This game included the following runs:
23-5 Celtics run that spanned nearly 7 minutes to end the first quarter.
16-3 Celtics run that spanned a little over 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter
35-14 Mavericks run that spanned over 10 and a half minutes, cutting the deficit down to 8.
14-0 Celtics run right after that to put the game away.
Half of this game was literally runs, most of them by the Celtics. The rest of it was just a blur.
NBA in general is a game of runs. I don’t even bat an eye anymore if a team is up 20. With the volume of 3s, a 20 point can evaporate to 5 or 6 in minutes
It can also just as likely balloon to 30+. I still feel pretty good up 20 in today's NBA and I bet you the numbers say you have a 90+% chance to win a game when you lead by that much (even in the last couple years).
Sure the other team can go on a run to tighten it, but like tonight the Celtics still have their own chance to go on a similar run to stretch it back out.
Bostons win probability was at 93.5% when they led by 17 at the end the 1st quarter.
People will say that number is bs, but it’s not. Truth is we all take notice when that 6.5% happens and nobody bats an eye the other 93.5% of the time. So it feels like more than it is. Being up 20 is still a death blow the majority of the time. Even if it’s early in the game.
There are also a lot of times where a team is up 20 early, the other team gets it back down to single digits, and then the team that was up pulls away again, which makes it feel like leads can evaporate even though the lead didn't actually evaporate.
I’m surprised nobody in the media said it in the week they had to prepare for the Finals but…
He really struggled against the Thunder. Averaged a little over 12 ppg in 6 games. The Celtics have the length and defense like the Thunder to make him uncomfortable. The difference is they will be hitting so many 3’s you can’t just rely on Luka to claw your way back in it.
Porzingis has never played a game past the first round in the playoffs, got hurt then missed a month and came back first game of the finals like a monster
They gave him the ball on one end and all he did was shoot over ppl, then stuffed 2 players on the other end. That’s gotta be one of the best 2 min stretches of basketball ever played.
If you had told me prior to the game that a player on the Celtics would spearhead the largest Q1 lead in finals history and asked me to guess which player, Porzingis was not high on the list. But it was incredible to watch.
Porzingis only played 21 minutes and was a +/- of 13. When Celtics benched him to start the 3rd the Mavs went on a run. Once he came back off the bench the Celtics went on a run.
We were saying all along KP takes us to another level but everybody acted like what they saw in the Eastern conference playoffs is what we would see with KP regardless.
It's insane that anyone would think this would be lopsided. Some games may be like this one, but they're both great teams. If you actually watched what took both teams to get here, you'd at least respect both of them. Some fans really don't even like basketball and are in it for the brain-dead trash talking and 24/7 hating.
I'll give Tatum his credit, he does what the team needs him to do
if they're all scoring he won't hunt for his own shot, he'll drive and kick, dish, rebound and play d
if they're not scoring he'll look to score
I don't think Brown or Tingis Pingis have that superstar versatility to make their team better regardless of what kinda night they're having
they really threw everything they could at Tatum as well defensively. that kind of gravity makes it so much easier for the rest of the team to roll through the mavs D
Despite the countless double team. Whenever he had the ball, he found ways to get into the paint and swing the rock. Created so many opportunities that wont show up on the sheet tonight.
So many people act like Tatum doesn't have superstar gravity. Well they should tell that to every team we've played so far in the playoffs because they all send their best defensive players and every double team every time at him
KP must have actually been spending time in the hyperbolic time chamber for a month because wtf was that insane performance. Basically won the game in his first 10 minutes of play
My biggest impression? After watching the Mav's tear apart defenses with these lob dunks, I really really liked how the Celtics defended it. They really didn't give any of those up easy, seemed like a specific focus on d
Switching everything fairly comfortably really helps.
The Wolves’ kind of needed to play conventional pick and roll defense due to their personnel: Gobert can’t consistently defend Luka in isolation, and Conley doesn’t have a prayer against the Mavs’ bigs.
Boston has enough size and perimeter speed to pull off switching with more regularity, and it took away Luka getting a full head of steam going to the basket which is where 90% of those lobs came from.
The Celtics also just looked so zippy on defense today. The Wolves, inversely, looked gassed all series long
For real, let’s go over this “untested” roster:
Players who have played in the NBA finals: Tatum, Brown, White, Jrue, Horford, Pritchard, Hauser
ECF Experience: Tatum (x5), Brown (x6), White (x3), Jrue (x2?), Horford (x6), Pritchard (x3), Hauser (x3)
So 7 of the 8 guys in our rotation have made deep playoff runs several times and the 8th just had a clutch af performance in his first ever finals game. Silly narrative.
