Will the Celtics get the sweep?

Will the Celtics get the sweep?

I want to say this getting to these NBA Finals changeing scenery meant AB absolutely nothing to the Dallas Mavericks they Trail by 21 by the way before ultimately succumbing to the Boston Celtics 10699 I already told you about the three lead that Boston Celtics have they were led by Jason Tatum who had his best game of the series with 31 points Jaylen Brown only had six points in the first half finish with 30 that’s 24 points in the second half eight rebounds eight assists the dunk of the night driving down the middle of the lane and dunking on everybody plus he was a and Luca donic all night long as for Dallas Kyrie Irving showed up finally leading the M with 35 points shooting four of six from three-point range this is after he went 0 for eight from three-point range in the first two games of this series but he wasn’t the biggest issue last night the biggest issue was LCA donic who fouled out with 27 points and continues to hurt his team on defense I want y’all to take a look at what my colleague at ESPN his sen senior NBA writer Brian winto said last night about Luca’s impact on this team check it out I’m standing here in the Mavericks tunnel over there is the Celtics tunnel that’s where the winners are if Luca’s ever going to be a winner coming out of this tunnel here he is going to have to use this H what’s happened in this finals as a learning experience his defensive performance is unacceptable he is a hole on the court the Celtics are attacking him they are ahead in this series because they’ve attacked him defensively and you’ve got a situation here where Luca is complaining about the officiating they have begged him they have talked with him they have pleaded with him he is costing his team because of how he treats the officials he’s a brilliant player he does so many things well they are here because of how he did his performance in this game is unacceptable and the reason why the Mavericks are not going to win he’s got to get over this and the fact that he came out after the game and blame the officials showed me he’s nowhere close yet so maybe over the summer somebody will get to him because nobody with the Mavericks or anybody else in his life has and that’s where the Mavericks are at this point they’re never going to get to this tunnel with the trophy if he doesn’t improve those pack aspects of his game hey amen amen Wendy’s absolutely right but he wasn’t the only one a whole bunch of people had a lot to say about Luca Don’s performance in game three none were as aeric as hostile as disgusted however as my man Kendrick Perkins he showed up on a podcast where my man Richard Jefferson had a bunch of stuff to say but check this out Luca off the game he drank his team emotionally even J kid he and it started from the tip the complaining every damn possession down the falling on the floor right not getting back in transition not making a second effort he didn’t box out one time he he missed the box out on I believe it was Drew holiday it was a timeout he’s yelling at his teammate his teammate was nowhere involved in the damn play who are you mad at okay the fils yet that was not a charge why even put yourself in that position he tapped out and he left his team hanging by far the worst performance I’ve seen for Luca in the playoffs listen some people going to debate whether or not Kendrick Perkins is telling the truth there or not in terms of it being his worst performance but damn it who cares the fact of the matter is if it wasn’t it was in the ballpark Luca it was unimpressive but I think a lot of people missing a boat to some degree you’ve got people talking about him complaining and crying and whining to the referees totally totally true Luca put himself in that position because guess what the third foul that he picked up you know when he was frustrated he didn’t get a call under his own basket I mean basically that that put you in a a foolish position because you were reaching just out of frustration then there was another time you were reaching for prit you know and you had no business doing that so that was two fouls it’s third and fourth fouls that he picked up that made absolutely positively no sense whatsoever so you’re not thinking about the position that you put your teammates in your coaches in etc etc that was jacked up no question about it Kendrick Perkins isn’t wrong there clearly too much whining too much bitching all of that stuff that’s on Luca no doubt about it okay here’s my biggest issue with Luca and then basically also people talking about his defense his defense was horrible horrible I mean Joe moula who’s doing a hell of a job by the way hell of a job we can talk about emay Oka like I do thinking about how good he was and how Boston would be in this position with em may udoka but give Joe Missoula a lot of credit this man has done a hell of a job and he’s proven to be one hell of a Coach and he’s about to win a championship you can’t talk about Joe moula man in anything but a positive way but having said all of that you look at Hower who he brings Off the Bench this dude comes out there ain’t known as a player at all purely a shooter everybody in their Grandmama knows it and what they did was they made sure if you have bought Dallas maricks