Mavericks (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Finals Game #1 6/6/24

[gift]

Kyrie and others will hit shots at some point in the series. But the Celtics can still play better too and seem like they can get their shots whenever they want them. Tatum will have a couple of big scoring games, I think, when Dallas tries to focus on him less to shut down open shots on the perimeter. This series will probably be much like the whole season and playoffs in that the Celtics will have to be really cold in order to lose. Need to come out with energy to start game 2 like they started game 1.

[celticinorlando]

Was Indiana a tougher match up style wise for the Celtics?

[celticinorlando]

If Dallas is going to go long stretches with Luka , Kyrie and Kleber together...then Boston is going to get whatever they want on offense. Those three are below average defenders.

Also Al on Luka is a really good match up for Boston. Al is sturdy enough not to get backed down from by Luka and Al gave Luka fits closing out on him. He has the length to make things tough.

Plus Luka is kind of plodding on offense and Al can keep up. I think this is what Minnesota wanted to do with Gobert but Gobert was too slow even for Luka, esp closing out.

[LilRip]

Terrific game from the C’s! And kudos to Joe Mazz for a good gameplan that worked. Luka is amazing but he can’t beat a team by himself. And if he’s going to score, at least make him work for it (which the C’s did). It’s more tiring to drive to the cup than it is to take jump shots.

I’m wondering what the adjustments will be in game 2. Wouldn’t surprise me if KP continued coming off the bench. I wonder if Dallas will double JT less too to prevent the “others” from beating them. For the C’s, I think the switches and selective blitzes will work. I guess Mavs can adjust by playing Luka off-ball more and having Kyrie run the point. I also wonder if Mavs will go small and start blitzing our PnR to stop guys from getting downhill because they couldn’t stay in front of their man all night.

[Vermont Green]

If it is any solace, in spite of all the negative noise out of the talking heads, the Celtics are still heavily favored to win the series and Game 1 according to the betting lines:

Series:
Celtics   -225
Mavs     +188 (this is the best I saw)

Game 1 (Money Line):
Celtics    -250
Mavs     +205

I may not fully understand how the Books set these odds but I think it is saying that roughly twice as many people are betting on the Celtics to win over the Mavs to win.  And if BOS is favored almost 2-1 to win the series now, what will the odds jump to if they win Game 1?

I admit, I am nervous.  I don't know how Porzingis is going to look.  I don't know just how good Doncic could be.  But if we play well and win Game 1, I am going to feel a whole lot better about winning this series.

The answer is (per Fan Duel):

Series:
Celtics   -420
Mavs     +330

Game 1 (Money Line):
Celtics    -275
Mavs     +225

BOS won the 1st quarter big time, but the rest of the game was fairly close.  DAL will try to build on that and avoid getting down early by so much.  Celtics will need to make some adjustments and come out strong again.

DAL got away with so much "bullying" defense (especially Lively on Porzingis) that I am sure they will come out with more of that.  We'll see how the refs call it in Game 2.

[celticinorlando]

Terrific game from the C’s! And kudos to Joe Mazz for a good gameplan that worked. Luka is amazing but he can’t beat a team by himself. And if he’s going to score, at least make him work for it (which the C’s did). It’s more tiring to drive to the cup than it is to take jump shots.

I’m wondering what the adjustments will be in game 2. Wouldn’t surprise me if KP continued coming off the bench. I wonder if Dallas will double JT less too to prevent the “others” from beating them. For the C’s, I think the switches and selective blitzes will work. I guess Mavs can adjust by playing Luka off-ball more and having Kyrie run the point. I also wonder if Mavs will go small and start blitzing our PnR to stop guys from getting downhill because they couldn’t stay in front of their man all night.

I don't think Dallas can function if they take the ball out of luka's hands. He would have to become a spot up shooter or have to work to get open off the ball like Curry does. He just does not have the knees nor energy for that.

My guess is Kidd will just say we missed shots and they continue to do the same things on offense. Thing is Luka saw about 8 different guys last night and all 8 guys made him work.

