NBA Finals Game 2 Preview | The Hoop Collective

NBA Finals Game 2 Preview | The Hoop Collective

[Music] hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we’re doing all together here at the TD Garden on Saturday night before game two right here Tim bontemps hello Tim McMahon banned McMahon I should say howdy Partners I would say it’s a pleasure to be with you but I would be lying all right well you you you should be Havey you should be how do I want to say it ecstatic you should be have pleasure to have our special guest for this episode one of our favorite guys we’re so happy to have him back Matt you know him as stats but his real name is Matt let’s just be clear Matt stats Williams thank you guys for having me so um stats we are uh one game in this I felt like game one was a pretty heavy outlier for the Mavericks just about everything that I’ve read that you produced for us indicates to me that the Mavericks were totally out of the way they normally play and um I would expect that to sort of correct on on Sunday what are some of the things that you uh pulled out that you’re that we all now know are smart because of you yeah so I think I’ll start with the ball movement for them obviously the Luca one assist was the big thing right F was in a playoff game in his career but six assists opportunities also the Fest in a playoff game in his career but as a team they only had 205 passes that’s a scary low number it was their Fest in any game since player tracking began 20134 as a collective unit so while the focus was a lot on Luca it was the entire team and I give more credit I think to the Celtics and i’ want your thoughts on is that more of the Celtics defense or maybe the Mavs offense just wasn’t jelling like they normally do they played tight mcmo did you think oh they did and it was interesting because Jason kid said both that the Mavericks need to move the ball more and that Luca just needs to to to take and make the layup so kind of conflicting there but you know his point as far as like Luca driving and say hey if they are going to prioritize taking away the lobs and making sure that the the you know those lasers to the corners aren’t available then you can only do so much and you know luuk is going to have the chance to finish there LCA took 26 shots 12 of 26 obviously is not his most efficient work but almost half of those with three-pointers he’s he’s basically saying hey if they’re going to prioritize your passing make them pay uh with scoring but I I the Celtics can switch everything you know they they’re they’re so versatile defensively obviously four three Elite Defenders plus Tatum and then porzingis as a rim protector uh I do think this is you know just their the Arsenal of Defenders that they have and the style that they play is going to make it tough for the Mavericks to play with the kind of ball movement that they have through the first three rounds look we talked about it like own into a game one this is probably the single best team equi to guard Jason t or Luca Don to Kyrie Irving in the entire NBA and we saw that in game one where these guys didn’t uh these guys didn’t double team at all like they never do and as a result they didn’t allow Dallas to get any of these open looks on the perimeter and you know PJ Washington’s had one good shooting Series in the playoffs he has not looked like that player most of the rest of the time Jones Jr is an okay shooter but not a guy you’re going to really be worried about and Kyrie Irving is struggled against the Celtics a lot and they have probably the two best guys to guard him in the league maybe and Derek white and Drew holiday and he went six for 19 so you know a lot of this you could say the two stars on Dallas need to play better you also could say game one more or less went the way if you’re the Celtics you expect it to go in terms of them sticking to what their game plan is and what they’re trying to do and if they execute that way three more times in this series I think it’s going to be very hard for Dallas to win so 205 passes stats you may not know off top of your head but how many passes does a team normally throw in a game I would say roughly 280 to 290 is like the league average is obviously like Warriors and I think Pacers are toward the top of the league and kind of the over 300 range but right around there so 205 is a very very small number and I’ll add to 3155 total Touches for the team the fewest by any team in any game all season yeah basically what happened was they were frozen they Frozen Luca and Kyrie got the ball and the ball stuck and look there might there that might happen again in game two and they might make enough tough shots where it doesn’t matter that’s that’s when you have a not a good passing night this is like historically awful it was frozen the ball wasn’t moving at all yeah now my point is if you’re going to play that style you want to have two of the best creators in uh in in the league but even then like you want those guys to be getting the ball sometimes in situations where they have the advantage but you know they they felt like Kyrie actually got better looks than six of 19 would indicate I agree but uh you know Jaylen Brown Celtic’s best player which we’ll get into