out like they have all year Boston is winning this series and Vegas backs it up. Vegas isn't always right but I just feel this is the Celtics year. Let everybody jump on the Doncic bandwagon the wheels will fall off soon enough.

yup. this is all media PROPAGANDA for viewers. trying to scare people. nobody knows our team better than us. we scouted dallas that last whole series.

nothing has changed. sadly our own fans are buying in to the BS.

they are having too much time to think and are now suffering from analysis paralysis.

WE FEAR NO ONE! NO ONE!

we will beat dallas down like zhang knocked out deontay wilder.

CRYRIE and LUKA are going down. and going down hard.

C's in 5.

[Donoghus]

A lot of it is recency bias and the allure of having the best player in the series.  A lot of "what have you done for me lately" stuff.  Celtics playoff push has been mostly methodical and against ho-hum competition while DAL has had the more flashier series & games.  You also have several talking heads who I doubt watched much of the Celtics regular season or just don't understand matchups.

Those of us who remember the buildup to the 2008 Finals can remember that very similar things were going on with the Lakers heading into the series.

[celticinorlando]

KP in a starters green jersey at practice today. Seems Al back to coming off the bench.

[Who]

Tim Legler said Dallas is 9 wins and 3 losses when PJ Washington scores over 12 points. He said PJ was so important because they do not have a 3rd realible scorer and we he gives them that 3rd scorer they tough to beat.

So important rather than best.

[BitterJim]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

Doesn't ESPN have their own sports book now, too? So it doesn't even require Vegas putting pressure on huge media outlets, they have a direct incentive

[angryguy77]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

I believe so.
Doesn't ESPN have their own sports book now, too? So it doesn't even require Vegas putting pressure on huge media outlets, they have a direct incentive

[angryguy77]

Anyone find it odd that the media it pumping the mavs and vegas hasn't budged on Boston being favored. Given how entangled betting is with the league and networks, is it crazy to say Vegas wants the media to encourage people to bet on the mavs knowing full well it's not going to have to pay those bets off?

Something isn't adding up. We've got one of the best teams since the warriors that was called a super team all year long. They win 64 games are are dominant, but for some reason they can't beat a 5 seed? I just doesn't make sense to me and I'm struggling to remember a time where we've seen a team as good as boston get so disrespected by the the media while vegas shows they believe them to be the favorites.

No, not really.

Boston have had a boring playoff run. They have beaten up on some middling teams often struggling with injuries. It is hard to build up much excitement about a team in this circumstance.

Dallas on the other hand have beaten good teams. Denver was the favourite in the West. Minny knocked them off. Minny became the favourite. Then Dallas knocked Minny off. So Dallas got all the acclaim. Not just their own acclaim but Denver's praise & Minnesota's praise as well. Along with beating OKC and LAC themselves. It has been much more compelling.

ESPN and these media companies tend to focus on what is recent rather than what is important. So Boston's 64 win season is more in the rear-view whereas Dallas and their big playoff series / battles / victories is recent. So that is what they are focusing on.

This is standard behaviour for ESPN and the 24 hour sports media cycle.

It is recency bias. Not out of the ordinary. They do it all the time.

I don't quite remember it being this bad. I mean we've had stories about jealousy between teammates. Rankings of DW over JB. Ignoring our own injured players and sweeping the dominance we've had over the season under the rug all because "luka good.


We finished 14 games above the rest of the league, yet MSM has picked 3 different teams in the same playoff run.

I might be wrong and just no remembering, but can you think of a team that has been dominate as Boston has been all year get the same level of disrespect? It's from all sides too. The whole story has been about Luka and Irving rather than Boston, who could be one the verge of starting a dynasty(long way to go, but they have the core).

[celticinorlando]

Run up to the finals in 2008 vs the lakers was just as bad. Mainly because Boston played with their food in Atlanta and Cleveland.

Plus the whole “I’m not sure how three superstars will play together in the finals” narrative.