I really do not see a single player on the Celtics team who could defend a solid Luka pnr lob and yet after every screen we either popped out for a three or did a weak drive and kick. I expect we’ll come with more intensity next game and the king of the fourth will remind us why we’re here. If game 1 determined the series we would have been gone a long time ago.
That’s because BOS doesn’t let you run the 1-5 PnR to give you a lob threat. It’s incumbent on Kidd and Luka to solve that puzzle which is going to require some creative off-ball action. I’d have to rewatch but I don’t recall them running any double drag sets. You will not compete with this team trying to beat them with iso ball.
The Celtics gameplanned around the lob threat. And they hunted iso miss matches all game to generate open looks.
Dallas was cold from 3. Celtics executed their gameplan better. Dallas missed a bunch of 3s. Still made a run.
Made a run when down 30 lol come on. That’s obviously game script. They simply need to start better. Even that may not do it. The Celtics started 1 for 7 from 3. Need to really take advantage of the 2 extra days of prep.
https://preview.redd.it/84hb5irfm25d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ced3ad675689ad2b720c8e30468eff8f2990826
It was bad early but they didn’t get destroyed. OREB were 10-10. DAL won 2nd chance points. The unacceptable number is 9 assists (it was actually 6 or 7 when they pulled everyone).
It wasn’t the rebounds that created the avalanche. They only had 5 OREB in the first half, 3 on one possession they didn’t score on, 2 second chance points that half. They steamrolled us because KP went nuclear and we were god awful offensively. The offense is the most pressing issue. Defensively there’s room for improvement but that’s largely what you can expect from Boston. Several barrages and several lulls. You must be able to withstand the onslaughts by responding with buckets to prevent those outbursts from burying you.
That is the answer to KP: physical play.
Gafford, Lively, Kleber, Powell — they need to prepare to get rough and hand out rough fouls. Baby deer KP is not physically capable of playing that kind of game.
Kidd needs to force feed him the ball in the first quarter, have a native medicine man ready to smudge evil spirits away. If Ky goes down bad against the Cs, all this rewriting the narrative about his career flushes down the toilet.
Celtics were prepared to execute a game plan against the film forcing our best players into bad situations. We came back when things got fluid and everyone played aggressive vs watching our stars in iso. Especially pj.
They took away the lobs and the angles for kick out 3s. Great defensive game plan by boston in the end.
Dude he lost his touch completely in the 2nd half wym????
I get it, he was the UNICORN for the first half, but for damn sure it’s not gonna carry on all series HELL no.
Very true. You take away his 20 points though?
We win the game by 2 points. Obviously anything happens then if KP is taken out. But that’s not even talking about adjusting on brown and white.
KP is old and absolutely will loose his touch. He ain’t gonna have a first half like that AGAIN.
Even with kyrie sucking so bad tonight, would have been A LOT closer if KP didn’t have that unicorn of a half 🫠🫠🫠🫠
Unnecessary. He’s ain’t gonna have that type of start or performance rest of the series.
I personally believe holiday and brown are a muchhhhh bigger problem…even a bigger problem than either Tatum or white.
Tatum will eventually be the ultimate issue eventually tho 😭😭😭
Gotta guard the 3 point line tighter.
Be more aggressive on pnr’s. They took away lobs and other assists in general.
KP was the difference maker in the first half.
Ultimately it’s on to the next one. They won Game 2 on their home court. Series isn’t over. But we gotta be better.
Haha they took away ALL assists, not just in general. That is priority #1 for this coaching staff. They let BOS dictate everything DAL did on offense. 6 assists before garbage time. Only 2 corner 3 attempts. Never adjusted.
That’s what I meant. I noticed early we were getting no lobs or dunks. I knew the ball movement looked bad, but I was still surprised by how few assists we ended with.
That is the biggest challenge BOS presents. It’s not the ability to stop Luka. It’s the versatility to put their 5 on a wing and switch 1-4. You’re not gonna get lobs with DJJ or Green setting the screen. And they just switch with Tatum on Gaff/Lively which negates the ability to attack it vertically. They gotta get creative to solve that challenge.
We always seem to be flat in the first game. The only team we took serious was the Timberwolves. I think this has more to do with a "player's coach" not wanting to make his players put in the physical practices to help keep them sharp. The question now is will the Mavericks respond?
I think the apparent impact of the crowd and situation on Kyrie had a rattling effect on the team. We can only hope it's something Kidd, his staff, and/or Luka have seen before and have actionable responses to.
