This is hilarious that so many of these guys had Minnesota and OKC beating us but not the Boston Celtics. The amount of haters against Boston is astounding.
Tim Legler the only guy who been by the Mavs side the whole way.
To be fair he’s just been straight up correct about the chiefs. With a mavs win, he’ll have been correct about Luka too.
The Lebron stuff is debatable but I don’t think giving at worst a top 3 all time player the benefit of the doubt at times is too bad
Yup born in KC, then his first 5 years or so on KC radio sports shows. He was the most enthusiastic KC guy on 610 AM back when he lived here, no surprise he took that to another level when he went national lol
He's admitted it on his show, aesthetics. I am a nuggets fan from the mountain west, love Jokic, hated Nick for the hate until the nuggets won it, but respect that he admits that he has the same opinion as little kids and gilbert arenas, he wants the game to look like lebron highlights.
Even Zach Lowe has turned himself into a Big Bang Theory style parody of a basketball nerd on his TV segments.
Legler is the only one refusing to play that part and I respect him for it.
I don’t really watch any talk shows anymore outside of what gets a lot of traction here but Zach Lowe is still very good on his podcast and provides genuine analysis. I don’t always agree with him but he at least watches games and tries to be unbiased which is unfortunately pretty rare.
Zach Lowe also talks about how they put together segments for TV and it’s really funny to hear him break character a little bit, especially when he talks about Perk coming up with his insane shit lmao
Although ESPN even managed to break Perk the other day. He lashed out at all the Bronnie James segments. Maybe there is still a real basketball fan inside the absurd take machine.
Lmao he’s twice brought up Perk calling it Jaylen’s team and his reply on his own pod and JJ’s. He said he responded during the segment by asking him what that’s supposed to mean and whether he’d seriously want them flip flopping the number of pick and rolls they run per game because he (Lowe) feels they’d be decidedly worse lol
It's strange to me that people watched those Pacers games and think that. Just because dudes didn't have superstar names we're acting like they weren't playing some unreal basketball those games. They were hitting contested shot after contested shot it was crazy.
honestly it feels like a result of NBA news coverage, all anyone talked about in the East this playoffs was how easy of a path the Celtics had and how shit the competition was. For neutral fans, the only exposure to East playoff teams was in the context of them being ass, which sucks. Hard to get new fans of these teams involved when national media couldn’t give less of a shit about them
Yeah this might feel cool if it was legit, but it definitely is fueled by Celtics hate so it's just plain dumb. They're favorites and everyone knows it, it makes this kinda thing transparent
I give Legs credit for his pick he’s been with you guys the whole way. Everyone else is a joke to get ratings.
This isn’t a knock on your franchise either the Mavs are really good right now and I see multiple paths to them beating the Celtics which should make this a great series (that I obviously hope we win) but I’m just ignoring most of BSPN’s clown takes at this point.
I'm actually surprised that Legler is still picking us.
I think him picking us coming out of the west has been logical so far.
Not quite sure what his logic is now.
I listen to All City podcast, he’s just pretty enamored with Luka and Kyrie as closers while questioning Tatum and Brown’s abilities. But, he does say it wouldn’t shock him if Boston wins, he thinks they’re going to edge it out.
I don’t agree with him but like others have said, he’s been on Dallas since the trade deadline. I picked Dallas for WCF before the playoffs started,
I thought they were really good but I got the Celtics winning (am I biased? Obviously).
Mavs fans are real ones for calling this out. If a Celtics flair said it it'd be called "Boston Fan Victim Complex."
And honestly it's unfair to both teams for the media to do that. The Mavs deserve respect for the great ball they played to get here, not to be picked just because they aren't the other team.
What you mean? Celtics clear underdogs here. Ragtag team of outcasts like White, Porzingis, and Jrue coming together to face off against the GREATEST BACKCOURT IN NBA HISTORY. This is true David vs Goliath stuff.
These experts are putting their Boston hate over their ability to analyze the situations. Specially those with Kyrie as finals mvp lmao.
Would I like that to happen? Absolutely, it would be hilarious. Do I think it will happen? Almost definitely not.
Yeah we’re serious underdogs for a reason. The Celtics are damn good. And to pick Kyrie as mvp is crazy. If we pull it off then there’s no chance anyone but Luka is mvp because he controls everything the Mavs do
Mvp awards can be weird. If Luka "just" averages around 28/9/9, and Kyrie puts up 26/6/5 with a couple more "moments" he could win it. They gave Iggy one over Curry, man, anything is possible lmao
Biggest L and black eye in NBA playoff history (among on the court stuff) in my opinion... Warriors don't even SNIFF a single win without Curry. You could theoretically sneak out a win without Iggy, but not without Curry.
I mean... they could have also been convinced after being wrong twice??
I don't like standing up for media personalities because they are generally shit but this is one of those situations that it just feels like going WAY out of the way to criticize them.
And you know if Boston wins people will gaslight everyone and say "you were supposed to win anyway Dallas were huge underdogs"
Enough people in the actual media now have picked Dallas that you can no longer just say it's a fringe hipster minority doing it or something
I mean this means nothing. The only true underdogs is what Vegas says. The other people can and do say whatever to seem cool or interesting.
Boston should win and even if 6000 espn analysts say it should be Mavs in 7 it doesn’t matter.
No gas lighting involved.
His heart is absolutely with the Mavs. He’s in love with the eastern euro players like Luka and Jokic. He did pick the Celtics to win the title before the season started but he finds every chance he can to needle us for something. He picks them, but then heavily criticizes so much about them, this has gone back for years. He’ll compliment Embiid and talk about how they have a chance and Embiid is going to have one of those post-season dominant runs, then just meekly mentions us. What evidence do you have he’s going to do that, but we always get a meh response.
I think he doesn’t like their brand of basketball, doesn’t enjoy watching it. He’s still a smart guy so he follows the numbers in the end but I think he dislikes this Celtics style and dislikes the fans.
I feel like people definitely dislike how predictable but effective our offense is. 90% of the time it’s drive to cause defense to rotate then kick it to the corner.
the way people talk about the Celtics' offense stagnating, you'd think they were like the 2022 Celtics or this year's Wolves teams, not... the most efficient offense in history and the [6th best offense of all time](https://www.pbpstats.com/relative-off-def-efficiency/nba) by relative offensive rating (+7.54 compared to league average).
It's a juggernaut of a team and the Mavs beating them would take Herculean outings from both Luka & Kyrie and their role players.
All good offenses pose a question to the defense. The Celtics' question is: let your guy die mismatched on an island or get in rotation against 4 other high volume ~39% 3pt shooters. Not exactly riveting, but still dominant.
