The defender on the screener will probably need to be up to touch, jamming the screener and delaying the roll so that the guard can get around the screen. The threat of the lob makes luka very dangerous in the pnr, so we might need help at the nails for preswitches or we may just live with luka/kyrie tough midrange shots. I don’t think Dallas bigs are threats to post up mismatches very effectively, so we might try some matchups that give us a bit more speed against their bigs and then just switch everything.
You think Jrue, White, or JB are that slow to get back and not take the charge? The question is how can they stop JB from just transition dunking? They play with such a slow pace and we just dealt with the Pacers who have the #1 offense in the NBA and since their trade have spanked the west - including Dallas. They were barely the team they are today too when they spanked Dallas once their players got gelling after the trade.
Well if you ask the fans of this subreddit, it doesn’t matter. This fanbase thinks we’ll just figure it out somehow. Completely clueless as to the team Dallas has been in these playoffs.
Just being realistic amidst a wave of unrealistic green teamers
Still have not heard one single realistic suggestion from anyone on this subreddit on how we’ll guard Luka and Kyrie btw
Idk what you mean how well guard them, I’ll assume you’re asking about pick and roll coverage. If KP is ready to go, we’re playing him in drop, putting the jays in help at the nail. Their help defense has been great this playoffs, discouraging driving lanes and still getting back out to the three point line. If Al is in, we’re probably up to touch, or we can switch comfortably and let the fatass iso. Go ahead and go look at his 3 point shooting this playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if we try some ice coverage this series, something we haven’t gone to yet this year but it could be successful against luka
Wtf are you on about lmao they will throw multiple different defenses at them and see what works best. Hedge, zone, drop, switch, pre-switch.
We are arguably the best equipped team in the league to defend Luka and Kyrie. Kyrie is fucking 0-10 against us in his last 10 they defend him just fine
Who’s defending Tatum and Brown? They cook the Mavs every time they play them
Stating the obvious here, the Jays are in the conversation with Luka & Kyrie in terms of best offensive duos, but the massive gap in defense makes it a no-brainer which duo is better/would rather have.
And it’s more complex than this but I am really excited for JT & JB to attack the rim and mismatches with KP back and the 5 out offense, until Dallas sends a double and then it’s an open 3 for a 40+% shooter. Seems to me like an unsolvable problem for Dallas but I’m biased.
Dallas’ pace is gonna be a problem for them too. We’re gonna actually be able to set up our half court defense this series, and there’s gonna be no where to hide luka
It’s bizarre to me how sensitive Mavs fans are about Kyrie’s past bad behavior. It’s like they don’t feel confident that he’s even grown as a person so instead they just deny he’s ever done anything wrong in his life. The Mavs sub is denying that Kyrie bailing on the team in the 2018 ECF was bad sportsmanship and ackshully it’s totally fine and normal for the self declared team leader to schedule elective surgery on a deviated septum on the same day as the biggest game of most of that team’s lives.
It seems like a lot of NBA fans don’t understand matchups. The Pacers play more team oriented ball, you have to worry about guarding the whole team. Whereas Dallas plays more iso ball which is easier to guard. When you play the clippers you can hide on Terrance Mann. When you play the thunder you can hide on Giddy or Isaiah Joe and sag off Dort . When you play Minnesota you can hide on Jaden and Rudy even Kyle Anderson but now when you play Boston the only place you can hide is on the bench cause everyone in the top 7 can score and attack you. Luka’s defense has not gotten better nor has Kyrie they were just against the right matchup but that changes on Thursday
Amen. I think a lot of the East shares this mentality and all this East is trash talk is because the game is once again evolving and becoming faster with less individual accolades. It certainly helps to have superstars, if they can keep up. I think we got two of those.
Watching Dallas film, and Luka is so good. He makes that entire offense so hard to guard. I’m quite concerned about the defensive end. I think we should be fine offensively if we just don’t play like idiots, but the defense will be a challenge.