later um he like he made every dribble tough on Luca I mean there was a couple times he picked Luca at half court and went in and dunked it on the other end stats yeah he did he definitely did Force some turnover stats taught me though that Luke was actually four or five shooting against Jaylen Brown the interesting thing that happened I so I am Joe moua didn’t get asked this today um but I am expecting that he will not change his starting lineup that porzingis will come off the bench even though porzingis stats right chis STS told armal Lake Andrews he will be coming off the bench in game two stats didn’t you wasn’t there a note that he’ only started only come off the bench maybe one time and one time his career 2017 it’s the only other time and like 470 some games so this will be the third time the second time in this series and obviously you don’t have to be a Hall of Fame head coach which by the way there’s all these Banners are behind us if you’re watching on YouTube that we’re right at Banner level here all the numbers you don’t have to be a Hall of Famer to know that if you’ve won eight straight playoff games which is what the Celtics have which is the longest streak in Celtics history which is saying something although a lot of those banners were won when there’s only two Series so you only had to win eight games so you would but anyway um you’re not changing the starting lineup when you’ve won a straight gam so that’s kind of a no-brainer but the interesting thing is Horford stats Horford as a defender in game one awesome what are those numbers yeah so Al Horford I think might have been their best defender in game one the Maverick shot one of 13 when he contested their shots and I want to shout out Alex Santiago and Connor Quinn who do our internal tracking for us phenomenal and they help us out with that but I think the interesting piece to me was the on ball screen defense from Horford against Luca so he allowed 0. 29 points per chance I’d say roughly like you want to be in the one 1.1 range 0 2.29 scary low and he switched 53% of the time onto Luca when Luca ran ball screens and Horford they were bringing they they were saying give me Al Horford and he was okay with it because because why would they do that well because the other the other options are jayen brown Drew holiday Derek white and Jason Tatum so yeah you’re going to go after the 62y old big guy but that 62y old big guy is still switchy can still hold his own you know I still like I think the Mavericks will try to go at him again and see how much those numbers hold up but you know when they have Horford there they can switch everything porzingis you know you want to keep him closer to the rim but man I thought porzingis as good as he was offensively I thought porzingis made just as big an impact if not more as a rim protector on defense he was swatting everything in that first quarter well and he got isolated against Kyrie Irving and blocked his shot in the first quarter on the perimeter right I mean that the Celtics showed they were not going to be worried about Sam Hower getting switched out of somebody he played very well in individual settings porzingis was fine Al Horford was more than fine to me Horford looked like a guy who had had 10 days off and look like a guy who was back to playing 25 minutes when Al’s been under 30 minutes in the playoffs he’s been really good whenever he gets over 30 minutes as a guy who’s 37 it has not looked very good and obviously getting Chris as porzingis back having him take Luke corn minutes playing 25ish minutes a game that’s going to be a huge boost and I I’m not surprised the Celtics are going to stick with the same starting lineup and we saw in game one they pretty much matched up porzingis with Derrick Lively and it was very effective and I suspect that’s going to be something that at least carries forward into game two unless Dallas immediately does make the starting lineup change you talked about for weeks that’s the question I ask you McMahon so people were wondering whether the Celtics were going to change their starting centers I think that’s a no-brainer no what about Dallas’s starting lineup I I I I would be surprised if they changed that uh for game two I wouldn’t completely ruled out at some point this series but look they would have loved to play Lively more minutes last game he got in foul trouble yeah you know so he he’s got to stay out of foul trouble um you know I I think this is a series where Liv’s going to have to have the minutes tilted in his favor um you know Gafford even if he continues to start after think it’s going to be like you know 18 for Gafford 30 for lively maybe Maxi gets Maxi C gets some minutes at the five but did just because the Celtics and we saw like what they have seven guys who hit multiple threes in that game and both Horford and especially porzingis educated me that that’s the most ever in a Finals game isn’t that right that is correct that was a finals record having seven guys with two threes but because they can play that five out style and Excel playing that five out style then porzingis can shoot it from you know that left eye of lies that Kyrie stomped on back in the day again I’d like to refer to Mr Mr Williams here on