NBA Finals: Luka Doncic COSTING Mavericks? Celtics rank among past 5 NBA champions | Hoops Tonight

NBA Finals: Luka Doncic COSTING Mavericks? Celtics rank among past 5 NBA champions | Hoops Tonight

all right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Thursday everybody hope all of you guys are having a great week well if the Dallas Mavericks had won last night we’d be pouring over the film today talking about all the different ways that Dallas may or may not be able to tie the series and just what we expect to happen in game four but that’s not what happened this Series has been pretty consistent throughout the same themes on both ends of the floor Dallas incapable of containing the basketball and staying out of rotation as Boston picks them apart for highquality Rim attempts and shots at the three point line then on the other end of the floor the simple adjustment of putting Jason Tatum on their centers has caused all of the spacing of their ball screen actions to fall apart and Luca hasn’t been able to punish The Bigs enough in switches for it to matter and so Dallas hasn’t been able to score and that Dynamic has not changed at any point throughout the series and so this thing is over no matter what even if even if Dallas goes and gets game four off of a hellacious effort and a lacad isical one on Boston’s front I think Dallas is is is done with I don’t think there’s any basketball dnamic they can flip to potentially go on a run andn win a bunch of games in a row so what we’re going to do today is we’re going to do a mailbag and talk about specifically some of the questions you guys have surrounding the NBA Finals you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos follow me on Twitter atore Jason LT so you guys don’t miss show announcements don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight and then keep dropping mailbag questions in the mail in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the off seon and the last but not least before we get started I want to talk to you guys about game time they have an amazing ticket buying experience I had a great experience with them earlier this year when I went to male center to see the University of Arizona men’s basketball team play got last minute seats got a great deal knew exactly what I was getting myself into had a good picture of what my seats were before I showed up to the arena it was a great experience I highly recommend it to you guys and as fun as it is watching these games on TV there’s nothing like getting out in person to watch our favorite NBA stars playing in this type of intensity in these types of environments with these types of St so get out and check out maybe the last NBA Finals game on Friday or maybe there’s a second one we’ll see if Dallas can extend the series heading to Monday back in Boston but they’ve got amazing deals like Flash Deals and Zone deals where you can pick a SE a section in the arena and then game time will pick the seats for you in that section you get additional savings that way it’s a great experience I want you guys to check it out take the guesswork out of buying basketball finals tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code Hoops for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code Hoops that’s hops for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right let’s talk some basketball first question is there any team in the west that would have matched up well against Boston in the finals so as we’re looking at this remember one of the biggest lessons that I learned in this particular postseason run is to look at things more through the concept of the individual matchup rather than what the teams look like in a vacuum right so like uh like even as we just look at Dallas they beat the out of Minnesota because Minnesota can’t handle their Rim protection right Boston has a counter for their Rim protection through five out spacing it causes their defense to fall apart even on the other end of the floor like because Minnesota guarded Dallas traditionally and because Jaden McDaniels was too skinny to guard Luca Luca picked them apart come into this series bigger more phys physical Defenders the adjustment through from Jason Tatum all of a sudden Dallas’s offense falls apart so it’s it’s very much a matchup oriented type of league so with that being the case teams that would have caused Boston more issues teams that can guard on the perimeter at multiple positions so teams like Oklahoma City now this year I thought they were too young and I don’t think they would have been able to beat a team like Boston but a team like Oklahoma City in the future seasons is a team that I think could give Boston some issues Ina I I don’t think that I would have picked Minnesota against Boston it would have been really close I would have needed to go back and look at the film uh but chances are it would have ended up picking Boston who knows um but they have a depth of perimeter defense Personnel they could run lineups with Anthony Edwards nikil Alexander Walker Jaden McDaniels Kyle Anderson Rudy gobear where all five guys can switch and guard on the perimeter against multiple different types of archetypes of players on the other end of the floor we saw