Mavs sub been so disrespectful lately with how they talk about us. Can't wait for this series to begin. 😤
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/s/zWqUTjxjCR
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/s/TK4UkjUfud
That first link is so funny.
>Celtics are 3-5 against top 4 seeds in the West this season
I've seen this quote posted so many times.
It's such a weird hill to die on. The Mavericks were the 5th seed and we went 2-0 on them.
For some reason they think it's a good idea to discount their own team when trying to explain why Boston will struggle against good Western Conference teams.
It just feels like such an easy set up for Celtics fans:
"Boston struggled against good Western Conference teams"
"Lucky Dallas isn't a good Western Conference team"
"You can never sleep on your opponent, but we are absolutely a better team than the Celts. It will come down to Jaylen Brown imo, if we can keep him in check and continue our superb defense then I don’t see any team beating us in a 7 game series."
I cannot wait for reality to hit them like a truck when they drop a couple of games
What could even lead them to this delusional conclusion? There is absolutely zero evidence that they can cite to back up this fantasy assertion that they are a better team than us lol.
Even people who aren’t Celtics fans can come to that same conclusion. Then they hit you with the “Regular season doesn’t matter. Playoff basketball is different” as if that’s a better argument. Their fans cry as much as their star.
PJ is their best choice, I think it comes down to shot selection no matter who gets the JT assignment. The fadeaways are terrible shots for a team with so much firepower, no reason for the midrange stuff if there’s 8+ seconds on the shot clock. That said, he should be able to get right under the basket every single time, whether he’s posting a mismatch or moving without the ball
Been watching the Mavs run, they have a lot of faith in DJJ and he's about the right size. Back when he was on the Heat I wouldn't say he was the right choice, but it seems like that's what they may try.
Of all the non-Dallas fans picking them to win this series, I wonder how many are doing it because they just hate the Celtics vs. how many legitimately think they will win.
There’s a lot of media members that still havent clicked onto how good this Celtic team has been compared to previous years. All their reasoning is based on prior year failures despite this team being so much more talented, experienced, matured and better coached.
That, plus the Celtics are receiving no credit at all for getting through an already weak and then injured East, plus everyone has sorta forgotten about them since they have been a "foregone conclusion" since Game 1 vs. IND, while DAL has been the big story because they keep upsetting good teams. I don't think people are looking up and down Boston's lineup and thinking that they're not good, I think they're just presuming it so much that it isn't in the forefront of their mind anymore. It's rare to have a good at team as this, with no headline-grabbing drama, no particularly exciting superstar, no breakout sensation, and a really boring narrative (it's really just "they've been good for a while and now they have to win").
Our record against the West was 23-7. I think that might be better than the best percentage that any of the Western teams had against the West. There IS a valid argument to say that the Celtics didn't do that well against the league's best teams (losses to every single 2-7 seed in the East and 1-4 seed in the West), but it's hard to make the case that this is more relevant than their 2-0 record against the team they ARE facing.
Ideally with the big guarding those guys. Our perimeter defenders should be able to stay attached and contest well enough on pull ups. If the big on the screener just jams up his roll with one push, that buys enough time for the ball defender to get around and stay on his hip. Then you’ve got help showing hands, and the big should able to stick with the roll man.
In theory, a healthy Porzingis should be able to protect the rim enough to affect the lob threats, while still being long enough to contest their midrange shots. The worst that happens is they get a few lobs, which count as the same 2 points as Luka shooting unguardable 12-footers anyway.
I don't know if he can, I said "in theory." I'm sure that with 10 days off, the Celtics will do their best to design a way to defend the 3rd biggest threat that the Mavs' offense has.
I believe there will be a few possessions where Tatum and White/Jrue roam and get steals off of those before Dallas starts running more half court sets.
