NBA Finals Game 1 Recap + Is Kyrie to blame for Mavs’ loss? | NBA Today

NBA Finals Game 1 Recap + Is Kyrie to blame for Mavs’ loss? | NBA Today

his defense on Luca donic here watch him forces the turnover throws it to the other end oh knocks it down three Steals and three blocks for the first time in his career what a what a time to pick it and a little back scratcher on the what I’m saying a perfect time but how often do you see this happen in the first quarter Luka donic asking out asking to be subbed out of the game Kyrie would sub in for him here he get putting those pick and rolls he no he been putting pick and rolls his whole career and just the adrenaline from the finals but porzingis was feeding off of it though yeah he got subbed in and was cooking immediately it was a six-point game when Luca subbed out and oh no oh no oh no what a great play for a guy that big to be this fast and agile that’s crazy take one more look at this the body control get out hands Celtics led by 17 after one that’s the largest lead at the end of the first quarter in game one of the NBA finals and now that was nasty that was nasty split screen between the legs catch body catch body yes and talk about it he didn’t stop there this right here this got you got you this to me was huge in the game he decided when he was guarding Luca he was picking up full court so it wasn’t just the dunks it was a commitment to defense later in the second Celtics up by 26 J said let me get some of this action and then porzingis just hitting a that one was that was a back breaker too little and I love the Smurf Malika two going ahead to the third quarter the MTH did Mount a little bit of a comeback here Zach they did Luka got going from three can’t go under that screen even from that far out got a little bit nervous and then it was not nervous time anymore very quickly so Brown said the message during the timeout was the game is starting now now that this is close we need to respond and porzingis did he did but great job by Jason Tatum attacking the glass all night great offensive rebound look at the ball movement that was the story of the game one side moved the ball one side did not J Brown as well I mean these are practice shots for the Celtics kick wide shots Horford for three and then on the other end Brown just swats Kyrie Irving shot out of bounds don’t see that too often you don’t Brown let in the crowd no here and then on the other end oh come on pulls up for three and then Chen he turns around and he blows a kiss to the crowd the Celtics 14-2 run out of the timeout they end up up big so the Celtics became the 17th team in finals history to win game one by at least 15 points 13 of the previous 16 went on to win the series but the last team to lose the situation anyone know anyone know Richard Jefferson the 2016 Warriors never heard of them to your Cleveland Cavaliers but Jason Tatum said it that I asked him a question about how it felt to be back on this stage exercising these demons demons that he’s carried for the last two years and he said honestly I was a little bit nervous but it’s clearly still playing in his head that they’ve been in this situation before winning game one and then going on to lose the series so what did they prove to you though that last night Rich that they are who we thought they were in my opinion when I look at the Boston Celtics and it’s the depth they had six guys with 10 or more they had seven guys with eight or more and that’s also with um pton Pritchard going 0 for seven so they legitimately have they go eight deep you you know when they talk about cutting your team oh we’re going to shorten our we’re going to play seven we might play they just go so deep with great players and that’s the problem for everyone else that’s having to guard them they’re Elite defensively they have Elite Defenders and on offensive end there’s no real key way to stop when you got a guy like porzingis that can come off the bench and give you 20 points in 20 minutes and then you still got Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown Derek white but you got so much there so that is really the problem so their depth their talent across the board is superior there was a lot of talk before the series Celtics had allegedly easy road to the finals how would they respond to a big test like this they came out and answer deel immediately and actually it was Dallas that looked like it dawned on them during the game oh boy this is a new level this is a new level of shooting all around the floor that we have not encountered before and it stretched their defense to the breaking point they got to come out with a response in game two but Boston came out firing on all sers great game plan and it looked like Dallas was the team on its heels right away yeah and we also started off the series at least before the game saying what will win will it be the best player on the planet still playing basketball or will be the best team and I think we saw that the NBA you can’t win with just one great star especially when you’re going up against an ensemble a talented group and this starting five Richard to your credit they had a combined 75 points not including christops porzingis is 20 points in 20 minutes they are deep and that is what they have bet on and it also taught me Malika that 82 games matter when you are able to finish with a 12 game gap as the top dog in the league and you get to play at home Chris steps talked about how excited he was to walk into that tunnel and go out there that was transferred to how he played it makes an impact Christoper zingis was great Jason Tatum talked about that he was nervous he told you that in his postgame interview but the guy that I’m looking at was jayen brown and even after the game he’s serious as hell right now he’s standing on business and to be honest with you he was the best player on the floor he controlled the pace he controlled he dictated the physicality especially on Luca he had