what Anthony Edwards did to Denver and Phoenix because he can beat everyone off the dribble and get into the paint they ran into Rim protection against Dallas that was a problem against Boston especially with porzingis injury issues they don’t really have a lot of Rim protection Beyond porzingis and so that would have been an interesting matchup to see if Minnesota could have had had some success that said I think the only team I would have picked against Boston outright would have been Denver and the main reason why is they have some defensive weak points as well guys like Jamal Murray guys like Michael Porter Jr joic did not have a particularly good defensive season this year however their game plan discipline even from their lesser defensive players including the three I just mentioned so much better than what we saw from Luca like Luca we’re going to talk about it in a minute he was beyond destructive on the defensive end in this series it wasn’t even like oh he’s got this athletic disadvantage that’s causing problems like no he just he literally wasn’t focused he wasn’t playing hard he was complainant like it was it was an Abomination what Luca did defensively in this postseason run I think that Denver would have been a little bit more locked in a lot more locked in down the roster in terms of their commitment to the defensive end and then on the offensive end Denver prod presents an issue for Boston that Boston can’t solve whereas Boston could solve the Luca Problem by putting Tatum on the center and because they have so many physical perimeter Defenders they were able to have some success against Luca right with Nicole yic and his just complete unguard ability underneath the basket by any player that Boston has wearing green it would have put Boston in a predicament where they would have consistently been in rotation in giving up quality looks which by the way we saw in the regular season when Denver beat Boston twice there’s a physical imposition element too that can lead to some shooting variants I I will say this though after watching this series I would have felt I feel more like Boston would have had a better chance to beat Denver I would have picked Denver by the ever so slightest of margins and I certainly think Boston would have had a chance but again looking forward out of the West it’s going to have to be teams that can really guard on the perimeter if it’s a Clippers team that stays healthy and actually has kawhai playing at a top five level that would be an interesting threat to Boston Oklahoma City as I mentioned obviously the uh um um the Denver team that I was just talking about Memphis is a team that might have had some more perimeter defensive Personnel to have some success but that said Boston I think was clearly better than everybody in the Western Conference aside from Denver as I talked about going into the postseason run the only team that I ranked over Boston the entire season was Denver and that is the only team I would have picked against them what are your thoughts about Nick’s comparison of Luca’s defensive performance with that of Steph in 2016 I’m assuming this is Nick right but I’m not certain is there value in separating outcomes and effort while judging defense here’s the thing Steph has physical limitations he’s small and when he would get attacked and there would be some issues there it would be like a guy overpowers him or Kyrie Irving just gets a hits a tough step back jumper over the top of him in the 2016 finals very rarely in Steph’s career was it Malay or just not giving a that caused his team to have issues with him on the defensive end of the floor what Luca did is an entirely different type of destructive defensive Behavior okay there’s been so much talk about like oh well Luca has much to do oh well what about Luca’s knee all of this we’re not talking about him being Jaylen Brown we’re not asking him to pick up the other team’s play uh Best Player full court and to fight over the top of ball screens and to be you know banging bodies on the glass all night long that’s not what we’re talking about when you are constructing a team defense there is a minimal level of participation that you have to hit in order for the construct of the team defense to work and Luca was failing to reach that level not even coming close to reaching that level be it like there’s a lot of focus on the blow buys and the blow buys are bad but you know that to me is almost the least frustrating part about it because yeah we want Luca to get better physically we want him to take better care of his body we want him to be healthier we want him to be able to contain the basketball more that goes without saying but Luc is never going to be a lateral Speed Demon he’s just not like he’s going to be have have to do better and I’m sure he will over the course of his career my bigger issue with it was just the simple attention to detail when you’re flopping on three-point jump shots and falling on the ground and complaining at the refs while Boston’s running the other way you’re actively sabotaging your transition defense and making it impossible for your team to contain when they’re trying to Sprint back in those situations when you’re guarding Sam Hower in the strong