the length of shooting that you I just want to show what this guy can do for us what do we know about the length of P he makes Brian look smart that’s where we’re at yeah so my my my secret is being unmasked here I can’t believe I’m doing this all right go ahead go ahead St so yeah so in game one both he made two three-pointers both were 30-footers and for the entire season Seasons average made three-point distance 27.1 feet if you include regular season playoffs only Trey young and Brook Lopez have a longer average distance when they make threes and that’s what I think is so fascinating porzingis is the defense p is incredible one of the best run protectors in the league but this is a guy that can make 30 footage but can also post you up on the elbow over and over and over and get the mismatch that he wants and I thought the Celtics were phenomenal in finding that mismatch around the elbow to where he’s taking on guys are six seven eight inches shorter than him not even seeing them he just sees bask and can make that jumper consist that’s the thing that’s made him successful as a post player all year it hasn’t necessarily been that he’s been getting the ball thrown to him on the low block like the reason we’ve talked about a bunch how effective his post numbers are is because they’ve done it in situations where he can take advantage of mismatches at that elbow spot on the perimeter and he’s been a huge weapon for them and it obviously Boston played a soft schedule getting to the finals but I think it was pretty dramatically overlooked that porzingis had not played in the final nine or 10 games of their run I know they went 9- one I know they didn’t play teams that were that good but I just thought coming into the series it was completely discounted that they were getting back a 20 point a game seven-footer who’s a tremendous rim protector and a great shooter and I didn’t think he was going to have the best quarter of his career which he did in the first quarter of game one but you could see just having him out there for those 25 minutes you have Al Horford out there for 25 minutes and now you get gaps in between all these games where Horford in particular can have energy and feel good going into these games Celtics dominated this game and Jason Tatum wasn’t even that good like that’s where they this this game to me was exactly the blueprint yeah I think well go ahead MCM I was gonna say the thing about porzingis is he’d been off for what was it like five and a half week 38 days I and so who knew like there was obviously no sign of rust not only he’d been off for 38 days he was in this completely unfamiliar role of coming off of the bench um playing his first game out of the first round ever in his career yeah I mean you know right by far the deepest he ever in in the playoffs the the most pressure pack game that he’d ever been in unless you count the game seven against the Clippers which he’ll tell you all he did in that game was stood in the corner picked his nose um and so you who like we didn’t know what version of porzingis they would get and what they got was like the peak version and yeah if they get the peak version of porzingis throughout the series that is a massive problem for the MAV as you’ve been saying bonts I think you’re right I think what the Celtics did other than maybe the outlier of porzingis being super red hot I think what the Celtics did was play their game 100% I think what they did was repeatable I think what with these what we’re talking about here is that the Mavericks were way below their game so what the Mavericks have to do is lift their game back up ideally to where they normally have been or even a little bit and hope the Celtics come down a little bit but this was I mean Celtics have room to go up too like that was probably a t tat yeah there was an A in the first quarter but then after that I would say it was a c shot 33% on threes after the first quarter Tatum was so mediocre that he got demoted to their second best player during today’s press conference we’ll talk about that in a second I wanted I want to say one more thing because you mentioned Lively Lively uh was the number one plus minus player in the quest West finals is that right number two behind Kyrie okay but but before he got hurt he was number one okay I think stats he was their worst plus minus guy in game one yeah I think it was him and maybe Maxi clever is also- 15 and Kyrie was- 19 so I’m not sure I heard you say that I disagree with that backwards I really disagree Maxi they need Maxi in this series now Maxi’s also coming off of an injury you know he did play the last couple games in the west finals he definitely looks hesitant to shoot the ball with that right shoulder injury dud but he looked terrible I’m just telling you if if Max is going to he might be there best matchup option to defend Tatum if they go to two centers and not three I think Daniel Gafford is the one who’s losing minutes would agree with that Max and Maxi also allows them to play uh a that big lineup where he you know ideally next to livey where they can be big but also still be switchable I I would be very surprised if Max’s a non a y a rotation yank in this series that’s fine but did you see how he played