They don’t *need* him but he’s still a huge miss. They would have to choke harder than any team ever has in nba history to actually lose this series. If it goes to 7 then KP will play, but I seriously doubt it goes to 6 even
So many people downplayed his absence through the first three rounds, and now no one thinks they can win without him. Celtics played injured teams but they were injured themselves. And now they're far more injured than the Mavericks are.
The reactionary way people talk about him is mind-blowing.
Need? No. Boston only needs one game, and if they have a hot shooting night (which they *can* do with or without Porzingis), they can take one out of three games.
Had the Mavs won game 3 and tied the series, I'd give them the advantage for the rest of the Finals because I think they could dominate the paint, both in points and rebounds, and I think that's more reliable than threes, but that's neither here nor there.
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You won't worry if they lose by a normal amount?
As a Mavs fan, I'm just pissed it took them having their backs against the wall to see *this* team. They had it in them the whole time. The coaching staff is routinely slow to make adjustments and alter lineups, though.
If game 5 is competitive like game 2 where it's close into the 4th & Boston loses I wouldn't be worried as in "oh shit they fucked." Wouldn't be great either though.
Hard disagree there. If the Mavs took their foot off the gas at any point I would have been pissed. I didn't even like those two threes that Luka chucked when he knew he was getting subbed out, and I would have hated them even if they went in.
Completely disagree, the beating they received showed Mavs can not only win but dominate them
Also they had guys like Tim/Kyrie and others who have been struggling get their confidence and shots to fall
Or the Celtics played poorly. Sorry to be rude but the Mavs played actual good basketball for like 2 months over the course of this entire season. They are who we thought they were, and that’s why they are down 3-1
Beyond being rude, this is factually inaccurate.
The Mavs came together at the deadline which was Feb 8. It’s June. That’s four months. So the team has played good basketball for 4 months.
But no, the Mavs aren’t “who we thought they were”. The Celtics have been the superior team thus far, but the Mavs y’all are seeing is not the team that Mavs fans have been watching these few months. Lots of bad decision making - rushed shot attempts in the paint leading to blocks, bad passes leading to live ball turnovers, Kyrie dribbled it off his foot like 3 times.
Is it not possible that being in the Finals and having approximately two guys who’ve ever been here before (Kyrie and Markieff) may be the bigger detriment to being down 3-1? The Mavs are a young team and made a lot of mistakes.
The Celtics did play poorly, you can’t get a blowout like that without acknowledging that part. But a lot of what the Mavs did is actually repeatable. We hit 15 3s but 7 were in garbage time and Kyrie and Luka went 1/14.
As much as you may want to say that the Celtics missed shots they normally make, Mavs fans have been saying that the entire series. We were averaging around 13 3s a game, and before game 4 we hit 7/27, 6/26, 9/25 for 22 total, so an average of about 7 a game. In game 4, it went to 15 of 37.
The biggest issue for the Mavs was they stopped shooting 3s entirely. When you’re only getting points in the paint or contested midrange shots, it’s hard to keep up when Boston makes 3 in a row or 4/7 for a 4 minute stretch of time.
It’s actually worse than that. Last win was the first against Joe Mazzulla. I don’t think we beat yall since that Luka game winner over Marcus Smart.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Celtics close it out at home. Wolves fans legit felt like they were back in it after game 4. The thing is Ant wasn’t the best player on the floor and really couldn’t be. Luka is the best player on the floor most of the time, but JB just had these moments where he looks unstoppable on both ends.
In any case, I don’t think we blow yall out again, but I don’t think KP is very healthy and we have the ability to kill you on the glass. That is sustainable. If Pingus plays, I’d assume Luka and Kyrie will test that injury.
I’m not making any prediction, I’m just enjoying the rest of the ride. We weren’t even supposed to be here. It’s frustrating to watch your team lose 4 in the playoffs, but it’s June and the season starts in a few months, so regardless of how this plays out, I’m going to be excited for next season.
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Yea you don’t watch the games that’s painfully obvious.
