GET UP | Tim Legler on NBA Finals: Mavs vs Celtics: Luka win title mean he takes crown from Jokic

GET UP | Tim Legler on NBA Finals: Mavs vs Celtics: Luka win title mean he takes crown from Jokic

time to get up with you starting right now we are presented by ESPN bet Graziano is ready to roll Zack low we’re counting it down to the finals and that’s not all Timmy legs is up early this morning knocking down threes Mike tanon bound oh we got to have a conversation right Mike te’s back drop we’ll get to that in a minute plus big perk will be along as well as we get set for game one of the NBA finals coming up Thursday night on abbc all right legs I’ll start with you let’s play a game called fill in the blank a title for Jason Tatum would mean what legs validation greeny you’re looking at a guy that has had six All-Star appearances three consecutive First Team all League appearances and yet for some reason Jason Tatum is still a guy that we have under the microscope going into this series and and if he’s able to get a title particularly if he plays well which I don’t think they can win one if he doesn’t uh Jason Tatum pulls that off it validates what he believes he’s been as a player and I think what his numbers back up that he has been despite all of the scrutiny okay I like it we’ll get back to him meanwhile Zack how about a former Celtic here a title for Kyrie Irving would mean what he played for the Celtics I forgot about that it would mean I’ll say a reminder I was going to say redemption but Kyrie would never use that word about himself a reminder that for a half decade it was about everything other than basketball it overshadowed what this dude is on the court what a bad man he is and now he is is landed back with a guy similar to LeBron and is Unstoppable as a number two guy reminder this is who I am I like that you’re going to hear from our cubin on that coming up at just a couple of minutes in the meantime legs one more for you and that’s this guy a title for Luca donic would mean what the league is in trouble the league is in trouble if he figures it out this year with this team um look they they made great additions everybody knows how much I loved what they did at the trading deadline Kyrie Irving and Luca now meshing if they get a title now with the age of Luca donic this league is in trouble because he will have figured out how to navigate a very difficult West look at the path and the teams that they beat to get here uh Luca donic will be set I think to start making a run at titles in Dallas but we’ll see you got to get one before you can get multiple and how much does one matter big perk was here the other day he says he’s not ready to anoint Luka the best player in the world until he gets that ring listen if you put luuka in the cage with five lines you know what you going to get you go get six lines damn it he’s that bad right now yes is Luca a top five player in the NBA he is but he still have to complete the mission of winning the NBA championship before we anoint him of being the best player in the world all right so as we continue or prepare to anoint him that can I put the full screen up there I mean just to remind everyone of what this guy has done and what he has meant to his team in this postseason Luca donic has been as good in these playoffs as anyone has ever been all those numbers on the right there this has never happened before he’s the first player ever to lead the entire league in the entire postseason in points rebounds and assists alone on his way to the NBA finals so there are going to be people out there Zach who want to say a championship will make Luca donic the best player in the world what do you think of that I think it’s a totally valid argument I mean look you can pick it it would make 1 a 1 B with joic and Luca I am a little surprised how fast we’re going to change the championship belt every year of who the best player alive is yic just did just win his third MVP in four years he won a title he won a Finals MVP if Luca matches those accomplishments and it’s kind of 1 a 1B I would still lean to yic regardless but you you can’t go wrong with either one of these guys here’s the thing you and I were talking about this before and and Zack for those the low post podcast if you’re a basketball fan you don’t need me to tell you um about these kinds of conversations but this is what I like to do on my radio show and you do as well we can do a little bit of it here best player in the world is not that fluid right I mean whoever the best is is the best but the person who owns the league sort of in a given moment maybe does get handed over year to year and and there’s no question joic owned the League this time last year he was he was the one putting up numbers that we had never seen before and he cruised to a championship legs that’s kind of the way I look at it if they win the title if Luca wins the title and is the MVP and continues to play the way he has played then whether you think he’s the best player or not it’s his league and everyone else is trying to get to where he is that make sense to you that’s a great way to put it greeny I completely agree with that assessment and I also think listen I think it is important that he win a title first you think about it we’re gonna we’re GNA call someone the best player in the league when they have yet to win an MVP and they have yet to win an NBA title that’s kind of unusual normally one of those two things are going to have to happen before you do that because we have a guy in Denver that just won his third MVP in four years and has been an NBA champion just a year ago so listen you know how I feel about Luca donic and this guy is the best offensive player in the NBA right now and in fact historically what he did this year is one of the greatest Seasons any players had as an offensive player in this league if he finishes the deal and gets an MVP with his talent and the way that he controls the game I’m okay with people labeling LCA donic the best player in the league I just think right now he’s going to have to finish that deal before he gets there because of what is on jokic’s resume Can I by the way take a moment to give legler his credit because he weren’t with me on Friday when we talked about them wrapping up the series but I will take everyone back the day after the trade deadline when they acquired those two guys in Dallas legler came on here and he said he liked those deals so much I wish I had the words exact words in front of me he said I could see this this team going all the way to the finals that was at a time when no one was talking about the Mavericks going to the NBA finals everything in the West Was about Minnesota everything in the West Was certainly about Denver the surprise that was Oklahoma City and I believe that was right at the time that Clippers looked ridiculously remember there was a moment in time feels like 10 years ago when we thought the Clippers looked like a championship team and legler said to me after those trades watch out for Dallas this team could make a run all the way to the championship and here they are yeah I mean the trades were were always going to make this team better this season the risk was about going forward and had they overpaid too much to like correct Dallas to their credit they pay to correct mistakes that they had already paid