side corner and you’re literally several steps off of him just not paying attention to where Tatum can just throw a simple swing pass to Sam Hower one pass away in the strong side corner and he can knock down a three in your face you’re not doing your job when you’re just standing around the elbow extended as Drew holiday is sprinting in and out of the lane grabbing multiple offensive rebounds on the same possession including a putback while you’re standing on your heels doing nothing on the defensive glass there are dozens and dozens of examples over the course of this playoff over the course of this NBA Finals run in particular where Luca wasn’t just bad on the defensive end he was embarrassingly disengaged he was downright damaging to Dallas’s capability to even throw to even put out a coherent defense it was no exaggeration the worst defensive performance by a superstar that I have ever seen in the NBA Finals so like again when we talk about criticism and there’s I’m generally of the opinion that guys that have a ton of offensive responsibility do need to have lighter defensive workloads I think that sort of thing matters I’m I’m generally of that opinion that said there’s a certain minimum level they have to reach and Luca didn’t even come close to reaching that I thought it was completely unacceptable and like even comparing it to like Steph uh in uh in 2016 and some of the other limited defenders in NBA history to me it just doesn’t even doesn’t even resemble because say what you want about Steph and his limitations he was trying he was doing his job within the scheme Luca couldn’t even be bothered to do that in this playoff series we’re this close to crowning a new NBA champion and with the action heating up on the court it’s even hotter at draftking sports book an official sports betting partner of the NBA and draftking Sportsbook has you covered every step of the way with same game parlays live betting odds boost and so much more don’t miss out as the NBA postseason winds down it’s super easy to get started with DraftKings if you’re first timer try betting on something like a team to win go to the draftking Sportsbook app select your team and place your first bet it’s that simple the odds in the NBA Finals right now you can get the Celtics to win at minus 210 or if you’re into the underdog Dallas Mavericks they’re at plus 175 and if you’re new to DraftKings you got to check this out new customers bet five bucks to get 150 in bonus bets instantly download the draftking Sportsbook app now and use code Hoops that’s h o o PS that’s code hoop for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings the crown is yours when evaluating players this next question is kind of uh related to that when evaluating players do you think individual offense and individual defense should be weighed on the same plane is it 50/50 or should we put more emphasis on one over the other when evaluating individual basketball players so I do think that you can’t rank it 50/50 I think that you have to put additional weight on the offensive end and the main reason why is you it is a lot easier to scheme a an effective defense with a limited offensive player as a star you than it is to on the other end of the floor try to scheme or coach up an effective offense when your Superstar is a limited offensive player for instance like let’s just make it a very basic example let’s take joic and Giannis Giannis is maybe the best defensive play player in the world but if you just ranked his offensive skill set he’s not even in the top five right he’s somewhere far below that right if you looked at Nicole yic he’s the best offensive player in the league but he’s a mediocre to slightly above average defensive player depending on how hard he’s trying in that particular season I thought he was pretty bad in this postseason run I thought he was pretty good last year right who is it easier to build a championship team around I think it’s easier to build a championship team around joic because you can construct a role for joic to Be an Effective defensive player and we’ve seen uh Denver defend at a championship level right but on the other end jic just can make anything work right he can create something out of nothing on the offensive end better than basically every player in the league at this point looking at Giannis you like I I you could get a League average player in in in constructive role for him at the power forward spot where he’s a relatively effective defensive player but you can’t turn around and do that on the offensive end of the floor right like giannis’s offensive limitations have shown to the surface in the postseason often they showed up in 2023 when uh like yes I know he dealt with injuries in the Miami series but once again close games in the half court Jimmy was just way better than him right going back to uh um uh the seasons before he won the title going back to 2020 going back back to 2019 it’s been a consistent issue through giannis’s career that in the half court when things slow down his offensive limitations are harder to cope with as a staff and as a franchise than defensive limitations right and so again like I think it’s all relative like Luca’s defensive limitations are so bad that