Stephen A. THINKS IT’S OVER for Luka Doncic and the Mavericks 👀 | First Take

Stephen A. THINKS IT’S OVER for Luka Doncic and the Mavericks 👀 | First Take

get your popcorn ready LCA Don’s defense has been an issue all postseason but especially in the finals According to second Spectrum the Celtics are blowing by donic on Drive 68% of the time that would be the highest Blow by percentage allowed by a defender in any playoff series in the last decade uh second on this list is Luca from this year’s first round versus the Clippers third on this list Luca from the conference semis versus ok see here he is with our Malik Andrews yesterday your defense has been under a lot of scrutiny maybe because you’re hurt maybe because of of something else do you feel like you can help your teammates more do you think the scrutiny you’re under is fair yeah for sure I mean you know they always going to talk about it but the end of day I don’t think the biggest problem is our defense at this point uh I think we scored three games on the 100 points I mean that gives credit to Boston’s defense uh but I think think our offense is a little bit more problematic right now than than defense all right UHA you’re up first we got the crew back here with us Wendy and perk good to see you both Stephen A do you think Luca is gonna go off tonight um I think he’s going to go off I just don’t think it’s going to be enough um because I think that you know what perk and and Wendy pointed out in the immediate aftermath of game three was right on point in terms of the deflation or the deflating effect he’s had on the team Surly they’ll come out there and if they’ve got some pride and they haven’t already made their reservations for Cabo uh they’ll probably they they could win tonight rather but I’m looking at a Boston team right now that’s just getting in them and and I think that we got to remind ourselves that what transpired in game three was without the services of porzingis you can understand what happened in game one because porzingis was questionable but he came out there and he and he played light out had 18 points in the first have a couple of blocks he looked absolutely Sensational okay you’re better prepared for game two and it’s a and you’re fighting throughout the game but still in all what happened happened and they ultimately despite their struggles shooting the basketball they amped up their defense and was able to neutralize Dallas offensively game three there was no porzingis it was supposed to be the kind of matchup that was made for you you showed us that early because of the willingness to attack the basket him and Kyrie because you didn’t have to worry about porzingis and his 7 foot3 self being in being an impediment in the lane and yet still you found yourself down by 21 before trying to storm back but ultimately coming up short so I think that all the obstacles um that that you know or rather all the Avenues that the Dallas Mavericks had before them that they could have exploited their failure to do so I think is a little bit it’s a little bit too late and I think it’s one of those situations where Luca will end up coming out tonight and showing what he’s made of but I don’t think it’ll be enough I think Boston has them figured out I think they’ve deflated them and I think it’s over well it is over but look yeah go ahead go ahead per I will say this this this is a legacy game for Luca this is a legacy moment for Luca right what he did in game three and how horrible he’s been defensively he has to rise to the occasion look can he go out there and put up 30 35 11 points I mean 35 points 11 rebounds and 11 11 assists yes we know that that’s not the problem again what is he going to bring on the other side of the floor those blowb I I had to laugh at that that’s ridiculous from just an individual Pride right just digging down deep and and and at the end of the day it comes down to the first three minutes of the game is going to tell me a lot about Luca right because you see a person true character when they hit adversity if he’s going to be diving on the floor for loose balls is he going to take these switches when they try to come at him defensively is he going to slide slide those puppies I want to see that tonight like set a tone in a different matter I don’t care about him getting buckets I want to see him take individual Pride defensively if Luca gets swept it’s going to be a cold summer for him nothing is even going to matter next season I don’t care if he leads the league and scoring again Nothing’s Gonna matter until he gets back to the finals and redeem himself the same energy that we had for Jason Tatum after his performance uh in 2022 is the same energy that we need to keep for uh Luca when it comes down to these these finals at the end of the day he needs to get one he cannot get swept going out there putting up individual numbers and taking the L not giv defensive effort is unacceptable he has to do it all across the board they need to carry him out on the stretcher that’s how that’s how much energy he need to exhaust on both ends of the floor Molly um he has great numbers in elimination games in his career so I have no doubt he’s going to go after it but the reason that those Blow by numbers are are interesting and the why they don’t even tell the whole story is that in those other series and in other Playoff Series in the past the teams that the Mavericks have been playing against don’t have five Dynamic players like the Celtics put out there almost all the time pretty much everybody on the floor for the Celtics can either Drive pass and shoot someone they can do all three of them and so it’s very hard to quote unquote hide Luca like they could in other series like you know against Oklahoma City they could put him on Lou Dort or put him on Josh Giddy and not be super worried about the outside shot in this series there’s nowhere for him to hide this he couldn’t even hide on Sam Hower they had him on Sam Houser in the first quarter of game three Hower hit two three two Corner threes where he was very slow sluggish defending and then hit another three in transition where he was unguarded because Luca was back there complaining about the officials laying on the ground and that’s part of what’s going on here those percentages are always going to be high Luca is never going to move laterally well he’s always going to be a Target to get um blown by which is why the Mavericks have invested in big men to block the rim but against this team where they can stretch the floor and um move those big