DOOR OPEN FOR MAVS? 🐴 Kristaps Porzingis’ injury ‘opens the floodgates’ – Stephen A. | First Take

DOOR OPEN FOR MAVS? 🐴 Kristaps Porzingis’ injury ‘opens the floodgates’ – Stephen A. | First Take

the Celtics are going to take a two nothing lead in the [Applause] finals being up 20 means nothing job’s not done we’re so close to what we’re trying to accomplish whatever it takes being in the finals down 02 I have a little experience in how to come back one of the great playoff runs they did what they had to do to now it’s our drive to go handle our [Music] business and we’ll head to [Music] Dallas game three is tonight and kristofh porzingis has a rare left leg injury and his NBA final status uncertain porzingis now questionable in his dayto day per the team sources telling our Adrien wowski that there’s no indication he will be ruled out and not permitted to try and play at Dallas tonight here’s porzingis in Coach Joe moua yesterday are you optimistic I am of course I have to be I’m going to I’m optimistic and as I said I will do everything I can to be out there tomorrow and uh and yeah we’ll see it’s a serious injury um and at the end of the day our team and and the medical team is not going to put him uh in any bad situation and so uh we’ve taken a decision to play out of his hands while the Boston Celtics did manage to go 30 and5 without kristofh porzingis in the lineup this season his presence in these NBA Finals has been immense with KP on the court the Celtics have outscored the Mavericks by 25 points this series without him on the floor Boston and Dallas are dead even in points all right Stephen A tell me this does kp’s injury open the door for the MS because we saw What A Difference Maker especially porzingis was in that game one I believe it does I definitely does that doesn’t that’s not to say that Boston can’t win but I’m saying that we won’t we won’t sarily dismiss the Dallas Mavericks the way we would if porzingis was on the court healthy you know being a guy that can step away from the basket and hit threes looking the way that he looked in the first half of game one when he dropped 18 points if that Chris STS porzingis is playing for the rest of this series the Dallas Mavericks don’t stand a chance I picked him to win this series in six games because I thought that porzingis would be hobbled and sure enough he got hobbled in game four and as a result we don’t know his availability for tonight’s game three I’m sorry game two rather and we don’t know his availability for tonight’s game three and so when you look at it from that perspective and you look at the fact that Al Horford is about 38 years of age you combine that with the way Jason Tatum has been shooting the ball certainly you don’t expect that to last or anything like that but it does seem to be more of a considerably fairer matchup with porzingis compromise rised if not flat out out for the game there is no question that the Dallas Mavericks who’ve been in the game they came back from 29 down in game one to close it within eight L game two they were in the game from start to finish essentially even though Luca donic had a chest contusion and leg soreness Kyrie Irving should be playing better there’s no question about that along with the others but being at home in Dallas instead of on the road although Boston is undefeated in this postseason on the road the real ity is is that because of the problems that porzingis causes on both ends of the floor his ability to shoot long range and his ability to at 73 to really Rim protect in a way where those floaters that Kyrie Irving and others like to throw up in the lane ain’t going to be as easy he’s not in that game it opens the floodgates for the Dallas Mavericks and gives them a perfect opportunity to potentially even up this series I’m not saying they’ll do it but it certainly elevates their chances exponentially yeah I mean the question is the is the door open the door was open for the mass because it’s a series now the door is wide open Stephen you talked about Dallas finishing inside the paint just to put statistical numbers on it when chrisop porzingis was on the floor Dallas’s field goal percentage in the restricted area was in the 40s Christof porzingis off the floor Dallas finished at 71% in the paint what have we known Dallas for all postseason their lob threats leading the league in lob threats no one else came close throwing the ball up dunking it easy high efficiency looks getting into the paint creating Kristof porzingis shut all that down whether it’s in the half court whether it’s in transition with that beautiful play on Josh Green we talked about that what happened when christops was hobbled in game two they got a transition dunk you have to imagine if christops is hog or if he’s off the floor entirely Dallas is going for paint they’re going for their mid-range shot if you’re Kyrie Irving another play we talked about christops porzingis was backpedaling in game one was still able to block a Kyrie Irving floater he made phenomenal plays on the defensive end he was also a mismatch Nightmare on the offensive End Dallas had no answer for him offensively he was extremely efficient so with him not available or hobbled on either end of the floor the door for Dallas is certainly open yeah I’m listen I’m not going to dispute the fact that he’s a big factor he set the tone in that first half of game one I I grant you that but why you don’t think we think now Steve that Boston’s going to lose the series because Pingas is out they’ve lost two playoff games all year here in the postseason without porzingis they were 30 and without a more year they’re much better than Dallas even without them they’re a much better team plus teams in a short scenario like this they only they don’t this is not the start of the playoffs this is the end of the playoffs teams in a short scenario like this they can recover from obviously a game or so when their second or third best player is not playing and all they got to do is win one game would you question that if Dallas won both games if Dallas wins both games and then it’s 2-2 then what would you yeah I would that’s different but I don’t think Dallas going to win both games okay I think this series I think I think Boston’s going to win tonight you think of that tonight yes I do Well here here’s what I here’s what I would say to you doggy I get where you’re coming from and we’re not in much of a position to make an argument at this particular moment in time considering this the way Kyrie Irving has been playing against the Boston Celtics but coming into these finals nobody anticipated that he would be averaging 11 points less than a season average especially the way that he play particularly in the Conference finals against Anthony Edwards and those trees that existed in Minnesota were Rudy go Carl Anthony towns and obviously Nas Reed you’re talking about guys 610 and above that he’s had to deal with and he dealt with them pretty handily obviously being strongly assisted by the star that is Luca donic I’m just looking at it from