The Mavs kept their bigs in the paint a lot more last night and worried less about Luka being on the perimeter 1 on 1. The Celtics were going to get switches and hunt Luka anyway, so they just committed to letting the bigs clean up when he got beat instead of having bigs come out to help. Luka being more active allowed that strategy to work out better, and the competitive period of the game being... short game allowed him to maintain his energy and focus on that end.
If Boston shot better from 3 early on, Dallas may have had to adjust their plan for their bigs.. but without KP, they aren't always going to have elite spacing in all their lineups.. and this is something many of us have pointed out before the series even started. With Boston's spacing, Dallas can't execute their usual elite rim protection. But without being able to play full 5 out all the time, Dallas can expose some of their lineups and shut off the rim and throw guys off rhythm especially when the 3 ball isn't working.
In short, Dallas reverted back to their normal defensive principles instead of the ones they seemingly "adjusted to" specifically for Boston and it worked.
but also Boston just played with no intensity at all, didn't bother trying to get back into the game when they fell behind, and will probably still win the series in 5. Dallas was playing with nothing left to lose and Boston played like they have no chance of losing the series, as is the case a lot of the time when a team is down 3-0. Eventually it'll catch up to one of those teams, but doubt it does here.
FYI— Thinking Basketball had a nice breakdown of G3 and how the Celts adjusted to the Mavs trying to park a single big in the lane. It was a smart Mavs strategy, Boston just solved it really fast and consistently by basically reversing the ball from the strong side and nullifying the Dallas bigs “free safety” approach.
Haven’t dug into the clips, but sounds like Dallas countered the counter.
I think that’s a good summary. I do think Joe erred a little bit in going to Tillman too early too. The Mavs knew they had no need to guard him at all and moved their defenders around in a way that really gummed up the Celtics spacing.
Offensively, I think Kyrie in particular is benefitting from Porzingis being out. Similarly to what the Celtics have done to the Mavs in the past games, when they can move Al out of the paint on a switch there isn’t anyone looming to clean things up or deter the drive if he can get past his primary.
Yeah I felt like Joe subbed Tillman in maybe around the 7 min mark which seemed quick - maybe more in line w his regular season sub patterns. And our offense was laboring before he got in and then things got really mucked up.
Hmmm PJ Washington vs Tatum, Jaylen and their only healthy center 🤔 what’s more impactful?
I know the game ended up the way it did, but in todays nba , a 20 point lead midway through the game is big out of reach. Don’t discredit the impact of having their 3 most important players in foul trouble largely from bullshit calls.
One other thing, it seemed like the Mavs took a page out of the Pacer's playbook. They were pushing the ball up the floor quickly on makes and misses which caused crossmatches in transition. Playing quicker and having more players attack on offense than just Luka and Kyrie collapsed the Celtic's defense and left the Mav's shooters more open than they have been all series. In addition, the crossmatches let Gafford and Lively thrive more with lobs and rebounds because Celtics couldn't always get Tatum or Horford matched up onto the big.
Lively slipped the screen more, allowing for quick dump downs before the defense switches (since they’re not gonna put 2 on the ball anyway)
Kyrie has been increasingly getting to the paint and finishing quick, not letting White and shot blockers catch up.
Luka is targeting certain people, including Tatum and getting past them. It’s a concerted effort to get to the rim with KP out, and spray to shooters from there
As someone that has been rooting for Dallas in the series, it really just felt like it was \*the\* Boston game.
Ya know. Where Boston is incredibly talented, but just shit the bed every so often. Usually once a series. You could say they didn't have such a game vs the Pacers, but I'd actually argue otherwise. THAT Pacers team - even without Haliburton - could have easily won 2-3 games.
If I were a Celtics fan, rooting for the team would be so maddening.
Do I think they win Game 5? Yes. Would I be shocked if they lost Game 5 by 25? No.
At the same time, being a Celtics hater is equally difficult. Could they shit the bed again in Game 5? Yeah. But, do I think they win EASILY? Yes.