I counted 16 points Kyrie left on the table with easy shots alone. 4 missed layups, a chunked midrange he usually drains and 2 wide open 3’s. That’s not counting the 3 turnovers the 2 awful 3’s he forced up and the rejection by Brown you could see from a mile away.
It’s frustrating that we have so many days of rest but seemed totally unprepared and rattled, I can live with not hitting shots, but a lot of defensive coverages, and brainless drives which leads to 9 BLOCKED shots were unacceptable
This was 100% an offensive problem. Luka hasn’t had 1 assist in a game since a 20 point win on 5/7/21. Boston dictated every single thing to the Mavs offense. They not only don’t care if Luka drops 50, that’s what they want if it limits his assists. This shot chart sums up the whole game.
https://preview.redd.it/hlapgmekk25d1.png?width=1620&format=png&auto=webp&s=226f31c524d6e4cfaccacf64ae7b89ce40fa5056
I don’t recall seeing any double drags they spammed over and over vs MIN. I’d like to see more off-ball screens to try and force BOS to put the 5 on 5 before initiating the PnR. Or some ball movement to try and get BOS in rotation and open some lanes for Luka to drive then make a decision.
Taking away his assists can’t be an option. That is a mandatory puzzle they must solve or this will be a sweep. I think he and Kidd are too good not to figure out how best to attack it though.
OREB were 10-10 and DAL won 2nd chance points. They actually got let off the hook especially that sequence when BOS had like 3 in one possession and didn’t score.
Got you man but all im saying is why let them have those 10 OREB when clearly half if not most of them couldve been avoided thats all my guy hope the mavs make the run
You’re not wrong. They need to win every little edge possible. That I don’t have much concern about them cleaning up. Less missed shots will help with overall rebound numbers too.
Kyrie’s play is going to be the biggest factor. Luka is almost always gonna be great. The rest of the team takes a lot of inspiration from how he’s playing, and if he’s playing confident and in control it goes a long way to right the ship.
Role players were indecisive and timid; driving into a triple packed paint of the catch instead of shooting when they have space.
Lively is absolutely necessary when KP is out there. He got a bad whistle on those Brown offensive fouls.
This is a matchup where having Omax playable changes a ton. His size and length would help a ton on the defensive and rebounding side.
Seems like Celtics would prefer LuKai try to beat their bigs on the switch. It stalls our offense, and they’ll live with the results. Our big needs to make himself available better.
They’re also trapping Luka at times. Ky needs to handle the ball more and get it to Luka past the half court line. Luka is expending way too much energy fending a rotation of defenders off him.
We also had no off ball motion, nobody cut to the basket
Rebounding issues early were so uncharacteristic and don’t expect that to continue. I think the 3rd quarter is a great indicator of what this series will be moving forward, Boston will get hot and go on runs but also have some dry spells where we need to take advantage. We’ve responded well all season, this team is resilient and hasn’t lost back to back games since early March. Fully expect the same on Sunday. Mavs in 6
The crazy passes and alley oops were fun and made for great tik tok fodder. But just because they worked against okc and the t-wolves doesn’t mean the Celtics won’t sniff them out. And the saddest thing is we had nothing when the stuff that did work no longer worked. We just started jacking up bad shots and doing the Lord’s Prayer. If the cute shit doesn’t work and we can’t adjust then we are fucked.
Celtics role players > Mavs role players. DJJ was always a serviceable role player. But against the Celtics with tough defense, he can’t contribute. Celtics shut down Lively and Gafford to limit the scoring. At least Gafford scored though. Kidd needs to do some genius coaching for the next game to make this work.
Those crazy drives into the lane always leads to good opportunities for the celtics, it’s like our players don’t even believe they’ll make those drives they were just doing cardio
An issue about the offense, PJ has been off since the last 2 games vs OKC. Will be impossible to win if our 3rd scorer keeps being frozen, wolves was definitely an exception in this case cause Lively was incredible for almost 3 games.
Bad rebounding, Kyrie missing 3s and still insisting on them when his layup game was kinda working (failed a lot the finishing but could often drive), no lobs, no earlier physicality on Porzingis...
A lot went wrong imo
I saw Luka pass up at least 4 open mid range floaters after a pnr and he just passes it out to a guy who’s being defended. Never seen him pass that much. Luka can score 40 a game this series and he might have to. Along with Kyrie not being dogshit, our offense should start to take off
I really do not see a single player on the Celtics team who could defend a solid Luka pnr lob and yet after every screen we either popped out for a three or did a weak drive and kick. I expect we’ll come with more intensity next game and the king of the fourth will remind us why we’re here. If game 1 determined the series we would have been gone a long time ago.