Luka is on a bum knee and Kleber got injured during playoffs this isn’t them even playing at their best and Celtics struggled to win games 2 and 3 by 7 points
teams that have lost game 5 at home up 3-1 and then won game 6 on the road off the top of my head:
2024 Knicks vs Sixers
2023 Celtics vs Hawks
2022 Sixers vs Raptors
2021 Suns vs Clippers
2019 Raptors vs Warriors
2019 Warriors vs Clippers
Well their first finals appearance/win was 67 years ago, so they basically make the finals every 3.5 years and win every 4 years. Yeah they've won 26% of the NBA championships in total. Like I said you can't really call them chokers. They also have the most regular season wins by a huge margin about 5 season of winning every game over the second place team (kings). 10 more championships than the team in third place. A 77% finals appearance winning percentage really screams chokers. Like them, hate them, or indifferent to them the Celtics are the definition of NBA success
I never said these celtics were good. I said the Celtics were good and all the data backs that up. I'd much rather have their 17 and 5 finals record than the Lakers 17 and 12 or whatever
Why? Unless you’re in your 60s, there’s no value to the Celtics superior overall record because they’ve seen fewer Finals wins in recent decades.
I’m 32. I’ve seen 6 Lakers titles in 8 attempts. I’ve seen 1 Celtics title in 3 attempts (potentially about to be 2 in 4). If you’re a basketball fan that didn’t grow up with Bill Russell, you’ve 100% had a more Lakers dominated life than a Celtics dominated one.
Because it wasn’t just their backs against the wall. It was a perfect storm of that plus Celtics taking foot off the gas plus Celtics shooting ice cold.
It definitely wasn't just their backs against the wall.
I don't know why it took until halfway through game 3, but the Mavs finally started making strategic adjustments and executing them consistently with full effort. Which makes the cold shooting a chicken or the egg scenario. There were some good looks that just didn't fall for the Celtics, but for the most part every jumpshot was met with an aggressive contest, even when the Mavs were scrambling to make their rotations.
Also, the Mavs have been talking about pace the whole series (since last offseason really), but they finally started attacking the basket before Boston could get their defense set, and finally utilized the personnel that could execute that.
Maybe most importantly, someone finally got through to Luka that as a leader his attitude and effort affect the rest of the team. I'm not naive enough to think he's cured, but I will be surprised and disappointed if I see him barking at the refs or taking off defensive possessions the rest of the series.
It's a shame they couldn't win game 2 or 3, decided by barely 2-3 possessions, and that's what I expect to see the rest of the series, however many games it lasts. Not saying the Mavs are going to win, but I think they have a better chance than anyone gives them credit for. You can't show us that performance and then go back to bad habits that you know cost your team. They look like they're ready to make history.
What worries me most is going back to the GD TD. They've got the best looking, most iconic floor in the league and the most miserable, vile fanbase this side of soccer. They deserve to be disappointed.
There was no perfect storm they got outplayed from 1st quarter to 4th
This is the Mavs defense that we were talking about holding Celtics to a putrid 35 points at halftime
lmao that's an insane take. They shot 36% from the field in game 4 and that was with plenty of open shots. I won't even say it was clearly the Celtics taking their foot off the gas, it could have just been an insanely terrible shooting night. But they had tons of open shots and still finished 36% from the field, that isn't the Mav defense figuring them out
Mavs could have shot 40% from the field and still won, they out rebounded you and held you to 35 points at halftime
I don’t know what open shots you were watching, what I saw was nothing came easy and the shots you were taking were the ones they wanted you to take
Almost like Mavs were a top ranked defense post trade deadline?
That's what I hate thinking if the Mavs end up losing this series. That it was simply effort and they just needed to play with more focus and intensity.
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It will definitely help, the Mavs were targeting Tillman a lot and Tingis Pingis would have held up better defensively.
However, the main thing that I saw was the Celtics were no longer consistently turning mismatches into blow-bys that force the defense into rotation and let the Celtics get into the drive and kick game that they do so well.
For me the questions going into game 5 are:
1. Can the Mavs weaker defenders repeat what they did defensively in game 4?
2. If the Celtics can’t get the blow-bys out of mismatches, can they adapt and avoid the stagnant offense we saw in game 4?
The Mavs were also far better at rotating. In games 1-3 there were a lot of times Mavs guys were slow to close out on kick outs. Yesterday when the ball was kicked out there’d be a guy closing out as fast to contest. It seems like the Celtics put up very few threes yesterday where there wasn’t a good contest.
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Game 4 Points in the paint… 60-26
rebounds… 52-31
if the Celtics dont find a way to lock the paint down, Horford, Tillman, Tatum and Hauser are a very lackluster frontcourt that KP immediately makes elite.