at least five not popular powerful plays that were deflating for the Dallas Mavericks whether it was going up and snatching the screws out out of the rim on Daniel Gafford or using his verticality to challenge Derek Jones and block his shot I can’t you preaching per no but but but real talk are picking up Luca twice and picking his pocket like this man right here ever since he didn’t get picked for an all NBA team from that point from that point he’s been standing on business not only did he get the Larry Bird trophy but he approached this game last night and he’s on a mission right now I don’t know if it’s about winning the championship the finals MVP or he’s here to prove that he’s the best player in the world whatever it is the Boston Celtics and the fan base need to be happy perk I love alliteration and it started with your favorite letter perk Pete right not popular but powerful plays that’s really important because if you saw when he got subbed out of the game did you guys see him he was standing up with his teammates and he was not happy he was like we’ve got more to give we’ve got more to give and so I love that aspect of that as well that was his message right this is when the game starts the game started when it got close when the Dallas Mavericks whittel it down to eight points but I don’t know if y’all were we’re mostly watching the game but every once in a while if you look over at Zack low during a game right he’s scribbling notes like he’s just down there like making sure he gets every there was one moment in the game where he looked up and he said something that I don’t think we can say on TV what what was that that moment Z Holy bleep by holy ble moment it was about Jaylen Brown a lot of attention to his on ball defense check out his off ball defense on the back line of the pick and roll he looks like a Lucas prodding proding I got the LA I got the no you don’t airplane mode perfectly timed rotation but that’s not all the play continues bing bing bing here comes the drive he starts looking like Rudy goar at The Rim in this game like a center blocking shots that is an unbelievable play they were good tonight but again we we got to be better nerves or not being in this situation we can’t use that as an excuse It’s just basketball and we got to be better at the game of basketball on Sunday we didn’t perform the way we would have wanted to tonight um you know it starts with me just being able to get out there and get us settled uh I got to take some accountability for just the communication they came out and hit us in the mouth early got the home crowd going into it down 17 in the first quarter when you get them rolling like that they play a very easy game the rest of the game and um we just got to hit him in the mouth a little bit Kyrie finished with 12 points on six of 19 shooting he missed all five of his threes the field goal percentage is the worst in a game in his finals career he also had postseason lows and plus minus and assists and three-point shooting and I I think when we think about the last sort of week plus the layoff that we had we spent a lot of time talking about Kyrie Irving and his leadership and the experience that he has on this stage that his teammates just do not have we didn’t see him play his best game last night but perk if you’re slicing up a pie and serving up a a slice to each member of the Dallas Mavericks H how big is the serving you’re giving Kyrie what can I do a percentage a per per per percentage is there any P I’m get sorry why you punch me because I can’t hit your lace might as well punch you so second punch I’m I’mma give him I’mma give him 75% of the blame and here’s why right that’s not a slice that is a I know but here’s what and I guarantee you if Kyrie Irving was sitting up here he’ll take 75% of the blame because he’s the only one only player on that team that’s been on this stage right and forget that he went 6 for 19 I don’t expect him to do that the rest of this series but at the end of the day I didn’t see the same leader on the floor I didn’t see the same guy that has has been putting the key in guys’s back I didn’t see that leadership out of Kyrie Irving because he was struggling or probably because he was getting caught up in the moment of being back in Boston in order for the Mavs to be successful or have a chance at winning this series is not going to be because of Luca it’s going to be because of the leadership of Kyrie Irving y’all remember when Daniel gaffer was uh not Daniel Gafford Derek Lely he was playing what was it uh what we used to play uh high and go seek or whatever uhh and he was playing Oklahoma City game when he was trying to get tag but I’m saying Kyrie went up to him and he said hey man stop running and go up there and make you free thr those are the leadership things leadership skills that he got to bring out especially in the finals I’m not going to say it it’s look I think it’s a collective piece of that pie I think everybody gets a slice and and look when you are one of the best players and I was very vocal saying that I believe that Kyrie could very well be the second best player in the series and if you’re of the top three players in the series you perform like Kyrie did you lose the game that’s part of like great players know you get all the love or you get all the blame so in this situation yeah he’s going to take a large percentage of it but I think collectively their entire team looked at this it’s not a throwaway game cuz I feel like there was a lot for them to learn but it’s definitely one of those like hey look I’ll take this one I’ll be the leader I’ll be better yeah I think it’s an equal slice for everybody of the sweet potato pie because sweet potato is the best pie on the planet I just had to let people know um the reason I say that is because I think the strategy did not work so far the Dallas Mavericks they have been one step ahead of what they’ve been able to to do with adjustments and this is a