Kristaps Porzingis getting closer & how Boston Celtics defend Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving

Kristaps Porzingis getting closer & how Boston Celtics defend Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving

Kristof porzingis went through everything the team did on Saturday plus how do the Celtics guard Luca donic and Kyrie Irving it’s a bonus locked on Celtics podcast right now Bluster holiday Drew in the mix and three from KP no we not on the knck flushing competition like Al on Yannis juice and big de still be Town’s finest been a 18 going up in the Raptors watching these gameing locked on on the breakdown like a TI from d on the breakdown on the M docent domination M back B all SE Nation BR J how we started raising business how we finish locked on Celtics pod home of the winners hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast it’s right here on the lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I got you covered every single day Monday through Friday and bonus podcast like this one on a Saturday when hey it’s a Saturday before the NBA Finals why wouldn’t I do an extra podcast for you so make sure you’re subscribed to get this surprise here’s a podcast for you for the weekend make sure you get that dropped directly to your Vice get on to the YouTube page let me know what you’re thinking in the comment section defend the Boston Celtics honor in the YouTube section we’re getting flooded with Mavs fans so even if you’re not a regular YouTube user get into that comment section make sure you’re fighting against all these Mavs in six Mavs in SE seven Luca is this Kyrie is that that’s we’re getting flooded here so we need we need everybody to step up it’s the finals uh if you’re new to the show I’m John corales if you’re a Mavericks fan welcome aboard that’s who I am I used to play a long time ago now I’m covering the Celtics I’m a beat writer for Boston Sports Journal Today’s Show brought to you by prize picks the mo the easiest most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize picks.com lockon NBA use that code all lowercase lockon NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 uh before I get to how the Celtics defend Luca donic and Kyrie Irving I want to start with christops porzingis who we didn’t see on the practice floor on Saturday we saw him a little bit on Friday where he was out shooting three-pointers was he running up and down the floor we didn’t see any of that I saw some light jogging in between stations but he was taking his three-pointers his normal three-pointers which he doesn’t jump much on he leans forward on he has a very unique three-point stroke uh it’s very different than his normal shooting stroke but it works for him uh not often do you see somebody with such a different three-point shot versus a regular shot but regardless he was out there shooting a normal shot if you didn’t know he was hurt once again if you didn’t know he was hurt you wouldn’t know he was hurt so he looked okay for what we saw right it was shooting and some light jogging in between stations when he shot Saturday we didn’t see porzingis on the floor when they raised the the curtains and let us see but Joe moula said it was a moderate practice they went through whatever drills they went through uh not a not a hard practice necessarily but a moderate practice and he went through everything so again not like they scrimmaged not like they went five on five or any of that stuff but he was an a full participant in the practice so it makes me continue to think that by Thursday he will be available for something now is that enough time to ramp up and be in NBA shape no it’s not so it’s going to be interesting to see what he’s able to give is it a four-minute stretch is it a five minute stretch is it whatever it is and how much of a rest does he need is it just going to be quick short burst play for four minutes you know you you maybe pull them at the the TV timeout and you or or maybe you pull a little bit before the TV timeout and get that extra break and bring them in after that however you want to do it there is going to be a formula if Assuming he’s healthy I’m assuming that he’s gonna be back for game one not guaranteeing it but I’m assuming he’s gonna be back for game one there is some level of cardio that they’re doing on the bike and I assume maybe some waterw Works some pool whatever but however they need to do it short burst from Chris stops porzingis uh whatever he can handle they’re going to do because they need him they definitely need him as much as a rim protector as much to keep sorry Luke cornette but keep guys like Luke cornette and Xavier Tillman and oea brette out of the mix because you just don’t want to go that deep into your bench you and I know there are people who are gonna say why not but that’s you want to stick with your top six seven at best right so uh I wouldn’t expect too much Beyond porzingis and Horford if you can avoid it so if you get 20 25 minutes out of porzingis great because now the rest of the 48 minutes is 20 23 to 28 for Al Horford which is right in the Wheelhouse that’s exactly what you need that works and uh I I I think that would be a a pretty good outcome considering how long porzingis has been out you’re going to need him as a rim protector you’re going to need him to help defend against the lob against this other stuff that the Mavs do well and what the Mavs