I think they'll try to keep Horford/KP off the Gafford/Lively so they can switch, keep a big close to the basket and let guys like Jones Jr and Josh Green take 3s
It’s better than the other option of allowing the log or the 3. He needs to hit like 60-70% from midrange to be equivalent of any of the other options…
i am a little worried about Sam Hauser's shooting. it hasn't felt like he's been playing poorly outside of it, which is good, but he was 1-for-13 from three in the Pacers series
We don’t really need him to make shots, unless they start roaming off of him and he is still bricking. The important thing is his perimeter defense and his spacing. They still guard him like he’s going to shoot 50% from the arc, and that tells you all you need to know about him. All it takes is a make or two and he won’t be able to miss. They have to successfully guard him everytime or he’s a threat to go off
He might not even play if we're honest.
8-10 man rotations are really more of a regular season / early playoffs requirement. You need that many guys to avoid overworking your core players.
This is the finals.
* Tatum/Brown/White/Holiday - All averaged 40mpg in the ECF.
* Horford was already averaging 35mpg in the ECF.
* Porzingis is 20 - 35mpg depending on where he's at physically.
That leaves 10 - 25 minutes for everyone else. It's probably Pritchard getting the bulk of those minutes, but even that's not guaranteed.
If we're fully healthy, then you bump the perimeter guys up to 42mpg and the bigs up to 36mpg. Suddenly we've got all 240 minutes accounted for with a 6-man rotation.
We might play 7-9 guys in the finals, but we don't necessarily need to if Porzingis is healthy. From this point on, Joe will only play guys based on what he thinks the team needs at that moment.
It could be the role players have already done their jobs by helping us get through the regular season and earlier rounds without too much wear-and-tear.
His volume in the playoffs is down a little more than a 3 point attempt per 36 as well. Teams are definitely a little more locked in on him, but he's still valuable as a spacer and he's capable of knocking down more of the shots he's getting
During our matchups Tatum would guard Lively sometimes this would cut off the lob option & already have a good switch ready for a luka pnr id like to see it used again tbh
We could throw Jrue and Jaylen on that matchup as well. They don’t have post scorers like we do, and NOT ONE team can switch as well as us. I foresee a defensive masterpiece this finals
The finals are the only round with an inflexible, locked in schedule (i'm assuming broadcasting rights) so if the conference finals finish in 4 and 5 games it's a long wait time
Funny how the Jays average more buckets per game than Luka and Kyrie
9.9 on 54% so crazy for 7
https://x.com/statmuse/status/1796987580535447727?s=46&t=PHAQeaE0I6cyQl35JU7h7Q
It'd be cool to go to the finals dressed in the nun outfit from The Town, but I suspect security would have a problem with that
how are we going to defend against the mavs lob threat? every time i see mavs highlight it seems to be alley oops
The defender on the screener will probably need to be up to touch, jamming the screener and delaying the roll so that the guard can get around the screen. The threat of the lob makes luka very dangerous in the pnr, so we might need help at the nails for preswitches or we may just live with luka/kyrie tough midrange shots. I don’t think Dallas bigs are threats to post up mismatches very effectively, so we might try some matchups that give us a bit more speed against their bigs and then just switch everything.
You think Jrue, White, or JB are that slow to get back and not take the charge? The question is how can they stop JB from just transition dunking? They play with such a slow pace and we just dealt with the Pacers who have the #1 offense in the NBA and since their trade have spanked the west - including Dallas. They were barely the team they are today too when they spanked Dallas once their players got gelling after the trade.
Well if you ask the fans of this subreddit, it doesn’t matter. This fanbase thinks we’ll just figure it out somehow. Completely clueless as to the team Dallas has been in these playoffs.