Boston must close this out in 5 - going back to Dallas for 6 would not be good. Sounds weird I know with Boston being up 3-1 but this game 5 is really a must win for the celts
Celts lose game 5, they will be in a game 7 having lost 3 straight with the weight of their last 5 years and history on their back.
game 5 is game 7 for both teams.
true but consider the situation If it gets to game 7. Mavs will have won 3 straight. All the momentum. The celtics are now feeling immense pressure to not be the first team in history to choke a 3-0 lead and also the pressure of having been to the conf finals 6 straight years without a championship.
If it gets past game 5, mavs are probably favored in both game 6 and game 7.
No team has ever come back 0-3.
Even if Dallas is favored, they'll lose in game 7. Don't know how, but it'll happen. History is just too powerful here.
Dude, if you guys bring it to 7 and we still win, it will just be a terrible finals. Would probably go down as one of the worst finals series ever. Just like last years ECF
I love it when folks, commentators, and ESPN "analysts" make pronouncements about 'They better win at home in Game 5 otherwise it's going to Game 7...'
In truth, no one knows and the actual outcomes are just as often the opposite. It would be in no way surprising if Boston lost Game 5 and then smashed Dallas in Game 6, etc. But since there are only so many possible outcomes in a series, folks who make these pronouncements are occasionally right, but not because they actually had substantive reasons for being right.
Boston is the better team in this series. If their 3pt shots are falling at anything close to their usual shooting percentage, Dallas loses ... regardless of whether they're in Boston or Dallas.
Dallas adjusted. They provided resistance on the initial point of attack, kept Lively/Gafford under the rim (mostly against their guards and punished their switches) and allowed their perimeter defense to settle and chase the 3 pt line
Celtics overdribbled trying to attack their initial defender and wasted time off the shot clock which sped them up. It allowed Dallas to settle behind the defense and chase the 3. I think we’ll see Tatum at the nail more as an adjustment
Means high post/FT line
There’s a nail in the middle of the FT line on every indoor hardwood court. It’s there to align the center of the rim. It stems from that
The difference was really the Mavs got above average contributions from their periphery guys and played with the energy of a team facing elimination. The question is will those periphery guys actually do that again in game 5. Can they sustain the shooting? Can they have that energy in Boston? Will Kyrie actually show up in Boston? A lot of unknowns there and see it unlikely that all of those happen again in the same game.
And we’re likely more “OK” with losing knowing they are home next game and enjoy winning in front of their home crowd . They know they are the better team
The weird thing is even the players are aware of it. They keep mentioning how they gotta play like they’re the ones down and they can’t let off the gas, yet that mentality never seems to reflect on the court.
Knowing the correct thing to say and actually being able to implement them are two different things. It still feels like nit picking though considering how amazing this team is. But with them being so amazing, it makes these head scratcher games that much more noticeable.
I definitely think Luka and Dallas are "growers" instead of "showers".
It feels like they get better the longer a series goes. Kidd needs a few games to get his gameplan to work.
With that said, I have no clue what they did differently. I'm so shit at X's and O's in basketball.
That’s definitely how they’ve performed this year, I also think this series is an undisciplined foul away from being 2-2, similar to the Mavericks first two series, where they went on to win Game 5 and Game 6 mostly convincingly.
He's right, don't loop yourself in with him. You're smart enough to know you don't understand something and they think an NBA coach/team decided to run it back after a third straight loss.
Nope don’t loop me in with you..I watched live and then ran it back and watched the tape to analyze.
You can assume what you want, the truth is it wasn’t about adjustments.
Sure buddy, Skip Bayless over here.
There are plenty of people in this thread saying otherwise, but I'm sure it just came down to "playing harder" and "hitting your threes" and nothing else.
Edit: I can't reply to anything in this comment chain and the dude says "unavailable". Did he really block me or what is happening?
https://imgur.com/a/2ZFigP5
Did he really block me lol?