for Grant Williams jayen Brunson Let It Go they pay and pay and pay but this team was going to be better I didn’t think they were going to make the finals this is a surprise to me credit legs but the whole point of these trades was long-term cost for short-term gain you better make a short-term game and damn it these guys really did I mean they could beat anybody they are a championship level team right now for sure I mean they’re four wins away from a title and legs again you saw it and it all circles around Luca right I mean at the end of the day it’s about him it’s about Kyrie and then they put the right pieces in place around them yeah listen Luca donic you know a player like this when you have no answer defensively he’s not affected really by anything Personnel scheme doesn’t matter pressure none of those things get to him so that’s the foundation for all of this but what those additions at the trading deadline meant to me was you can now look at this as a team that can beat you in a different way than just Luca and Kyrie being spectacular and that way is with really active athletes and they’ve got now four of them all over the floor and here’s the other thing that really stood out to me when you only had Lively there and Derek Jones the beginning of the year I felt like they weren’t good enough defensively to force Luca and Kyrie to buy in right because they weren’t on that level where they were going to have to play hard every possession defensively when they added Gafford and PJ Washington it almost like looking at the film Luke and Kyrie have to be in there like wait a second I’m going to stand out like a sore thumb if I’m not the one competing defensively and I really believe they elevated their intensity and their attention to detail and their want to after those trades because now they have balance defensively across the floor and I think for me that’s what this finals is going to be about Dallas’s defense in controlling Boston’s buz saww offense and Boston’s defense figuring out a way to make Luca and Kyrie less efficient well these guys have been neck and neck with Boston as the best defensive team in the league since they made these traits that is as much as anything the story of the Mavericks rising to the finals and to Le’s Point Boston’s offense is at its best when it can point to a small guard and say we’re picking on you every possession halberton Garland Tyler herro the Mavs don’t offer that for them LCA donic is competing and he’s big Kyrie Irving is 6’2 but he plays much bigger than his size he’s hard to move he’s big and strong this is going to be a big big test for Boston’s offense and these guys are competing it’s been an awesome awesome story all right so I I want to play the Kyrie stuff here and then but we’re a little later than I meant to be so I want to make sure we have plenty of time but I’ll let you start hearing this now and then we’ll come back to a little bit later so you say to yourself who saw this coming I told you leg saw it coming several months ago nine months ago Mark cubin was here he was sitting in this room and he came on my radio show with hambo and me he was sitting right where um right where Zach is sitting right now and we were talking about Kyrie Irving and this was at a time when the perception of Kyrie Irving was vastly different from what it is now and I want you to hear what Mark cubin saw coming nine months ago because candidly I don’t think anyone took it seriously Kyrie has matured look we all benefit from our lives story right and the things we experience and I talked to Kyrie a fair amount um and we’ll have long deep conversations where I spent a lot of time listening and there’s things we agree on things we disagree on but he’s he’s well smoken spoken and he’s smart and I think Kyrie has not been in the situation where people just respect him for him you know and he wants to be more than just a basketball player which I respect um and so you know that’s that’s the Kyrie the person side of it Kyrie the professor professional athlete that plays for the Dallas Mavericks he knows this Lucas team you know he knows the narrative about him he’s not dumb he’s smart and he recognizes that you know he’s got to fit and play Within you know the role he has relative to Luca in order for us to be successful and if we’re successful Kyrie’s successful so I’ll will admit in that moment when I went M I was thinking oh yeah that’ll work I mean this it sounded like the it sounded so far-fetched to me I will confess at the time because we lived in an alternative universe or maybe this is an alternative Universe from what that was cuz everything has changed so much but Cuban had it exactly right it’s astonishing actually to go back and listen to how on point he was and how low the whole NBA world was on Kyrie Irving I mean they got him for a song we’ll talk later about that trade and they didn’t have a lot of competition resigning him in free agency after they had tanked the season last season that’s how low not just at the trade deadline but also in the offseason the broader League was on Kyrie Irving but it’s never been about basketball when this dude is on the floor he’s Unstoppable on offense he’s an artist and he fits perfectly next next to a big ball handler like Luca the Mavs deserve an enormous amount of credit for taking a risk that that no one else was really willing to take for envisioning the basketball fit and going for it and the one thing that they have that almost no other team has the thing that allows you to take those risks the thing that allows you to get off the mat and survive if those risks go bust is a 25-year-old First Team all NBA no-brainer top three player he is the solution to every problem the fallback option to every failure it’s Luca donic and they were right to recognize that and act on it I’m going to leave it here for the minute there’s so much more on this I want to get into legs we’ll we’ll we’ll get your thoughts on that and Mark cubin if he had said those things right now you say oh yeah this is exactly what happened he said them in September it was it was remarkably my life reborn for the battle you’re done for Pierce the past is a dream an enemy has been defeated enemy ultimate my life reborn for the battle our base is under attack one of these days I feel an enemy has been defeated double kill triple kill they need a sword but I’m just a person your team has destroyed a tower you have been defeated an ally has been defeated I feel a surge of power my life reborn for the battle look up you have defeated an enemy double kill here here we go I’ve known death so I know how precious life is an enemy has been defeated timate double kill e V for she protects the dragon Kingdom and I protect her surrender to me soul First Blood an enemy has been defeated an ally has been defeated he the dragon I have you in the enemy ultimate magic is Whispers to me shunu an ally has been defeated enemy onslaught None Shall Pass through me you have defeated an enemy your tower has been destroyed enemy bloodb defeat enemy dominated EV in Swift you get now enemy legendary enemy double kill an enemy has been defeated our base is under attack triple [Music] kill out of nowhere an enemy has been defeated double kill no

GET UP | Tim Legler on NBA Finals: Mavs vs Celtics: Luka win title mean he takes crown from Jokic