well let’s put luuka on them because Luka don’t want to guard nobody any damn way so let’s put luuka on this brother what does Luca do he got his head turned he’s taken for granted the guy’s a shooter that’s the only reason he’s in there he’s a shooter and Luca left him open twice to hit threes from the corner so yes Luca’s defense was hard his his defensive effort was horrid but even with what Kendrick Perkins said about him complaining to the officials and what Brian went to said about him complaining to the complaining to the officials about him not playing defense here to me is where the most egregious part occurred Luca is struggling all night long we know this we see this it’s clear as day he finishes the game shooting 11 to 27 that’s 40% y’all we get that didn’t you see Kyrie was in his bag didn’t you see Kyrie was flowing why why are you holding the ball why are you dribbling 10,000 times I know that’s what you do normally I know you’re a ball hog I get that part we understand that about Luca but my point is is that Kyrie Irving was somebody you believed in you should believe in even though he showed up and did really didn’t show up in games one and two Kyrie came out aggressive looking for a shot attacking the basket the brother went from going 0 for eight from three-point range in the first two games to sitting up there and hitting four six from three-point range yesterday including a couple of I think it was three in the first half he’s in his bag especially in the second half when Boston goes up 21 because Tatum and brown is putting on the show and Boston’s ball movement is Big Time their spacing is great the effort on the defensive end of the floor the ability to switch everything I mean you you got got to sit up there and see this it was impressive but Kyrie is getting to his spots and he’s getting to the hole at will and on top of it all he’s getting to the free throw line why are you holding the freaking ball Luca give up the damn ball Luca didn’t do that he was forcing the issue and he was building his own frustration and Boston played right into his hands because you know what they did see ladies and gentlemen here’s the DI when you are a spectacular authentic defensive Talent here’s what happens to you sometimes if you struggle defensively teams don’t only pick on you defensively because they know they can take advantage of you they also pick on you defensively in hopes that it will frustrate you it’ll get you more agitated and anxious to make to produce on the offensive side of the ball then you force the issue you alienate your teammates because you turn them into Spectators as a result more pressure mounts to you and you don’t necessarily answer the call and then you end up looking like Luca looked in game three last night that’s what happened that’s what happened now there were other things that happened Tim Hardway Jr I’m so happy you under contract for next year because I don’t know if you’d be getting one after this performance 19 minutes not a point not a damn point Tim Hardway Jr was so bad he didn’t even register a foul he had three rebounds but every other category across the board in 19 minutes with all of us clamoring for Jason kid to play some faith in him and play him he gets out on the court and thanks people like myself and others by giving us a donut no points whatsoever no fi goes made whatsoever no assist whatsoever it was an atrocious performance by Tim Hardway who by the way had to be inserted back into the game after LCA donic fouled out and couldn’t score a basket that’s Point number one point number two chasing kid clearly whatever words he’s given to Luca donic ain’t being hurt you got to contain this brother get him under control you got to remind him that what he’s doing is selfish and it hurts the team and prioritize or get him to prioritize doing that he clearly hasn’t done that he hasn’t gotten through to Luca because Luca was acting like a damn brat last night Jason Tatum was getting fouled Jason Tatum wasn’t getting called neither was Jaylen Brown they’d say something to the ref but then they turned around and hustled back on defense Luca donic would lay on the floor and put the Dallas Mavericks defense in a four on five situation Boston would drain another three and what did Boston end up shooting from three-point range on this particular night because we we got to look at all of this stuff right here Boston shot 17 of 46 17 of 46 both Tatum and Derek white hit four three-pointers Brown and Horford hit two Sam Hower hit three pretty much all on Luca series is over Dallas made a nice run we didn’t expect them to get this far but they ultimately did and they deserved their props but in the end what do you say this is what it is this is what it is

On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith gives you his renowned point of view, breaking barriers beyond the world of sports, and tackling pertinent issues across entertainment, pop culture, society, business, and politics. Three times a week, you’ll hear his LIVE unfiltered opinions on the day’s biggest headlines as well as straight-shooting interviews with top celebrities, game-changers, and thought leaders across the societal arena.

The Stephen A. Smith Show is sure to entertain, inform, and motivate anyone who tunes in.