FIRST TAKE | “Mavericks could hand the Celtics their next NBA Finals loss”- Stephen A. tells Shannon

FIRST TAKE | “Mavericks could hand the Celtics their next NBA Finals loss”- Stephen A. tells Shannon

towards the finals that start Thursday Boston is seeking its 18th Championship which would break a tie with the Lakers for the most all time while Dallas is seeking to join the 1995 Rockets as the only team seated fifth or lower to win a title on the sidelines Joe Missoula is the youngest head coach to reach the NBA Finals since Bill Russell in 1969 while Jason kid is seeking to become the eighth person to win an NBA title with the same franchise as a player and as a head coach Jason Tatum and Luca donic will Face Off both having LED their team in points rebounds and assists this postseason it’s the first Finals matchup ever between players who led their team in those categories and the playoffs so that tells me it’s going to be pretty darn good uh Tim legler joining us but Stephen A I’m going to tip things off with you here who do you think has the most to lose in these finals I think it’s Jason Tatum um he cannot play bad in this series I don’t I was listening to Tim legler earlier this morning on get up and I completely agree with him he doesn’t necessarily have to win the championship if he plays spectacularly well but Boston manages to lose because Dallas has two superstars that show up and play Sensational as well then there’s no shame in that what can’t happen with Jason Tatum is that a Boston loses and B he’s the biggest reason why that would be disastrous he can’t emulate his per performance from the NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors that is unacceptable Jaylen Brown was a better player than Jason Tatum was in that finals that can’t happen again he’s two years older he’s 26 now uh he’s in his fifth or sixth Conference Finals this is his second NBA Finals um he’s a first team all NBA him and Luke are both being First Team all all NBA it’s only the second time in history two First Team all NBA players looking for their first NBA championships are playing against one another in the NBA Finals the first was LeBron versus KD in 2012 so we look at all of those numbers we recognize those statistics and you add to that the elevation that we’ve seen from Jason Tatum he is a Bonafide star in this league got a whole bunch of commercials endorsement deals Etc destined to get a 300 plus million doll contract and you’re wearing a Boston Celtics uniform but you don’t have a championship to show for it they can’t look at you and say you’re the reason why if that happens it will be very difficult it wouldn’t be impossible but it would be very very difficult for him to recover from that he has to make sure he plays spectacularly well otherwise he’s gonna hear about it for years and years to come Stephen now you’re 100% right and I I’ll I’ll say it this way I strongly believe this I think Jason Tatum has more to lose in these finals than those other three guys combined combined that’s how much is riding with Jason Tatum but what I said this morning was Jason Tatum doesn’t necessarily have to be the best player on Boston and they win a title he’s not going to take hits for that assuming that he plays well and by the way I think I know what the floor is for all four of these guys none of these guys are going to flat out not show up they’re all going to have production what we’re going to be talking about is efficiency and shooting on given nights and then more importantly how you play in the big spots and I think there’s going to be a lot of them in this series I think we’re going to have compelling fourth quarters throughout this entire series with meaningful moments and who’s going to make shots who’s going to make plays in the moment so I think I know what the floor is for all four guys they’re going to produce it’s going to be those moments that are going to separate and Define and if Jason Tatum just happens to be outplayed in this series by Jaylen brown or Luca or Kyrie or hell all three of them if Boston wins it’s all that matters to Jason Tatum check the box he’s an NBA champion he’s been a multi multi-time First Team all League player six time Allstar he’s been to the finals before he needs to check that box as a winner when you look at the other three guys I just look at it like this the expectation level that’s been put on Jaylen Brown is not the same because of what their status has been in the league those two players in comparing those two guys prior to this point right that’s first and then for Luka look this is his first time on the final stage and if he doesn’t play well for whatever reason now he shoots 40% whatever they lose then he’s going to have to answer the Bell next time and he’s going to carry that with him until he gets that opportunity just like Jason Tatum has he’s back on the stage he did not play particularly well in the finals against Golden State he’s got to answer but they just have to win that’s most important and then Kyrie look this guy’s already a champion we know what kind of a pressure player he is I expect him to show up I don’t think any of the pressure of those three players remotely compares to what Jason Tatum is facing in this series he can’t be the headline as to why they lose that’s what it comes down to you can’t be the first talking point your poor play as to why the Boston Celtics lost in NBA Finals anything short of that Jason Tatum’s going to be okay I guess I’m going have to make it three for three because I do believe the most pressure is on him it’s not you know playing bad is one thing when you play Bad is worse because he can have a bad first quarter or a bad first half and then play exquisitly in the second half or the fourth quarter or even in clutch situation because that’s where the great players really make their name Kobe and Mike and LeBron and bird and Magic is that last five minutes when the nip and Tuck now we’ve seen the Dallas Mavericks be great in clutch all season long they were one of the two best teams in clutch situations all year that wasn’t the case for Boston but they did show me something against Indie and I know it’s Indie but at the end of the day can you operate in that situation they were down by as many as eight points they had been down by as many as nine points in a couple of games and they found ways to win those games so it’s going to be very interesting to see how Jason tatums operates in that clutch situation because I believe all both all set of guy all set uh combos will play well legs I also agree with you that J jayen Brown has never had to deal with the pressure because he was never looked at as the same player as Jason t is around the League what no matter what you think people view Jason Tatum as a better player than JB that’s been Heap JB has never been talked about as the possible potential face of the NBA that’s all that’s been thrown around with Jason Tatum maybe it’s because he wore the Kobes maybe he’s close to Kobe maybe that’s what they want but he’s never had to deal with the pressure that’s been bestowed upon Jason Tatum JT has to play well because he did not play well we can all agree to that he did not play well in his first NBA Finals he must play better and he has his work cut out for him because the guy on the other side scored the second most points in playoff history behind one Michael Jordan so you got Luca to deal with and we know Kyrie is a big shot Taker and a big shot maker and the moment is never too big for him Jason Tatum’s gonna have to come up big he might not have to win the finals MVP but he better play well because Larry Bird won the F you remember now in his first NBA Finals Stephen A Larry did not win Finals MVP Cornbread Maxwell did and he had two games in which you scored eight points but they won at the end of the day it only matters more recently whether you win more recently Steph Curry didn’t win the MVP first go round that was Andre guala yeah so we understand you don’t have to win the MVP you just can’t be the reason they lose right yeah but Stephen A don’t you think there will will be critics if he doesn’t win Finals MVP after all their trips knocking at the door and not Jason T yeah yeah yeah I’m saying to you Molly no if if he doesn’t win the finals MVP but they win the championship and he plays decently well but somebody like Jaylen brown or Derek white or somebody steps up it’s not going to be anything I if he loses and he play and he doesn’t play well it’s a disaster he has to play very very well if they win and Sensational if they lose because if he doesn’t play Sensational and they lose he’s gonna get blamed for it no matter what yes and that’s the problem y yeah all right uh we’ll leave it there by the way he’s he is the favorite according to oddsmakers to win Finals MVP no surprise on that coming up on first take you don’t want to miss Stephen A’s reaction to these e for e I live by the sword exeed my real an ally has been defeated you have been defeated an ally has been defeated an enemy has been defeated an enemy has defeated an enemy has been defeated my realm my rule an ally has 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FIRST TAKE | “Mavs & Celtics: Which team has the most to lose in NBA Finals?” – Stephen A. & Shannon heated debate