series so we will see how they adjust but the offense that we know I mean they only had nine assists as a team the Celtics had nine blocks so like their strength showed whereas you know the Dallas Mavericks they did not really manifest their offense in the way so I saw Kyrie like there were some uncharacteristic moments right his shot getting blocked hitting the side of the backboard yeah those are the things you remember but it was affecting everyone their clean looks were not there that’s because their rim protector was back and then also you have to make open shots and there was one shot I think it was in the third quarter that if Kyrie hit it it would cut it maybe from like eight to maybe seven or six or something like that that to me was a huge opportunity but it was one of those nights where it just kept piling on right I’m more curious about the other end of the floor where they just had no answer for the Celtics spreading them out saying where’s Luca where’s Kyrie where’s barrier centers we’re going to get switches we’re going to pick on those guys and we’re going to drive drive drive and kick and they just Dallas was just out of answers in the third quarter that’s what I’m curious about we talked about this you know the Boston Celtics have been the best team in basketball all year long but we talked about the Dallas Mavericks as potentially having the best two players potentially on the floor they did not play like it last night but if you’re looking at this series now I think a whole bunch of us I was talking to one of the coaches of the the Boston Celtics and he said they’re needs to play outstanding they need to play their best basketball we just all need to play pretty well we all need to play well because they believe that the talent Gap is that big so after watching that game last night are you more on the side of okay could this be a quick series if the Mavericks don’t figure something out I think the Mavs are going to come out just guns blazing in game two these two guys especially Luca are too good to go out quietly but I had Celtics and six that was my pick I feel good about that pick and like I said the how easy the Celtics offense was in the third and fourth quarters would scare me a little bit if I were a Dallas fan and that’s what worries me about it going forward but they’re going to get a game or I mean this I maybe it’ll be a short series I don’t know but we got to remind ourselves sometimes all that happened was the home team one-1 game like sometimes you got to slow down and say let’s see what happens in game two because these are two Bad Dudes at the top of the Mavericks offense and they’re going to come out better in game two look PJ Washington he’ll play better Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford they’ll play better again your first time on this stage I I like I can’t overemphasize how much pressure and how like overwhelming it is to play on in the finals like you’re you’re playing but you’re still dealing with the emotions of I’m in the NBA finals and you’re that’s why Jay kid said at halftime he said it in the postgame interview hey man it’s just basketball he’s trying to relax his team now that you didn’t got the tickets out the way now that you know that you’re in Boston now you go back and a game two and it’s back to playing basketball again yeah and when you’re but I mean you mentioned live Lively you mentioned Gafford you mentioned that all makes sense but Luca one assist for the game does he have to get that engine going well we look at assists like you can just like assist like okay I need more assist assist is like assist is like okay I’m GNA give this to you so yes they did good did a good job of taking away the lobs right perfect they took that away that’s three or four for him you would feel like in a night and it wasn’t just him Kai Reed they were they great in that ER but it was also he didn’t have the outlets I think he only had five or six assist opportunities that’s a crazy number that’s a crazy number cuz normally he’s around I would say 15 to 20 and he gets 10 great so to have that number below they have to put him in a position and that’s why it takes us back to well we need to reposition him on the floor maybe make him post up some more because then you can see in my opinion you can see the outlets especially the way the Celtics play defense what is it that you you always say the team that gets punched first usually they are the one Mike Tyson says Everybody’s Got A Plan until they get punched in the mouth and those boys got punched in the mouth and so now it’s time to punch back can you get hit stand up and say okay now here’s my best hit and look the energy in the building was electric the last time we were here we saw the Golden State Warriors close him out that energy in that building was not the same to start the game porzingis walks out this an intelligent basketball crowd they know that they have the most talented team and they are feeding that energy to them and they could feel it the arena the building started to shake best moment of the game there was like a 10c walk in for porzingis he it was up on the big screen they showed him walking in it was like a slow motion walking Stephen tries to do it all the time and that energy don’t do that what I say he said he tried to Stephen A well I like the the Mr it’s purple baby purple they cut they cut my walk cut your walk you’re walking coming up later in NBA today [Music]

NBA Finals Game 1 Recap + Is Kyrie to blame for Mavs’ loss? | NBA Today
On NBA Today, Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins, Zach Lowe and Chiney Ogwumike recap the Boston Celtics’ Game 1 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.
#nbatoday #nba #espn

0:00 Game 1 breakdown
3:00 What did the Celtics show in 107-89 Game 1 win?
7:00 Zach Lowe’s Holy Bleep Moment in Game 1
8:50 How much of the Game 1 loss was on Kyrie Irving?

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