you did you feel he performed well that’s there’s two there’s two different things here one is that he didn’t play great in game one the other is that in this series it’s a bad Daniel Gafford series and the things that Maxi kba does are things that will help them defend the Celtics because the Celtics stress them in ways that no other team has has in the playoffs so far I also think Kyrie Irving stunk it up in game one and I’m pretty sure they’ll stick with him that’s right because Kyrie and Max are the exact same I agree um okay so you mentioned this a couple times McMahon uh we’re in the conference today Jason kid is giving you know very basic answers there was nothing very exciting which is what a lot of press conferences are on off days in the finals and then his last it’s announced his last question by the way they say last question uh question comes uh again a generally basic question about how hard it is to defend or how hard it is to deal with Jaylen Brown Jaylen Brown did have an excellent game in game one I think he had 22 points on 12 shots he had three uh three blocks and three steals uh stats what was the stat the yeah so it’s first time his career regular season playoffs he had three Steals and three blocks in a game and what was it that the Celtics had two guys with 20 points and three blocks that was the first time yeah first time since parish and mccale in 85 same playoff game any playoff game pretty good pretty good stat there stats so Jaylen Brown had a good a very good game um but then what did he say McMahon and I just looked it up so I can quote precisely well Jaylen is their best player just looking at what he does defensively he picked Luke up full court he got to the free throw line he did everything and that’s what your best player does just in case you missed it the first time you know he he continued but the important thing is jaylen’s their best player hey in case you doofuses in the media didn’t hear me throw that smoke bom Celtics lock room he’s their best player did you guys hear that go make that the story line we want the Celtics to hear this hey go ask Tatum that go ask uh go ask Brown that first Tate get up everybody the story line here is this is this is jayen Brown’s team Tatum can’t carry him in the f I mean Jak kid and and the Celtics knew what he was doing but J kid absolutely said hey let’s make this a Tatum Brown storyline and I’m real slick he said it and he said it with a a bleep eat and grin on his face too he knew exactly what he was doing and Jason kid has been around for a very long time he got drafted 30 years ago this month he has been in locker rooms where there have been divisive situations he has often been in the middle personally of divisive situations and I thought it was very interesting he went to this today I know you could say well maybe he just got an opportunity and said what the hell I’ll go for it he got asked directly about Jaylen Brown so it was sort of sitting there on it was but it’s still a little bit it feels like a little bit of a desperate move to do this ahead of game two I I don’t know about desperate I think he was I think he thought about doing it and saw an opportunity and did it well that’s certainly true and I think you know I said coming into the series I thought I’ve been around the Celtics for several years now and I felt like this was the best mental space they’ve been in as a group the whole time after all the stuff they’ve been through the way they’ve gone through the season the way they’ve gone through the playoffs the breaks they’ve had the they’re physically rested and ready to go their ready I felt like they were mentally ready and you watch how Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum handled this today there was no well how did they handle it they handled it by saying both of them that we wouldn’t be in this position without the other guy we’ve heard this before we’re not going to let any of this stuff get us messed up and we’re focused on what’s in front of us and look the Celtic’s biggest problem for years has been getting in their own way this is a team that has been barely over 500 at home the last 3 years and as one of the best road records over a threee span in NBA history in the playoffs why because they lose focus and they don’t stay disciplined enough all the time and especially not at home where they get relaxed like hey we got this incredible home court advantage we’re going to be fine I mean Tatum and brown have talked about it Tatum especially to me when they go on the road they think hey we’re on the road we’re going to get a team’s best shot at home we got to be ready we got to come we got to be disciplined focused locked and ready to go and you saw in game one they come out they play great Dallas immediately gets back into the game start of the third quarter you think hey is this are the Celtics going to implode here is Dallas going to have its latest big comeback and win Celtic go on a 140 run turn the game around and then today when if one of them said anything that became a thing would have been 24 hours of oh man Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown going at each other what’s going to happen and instead they both easily knocked it away