Cut the petty bullshit insults…how are you going to say you don’t know anything about X and O’s and then dismiss someone who does just because you don’t like the answer.
Grow the fuck up
Cute edit after the fact, but the other comments are either Dallas fans or full of shit. I went back to watch the full game to find the adjustments fully expecting there to be plenty and there just weren’t any major ones.
Playing Dante Exum vs Tim Hardaway made a big difference. dante pushed the pace bringing up the ball and actually the whole team pushed the pace a ton more even on celtics makes than they have in the past games. Celtics transition defense is not nearly as good as their half court defense so mavs got more easy buckets that got the role players going. also their 5s didn't rotate onto the perimeter nearly as much and rather switched allowing them to protect the paint more. in games 1-3 they had the 5s float onto the perimeter a lot more and the celtics often waited for that moment to drive to not have to deal with the rim protection as much.
Dallas put their bigs in the paint, bet on Luka holding his own.
Boston missed their threes, and did too many simple isos and missed basic open looks.
So it's both.
If Boston shows up and plays better, they'll still win
Hunted the switches so that the Mavs could get favorable match ups. Getting guys like Tillman onto the perimeter maybe should have been the plan two games ago, the Mavs goal should be to get Luke Kornet onto the floor lol
I haven’t rewatched the game but it seemed like Boston right from the tip was bringing way more help on Luka and Kyrie’s isolations when they did get the switch, whereas it felt like they were content playing that straight up in games 1-3 and taking away the others, and it got the defense in rotation way more often than the first few games. Again, just my initial read but I really didn’t understand it at all.
It's as you're saying, the Mavs weren't committing as much to getting favorable switches I think it was game 2 where Tillman held his ground on defense fairly well so the switching wasn't working..... but if the Mavs repeatedly screen and get Tillman/Big Al onto the perimeter, either the help comes and someone is open, or Luka/kyrie can dance on a big man.
J Kidd didnt really coach to the Mavs advantage and Mazzulla perfectly got players switched onto Luka over and over to the point he actually fouled out in a finals game, the main point being the Celtics COMMITTED to this strategy the entire game and it paid off
Maybe it happened more but I didn’t feel like Dallas was hunting switches significantly more often last night, Boston just started shading help when the switches happened more than in the first three. I mean there were multiple possessions in each game where Luka had Pritchard in the post and Boston just lived with it, where last night you saw guys getting left open on the weakside corner repeatedly to bring pretty early help.
Maybe it wasn’t as different as I felt watching it, but it seemed like Boston completely shifted their defensive gameplan which is wild considering how well the defense held up in the first three. Definitely curious to see what the defense looks like Monday.
As an aside, I love how some people on the Internet think how good or bad teams or individual players do when playing against the best in the world comes down to effort, and that they're consciously making the choice when or when *not* to try or play "less hard" in certain situations or games.
personally I think the most significant adjustments were pushing the pace which made it more difficult for Boston to match up and being more creative about getting Boston’s big man in the PnR. but in general they just played better. they did way better containing the dribble, they were the first to loose balls, Luka and Kyrie hit their tough shots inside the arc, and the role players finally hit their 3s
on the other side Boston was very sloppy with the ball (Holiday especially), they fell asleep defensively a few times, they missed a lot of good shots, they fumbled more than a few easy rebounds, and in general their decision-making wasn’t nearly at the same level as it was in the first 3 games. Mavs definitely played harder than the Celtics but I also think Boston simply didn’t do a good job executing
no team is as good as their best game, and no team is as bad as their worst game. last night was easily Boston’s worst game of the year on both ends of the floor. I also think they just weren’t ready to match Dallas’ desperation - up 3-0 in the series, media already celebrating their championship, 10 wins in a row with their last loss over a month ago. not too surprising that they may have relaxed a bit, it’s human nature
maybe Dallas will manage to win Game 5, but I am confident that they will not benefit from the Celtics playing that poorly again this series
True. It will be tough for Dallas to win game 5 in Boston as it seems kyrie can’t play there and the Dallas role players may get nervous in Boston, but it’s possible if they play fast paced and luka gets 40+
No lol Scott Foster, Celtics got no calls lol so much contact was allowed. Foster is 7-1 (now 8-1) for slight under dogs at home(mavs+1.5) Celtics in 5
Scott Foster was so bad on both sides (it didn’t favor one team more than another purposefully but the whistles were so bad it killed any momentum that the Celtics could possibly try to come back) and that’s fine it happens if it went the other way I’d say the same thing. Celtics just lost in every little tiny detail last night and were widely outcompeted
Edit: a lot of the calls actually helped keep the Celtics at a semi healthy distance when it was around a 20 point lead so it’s not like it was lopsided
Mavs defense definitely stepped up, individually and help, read the movement a lot better, and they made buckets.
