MINDSET SHIFT?! Stephen A.’s Celtics vs. Mavericks Game 5 VERDICT 🔥 | First Take

MINDSET SHIFT?! Stephen A.’s Celtics vs. Mavericks Game 5 VERDICT 🔥 | First Take

you got to believe and why not us right you go to Boston tomorrow right I hope you guys all pack the great respond he hears the criticism he’s been engaged defensively it’s a Dallas domination here in the first [Applause] half the grip of these Mavericks staring a sweep Boston’s defense tonight just getting absolutely shredded by nearly everyone led by that guy Luca donic Mavericks put on an alltime playoff performance in terms of completely dominating a game is first to four and we’re going to believe till the end so we just got to keep going it’s game day folks we have a pivotal game five tonight from Boston on ABC 830 Eastern the MAV showed life and then some with a huge lopsided win from Dallas 22 to 84 it was the largest win by a team facing elimination in finals history the Seas lead 3-1 and Jason Tatum can hoist his first Larry O’Brien tonight talk to me we would love to win tomorrow more than anything but if it doesn’t happen it’s not the end of the world we have more opportunities uh so just like setting that that table uh of like you know don’t surrender to that idea that we have to win tomorrow we would love to absolutely uh but game five is the biggest game of the season because it’s the next game on the schedule okay so Jason taking a little bit of the pressure off that game five there there’ll be more opportunities Beyond tonight Stephen A tell me this I’ll start with you what do you think would be the biggest reason this final series could reach a game six no production from Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum your two stars have to step up you know they didn’t do that in game four we understand that that overwhelmed them they annihilated them in the game four we didn’t expect that at all I think it’s an aberration obviously Boston’s been the best team in basketball you don’t lose like that that can happen I saw the Lakers lose in the NBA Finals about 40 in a game one if I remember correctly against Boston in the 80s and came back and won that Series so we understand that there are these these moments happen but considering the fact that a game six is back in Dallas if you’re the Boston Celtics you certainly don’t want to find yourself in a situation where game six is four because the likelihood is that if it’s forced it’s going to be because your two resident Stars didn’t step up and handle their business with porzingis out Dallas has been driving the ball in the basket they’ve been scoring in the paint more over the last two games than they did in the first three so they’re taking advantage of porzingis which is why people like myself and others picked the Dallas Mavericks to win this series because we suspected that porzingis wouldn’t be able to play in this series more than one or two games and stuff and that’s exactly what has ended up happening so we’ll see even though we didn’t expect Boston to go up 3 0 in the end though a game like this in Boston with that crowd as Rabbid as they’re going to be tonight the stars have to come out and send a message we’re not going back to Dallas and Jason Tatum didn’t do that in that press conference interview right there he didn’t do that at all I’m not saying it’s the end of the world but you don’t hear Stars talking about if we don’t win the game it’s not the end of the world before the damn game happens you hear that after the game you do not hear that before the game that was not a good thing but we’ll see whether or not him and Jaylen Brown respond I’m going to go Kyrie now look I I come into this expecting Luca to have same sense of urgency defensively and just and his temperament like Wendy like you said and get up his temperament being at the point where he’s not complaining whining doing all the extra stuff he’s staying engaged in the play okay but I I think this has a chance to be Kyrie’s biggest game of his career now I say that understanding that game seven he made that shot with Cleveland it was incredible right but coming into this game the baggage that he has in that Arena the baggage that he has with the fan base seeing that Luca has been able offensively to be there and the first two games that way they were for karat Kyrie it even seems in like you know all these days leading up to game five like the little comments even though Kyrie’s being reflective around it being a cult yes it is a cult they’re the Boston Celtics they have 17 championships they are Aid fan base if his him him talking about it wasn’t really that loud in the arena after game one it still seems like this is something that he’s dealing with these demons from the past like they’re in his head a little bit and if Kyrie’s able to get over that in a game five and step up and play alongside Luca that’s the reason why I think he gets to a game six in Dallas I think it goes back to the Celtics beating themselves I don’t know if the Mavericks will beat the Celtics on their own home floor for me it’s not the superstars not showing up it’s the Celtics as a whole not hitting threes because what have we talked about with this Celtics team throughout the season they live and die by the three-point shot we have seen them in multiple series when they lost to Miami at home they did not shoot the 3 when they lost