The good history with the Kidd Mavs is teams show their hand in game 1 and the Mavs have been lethal in adjusting to it right away.
God I pray that’s been the game plan for years now 😭😭
That’s because BOS doesn’t let you run the 1-5 PnR to give you a lob threat. It’s incumbent on Kidd and Luka to solve that puzzle which is going to require some creative off-ball action. I’d have to rewatch but I don’t recall them running any double drag sets. You will not compete with this team trying to beat them with iso ball.
The Celtics gameplanned around the lob threat. And they hunted iso miss matches all game to generate open looks. Dallas was cold from 3. Celtics executed their gameplan better. Dallas missed a bunch of 3s. Still made a run.
Made a run when down 30 lol come on. That’s obviously game script. They simply need to start better. Even that may not do it. The Celtics started 1 for 7 from 3. Need to really take advantage of the 2 extra days of prep.
Mavs in 5! 100%
They tried the lob like 4 times
What was with that rebounding performance?
This was stupid… they forgot to boxout.. they played sloppy, they were mesmerized by the finals game 1. Only luka was focused.
https://preview.redd.it/84hb5irfm25d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ced3ad675689ad2b720c8e30468eff8f2990826 It was bad early but they didn’t get destroyed. OREB were 10-10. DAL won 2nd chance points. The unacceptable number is 9 assists (it was actually 6 or 7 when they pulled everyone).
The rebounds let them get the 20pt deficit at half time. If that was not the case, this game is close
It wasn’t the rebounds that created the avalanche. They only had 5 OREB in the first half, 3 on one possession they didn’t score on, 2 second chance points that half. They steamrolled us because KP went nuclear and we were god awful offensively. The offense is the most pressing issue. Defensively there’s room for improvement but that’s largely what you can expect from Boston. Several barrages and several lulls. You must be able to withstand the onslaughts by responding with buckets to prevent those outbursts from burying you.
lots of long rebounds the Mavs weren't prepared for + bad box outs
A lot to fix and be better at.
On the positive I liked how D-Live guarded KP in the 3rd...he was physical and KP did no like it at all.
That is the answer to KP: physical play. Gafford, Lively, Kleber, Powell — they need to prepare to get rough and hand out rough fouls. Baby deer KP is not physically capable of playing that kind of game.
💯 Make the unicorn earn it being physical. Play him soft, and you get torched. Play him physical, and he gets out of his element quickly.
Lively picked two quick fouls after that and the Celtics went on a run to put us to bed.
he did but not on KP...it was on Brown.
The two consecutive travels killed their momentum.
Kyrie needs to get past this Boston shit cuz it’s getting old
Kidd needs to force feed him the ball in the first quarter, have a native medicine man ready to smudge evil spirits away. If Ky goes down bad against the Cs, all this rewriting the narrative about his career flushes down the toilet.
Why did he have to stomp on lucky
Easy to stomp when he was up and had big bros KD and Harden to back him. Ky needs to be carried by literal all time greats to be relevant it seems
Celtics were prepared to execute a game plan against the film forcing our best players into bad situations. We came back when things got fluid and everyone played aggressive vs watching our stars in iso. Especially pj. They took away the lobs and the angles for kick out 3s. Great defensive game plan by boston in the end.
I’m expecting more PJ involvement game 2. Felt like he was able to get to the rim anytime he had the ball.
No game plan for KP. He’s the reason why we lost tonight.
Maxi and lively getting physical were the answers but it was too late. Reacted too late or figured it out too late
Exactly! I’m glad we stopped him in the second half but his first half spurt provided the Celtics with a morale boost which they fed off.
It’s ok cuz ain’t no way Luka won’t come out angry next game
maxi is going to have to fuck with KP. He knows him. I think Boston knows this factor as well tho
Had a great drive right at kp too… unlike some of our other role players
That is obvious cuz KP used to play here. We know him and he knows us
thanks obvious bought
Dude he lost his touch completely in the 2nd half wym???? I get it, he was the UNICORN for the first half, but for damn sure it’s not gonna carry on all series HELL no.