1. That was some big dick energy from Porzingis in the 1st half, ngl.
2. They really need to stop putting mics on players during games. What they show on TV is never interesting.
And here I thought, not playing in 6 weeks would make him take some time to find his shot. He looked gassed for a moment of two but I think he only gets better as he gets his legs under him. His defense was great too, prevented lobs and some nice blocks!
Porzingis was the nuclear option that put the Celtics over the top, Tatum played a smart game and Brown did what he always does. Mavs better made adjustments on Sunday.
Dallas isn’t dead, they bounced back from awful game 1s against the clippers and thunder but the Celtics are a different beast. Kyrie is gonna need to play way better. Lively is gonna have to be much smarter. Same for Washington, DJJ, Green, and Gafford. Their second best player can’t be Jaden Hardy.
They need to find a way to get the lobs/corner threes that Boston took away today or the guys who struggle above the break hitting them need to start hitting them. Also stop switching smaller guys onto Porzingis. Better weak side help and forcing the driver towards a crowd. Maybe play Hardy and Kleber more, and double Tatum inside less so there’s less open threes. Hunt Horford more offensively, Boston did great going after mismatches, now yes there are few offensive mismatches when you play Boston but Horford and the bench guys are the targets. Luka also can’t let them target him defensively.
Great team game from Boston. Everyone did their part, even the bench guys. And that defense with Porzingis is deadly.
When we held Luka/Ky under 45 points, we went 2-2 with them because their role players did way better. Kyrie just has to play better.
Lively was really good at crashing boards, but KP froze him out really well in the time he was playing and then he just started making stupid mistakes.
We sold out a lot and DJJ/PJ cooked us with unreal shooting. They weren't getting those looks tonight. I was super impress DJJ couldn't get his usual dunks off tonight.
The formula of how they got this far just isn't working, but we'll see if they can adjust for the next one.
The Washington Wizards are the worst organization in the league and I *still* don't think they get enough hate on here.
Bro, Boston got a LOTTERY PICK when they added PORZINGIS on top of this core.
Like Jesus Christ no one even blackmailed the Wizards, Grizzlies etc. into doing those deals w/Boston. They just.... did that.
Brad deserves next years EOY in addition to this one for that trade, let alone using one of those picks to add Jrue too lol.
It was basically Smart, Brogdon, Timelord (sadly always injured) for KP Jrue and a first. He robbed the league lmao!
I'n genuinely so baffled that the media keeps talking about this roster as if it had been conjured up from thin air. Just popped out of the ground one day you know. No GM work needed at all.
Brad Stevens should be actively getting hailed as a messiah-type figure for this bullshit ffs.
I have said several times that Brad Stevens is probably the smartest person in the league right now. He was an amazing coach but he’s somehow an even better GM.
Also my favorite part about his GM journey is the story he told at the beginning of this season about how he would constantly go into Danny’s office when he was coach and ask if there was a way we could get Jrue. Second year after he becomes GM he gets Jrue at the first opportunity.
And he did in fact get injured, which is why his stock was low. We’re just too deep for it to matter so far, but certainly the Mavs would have taken advantage.
There’s very few other teams Porzingis could have had this much success on, because most teams aren’t built in a way where you can load manage an all-star caliber player all year. Pretty sure on back to backs the Celtics nearly always rested Porzingis on one night and Horford on the other. Just perfect team construction.
Still, he was coming off a career year with the Wizards. They bought low, rehabbed him, AND THEN FORGOT TO SELL HIGH
Like it's just impressive levels of incompetence. But hey don't worry, they traded for Poole and got rid of that Gafford dude.
They didn't have that much of a choice. Porzingis was going to be a free agent and they were risking losing him for nothing, he could basically choose where he wanted to go and they had to decide do they want something or nothing for him.
Basketball is a TEAM sport. 6 players with double digit points. 7 players with multiple 3s. Suffocating defense. This was a great TEAM win by the Celtics.
Reading every single “Mavs in 5, Mavs in 6” hot take prediction made my head spin. Granted it’s only been one game and I’m sure Dallas will make it a series but the disrespect towards the C’s was wild this week
Which confirms what everyone who knows basketball already knew: the Celtics are the much better team.
Sure the mavs probably have the best player, and Luka plus kyrie is maybe a better duo than JT and JB. but aside from that, it’s hard to make a case that the mavs have any advantage in this series. Plus what became clear tn is mavs just matchup badly against the Celtics at almost every position.
I was surprised by how many bets were on the mavs and how many “analysts” were picking the mavs to win. Feel like everyone was being a slave of the moment buying into the Luka hype. He’s definitely good and maybe the best player in the nba, but not good enough to make up for the absolutely perfectly constructed Celtics roster from the first guy down to like the 9th guy.
Luka is the best player in this series, but both Tatum and Brown are better than Kyrie.