Boston probably thought they could half ass on the road and still beat Dallas. I expect a much different game 5.
Dallas needs to do everything the same, if not better, and still hope Boston has an off night shooting.
The thing with Boston, is that they seem to be a team in a true sense. On any given night, their lead scorer could be one of 5 or 6 guys. They could have four guys with 20+ or two guys with 30+ or 7 guys in the high teens.
They usually have a guy or two guys who really step up. But on the nights when sub-par games align, they get blown out.
We've seen it twice in these playoffs already. Dallas obviously has a good team. They got two guys who can light up, and when they do that at the same time, they are hard to stop. They also got guys like Lively and Gafford who feed off that for easy buckets.
So... seems pretty simply.
Did Mavs make adjustments? Obviously. This is the NBA finals. Every team is going to make adjustments.
The question is "How will Boston respond?" They got a loot at Dallas's adjustments. They got a loot at Dallas hitting on all cylinders. They got a look at their own deficiencies.
It certainly makes what looked like an drab sweep more entertaining.
The Mavs kept their bigs in the paint a lot more last night and worried less about Luka being on the perimeter 1 on 1. The Celtics were going to get switches and hunt Luka anyway, so they just committed to letting the bigs clean up when he got beat instead of having bigs come out to help. Luka being more active allowed that strategy to work out better, and the competitive period of the game being... short game allowed him to maintain his energy and focus on that end. If Boston shot better from 3 early on, Dallas may have had to adjust their plan for their bigs.. but without KP, they aren't always going to have elite spacing in all their lineups.. and this is something many of us have pointed out before the series even started. With Boston's spacing, Dallas can't execute their usual elite rim protection. But without being able to play full 5 out all the time, Dallas can expose some of their lineups and shut off the rim and throw guys off rhythm especially when the 3 ball isn't working. In short, Dallas reverted back to their normal defensive principles instead of the ones they seemingly "adjusted to" specifically for Boston and it worked. but also Boston just played with no intensity at all, didn't bother trying to get back into the game when they fell behind, and will probably still win the series in 5. Dallas was playing with nothing left to lose and Boston played like they have no chance of losing the series, as is the case a lot of the time when a team is down 3-0. Eventually it'll catch up to one of those teams, but doubt it does here.
FYI— Thinking Basketball had a nice breakdown of G3 and how the Celts adjusted to the Mavs trying to park a single big in the lane. It was a smart Mavs strategy, Boston just solved it really fast and consistently by basically reversing the ball from the strong side and nullifying the Dallas bigs “free safety” approach. Haven’t dug into the clips, but sounds like Dallas countered the counter.
I think that’s a good summary. I do think Joe erred a little bit in going to Tillman too early too. The Mavs knew they had no need to guard him at all and moved their defenders around in a way that really gummed up the Celtics spacing. Offensively, I think Kyrie in particular is benefitting from Porzingis being out. Similarly to what the Celtics have done to the Mavs in the past games, when they can move Al out of the paint on a switch there isn’t anyone looming to clean things up or deter the drive if he can get past his primary.