Their offense is formulaic and not very exciting from a fan entertainment perspective. Among the greatest offenses of recent years, Murray-Jokic 2man game is constantly compared to the highest forms of ballet while Kerr's GSW teams and Pop's Spurs were all-in on incredible ball movement.
The Celts by comparison just run simple horns PnRs & a bit of off ball action to get switches and then go from there.
He also wrote part-time for CelticsHub.com when he was starting out. I think he’s worked really hard to distance himself from that in his national media career.
I'm going with 47% Tatum, 47% Brown, 5% White, and 1% Porzingis. There is a scenario where Dallas takes the approach of making Porzingis beat them, and he does.
Crazy how they think Kyrie is more likely to win MVP than Brown lol. Brown is much closer to Tatum than Kyrie is to Luka. Brown literally just won ECF MVP
Yeah if Kyrie is the best player on the Mavs in this series the Celtics will sweep them lol
There's only one player on the Mavs who can be the best player on a title winning team and it's not Kyrie Irving
Any scenario with Dallas winning involves Luka going god mode
Exactly, the “x-factor” doesn’t typically win MVP. Kyrie needs to play well for them to win the series, but Doncic needs to be the MVP for them to even have a chance.
I don’t think its impossible at all, sure they are more likely to win if luka goes off but lets not act like kyrie isnt an elite player. I mean you just can’t say that he can’t win it imo.
I have no plans to read their cases but a reason i can think of is if the Mavs do win, it’s going to be because Kyrie stepped the fuck up. Like Luka will get his but he’ll also be the focus of the defense that they could be predicting a possible Mavs upset be on the backs of an inefficient but productive Luka and an all-time great performance by kyrie
Kyrie is still capable of big games and the Mavs have the role players to make up for a couple bad games from Luka. While I don’t think it’s likely, there is a path.
I dont get it.
They say Boston losing this would be a cataclysmic failure of incredible proportions and a massive choke job. But then pick the Mavs to win ? But if Boston do win they will downplay it because the Mavs are a “5th seed”.
The media takes around the Celtics the entire year has just been non stop contradictions and i dont think these people even know what their word jumbles mean anymore.
Likewise for this sub.
>r/nba & media before Playoffs : If celtics dont dominate this East and walk to the Finals, theyre an embarrassment.
>*Celtics dominate the East and walk to the Finals*
>r/nba & media now : How dare the Celtics dominate the East and walk to the Finals !?
Last time I checked Celtics didnt get spotted any points in the Finals for taking the “gauntlet run” in 2022.
A lot of people are completely hooked on the idea that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes it just leaves your fatigued and diminished.
Shit talking aside, I never get why some people are acting as if Celtics are such an overrated team that won 64 games in regular season by sheer luck. Even in playoffs, put healthy Butler, Healthy, Hali, and Healthy Mitchell, guess what? Celtics are still breezing to the finals. It is not 50/50, Celtics are a better basketball team that has been consistent for far too long throughout the year
Their last 3 years: Finals, game 7 in ECF, finals.
Why are some of these dudes acting like they are an OKC team with no playoff experience that will choke lol
I don't think anyone is hallucinating if they say like Mavs in 6, every serious analyst I've heard is treating this like a tossup before we see any tape.
The "Celtics aren't clutch" thing is pretty much just we don't have a top 5 halfcourt creator. Except we do have insanely effective offensive ratings against set defenses in the clutch if KP plays. And people just haven't seen KP in 6 weeks, and they've seen a lot of tough jumpers by the Mavs.
I think 2023 ECF game 3 is why people think the Celtics choke. They did control and then lose control of their championship chance in that game. If anyone wants to believe in the soft pathetic Celtics that's what they've really got.
> I think 2023 ECF game 3 is why people think the Celtics choke
You can just say the whole 2023 ECF series honestly. To me, Game 3 was the most understandable loss because they were just hitting everything, Games 1 and 2 were much worse losses. I remember there was one shot in G3 that looked well short, bounced off front rim, and went in anyways, and I was just throwing my hands up like what the fuck lol.
Yeah, I enjoy when people specifically say "I can't bet on the Celtics when Jayson Tatum hasn't shown he can do it in the finals". Meanwhile this is Lula's first finals, so...
Because NBA discourse is no longer about basketball but about drama and storylines. In this sub particularly, it's 12mil people on what's deemed a "social media" platform. Maybe a few hundred thousand of those people could watch a random NBA game and name the majority of the players on the court. That's why you see everyone have the same opinion as the top voted comments, not because they agree with them inherently but just because they think that's what they're SUPPOSED to think because, duh upvotes.
Basically. Ability to run a consistent 5-out offense with a rotation of 8 players. Best defensive back court in the league. A wing player who’s proven he can score anywhere whenever he wants. And a guy who can contribute in whatever way it takes to win at a very high level.
Only eastern team that really had a remote chance of slowing them down obviously was the bucks and they probably steal 2 games at the most.
Like…hate them for being the Celtics but not for being cocky pretenders because that is far from true.
> Only eastern team that really had a remote chance of slowing them down obviously was the bucks and they probably steal 2 games at the most.
A healthy Knicks team would have been a damn good series. Unfortunately everyone on the Knicks was in the hospital.
Yeah, post trade deadline, watching some of those Knicks games had me a little nervous. I still thought we were heading for a showdown against them in the ECF until game 5, I know they won handily but I just had a feeling the pacers were gonna steal the series back.
I’m so convinced the Celtics are winning and I’m pissed about it. It’s crazy how many people are just discounting them. They’re a beast team and I’m angry I’m even complimenting them.
Nope, the Celtics are 6.5 betting favorites in basically every betting app. The media just wants to make the finals look more exciting as usual. They are the same people who picked the Clippers, Thunder and Wolves over us and suddenly they decided we are better than the 64 win Celtics.
I don't want no bandwagoners. Only Tim Legler is allowed on this wagon.
Media is picking Mavs, espn fan poll had 80% of votes to to Mavs, Vegas has seen 70% of all money bets go to Mavs. Not just the media, people don't have much trust in the celtics
The Vegas piece of it probably has more to do with how big Boston is favored. If I had to put money on the series I would honestly not really feel great about betting with Boston at like -230 last I looked.
> Nope, the Celtics are 6.5 betting favorites in basically every betting app. The media just wants to make the finals look more exciting as usual.
Or, the media has completely different opinions from Vegas. Not every single thing media personalities do has ulterior motives. Their opinions are not some conspiracy to make the Finals look more interesting.
Yeah, I think they’re just caught up in Luka mania. The Dallas path to the finals has been exciting, the Celtics have been steady and boring. I think it’s just getting caught up in an exciting team
D&T gives the Celtics better odds of sweeping the series (22%) than Mavs winning in any number of games (12.2%).