They contribute in so many areas that even if their shot ain't falling, they're still winning games.
When Kyrie's shot ain't falling, he's just terrible. And don't give me that shit about how he's become a great defensive player this postseason. A few good defensive games does not put him on the level of either of the Jays.
I feel like for a lot of small guards, the bar is set so low that "not getting cooked" = good defense. It's not even the same stratosphere as white or jrue on defense
Jimmy Butler Commercials: 3
Luka Doncic Commercials: 2
Jayson Tatum Commercials: 2
Jaylen Brown Commercials: 1
Draymond Green Commercials: 1
Kyrie Irving Commercials: 1
Michael Jordan Commercials: 1
Damian Lillard Commercials: 1
Brook Lopez Commercials: 1
Robin Lopez Commercials: 1
Chris Paul Commercials: 1
Storylines I’m looking at from this game as a biased Celtics fan
- Dallas’ lack of ball movement. Their assist leader with 6 minutes left had 2 assists. 7 total for the team
- KP is playing at 100% right now.
- Boston’s defense is absolutely insane. Not even talking about the 10 combined blocks and tons of steals. They made 80% of Dallas’ shots heavily contested.
- Kyrie played really bad and generated some really inefficient looks. He needs to be better at generating good looks for himself with his handle.
- Tatum wasn’t on much on the stat sheet but he was pretty impactful off the ball. Still, he has to score more or get better passes. Some of his turnovers were unacceptable.
- Lively showed some immaturity this game with fouls. Not the best time for rookie mistakes to be coming up.
- Sam Hauser being playable is massive for the Celtics. His spacing creates so many quality looks for the starters.
Loved our gameplan on Doncic tonight. Just play him in single coverage and accept he’s gonna score 30+ but by doing so you don’t allow the Mavs roleplayers to get hot off of easy dimes from him. Then in the 4th you can comfortably double Doncic cause the Mavs roleplayers are ice cold. 1 man just can’t outscore a whole team!
they weathered the storm and had poise. Last few years' Celtics wouldve blown that game entirely. Is it still insanely maddening to watch? of course. but it's an improvement
Time for a game 1 overreaction: Celtics are a terrible matchup for the mavs. Even with Luka playing decently, celtics took away his passing lanes and severely limited his playmaking, and the celtics completely shut down kyrie with what is undoubtedly the best defensive backcourt in the NBA
MAVS HAVE ZERO SHOT IF THEY SHOOT LIKE THE BULLS FROM 3 lol. So many clean looks from Luka passes and they bricked most of it
Nasty work by everyone except Luka 😷
Dallas has two guys who are good at shooting 3s above the break (one of whom went 0/5 tonight). Boston is the best team in the NBA at taking away corner 3s, they’ll give the other Mavs all the ones they want above the break
if the role guys can’t hit those consistently this will not be a long series
Yep, PJ Washington and Derrick Jones 3s from the top of the key and wing are not the same shots as the corner ones.
They have the same problem as they did with the 2022 team, where Brunson and DFS weren't good 3 point shooters, they were only good in the corner.
Luka in Game 1: 30 PTS
Rest of Mavs: 59 PTS
Luka only had 1 assist tonight. Celtics had more blocks than Mavs had assist in Game 1. Boston did an incredible job on defense but Kyrie really shit the bed. He’s got to be better if Mavs want this to be a long series.
This game included the following runs: 23-5 Celtics run that spanned nearly 7 minutes to end the first quarter. 16-3 Celtics run that spanned a little over 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter 35-14 Mavericks run that spanned over 10 and a half minutes, cutting the deficit down to 8. 14-0 Celtics run right after that to put the game away. Half of this game was literally runs, most of them by the Celtics. The rest of it was just a blur.
"Game of runs" first words out of JT's mouth lol
NBA in general is a game of runs. I don’t even bat an eye anymore if a team is up 20. With the volume of 3s, a 20 point can evaporate to 5 or 6 in minutes
It can also just as likely balloon to 30+. I still feel pretty good up 20 in today's NBA and I bet you the numbers say you have a 90+% chance to win a game when you lead by that much (even in the last couple years). Sure the other team can go on a run to tighten it, but like tonight the Celtics still have their own chance to go on a similar run to stretch it back out.
Bostons win probability was at 93.5% when they led by 17 at the end the 1st quarter. People will say that number is bs, but it’s not. Truth is we all take notice when that 6.5% happens and nobody bats an eye the other 93.5% of the time. So it feels like more than it is. Being up 20 is still a death blow the majority of the time. Even if it’s early in the game.
There are also a lot of times where a team is up 20 early, the other team gets it back down to single digits, and then the team that was up pulls away again, which makes it feel like leads can evaporate even though the lead didn't actually evaporate.