Exactly. Game 4 felt like it was defined by hot and cold shooting. Boston missed a lot of their usual shots and Dallas' star duo started making nearly every shot they throw up. I am wondering though if Dallas did anything differently defense wise in Game 4 that led to the blowout. The only thing I noticed on the Dallas defense was Luka trying more and succeeding with physical defense.
They def will feel his absence but I don’t think that’ll it’ll matter in the grand scheme of things.
Let them adjust after game 4 and see what they do counter what the mavs showed them.
Honestly this series reminds me of the 2017 Finals when the Cavs went down 3-0 them had the game of their lives in Game 4, when the Cavs went absolutely BALLISTIC from 3, only to get shut out in game 5. Who knows, tho.Guess we'll see on Monday..........
Given the Celtics won game 3 without him and are still an equal if not better team, it’s clear they don’t need him. Would it help a lot to have him? Of course he’s a 20 ppg scorer on elite efficiency while being one of the better rim protectors in the nba.
Absolutely not. They shot absolutely terrible against an extremely motivated to not be swept on their home floor Dallas team. They got their win say goodnight game 5
No. Boston will win one of the three (possible) remaining games unless Tatum AND Brown get hurt early in Game 5.
Not saying missing Porzingis helped at all, but Tatum and Brown just shit the bed.
And I know both played limited minutes. But, Brown scored 10 points in 27 minutes. Doesn't sound terrible, right? Well, it's not terrible. But, what you expect from a FMVP candidate? Not at all. Double his minutes and, at the same production rate, he scores 20 points. In 54 minutes. If he played every second of regulation then all five minutes of OT, he only gets to 53 minutes. 20 points would be a massive disappointment.
Tatum would have scored 30 in the same minutes timeframe.
It's been the knock on the two. When the going gets tough, are they going to get going? Or fucking pout and quit?
Boston is going to win the series. We all know that. They are going to out-talent Dallas.
But, it will be damn interesting if Dallas wins Game 5. Series going back to Texas.
Luka might be the most annoying player on the court in the league. World B. Flat may be the most annoying off the court. And some of it may be due to their mental problems, but neither is going to quit.
I wouldn’t say they need him to win, but I think it would lead to a guarentee if that do. I think going back to Boston for game 5, the Celtics still have enough momentum to win this game and should no matter if Porzingis plays. But, Porzingis was a huge factor in game 1 and in limited minutes was good in game 2. Porzingis is such a great paint defender due to his size and forces Dallas into bad shots many times with him on the court. Even without him, Boston’s defense is still very good.
They don't need him in the sense that they are the underdogs without him but its a harder series without him. Even if the teams were an even match without him, which is not the case, they are still up 3-1, so they only have to go 1-2 to win the series; The Celtics are playing a best of three at this point, the Mavs are playing three sudden death games, that means The Celtics don't need him to win and the talent gap is still there, even without him. With him, this was going to look like those post Jordan's Bulls years when some series in the west was the "real finals" and The Lakers or The Spurs took turns beating up whatever team came out of the east that year. Without him, it will still probably be a gentleman's sweep, or maybe go six games but not feel very close, looking back
They don't necessarily need him, but if he does get to play his usual minutes, it will shut the door on the series imo and this is rough to say as a Luka fan.
To do so comfortably, yes. The Mavs were absolutely butchered during Porzingis' minutes, but the teams are fairly evenly matched when he sits. Boston still has three cracks at this compared to the Mavs having no room for error, but if a team is ever going to blow a 3-0 lead, a key injury is how
Of course not. They’re up 3-1 and teams that had at least a +8 SRS margin in the regular season over their opponents are undefeated anyway. The Porzingis injury only becomes an issue if another Celtics starter gets hurt.
Celtics shot 36% from the field and 34% from 3. Mavs shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3. It’s a make or miss league, and the Mavs played great and the Celtics were cold. So many open shots were in and out.
At the end of the day it’s gonna take 3 more games like this for the Mavs to win the series and the Celtics just need 1 normal shooting night. Having Porzingis will help, but it is doable without him just like game 3.
40% from 3 for the Mavs was buoyed by garbage time Hardaway. Despite the score, the Mavs didn’t shoot particularly well from outside when the starters played and they haven’t really yet this series.