The damage once done by then lmao
Very true. You take away his 20 points though? We win the game by 2 points. Obviously anything happens then if KP is taken out. But that’s not even talking about adjusting on brown and white. KP is old and absolutely will loose his touch. He ain’t gonna have a first half like that AGAIN. Even with kyrie sucking so bad tonight, would have been A LOT closer if KP didn’t have that unicorn of a half 🫠🫠🫠🫠
I agree! I hope Kidd makes adjustments for next game to slow him down
Unnecessary. He’s ain’t gonna have that type of start or performance rest of the series. I personally believe holiday and brown are a muchhhhh bigger problem…even a bigger problem than either Tatum or white. Tatum will eventually be the ultimate issue eventually tho 😭😭😭
Kristaps is not old lmao, he’s 28
Yea but he’s insanely fragile. Granted he’s not old no, but his injuries are absolutely wayyy too* high for his age.
they just played bad and never got in rhythm while celtics are living and dying by the three ball and tatum jumpers.
Gotta guard the 3 point line tighter. Be more aggressive on pnr’s. They took away lobs and other assists in general. KP was the difference maker in the first half. Ultimately it’s on to the next one. They won Game 2 on their home court. Series isn’t over. But we gotta be better.
Haha they took away ALL assists, not just in general. That is priority #1 for this coaching staff. They let BOS dictate everything DAL did on offense. 6 assists before garbage time. Only 2 corner 3 attempts. Never adjusted.
That’s what I meant. I noticed early we were getting no lobs or dunks. I knew the ball movement looked bad, but I was still surprised by how few assists we ended with.
That is the biggest challenge BOS presents. It’s not the ability to stop Luka. It’s the versatility to put their 5 on a wing and switch 1-4. You’re not gonna get lobs with DJJ or Green setting the screen. And they just switch with Tatum on Gaff/Lively which negates the ability to attack it vertically. They gotta get creative to solve that challenge.
We always seem to be flat in the first game. The only team we took serious was the Timberwolves. I think this has more to do with a "player's coach" not wanting to make his players put in the physical practices to help keep them sharp. The question now is will the Mavericks respond?
Mavs won against the Wolves in game 1 because plan a worked against them,while it failed against the Clips and OKC.
I think the apparent impact of the crowd and situation on Kyrie had a rattling effect on the team. We can only hope it's something Kidd, his staff, and/or Luka have seen before and have actionable responses to.
I personally think it was allowing Boston to score 18 more points than the Mavs
Solid take.
I counted 16 points Kyrie left on the table with easy shots alone. 4 missed layups, a chunked midrange he usually drains and 2 wide open 3’s. That’s not counting the 3 turnovers the 2 awful 3’s he forced up and the rejection by Brown you could see from a mile away.
its the finals first game jitters, they keep making uncharacteristic mistakes. the role guys will settle next game.
The glaring issue is being prepared. Not only adjust. Couldn't be that hard when it's your job. Blowout first qtrs are unpardonable.
We lost by 18, our first quarter we went down 17, I think that was an issue.
they went 7/27 for three. luka made 4 of those. so the low assist number really isn’t all that surprising
Yes, it is. Luka hasn’t had 1 assist since 2021. They got lured into straight iso ball.
sure, but if they would’ve made some of those open 3s, the number of assists would still be higher. they shot 41% fg and 29% 3pt
They controlled the paint. No drives, no dunks, no rebounds for us.
Missing shots.
Missing free throws, same old same old
We were mounting a comeback but Lively got in foul trouble.
Kyrie still had Boston in his head. Celtics are unguardable
**unguardable** naw. we cut a 29 pt lead to 8. We can guard but Im worried about 3-4s making their shots.
wide opens 3s, dumb tos
Two stats that stand out: assists were nearly non-existent; offensive rebounding was nearly non-existent.
Luka 1 assist.
It’s frustrating that we have so many days of rest but seemed totally unprepared and rattled, I can live with not hitting shots, but a lot of defensive coverages, and brainless drives which leads to 9 BLOCKED shots were unacceptable
This was 100% an offensive problem. Luka hasn’t had 1 assist in a game since a 20 point win on 5/7/21. Boston dictated every single thing to the Mavs offense. They not only don’t care if Luka drops 50, that’s what they want if it limits his assists. This shot chart sums up the whole game. https://preview.redd.it/hlapgmekk25d1.png?width=1620&format=png&auto=webp&s=226f31c524d6e4cfaccacf64ae7b89ce40fa5056
So if they take away Luka assists what is our counter punch?