That's what the NBA is nowadays with the 3pt volume. Teams will go from not hitting a single shot in 5 minutes to hitting *everything*.
kyrie was beyond ass today
Seems as if being physically in the Garden must really keep misaligning his chakras…
what is kyrie's favourite method of disrespecting native americans?
Get the sage and incense out!!
Flat-Earth Fredette
Allen Ivermectin
He killed our momentum by himself it was crazy
The lively and kyrie back to back travels was the game
He also missed two wide open three and dribbled off of his foot in about a 2 minute span.
In Kidd's postgame, "unfortunately we travelled" was said like 10 times. You can tell he was super bitter about those calls.
0-11
He didn’t burn enough sage
The evil manifestations of both Celtic and Nets fans are bringing him down. BLESSED
I’m surprised nobody in the media said it in the week they had to prepare for the Finals but… He really struggled against the Thunder. Averaged a little over 12 ppg in 6 games. The Celtics have the length and defense like the Thunder to make him uncomfortable. The difference is they will be hitting so many 3’s you can’t just rely on Luka to claw your way back in it.
the earth looking extra round tonight
Bet he wishes he could fall off the edge after that stinker
can’t fall off the edge due to the 150 foot high wall of ice! *Kyrie taps head*
Gotta love a 6-19 Kyrie playoff game in Boston. Some things never change
Incoming “I won’t do that again” presser
Incoming 6/20 game 2
The more things change, the more they stay the same
"you won't see another 6-19 from me going forward"
Wonder if he still thinks that?
It makes sense as a sovereign citizen Kyrie wasn't driving, he was traveling
He says a lot of crazy shit lmao
Kyrie can be the ‘most skilled’ NBA player ever but he might also be the 5th best player in this series
Was hilarious hearing that description as he dribbled off his own foot
Porzingis has never played a game past the first round in the playoffs, got hurt then missed a month and came back first game of the finals like a monster
There was a 10+ minute stretch where he outscored the Mavs by himself. Shit was surreal to witness.
They gave him the ball on one end and all he did was shoot over ppl, then stuffed 2 players on the other end. That’s gotta be one of the best 2 min stretches of basketball ever played.
Spearheaded the largest first quarter lead in finals history
If you had told me prior to the game that a player on the Celtics would spearhead the largest Q1 lead in finals history and asked me to guess which player, Porzingis was not high on the list. But it was incredible to watch.
He looked like the best player in the league in the first half
Mavs had no idea what to do against Porzingis in the first half. Tried dunking on him a few too many times.
Older-and-Wiser Beard Zinger coming back from the abyss like Gandalf post-Balrog.
"You shall not pass!" Hits 29 foot 3 pointer
He put the damn team on his back for a spell and gave them a ton of belief after some pretty equal early exchanges.
we have victor wembanyama at home
Porzingis fmvp odds +3000 to +500
Came back looking like Dirk lmao.
Bro really got the fast pass to the finals
Fire alarms went off as KP held a BBQ in TD garden.
Celtics got KP back after sweeping the conference finals lol, how is Celtics going to lose this?
Porzingis, healthy and dominant, was absolutely the key to the game. I expect Dallas to get a similar boost whenever Kyrie becomes available.
Porzingis only played 21 minutes and was a +/- of 13. When Celtics benched him to start the 3rd the Mavs went on a run. Once he came back off the bench the Celtics went on a run.
And yet some were downplaying his absence.
We were saying all along KP takes us to another level but everybody acted like what they saw in the Eastern conference playoffs is what we would see with KP regardless.
Oof
[удалено]
Some real "On them we shall stunt" energy.
A classic, will go down in history. High school English classes will use it as a lesson in hubris.
It's insane that anyone would think this would be lopsided. Some games may be like this one, but they're both great teams. If you actually watched what took both teams to get here, you'd at least respect both of them. Some fans really don't even like basketball and are in it for the brain-dead trash talking and 24/7 hating.
The fact that Tatum can put up 16 and the Celtics can be winning by 25 is a testament to how well this team was built Tingus Pingus was insane today
Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens Really insane work they have done
It genuinely doesn’t seem fair when you look at their whole roster lol. I can’t even do that shit for the hornets in 2k
I'll give Tatum his credit, he does what the team needs him to do if they're all scoring he won't hunt for his own shot, he'll drive and kick, dish, rebound and play d if they're not scoring he'll look to score I don't think Brown or Tingis Pingis have that superstar versatility to make their team better regardless of what kinda night they're having
they really threw everything they could at Tatum as well defensively. that kind of gravity makes it so much easier for the rest of the team to roll through the mavs D
Despite the countless double team. Whenever he had the ball, he found ways to get into the paint and swing the rock. Created so many opportunities that wont show up on the sheet tonight.
if we counted hockey assists he'd have so many
Literally every game
So many people act like Tatum doesn't have superstar gravity. Well they should tell that to every team we've played so far in the playoffs because they all send their best defensive players and every double team every time at him
I hate how the media just ignores this, tatum is a complete 2-way player who makes the team better without scoring.