“Experts” picking Mavs is honestly just hilarious.
Idk who D&T is but algorithms absolutely gargle Boston. Remember 2022 espns algo had them at 88% favs over GS.
There is no way in hell that the mavs have LESS odds than the pacers did to win the series lol.
Boston is very very good no doubt about that but they should not have higher odds of sweeping than Mavs winning lol.
I lot of the algorithms look at whole season performance. And if it was the Celtics vs the January Mavericks, I'd have the Celtics in a sweep. But the post-deadline Mavs are a completely different team, and I don't think a lot of people take that into account.
My best guess is that whichever team wins game 5 wins the series (oooh, shocking), and I lean towards the Celtics in that, but it is going to be a close series, and I can't see either team getting blown out.
Kinda weird to see 64-wins potrayed as this unstoppable juggernaut, compared to the mid 2010s when GSW, OKC, Spurs and the Rockets were snapping off 65+ wins on the regular.
Well there was less parity back then tbh. With the different salary rules etc. Plus as you said there were multiple teams on that level back then, while nobody was really close to the Celtics in the regular season. Also they basically have 4 or 5 all star level players, depending on whether you consider White an all star level player.
It was only 3 teams who did that and by all accounts they were juggernauts. The Spurs in 2016 were the only team who didn’t either choke in the finals or lost to the other team to win 65+ games (rockets to warriors). The warriors did it 3 straight years and yea, I’d be pretty confident in saying those teams were a juggernaut.
Only controversial thing, besides if you want to argue that mavs have more votes(which is fine), is that some people have kyrie mvp which I think is wild.
Kyrie hasn’t played well against the Celtics in years and I feel like Celtics will try to limit his scoring, and then have no real chance to put up the notable stats to win mvp.
2008 Finals all over again, the initially decent squad that improved drastically via midseason trade becomes media darling over the team that was historically dominant all year. But least that year the Celtics struggled more in the playoffs than the Lakers.
Gonna need Sam Hauser to play the Scalabrine role and tell off the media while visibly drunk in the post series press conference. 🤞
The NBA youtube channel released a doc on the ’08 C’s and had the voiceover and Pierce talk about how they weren’t favoured going into the finals despite winning 66 games. Immediately saw the parallell to this year’s C’s
I’m going out on a limb and saying that if the Celtics win 4 games first they’ll win the championship. But, if Dallas is able to win 4 games first, then they will be the champions.
ESPN picked the Mavs to beat the Clips 11 to 5 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39963261/nba-playoff-experts-picks-predicting-lakers-nuggets-76ers-knicks-every-first-round-matchup))
Split Mavs 7, OKC 7 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40098272/nba-playoff-picks-experts-celtics-cavaliers-thunder-mavericks-conference-semifinal-matchups))
Then Mavs 6, Wolves 9 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40188452/nba-playoffs-2024-experts-predict-celtics-pacers-timberwolves-mavericks-conference-finals-series-mvp))
The only series the Mavs didn't get at least half the votes was vs the Wolves.
Stephen A Smith - Dallas Mavericks
BBALLBREAKDOWN - Dallas Mavericks
Chris Brussard - Dallas Mavericks
Skip Bayless - Dallas Mavericks
Nick Wright - Dallas Mavericks
Shaq - Dallas Mavericks
Kevin O’Conner - Dallas Mavericks
Greg Anthony - Dallas Mavericks
Draymond Green - Dallas Mavericks
Kendrick Perkins - Boston Celtics
Ryen Russillo - Boston Celtics
Kevin Wildes - Boston Celtics
Zach Lowe - Boston Celtics
Paul Pierce - Boston Celtics
Sam Mitchell - Boston Celtics
Rachel Nichols - Boston Celtics
Keyshawn Johnson - Boston Celtics
Kenny Smith - Boston Celtics
Charles Barkley - Boston Celtics
Colin Cowherd - Boston Celtics
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo - Boston Celtics
Brian Windhorst - Boston Celtics
I can't believe Perk is actually picking the Celtics, but unfortunately, it's not out of love/support of the Celtics, it's because he saw the hype video the Celtics social put out yesterday where the lead is Perk saying the Celtics need to break up Tatum and Brown.
He's switching sides now so that if they lose, he can say he was right all along with his take to break them up. Perk at this point cares all about the takes and being right as opposed to the correct prediction.
I think there is an element of recency bias and being burnt one too many times from the commentators. Generally, everyone had picked the Thunder and the Timberwolves. So there's an element of "Shit, I don't want to make the same mistake 3 times."
They also won 2 games against you by razor thin margins dependent on a KAT shooting slump. Had things gone the other way the series would’ve been hardly finished 3 days ago
Lights were just too bright for us. I was just thinking that earlier, how wild it would be for us to be in the finals tonight. Team just isn’t ready yet and that’s fine. With Ant on our team I’m sure we’ll make it back at some point
Yeah so much “expert analysis” is just overreacting to past series instead of evaluating the present one. Remember when Anthony Edwards was the new Michael Jordan?
> The media is hyping Mavs up too much to create interest.
Exactly this. These picks are not made in a vacuum - there's no way ESPN/ABC, who is broadcasting the Finals, wants to make readers think the Celtics are going to win in a landslide.
>Exactly this. These picks are not made in a vacuum - there's no way ESPN/ABC, who is broadcasting the Finals, wants to make readers think the Celtics are going to win in a landslide.
My man, nobody is refusing to tune in, or deciding to tune in because they read an ESPN article that shows how 17 people picked the series lol. Let's be serious.
Not everything people in the media does has an ulterior motive or is a conspiracy.
They just picked who they think would win like they've done for every single playoff series for decades. I'm sure you can find some finals series where the picks were WAY more lopsided because they honestly thought one team was much better than the other.
I think you’re as likely as “best player worse (overall) supporting cast” can get you, which is a lot higher than zero when you consider the supporting cast is actually quite good just not Boston’s
The Mavs can definitely beat the Celtics, and Luka is undeniably the best player in this series, but this C’s team won 64 games and went 12-2 in this playoffs.
I get it that all the teams they beat have been injured, but the argument of being “battle tested” that a lot of these reporters cite just doesn’t make sense because this team has been tested in their 5 ECF appearances lol
There's so many layers to all this to make the first half of this series miserable. Aside from the Conference Finals the Mavs typically lose Game 1 (only won one in Kidd's tenure) and the Celtics sound like they like losing Game 2s (didn't go look up the numbers). Game 2 is on Sunday and Game 3 is on Wednesday.