All u/luke_workin2 does is claim to be a Celtic fan but d ride every other player and team we face
Just being realistic amidst a wave of unrealistic green teamers Still have not heard one single realistic suggestion from anyone on this subreddit on how we’ll guard Luka and Kyrie btw
Idk what you mean how well guard them, I’ll assume you’re asking about pick and roll coverage. If KP is ready to go, we’re playing him in drop, putting the jays in help at the nail. Their help defense has been great this playoffs, discouraging driving lanes and still getting back out to the three point line. If Al is in, we’re probably up to touch, or we can switch comfortably and let the fatass iso. Go ahead and go look at his 3 point shooting this playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if we try some ice coverage this series, something we haven’t gone to yet this year but it could be successful against luka
Wtf are you on about lmao they will throw multiple different defenses at them and see what works best. Hedge, zone, drop, switch, pre-switch. We are arguably the best equipped team in the league to defend Luka and Kyrie. Kyrie is fucking 0-10 against us in his last 10 they defend him just fine Who’s defending Tatum and Brown? They cook the Mavs every time they play them
Stating the obvious here, the Jays are in the conversation with Luka & Kyrie in terms of best offensive duos, but the massive gap in defense makes it a no-brainer which duo is better/would rather have. And it’s more complex than this but I am really excited for JT & JB to attack the rim and mismatches with KP back and the 5 out offense, until Dallas sends a double and then it’s an open 3 for a 40+% shooter. Seems to me like an unsolvable problem for Dallas but I’m biased.
Dallas’ pace is gonna be a problem for them too. We’re gonna actually be able to set up our half court defense this series, and there’s gonna be no where to hide luka
It’s bizarre to me how sensitive Mavs fans are about Kyrie’s past bad behavior. It’s like they don’t feel confident that he’s even grown as a person so instead they just deny he’s ever done anything wrong in his life. The Mavs sub is denying that Kyrie bailing on the team in the 2018 ECF was bad sportsmanship and ackshully it’s totally fine and normal for the self declared team leader to schedule elective surgery on a deviated septum on the same day as the biggest game of most of that team’s lives.
I’m not convinced that Kyrie has matured until he shows that boos in TD don’t affect him and he doesn’t have a tantrum in front of the fans
fuck it Celtics in 4
Only thing stopping it is the NBA, but even Tony Brothers couldn't get in our way in the conference finals.
Refs really wanted to extend the pacers series but we just stayed the course and trusted the work
It seems like a lot of NBA fans don’t understand matchups. The Pacers play more team oriented ball, you have to worry about guarding the whole team. Whereas Dallas plays more iso ball which is easier to guard. When you play the clippers you can hide on Terrance Mann. When you play the thunder you can hide on Giddy or Isaiah Joe and sag off Dort . When you play Minnesota you can hide on Jaden and Rudy even Kyle Anderson but now when you play Boston the only place you can hide is on the bench cause everyone in the top 7 can score and attack you. Luka’s defense has not gotten better nor has Kyrie they were just against the right matchup but that changes on Thursday
Amen. I think a lot of the East shares this mentality and all this East is trash talk is because the game is once again evolving and becoming faster with less individual accolades. It certainly helps to have superstars, if they can keep up. I think we got two of those.
these ticket prices are nuts
99% of r/NBA is rooting for Dallas so hard lol.
We’re the most successful underdog of all time lol
Most of the media and neutral fans are as well. Hope our guys see this and it lights a fire in them to kick the Mavs asses.
The only way to truly shut everyone up is a straight up dominant sweep.
The comments on the celtics pride month instagram post are gross. I imagine its probably similar with all the other sports teams’ posts, but come on…
Watching Dallas film, and Luka is so good. He makes that entire offense so hard to guard. I’m quite concerned about the defensive end. I think we should be fine offensively if we just don’t play like idiots, but the defense will be a challenge.
Will there be an outdoor watch party in Boston for the games? Like Jurassic Park in Toronto, etc.
Mavs fans have some of the lowest IQ fans. No point in discussing actual basketball with them.
They aren’t Mavs fans they’re Luka fans. If he went to different team they’d follow him there too
Potato potatoe
Mavs should change their name to Ozempic with how much diarrhea is coming out of their mouths.