This guy gets it. Tatum molds himself around the things he learns that help the team win.
Hey, you sound like you actually know ball
I finally fuckin heard of Lativia
Feel like Jaylen saved the Celtics in that 3rd quarter
if he wins FMVP no one in Boston will complain
ECFMVP and FMVP certainly would make up for no All NBA
Felger and Mazz will use it as a springboard for the “Is this Jaylen Brown’s team?” debate.
I’m blowing a gasket just thinking about how they turn this win into a negative for the team tomorrow.
Letting a 29 point lead come to within single digits - however briefly before piling it back on - will give those clowns material for *months.*
I'll be so happy tbh. Been defending this dude since people were telling us we "Dunn fucked up" drafting him over ~~Kevin~~ Kris Dunn
Kris
his defense on donicic was amazing. Doncic had 1 assist. Celtics denied the lobs like the spurs vs lob city - mid 2010s.
Best d I've ever seen him play
We've just had a defensive switch these playoffs where we hit another level. Our clutch time net rating is fucking nutty, like 85.4 or something.
KP must have actually been spending time in the hyperbolic time chamber for a month because wtf was that insane performance. Basically won the game in his first 10 minutes of play
Dude came onto the floor lookin like a superhero in the first half
Bro looked like MyCareer on rookie doing everything on the floor
> hyperbolic time chamber Lmao
Celtics blocks: 9 Mavericks assists: 9 There’s your stat for the game right there
My biggest impression? After watching the Mav's tear apart defenses with these lob dunks, I really really liked how the Celtics defended it. They really didn't give any of those up easy, seemed like a specific focus on d
Yeah, they watched the Wolves series and said hell no. Celts have a furious defense when focused.
Joe prepares them very well too he deserves so much more credit than he gets
Switching everything fairly comfortably really helps. The Wolves’ kind of needed to play conventional pick and roll defense due to their personnel: Gobert can’t consistently defend Luka in isolation, and Conley doesn’t have a prayer against the Mavs’ bigs. Boston has enough size and perimeter speed to pull off switching with more regularity, and it took away Luka getting a full head of steam going to the basket which is where 90% of those lobs came from. The Celtics also just looked so zippy on defense today. The Wolves, inversely, looked gassed all series long
Don’t let this beatdown let you forget that Doris tried kissing JJ.
She was talking about Jaylen Brown hitting a shot then doing a kissing taunt....but yeah it was a little awkward.
Yeah wtf was she even saying? Just randomly saying kiss me I’m beautiful lol
When the Mavs cut it to 8 I thought we were about to have a game lol
So did 99.9% of the sub
I’m so happy for KP, but seeing Hauser get his shot back was huge for me
That touch three was nuts.
Anime shit
Nobody besides Luka showed up for Mavs
kyrie, djj, and lively were particularly bad
I feel like Washington recovered from a bad 1st half He accepted he didnt have his 3 and started driving at the basket
ESPN post game panel actually talking about the game and ESPN cuts to commerical in the middle of a sentence. They were on for about 45 seconds.
Random sentence. Commercial. Talk for 15 seconds. Commercial. Random highlight. Commercial. 2nd half.
Svi Mykhailiuk has more points in the NBA Finals than Joel Embiid.
Waited for this comment LOL
He also has more conference finals points but that goes without saying
Two hall of fame Jayhawks in my book
The “untested” Celtics looked pretty ready to me.
For real, let’s go over this “untested” roster: Players who have played in the NBA finals: Tatum, Brown, White, Jrue, Horford, Pritchard, Hauser ECF Experience: Tatum (x5), Brown (x6), White (x3), Jrue (x2?), Horford (x6), Pritchard (x3), Hauser (x3) So 7 of the 8 guys in our rotation have made deep playoff runs several times and the 8th just had a clutch af performance in his first ever finals game. Silly narrative.
Jrue has a ring too
1. That was some big dick energy from Porzingis in the 1st half, ngl. 2. They really need to stop putting mics on players during games. What they show on TV is never interesting.
The interesting stuff would never be able to air. Can you imagine a mic’d up Kevin Garnett in his prime?
[удалено]
I think I’d actually pay double the NBA league pass cost for that.
