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Celtics are the better team.
Dallas's best chance at a win is in the next game.
DWhite's block is the story of the Finals, at least thus far. The Mavericks haven't played their game at all through 2. Being home might help.
Celtics are the better team.
Dallas's best chance at a win is in the next game.
Tbh...It's cool. We got a guy on the job. The Great Forehead will stop them.
You mean Browns shove in the back / hold down of PJ?
We were robbed of seeing a Mavs close to -3 what happens next ending.
One day a real debate will be needed about how much for all he brings on offense, Luka costs his team bc of his (lack of) defense...
Not sure the balance is positive
Even less sure why Spurs fans dream of having him playing fo us and messing up Wemby's career (bc of his stats padding obsession), in their wildest dream...
He's the white James Harden
Next game will decide if the refs will give the Mavs the same home calls the celts got...if so it might be a 6-7 game series...
If celts still get away with obvious fouls - its pretty much over....having watched the nba all my life though it appears the refs have been mandated to guarantee a long series...
not to say the celts dont look better right now but the refs gave them every green light to hack away and mug the mavs ...
now if the mavs realize what the home team is getting away with and dont hang their heads - the refs might be ready to leave the door open for the mavs to go back to boston tied 2-2
seen this movie too many times...
Jrue Holiday has a case for Finals MVP, which will be nice for the whole Off vs Def debate generally, but especially in regard to Milwaukee's decision to choose Lillard over him-- a decision I wasn't a fan of. I thought the Bucks should've tried to improve in other areas where they were weaker rather than let go of a piece as valuable as Jrue.
Boston's kinda bucking the trend a little of having one clearly defined star as the leader, and has instead gone with incredible depth and high quality going 6 deep-- something that's going to be hard to maintain financially once Tatum signs his new contract. Tatum/Brown aren't Jordan/Pippen, or Steph/KD, but White/Holiday/Porzingis might be one of the best trios of support cast we've ever seen.
if Boston were down 2-0 right now, the big story would be Tatum's 31.6 FG%, but they're up and their depth has covered his poor shooting so far, and allowed him to contribute in other ways, like leading the team in rebounds & assists. It's such a luxury for the Celts to have their supposed best player have two subpar games and still be up 2-0.
DWhite saving Tatum's Kirby worshipping bum ass per usual tbh
Again, this is bereft of context. The Bucks decision, in so much as it was one, was made by Antetokounmpo who for the first time seemed like he was actually contemplating asking out and clearly wanted this to happen.
Lillard is also a half court offense unto himself (or at least was up until this season), the exact area they've struggled at in the playoffs throughout this era. Yes, even when they won the championship, which only happened because Irving and Harden were injured.
The Celtics did a nice job but also got lucky to get Holiday and Porzingis. This wasn't some grand plan and it's not going to be a repeatable formula in terms of roster construction.
White's block prevented it going to 3 with something like 50 seconds left. Also, Mavericks would have been within one posession or maybe tied/leading by one, if they just hit their FTs. Just saying they're the better team isn't indicative of what could have occurred if White doesn't bail Tatum out and the Mavs hit a few more FTs.
I do agree the next game is a must-win, obviously.
Everyone wants Jrue as a third/fourth option.
Having him as second/third isn't as good.
While his defense is among the best in the league, his playoff shooting splits over 40 playoff games with the Bucks were 39/30/75, 18ppg.
Other than obviously injuries, subpar offense was always their downfall.
They definitely needed a point guard who's better offensively, but going all in on Lillard was a questionable decision, to say the least.
Bereft is such a strong word, but ok. Either way, it's an interesting debate with regards to offense vs defense, and the other context would be that it was assumed Portland would trade Jrue since he wasn't on their timeline, meaning he could wind up on an opponent's roster-- Miami, Philly, Boston, etc... so also in the equation of Lillard's good offense and weak defense vs Jrue good defense and decent offense, there's the question if it's worth it knowing an enemy would gain quite a bit by adding Jrue. Anyway, cool stuff to think about.
I love Derek, and he has been great in the clutch, but that was a blatant foul. NBA refs are frighteningly bad.
Mavs played great team ball with lots of guys stepping up. In the finals they have turned back into what we might have expected of a Luka/Kyrie-led team.
Celtics demonstrating why the two-center lineup is not a recipe for success. The Mavs haven’t been able to pack the paint like they could against the timberwolves, so the Celtics are able to just abuse Luka on the defensive end.
he has led a team to the nba finals. clearly he's a positive.One day a real debate will be needed about how much for all he brings on offense, Luka costs his team bc of his (lack of) defense...
