FULL PREVIEW: What do the Mavericks need out of Luka Doncic to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals? 👀

FULL PREVIEW: What do the Mavericks need out of Luka Doncic to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals? 👀

we all know that no team has ever come back from down 03 156 teams have tried 156 have failed that includes an 0 and4 record in the finals so here’s what Kyrie Irving and Luka donic said yesterday about the task at hand here it obviously like sucks horrendously that we’re not at least um you know competitive in this series right now three games in um but it’s also uh about getting experience and learning through these things this is my first semi-finals uh so I’m going to learn from it for sure uh but we’re not in offseason yet you know they still got to win one a game uh like I said we’re going to believe till the end all right Luca says it Luca says you got to believe until the end so Monica what reason have the Mavs given you to believe uh unfortunately not any I don’t I don’t think that the Mavs are going to be able to get this done and when you look at what happened in game three last night the Celtics or not last night the other night the Celtics just have so many options late in this ball game as they were making their push the Celtics responded right this was before the game will be drawn to one within one point with about 120 to go but look at all of the options you have to respect each option even on the right rotations Drew holiday is able to make the right pass and Derek white steps up and knocks down a huge three this was sort of in the pivotal moments of this ball game three-point game pushed out to a six-point game after this and then the following play this is they were this close like Jason Tatum nearly turns this basketball over but he’s able to make a play in the gut of this MAV defense and so it’s just these little things whether it’s executing or the grit that the Celtics have played with to this point they’ve just outd the maps and we focus so much on the Dallas Mavericks defense or their lack thereof frankly over this last couple of games but when I spoke to LCA donic yesterday he he mentioned to me how they’ve been held to under a 100 points over and over again take a listen to what he had to say here do you feel like you still have another level that you can reach even with being this banged up yeah uh especially you know uh helping my teammates out uh you know they played uh a different kind of Defense we never seen before in this playoffs you know just let us go one onone uh so I think I have I have to to help out my teammates more they play what oneon-one they play making him play a lot of one-onone yeah that’s what he want right I mean he’s the Le he led the league in scoring this year this is what he want should be able to attack these one-on-one match ups and especially when you have a guy like on you like old man Al Horford right you should be able to get downhill it’s the other end for luuka I don’t to be honest with you I don’t give a damn if Luca have 40 10 and 11 a night I need to see the other things the little things that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet play with too many Hall of Famers on this stage right and although they had the numbers in the box scores we could go to the film room and we can see guys diving on the floor for uh 5050 balls we can see guys cracking back on when they bigs are going to help things to that nature I need to see that out of luk of the night he needs to get carried out on the stretcher right leave it all out on the floor like Matt uh like Deli did right like fighting over screens real talk this got to be personal for Luca he cannot go into the off season after that game three performance and what he did to the math to his team he has to pick them up he has to do what he needs to do when you look at Luca donz we said he’s not going to be compared to other allar he’s not going to get paired to Jaylen Brown he’s not going to get paired to Jason Tatum he’s going to get paired to other people in his class that is the that is the Shaquille O Neils those are the LeBron James the Kevin Durant the Steph Curry’s the guys that are MVP ready type players Kobe Bryant so when we look at their performance it’s not just statistics you know even you look at uh Kobe Bryan when he won his last championship he struggled in the last game and he had his teammates help him up it’s not always going to be seamless for a superstar but you’ve never questioned a Superstar’s effort certain and that’s what’s unique about right now is that it ain’t the numers it’s the effort and it didn’t matter if Steph wasn’t great at defense didn’t matter what was going on you never questioned anyone’s effort especially on that part of the ball but I do want to give Dallas or the Boston Celtics rather credit for what they are doing what are they doing to Luca do here today first of all I know when we think about the Celtics we always talk about the duo Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown their star offensive performances but typically when you win championships you reference the Warriors they have had top two defenses their defense has showed up in the regular season the Celtics had the number two defense and let me show you what this defense is doing over the course of this NBA Finals as we break it down let’s head to the court first of all they’re forcing errant passes this is great defense Drew holiday has the first assignment now that’s how Horford or and and if you watch this right here he’s still helping based off of Luca’s uh Power and magnitude before you realize that they’ve had 50 four lobs leading into the NBA Finals they only have two at this point based off of those things and also the smothering ball pressure watch this right here this force is a very difficult situation it’s Tillman now getting the switch and what I love about this is just that they are all committed to this role it’s Luca it doesn’t matter who’s guarding him one-on-one he attacks and is able to close the gap and contest a shot but perk you always give me