set all the right things and it’s obviously still going to be talked about till tomorrow night but it’s not going to become um some huge controversy between the two of them and I think it’s just the latest sign that these guys are as locked in as a group as I’ve seen him in all the time I’ve been around him well see Jason kid understands um offense and teaching and bonding with star players he doesn’t understand news Cycles oh yes he does well no because you know he’s been in a few news Cycles no I know but you know you never you can’t create controversy on a Saturday afternoon create controversy you know going into a Monday morning if he had if he created if he had said this today and Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown had taken the bait it would have been a thing for the next 24 hours no but I mean it would have been a thing now it’s GNA be people talking about Jason kid stead instead of how did Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown respond right to what Jason and part of the conversation is clearly like Jay kid was trying to throw a stink bomb in the Celtics locker room and and I mean Tatum Tatum called him yeah you know I asked Tatum what he said what he thought about you know what was his reaction to this and you know no reaction it’s team support blah blah blah and then I’m thinking okay I got to ask a followup of why do you think Jay kid would say that what was his intent well no he got right to it he said we understand that people try to drive a wedge between us I guess it’s a smart thing to do or try to do we’ve been in this position for many of years of guys trying to divide us and say that one of us should be traded or one is better than the other so it’s not our first time at the rodeo you like that was talking to McMahon he’s like I’m going to give you a rodeo reference buddy um and and by the way two years ago three years ago I’m not sure that that’s the answer from him or from Jaylen Brown I think those guys have been through a ton of stuff they’ve matured as a group a lot I think you’ve seen them be mature in the way they’ve gone through these playoffs they haven’t played great for 48 minutes all the time but they’ve been awesome in the clutch over and over again in the playoffs a place where they’ve struggled in the past and again like they just are in a totally different place than they were last year or two years ago or the year before that from a from a mental focus and discipline standpoint as a group I think they’re in a really good place also when they were coming into the press conference they knew that kid had said it and by the way I know but I’m telling you that none of that would have mattered in the past they would have they wouldn’t handled these couches up here there’s like these couches up here I’m sorry I I think sit up here later this is like the no over there he’s talking about this is like lowkey like a pretty sweet area straight over there they can’t see it B I’m saying to this guy cuz he got up and what is he doing all right well anyway just trying get I’m just saying this might be a low-key awesome place to watch a game he’s trying to get a couch sent to his house you might get no I don’t want it sent to the house I just want sent down put in pool house may I want it sent to the media by the way speaking of goodies that Wendy gets are we going to discuss the OVO jacket that is now jacket is now in my possession I didn’t get one did stat jacket I did not you I mean we got to rectify that I got missed out no not not like Wendy though Wendy rocked it yeah you know we have this little show on on ESPN Digital platforms called hoop streams and we we had you said it’s a little show it’s a little show yeah it’s a little show we have and um I believe you two were on it correct yeah that made it a big show between two Tims between two Tims it was that’s right with the great Cassidy hubber yeah so um you know they they had some some jackets for us I’m not sure they didn’t have one for bond is this is this the best time to be wearing Drake gear well there’s that there’s that did you know what October’s very own meant Brian no no clue I had no I I I knew that OVO was his like you know line of something but I didn’t know that it stood for October was the jacket fire people said it was fire oh wow you’re the you’re the you’re the expert on fire or not so it also weighed about 12 lbs and you know I was like I don’t know if I need to need to be taking this to Texas with me so I gave it to McMahon listen I mean it was just a very the point you’re not wearing it today I I expect you to be wearing it uh tomorrow at the game so it is June it’s a little hot for like a thick Letterman not quite be as hot as it will be in Dallas in a couple days I’ll have you know that I won three letters in high school three athletic for debate and what else for golf oh that doesn’t count I had letterman jacket I golf’s not a sport golf is not a sport bonim said he won like 12 letters how many did I win bonim doesn’t know 12 letters one of us might not know 12 letters it’s not me I feel confident about that um stats tell us a little bit about what you do during the game because I want to know this myself yes so I’ll start the pregame stuff so I