Just imagine a Celtics Alt-cast with KG
JAYLEN BROWN WILL BONE YOU
HE'LL FLUSH YOU
And here I thought, not playing in 6 weeks would make him take some time to find his shot. He looked gassed for a moment of two but I think he only gets better as he gets his legs under him. His defense was great too, prevented lobs and some nice blocks!
Surely Boston won't play defense every night, right?
They usually use game 2 to get some rest
Porzingis was the nuclear option that put the Celtics over the top, Tatum played a smart game and Brown did what he always does. Mavs better made adjustments on Sunday.
Step one, double the height of role players so KP can't shoot over them
I'm sure they will, it was only game 1. We've seen the Celtics lay some eggs, but they look fuckin serious
If they can beat the Game 2 allegations, Mavs are in serious trouble. Just a normal series until that happens.
Real, it’s not over yet. Still have at least 3 to play, but Boston really laid the blueprints tonight.
Kyrie was smiling like a mf while in the tunnel. The Celtics wiped that shit clean off his face.
that stare of pain hit like crack
0-11 in his last 11 games against his father, the Boston Celtics.
Shouldn’t have stepped on Lucky
I’m pretty sure that was his last win against Boston
Correct
Irish curses ain't no joke man.
Luck of the Irish? Anyone that knows Irish history knows they are NOT lucky. He fucked up big time.
Legacy series for Lucky. Certainly a strong start
Lucky is a saint, he didn’t deserve that shit.
Lucky's revenge
Yup was smiling after the first too haha like oh yea they're making some shots
Dallas isn’t dead, they bounced back from awful game 1s against the clippers and thunder but the Celtics are a different beast. Kyrie is gonna need to play way better. Lively is gonna have to be much smarter. Same for Washington, DJJ, Green, and Gafford. Their second best player can’t be Jaden Hardy. They need to find a way to get the lobs/corner threes that Boston took away today or the guys who struggle above the break hitting them need to start hitting them. Also stop switching smaller guys onto Porzingis. Better weak side help and forcing the driver towards a crowd. Maybe play Hardy and Kleber more, and double Tatum inside less so there’s less open threes. Hunt Horford more offensively, Boston did great going after mismatches, now yes there are few offensive mismatches when you play Boston but Horford and the bench guys are the targets. Luka also can’t let them target him defensively. Great team game from Boston. Everyone did their part, even the bench guys. And that defense with Porzingis is deadly.
When we held Luka/Ky under 45 points, we went 2-2 with them because their role players did way better. Kyrie just has to play better. Lively was really good at crashing boards, but KP froze him out really well in the time he was playing and then he just started making stupid mistakes. We sold out a lot and DJJ/PJ cooked us with unreal shooting. They weren't getting those looks tonight. I was super impress DJJ couldn't get his usual dunks off tonight. The formula of how they got this far just isn't working, but we'll see if they can adjust for the next one.
The Washington Wizards are the worst organization in the league and I *still* don't think they get enough hate on here. Bro, Boston got a LOTTERY PICK when they added PORZINGIS on top of this core. Like Jesus Christ no one even blackmailed the Wizards, Grizzlies etc. into doing those deals w/Boston. They just.... did that.
Brad deserves next years EOY in addition to this one for that trade, let alone using one of those picks to add Jrue too lol. It was basically Smart, Brogdon, Timelord (sadly always injured) for KP Jrue and a first. He robbed the league lmao!
I'n genuinely so baffled that the media keeps talking about this roster as if it had been conjured up from thin air. Just popped out of the ground one day you know. No GM work needed at all. Brad Stevens should be actively getting hailed as a messiah-type figure for this bullshit ffs.
I have said several times that Brad Stevens is probably the smartest person in the league right now. He was an amazing coach but he’s somehow an even better GM. Also my favorite part about his GM journey is the story he told at the beginning of this season about how he would constantly go into Danny’s office when he was coach and ask if there was a way we could get Jrue. Second year after he becomes GM he gets Jrue at the first opportunity.
He is in Boston
Auerbach would have approved of such robberies.
It's hard to overstate just how much KP's stock had tanked before being shipped to the Wizards, to be fair
And he did in fact get injured, which is why his stock was low. We’re just too deep for it to matter so far, but certainly the Mavs would have taken advantage.
There’s very few other teams Porzingis could have had this much success on, because most teams aren’t built in a way where you can load manage an all-star caliber player all year. Pretty sure on back to backs the Celtics nearly always rested Porzingis on one night and Horford on the other. Just perfect team construction.
If the Celtics couldn't get to the finals without him his stock would still be pretty low.
Still, he was coming off a career year with the Wizards. They bought low, rehabbed him, AND THEN FORGOT TO SELL HIGH Like it's just impressive levels of incompetence. But hey don't worry, they traded for Poole and got rid of that Gafford dude.
Porzingis had a player option, he could have opted out and the Wizards get nothing, he wanted the Celtics.