to Cleveland they did not shoot the three well even in game two in this series they were 10 of what was it 39 from three they were 25% from Beyond The Arc the Mavs just couldn’t take advantage of that I think it would be the Celtics hurting themselves they were 14 to 41 from three that that too game two at home they struggled hitting threes they were 25% at home so I think it comes down to knocking down threes because they live and die by it it’s not like they’re going to stop taking them if they’re not hitting threes I think they’ll lose tonight it was a serious shift in three and four compared to one and two Dallas very easily could have won game three they blew him out in game four what is the difference in those two games no porzingis especially in game four Derek Lively Derek Lively is a huge factor for the Mavericks he has been reanimated these last two games back-to-back double doubles was awesome running the floor the Mavericks completely Domin that game in the paint with what’s the difference no porzingis yeah so what I wonder and I’m sure porzingis will be listed as available tonight because he was listed as available for game four what they can use him for now just because he’s listed as available doesn’t mean he’s getting 25 minutes that’s correct does he play five minutes does he play 10 does he play none that to me if you’re look if you’re Dallas you’re saying where are we getting traction they’re outrebounding them since porzingis went down they’re killing them in the paint Lively is back that is a basis of which you can say we’re building something tangible if you’re if you’re down if you’re Boston do you risk putting him out there yes or do you try to save him in case it you put him out there to try to close this out in five tomorrow’s not guaranteed I mean we say that about life it’s also applicable to sporting events tomorrow’s not guaranteed you can’t sit up there and find yourself you can’t take for granted the opportunity that’s available to you and that’s why I go back to the Jason Tatum jayen Browns of the world Jason Tatum is shooting 29% from three-point range in this NBA final Series this matches it matches what he’s done throughout the postseason from three-point range and right now it’s considered the worst in like postseason history cuz he takes so many of them exactly and so you look at it it’s the worst B point percentage in a single postseason in NBA history that’s what Jason Tatum is doing right now from the point range that’s got to be alleviated on your home court if he’s not GNA listen and and Wendy brought it up if you’re G to take them you got to make them some of them or don’t take them and do the kind of things you did in game two where you being an assist an assist man and you trying to be like magic Johnson some you got your seven assists in the second quarter 11 for the game you got to do something like that what you can’t do is go out on the basketball court and take them continue to launch them when you know you ain’t making them you going to have to find a remedy when we look at Friday and how lopsided it was right what did I say 12284 that final score how much of a confidence boost is that for now Dallas going into tonight it’s a huge confidence boost I mean they have to bring that same desperate energy to Boston and now the thing is you think we won by that large of a mark at we can win even if it’s by a small margin on the road I don’t anticipate if they were going to get a win it would be by that many points but you’re like we can build off of all the things that we did well everybody hit shots you heard it Wendy say it Derek Lively played well Luca Don sat in a defensive stance Kyrie played aggressive there were so many things for Dallas to build off of it might not happen to that degree in Boston but they can bring those same concept and principles to Boston three minute factors here I should say minute but just three real nuggets right here number one you brought up Lively right obviously the double double what was it 11 points 82% shooting from the field 12 and a half rebounds in games three and four whereas in game two ones and two one two points on 50% shooting so it’s a dramatic difference we got to look at Kyrie Irving games one and two 14 points 35% shooting games three and four 28% 50% shooting 42% from three-point range Boston we got it and you brought it up I’m going to reiterate it again the crowd messes with him and I bring that up because a guy that was a three-time champion before he captured his fourth named Draymond Green spoke after that NBA finals and acknowledged that when he went up against Boston it took him a while because he had never experienced anything like that in terms of the victory all they thre in his Direction well that’s just him as an opponent with Kyrie Irving is so far more personal because he was a member of that franchise departed so there’s a lot of residue there and if you know Kyrie Irving who by the way is a good guy the fact of the matter is he can be relatively sensitive I don’t mean it in a bad way I’m talking about from the standpoint he recognizes what he did wrong in the past and so there’s a part of him that wears that with him now you got to find a way to get on the basketball court and shove all of that aside and treat them like the enemy they are that you treated them like when they were in Dallas games three and four