write a packet for Mike Breen JJ reck and Doris Burke that we steal um the great dorisburg by the way congrats to DB calling first female to call a NBA Finals game her performance is better than the Mavericks obviously better than the Celtics but go on uh but yes so uh and then I hope uh dor will hit me with questions we’ll go back and forth on stuff I’ll send her some stuff that may not be in the packet she’ll ask me stuff excuse me sir I I want that stuff too go ahead you’re not important enough clearly clearly definitely not the case and then during the game uh I’ll be communicating with Doris normally during commercial breaks whatever you’re in the truck yes I’m in the truck uh for games one two and then I’ll be in lovely Bristol Connecticut for 3 through S um here’s the thing the truck is not even in the building it’s like down the street yeah it’s it’s outside the building uh but hey I’m here that’s all that matters go um so during the game I’ll communicate with her and she’ll either give it to Mike Breen if it’s something good for him something for JJ reick if JJ or them you’re only talking to Doris you’re not talking to Breen correct only to Doris so I have I have a slack with Doris um communicate back and forth that way that’s access to that slack too thank you uh again not important enough clearly well no listen I will say should you guys know how techsavvy I am uh I mean I was just flabbergasted by the whole order ahead of Dunkin Donuts thing so you can imagine what a challenge it was for me to figure out slack and it was worth this extreme effort for one reason man sitting to my left and his and and his uh peers and his crew St Sig chat is a resource for us it is the only thing that I use slack for the only thing and then the only person I DM on slack is right here hey I’m working on this story can you help me out with X Y and Z the man delivers every single time the lifeblood of our group stats Williams yeah so like so during the the game what are some of the things that you’re monitoring what are some of the things that the group is monitoring yeah so I like to go more I’m more into the tracking stuff that’s kind of my jam the historical stuff is fun we do it because we have to but not really what I prefer just I think because I think people will be curious stats can you sort of explain how the track and stuff works both during the game and after the game to give people sort of a sense of when you’re getting stuff because it’s not like you have it all in the moment some of it’s during some of it’s after yeah so as I mentioned I think earlier so we have a group called stats analysis we have three or four people that are live tracking the game and sending some notes and then I jump we have like a spreadsheet where it just updates in real time um it’s human live tracking it contested shots uncontested shots assist opportunities Etc um as I mentioned Alex Santiago leads our group there and Connor quin’s kind of like the co-h help there um and those two do a phenomenal job helping us out and so those are kind of notes that I’m saying to Doris and I honestly I’ll say Doris kind of leads me if Doris says something or she points something out I think instantly okay do I have something support that and so during the break I’ll be like hey you mentioned this here’s something back it up and I often tell her when it comes to like the numbers themselves I kind of like the concept more than the actual numbers right and I think that’s what I prefer more like I don’t want people going out there yelling hey he’s averaging 29 points per chance that’s not how we say things right but it’s like hey Horford crushed it against defending on ball screens that’s how I prefer in working with Doris that’s kind of how we’ve kind of been locked step postgame second Spectrum who is has the cameras up in top of the Arena they’re like they’re probably right above our heads here somewhere we might have blacked them out here yeah McMahon had a little bit too much light on his face and we had to we had not quite an Angelic figure yeah so second Spectrum goes that next level the passes the touches they have now 3D tracking so you can figure out how kind of the Jaylen Brunson thing that I gave to you about how much lift he’s getting up on jump shots yes this is one of the most crazy stats that I’ve ever gotten was when he was demonstrating how Jaylen brunson’s foot was he meaning stats stats was telling me how Jaylen brownson’s foot we were trying to determine it was affecting his shot I was like Hey his shot looks short stats was like well he’s actually jumping 2.65 inches shorter than he does during the season I was like how the hell did he know that and that’s something new this year that second spectrums provide that 3D pose tracking data and that’s kind of the next wave of saying that information but all that has to say is that basically what I tried to do is Tred to take what you all say what I see and try to put some type of context behind it that’s always my goal McMahon asks good questions on there I have to say his always ask good questions that his question the other night which elicited that um because you know we had talked so much about the 57% shooting that the Mavericks were shooting off