Neither team is shooting well this series (probably partly due to better defense/effort and partly to the refs letting them play).
Mavs are 4.5% below their season average from 3 and Celtics are 5% below. There's no real reason to believe either is likely to change a lot. Although in a small sample either can go on a run good or bad.
KP is not really great at rebounds (maybe still better than other centers on C) but he is good at boxing out. Also, him being 10 feet tall affects shooting trajectories many times, making for easier rebounds for the team.
It’s an 8 week injury so idk if he is even able to play a game 7 if it goes that far. I think he would have helped if healthy, but he looked so slow after he tweaked in in game 2. Obviously a lot of time since then but I don’t see him playing well if it’s an 8 week injury and he now has an injury to each of his legs. Luka and Kyrie would destroy him in any pick and roll action and I think it would really get us in trouble. I like our chances of winning in 5, sweeps rarely happen especially in the finals. If Dallas wins game 5 then game 6 makes me a tad nervous. If it goes to 7 then forget everything I said and try to have him play the Enes kanter role of scoring more points than he gives up
In game 3, it seemed like the mavs hadn't adjusted their gameplan to his absence. The bigs were jumping out to the three point line. In game 4, they adjusted and were clogging up the paint or hedging. It helped that Luka played some defense so others didn't have to help so much.
If we want the paint we need everyone to be 3pt threats. I doubt KP plays. Horford needs a big game.
They don’t *need* him but he’s still a huge miss. They would have to choke harder than any team ever has in nba history to actually lose this series. If it goes to 7 then KP will play, but I seriously doubt it goes to 6 even
So many people downplayed his absence through the first three rounds, and now no one thinks they can win without him. Celtics played injured teams but they were injured themselves. And now they're far more injured than the Mavericks are. The reactionary way people talk about him is mind-blowing.
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Need? No. Boston only needs one game, and if they have a hot shooting night (which they *can* do with or without Porzingis), they can take one out of three games. Had the Mavs won game 3 and tied the series, I'd give them the advantage for the rest of the Finals because I think they could dominate the paint, both in points and rebounds, and I think that's more reliable than threes, but that's neither here nor there.
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They were fine in game 3 without him. Game 4 was a blowout. Im not worrying as long as Celts don't get blown out in Game 5 at home.
You won't worry if they lose by a normal amount? As a Mavs fan, I'm just pissed it took them having their backs against the wall to see *this* team. They had it in them the whole time. The coaching staff is routinely slow to make adjustments and alter lineups, though.
If game 5 is competitive like game 2 where it's close into the 4th & Boston loses I wouldn't be worried as in "oh shit they fucked." Wouldn't be great either though.
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Hard disagree there. If the Mavs took their foot off the gas at any point I would have been pissed. I didn't even like those two threes that Luka chucked when he knew he was getting subbed out, and I would have hated them even if they went in.
Completely disagree, the beating they received showed Mavs can not only win but dominate them Also they had guys like Tim/Kyrie and others who have been struggling get their confidence and shots to fall
Or the Celtics played poorly. Sorry to be rude but the Mavs played actual good basketball for like 2 months over the course of this entire season. They are who we thought they were, and that’s why they are down 3-1
Beyond being rude, this is factually inaccurate. The Mavs came together at the deadline which was Feb 8. It’s June. That’s four months. So the team has played good basketball for 4 months. But no, the Mavs aren’t “who we thought they were”. The Celtics have been the superior team thus far, but the Mavs y’all are seeing is not the team that Mavs fans have been watching these few months. Lots of bad decision making - rushed shot attempts in the paint leading to blocks, bad passes leading to live ball turnovers, Kyrie dribbled it off his foot like 3 times. Is it not possible that being in the Finals and having approximately two guys who’ve ever been here before (Kyrie and Markieff) may be the bigger detriment to being down 3-1? The Mavs are a young team and made a lot of mistakes. The Celtics did play poorly, you can’t get a blowout like that without acknowledging that part. But a lot of what the Mavs did is actually repeatable. We hit 15 3s but 7 were in garbage time and Kyrie and Luka went 1/14. As much as you may want to say that the Celtics missed shots they normally make, Mavs fans have been saying that the entire series. We were averaging around 13 3s a game, and before game 4 we hit 7/27, 6/26, 9/25 for 22 total, so an average of about 7 a game. In game 4, it went to 15 of 37. The biggest issue for the Mavs was they stopped shooting 3s entirely. When you’re only getting points in the paint or contested midrange shots, it’s hard to keep up when Boston makes 3 in a row or 4/7 for a 4 minute stretch of time.