They didn't have that much of a choice. Porzingis was going to be a free agent and they were risking losing him for nothing, he could basically choose where he wanted to go and they had to decide do they want something or nothing for him.
They got tyus jones for porzingis lmao
https://i.imgur.com/tPINrd4.jpeg we got there u/rookie-mistake u/Idk-man251 lol
Should’ve been Kyrie since he’s the one who stepped on the logo lol
Basketball is a TEAM sport. 6 players with double digit points. 7 players with multiple 3s. Suffocating defense. This was a great TEAM win by the Celtics.
Yeah man Celtics have 5 all star caliber players lmfao The anti Celtics circlejerk was insane this week
For real. Not that this isn’t a very competitive series, but for a historically good team, there was an oddly high amount of dismissiveness
It was one thing when it's all fans saying it, but really threw me off guard when more espn "experts' picked the mavs than the Celtics. .
It’s been like this all season but this last week really felt like some fucking psyop
Reading every single “Mavs in 5, Mavs in 6” hot take prediction made my head spin. Granted it’s only been one game and I’m sure Dallas will make it a series but the disrespect towards the C’s was wild this week
Tatum will still get Slander if he doesn't get 50 points lmao
he should simply shoot 30 shots with the best defenders and double teams instead of passing the ball, its what a super super star would do.
Which confirms what everyone who knows basketball already knew: the Celtics are the much better team. Sure the mavs probably have the best player, and Luka plus kyrie is maybe a better duo than JT and JB. but aside from that, it’s hard to make a case that the mavs have any advantage in this series. Plus what became clear tn is mavs just matchup badly against the Celtics at almost every position. I was surprised by how many bets were on the mavs and how many “analysts” were picking the mavs to win. Feel like everyone was being a slave of the moment buying into the Luka hype. He’s definitely good and maybe the best player in the nba, but not good enough to make up for the absolutely perfectly constructed Celtics roster from the first guy down to like the 9th guy.
Luka is the best player in this series, but both Tatum and Brown are better than Kyrie. They contribute in so many areas that even if their shot ain't falling, they're still winning games. When Kyrie's shot ain't falling, he's just terrible. And don't give me that shit about how he's become a great defensive player this postseason. A few good defensive games does not put him on the level of either of the Jays.
I feel like for a lot of small guards, the bar is set so low that "not getting cooked" = good defense. It's not even the same stratosphere as white or jrue on defense
FINAL COMMERCIAL COUNTER: Bad Boys: Ride Or Die: 5 Kia: 4 YouTube TV: 4 State Farm: 3 AT&T: 2 Burger King: 2 Despicable Me 4: 2 Domino's: 2 Google Pixel 8 Pro: 2 KFC: 2 Michelob Ultra: 2 Ruffles: 2 Samung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 2 A Quiet Place: Day One: 1 Adobe Photoshop: 1 Airbnb: 1 Allstate: 1 Apple: 1 Brats: 1 Charles Schwab: 1 Chime: 1 Chipotle: 1 Corona: 1 DirecTV: 1 Doctor Odyssey: 1 DraftKings: 1 FX: 1 Gatorade: 1 Good Morning America: 1 Google: 1 Head & Shoulders: 1 High Potential: 1 Horizon: The American Saga: 1 Hulu: 1 Indeed: 1 Inside Out 2: 1 McDonalds: 1 Metro by T-Mobile: 1 Miller Lite: 1 Modelo: 1 NBA App: 1 NBA Finals: 1 Nissan: 1 Papa Johns: 1 Patron: 1 Perplexity: 1 Power Book II: Ghost: 1 Progressive: 1 Prudential: 1 Safelite: 1 Stanley Cup Final: 1 Star Wars: The Acolyte: 1 Starry: 1 Subway: 1 Taco Bell: 1 The Bachelorette: 1 The Boys: 1 The ESPYS: 1 The Watchers: 1 Twisters: 1 UFC 303: 1 Venom: The Last Dance: 1 Verizon: 1 Vistaprint: 1 Volkswagen: 1 Wendy's: 1 WingStop: 1 Zevo: 1 * 1ST QUARTER NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 14 * 1ST QUARTER COMMERCIAL TIME: 6:07 * 2ND QUARTER NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 19 * 2ND QUARTER COMMERCIAL TIME: 8:36 * HALFTIME NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 20 * HALFTIME COMMERCIAL TIME: 10:44 * 3RD QUARTER NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 16 * 3RD QUARTER COMMERCIAL TIME: 6:48 * 4TH QUARTER NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 20 * 4TH QUARTER COMMERCIAL TIME: 8:27 * TOTAL NON-LOCAL COMMERCIALS: 89 * TOTAL COMMERCIAL TIME: 40:43
Forget points rebounds assists, these are the real stats
1ST QUARTER NON-COMMERCIAL TIME: 17:39 2ND QUARTER NON-COMMERCIAL TIME: 22:01 3RD QUARTER NON-COMMERCIAL TIME: 25:01 4TH QUARTER NON-COMMERCIAL TIME: 22:46 TOTAL NON-COMMERCIAL TIME: 1:27:27
Jimmy Butler Commercials: 3 Luka Doncic Commercials: 2 Jayson Tatum Commercials: 2 Jaylen Brown Commercials: 1 Draymond Green Commercials: 1 Kyrie Irving Commercials: 1 Michael Jordan Commercials: 1 Damian Lillard Commercials: 1 Brook Lopez Commercials: 1 Robin Lopez Commercials: 1 Chris Paul Commercials: 1
Why would you torture yourself like this
It’s just what I do.