Luca passes coming in McMahon asked like Midway through the third maybe late in the third quarter he like how many assist chances has Luka had tonight no I asked that right after you checked out for the game they threw a stat in there that I forgot the exact number but the Mavs were not a whole lot out not a whole lot off of only had they only had seven assists by the way by the way we talked a lot about the lob dunks 54 lob dunks second Denver Nuggets I was talking to stats about this after the game zero lob dunks for the Mavs in game one and and it really did the six potential assists more so than the one assist to me is the stat that really stands out because you can have it’s a make or Miss League you know that’s more that speaks to more the functioning of the Celtics defense the fact that Luka only had six potential assists is a shockingly low number that you know that that’s not a case of well you know he was making passes he was making plays his teammates weren’t hitting shots but for them to take away the lob no lob dunks for them to take I think the M didn’t hit a corner three until luuka checked out of the game Josh Green hit the only Corner three with under a minute left they took three total garbage time they took three Corner threes the entire game and they were averaging five three corner corner three makes game so that’s you know that’s where Luca obviously leads the league in scoring but he might be at his and really I thought where he just torched the uh the wolves in particular was those late late lobs off the drives and then okay you’re coming in on that you’re trying to take that away whoosh whoosh he’s hitting guys uh in corners for Threes And if if they’re going to take that stuff away Luca is going to have to be a a 40 Point per game score for the Mavericks to win in the series that’s not available and they’re going to need Kyrie to be a lot better and even though Kyrie missed some shots he could have hit in that game again the Celtics I think very smartly have identified if you take Kyrie Irving and he is scoring 15 to 20 a game I don’t see a Way Dallas wins this series because it’s got to be to me like the Minnesota series where those two guys are both awesome Luca and Kyrie cuz the Celtics are going to score they’re the best offense in the history of the league they had a Bish performance in game one they had 110 points against a really good defense and we’ve talked about how well Dallas has played throughout the playoffs and the Mavs were at 89 like in that that’s in large part because Kyrie was at 12 or 14 or whatever he had I thought going back and watching all of Kyrie’s shots absolutely missed open threes yeah the Celtics would say that too his shot his shot luck was not as good in game but he struggled you mentioned um you mentioned penas coming up and blocking his sort of mid-range step back porzingis was on his heels Kyrie steps back he’s getting that shot off 99% of the time porzingis blocked it also when Kyrie got into the lane and shot near the rim the Celtics were on top of him so look he might make some threes but it was Kyrie’s misses inside the three-point Arc where he’s usually so dominant and stats you’ve had some numbers I don’t remember any come to today but the Mavericks have been a dominant paint scoring team and and the paint scoring against the Celtics defense was really down as well yeah and I’d say part of that was I think the focusing taking away the lobs as you guys discussed um I’ll also say too on the Kyrie Irving piece so he missed three threes in that third quarter that were wide open um and that was when they were making that run that’s one of those where if he had made maybe one or two of those could got even closer could have have different discussion today um and that’s where I thought but if Kyrie starts making those kind of shots that he normally makes we’ll see what happens the rest of the series so McMahon the Mavericks are one and six in game ones under Jason kid this is one of those historic stats that I don’t love because I really don’t care what happened in 2022 that doesn’t have anything to do with 2024 they’re 0 and three this this postseason one and three they won the last round I’m sorry you’re right you’re right but but they’ve been great in game to so is there a is there a through line for that do you think any of that applies here well and look obviously the are a different beast but they got their butts kicked in game one in La ended up losing by 12 but it was a blowout game that got close late they got their butts kicked in game one in OKC in both of those series they won four out of five after that came back won the series didn’t have to go to a game seven I do think that this staff has proven that it is very good at adjusting after a game one I also think that with Luca and Kyrie but especi you with Luca the more he sees an opponent the more comfortable he gets not that you’re fooling him in a game one but he you know Luca is I mean he’s a basketball Savant so once he figures out what you’re throwing at him how you know he he knows how he wants to attack it he can see you the more he sees of something the more he can quickly see the cracks in it um and look the Celtics played a great defensive game