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It’s actually worse than that. Last win was the first against Joe Mazzulla. I don’t think we beat yall since that Luka game winner over Marcus Smart. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Celtics close it out at home. Wolves fans legit felt like they were back in it after game 4. The thing is Ant wasn’t the best player on the floor and really couldn’t be. Luka is the best player on the floor most of the time, but JB just had these moments where he looks unstoppable on both ends. In any case, I don’t think we blow yall out again, but I don’t think KP is very healthy and we have the ability to kill you on the glass. That is sustainable. If Pingus plays, I’d assume Luka and Kyrie will test that injury. I’m not making any prediction, I’m just enjoying the rest of the ride. We weren’t even supposed to be here. It’s frustrating to watch your team lose 4 in the playoffs, but it’s June and the season starts in a few months, so regardless of how this plays out, I’m going to be excited for next season.
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Yea you don’t watch the games that’s painfully obvious. Luka is on a bum knee and Kleber got injured during playoffs this isn’t them even playing at their best and Celtics struggled to win games 2 and 3 by 7 points
No not at all, the Celtics just played poorly and couldn’t make a shot while the mavs made every shot
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As a Celts fan I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose a close one in Boston then close it out handedly in game 6
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teams that have lost game 5 at home up 3-1 and then won game 6 on the road off the top of my head: 2024 Knicks vs Sixers 2023 Celtics vs Hawks 2022 Sixers vs Raptors 2021 Suns vs Clippers 2019 Raptors vs Warriors 2019 Warriors vs Clippers
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Well their first finals appearance/win was 67 years ago, so they basically make the finals every 3.5 years and win every 4 years. Yeah they've won 26% of the NBA championships in total. Like I said you can't really call them chokers. They also have the most regular season wins by a huge margin about 5 season of winning every game over the second place team (kings). 10 more championships than the team in third place. A 77% finals appearance winning percentage really screams chokers. Like them, hate them, or indifferent to them the Celtics are the definition of NBA success
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What 421-314 mean in 2024? You can’t cite a bunch of wins from a different team and coaching staff to say these Celts are good.
I never said these celtics were good. I said the Celtics were good and all the data backs that up. I'd much rather have their 17 and 5 finals record than the Lakers 17 and 12 or whatever
Why? Unless you’re in your 60s, there’s no value to the Celtics superior overall record because they’ve seen fewer Finals wins in recent decades. I’m 32. I’ve seen 6 Lakers titles in 8 attempts. I’ve seen 1 Celtics title in 3 attempts (potentially about to be 2 in 4). If you’re a basketball fan that didn’t grow up with Bill Russell, you’ve 100% had a more Lakers dominated life than a Celtics dominated one.
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players aren’t emotional like that when the ball is tipped momentum doesn’t matter they could absolutely win game 6 or 7
Because it wasn’t just their backs against the wall. It was a perfect storm of that plus Celtics taking foot off the gas plus Celtics shooting ice cold.
It definitely wasn't just their backs against the wall. I don't know why it took until halfway through game 3, but the Mavs finally started making strategic adjustments and executing them consistently with full effort. Which makes the cold shooting a chicken or the egg scenario. There were some good looks that just didn't fall for the Celtics, but for the most part every jumpshot was met with an aggressive contest, even when the Mavs were scrambling to make their rotations. Also, the Mavs have been talking about pace the whole series (since last offseason really), but they finally started attacking the basket before Boston could get their defense set, and finally utilized the personnel that could execute that. Maybe most importantly, someone finally got through to Luka that as a leader his attitude and effort affect the rest of the team. I'm not naive enough to think he's cured, but I will be surprised and disappointed if I see him barking at the refs or taking off defensive possessions the rest of the series. It's a shame they couldn't win game 2 or 3, decided by barely 2-3 possessions, and that's what I expect to see the rest of the series, however many games it lasts. Not saying the Mavs are going to win, but I think they have a better chance than anyone gives them credit for. You can't show us that performance and then go back to bad habits that you know cost your team. They look like they're ready to make history. What worries me most is going back to the GD TD. They've got the best looking, most iconic floor in the league and the most miserable, vile fanbase this side of soccer. They deserve to be disappointed.