don’t you think there’ll be a mindset shift just because he had such a good game on Friday I get that it’s in Dallas but just like hey I can do this I I’ll let Jay answer it but I will say this Molly in Dallas is Dallas when you go back he hadn’t really had a game like that iname one or two I get you what I’m saying is when you go back to Boston that environment is so traumatically different and he got to overcome it cuz Molly they know they sense first of all they’re wise and they know they’re B natural basketball fans so they know when they’ve gotten to somebody and they believe they’ve gotten really at this level like really so think I mean what what happened after game one where he said I thought it would be a lot louder like they they literally took that they put it on a Jumbotron even his second answer over the weekend where he was extremely reflective he listened damn har like that’s that takes a lot of awareness but he used the word yeah they’re like a cult and like you got to those are trigger words now those are words that that fan base recognizes and they will use it to ganize and he’s smart so it wasn’t accidental exactly what he was saying wouldn’t you use that and get be angry and then play at a whole another level cuz now you got the villain of making it tighter though too Kyrie has checked so many boxes this year where we’re like wow wow wow but the Boston one Boston one it’s unresolved and I’m telling you you can feel it when you listen to him talk and you watch him out there especially when the camera’s not on him it’s just below the surface he’s like he he I believe you I believe you and I get that there like renting room in his head right now but what do you think is the main like the main issue because of how he departed and he feels guilty like what what’s the real issue he doesn’t think he was wrong he thought he he thinks he’s wronged he doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel like he made mistakes he’s acknowledge that but he he feels like he was wronged in a certain way so because it’s a narrative that he doesn’t believe that he he he has said I tell the story someday they’re not coming and I’m gonna go to you Andre they’re not coming to him Molly because you’re just some basketball player we want to see come go down they’re coming at him in a way where you’ve betrayed us you’ve turned your back on us and they find ways to egg you on I’ll compare Jay will appreciate this I’ll compare it in in an elevated way to the kind of stuff that happens with do remember years decades ago Molly was a guy old in plyy I ain’t throwing no shade on him but you know he got himself in trouble with you know at a record store whatever you tell record the Duke crowd threw records on the court they threw records I mean they find ways to mess with you Boston some people show up more like a Kobe Bryant who is his favorite player who have great relation some people handle it better he has to show he can hand Kyrie can handle anywhere else the one place he hasn’t proven he can handle it is Boston and they know it it’s also a place he avoided playing at for a certain amount of years also he didn’t play in some of the games when he had opportunities to play in Boston he was with a different team like sometimes it takes time to get used to that environment and there were years and Seasons where he could have given himself a little more experience being back there and he didn’t do that might regret it now but that didn’t happen you also have to think too and I don’t know who said this on get up but I thought it was a great Point Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown were the players Kyrie was supposed to lead and now they’re leading the Celtics there just so many different levels I just look at professional athletes with such a respect that they can turn anything into motivation and they can compartmentalize they would look at it as an opportunity so I I I just find it hard that a player of that caliber could let the crowd beat it sometimes it takes more time than others but like I said especially when it’s a if if if you you’re absolutely right if there’s nothing about it but competition but you were there and you walked away you remember when LeBron went back to Cleveland one of LeBron’s Shining Moments he goes back to Cleveland for the first time you got security everywhere C everywhere everybody it was madness Okay dead down 27 and LeBron James in the Miami Heat come storming back right and LeBron hits one shot and just pulls out his mouthpiece and is taking deep breath to stand at the ground and we’re all looking at him and everybody like yeah go because you knew the crowd was trying to Rattle him and he was like nah it ain’t happening but but we didn’t know he would be able to do it until he did it that crowd when you used to be someplace and you depart and they view you as a turn coat of Benedict Arnold per se every athlete doesn’t handle that the same yeah some handle it better than others [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Andraya Carter, Jay Williams and Brian Windhorst join Molly Qerim to talk in-depth about the 2024 NBA Finals.
0:00 Boston Celtics vs. Dallas Mavericks Game 5
1:30 Could the NBA Finals go to a Game 6?
4:00 All things Kyrie Irving
7:40 “Desperate energy”
12:00 Handling the Finals pressure

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