credit for these breakdowns y’all because uh this is for you right here they also are great at sliding those puppies did you see that right there yeah see to me it’s effort defensively it’s the effort defensively that you’re seeing and it’s being contrasted to Dallas’s lack of through LCA and and to and and to piggy back off of that just watching even when Kyrie Irving gets switches right we talked about the play yesterday with Al Horford when he uh Al Horford made him take the tough contested three but Peyton p pyton Pritchard he’s been holding his own right when switching out on Kyrie I’m like they’re making an emphas to guard the damn ball and like Drew holiday comments he was like even I even i y know how to go at the ball and it was real though two your point though about it not being about Luca stats three out of the five matchups between these two teams Luca has had a triple double and so to a degree the Celtics are willing to live with this productivity that doesn’t necessarily translate into winning basketball for the Mavs formula he’s averaging 35 points a game and his six career elimination games that’s most in the NBA ever just ahead of LeBron just ahead of just ahead of Wilt so Richard you’ve been on both sides of a sweep uh right yeah just cheing on that I’ve never I’ve never swept anyone in the NBA Finals but I have it on the other side of that uh shout out the Lakers in the 01 Squad with Shaq and Kobe but no when how much I believe I always have belief because I’ve been in a position where we had done something that had never been done before the thing that makes me a little hesitant for Annie Bel is that you had porzingis he was an X Factor we saw his impact in game too when we on the plane when Draymond got suspended it was like hey we needed a little bit of help we got a little bit of help so the Dallas Mavericks got a little bit of help they came into their building there were no long there was no Kristoff porzingis and that was the effort that they put forth that is disappointing do I think it’s over over they can’t win one no no no no no because you know who won a game the the the Miami Heat won a game against the Boston Celtics you know who won a game the banged up Cleveland Cavaliers won a game do you know who else won a game the Indiana Pacers so at the Dallas Maverick step up here and can’t even win a damn game it’s embarrassing we can call it what it is it is fully embarrassing you are at least healthy cuz your squad is on the court your squad is on the court Lucas’s putting 301 and 10 up don’t tell me he doesn’t have enough help to win one game that’s what’s embarrassing I’m with you why everybody got when you preaching we going to shut up serious we going shut up look I’m not counting the MS out not I mean they’re going to lose this series I got them pick to win this game tonight in this series we haven’t seen a game where Kyrie and Luca both perform at an elite level right games one and two Luca was doing his thing offensively Kyrie was struggling Kyrie came back and bounced back in game three all of a sudden Luca had an emotional break now in game four I think both of these guys are going to show up and show out offensively is going to be enough to overcome the Boston Celtics and by the way here’s the thing tell us I’m listening to the Celtics right now and I’m listening to the players talk not Joe Missoula and they’re acting as if it’s over it’s the first to four right not the first to three so I I hope they don’t expect to walk into this building and think that the MS are going to roll over and play dead yeah I agree and I do think that if you look at the top two they combined for 62 points right so they’re feeling confident moving in and motivated more motivated than ever but more importantly in this NBA Finals the Mavs are shooting six for 24 on wide open shots that’s only going to go up potentially in game four right because game fours or closeout games rather are often often times I mean Richard perk you’ve said this the hardest games to play here Monica the hardest game is to close out a team particularly in the NBA Finals I just go back to something that our George Sedano reported on our radio broadcast about the Huddle and when game the game got tight clutch time in the fourth Jaylen Brown using the word let’s graduate for all the noise that has been said about the Boston Celtics oh y’all everybody the best players were hurt on your way here oh the East was easy what statement what better statement it t I’m say it’s going Bey and I agree withall in terms of Pride but I I think that Jason Tatum jayen Brown are at a different place in their career yeah and and speaking of the noise right I hear the the the players and you know all the coaches of the Celtics they’re talking about oh y’all were criticizing Jason Tatum and jayen brown I was because they earned it let’s not act like over the don’t your high but I’m saying let’s not but let’s not act like over the last two years you know you guys have not lived up to expectations okay so now that you are we congratulate We Salute but it was warranted while we were criticizing down 3 last year to Miami I mean this is the day for high horses mik yeah you’re going to see exactly what your name means coming up here in a little bit but on the Dallas Maverick side there’s a whole lot of people hoping that they can summon something we’re still here Richard Su something including Dirk nitzki uh did you happen to see this Kendrick Perkins at some sort of fan Fest outside of the Arena oh good for them oh oh my gosh wait a minute that’s not how that’s supposed to go that’s supposed to don’t show this to me I’m not watching this I’m not watching this would you ever try I’m not watching come back I can’t watch this mean my man wasn’t even close you might as well have had perks they got bet these got [Music] [Applause] me with I’m n [Applause]

On NBA Today, Monica McNutt, Chiney Ogwumike, Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins preview the Game 4 matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals.

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