I am not sure Dallas can guard Boston. I thought it was telling that Holiday took PJ Washington into the lane and bodied him for a layup.

I thought Dallas got away with a ton of fouls last night. They are going to be ultra physical with JT and KP. Several times I could not believe they did not get called for it.

I did not think Boston's offense was all that great so there is room for improvement there. But they are going to double Tatum and hope he turns it over at a high rate. Last night he did but he even said he has to clean that up.

I do expect Dallas to get more 3's up in game 2.

[boscel33]

That's one and one only.  Three more wins, not counting my chickens for sure.  As good as they looked, they still allowed a Dallas run.  Let's hope for a solid game two, btw, which I'll be at!  Don't take the foot off the gas pedal, let's go to Dallas up 2-0.  BTW, Tatum needs to get going, can't believe I'm saying that coming off a double double, but he averaged 26.9PPG this year.  We're going to need him to do more than 16 points.

[liam]

If Dallas is going to go long stretches with Luka , Kyrie and Kleber together...then Boston is going to get whatever they want on offense. Those three are below average defenders.

Also Al on Luka is a really good match up for Boston. Al is sturdy enough not to get backed down from by Luka and Al gave Luka fits closing out on him. He has the length to make things tough.

Plus Luka is kind of plodding on offense and Al can keep up. I think this is what Minnesota wanted to do with Gobert but Gobert was too slow even for Luka, esp closing out.

Tillman can match up against Luka in the same way Al does.

[Vermont Green]

I went through the box score a little more.  Tatum with 6 TOV, yes, that is too many.  He needs to clean that up.  And only 2 FTA.  Hard to believe he only got fouled 1 time.

Another warning flag was the 68% FT% by BOS.  That could be an issue in a close game, but DAL was only 63% FT%.  We were 13 - 19, they were 12 - 19.  So we actually won that category.

A pleasant surprise was how well our bench played.  Porzingis was part of our bench, which distorts things a little, but Hauser and Pritchard were both net positives also.  Hardy ran up some points in the garbage time but even with that, our bench won out 32-20 points.

[Donoghus]

Exhausted and currently on flight back to Chicago from Boston. Some thoughts.

- Crowd was incredible last night. Start to finish the energy was palpable. The place was shaking during that flurry to end the first quarter.

- Having KP back is making this team borderline unstoppable. Especially with the way the Celtics match up with Dallas.  Lively has no answers and KP’s simple presence on the court on the defensive end plays such an impact.  For a guy that hasn’t played in over a month,  his two way game last night was unbelievable. The team thrived off him. It was impressive.

- Tatum sucked in the Mavs focus and it really opened things up for everyone else.  Thought the Mavs did a decent job on him but the downside of that was that it really opened up great looks for everyone else.

- Luka is gonna get his but the Celtics are making him earn it.  He’s gonna need to make his teammates around him better or this is gonna be a short series.  If he keeps playing like he did last night, it plays right into the Celtics’ favor.

- 2024 playoff Jaylen is such a joy to watch. His aggressiveness and harnessed angry energy is playing a huge role in the tempo & mindset of this team.  He’s evolved into the emotional leader of this team.

- Derek had one of the most under the radar 15/5 games you’ll ever see. So steady out there.  He & Jrue providing the steadying influence.

[Kuberski33]

Exhausted and currently on flight back to Chicago from Boston. Some thoughts.

- Crowd was incredible last night. Start to finish the energy was palpable. The place was shaking during that flurry to end the first quarter.

- Having KP back is making this team borderline unstoppable. Especially with the way the Celtics match up with Dallas.  Lively has no answers and KP’s simple presence on the court on the defensive end plays such an impact.  For a guy that hasn’t played in over a month,  his two way game last night was unbelievable. The team thrived off him. It was impressive.

- Tatum sucked in the Mavs focus and it really opened things up for everyone else.  Thought the Mavs did a decent job on him but the downside of that was that it really opened up great looks for everyone else.