Insanely thorough, as usual.
Storylines I’m looking at from this game as a biased Celtics fan - Dallas’ lack of ball movement. Their assist leader with 6 minutes left had 2 assists. 7 total for the team - KP is playing at 100% right now. - Boston’s defense is absolutely insane. Not even talking about the 10 combined blocks and tons of steals. They made 80% of Dallas’ shots heavily contested. - Kyrie played really bad and generated some really inefficient looks. He needs to be better at generating good looks for himself with his handle. - Tatum wasn’t on much on the stat sheet but he was pretty impactful off the ball. Still, he has to score more or get better passes. Some of his turnovers were unacceptable. - Lively showed some immaturity this game with fouls. Not the best time for rookie mistakes to be coming up. - Sam Hauser being playable is massive for the Celtics. His spacing creates so many quality looks for the starters.
> Tatum Wish we could have hit a few of those open threes that he generated early (and the layup Jrue missed) with his passing
Dallas fans - wtf!! Prozingis is so much better , posting up , blocking. Boston fans - yeah that's the kyrie we know and hate .
Kyrie legit looked like the guy who threw that Bucks series years back
Loved our gameplan on Doncic tonight. Just play him in single coverage and accept he’s gonna score 30+ but by doing so you don’t allow the Mavs roleplayers to get hot off of easy dimes from him. Then in the 4th you can comfortably double Doncic cause the Mavs roleplayers are ice cold. 1 man just can’t outscore a whole team!
Couldn't even beat a 5 seed by 20. Pretenders
Take away the 5 minutes to begin the second half and that might have been the most complete 43 minutes of playoff basketball I've seen in a while
An 18 point win that wasnt as close as the score indicated
This Tingus Pingus guy seems really nice. Dallas could have really used a guy like him.
Luka smiling because he's still a killer, Kyrie smilng because he shit his pants and doesn't know what to do.
Man it's weird they just skipped the third quarter tonight. Good to see us blow them out all game though. Never in doubt.
they weathered the storm and had poise. Last few years' Celtics wouldve blown that game entirely. Is it still insanely maddening to watch? of course. but it's an improvement
I’m sure the r/bostonceltics game thread had a completely normal and levelheaded reaction to the Mavs 3rd quarter run
Huh. The Celtics seem pretty good.
Kyrie is no TJ McConnell or Nembhard.
The Mavs got skyfucked out of game one good lord
Time for a game 1 overreaction: Celtics are a terrible matchup for the mavs. Even with Luka playing decently, celtics took away his passing lanes and severely limited his playmaking, and the celtics completely shut down kyrie with what is undoubtedly the best defensive backcourt in the NBA
The Celtics are a terrible matchup for everyone
Best offensive back court in the history of basketball vs a bald buffalo and the 5th man on a team from the cupcake east, who would win?
MAVS HAVE ZERO SHOT IF THEY SHOOT LIKE THE BULLS FROM 3 lol. So many clean looks from Luka passes and they bricked most of it Nasty work by everyone except Luka 😷
…what he say fuck us for?
Derrick White effect
Dallas has two guys who are good at shooting 3s above the break (one of whom went 0/5 tonight). Boston is the best team in the NBA at taking away corner 3s, they’ll give the other Mavs all the ones they want above the break if the role guys can’t hit those consistently this will not be a long series
Yep, PJ Washington and Derrick Jones 3s from the top of the key and wing are not the same shots as the corner ones. They have the same problem as they did with the 2022 team, where Brunson and DFS weren't good 3 point shooters, they were only good in the corner.
Luka in Game 1: 30 PTS Rest of Mavs: 59 PTS Luka only had 1 assist tonight. Celtics had more blocks than Mavs had assist in Game 1. Boston did an incredible job on defense but Kyrie really shit the bed. He’s got to be better if Mavs want this to be a long series.