in game one that’s the lowest scoring game of the Mavericks uh this post season uh there are times you can play great defense against Luca and Kyrie and their skill and their shot making ability is going to overcome that that did not happen in game one if the Mavericks are going to win the series there’s going to have to be times where just you know one of those great defense better offense type of of situations well and the Celtics team has show out a lot in game two I didn’t even get to that they both the losses they’ve had that were game twos here and they were both games where the other team shot the lights out here on their home court and the Celtics you know in game against Miami it was literally probably the single best jump shooting game in the history of the NBA playoffs I would say yeah the 23 threes from Miami was a franchise record in the playoffs nice little mouse running by over there um and uh there are mice in and in the in the second round of the playoffs against Cleveland Boston didn’t play well it’s the one game they probably played poorly in the playoffs but the Cavs also shot the lights out and certainly we as we just talked about Kyrie had some open looks like Dallas shot quality was better than they shot like they’re going to get some threes in this series and if they have a game where they make a ton of them they got a chance to put up a ton of points even against Boston but I do think to just if you go back to it at the end of the day the Celtics did the things they want to do in this series in game one and the Mavericks struggled to execute against it and I I just I think it’s going to be a challenge unless those two guys are really superlative I just think it’s going to be hard for them to be able to overcome that just because this Celtics team it’s sort of like the Minnesota Dallas matchup the the Celtics are just they are the probably the worst team to play that for the Mavericks in the league even better than the clippers because they’ve got well the Clippers got more Firepower at both ends than even the Clippers do I mean yeah and the Clippers didn’t have kawhai they had a li I mean a fully activated Clippers team because they’ve always given Dallas trouble the Mavericks got through three 50 plus win teams get here I mean it was not an easy Road at all to get here no beat the number one seed you know beat uh uh the Timberwolves right after the the Wolves knocked off the defending champs um now it was not as difficult of a road as it would have been had the Nuggets won game seven at home I think but Lucas the was the first one to say right after they finish off the wolves like we’re playing the best team in the NBA now you know Kyrie the other night the way he put it was we have to have four of our greatest games to win this series they knew that they were going to have to play their best yet to be able to beat the Celtics you know they feel like they can do it but it’s this is a massive I mean it’s a historically massive challenge yeah I mean they won 64 games they had a net rating of 11.7 they were a dominant the dominant team in the NBA all season and the only thing they hadn’t done was get 16 wins and everybody sort of waiting for him to trip all over themselves and not get there and if they win this series it’s going to be a lot like Denver last year where everybody’s going to look back and go well yeah the Celtics should have won the whole time they were the dominant team in the league this year just because they haven’t gotten over the Finish Line that’s why I thought I know it’s just a Saturday afternoon I really thought today was a significant thing because I’ve seen this team go sideways in crazi less crazy situations and what Jas GID tried to put them in today they handled it perfectly and I just I really do think it’s emblematical where the Celtics sit right now from a mental standpoint well they’re sitting at 13 postseason wins we’ll see if they can make it 14 tomorrow and as a reminder we’ll be back for for uh a mon a pod that will post on Monday after the game so thank you very much to Jackson agell who’s with us here and AI con who’s with us here behind the scenes they’ve made the trip to Boston as well they’re becoming there’s a lot of there’s a lot of light on McMahon’s face he’s very uncomfortable thank you as always to Stats Williams who is the one of the life Bloods of what we do here at ESPN thank you to McMahon thank you to Bon Temps thank you for watching and listening we’ll talk to you soon adios amigos a [Music]

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Tim MacMahon and special guest Matt ‘Stats’ Willams to preview Game 2 of the NBA Finals including how Dallas needs more ball movement, why the Celtics’ spacing is so hard to deal with, some key stats to watch and adjustments that need to be made. Plus, reaction to Jason Kidd attempting to stir the pot.

Below are some transition timecodes for the show:
3:19 Welcome To The Hoop Collective Game 2 Preview!
3:19 Mavs Ball Movement Limited In Game 1
12:02 Celtics Spacing Was Elite
29:15 Kidd Tries To Stir The Pot For Boston
35:16 What Does Stats Do During The Games?
38:42 Game 2 Expectations
47:45 Thanks For Watching

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