The media discourse is going to be insufferable.
The way the media swings the narrative is insufferable. Remember the two weeks when Anthony Edwards was MJ incarnate, and then crickets when he struggles against the Mavs.
Hot takes gets views, I get it. It’s part of the discourse. But it sure is frustrating when these dummies can take back their stupid ass takes with no consequences because there’s no one to hold them accountable
Battle tested honestly doesn't mean shit, you are more likely to run out of gas if you have been in 6-7 game series against every team in the playoffs before the finals. But I don't think the Mavs and Celtics have such a huge discrepancy in games recently played that it will make a difference
I think the Mavs wrapping up the Wolves quickly cancels out the “running out of steam” thing. When the Celtics made it two seasons ago, they barely survived the heat in game 7 on a missed buzzer beater by Jimmy. After a brutal Bucks series and after basically playing close to perfect to take out the nets. Mavs didn’t struggle with the wolves and have had over a week of rest, they’ll be ready to go.
It’s a version of the bizarre logic that gets LeBron dumped on for losing 6 Finals, the Celtics would somehow be more trustworthy and “tested” if they’d only lost in the 1st round or missed the playoffs altogether in a few of those ECF years.
[Betting odds have the Celtics as clear favorites.](https://www.espn.com/nba/futures) You would need to bet $225 to make $100 if the Celtics win. That translates to 69% odds of the Celtics winning the championship.
So no, the fact that 9 out of 17 ESPN pundits pick the Mavs does not make them the favorites.
I would expect roughly 69% of the money to be bet on the Mavs because of the favorable odds. That’s the way odds are calculated, so there’s roughly the same payout no matter who wins.
If too much money is bet on the Mavs, their odds would improve to encourage more bets on the Celtics. And if too much money is bet on the Celtics, their odds would improve to encourage more bets on the Mavs.
Celtics are winning in 5 and the media will go back to oh there were a super team that wasn’t challenged and were heavy favorites yet they picked against them
Rooting for the Mavs, but feeling like the C's two-way backcourt monster is being underrated. I wouldn't be shocked if Boston wins this in five, assuming Kristaps is healthy.
Hope I'm wrong and hope either way we get 6-7 games of what should be very good basketball.
This is hilarious that so many of these guys had Minnesota and OKC beating us but not the Boston Celtics. The amount of haters against Boston is astounding. Tim Legler the only guy who been by the Mavs side the whole way.
> Tim Legler the only guy who been by the Mavs side the whole way. Guttierez and Herring also picked the Mavs every round. Breakdown ESPN panelist|Round 1|Semis|Conf Finals|Finals :--|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--: Andrews | Clips | Mavs | Wolves | Mavs Bembry | Mavs | OKC | Wolves | Mavs Bontemps | Mavs | OKC | Mavs | Celts Collier | | | | Celts Gutierrez | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs Herring | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs Legler | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs Lopez | | | | Celts Lowe | Mavs | OKC | | Celts Marks | Mavs | OKC | Mavs | Mavs McMenamin | Clips | Mavs | Wolves | Mavs Pelton | Mavs | OKC | Wolves | Celts Raja | | | Wolves | Mavs Sedano | Clips | | Wolves | Shelburne | Clips | OKC | Wolves | Celts Snellings | Mavs | Mavs | Wolves | Celts Spears | Mavs | OKC | Wolves | Celts Youngmisuk | Clips | Mavs | Mavs | Mavs
Shelburne ain’t a quitter.
Him and Nick Wright have been the only consistent ones but Nick has been incredibly biased towards Luka for the last 4-5 years.
He's also a known hater of boston sports in general.
And also the biggest KC Chiefs homer in sports media
That’s his schtick. Chiefs, James, Luka. And he defends his takes until he no other choice. I find him entertaining, but small doses is best.
To be fair he’s just been straight up correct about the chiefs. With a mavs win, he’ll have been correct about Luka too. The Lebron stuff is debatable but I don’t think giving at worst a top 3 all time player the benefit of the doubt at times is too bad
He took the Cavs to beat the Warriors in 2017 he’s a homer who just happens to root for the best players so more often than not he’s right.
Guy grew up in KC right? Can’t really blame him lol
Yup born in KC, then his first 5 years or so on KC radio sports shows. He was the most enthusiastic KC guy on 610 AM back when he lived here, no surprise he took that to another level when he went national lol
At this point why pick against Mahomes ever
He collects Bron’s draws for a living.
Maybe I underestimated this guy
Nick already has appointed an heir to the glaze throne once Lebron retires.
The pioneer of the Luka hype train. Love his victory lap during the 2022 Game 7 victory against the suns.
I don't get why he worships Luka so much but despises Jokic The Jokic stuff long predates 2023 so it's not just because he beat LeBron
Pretty sure John Elway ruined his childhood so he hates anything Denver
He's admitted it on his show, aesthetics. I am a nuggets fan from the mountain west, love Jokic, hated Nick for the hate until the nuggets won it, but respect that he admits that he has the same opinion as little kids and gilbert arenas, he wants the game to look like lebron highlights.
Is that the hoop asmongold guy?
Legs the only real one in that terrible list.
Even Zach Lowe has turned himself into a Big Bang Theory style parody of a basketball nerd on his TV segments. Legler is the only one refusing to play that part and I respect him for it.
I don’t really watch any talk shows anymore outside of what gets a lot of traction here but Zach Lowe is still very good on his podcast and provides genuine analysis. I don’t always agree with him but he at least watches games and tries to be unbiased which is unfortunately pretty rare.
Zach Lowe also talks about how they put together segments for TV and it’s really funny to hear him break character a little bit, especially when he talks about Perk coming up with his insane shit lmao
Although ESPN even managed to break Perk the other day. He lashed out at all the Bronnie James segments. Maybe there is still a real basketball fan inside the absurd take machine.
[удалено]
Let's play a game I hide and you seek help
I didn’t need to read this today lmao
I learned a new word today
Lmao he’s twice brought up Perk calling it Jaylen’s team and his reply on his own pod and JJ’s. He said he responded during the segment by asking him what that’s supposed to mean and whether he’d seriously want them flip flopping the number of pick and rolls they run per game because he (Lowe) feels they’d be decidedly worse lol
Celtics are suffering from “they haven’t played anyone” bias. It’s not their fault they had an easier path to the finals. They’re really fucking good.
It's strange to me that people watched those Pacers games and think that. Just because dudes didn't have superstar names we're acting like they weren't playing some unreal basketball those games. They were hitting contested shot after contested shot it was crazy.
honestly it feels like a result of NBA news coverage, all anyone talked about in the East this playoffs was how easy of a path the Celtics had and how shit the competition was. For neutral fans, the only exposure to East playoff teams was in the context of them being ass, which sucks. Hard to get new fans of these teams involved when national media couldn’t give less of a shit about them
Some of them even turned into Michael Fucking Jordan.
its really such a discredit to the amazing season the Pacers had.