Not sure the balance is positive
Even less sure why Spurs fans dream of having him playing fo us and messing up Wemby's career (bc of his stats padding obsession), in their wildest dream...
He's the white James Harden
I mostly agree with this, but the last line misses the most important point of this that the detractors keep either missing or intentionally glossing over, which is Antetokounmpo was threatening to ask out and clearly wanted this trade to happen.
Unless it's Westbrook to the Lakers level bad (and no matter what you think of this, it was eons away from that), that was rightfully the determining factor.
It really isn't because of the Antetokounmpo factor and the reality being that Lillard would solve their biggest need throughout the entirety of the era . . . the problem is, it looks like they got him a season too late and they were left with a gaping hole opposite him in the back court.
Not to downplay Holiday's contributions, but so much of this is luck. Right place, right time and yet every time it works out for someone and blows up in someone else's face, the hot take pundits push their agenda without considering the context.
The Celtics have, on paper, the perfect roster build for today's NBA: two big guards, two interchangeable forwards, two mobile, skilled bigs. All above average defenders, all capable shooters, all can put the ball in the floor, all can pass. Not a single liabiity on any side of the floor. It really can't get much better than that. That's why they have a chance to ring without a true #1 guy, tbh.
This is what the Spurs should aim at, although it is way harder to accomplish than it seems.
So much of Luka's counting stats are wrapped up in his high usage rate that I legit don't know how "good" he is.One day a real debate will be needed about how much for all he brings on offense, Luka costs his team bc of his (lack of) defense...
Not sure the balance is positive
Even less sure why Spurs fans dream of having him playing fo us and messing up Wemby's career (bc of his stats padding obsession), in their wildest dream...
He's the white James Harden
For every one of those game winners he makes over Gobert he misses 9 others...they just don't get talked about.
His inability to remotely guard anything other than a post up attempt kills the mavs on defense.
And Harden was the laziest off ball player I ever seen...but Luka has him beat by a mile...when he doesn't have the ball dude is more disinterested in what is going on than I am listening to my wife talk about what happened at her job. The basketball version of "oh wow honey that's crazy."
Hard no to this dude ever joining the Spurs. Dude is a cancer. Brunson got away from him and became a fringe mvp player. Kristaps got away from him and he two games from a ring. Carlisle got away from him and in two years got his team to the conference finals. even Dennis Smith Jr is having a mini resurgence. Watch Hardaway Jr go somewhere else next year, contribute, and people be like "how come he couldn't do this in Dallas?"
You can't find a more "i got my numbers so I did my job" player in sports anywhere than Luka.
Spurs won't ever run the tab up and trade all their first rounders like Boston did to build this team TBH. The Holts don't have it in them.
To build a team like the Celtics you got to be willing to pay what the Celtics have in money and draft capital.
Do the Spurs have it in them to give a Jaylen Brown level player a 300 mil + contract? No doubt they going to cash Wemby out when the time comes, but would they also do it for whoever the second best player is?
They willing to give up a mostly unprotected future first to get a Derrick White type of player?
They willing to give a 33 year old veteran a 130 million dollar deal?
If they not willing to do these things, and I don't think they ever will be...then they probably not going to build anything like what Boston has.
The Spurs should aspire to it (everyone does; it's not like some teams are ignorant or oblivious to it), but not be consumed with doing so because it's almost impossible to pull off and will lead to foolish decisions like selecting Castle 4th.
The biggest mistake people make with every current champion is thinking however they were constructed is the way you have to be to win and ignoring the luck that went into it.
The Spurs don't need a "perfect" roster because they'll probably eventually have the best player in the league, so like the Nuggets last season, they'll be able to get away with things a team like the Celtics can't.
Last edited by TD 21; 06-10-2024 at 03:54 PM.
The Celtics actually got more first round picks than they gave out when building this roster, tbh.
I still don't fully understand how they ended up with two picks as well as Porzingis tbhThe Celtics actually got more first round picks than they gave out when building this roster, tbh.
Porzingis had a player option,Celtics didn't have cap space to get him in FA.I still don't fully understand how they ended up with two picks as well as Porzingis tbh
Opted in to the benefit of both teams and then signed an extension.
Still, that shows you that it isn't about senselessly giving out first round pick, you have to be smart about it and jump at the right options. For example, giving back all the Atlanta picks for a guy that will get relentesly hunted on any playoffs series that matters isn't smart business.I still don't fully understand how they ended up with two picks as well as Porzingis tbh
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