men out of the way and then um not be afraid to give Lucas man the ball to shoot or drive or or drive and kick to to force help and pass it it’s just exacerbated and I think that’s one of the lessons that Luca is gonna take out not just from tonight because I don’t know if there’s something he can do between now and 8 8:30 tonight that’s going to change that reality but one of the big lessons that he can take away from is the level that he’s going to have to play in to win at the highest level the team he’s going to see from the Eastern Conference whenever he gets to the finals is going to have great players probably five great players on the court and so that’s what I think I’d like them to take away not just how he may respond to his poor game in game three whether Jason Tatum needed to win Finals MVP or not to cement his legacy Tatum himself has kept his focus on the Ultimate Prize telling Bleacher Report Finals MVP whatever A Champion is a champion that’s the goal I want for my teammates what I want for myself I want everybody to shine there’s enough attention for all of us and so I want everybody to give us theirs all right essay like that quote uh by Jason Tatum there there do you think Jaylen Brown’s a locked to win the finals MVP based on what we’ve seen so far who’s that question for steephen a yes um I don’t think that Jaylen Brown’s a lot um I think that he would get my vote but if Jason Tatum explodes tonight after what we saw him do in game two and his performance outshines Jaylen brownon tonight I think he would get the MVP um because Jason Tatum has been the face of the Boston Celtics uh all of these years he has been their number one option he just finished averaging about 27 a game this season he showed up in game three of these finals and he balled out and I think the combination of all of those things you know you can look at Jaylen Brown and the model of consistency that he’s been and he deserves a lot of credit for this over the last seven games dating back to the get into the Eastern Conference Finals to now he’s averaging about 27 on like 53% shooting from the field so he deserves a lot of credit but porzingis was so spectacular in the first half of game one Drew holiday was big time in game two I think if you look at Tatum because of what Tatum did in game three and then he explodes tonight in game four I think he gets it if Jaylen Brown is right there with him being the model of consistency that he’s been plus hitting big shots in the clutch then Jaylen Brown gets it I think that’s what it comes down to W I think it’s sold up I think jayen Brown has this sold up he’s been the best player since the Indiana series for us on the Boston for this Boston Celtics and when you think about this series think about this for a sec coming into this series we were talking about Luca Kyrie and Jason Tatum being the top being the best three players in this series it’s been Jaylen Brown on both both ends of the flooor you think about the plays the impact since game one every single game all I think about is Jaylen Brown I mean from him picking up Luca 94 feet and ripping him from him going vertical and blocking Derek Jones Jr uh shot uh dunk in game one from him blocking Kyrie Irving shot setting the tone and talking noise after he threw it in the stands from him snatching the screws out the rim on Daniel Gafford and then you move on to game two we know Drew Holliday right he had a great performance I think he had around 25 26 points I can’t remember right off backat but Jaylen Brown was that next player in line and then game three yes Jason Tatum he got it going he had a 30 piece but Jaylen Brown completely took over that second half and not only did he have 30 plus he had eight rebounds and he had eight assists and in that fourth quarter he basically told JT look I let you cook slide down a little bit I’m about to go to work and that crucial bucket when they was up two with about a minute to go in the game to put them up four was just everything to me and Jaylen Brown just had he just he’s had more powerful plays in this moment with along with being their best player that’s why I say if he goes out and he has a good performance that finals MVP is in his La Molly let me tell you a little bit about how this voting goes so when it comes to the big Awards the season long Awards there’s a hundred different media members that vote for the for the award they’re from every single market and all over the world for the the finals MVP there are only nine voters and all of them are here on site and most of these voters are people who will have had personal conversations and know these players personally um over the course of time and over the course of years it’s a much more intimate uh and actually highly more important vote and so I believe that jayen is the front runner for this I agree with Stephen A in that it’s not sewn up because I do think Drew holiday has a potential hand on the award if he has a huge performance tonight I think Tatum if he has a Transcendent performance to sort of Drive the nail into the coffin I think he had a claim to it but I do think that this award is multifaceted because it’s not just necessarily about their individual performance there’s other things that go into it in some ways it’s a vote about the whole postseason and Jaylen Brown’s performance throughout this whole postseason and how much he’s dealt with um uh you know and gotten better over the last year I think is part of this and frankly possibly a little bit of guilt from you know there was five to four in the um in the last in the Eastern Conference Finals uh Jason tayum had an absolutely brilliant Eastern Conference Finals but it was 5 to four it was that close of a vote and I I I I wouldn’t say for sure because I wasn’t one of those voters but I wonder if the fact that that Jaylen had not been recognized as an all NBA player and all the all defensive team and looks so important in those two roles throughout that series as well as a factor so I do think this may indeed be Jaylen Brown’s time of course one more strong game from him tonight would indeed like perk says sew it [Music] [Applause] up NBA is

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst join Molly Qerim to discuss the 2024 NBA Finals.
0:00 Luka Doncic’s defense
0:30 Malika Andrews’ conversation with Luka
1:40 Celtics are just too much for the Mavericks?
3:30 A legacy game for Luka?
7:00 Jayson Tatum’s focus on the ultimate prize
11:00 How the Finals MVP voting goes…

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