there’s a conversation to be made that Giannis deserves to be over Luca simply because at least he’s functional on both ends of the floor in a way that Luca is not right but yeah for me it’s just i’ probably put it at about like 7030 in favor of offense because I think a super high-powered offensive player can kind of overcome everything in a way that a super high-powered defensive player that’s limited on the offensive end cannot has Jaylen Brown now elevated to the Devin Booker tier of players with his playoff performance this year offensively and defensively he’s been Paramount for Boston where his stock has to be up there as a potential top 12 guy love the show and love the two suns podcast stay ambitious the two suns podcast is my podcast that I cover like Star Wars Game of Thrones basically all television and and cinematic media uh we just had an episode drop yesterday on the uh acolyte episode 3 you can see the logo right there it’s on YouTube on two suns podcast it’s on your podcast feeds under tws Suns podcast make sure you guys get over there and check that out and thank you for supporting both of those shows uh as far as Jaylen Brown goes I talked about this with Colin coward last night like to me the conversation around the Jays has gone down some weird paths in this postseason run I think it’s less to do with Jason Tatum’s Decline and he’s he’s had just a really bad jump shooting postseason which has been a kind of a continuation of an issue that’s been kind of propagating over the course of the last two or three seasons he’s the third consecutive postseason run where he’s down year-over-year from the previous year as a jump shooter and so that’s like a whole other separate issue but really just Jaylen Brown’s gone up a level Jaylen Brown to me when I’m ranking Superstars there’s like the top tier guys which to me is literally just like joic Luca Giannis maybe embiid and Shay depending on who you ask those are like The Fringe guys in that group but like those are like the three top tier guys then there’s like the second tier guys which are like all the superstars that are just not quite at that level right that’s imid Shay Tatum LeBron Anthony Davis like uh Jimmy Butler uh there’s just a bunch of guys in that group right well to me Jaylen Brown was on the tier below that coming into this season and around halfway through the season he really started to turn it up defensively he started guarding the other team’s best player every single night he was really committing on that end of the floor I think he was I think it was part of his like his scoring went down this season just by virtue of all the talent that they brought in and I think he was just trying to find a way to stay engaged with the team but between that his development as a pull-up jump shooter I talked about this with LCA or with with LCA with Colin last night I talked about how like it must have been really rewarding for Jaylen to hit those big mid-range jump shots down the stretch line last night he’s been awesome in the clutch in uh in this final series I thought he had that huge driving left-handed layup by Maxi kba in game two he hit the two big jump shots last night like he’s just been he’s just been playing at that Superstar level there that’s just below the true top tier guys and I I’ve just been really impressed by him and that that’s the talent influx the talent influx is like you know even with por zingus out it doesn’t change the fact that they have two guys that are in that second tier of superstars and that’s just really difficult to to deal with I mean think about you guys you guys know I’m a Lakers fan think about how optimistic I’ve been about the Lakers consistently and why I’ve been super optimistic about the Lakers consistently why because they have two guys that are in that second tier superstars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis Boston has that too in addition to Drew holiday Derek white Al Horford porzingis when he’s healthy I’ve been really impressed by Hower and Pritchard in their contributions in this postseason run uh but yeah the rise of Jaylen Brown has infinitely increased ined the uh the uh the ceiling of this Boston Celtics Team all right how would you rank the last five NBA champions specifically talking about the matchup flexibility on a year-to-year basis so this was an interesting one um obviously we’re going to be moving forward in this question assuming that Boston wins the title obviously it’s not completely over but I personally think even juxtapose with other three series I don’t think this is one that Dallas can turn around so I do believe that Boston will close it out in no fewer than no more than five games so for me again as I mentioned before I think that this Boston Celtics team is a little less dominant than it looks on the surface and the reasoning is pretty simple the Eastern Conference at the bottom was atrocious and so that inflated win totals to a certain extent to put it simply you play 30 games against the West you play 52 games against your own conference that is going to make it so the Eastern Conference win totals are higher there’s a lot lot of talk about like oh this team out west only had 46 wins oh this team out west only had 