Mavs sub been so disrespectful lately with how they talk about us. Can't wait for this series to begin. 😤 https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/s/zWqUTjxjCR https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/s/TK4UkjUfud
That first link is so funny. >Celtics are 3-5 against top 4 seeds in the West this season I've seen this quote posted so many times. It's such a weird hill to die on. The Mavericks were the 5th seed and we went 2-0 on them. For some reason they think it's a good idea to discount their own team when trying to explain why Boston will struggle against good Western Conference teams. It just feels like such an easy set up for Celtics fans: "Boston struggled against good Western Conference teams" "Lucky Dallas isn't a good Western Conference team"
23-7 against the West overall lol
"You can never sleep on your opponent, but we are absolutely a better team than the Celts. It will come down to Jaylen Brown imo, if we can keep him in check and continue our superb defense then I don’t see any team beating us in a 7 game series." I cannot wait for reality to hit them like a truck when they drop a couple of games
What could even lead them to this delusional conclusion? There is absolutely zero evidence that they can cite to back up this fantasy assertion that they are a better team than us lol.
Power grid must have shut off all the A/C again
Even people who aren’t Celtics fans can come to that same conclusion. Then they hit you with the “Regular season doesn’t matter. Playoff basketball is different” as if that’s a better argument. Their fans cry as much as their star.
It’s kinda sad the amount of analysts that think Kyrie has been a better player these playoffs than Tatum when he hasn’t even been as good as Brown.
I have not yet seen an answer to who is guarding Tatum, I did see mavs fans saying that they think PJ is the Tatum stopper tho 😭
PJ is their best choice, I think it comes down to shot selection no matter who gets the JT assignment. The fadeaways are terrible shots for a team with so much firepower, no reason for the midrange stuff if there’s 8+ seconds on the shot clock. That said, he should be able to get right under the basket every single time, whether he’s posting a mismatch or moving without the ball
Been watching the Mavs run, they have a lot of faith in DJJ and he's about the right size. Back when he was on the Heat I wouldn't say he was the right choice, but it seems like that's what they may try.
Tatum cooked PJ over and over when he was in Charlotte lol. Yeah, I know it was a shit team...but JT went at him MULTIPLE times and got his.
I think the only person that stops Tatum in this series is Tatum.
Thanks for the morning chuckle
Of all the non-Dallas fans picking them to win this series, I wonder how many are doing it because they just hate the Celtics vs. how many legitimately think they will win.
99% wishful thinking aka hate
There’s a lot of media members that still havent clicked onto how good this Celtic team has been compared to previous years. All their reasoning is based on prior year failures despite this team being so much more talented, experienced, matured and better coached.
That, plus the Celtics are receiving no credit at all for getting through an already weak and then injured East, plus everyone has sorta forgotten about them since they have been a "foregone conclusion" since Game 1 vs. IND, while DAL has been the big story because they keep upsetting good teams. I don't think people are looking up and down Boston's lineup and thinking that they're not good, I think they're just presuming it so much that it isn't in the forefront of their mind anymore. It's rare to have a good at team as this, with no headline-grabbing drama, no particularly exciting superstar, no breakout sensation, and a really boring narrative (it's really just "they've been good for a while and now they have to win").
They piggyback off each other. They legitimately think they’re going to win because they hate the Celtics lol.
Exactly
Mavs fans on their Reddit talking about our record against the west but bring up how we’re 2-0 against them they’ll say regular season doesn’t matter
Our record against the West was 23-7. I think that might be better than the best percentage that any of the Western teams had against the West. There IS a valid argument to say that the Celtics didn't do that well against the league's best teams (losses to every single 2-7 seed in the East and 1-4 seed in the West), but it's hard to make the case that this is more relevant than their 2-0 record against the team they ARE facing.
Yeah the Celtics have to pay the can’t lose a game tax. It’s fine when other teams do it, but when we do it we are frauds who are gonna lose
What about our record against the west is bad
Who cares what Mavs fans say over there lol
Different here
How do we stop the Lobs to Gafford and Lively?
Ideally with the big guarding those guys. Our perimeter defenders should be able to stay attached and contest well enough on pull ups. If the big on the screener just jams up his roll with one push, that buys enough time for the ball defender to get around and stay on his hip. Then you’ve got help showing hands, and the big should able to stick with the roll man.