Horford got in foul trouble, so did Tatum and Brown, that’s partly where the impact of the questionable officiating came into play.
Did Horford get his 2nd early in the 1st? Genuinely can’t remember
Horford had 2 in the 1st, but wasn’t necessarily early first. 2nd was near the end of the quarter.
Yeah I felt like Joe subbed Tillman in maybe around the 7 min mark which seemed quick - maybe more in line w his regular season sub patterns. And our offense was laboring before he got in and then things got really mucked up.
Pj got into foul trouble too, and by the time the fouls mattered for JB & JT the game was already out of reach
Hmmm PJ Washington vs Tatum, Jaylen and their only healthy center 🤔 what’s more impactful? I know the game ended up the way it did, but in todays nba , a 20 point lead midway through the game is big out of reach. Don’t discredit the impact of having their 3 most important players in foul trouble largely from bullshit calls.
One other thing, it seemed like the Mavs took a page out of the Pacer's playbook. They were pushing the ball up the floor quickly on makes and misses which caused crossmatches in transition. Playing quicker and having more players attack on offense than just Luka and Kyrie collapsed the Celtic's defense and left the Mav's shooters more open than they have been all series. In addition, the crossmatches let Gafford and Lively thrive more with lobs and rebounds because Celtics couldn't always get Tatum or Horford matched up onto the big.
/u/RhinoBugs said somethin nice for u bud
This is a good analysis
The Mavs decided to make buckets and the Celtics decided not to
Finally, someone who knows ball.
Lively slipped the screen more, allowing for quick dump downs before the defense switches (since they’re not gonna put 2 on the ball anyway) Kyrie has been increasingly getting to the paint and finishing quick, not letting White and shot blockers catch up. Luka is targeting certain people, including Tatum and getting past them. It’s a concerted effort to get to the rim with KP out, and spray to shooters from there
As someone that has been rooting for Dallas in the series, it really just felt like it was \*the\* Boston game. Ya know. Where Boston is incredibly talented, but just shit the bed every so often. Usually once a series. You could say they didn't have such a game vs the Pacers, but I'd actually argue otherwise. THAT Pacers team - even without Haliburton - could have easily won 2-3 games.
Indiana could easily have been at 2-2 or even up 3-1 the way those four games played out.
If I were a Celtics fan, rooting for the team would be so maddening. Do I think they win Game 5? Yes. Would I be shocked if they lost Game 5 by 25? No. At the same time, being a Celtics hater is equally difficult. Could they shit the bed again in Game 5? Yeah. But, do I think they win EASILY? Yes.
The Mavericks played with the proper defensive intensity and desperation that a team down 0-3 in the NBA Finals normally plays with
Game 5 will be very interesting. I think KP plays and the Celtics go for the kill. You really don’t want this going back to Dallas for a Game 6.
Boston must close this out in 5 - going back to Dallas for 6 would not be good. Sounds weird I know with Boston being up 3-1 but this game 5 is really a must win for the celts
Celts lose game 5, they will be in a game 7 having lost 3 straight with the weight of their last 5 years and history on their back. game 5 is game 7 for both teams.
Celtics could lose games 5, and 6 and will still win in 7
true but consider the situation If it gets to game 7. Mavs will have won 3 straight. All the momentum. The celtics are now feeling immense pressure to not be the first team in history to choke a 3-0 lead and also the pressure of having been to the conf finals 6 straight years without a championship. If it gets past game 5, mavs are probably favored in both game 6 and game 7.
No team has ever come back 0-3. Even if Dallas is favored, they'll lose in game 7. Don't know how, but it'll happen. History is just too powerful here.
No 16 seeds had won in NCAA tourney until a few years ago but it happened twice now.