- Luka is gonna get his but the Celtics are making him earn it.  He’s gonna need to make his teammates around him better or this is gonna be a short series.  If he keeps playing like he did last night, it plays right into the Celtics’ favor.

- 2024 playoff Jaylen is such a joy to watch. His aggressiveness and harnessed angry energy is playing a huge role in the tempo & mindset of this team.  He’s evolved into the emotional leader of this team.

- Derek had one of the most under the radar 15/5 games you’ll ever see. So steady out there.  He & Jrue providing the steadying influence.

I was there myself last night and I think I agree with all of this. It seemed to me that Luka has a bit more difficulty with small, quick guys out on the perimeter vs Jaylen or even Holiday.  White and PP bothered him a little bit as both are quicker than him.

Beyond this the biggest thing I noticed was we were shooting 3's all night while they were shooting 2's for the most part. If the C's do that and hit their average (last night I think they were slightly above) that's going to bode pretty well for their chances of winning.

Kyrie had an off night. Did we get into his head? Maybe, but I don't expect that to continue.  He'll show up eventually. If not in Game 2, definitely in Dallas.

[Donoghus]

Kyrie had an off night. Did we get into his head? Maybe, but I don't expect that to continue.  He'll show up eventually. If not in Game 2, definitely in Dallas.

Apparently, Mike Gorman was on Toucher & Hardy this morning and said that Kyrie was getting into it with a fan last night and it totally distracted him. Boston crowd definitely getting in his head.

[jpotter33]

Was Indiana a tougher match up style wise for the Celtics?

This will be controversial, but I absolutely think it’s close, even with Dallas having a much better roster and talent level.

What the media doesn’t get is that the playoffs are all about matchups, which is why Denver could easily beat Minny who beat Denver, who would easily beat Dallas.

Indy’s style is much more about pace and ball/player movement. That’s much harder to guard than the slower, iso-heavy, heliocentric model that Dallas employs, which is vulnerable to a team with great, big and long defenders across the board with very limited options to pick on.

[jpotter33]

Exhausted and currently on flight back to Chicago from Boston. Some thoughts.

- Crowd was incredible last night. Start to finish the energy was palpable. The place was shaking during that flurry to end the first quarter.

- Having KP back is making this team borderline unstoppable. Especially with the way the Celtics match up with Dallas.  Lively has no answers and KP’s simple presence on the court on the defensive end plays such an impact.  For a guy that hasn’t played in over a month,  his two way game last night was unbelievable. The team thrived off him. It was impressive.

- Tatum sucked in the Mavs focus and it really opened things up for everyone else.  Thought the Mavs did a decent job on him but the downside of that was that it really opened up great looks for everyone else.

- Luka is gonna get his but the Celtics are making him earn it.  He’s gonna need to make his teammates around him better or this is gonna be a short series.  If he keeps playing like he did last night, it plays right into the Celtics’ favor.

- 2024 playoff Jaylen is such a joy to watch. His aggressiveness and harnessed angry energy is playing a huge role in the tempo & mindset of this team.  He’s evolved into the emotional leader of this team.

- Derek had one of the most under the radar 15/5 games you’ll ever see. So steady out there.  He & Jrue providing the steadying influence.

Yep. We’ve seen it most of the playoffs so far, and it simply hasn’t worked. And with KP back it’s even more of a stretch now. It’s hard to know if this is an explicit component of the gameplan or if he just naturally draws that much attention, but you have to think Kidd changes that focus moving forward. Just too many weapons to rely on that. In particular, both Brown and KP are so good at scoring individually -especially on mismatches - that you can’t just load up on Tatum and let the others beat you, because they absolutely will.

[Kuberski33]

Kyrie had an off night. Did we get into his head? Maybe, but I don't expect that to continue.  He'll show up eventually. If not in Game 2, definitely in Dallas.

Apparently, Mike Gorman was on Toucher & Hardy this morning and said that Kyrie was getting into it with a fan last night and it totally distracted him. Boston crowd definitely getting in his head.

Love it. Red would certainly have approved, lol.