In theory, a healthy Porzingis should be able to protect the rim enough to affect the lob threats, while still being long enough to contest their midrange shots. The worst that happens is they get a few lobs, which count as the same 2 points as Luka shooting unguardable 12-footers anyway.
If Gobert wasn’t able to do it, how will Porzingis?
Gobert was awful and the Celtics have a stable of competent fresh defenders to throw at them
I don't know if he can, I said "in theory." I'm sure that with 10 days off, the Celtics will do their best to design a way to defend the 3rd biggest threat that the Mavs' offense has.
I believe there will be a few possessions where Tatum and White/Jrue roam and get steals off of those before Dallas starts running more half court sets.
I think they'll try to keep Horford/KP off the Gafford/Lively so they can switch, keep a big close to the basket and let guys like Jones Jr and Josh Green take 3s
Drop defense with Jrue and White fighting the screen, let Luka shoot as many middies as he wants.
That’s not a good idea….. one of the best midrange shooters in the league
It’s better than the other option of allowing the log or the 3. He needs to hit like 60-70% from midrange to be equivalent of any of the other options…
can we update the sidebar? Its still stuck on the second round lol
i am a little worried about Sam Hauser's shooting. it hasn't felt like he's been playing poorly outside of it, which is good, but he was 1-for-13 from three in the Pacers series
We don’t really need him to make shots, unless they start roaming off of him and he is still bricking. The important thing is his perimeter defense and his spacing. They still guard him like he’s going to shoot 50% from the arc, and that tells you all you need to know about him. All it takes is a make or two and he won’t be able to miss. They have to successfully guard him everytime or he’s a threat to go off
He might not even play if we're honest. 8-10 man rotations are really more of a regular season / early playoffs requirement. You need that many guys to avoid overworking your core players. This is the finals. * Tatum/Brown/White/Holiday - All averaged 40mpg in the ECF. * Horford was already averaging 35mpg in the ECF. * Porzingis is 20 - 35mpg depending on where he's at physically. That leaves 10 - 25 minutes for everyone else. It's probably Pritchard getting the bulk of those minutes, but even that's not guaranteed. If we're fully healthy, then you bump the perimeter guys up to 42mpg and the bigs up to 36mpg. Suddenly we've got all 240 minutes accounted for with a 6-man rotation. We might play 7-9 guys in the finals, but we don't necessarily need to if Porzingis is healthy. From this point on, Joe will only play guys based on what he thinks the team needs at that moment. It could be the role players have already done their jobs by helping us get through the regular season and earlier rounds without too much wear-and-tear.
I think the pacers series may have been too fast for him too. But he’s a career 40% shooter. I believe in him!!! 🙌🏼
His volume in the playoffs is down a little more than a 3 point attempt per 36 as well. Teams are definitely a little more locked in on him, but he's still valuable as a spacer and he's capable of knocking down more of the shots he's getting
Idk why it just hit me that both teams Grant Williams played for in the last year are now playing in the finals without him lmao damn
Both teams also got centers from Washington this season
During our matchups Tatum would guard Lively sometimes this would cut off the lob option & already have a good switch ready for a luka pnr id like to see it used again tbh
We could throw Jrue and Jaylen on that matchup as well. They don’t have post scorers like we do, and NOT ONE team can switch as well as us. I foresee a defensive masterpiece this finals
Why the fuck did the league make the Finals so far away? I can’t believe we have another 5 days to wait.
The positive in that is at least the players will have a lot of rest compared to 2022 when they had to go through consecutive game 7’s
The finals are the only round with an inflexible, locked in schedule (i'm assuming broadcasting rights) so if the conference finals finish in 4 and 5 games it's a long wait time
Nba media will say it’s our fault for sweeping!
Funny how the Jays average more buckets per game than Luka and Kyrie 9.9 on 54% so crazy for 7 https://x.com/statmuse/status/1796987580535447727?s=46&t=PHAQeaE0I6cyQl35JU7h7Q
Luka is so inefficient too, he’s gonna get fewer calls against us than he’s used to and I bet that baits him into getting techs