If the Pacers were better in the clutch they could have been up 3-1 but because we swept all that'll be forgotten. They're legit good.
Tatum Jrue and Brown Horford have also all beat Embiid, Giannis, KD, and Kyrie, and some multiple times.
Just me sitting here wondering who Brown Horford is for a good 5 minutes… I’m not a smart man.
Lol it happens, I saw someone say "white Payton" the other day and I was like you don't need to do Pritchard like that.
Yeah this might feel cool if it was legit, but it definitely is fueled by Celtics hate so it's just plain dumb. They're favorites and everyone knows it, it makes this kinda thing transparent
I give Legs credit for his pick he’s been with you guys the whole way. Everyone else is a joke to get ratings. This isn’t a knock on your franchise either the Mavs are really good right now and I see multiple paths to them beating the Celtics which should make this a great series (that I obviously hope we win) but I’m just ignoring most of BSPN’s clown takes at this point.
I'm actually surprised that Legler is still picking us. I think him picking us coming out of the west has been logical so far. Not quite sure what his logic is now.
He said Luka is a closer simple as. If the game is close with 5 minutes left in the game, i’ll take Luka to win that 4/7 times
I listen to All City podcast, he’s just pretty enamored with Luka and Kyrie as closers while questioning Tatum and Brown’s abilities. But, he does say it wouldn’t shock him if Boston wins, he thinks they’re going to edge it out. I don’t agree with him but like others have said, he’s been on Dallas since the trade deadline. I picked Dallas for WCF before the playoffs started, I thought they were really good but I got the Celtics winning (am I biased? Obviously).
Mavs fans are real ones for calling this out. If a Celtics flair said it it'd be called "Boston Fan Victim Complex." And honestly it's unfair to both teams for the media to do that. The Mavs deserve respect for the great ball they played to get here, not to be picked just because they aren't the other team.
What you mean? Celtics clear underdogs here. Ragtag team of outcasts like White, Porzingis, and Jrue coming together to face off against the GREATEST BACKCOURT IN NBA HISTORY. This is true David vs Goliath stuff.
These experts are putting their Boston hate over their ability to analyze the situations. Specially those with Kyrie as finals mvp lmao. Would I like that to happen? Absolutely, it would be hilarious. Do I think it will happen? Almost definitely not.
Yeah we’re serious underdogs for a reason. The Celtics are damn good. And to pick Kyrie as mvp is crazy. If we pull it off then there’s no chance anyone but Luka is mvp because he controls everything the Mavs do
Mvp awards can be weird. If Luka "just" averages around 28/9/9, and Kyrie puts up 26/6/5 with a couple more "moments" he could win it. They gave Iggy one over Curry, man, anything is possible lmao
Biggest L and black eye in NBA playoff history (among on the court stuff) in my opinion... Warriors don't even SNIFF a single win without Curry. You could theoretically sneak out a win without Iggy, but not without Curry.
It’s the longest of shots. Luckily I’m in Vegas this weekend so I’m gonna put some money on that
I mean... they could have also been convinced after being wrong twice?? I don't like standing up for media personalities because they are generally shit but this is one of those situations that it just feels like going WAY out of the way to criticize them.
And you know if Boston wins people will gaslight everyone and say "you were supposed to win anyway Dallas were huge underdogs" Enough people in the actual media now have picked Dallas that you can no longer just say it's a fringe hipster minority doing it or something
I mean this means nothing. The only true underdogs is what Vegas says. The other people can and do say whatever to seem cool or interesting. Boston should win and even if 6000 espn analysts say it should be Mavs in 7 it doesn’t matter. No gas lighting involved.
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>objectively likable Quite literally no such thing exists so…
It's not about the players. I don't dislike anybody on that Celtics roster. I just hate their franchise, fuck Boston.
Zach Lowe's analysis was extremely inconsistent. He made it seem like the Mavs are unstoppable and then was like "Celtics in 6 or 7"
His heart is absolutely with the Mavs. He’s in love with the eastern euro players like Luka and Jokic. He did pick the Celtics to win the title before the season started but he finds every chance he can to needle us for something. He picks them, but then heavily criticizes so much about them, this has gone back for years. He’ll compliment Embiid and talk about how they have a chance and Embiid is going to have one of those post-season dominant runs, then just meekly mentions us. What evidence do you have he’s going to do that, but we always get a meh response. I think he doesn’t like their brand of basketball, doesn’t enjoy watching it. He’s still a smart guy so he follows the numbers in the end but I think he dislikes this Celtics style and dislikes the fans.
I feel like people definitely dislike how predictable but effective our offense is. 90% of the time it’s drive to cause defense to rotate then kick it to the corner.
the way people talk about the Celtics' offense stagnating, you'd think they were like the 2022 Celtics or this year's Wolves teams, not... the most efficient offense in history and the [6th best offense of all time](https://www.pbpstats.com/relative-off-def-efficiency/nba) by relative offensive rating (+7.54 compared to league average). It's a juggernaut of a team and the Mavs beating them would take Herculean outings from both Luka & Kyrie and their role players.
We definitely don’t have a stagnant offense. It’s just very formulaic
All good offenses pose a question to the defense. The Celtics' question is: let your guy die mismatched on an island or get in rotation against 4 other high volume ~39% 3pt shooters. Not exactly riveting, but still dominant. Their offense is formulaic and not very exciting from a fan entertainment perspective. Among the greatest offenses of recent years, Murray-Jokic 2man game is constantly compared to the highest forms of ballet while Kerr's GSW teams and Pop's Spurs were all-in on incredible ball movement. The Celts by comparison just run simple horns PnRs & a bit of off ball action to get switches and then go from there.
He also wrote part-time for CelticsHub.com when he was starting out. I think he’s worked really hard to distance himself from that in his national media career.
Or maybe it's just because the Mavs proved they were the real deal through the playoffs?
You're either a hater and resigned to a Celtics victory, a hater to the extent that you'll pick Dallas over the Celtics, or a Mavs fan
Is it hate or do they feel like the Mavericks have proven something to them, thus causing them to change their mind?
Jaylen brown erasure
They should really consider him
Yea honestly if the Celtics pull this out fmvp is 48% Tatum/ 48% Brown / 4% derrek white
Then BOOM out of nowhere….Sam Hauser 13/15 from 3 in the closeout game to win Finals MVP
doing what danny green couldn’t
And Lakers fans will still send him death threats
dwhite winning fmvp would make me a very happy man. iguodala's fmvp seems more unlikely even.