have done to to to beat the Timberwolves and and to get to the NBA finals defending Luca defending Kyrie it’s gonna take everybody and it’s gonna take christops porzingis so right away the update is good for porzingis how do the Celtics defend Luca how do they defend Kyrie how do you stop or how do you live with or what what is the approach I have a plan that I think can work and I’m going to tell it to you in just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by our good friends over at crack sauce C AIC sauce you see it right here on the YouTube page crack sauce is locally made locally sourced it’s all made here in LOL Massachusetts by a Celtics fan and Massachusetts New England employees so all the ingredients are coming from local Massachusetts farms local farms some of 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sauce get your dad some crack sauce for Father’s Day get your husband some for Father’s Day if you like flavorful hot sauces you’re going to love it c r AIC sauce.com and you use the code locked on 10% off your order so stock up it’s amazing stuff thanks for making lockdown Celtics your first listen every day go check out lockdown sports today lockdown sports today is streaming 247 on YouTube and on the Amazon Fire TV channels app you’re GNA see lock on Celtics on there quite a bit because there’s no bigger story right now then in sports then the NBA finals and it’s Celtics and Mavs go check out lockdown Mavs too get see what the what the enemy is saying uh and welcome Mavs fans who are here you want to say okay John what’s your plan you got this big plan to defend Luca Don and Kyrie Irving let’s hear it okay in the regular season Jaylen Brown started out on Luca and I’m saying no I’m not I’m not starting Jaylen Brown on Luca I’m going straight to Drew holiday and there’s some you know there’s video out there that shows it and you know this the numbers might show it a little bit but Luca against uh a guy like holiday for as good a Defender as holiday is because Luca is bigger he has an advantage and he has an advantage over every Defender because he’s Luka donic right so step one the very basis of all of this is he’s Luca freaking donic we’re not stupid we understand who we’re going up against we get it right Luca is not somebody you stop it’s how do you how do you defend him and I asked Joe moula this and the answer is simple how do you defend him at a high level and make things as difficult as possible on him knowing that it’s not going to be stopping him and the key thing when you’re watching this is when you’re watching the Celtics when you’re watching the finals it’s not about oh Luca’s Luca scoring you you can’t have you got to switch your defense Luca is scoring deal with it I’m putting if if Luca is searching for the mismatch I’m giving it to him right away no picks no nothing you want holiday on the mismatch you got him I’m telling Drew holiday this is your matchup you go out there and get into his body take advantage of the finals officiating take advantage of being able to be more physical take advantage of defending him before the catch right so if he gets off the ball at all defend him before the catch now he’s gonna be bringing the ball up a lot but on the instances where he doesn’t you’re up in him it’s don’t help don’t nothing you are in his jock you are there to defend him wherever he goes make it as hard as possible for him to get the ball when he’s dribbling the ball up and it’s you against it’s it’s holiday against Luca I say it’s your matchup do what you can do what you can everybody else stays home because it’s the it’s the assists Luca averaged 8.2 assists per game in the Conference Finals that’s not something that can be sustained you can’t you can’t have Luca averaging 32 and a half points almost 10 rebounds eight plus assists you cannot have that you got to cut down something the Mavericks in the Conference Finals averaged 111 points a little bit more than that Luca and Kyrie combined for just under 60 of those so little more than half of the points but it’s the other half that has to come from somewhere and that’s where if I’m looking at what can Boston do what can the Mavs do I’m saying all right Luca you want to average 45 okay can you get the rest of the Mavs below 65 so that’s 110 which is below their average for the Conference Finals can you get them to 10 something I don’t give a damn if Luca drops 45 I don’t give a damn if when he calls over for the pick and it’s let’s involve christops porzingis let’s involve Al Horford I don’t give a damn if it’s Luca floater Luca floater Luca mid-range I don’t care because those are two points and what they’re not is a corner three from somebody like Derek Jones Jr PJ Washington I don’t care if it’s Luca hitting tough shots in two-point land because I as I said in yesterday’s podcast on the other end of the floor it’s Luca in the actions it’s Kyrie in the actions over and over and over again make Luca defend call him up whoever he’s guarding doesn’t matter who he’s guarding that person is setting the pick you’re getting the switch on to Luca or you’re forcing the Mavs to do something different but you’re putting Luca in all the defensive actions and you’re making him work his butt off on defense and then you’re bringing him down the floor and you’re challenging him you want to do this do it your damn self and there’s no way in hell that Luca donic is gonna go