47 48 wins and it’s like yeah they’re just way more good teams they can’t all have 55 wins that’s just not how it works right so like the win totals I think for Boston were a little inflated there were five good teams in the east in my opinion and four of them ended up in the other end of the bracket they all beat the hell out of each other to where uh uh Indiana which was probably like if I was ranking those teams on the other end of the bracket like Indiana very against a healthy bucks and a uh uh the Sixers and that Knicks team and the Pacers I’d probably put the Pacers at the bottom of that list when they’re all healthy right they beat the Bucks because the Bucks weren’t healthy and by the time that they got to the Knicks the Knicks had completely Fallen apart right so like they fa this injured limited Pacers team in the Conference Finals and then out of all of the teams that they could have faced out west I think Dallas was no higher than third out of those teams in terms of who was best equipped to deal with Boston and so it’s a Bonafide NBA championship they are one of the more dominant champions in terms of onp paper success however a couple of specific things like they do not have that true Alpha Dog Apex Superstar so that would be something that I would hold them back compared to some other Champions so let’s talk about the list here and so I extended this to six you asked me for the top five I’m going to go to Six because that’s the delineation after uh after Kevin Durant and Steph Curry were no longer teamed up with each other post 2018 right or 2019 right so we have the 2019 Raptors 20120 Lakers 2021 bucks 2022 Warriors 23 nuggets 24 Celtics so at number six I put the 2021 bucks I think that that I think that Giannis in that 2021 season was a lesser Superstar than some of the other superstars that we’ve seen uh like like LeBron in 2020 or joic in 2023 Steph in 22 and kawhai in 2019 I think he was behind all of those guys in terms of where the level he was playing at in that particular postseason run um that team also in terms of just top to bottom talent in terms of the quality of teams they beat along the way like you beat the Trey young Hawks in the conference final and the Devin Booker uh Chris Paul suns in the NBA Finals so I put the bucks at the bottom of that list number five I put the 2019 Raptors similar to the Giannis thing I think Kawai has been Steph joic and Lebron in terms of like that top tier Superstar power that team was amazing defensively had a big look and a small look an awesome homecourt Advantage really really good team but I don’t think they’re better than any of the teams above them 2022 Warriors I put in at Fourth the main reason why I have that team down further is like their second best player and third best player were basically like Jordan p and Andrew Wiggins in some order prob I’d go Andrew Wiggins to and then like you you know Jordan pool then Draymond Green obviously was amazing defensively in that postseason run uh Klay Thompson had uh a huge fingerprint on the NBA Finals with his defense on Jaylen Brown like it was an excellent team that overachieved and won a title with one of the alltime great players in NBA history in Steph Curry leading the way but in terms of just sheer force of talent that that was not something that that Golden State team brought to the table so I have them a little bit lower at three I have the 2024 Celtics and main case there is just overwhelming force of talent right you uh you have five players in the open market that would fetch 30 plus million Al Horford if he was a free agent tomorrow and would would uh probably be in that like 15 to 20 million range like they just have an absurdity of talent they have an excellent coach in Joe Missoula who really won me over in a big way in this postseason run it’s been really fascinating just to get a a better exposure to to the attempt that he’s made this year to try to shape the Celtics into a team oriented offense that trusts each other and hunts quality looks they this is a Celtics team that I didn’t really enjoy watching that much during the regular season uh because of their reticence to really buy into moula ball and and and what he was asking them to do and I actually genuinely enjoy watching the Celtics now in a way that I didn’t earlier because they’re playing a brand of basketball that I believe is Championship worthy I they’ve won me over in a big way Jaylen Brown I think has ascended into that second tier of superstars awesome team one limitation is they just don’t have an apex star number two I put the 2023 Denver Nuggets I think that Nico jic what is was and still is the best player in the world we’ll get into some of those specifics here I think there’s some of it in this mailbag but definitely over the off season but the one limitation there why I have them below the Lakers is their second best player obviously was Jamal Murray who uh in my opinion is in that like 15 to 20 range a lot of like really well fitting players but most of that team came down to Nicole yic and what he could do and his unbelievable level of dominance the reason why I have the 2021 uh the 2020 Lakers at one and look I get it I’m biased I’m a Lakers fan I’m a LeBron James fan