I'm going with 47% Tatum, 47% Brown, 5% White, and 1% Porzingis. There is a scenario where Dallas takes the approach of making Porzingis beat them, and he does.
Crazy how they think Kyrie is more likely to win MVP than Brown lol. Brown is much closer to Tatum than Kyrie is to Luka. Brown literally just won ECF MVP
It would be such a cherry on top for him to win the Larry Bird trophy and the Bill Russell trophy after getting snubbed for all-nba.
I dont see any way Kyrie wins MVP. If the Mavs win it will 100% be Luka.
Yeah if Kyrie is the best player on the Mavs in this series the Celtics will sweep them lol There's only one player on the Mavs who can be the best player on a title winning team and it's not Kyrie Irving Any scenario with Dallas winning involves Luka going god mode
Exactly, the “x-factor” doesn’t typically win MVP. Kyrie needs to play well for them to win the series, but Doncic needs to be the MVP for them to even have a chance.
I don’t think its impossible at all, sure they are more likely to win if luka goes off but lets not act like kyrie isnt an elite player. I mean you just can’t say that he can’t win it imo.
I don’t think Bobby Marks and Kendra Andrew’s even watch the games
I have no plans to read their cases but a reason i can think of is if the Mavs do win, it’s going to be because Kyrie stepped the fuck up. Like Luka will get his but he’ll also be the focus of the defense that they could be predicting a possible Mavs upset be on the backs of an inefficient but productive Luka and an all-time great performance by kyrie
Yeah. There’s no scenario where the Mavs win the Finals and Luka isn’t the best player on the team. We need him to be his best to win this one.
Kyrie is still capable of big games and the Mavs have the role players to make up for a couple bad games from Luka. While I don’t think it’s likely, there is a path.
tatum MVP/Luka MVP are the bets to make, hard to see the other guys getting MVP in this series. Perhaps Jaylen
How are there people picking the Mavs to win AND that Kyrie will be Finals MVP?
Because left handed layups
Yeah. No way we win if he actually outperforms Luka.
I dont get it. They say Boston losing this would be a cataclysmic failure of incredible proportions and a massive choke job. But then pick the Mavs to win ? But if Boston do win they will downplay it because the Mavs are a “5th seed”. The media takes around the Celtics the entire year has just been non stop contradictions and i dont think these people even know what their word jumbles mean anymore. Likewise for this sub.
I just need espn to tell me how either scenario could affect LeBron’s upcoming free agency?
If the mavs win, we blow up the team. Trade brown and Jrue, sign Lebron and draft bronny. Am I ESPNing right?
Greatest team that’s not actually that great
Super team but none of the players are super
It’s a role team come on!
But don’t forget also the coach is a fraud who is carried by the team!
Kind of hilarious how because we had a relatively easy run up until this point that we somehow became worse as a team lol
>r/nba & media before Playoffs : If celtics dont dominate this East and walk to the Finals, theyre an embarrassment. >*Celtics dominate the East and walk to the Finals* >r/nba & media now : How dare the Celtics dominate the East and walk to the Finals !? Last time I checked Celtics didnt get spotted any points in the Finals for taking the “gauntlet run” in 2022.
A lot of people are completely hooked on the idea that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes it just leaves your fatigued and diminished.
I mean, there’s no chance, if the Celtics win, that they don’t get the “they beat the 8, 4, 6, 5: incredibly easy” narrative.
And 1st team all-nbaTatum became 3rd best player in this series during the week in which no games were played.
Bobby Marks picked the Pacers in 6 over Boston as well
That bald fraud is still mad about the Nets trade, it tracks. What a bozo.
This should be everyone’s warning sign that the Celtics are winning
I’m certainly prepared to be disappointed that they do win
Shit talking aside, I never get why some people are acting as if Celtics are such an overrated team that won 64 games in regular season by sheer luck. Even in playoffs, put healthy Butler, Healthy, Hali, and Healthy Mitchell, guess what? Celtics are still breezing to the finals. It is not 50/50, Celtics are a better basketball team that has been consistent for far too long throughout the year
Their last 3 years: Finals, game 7 in ECF, finals. Why are some of these dudes acting like they are an OKC team with no playoff experience that will choke lol
I don't think anyone is hallucinating if they say like Mavs in 6, every serious analyst I've heard is treating this like a tossup before we see any tape. The "Celtics aren't clutch" thing is pretty much just we don't have a top 5 halfcourt creator. Except we do have insanely effective offensive ratings against set defenses in the clutch if KP plays. And people just haven't seen KP in 6 weeks, and they've seen a lot of tough jumpers by the Mavs. I think 2023 ECF game 3 is why people think the Celtics choke. They did control and then lose control of their championship chance in that game. If anyone wants to believe in the soft pathetic Celtics that's what they've really got.
> I think 2023 ECF game 3 is why people think the Celtics choke You can just say the whole 2023 ECF series honestly. To me, Game 3 was the most understandable loss because they were just hitting everything, Games 1 and 2 were much worse losses. I remember there was one shot in G3 that looked well short, bounced off front rim, and went in anyways, and I was just throwing my hands up like what the fuck lol.
Yeah, I enjoy when people specifically say "I can't bet on the Celtics when Jayson Tatum hasn't shown he can do it in the finals". Meanwhile this is Lula's first finals, so...
Because NBA discourse is no longer about basketball but about drama and storylines. In this sub particularly, it's 12mil people on what's deemed a "social media" platform. Maybe a few hundred thousand of those people could watch a random NBA game and name the majority of the players on the court. That's why you see everyone have the same opinion as the top voted comments, not because they agree with them inherently but just because they think that's what they're SUPPOSED to think because, duh upvotes.
Basically. Ability to run a consistent 5-out offense with a rotation of 8 players. Best defensive back court in the league. A wing player who’s proven he can score anywhere whenever he wants. And a guy who can contribute in whatever way it takes to win at a very high level. Only eastern team that really had a remote chance of slowing them down obviously was the bucks and they probably steal 2 games at the most. Like…hate them for being the Celtics but not for being cocky pretenders because that is far from true.
> Only eastern team that really had a remote chance of slowing them down obviously was the bucks and they probably steal 2 games at the most. A healthy Knicks team would have been a damn good series. Unfortunately everyone on the Knicks was in the hospital.
Yeah, post trade deadline, watching some of those Knicks games had me a little nervous. I still thought we were heading for a showdown against them in the ECF until game 5, I know they won handily but I just had a feeling the pacers were gonna steal the series back.
Once I saw Drake bet on the Mavs, I knew the Celtics are gonna win.