over there and play 40 plus minutes a game and work as hard as he’s supposed to on defense and then do all of everything on offense that is not going to work for Dallas so I am challenging Luca donic I know how good you are I know that you’re one of a generational group of talents in the NBA a potential MVP candidate I have the utmost respect in the world for Luca donic I think he is amazing but I know that he is not going to be able to defend for 40 minutes and isolate and do all of the scoring for 40 minutes and he’s not gonna be able to do it for seven games he’s not GNA be able to do it for four wins in a row I am putting that challenge on him at some point some something is gonna give either he’s gonna save his defensive energy so he can go and do all the scoring because he’s like I got to do this all myself they’re they’re challenging me and I got to do it all myself so either he’s gonna stop defending in which case Boston can pile up the points or he’s gonna try to do both and then fourth quarter I know he’s Mr fourth quarter I know he’s he’s a a a high level performer but I’m expecting to see Front Range Rim outs frustration some frustration files when he gets that tired maybe he gets a little frustrated with his teammates something like that so I am single covering Luca at as much as I possibly can knowing that look there’s a 100 possessions or so in a game 100 what 100 110 whatever the number is he’s got a probably a 40% usage rate uh what was his usage in the uh in this series 34% so 3 we up it we we’ll push it to 40 I want his usage rate at 40 That’s the target Luca usage at 40 if you get him at 40% usage rate that’s a lot of that’s a big load for him to handle if you get him taking a ton of shots if you if and in those in those possessions right so 40 some odd possessions you’re going to have to mix in some blitzing which if if you time it out right and it’s Personnel driven you whatever you can find two three possessions here and there a couple here couple there Blitz them okay you take a couple where you do switch maybe you do switch onto maybe you throw Al Horford on there and you say all right go switch whatever give him the switch that he’s looking for fine go is it holiday is it Horford is it porzingis don’t foul do the best you can everyone else stay home but you got to throw a bunch of different looks at him you got to get him a little off balance and it can’t just be the same thing all the time like I’m not saying do this all the time I’m doing it as often as I can mix it in when he looks because he is so good at processing when he looks and he’s looking around don’t give him the obvious thing be there in those passing Lanes so I’m defending Luca as straight up as I possibly can Kyrie Irving is a much different story talk about that just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by prize picks prize picks is daily fantasy sports Made Easy 3 million members on prize picks and you’re not playing against against any of them you’re playing against the numbers the the they set the projections you pick more or less you pick two to six players you can win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as few as four correct picks so you can turn 10 bucks into $1,000 on the NBA Finals uh on the Stanley CL Stanley Cup uh WNBA soccer international sports whatever you want it is almost all of it is there it’s incredible so you go you sign up at uh prize pick download the the the prize pick app use the code locked on NBA you get first deposit match up to $100 so go make that take full advantage of it get your $100 deposit match and start with your with your projections make sure you use the code locked on NBA all lowercase and have some fun it’s the number one daily fantasy sports app there so go check it out prize picks pick more pick less it’s that easy so defending Kyrie Irving now I’m throwing the kitchen sink you want you want blitzes you want doubles you want switches you want all kinds of funky defense I’m throwing that at Kyrie Irving because Kyrie is not the passer that Luca is Luca is genius level like Puppet Master like you just got to be careful with him Kyrie Kyrie’s going to make tough shots too so no level of defense is going to stop the both of them you need one of those guys to have a really inefficient night you need one of those guys to have a you know if you’re gonna score 20 it better be on 20 shots you’re gonna have you’re gonna need one of those guys to have that kind of night because now Kyrie 27 points four and a half assists per game in the Conference Finals I’m not worried about him making the pass necessarily he will from time to time but we know what Kyrie does dribbles like no one else ever has he uh gets the rim finishes with either hand finishes with the left hand like a you know like like it’s like he’s a normally normally a left-hander he’s uh just a a scoring genius right so he’s gonna do that from time to time but he’s the guy that I’m saying double Blitz hedge show and recover whatever you need to throw at him he’s the guy you get super creative with he’s the guy that you try to limit he’s more likely to say oh okay you know what especially in Boston where there’s that animosity which side note when does a guy who leaves a city on his own accord when is that a Revenge game since when does a guy a team that wanted the guy that offered him all the money since when does a guy who turns that down