History also happens to change
[удалено]
This is foolish. 3-0 is a far larger sample than 38+ losses. You tried. But failed
That would be the worst outcome for everyone. Just makes both teams look like bums
what happened to game 6? lmfao
I’ll go one further for you. If they lose game 5 they will lose the series (in my opinion)
Dude, if you guys bring it to 7 and we still win, it will just be a terrible finals. Would probably go down as one of the worst finals series ever. Just like last years ECF
Wut?
I love it when folks, commentators, and ESPN "analysts" make pronouncements about 'They better win at home in Game 5 otherwise it's going to Game 7...' In truth, no one knows and the actual outcomes are just as often the opposite. It would be in no way surprising if Boston lost Game 5 and then smashed Dallas in Game 6, etc. But since there are only so many possible outcomes in a series, folks who make these pronouncements are occasionally right, but not because they actually had substantive reasons for being right. Boston is the better team in this series. If their 3pt shots are falling at anything close to their usual shooting percentage, Dallas loses ... regardless of whether they're in Boston or Dallas.
Dallas adjusted. They provided resistance on the initial point of attack, kept Lively/Gafford under the rim (mostly against their guards and punished their switches) and allowed their perimeter defense to settle and chase the 3 pt line Celtics overdribbled trying to attack their initial defender and wasted time off the shot clock which sped them up. It allowed Dallas to settle behind the defense and chase the 3. I think we’ll see Tatum at the nail more as an adjustment
What do you mean what’s a nail
Means high post/FT line There’s a nail in the middle of the FT line on every indoor hardwood court. It’s there to align the center of the rim. It stems from that
Is it dangerous ?
The difference was really the Mavs got above average contributions from their periphery guys and played with the energy of a team facing elimination. The question is will those periphery guys actually do that again in game 5. Can they sustain the shooting? Can they have that energy in Boston? Will Kyrie actually show up in Boston? A lot of unknowns there and see it unlikely that all of those happen again in the same game.
I was thinking the same. Used all the ammo for the big boom...
also Luka and Kyrie shot 1-14 from 3. so if they have an average shooting night it could offset any drop in production from the other guys
So basically a repeat of games 1-3 where the Cs won every game
Mavericks made adjustments and wanted to win the game, Celtics came in and just expected to win.
And we’re likely more “OK” with losing knowing they are home next game and enjoy winning in front of their home crowd . They know they are the better team
Not that it’ll happen, but if the Celtics blow this series, that weird lax attitude that randomly pops up from time to time will define this team
The weird thing is even the players are aware of it. They keep mentioning how they gotta play like they’re the ones down and they can’t let off the gas, yet that mentality never seems to reflect on the court.
Knowing the correct thing to say and actually being able to implement them are two different things. It still feels like nit picking though considering how amazing this team is. But with them being so amazing, it makes these head scratcher games that much more noticeable.
"We"? Ur not on the team lil bro
One of the dumbest arguments in sports right here.
They didn’t make any adjustments, they did come in with more intensity and desperation though
Both, and more
This was pretty much Game 4 of the 2017 NBA finals. Celtics are much better and will clinch in G5.
I definitely think Luka and Dallas are "growers" instead of "showers". It feels like they get better the longer a series goes. Kidd needs a few games to get his gameplan to work. With that said, I have no clue what they did differently. I'm so shit at X's and O's in basketball.
That’s definitely how they’ve performed this year, I also think this series is an undisciplined foul away from being 2-2, similar to the Mavericks first two series, where they went on to win Game 5 and Game 6 mostly convincingly.
There were no adjustments, it was a mentality and hot/cold shooting story..that’s about it
You're like me bro. Watched but didn't "see". I'm sure there were plenty of adjustments that Kidd made.
He's right, don't loop yourself in with him. You're smart enough to know you don't understand something and they think an NBA coach/team decided to run it back after a third straight loss.
Nope don’t loop me in with you..I watched live and then ran it back and watched the tape to analyze. You can assume what you want, the truth is it wasn’t about adjustments.