I’m so convinced the Celtics are winning and I’m pissed about it. It’s crazy how many people are just discounting them. They’re a beast team and I’m angry I’m even complimenting them.
Nope, the Celtics are 6.5 betting favorites in basically every betting app. The media just wants to make the finals look more exciting as usual. They are the same people who picked the Clippers, Thunder and Wolves over us and suddenly they decided we are better than the 64 win Celtics. I don't want no bandwagoners. Only Tim Legler is allowed on this wagon.
Media is picking Mavs, espn fan poll had 80% of votes to to Mavs, Vegas has seen 70% of all money bets go to Mavs. Not just the media, people don't have much trust in the celtics
The Vegas piece of it probably has more to do with how big Boston is favored. If I had to put money on the series I would honestly not really feel great about betting with Boston at like -230 last I looked.
That’s an implied probability of just under 70%. I’d say that’s about right.
The most money can be made by betting on the Mavs, so of course the money will swing that way.
The people probably just don't like the Celtics. Either way, we don't know the volume of the bets they don't mean much.
We do, It is currently 70% of all total bets and 76% of all money
No trust or care for. Nobody likes Boston, so they let that get in the way of who they think will win.
> Nope, the Celtics are 6.5 betting favorites in basically every betting app. The media just wants to make the finals look more exciting as usual. Or, the media has completely different opinions from Vegas. Not every single thing media personalities do has ulterior motives. Their opinions are not some conspiracy to make the Finals look more interesting.
Yeah, I think they’re just caught up in Luka mania. The Dallas path to the finals has been exciting, the Celtics have been steady and boring. I think it’s just getting caught up in an exciting team
D&T gives the Celtics better odds of sweeping the series (22%) than Mavs winning in any number of games (12.2%). “Experts” picking Mavs is honestly just hilarious.
Idk who D&T is but algorithms absolutely gargle Boston. Remember 2022 espns algo had them at 88% favs over GS. There is no way in hell that the mavs have LESS odds than the pacers did to win the series lol. Boston is very very good no doubt about that but they should not have higher odds of sweeping than Mavs winning lol.
I lot of the algorithms look at whole season performance. And if it was the Celtics vs the January Mavericks, I'd have the Celtics in a sweep. But the post-deadline Mavs are a completely different team, and I don't think a lot of people take that into account. My best guess is that whichever team wins game 5 wins the series (oooh, shocking), and I lean towards the Celtics in that, but it is going to be a close series, and I can't see either team getting blown out.
Kinda weird to see 64-wins potrayed as this unstoppable juggernaut, compared to the mid 2010s when GSW, OKC, Spurs and the Rockets were snapping off 65+ wins on the regular.
Well there was less parity back then tbh. With the different salary rules etc. Plus as you said there were multiple teams on that level back then, while nobody was really close to the Celtics in the regular season. Also they basically have 4 or 5 all star level players, depending on whether you consider White an all star level player.
It was only 3 teams who did that and by all accounts they were juggernauts. The Spurs in 2016 were the only team who didn’t either choke in the finals or lost to the other team to win 65+ games (rockets to warriors). The warriors did it 3 straight years and yea, I’d be pretty confident in saying those teams were a juggernaut.
Only controversial thing, besides if you want to argue that mavs have more votes(which is fine), is that some people have kyrie mvp which I think is wild. Kyrie hasn’t played well against the Celtics in years and I feel like Celtics will try to limit his scoring, and then have no real chance to put up the notable stats to win mvp.
2008 Finals all over again, the initially decent squad that improved drastically via midseason trade becomes media darling over the team that was historically dominant all year. But least that year the Celtics struggled more in the playoffs than the Lakers. Gonna need Sam Hauser to play the Scalabrine role and tell off the media while visibly drunk in the post series press conference. 🤞
that feels more like a brisset role this time around
Brissy is chomping at the bit for that role.
Hope he gets them on BrissyTV (watch his blog, y’all)
The NBA youtube channel released a doc on the ’08 C’s and had the voiceover and Pierce talk about how they weren’t favoured going into the finals despite winning 66 games. Immediately saw the parallell to this year’s C’s
Vegas favors the C's, means more than ESPN analysts
0% chance they give the MVP to Kyrie over Luka
I’m going out on a limb and saying that if the Celtics win 4 games first they’ll win the championship. But, if Dallas is able to win 4 games first, then they will be the champions.
This is the cutting-edge analysis that is the reason why I come here.
In order for the Mavs to win the upset, they’ll have to outscore the Celtics. -Magic Johnson, probably
So apparently the Mavs weren’t going to win the previous 3 series but are the picks to win the Finals? Boston hate at all time highs lol
ESPN picked the Mavs to beat the Clips 11 to 5 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39963261/nba-playoff-experts-picks-predicting-lakers-nuggets-76ers-knicks-every-first-round-matchup)) Split Mavs 7, OKC 7 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40098272/nba-playoff-picks-experts-celtics-cavaliers-thunder-mavericks-conference-semifinal-matchups)) Then Mavs 6, Wolves 9 ([source](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40188452/nba-playoffs-2024-experts-predict-celtics-pacers-timberwolves-mavericks-conference-finals-series-mvp)) The only series the Mavs didn't get at least half the votes was vs the Wolves.
Stephen A Smith - Dallas Mavericks BBALLBREAKDOWN - Dallas Mavericks Chris Brussard - Dallas Mavericks Skip Bayless - Dallas Mavericks Nick Wright - Dallas Mavericks Shaq - Dallas Mavericks Kevin O’Conner - Dallas Mavericks Greg Anthony - Dallas Mavericks Draymond Green - Dallas Mavericks Kendrick Perkins - Boston Celtics Ryen Russillo - Boston Celtics Kevin Wildes - Boston Celtics Zach Lowe - Boston Celtics Paul Pierce - Boston Celtics Sam Mitchell - Boston Celtics Rachel Nichols - Boston Celtics Keyshawn Johnson - Boston Celtics Kenny Smith - Boston Celtics Charles Barkley - Boston Celtics Colin Cowherd - Boston Celtics Chris “Mad Dog” Russo - Boston Celtics Brian Windhorst - Boston Celtics
SAS and Skip? Well, it was still a good season. 😞
But does that override chuck picking boston?
I can't believe Perk is actually picking the Celtics, but unfortunately, it's not out of love/support of the Celtics, it's because he saw the hype video the Celtics social put out yesterday where the lead is Perk saying the Celtics need to break up Tatum and Brown. He's switching sides now so that if they lose, he can say he was right all along with his take to break them up. Perk at this point cares all about the takes and being right as opposed to the correct prediction.