get to come back for Revenge because the city doesn’t like him because he said he would sign in Boston and then said nah and now it’s Revenge are you kidding me there’s no Revenge here like if you think this is a Revenge game for Kyrie you’re not paying attention but I think I think he might feel that way I feel like he might be like well I was disrespected I’m disrespected now watch this and that might be enough for him to go supernova so I it’s it’s entirely possible that that might none of this might stop either of these guys but I am I am challenging Kyrie but in a different way I’m throwing a bunch of different looks at him I don’t care if I’m if I’m sending two at him because I feel like first of all he’s smaller second of all he’s just a pure scorer and not necessarily A passer doesn’t mean that he can’t pass doesn’t mean that he doesn’t necessarily in general uh but he he’s the guy that I’m throwing everything at I’d put Jaylen on Kyrie before I put uh Jaylen on Luca I’m I’m throwing everything you want to sh you want to be up to touch on a pick and roll where the big is coming up and you know bring porzingis up and like Kyrie Kyrie with porzingis like way up in his face and like that that is I’m fine with that because you can rotate behind that like I don’t know how he’s going to get passes consistently over over big long wings like Jaylen and Jason and porzingis at Center or even Horford at Center I’m throwing size I am throwing arms I’m throwing everything at Kyrie the entire goal the entire purpose of covering Luca straight up and and blitzing and and just bothering Kyrie as much as possible it’s to eliminate everyone else has an option as much as possible eliminate Luca donic pick and roll finding lobs eliminate finding the corner three-point Shooters eliminate the offensive rebounds and putbacks because you got guys like Lively and Gafford who can get you putbacks right you’ve got you’ve got opportunities for other players to hurt you Luca and Kyrie will score they’re averaging 60 maybe maybe somewhere in that range if you can get them down to just 50 now we’re now that that little bit I’m not asking for much they average 60 together can you get them down to 50 or if they’re gonna get 60 make them take 60 shots because now on average there’s like 20 shots somewhere else and those 20 shots are not enough for the Celtics to not not enough for the Mavs to beat the Celtics that’s where I think this defensive plan is rooted can you make it so the other guys don’t kill you and that’s that’s the whole thing I trust in Boston’s role players to be able to do the things that maybe Boston’s defense can’t limits limits Dallas’s role players too I trust Derek white and Drew holiday and por zingis and Horford to be able to put up enough points where Boston can get to one 11 15 or more my target for Boston is at 115 can you get to that 115 if Boston can limit Luca to half the assists four assists a game five at most you’re taking away three assists it’s three buckets 246 points right well now you’re down into if they’re averaging 11 112 let’s say now you’re down to 106 three assists that’s all I’m not asking for a ton from Boston just do this much just do enough you’re not gonna stop Luca just cut a couple of things there cut a couple of baskets from Kyrie take a couple of those lobs to Lively to Gafford away take a couple of those corner threo away just a couple here or there then all of a sudden Dallas is scoring just over a 100 points maybe Boston’s defense can do that Boston’s offense can absolutely put up 115 to 120 even against this Dallas defense I’m curious how Dallas is going to do this I don’t know how they’re going to defend Boston because they have been dead set on limiting the rim limiting the rim over and over and over again that’s why I I say this is going to be a heavy heavy heavy Boston three-point shooting series do not be surprised let’s say it’s a seven game series that three or four of those are 53o attempts games for Boston like they’re gonna put up 40 to 5 threp pointers a game against the Mavs that’s how I see it going if they can hit a decent percentage and you’re limiting those three-pointers from Dallas the math takes over and Boston will have to fight hard they will have to defend like crazy but they will win these games if they do this stuff that’s your bonus locked on Celtics podcast check out the locked on Mavs with Nick angstead I’m going to do crossover crossover Sunday crossover Monday maybe one more before the series we’re going to do multiple crossovers we’re going to get this finals covered like nobody else you’re going to have all sorts of information all sorts of opinion all sorts of approaches so you can be ready for the NBA Finals all I ask is that you subscribe make sure you subscribe subscribe on the YouTube page as well ring the bell on the YouTube page so you get notified like oh John just 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Kristaps Porzingis participated in everything the Celtics did on Saturday, though we’re not 100% sure what that was. But he seems to be getting even closer to a return. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal has that and then goes deep into how to defend Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in the Finals, and it’s two very different approaches.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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