and by the way if you guys disagree I just want to see your rankings drop your rankings in the comments you guys know I go through and read the comments so drop your individual rankings on the teams and put your reasoning and I’ll read through it and I want to hear your guys’s take my take is simple this the 2020 Lakers were the only team in that group that had two top tier Superstars Anthony Davis say what you want about him say what you want about what he’s become say what you want about what he used to be but in that 2020 season he was unquestionably one of the five best players in the league he had this like deadly mid-range ISO uh uh pull-up jump shot attack he legitimately could space the floor from the three point line and hit a game-winning three-point shot in that playoff series he was a dominant low post force and he is the best defensive player in the world who had one of the best defensive playoff runs that we’ve ever seen and LeBron James in 2020 was the best player in the world in my opinion should have one MVP that was the Year everyone bought into giannis’s advanced metrics just because they kicked the out of everybody in a bad Eastern Conference that team had in my opinion the best player in the world in LeBron and the fourth best player in the world in Anthony Davis while also being a elite defensive team down the roster there is no other team in that list Denver did not have two top five players this Boston team does not have two top five players that Warriors team did not have two top five players neither did the Raptors neither did the Bucks and so that’s my case and so uh what I want you guys to do if you’re arguing with me and you’re saying Jason you’re an idiot you’re a biased Lakers fan why do you have the Lakers at one tell me why tell me what of those other teams conquers the fact that the Lakers had two of the top five players in the world during that span that’s where I think uh is a good spot to kind of start that debate but we can get into that more in uh in some mailbags down the line next question even though the NBA has a lot of young talented players why does it not feel as exciting I thought this was pretty simple the one the Eastern Conference playoff picture was just really bad this year two we have had backtack Seasons this is crazy I had to like go back and look at it backtack Seasons where in the conference finals the team jumped up 3 0 in both conferences Miami went up 3 on Boston last year Denver went up 3 0 on the Lakers Dallas went up 3 on Minnesota this year Boston went up 3 0 on the Pacers then we go into the NBA Finals Denver kicked the out of Miami last year and Boston’s kicking the out of Dallas so for back-to-back Seasons the second half of the playoff picture has just been garbage and so I think that that has kind of taken some of the excitement out of it but I think a lot of that has to do with matchups a lot of that has to do with health so with the team the league getting deeper and more and more good teams entering the picture I do think that we’ll have more exciting playoff runs down the line do you think the finals MVP is locked in for Jaylen brown or depending on if it’s a sweep in how each JT and him perform could it defer to Jason Tatum love the show keep it up so uh I think Jaylen Brown is the clear Finals MVP to this point he’s been better statistically he has the two most iconic plays of the series those two one-handed dunks that he had even on the the block of uh PJ Washington in transition at the end of game two it was Derek white was in there but so was Jaylen Brown uh he hit the three of the biggest shots in the series that driving left-handed layup on Maxi kba as well as the pull-up jump shots that he hit last night I think Jaylen Brown is clearly the finals MVP to this point obviously if JB goes for 12 in game four and Tatum goes for 40 and it’s a super close game you can uh you could uh see potentially it swinging the other way but to me Jaylen Brown clearly the finals MVP to this point as far as the uh the other element to it which is like Jason Tatum’s responsibilities which are he gets double team more obviously his him him being on the center is the primary defensive function that has caused Dallas’s offense to fall apart I do think Tatum’s impact in this series is underrated he’s been better than what you would think looking at the box score that said jayen Brown also has done a lot of stuff in the details he’s been one of the main guys getting them in rotation defensively he’s been the guy that’s been picking up Luca full court and applying all that ball pressure and doing all that work like to me even though Jason Tatum has a lot beneath the box score that he’s been doing well it’s not enough to make up for the Gap and I think Jaylen Brown deserves to win finals MVP do you think the Celtics can continue to win championships if Tatum isn’t playing at a top five level because it’s pretty clear that he won’t reach that top tier as long as those five guys are together uh even just Horford and with those four guys yeah forget about it let’s just take the center position position out of it as long as Derrik white Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum and Drew holiday are together I think that