the standpoint that we haven’t seen Boston in this series forced to deal with life without Chris D porzingis they knew he was going to be available for game one he came out and was Blazing I mean that first half was an absolutely spectacular performance by por singers I couldn’t believe what I was seeing from him personally running up and down the court shooting threes shoving guys around after posting them up and shooting Fall Away jump shots and blocking shots and all I mean he was absolutely fantastic game two you knew you were going to have him as well and then when he gets hurt he gets hurt in the fourth quarter this is the difference you’re on the road Dallas is desperate Kyrie hasn’t been himself and we know it he’s a champion he knows he’s got to play better and on top of it all the likelihood of porzingis being available is really up in the air so if you don’t see him okay now you have to prepare to play without him which is something they didn’t have to do in the first two games of these finals we look at Indiana Indiana’s played we know Indiana’s not better than Dallas but they’ve played Boston better than Dallas has played them thus far we saw Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell he goes out Jared Allen misses the series we saw what happened there Jimmy Butler’s not available in Miami in in in open round we saw what happened there the Dallas Mavericks pose a different problem if they bring their game and I think they have a better chance at bringing their game with porzingis out of the lineup than with him in it that’s what I’m saying and I don’t disagree with that I mean it makes it a fairer fight but in the name of Jerry West how about brazing giving it a go tonight West played with a torn hamstring in the Boston series in 68 69 two broken thumbs against the Knicks in game seven how about Bing I don’t want to hear about the Celtics TR I drives me crazy if pingis wants to play in the game tonight get in the game and play dogy doggy that’s ridiculous the fact that listen if he’s healthy and he wants to play that’s different but here’s what here’s I’m talking about here’s what you here’s where you’re ridiculous by the way nice blazer for a change but here’s where you’re ridiculous doggy this is the thing that kills me they’re not down 02 they’re up 02 and they’re perfect on the road in this entire postseason it’s not a crime if the Boston Celtics say okay let’s see what happens without porzingis let’s give him a break for this game and make sure do everything we can to make sure he’s ready for game four we handled them pretty handily in games one and two we’re perfect on the road in the postseason we believe we’re the superior team we got two resident Superstars that could hold down to Fourth they should be able to Derek white and Drew holiday are no slots especially the way je holiday played in game two I’m not saying that you just sit porzingis down Andrea please don’t get me wrong I’m not looking you I’m looking at M do I’m just I’m just addressing doggy because doggy sounds like if porzingis doesn’t play tonight he’s going to have a problem with porzingis where there’s absolutely no reason to have a problem with him whatsoever considering the position the Boston Celtics are sitting in right now they gives their 20- up okay go ahead yeah yeah well that was the point I was going to make you contradict yourself Mt dog you’re like they only need to win one in in in Dallas and then you tell them to play in game do that why would you do that so in other words if he’s 0 two down he’d play and two up he doesn’t play It’s the NBA Finals you play and it’s the NBA Finals Steve so in other words then we’re going to let the the game dictate the scores of the series dictate porzingis is available so if they were down 02 you’d want porzingis to play tonight I’m sure porzingis wants why Joe M said out his hands Andrea let me let let me address dress Mad Dog Russo with his hypocritical self so doggy you’re sick as a dog you just can’t go right um but you got an opportunity to just either go to the office for a regular day at work or it’s Wimbleton or the US Open okay wh what you gonna do doggy you trying to tell me you can’t prioritize a situation recognize some some situations are more important than others being down 02 is different than being up 20 it’s it it it he has that available to him doggy what’s the problem with that there’s no problem with that you know now so in other words if he was 02 down you’d want pringus to play if it was 02 down desperate times call for desperate measures Boston is not desperate that’s my point the NBA final are they desperate I do want to are they desperate I’m looking at this right here Mad Dog so obviously this this is latest you know leg injury the same l he also had two left ankle sprains a left quad contusion a left calf strain and a and a right calf strain so I mean the right but that’s all on the left leg don’t go west how about Isaiah Thomas in 88 when basically was playing with one leg against the Lakers and games you excuse me excuse me oh I’mma get on you about there oh you oh you wrong brother let me get at you right now that was game six Detroit was up 32 Isaiah knew you want to avoid a game seven which was going to be at the Forum if you lost that game and that’s why on one leg he was not trying to come out of that game because he knew that was basically their last shot he had to do everything that he could he had already twisted his ankle chances are was going to be hellified sore for a game seven and he was going to be compromised he had to go for it in that moment because a world championship was on the line and all he had to do was get through the second half who do you think you’re talking to you ain’t the only one that knows history my brother this is basketball they call me Stephen naith for a reason watch them out try you know the we’re still trying to figure out who they is but you do know a lot about basketball they they call me yeah exactly uh poor even naith that’s the first I’ve heard of that one that’s what that’s what who are they who are they they call him that um um basketball officios throughout the world yeah that’s what they called yeah you know what they call me mollywood all right porzingis has scored 32 of never gets to Hollywood 49 bench points in the finals what did you try to say to me never gets to Hollywood what’ you say I said who never gets to Hollywood who never gets to Hollywood mollywood who never gets to Hollywood did I don’t know why they call you mollywood you don’t deserve it cu you don’t get there get live there for 4 years when I was at NFL Network in stores Connecticut in stes Conneticut you and Danny Hurley you and Danny salty about the you’re just salty about something else okay [Music]

Stephen A. Smith, Andraya Carter and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo join Molly Qerim on First Take to preview Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks with Kristaps Porzingis’ status in question.

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