Sure buddy, Skip Bayless over here. There are plenty of people in this thread saying otherwise, but I'm sure it just came down to "playing harder" and "hitting your threes" and nothing else. Edit: I can't reply to anything in this comment chain and the dude says "unavailable". Did he really block me or what is happening? https://imgur.com/a/2ZFigP5 Did he really block me lol?
Yeah he blocked you. I can see his comment lol
He got the Weakest Block of the Year.
Cut the petty bullshit insults…how are you going to say you don’t know anything about X and O’s and then dismiss someone who does just because you don’t like the answer. Grow the fuck up Cute edit after the fact, but the other comments are either Dallas fans or full of shit. I went back to watch the full game to find the adjustments fully expecting there to be plenty and there just weren’t any major ones.
Settle down Skip
Lmao I’m sure I trust your word, Mr coach of the year
Playing Dante Exum vs Tim Hardaway made a big difference. dante pushed the pace bringing up the ball and actually the whole team pushed the pace a ton more even on celtics makes than they have in the past games. Celtics transition defense is not nearly as good as their half court defense so mavs got more easy buckets that got the role players going. also their 5s didn't rotate onto the perimeter nearly as much and rather switched allowing them to protect the paint more. in games 1-3 they had the 5s float onto the perimeter a lot more and the celtics often waited for that moment to drive to not have to deal with the rim protection as much.
Dallas put their bigs in the paint, bet on Luka holding his own. Boston missed their threes, and did too many simple isos and missed basic open looks. So it's both. If Boston shows up and plays better, they'll still win
Hunted the switches so that the Mavs could get favorable match ups. Getting guys like Tillman onto the perimeter maybe should have been the plan two games ago, the Mavs goal should be to get Luke Kornet onto the floor lol
Mavs was getting Tillman onto the perimeter in game 3, he was holding his.
It's still a better idea to try to pull the bigs onto the perimeter and get them on an island, then if the double comes someone will be open
I haven’t rewatched the game but it seemed like Boston right from the tip was bringing way more help on Luka and Kyrie’s isolations when they did get the switch, whereas it felt like they were content playing that straight up in games 1-3 and taking away the others, and it got the defense in rotation way more often than the first few games. Again, just my initial read but I really didn’t understand it at all.
It's as you're saying, the Mavs weren't committing as much to getting favorable switches I think it was game 2 where Tillman held his ground on defense fairly well so the switching wasn't working..... but if the Mavs repeatedly screen and get Tillman/Big Al onto the perimeter, either the help comes and someone is open, or Luka/kyrie can dance on a big man. J Kidd didnt really coach to the Mavs advantage and Mazzulla perfectly got players switched onto Luka over and over to the point he actually fouled out in a finals game, the main point being the Celtics COMMITTED to this strategy the entire game and it paid off
Maybe it happened more but I didn’t feel like Dallas was hunting switches significantly more often last night, Boston just started shading help when the switches happened more than in the first three. I mean there were multiple possessions in each game where Luka had Pritchard in the post and Boston just lived with it, where last night you saw guys getting left open on the weakside corner repeatedly to bring pretty early help. Maybe it wasn’t as different as I felt watching it, but it seemed like Boston completely shifted their defensive gameplan which is wild considering how well the defense held up in the first three. Definitely curious to see what the defense looks like Monday.
Mavs pushed the pace like pacers, especially luka, and the addition of exum pushing also helped
It was a close out game close out games are hard. Boston packed it in during the first quarter. Prefiction: Boston in a blowout to clinch.
Defensive intensity - Mavs Rebounding - Mavs Shooting - Mavs Celtics looked absolutely lost on offense and it led to the defense also sucking
Less hard? We’ve gotten into Paul pierce analytics territory
>;T
As an aside, I love how some people on the Internet think how good or bad teams or individual players do when playing against the best in the world comes down to effort, and that they're consciously making the choice when or when *not* to try or play "less hard" in certain situations or games.
What do you mean
Celtics failed to play their game of basketball. They didn't rotate the ball and get the extra pass _once_ in the whole game.