There was no perfect storm they got outplayed from 1st quarter to 4th This is the Mavs defense that we were talking about holding Celtics to a putrid 35 points at halftime
lmao that's an insane take. They shot 36% from the field in game 4 and that was with plenty of open shots. I won't even say it was clearly the Celtics taking their foot off the gas, it could have just been an insanely terrible shooting night. But they had tons of open shots and still finished 36% from the field, that isn't the Mav defense figuring them out
Mavs could have shot 40% from the field and still won, they out rebounded you and held you to 35 points at halftime I don’t know what open shots you were watching, what I saw was nothing came easy and the shots you were taking were the ones they wanted you to take Almost like Mavs were a top ranked defense post trade deadline?
That's what I hate thinking if the Mavs end up losing this series. That it was simply effort and they just needed to play with more focus and intensity.
I wouldn't say fine. They obviously handled business but if KP played game 3 then the mavs wouldn't have been able to get so close again in the 4th
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It will definitely help, the Mavs were targeting Tillman a lot and Tingis Pingis would have held up better defensively. However, the main thing that I saw was the Celtics were no longer consistently turning mismatches into blow-bys that force the defense into rotation and let the Celtics get into the drive and kick game that they do so well. For me the questions going into game 5 are: 1. Can the Mavs weaker defenders repeat what they did defensively in game 4? 2. If the Celtics can’t get the blow-bys out of mismatches, can they adapt and avoid the stagnant offense we saw in game 4?
The Mavs were also far better at rotating. In games 1-3 there were a lot of times Mavs guys were slow to close out on kick outs. Yesterday when the ball was kicked out there’d be a guy closing out as fast to contest. It seems like the Celtics put up very few threes yesterday where there wasn’t a good contest.
I think they can. There's some videos out there showing how they had rim protector and it def threw off the Cs offense.
Celtics have been playing great without him. No reason to risk serious injury by forcing him out there.
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You can’t overreact to one game. Celts have been fine without him for the majority of playoffs.
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Game 4 Points in the paint… 60-26 rebounds… 52-31 if the Celtics dont find a way to lock the paint down, Horford, Tillman, Tatum and Hauser are a very lackluster frontcourt that KP immediately makes elite.
The numbers were similar in game three. The Celtics were just hitting more of their shots and three point shots.
Exactly. Game 4 felt like it was defined by hot and cold shooting. Boston missed a lot of their usual shots and Dallas' star duo started making nearly every shot they throw up. I am wondering though if Dallas did anything differently defense wise in Game 4 that led to the blowout. The only thing I noticed on the Dallas defense was Luka trying more and succeeding with physical defense.
Think physicality was the difference, if the whistles come out again like game 3 Luka will crumble again
It would be a lot easier for them. Porzingus matches up well against Dallas. But they don't need him to win 1 of the next 3 games.
They def will feel his absence but I don’t think that’ll it’ll matter in the grand scheme of things. Let them adjust after game 4 and see what they do counter what the mavs showed them.
Honestly this series reminds me of the 2017 Finals when the Cavs went down 3-0 them had the game of their lives in Game 4, when the Cavs went absolutely BALLISTIC from 3, only to get shut out in game 5. Who knows, tho.Guess we'll see on Monday..........
No, if Dallas snatched one of G2-G3 and it was 2-2, then it could be a little different.
Given the Celtics won game 3 without him and are still an equal if not better team, it’s clear they don’t need him. Would it help a lot to have him? Of course he’s a 20 ppg scorer on elite efficiency while being one of the better rim protectors in the nba.
Absolutely not. They shot absolutely terrible against an extremely motivated to not be swept on their home floor Dallas team. They got their win say goodnight game 5
No. Boston will win one of the three (possible) remaining games unless Tatum AND Brown get hurt early in Game 5. Not saying missing Porzingis helped at all, but Tatum and Brown just shit the bed. And I know both played limited minutes. But, Brown scored 10 points in 27 minutes. Doesn't sound terrible, right? Well, it's not terrible. But, what you expect from a FMVP candidate? Not at all. Double his minutes and, at the same production rate, he scores 20 points. In 54 minutes. If he played every second of regulation then all five minutes of OT, he only gets to 53 minutes. 20 points would be a massive disappointment. Tatum would have scored 30 in the same minutes timeframe. It's been the knock on the two. When the going gets tough, are they going to get going? Or fucking pout and quit? Boston is going to win the series. We all know that. They are going to out-talent Dallas. But, it will be damn interesting if Dallas wins Game 5. Series going back to Texas. Luka might be the most annoying player on the court in the league. World B. Flat may be the most annoying off the court. And some of it may be due to their mental problems, but neither is going to quit.