they’re going to have a really good chance to win I agree with Colin last night he said he said that the Celtics team is too weird to like win three or four in a row I agree with that but they’re too talented to not win at least one and to be in the picture every year and if they’re in the picture every year all it takes is an injury here favorable matchup there to get a win and so I I think if someone asked me is it more likely than not that Boston wins another one in the next two seasons I’d say yes I think it’s more likely than not that Boston wins another one at some point in the next two seasons they’re durable they’re young they’re athletic they they just they they check so many boxes they’re just going to be in the picture that said every team that won the championship over the last six years talked do you guys remember nuggets fans last year all summer long how confident and arrogant they were remember Warriors fans the year before remember Bucks fans the year before that remember Lakers fans I mean we’re still arrogant you know what I mean so like we like you got to remember that like every team that hoists the trophy thinks they’re the team that figured it out they’re about to go on a run Boston actually I do think has a chance to win multiple so does Denver but we found out pretty quickly that it was kind of a Flash and a pan thing with that Warriors team and with that Bucks team right so something to keep in mind let’s see we’ll do one more and then we’ll get out of here hey Jason love the work you’ve been doing you’ve really made me fall in love with the game again my question is did this year’s playoffs affect how you look at fure playoff series and if it did how so so this has been uh and we’re going to do a deeper version of this uh right after the NBA Finals end it’ll probably be one of the early videos we do next week every year those of you guys who follow the show I do like a five biggest lessons I learned but if I had to give like a quick elevator pitch on it it’s pretty simple to me um I do think it’s important to run five out offense you guys who have follow the show for a while know that I used to be a huge proponent not a huge proponent but a defender of that four out kind of Brute Force type of attack but when you have the four out Brute Force kind of attack I think you need multiple physically imposing players for that to work and I think that uh one of the things that’s happened is Dallas has been Reliant a lot on pull-up jump shooting because of this adjustment that Boston’s made and it’s kind of stagnated things it’s made the role players play poorly Kyrie and Luca haven’t been able to hit enough of them right and so I think teams that have more ball and player movement that keep all five players involved just have some more resilience when they get to the later level of the playoffs so like to me ideally you want to run a five out offense with five offensive threats they don’t all have to be Shooters but they all need to be offensive threats in some way shape or form even if it’s just like a screener and cutter right but I think that that’s an important piece that I’d look at like uh uh I think that that’s a an important lesson to learn is that teams that run five out multiple player multiple threats lots of ball and player movement on the other end of the floor again this is something that I’ve always believed but I think has been hammered home in a big way in this postseason defensive versatility you have to be able to guard multiple ways if you can load up on a team to guard that’s great but you better be able to guard a team that spreads you out as well a team that can test your perimeter defense and test your ability to contain in rotation so next year when we see a team that has a great defensive rating that loads up the paint in drop coverage and uses the low man and loads up the strong side but they have multiple weak perimeter defensive points just something to keep in mind as we go into the postseason we’ll get into way more detail about that when we get into this summer I as always I appreciate you guys for participating in the mailbag and for supporting the show we’re going to be back tomorrow night no calling tomorrow just me live after the final buzzer of game four I will see you guys then [Music]

Jason Timpf answers listener questions during an NBA Finals Mailbag. Jason discusses which team from the West would have given Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics the most difficult time in a playoff series. Later, he discusses why Luka Doncic’s defensive efforts have been detrimental to the Mavericks’ chances in the Finals, whether Jaylen Brown has elevated his game to superstar level, and ranks the 2024 Celtics amongst the previous five NBA champions.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
02:43 – Which West team matches up with Boston?
07:06 – Luka-Steph Curry defensive comparison
12:07 – Why offense matters more
15:13 – Has Jaylen Brown jumped a tier?
18:32 – Ranking last 5 NBA champs
26:38 – Why does NBA feel less exciting?
27:35 – Will Jaylen Brown win Finals MVP?
29:11 – Will Celtics keep winning championships?
30:43 – Jason’s main playoff takeaways

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