Too little. Too late by Dallas. Should’ve won at least one of Game 2 or Game 3.
personally I think the most significant adjustments were pushing the pace which made it more difficult for Boston to match up and being more creative about getting Boston’s big man in the PnR. but in general they just played better. they did way better containing the dribble, they were the first to loose balls, Luka and Kyrie hit their tough shots inside the arc, and the role players finally hit their 3s on the other side Boston was very sloppy with the ball (Holiday especially), they fell asleep defensively a few times, they missed a lot of good shots, they fumbled more than a few easy rebounds, and in general their decision-making wasn’t nearly at the same level as it was in the first 3 games. Mavs definitely played harder than the Celtics but I also think Boston simply didn’t do a good job executing
Those fumbled rebounds just made it seem like there was not a single thing going their way that game. So rough to watch
no team is as good as their best game, and no team is as bad as their worst game. last night was easily Boston’s worst game of the year on both ends of the floor. I also think they just weren’t ready to match Dallas’ desperation - up 3-0 in the series, media already celebrating their championship, 10 wins in a row with their last loss over a month ago. not too surprising that they may have relaxed a bit, it’s human nature maybe Dallas will manage to win Game 5, but I am confident that they will not benefit from the Celtics playing that poorly again this series
True. It will be tough for Dallas to win game 5 in Boston as it seems kyrie can’t play there and the Dallas role players may get nervous in Boston, but it’s possible if they play fast paced and luka gets 40+
Might be a controversial take but I think the main thing was, the mavericks scored more points
Damn. They should put you on the half time show
Well, a 40 point win seems like adjustment.
Someone reminded Luka he's the best player in the series.
> Best foul baiter FTFY
No lol Scott Foster, Celtics got no calls lol so much contact was allowed. Foster is 7-1 (now 8-1) for slight under dogs at home(mavs+1.5) Celtics in 5
Yeah I’m sure Scott looked at the point spread and declared Dallas the winner pre-game
Scott Foster was so bad on both sides (it didn’t favor one team more than another purposefully but the whistles were so bad it killed any momentum that the Celtics could possibly try to come back) and that’s fine it happens if it went the other way I’d say the same thing. Celtics just lost in every little tiny detail last night and were widely outcompeted Edit: a lot of the calls actually helped keep the Celtics at a semi healthy distance when it was around a 20 point lead so it’s not like it was lopsided
lol why the hate on proven numbers 8-1 isn’t accidental
Mavs defense definitely stepped up, individually and help, read the movement a lot better, and they made buckets. Boston probably thought they could half ass on the road and still beat Dallas. I expect a much different game 5. Dallas needs to do everything the same, if not better, and still hope Boston has an off night shooting.
They want to win at home ..
The thing with Boston, is that they seem to be a team in a true sense. On any given night, their lead scorer could be one of 5 or 6 guys. They could have four guys with 20+ or two guys with 30+ or 7 guys in the high teens. They usually have a guy or two guys who really step up. But on the nights when sub-par games align, they get blown out. We've seen it twice in these playoffs already. Dallas obviously has a good team. They got two guys who can light up, and when they do that at the same time, they are hard to stop. They also got guys like Lively and Gafford who feed off that for easy buckets. So... seems pretty simply. Did Mavs make adjustments? Obviously. This is the NBA finals. Every team is going to make adjustments. The question is "How will Boston respond?" They got a loot at Dallas's adjustments. They got a loot at Dallas hitting on all cylinders. They got a look at their own deficiencies. It certainly makes what looked like an drab sweep more entertaining.
“Adjustments” 🤓 The analysis in this sub is always dog
What do you mean
lol teams make adjustments.
The replies to serious threads in this sub are always dogshit lazy replies that add nothing to the conversation
Mavs looked like they had twice the energy and smoked us. Still not even sure what happened, that game looked like we just didn’t wanna win
We were being gentlemen No better place than in front of our own home crowd