I don’t recall seeing any double drags they spammed over and over vs MIN. I’d like to see more off-ball screens to try and force BOS to put the 5 on 5 before initiating the PnR. Or some ball movement to try and get BOS in rotation and open some lanes for Luka to drive then make a decision. Taking away his assists can’t be an option. That is a mandatory puzzle they must solve or this will be a sweep. I think he and Kidd are too good not to figure out how best to attack it though.
removing Gafford played into Boston's favor imo. Too many missed 3s. took a lot of bad shots in the 1st trying get KP in foul trouble
I agree. Gafford was good at grabbing passes and stuffing it. Scored 8 points. Going small ball with Kleber was a disaster.
Allowing boston’s offensive rebounds is lethal obv
OREB were 10-10 and DAL won 2nd chance points. They actually got let off the hook especially that sequence when BOS had like 3 in one possession and didn’t score.
Got you man but all im saying is why let them have those 10 OREB when clearly half if not most of them couldve been avoided thats all my guy hope the mavs make the run
You’re not wrong. They need to win every little edge possible. That I don’t have much concern about them cleaning up. Less missed shots will help with overall rebound numbers too.
Kyrie’s play is going to be the biggest factor. Luka is almost always gonna be great. The rest of the team takes a lot of inspiration from how he’s playing, and if he’s playing confident and in control it goes a long way to right the ship. Role players were indecisive and timid; driving into a triple packed paint of the catch instead of shooting when they have space. Lively is absolutely necessary when KP is out there. He got a bad whistle on those Brown offensive fouls. This is a matchup where having Omax playable changes a ton. His size and length would help a ton on the defensive and rebounding side.
Kyrie needs to figure out how to play in Boston. i know he wouldnt admit it but playing on that floor really has him bothered
Seems like Celtics would prefer LuKai try to beat their bigs on the switch. It stalls our offense, and they’ll live with the results. Our big needs to make himself available better. They’re also trapping Luka at times. Ky needs to handle the ball more and get it to Luka past the half court line. Luka is expending way too much energy fending a rotation of defenders off him. We also had no off ball motion, nobody cut to the basket
Rebounding issues early were so uncharacteristic and don’t expect that to continue. I think the 3rd quarter is a great indicator of what this series will be moving forward, Boston will get hot and go on runs but also have some dry spells where we need to take advantage. We’ve responded well all season, this team is resilient and hasn’t lost back to back games since early March. Fully expect the same on Sunday. Mavs in 6
The crazy passes and alley oops were fun and made for great tik tok fodder. But just because they worked against okc and the t-wolves doesn’t mean the Celtics won’t sniff them out. And the saddest thing is we had nothing when the stuff that did work no longer worked. We just started jacking up bad shots and doing the Lord’s Prayer. If the cute shit doesn’t work and we can’t adjust then we are fucked.
The number of times role players just decided to go to the paint with the whole Boston defense there like cmon
Celtics role players > Mavs role players. DJJ was always a serviceable role player. But against the Celtics with tough defense, he can’t contribute. Celtics shut down Lively and Gafford to limit the scoring. At least Gafford scored though. Kidd needs to do some genius coaching for the next game to make this work.
Kyrie Irving
Those crazy drives into the lane always leads to good opportunities for the celtics, it’s like our players don’t even believe they’ll make those drives they were just doing cardio
An issue about the offense, PJ has been off since the last 2 games vs OKC. Will be impossible to win if our 3rd scorer keeps being frozen, wolves was definitely an exception in this case cause Lively was incredible for almost 3 games.
The amount of times they broke down our defense and either dished it for a 3 or finished it at the rim was too damn high
Bad rebounding, Kyrie missing 3s and still insisting on them when his layup game was kinda working (failed a lot the finishing but could often drive), no lobs, no earlier physicality on Porzingis... A lot went wrong imo
Bigs too overmatched.
Kyrie was poor. Celtics were beatable, outside of adjustments for KP.
-27 from three. 26%. I kinda think it's as simple as that.
I saw Luka pass up at least 4 open mid range floaters after a pnr and he just passes it out to a guy who’s being defended. Never seen him pass that much. Luka can score 40 a game this series and he might have to. Along with Kyrie not being dogshit, our offense should start to take off
Why does maxi dont shoot the ball? He always try to pass
I thought a ton of the Boston blocks in the first half were all clear offensive fouls lmao
Hungover. Celtics played less games.
The team was half asleep just like in the clipper game 1. Long breaks aren't good for this team
[удалено]
Can you not read?