Stephen A. thinks Kyrie Irving IS THE REASON the Mavs are down 0-2?! | First Take

Stephen A. thinks Kyrie Irving IS THE REASON the Mavs are down 0-2?! | First Take

Jason tat up made for a rough shooting night with 12 assists and nine rebounds as the Celtics won 10598 LCA donon scored 32 points with 11 rebounds 11 assists the first NBA Finals triple double in Mavericks franchise history but Luca only scored three points in the fourth quarter while Kyrie netted just 16 for the game here’s Dallas postgame Luka Kyrie talk to me that’s with the number one team in the NBA with the number one record uh they have a lot of great players uh basically anybody can get off uh so honestly I think we didn’t do a bad job defending today uh we took away some threes we contested more threes uh but like I said you know I had too many turnovers and we missed a lot of free throws so I think that cost us a game he’s in the right for wanting to um single himself out but this is a team game U he’s not alone and we’re going to tell him that um but you know as expected he’s fresh off the court he’s uh spilling into his emotions he he feels like he could have played better just like me um you know it’s on all of us man I’m pretty sure if you hear um what everybody has to say they’ll say that they can do something better Jay what’s the biggest reason the seas are up 20 look we understand that Boston is a very good ball Club they won 64 games they were the number one team throughout the NBA but if if the Mavericks are to have any chance Kyrie is going to have to play better than what he’s playing he’s shooting 13 of 37 from in in the series he was six of 19 in game one seven of 18 in game two he’s 0 of eight from the three-point line yeah Lucas average what 30 and 10 he had 32 11 and 11 last night had eight turnovers and he needs to do a better job of protecting the ball but unless Kyrie comes along with Luca they’re not going to have a chance this is the most important game in finals history for Kyrie Irving he has to play better because the difference is is although JT is struggling and JB had a solid game you get contribution from holiday so now you don’t have to have your big gun from Boston to necessarily go off because you can get production from other places you can get holiday have a double double with 26 and 11 you can get Derek White playing the way he’s playing you get Pingas coming in off the bench though he tweaked that Cal seemingly last night give you double digit points the Seas can get points from other places the Mavericks are limited where they can get points from so if their big guns don’t go off the likelihood of them winning the ball game against the Celtics this Celtics team is not very good so that’s the main reason Kyrie’s going to have to play better because I don’t think the Celtics played particularly well last night and that’s why the game was as close as it was if Kyrie Irving plays like Kyrie Irving the Kyrie that we know he can play like I’m not so sure the Mavericks doesn’t win this game considering how poorly Jason Tatum shot the ball last night but give the Celtics credit they’re challenging everything they’re the let they’re not letting anything get by Cheap you see jayen Brown’s Hawking Derek White’s Hawking porzingis is challenging everything at the rims but I believe the main re main reason the Mavericks find themselves in the hole that they’re in is that Kyrie hasn’t played up to Kyrie standard well Kyrie Irving certainly hasn’t been himself and I’m wondering what the hell of smile is all about you’re the down 02 in the finals and it’s primarily because of him he’s the biggest reason right now the reality is that when you look at his stats right now he’s averaging 14 points in 35% shooting hasn’t hit a single three in his eight attempts in the first two games of this series he’s been an absolute non-factor offensively initially I thought it was the crowd and obviously them coming at him or whatever but I know Kyrie’s big time and he’s a champion and we all know what he brings to the table the flip side to this now the Celtics have sides at every single position they can switch anytime any of their five starters could switch on them and cause him problems because he’s undersized against them and it appears to be more problematic for him than it’s been in any Series in these playoffs so that’s shocking in and of itself but I’m going to go a step further by saying this where the hell is Lively where the hell is is is is is cber I mean I I I remember WJ was educating us about how tight uh kber and Luca donic have been over the years particularly when he first arrived when Luca first arrived in Dallas well as far as I’m concerned Luca needs to rethink that friendship is this how you treat your friends leave them hanging I mean what’s happening with cber I mean it’s the equivalent it’s the equivalent of Luca donic getting his ass beat on on on on a sidewalk by a gang of folks and cber running that’s the equivalent of what we’re seeing like he’s being left literally left hanging he’s giving them no help whatsoever that’s problematic Lively you’re a rookie you look like a rookie you’re seven feet you’re active you can ball you’re not a scrub what’s up what’s up of course you look at Gafford he could do a little bit more but then I’m looking at PJ Washington what is he doing from three-point range 133% from three-point range Derek Jones eight points 20% from three-point range you brothers were makinging threes in it throughout the playoffs all all of a sudden you’re against Boston and here’s where the indictment comes in Guys these are wide openen threes every shot every shot isn’t contested these brothers have had opportunities to make shots especially cleer wide open wide open I mean nobody’s in the vicinity that’s your job it’s what you’re supposed to do and you can’t make it and so I look at it from that standpoint certainly most of the offensive blame goes to Kyrie Irving because we know that if he UPS if he UPS the atie and resembles anything close to himself they could have easily won game two last night but he’s not the only culprit you got role players that ain’t playing roles other than just stinking up the joint it’s embarrassing and Big D needs to get on them to bring the rain in games three or four because let me tell you something I’m not ruling out the possibility of a sweep if they don’t get to act together well right look right now they’re getting pumped okay and when you think about the first two games think about the powerful plays that the Celtics have they have had okay and as bad as I want to come on here and get on Derek Lely and get on PJ Washington and get on Derek Jones Jr I really can’t but for the simple fact that role players play better at home your Superstar is supposed to take you home on the road if Kyrie Irving he didn’t even have to play great last night if he would have just played good good or a little bit above average I feel like the M would have won that basketball game here’s another thing that we’re missing right now fellas I need