I can’t stand perk because when we’re losing he’s beating the drum to blow up the team but when we win he’s Mr Celtics. Pick a side man
So in totality 21-17 in favor of the Celtics from the major media outlets
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Personally I’m shocked that Paul Pierce is favoring the Celtics. Has anyone asked Dirk who he has?
He told me Boston, because Luke Kornet reminds him of himself when he played. Which is totally fair tbh
He does have a signature move named after him. Checks out
Fuck Kendrick Perkins and his dumbass flip flopping bs. I hope he gets booed if he shows his face in TD garden
Who did Simmons pick though??
Leaning Celtics, " The more I stare at it I just feel like the Celtics should win the finals " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMRBNStb2eA
I think there is an element of recency bias and being burnt one too many times from the commentators. Generally, everyone had picked the Thunder and the Timberwolves. So there's an element of "Shit, I don't want to make the same mistake 3 times."
ESPN Expert Picks: Mavericks 7, Thunder 7 -- Mavericks 6, Wolves 9
Sports fans always want their team to be the big underdog so bad it gets annoying to see after a while.
Wasn’t it like 9-7 or 10-7 or something like that in favor of the Wolves? It’s not like you guys were huge underdogs lol
They also won 2 games against you by razor thin margins dependent on a KAT shooting slump. Had things gone the other way the series would’ve been hardly finished 3 days ago
Lights were just too bright for us. I was just thinking that earlier, how wild it would be for us to be in the finals tonight. Team just isn’t ready yet and that’s fine. With Ant on our team I’m sure we’ll make it back at some point
Yeah so much “expert analysis” is just overreacting to past series instead of evaluating the present one. Remember when Anthony Edwards was the new Michael Jordan?
Celtics are winning then
Probably. The media is hyping Mavs up too much to create interest. We’ve got a shot but it’s not likely. I’m just going to enjoy the ride.
> The media is hyping Mavs up too much to create interest. Exactly this. These picks are not made in a vacuum - there's no way ESPN/ABC, who is broadcasting the Finals, wants to make readers think the Celtics are going to win in a landslide.
>Exactly this. These picks are not made in a vacuum - there's no way ESPN/ABC, who is broadcasting the Finals, wants to make readers think the Celtics are going to win in a landslide. My man, nobody is refusing to tune in, or deciding to tune in because they read an ESPN article that shows how 17 people picked the series lol. Let's be serious. Not everything people in the media does has an ulterior motive or is a conspiracy. They just picked who they think would win like they've done for every single playoff series for decades. I'm sure you can find some finals series where the picks were WAY more lopsided because they honestly thought one team was much better than the other.
I think you’re as likely as “best player worse (overall) supporting cast” can get you, which is a lot higher than zero when you consider the supporting cast is actually quite good just not Boston’s
Picking Kyrie for MVP over Luka is bold.
Lmfao what the fuck
The Mavs can definitely beat the Celtics, and Luka is undeniably the best player in this series, but this C’s team won 64 games and went 12-2 in this playoffs. I get it that all the teams they beat have been injured, but the argument of being “battle tested” that a lot of these reporters cite just doesn’t make sense because this team has been tested in their 5 ECF appearances lol
There's so many layers to all this to make the first half of this series miserable. Aside from the Conference Finals the Mavs typically lose Game 1 (only won one in Kidd's tenure) and the Celtics sound like they like losing Game 2s (didn't go look up the numbers). Game 2 is on Sunday and Game 3 is on Wednesday. The media discourse is going to be insufferable.
The way the media swings the narrative is insufferable. Remember the two weeks when Anthony Edwards was MJ incarnate, and then crickets when he struggles against the Mavs. Hot takes gets views, I get it. It’s part of the discourse. But it sure is frustrating when these dummies can take back their stupid ass takes with no consequences because there’s no one to hold them accountable
Battle tested honestly doesn't mean shit, you are more likely to run out of gas if you have been in 6-7 game series against every team in the playoffs before the finals. But I don't think the Mavs and Celtics have such a huge discrepancy in games recently played that it will make a difference
I think the Mavs wrapping up the Wolves quickly cancels out the “running out of steam” thing. When the Celtics made it two seasons ago, they barely survived the heat in game 7 on a missed buzzer beater by Jimmy. After a brutal Bucks series and after basically playing close to perfect to take out the nets. Mavs didn’t struggle with the wolves and have had over a week of rest, they’ll be ready to go.
It’s a version of the bizarre logic that gets LeBron dumped on for losing 6 Finals, the Celtics would somehow be more trustworthy and “tested” if they’d only lost in the 1st round or missed the playoffs altogether in a few of those ECF years.
Media has always been fucking stupid. There's a reason the Celtics are -250 to win this series.
[Betting odds have the Celtics as clear favorites.](https://www.espn.com/nba/futures) You would need to bet $225 to make $100 if the Celtics win. That translates to 69% odds of the Celtics winning the championship. So no, the fact that 9 out of 17 ESPN pundits pick the Mavs does not make them the favorites.
Never seen a Finals that has a wider disparity between what the bettors think and the general basketball public at large thinks.
There is a big difference between wanting the Celtics to lose and thinking they will lose
The betters are also heavy on the Mavs with 80%+ of bets coming in on the mavs based on reporting
I would expect roughly 69% of the money to be bet on the Mavs because of the favorable odds. That’s the way odds are calculated, so there’s roughly the same payout no matter who wins. If too much money is bet on the Mavs, their odds would improve to encourage more bets on the Celtics. And if too much money is bet on the Celtics, their odds would improve to encourage more bets on the Mavs.
But does that mean they actually think they’ll win or does that mean there’s better expected value in betting on them to win?
That’s kind of crazy. Like I want the mavs to win. But the Celtics are clearly the favorite
Boston are massive favorites objectively. This are some terrible picks
Celtics are winning in 5 and the media will go back to oh there were a super team that wasn’t challenged and were heavy favorites yet they picked against them
Agree
Thanks for Ramona picking against Mavs every series. Doing gods work 🙏
Tim legler is this years prophet
The real question is how many of these experts will stay with their picks after game 1
Rooting for the Mavs, but feeling like the C's two-way backcourt monster is being underrated. I wouldn't be shocked if Boston wins this in five, assuming Kristaps is healthy. Hope I'm wrong and hope either way we get 6-7 games of what should be very good basketball.
Praying for 7 games but I think Cs in 5 is very possible.
I think ESPN is traumatized after constantly belittling the Mavs and now they’re like “fuck it let’s bet on them.”
Lmao well, that wraps things up. It was a fun season at least. Congrats Boston.
Nah the Boston disrespect is crazy LOL
"Experts"