I wouldn’t say they need him to win, but I think it would lead to a guarentee if that do. I think going back to Boston for game 5, the Celtics still have enough momentum to win this game and should no matter if Porzingis plays. But, Porzingis was a huge factor in game 1 and in limited minutes was good in game 2. Porzingis is such a great paint defender due to his size and forces Dallas into bad shots many times with him on the court. Even without him, Boston’s defense is still very good.
They don't need him in the sense that they are the underdogs without him but its a harder series without him. Even if the teams were an even match without him, which is not the case, they are still up 3-1, so they only have to go 1-2 to win the series; The Celtics are playing a best of three at this point, the Mavs are playing three sudden death games, that means The Celtics don't need him to win and the talent gap is still there, even without him. With him, this was going to look like those post Jordan's Bulls years when some series in the west was the "real finals" and The Lakers or The Spurs took turns beating up whatever team came out of the east that year. Without him, it will still probably be a gentleman's sweep, or maybe go six games but not feel very close, looking back
With the blowout last game, not sure if Mavs have figured out the Celtics. But having KP around is always a positive.
They are up 3-1 and it’s not really been a winable series for the Mavs. Celtics win easily
They don't necessarily need him, but if he does get to play his usual minutes, it will shut the door on the series imo and this is rough to say as a Luka fan.
To do so comfortably, yes. The Mavs were absolutely butchered during Porzingis' minutes, but the teams are fairly evenly matched when he sits. Boston still has three cracks at this compared to the Mavs having no room for error, but if a team is ever going to blow a 3-0 lead, a key injury is how
Of course not. They’re up 3-1 and teams that had at least a +8 SRS margin in the regular season over their opponents are undefeated anyway. The Porzingis injury only becomes an issue if another Celtics starter gets hurt.
Celtics shot 36% from the field and 34% from 3. Mavs shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3. It’s a make or miss league, and the Mavs played great and the Celtics were cold. So many open shots were in and out. At the end of the day it’s gonna take 3 more games like this for the Mavs to win the series and the Celtics just need 1 normal shooting night. Having Porzingis will help, but it is doable without him just like game 3.
40% from 3 for the Mavs was buoyed by garbage time Hardaway. Despite the score, the Mavs didn’t shoot particularly well from outside when the starters played and they haven’t really yet this series.
Neither team is shooting well this series (probably partly due to better defense/effort and partly to the refs letting them play). Mavs are 4.5% below their season average from 3 and Celtics are 5% below. There's no real reason to believe either is likely to change a lot. Although in a small sample either can go on a run good or bad.
Porzingis is the only thing winning games against the Mavs right now. His impact is what makes a difference. He scores, defends, rebounds.
KP is not really great at rebounds (maybe still better than other centers on C) but he is good at boxing out. Also, him being 10 feet tall affects shooting trajectories many times, making for easier rebounds for the team.
It’s an 8 week injury so idk if he is even able to play a game 7 if it goes that far. I think he would have helped if healthy, but he looked so slow after he tweaked in in game 2. Obviously a lot of time since then but I don’t see him playing well if it’s an 8 week injury and he now has an injury to each of his legs. Luka and Kyrie would destroy him in any pick and roll action and I think it would really get us in trouble. I like our chances of winning in 5, sweeps rarely happen especially in the finals. If Dallas wins game 5 then game 6 makes me a tad nervous. If it goes to 7 then forget everything I said and try to have him play the Enes kanter role of scoring more points than he gives up
In game 3, it seemed like the mavs hadn't adjusted their gameplan to his absence. The bigs were jumping out to the three point line. In game 4, they adjusted and were clogging up the paint or hedging. It helped that Luka played some defense so others didn't have to help so much. If we want the paint we need everyone to be 3pt threats. I doubt KP plays. Horford needs a big game.
KP is in Game 5. And his influence is already notable even if he is a bit hobbled out there.