to point out I’ve given a lot of heat to Coach Joe Missoula he’s coaching his ass off right now and he’s out coaching Jason kid why is Jason kid keep going to Maxi cleer why does he keep going to Dante exm when you have a guy a score in a young player Hardy you have Tim Hardy Jr who’s getting d uh dmps why when you need score yes when you need scoring when you need scoring to beat this Celtics team especially with the lack of scoring that they’re getting off the bench right now let me try to answer that question for you perk I would say you answered your own question because you said that role players play better at home on the road it’s problematic for them so it’s entirely possible that Jason kid is thinking okay these are role players we’re going back to Dallas I’ll save it for when they show up in Dallas but here’s the thing look I’m which oh go ahead but this was a very winnable game last night Stephen A so I’m not going to put off tomorrow for what I can accomplish today this game was in the balance you could have easily won this game like perk says Kyrie gives us a little more and maybe those role players because I remember when Tim Hardway Jr came off the bench and basically won that game too for them in OKC so we know he can have those moments but I’ve got to give Dallas defense a lot of credit perk Stephen A they’re not allowing anything cheap at The Rim they’re challenging everything at The Rim I don’t care if it’s Lively I don’t care if it’s PJ Brown PJ Washington I don’t care if it’s Kyrie Derek white Jaylen Brown of Kristof porzingis holiday they’re challenging they’re giving up nothing nothing nothing cheap Joe Missoula has look Kyrie’s going to be Kyrie he’s going to probably beat one Defender but I need that second Defender to come and you challenge him at The Rim go vertical we don’t necessarily have to follow him because we that’s a big team Jason Tatum 610 JB 6768 porzingis is 73 Derek white is a big guard and holiday we don’t need to say anything about him but they’re making it very very difficult for the mavick to get easy buckets like they got a lot of this uh uh in the playoffs leading into this series they’re nothing cheap but K if and that’s the thing I still believe let’s just say Kyrie gives us 22 and shoots instead of being over from three-point line even day just shoot 30% from the Shannon Shannon and perk what I’m saying to y’all is this y’all are not wrong but where I would challenge y’all is what I said earlier how many open shots have we seen them missing I mean open you got catch you got Boston going like this like literally treating them like Ben Simmons go ahead shoot go ahead go ahead we dare you go ahead shoot I mean takes time time and they missing I’m with y’all on that but look if before the game started last night say we would have been on TV and I would have came at both of y’all and said that PJ Washington would have gave you 17 points and seven rebounds Derek Jones Jr would have gave you 11 points last night Daniel gaffa would have gave gave you 13 and N we would all said that would have been enough knowing what Kyrie and Luca could bring to the table again I’m I’m not dismissing the fact that they do need to make wide openen threes but Kyrie Irving cannot have the performance that he had last night and expect the Dallas Mavericks to win and not you know what I’m saying expect him to win the game in series perk Shannon can I throw this at y’all just got a stat from a researcher right just a stat I want to throw this out at y’all just I’m just gonna throw this out get y’all reaction to it you first Shannon and then you perk wide openen threes in the NBA Finals that’s the closest Defender is within six feet closest Defender ain’t closer than six feet from them wide open that’s what it’s classified as Dallas mavick is six at 24 25% wow go ahead Shannon reaction yeah well you definitely have to make those six to 24 is not nearly a good enough because now you’re talking about a shoot around three when you’re that far when you’re that wide open and as you mentioned Stephen ain’t no Defenders within six feet of you but you mentioned Max CER that shoulder is not healthy because so now if he’s not going to shoot the three if he’s incapable of making the three he’s no good to you because he’s not a Defender his job is to be on the floor and to stretch the floor because his ability to knock down the three if he’s afraid to knock down the if he’s afraid to shoot the three and then he’s shaky when he takes the three I don’t believe the purpose of him being out there serves you any purpose because he’s not a Defender he’s not going to get down the stance he’s not going to really challenge anybody at The Rim so he needs to be on the floor to stretch the floor to so they can’t condense it to try to keep Kyrie and Luca out of the lane but you’re right Stephen a 6 of 24 is not nearly good enough when you’re basically shooting shoot around threes but but that that’s not the reason that they lost the game in my opinion think about this for a second do we realize last night that Drew holiday had 26 points okay cool he had 11 rebounds okay fine 18 of those points were in the paint they drew holiday is literally playing in the dunker spot hell of a adjustment by Joe Missoula because he’s usually spaced out but he’s making a he made the adjustment where he’s mixing it up he’s playing the dunker spot Drew holiday had 18 points in the paint last night in the paint and majority of them was through the half court set I know you have to respect Christ Pingas and Al Horford and their ability to stretch the floor but damn at some point Luca he’s he’s going to have to embrace the challenge because they’re picking on him and picking roll defensively Kyrie Irving defensively has been horrible on the defensive side of things he’s been getting cooked by everybody so again I understand the shot making but they got to control the ball bro when it comes down to dribble penetration and and blocks at The Rim I want to say this I want to correct the great Jason kid again I think Joe Missoula is doing an outstanding job Sensational job and really really showing his worth in this series there’s no doubt about it but we all know what a damn good coach Jason kid is Jason kid was inaccurate or just flat out lie to the American public last night when he said this quote and I’m quoting right now we’ve got to find someone to join Luca and Kai in that scorting category you mean you have to find somebody to to join LCA join Luka he’s by himself don’t put K up in there right now yeah can’t you can’t put Kai up in there right now Kye Irving can do it but in these first two games he has not he has been held in check [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins and Shannon Sharpe join Molly Qerim to talk through the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
0:00 Celtics vs. Mavericks Game 2
1:30 Shannon’s thoughts
3:10 Stephen A.’s thoughts on Game 2
6:15 Perk’s thoughts on role players
12:00 Points in the paint

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