Will Porzingis return for NBA Finals? + How should Celtics guard Kyrie & Luka? | SportsCenter

Will Porzingis return for NBA Finals? + How should Celtics guard Kyrie & Luka? | SportsCenter

the 2024 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks begins Thursday in Boston the 64- win Celtics going for their 18th NBA title which would break a tie with the Lakers for most all time this is Boston’s second finals appearance in three seasons they fell the Golden State in six games in 2022 the Seas enter the finals having won their last seven playoff games their last loss was in game two of the conference semis against Cleveland during this run Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown have combined to average just under 57 points per game as for the Mavericks who are in the finals for the first time in 13 years they’ve beaten three 51n teams to get here only three teams in NBA history the 95 Rockets the 01 Lakers and the 2010 Lakers have beaten four 5 Wi teams in route to an NBA title speaking of the Mavs they’re going to be relying on Luca donic and Kyrie Irving in their quest for their second NBA Championship in team history the two have either scored or assisted on over 74% of his points entering the finals that is the most by any player Duo entering the NBA Finals over the last 25 seasons and for a finals preview we got NBA analyst Sebastian Christensen with us here out Sebastian Boston would love to have Chris STS porzingis on the court to counter that duo of Luca and Kyrie but he’s been out with a calf string how will his health impact this series hey Jay how are you hope everything is well you know I think Boston would have a tough time beating this Mavericks team without christas porzingis good news for Boston all signs are pointing to him being available in game one yes Boston has one nine out of 10 without porzingis but every match up is its own world and Dallas bigs have been amazing all postseason long defensively he will provide a much needed rim protector for Boston who looked kind of small at times against Indiana and now Dallas suddenly seems like the second coming of Lob City offensively he will provide range more efficient spacing a deeper rotation and more important maybe he put Daniel Gafford and er gelyy out on the perimeter well they will be less efficient Boston was so cautious with his recovery because they know Jay they needed him for this series yeah they do uh Sebastian check this out I got something I want you to see uh a fascinating matchup in this one is going to be Luca against that Celtics defense Luca’s opponents this season have been aggressive on defense blitzing him on screens more than any player in the league when he had the ball but the Celtics blitzed just 1% of the time against on ball screens the second lowest percentage in the NBA so Sebastian how should Boston’s defense be game planning for Luca donic uh maybe they can pre j a little bit uh but truthfully you know Boston does not Blitz much on screens because very few teams have the defensive versatility that Boston has two regular season matchups we saw mainly Jaylen Brown on donic I think Brown will bothered him a bit with his size his strength so can Jason taton by the way and truth be told I believe Boston has the best defensive backward in the NBA Drew holiday is strong as in Ox probably one of the few peoples in the world that kind of can hold look at Don at the point of attack Derek white is a fantastic perameter defensive with one of them is on donic I expect him to pick him up full court try to fatigue him you know donic is a little banged up his efficiency hasn’t been the same in comparison to regular season he’s going to get his production but donic knows Boston will be his toughest test to date let’s qu the great bar Scott can’t wait Jay can’t wait I think this guy next to me has pushed me to continue to work on my game Irving just they helped me mature a lot to see the game in a different [Music] [Applause] way the leader he’s been for us has been amazing how did go and he’s built for these moments nothing back for the win he he got it it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win the ring together I want Championship [Music] here a this is going to be good both Luca donic and Kyrie Irving had 36 points in their series clinching win over Minnesota on Thursday it was the fourth time they’ve each had 30 or more points in a game this postseason the only Duo to have more such games in a single playoff year elen Baylor and Jerry West NBA analyst Scott Perry with us now Scott a major storyline in these finals is Kyrie returning to Boston so what aspect of Kyrie’s game should Boston be most wary of Jay you’ve got to try to limit Kyrie’s ability of getting into the lane uh because his penetration will break down any defense and cause Boston a lot of trouble in terms of having to rotate uh multiple times creating open opportunities this guy is too good when he gets in the lane and too efficient at being able to score and create for others so that is the first thing that this Boston defense must do is limit his ability and getting into the lane so it doesn’t create Havoc for this good defensive team secondly and I’ve always been a strong believer in this when you have an elite offensive player like Kyrie you must make him work on the defensive side of the floor and by by that I mean put him in extra screening actions they have bigger guards on the Boston Celtics team posting up some do all that you can to make him exert as much energy as possible on that defensive side of the floor so that later in the game what you’re hoping is that he’s going to be worn down a little bit so he can’t be that special closer Kyrie that we’ve come to know that where he can finish gamees so you want to try to do the very best you can it’s at at at taking away some of his energy but forcing him to um play a lot of uh uh be involved in a lot of actions on the defensive side and try to wear him down that way Scott we’ve talked a lot about Kyrie and Luca as as a Duo and deservedly so but Boston has a pretty good Duo themselves with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown when comparing these two Duos you actually give Tatum and brown a little Edge why well I would give Tatum and brown The Edge because of the defensive side of the ball look I recognize that Luca and Kyrie are the most dynamic offensive Duo of the two but these two guys aren’t too far behind on the offensive side of the floor but defensively is where they can really stand out Jaylen Brown came into this league as a very strong Defender he’s been an all defensive player at one point in his career Jason Tatum has evolved into a very good defensive player uh as well they uh helped lead this team to be the second ranked defensive uh team in the league this year they bring size they bring athleticism they bring length and so that allows them to guard multiple positions on this floor and let’s not forget that these guys have been playing together for seven years and and played over 100 playoff games together so this type of experience really matters and can be pivotal in this series [Music]

Will Porzingis return for NBA Finals? + How should Celtics guard Kyrie & Luka? | SportsCenterOn SportsCenter, Sebastian Christensen joins to discuss how Kristaps Porzingis’ health could impact the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals and then Scott Perry joins the conversation and weighs in on what aspect of Kyrie Irving’s game the Celtics should be weary of in the Finals.
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