Ebony & Ivory with Burning Sage vs. Lucky Charms & Unicorns Colliding on Flat Earth | Official Mavericks (#5) vs. Celtics (#1) 2024 NBA Finals Thread

[Spence]

All things considered they have actually done a pretty good job defensively. The issue for them has been offense. Its 2024 and they havent topped 100 pts in 3 Finals games. Their defense has kept them in it but these offensive lulls and turnovers have killed them. How long was that game 93-90 last night? Boston was getting nothing offensively and the Mavs couldnt capitalize.

At some point we just have to acknowledge what Boston is doing to them. Mavs D, and most defenses in 5 fairness, aint equipped to handle 5 guys that can score and have the greenlight at all times. Then on the flipside the got 5 guys that they are comfortable guarding their man.

This is truly the Mavs biggest problem. Even the 70 win warriors didn’t have a starting 5 where every single man was basically a 2 way threat. Nobody was afraid of Draymond Backpack trying to hit from outside

 

[Primetime]

Peaked higher than Harden's Rockets making it to the Finals, but their margin for error is small against elite teams. Might be even slimmer after this Boston series because they are giving the league the blueprint on how to play them.

Tbf, you have to look at the context too: Harden's 2018 Rockets were at a higher level than these Mavs imo but they faced the GOAT super team in the WCFs, faced that same superteam in the 2019 WCSFs (perceived by many as the defacto WCFs), then faced arguably LeBron's most stacked team ever in the 2020 WCSFs

Put another way, this DAL team didn't have to face a single squad even in that ballpark until the Finals.. and they're likely getting swept by them.

 

[Surreal]

this is true, fair enough

this mavs team prolly doesnt make it out of the 1st round if Kawhi is healthy tho. But ofc Kawhi is never healthy

Mavs team gotta be at best, the 2nd worst team since 1990

Nah they were better than the Clips and the Thunder and Sota

Only the Nugs and Celtics have their numbers

 

[Don Homer]

Nah they were better than the Clips and the Thunder and Sota

Only the Nugs and Celtics have their numbers

not sure i agree, but alright

 

[Raquinotj]

Damn, that hit me. Let me hold back the tears

Breh are you ready for all the cliches that come with winning a championship like

“They been here before, can’t count the Celtics out”

“This Celtics squad has championship pedigree”

“Never doubt the heart of a champion”


Because I AM.

 

[42 Monks]

Because that's how they have to build around to Luka

You can't get rim running bigs like gafford and lively to only catch lobs from Luka, then get surprised when they play like ass otherwise

that's one position. pj, djj, hardaway, exum, hardy, green, etc - its really, really easy to make this a "luka gotta be better" like talking heads do to fill space between commercials because folks eat it up

but these guys are on a finals team too. and they play like shyt. constantly. roast em up too is all im saying

they get a pass because they have somehow managed to have less than zero expectations. that's just wild lol

 

[No1]

that's one position. pj, djj, hardaway, exum, hardy, green, etc - its really, really easy to make this a "luka gotta be better" like talking heads do to fill space between commercials because folks eat it up

but these guys are on a finals team too. and they play like shyt. constantly. roast em up too is all im saying

Too many of them are playing as it is. It’s clear Kidd doesn’t trust any of them.

 

[cartierhoe]

that's one position. pj, djj, hardaway, exum, hardy, green, etc - its really, really easy to make this a "luka gotta be better" like talking heads do to fill space between commercials because folks eat it up

but these guys are on a finals team too. and they play like shyt. constantly. roast em up too is all im saying

they get a pass because they have somehow managed to have less than zero expectations. that's just wild lol

I mean it's that way because everybody on this squad sans Luka and Kyrie are boom or bust. All those names you mentioned have no business even being on a Finals team lol they just played above their head up until this point. They're playing like shyt but when you have a specific role on the team, ie: space the floor for Luka and Kyrie what else is there to say about them beside shoot better?

 

[42 Monks]

Too many of them are playing as it is. It’s clear Kidd doesn’t trust any of them.

and i go right back to why should he kleber is their glue guy and he can't even stand in the corner right lol

these dudes are plainly ass. in game 2, people were begging kidd to play tim hardaway - in game 3, tim hardaway made it clear that he wouldn't even make the north korean all-star team

these dudes are so unreliable that thanasis would average 20 minutes a night for them out of necessity. all im sayin is there's smoke to go around

 

[FTBS]

This is truly the Mavs biggest problem. Even the 70 win warriors didn’t have a starting 5 where every single man was basically a 2 way threat. Nobody was afraid of Draymond Backpack trying to hit from outside

Actually they were all offensive threats...up until the Finals. Then Harrison disappeared in the Finals. Dray wasnt self check back then. He was their best offensive player in that game 7.

But even with them it was all about getting the ball to the splash bros. The others took open shots when they were available. Everybody on Boston got the green light. Everybody put Tillman pull that bytch without hesitation with a man in their face...off balance...a couple steps behind the line.

 

[areohbee824]

I hate it but I gotta give credit to Boston Beltics for doing things the right way putting their team together. Flipping their previous championship team into the cornerstone guys in JB/JT that they got now and not playing musical chairs with rosters every year

 

[42 Monks]

I also don't like the whole "Marcus Smart was holding them back" angle that few people here and there are running with. They have *two* guys who are plainly better than him right now. That's got nothing to do with what Smart gave to that team in the past.

 

[Raquinotj]

Tatum does need to be better. Did not think JB would be the ECFMVP and FMVP. But yeah, after this chip dont be surprised when the NBA media starts to get loud with their obnoxious narratives regarding the Jay's

Sure Tatum can shoot better but if the Celtics win tomorrow they'll be 16-2 in the playoffs and the team did enough to win the championship, Him having to do better is just an individual thing that would probably not change anything on this run. Everyone contributed to winning and that's all that matters, Im sure Brown winning both MVP wont change anything within the organization, the both wear the same jersey. Gotta win tomorrow.

 

[Raquinotj]

I can’t believe Kyrie, the most skilled guy ever, allowed his team to be in a 3-0 hole

His last Two Playoffs runs BTW.

 

[Raquinotj]

Maybe no one but yall aint face no legit big all playoffs. No embiid, no greek, no Joker.

Like i said about Denver, yall gotta run this back for nyggas to respek it. Congrats on #18 though

Embiid is 0-4, Giannis is 1-2 vs the Marcus Smart version of the Celtics. We still have 38 year old Al Horford known for owning both of them. Nuggets need to take care of the west first, Cant even beat teams that won 50+ games breh. This Celtics team is 79-20 this season.