Why Luka Doncic & Dallas Mavericks’ NBA title window has CLOSED | Colin Cowherd & Jason Timpf

Why Luka Doncic & Dallas Mavericks’ NBA title window has CLOSED | Colin Cowherd & Jason Timpf

welcome to the official YouTube channel for the Colin coward podcast go on hit the Subscribe button there you go right down there if you want to be among the first to hear my weekly takes NFL college football more right there I I want to Pivot a little bit though to Kyrie Irving and I thought about this so you know again basketball is the artist sport it’s international soccer it does matter how you play not just that you score and Messi P just they’re artists and that there’s absolute value in that and same in basketball Dr J stylistically magic was cooler than bird Michael Jordan was greatl looking well dressed super fun you know everything about MJ just just felt big Duncan was boring and there’s a reason you know history’s been kind of cruel to Tim Duncan who’s better than anybody wants to acknowledge and nobody except people in San Antonio will acknowledge how dominating he was he didn’t have a lot of style but Kyrie Irving played eight games at Duke no impact was kind of a bust pre- LeBron in Cleveland like couldn’t stay healthy nobody liked him goes to Boston doesn’t work Brooklyn uhuh first early early in Dallas you kind of weren’t sure and then he has this playoff run and we’re all like this is great so take out a couple of years with LeBron in his prime LeBron made everybody look great everybody and Kyrie bailed on that in this great run a noow in the finals and all over the map offensively he had bad bad shooting nights and I’m not giving you much in rebounding assists and defense like he needs to shoot well see not Jaylen Brown where he could you could tell me he’s four for 14 and he’d have eight rebounds seven assist and you know play the hell out of the defensive end that’s not what Kyrie is you needed to shoot so you know I look at Kyrie and I understand the finishing package it’s Artistry it’s beautiful no dispute but even this playoff run like you know Anthony Davis gets criticized sometimes for being inconsistent not defensively I get a star and offensively three out of four nights I know what I get like I know LeBron loves Kyrie ad is a more consistent star player Jaylen Brown’s a better basketball player I thought Kyrie in these playoffs his Highs are so high Jason you can’t take your eyes off it it’s a firework show it’s a inspiring it’s the singer hitting the highest note but man he throws out some stinkers he he had he was invisible for portions of this game I he didn’t score in the first quarter like the most important quarter of the season for the Mavs he didn’t do anything there’s my there’s my Kyrie take that his his aesthetic atic Beauty over Shadows a lot of nights where he gives you if he’s not shooting well he doesn’t give you anything else at all yeah pretty consistently in my player rankings I’ve had him right around that 20 spot when I’m when I’m ranking players I’m generally higher on Kyrie than than some people there’s a there’s a pretty substantial anti- Kyrie Coalition out there for obvious reasons because of his offc court stuff and like one of one of the things with with uh with this particular team that I look at is like I remember going into the series there were people saying like oh what if what if luuka and Kyrie are the two best players in the series and I’m like whoa whoa whoa hold on like let’s let’s chill out like I I like Kyrie he’s got this incredible upside which is what you’re referring to which is the fireworks show but what he is is he is a average to slightly above average kind of guard Defender when he’s playing hard but he had a pretty bad defensive series he is a guy that is a pullup jump shooter and so guess what happens with pullup jump shooters sometimes they go in sometimes they don’t and and and and that’s that to me is like there’s like one pullup jump shooter in NBA history who’s just been like reliably great in the postseason that’s Steph Curry you know what I mean all the other guys they’re the freaky athletes that can get to the rim consistently and dominate the game physically in some way shape or form right and so it honestly like because this is one of my big takeaways from from Dallas and like I i’ I’ve been kind of feeling this way since the beginning of the series but I don’t think this Dallas Mavericks team close you kind of mentioned this in your opening I don’t either I don’t yeah they’re I don’t think they’re close I think that they caught some really favorable matchups out in the western I think they’re good I think I think there was a tier of teams beneath Denver where where all the West Was and they managed to kind of weave their way through that with some favorable matchups right but like I think Denver would have beaten them pretty soundly in the and the other thing we have to admit Jason is because of Luca’s ball usage I felt like he wasn’t healthy for the last two series he looked he looked fatigued he looked beat up so again when when Kyrie’s not delivering it becomes very Luca dominant I thought he looked I thought you were getting about 80% of Luca in this finals and and some of that’s just when you’re the guy and you’re it’s it’s little Jaylen Brunson it’s like Jen’s great but there are limitations to you know when Jaylen went on that 40-point run you’re like this is isn’t going to end well like he just you can’t you can’t be that dominant you have to be able to um you know and that’s why the Celtics work is that Tatum wasn’t good in the first two games he and brown were both good in game three tonight Tatum was Superior I mean there there were Knights that uh Derek white I mean Richard before the half like it’s symphonic watching Boston they’re just handing the Baton off man Luca he he had that baton out multiple times and nobody grabbed it and I thought he looked and that’s I agree with you OKC’s only getting better Denver’s already favored Boston’s not getting significantly worse Sixers have Memphis will be back and by the way keep your eye on what Houston’s doing they had a stretch this year you’re like uh oh you they’re they’re probably a veteran away so I listen we’ve seen this before it’s like in the NFL the loser of the Super Bowl like most of the time doesn’t farewell like this this felt like a magical moment in time for Dallas but there’s some real flaws here we would both acknowledge that it’s it is too Luca dependent that’s what it it does feel like that Cavs team that was really very LeBron dependent played with great energy if you remember zil Gus I mean they played with tremendous energy LeBron was captivating they had streaky Shooters on the wing but then you watch them against San Antonio and you’re like all right they you know five of the best six players are all Spurs and that’s how I felt in this series mhm we’re this close to crowning an NBA champion I like the Celtics by the way in six Jaylen Brown’s going to be my MVP and I love the Celtics in game one but sign up 90 seconds put in the code Collins c o l i n draftking sports book an official sports betting partner of the NBA if you’re a new customer bet five bucks that’s it just bet five bucks and you’ll get 150 bucks instantly in bonus bets the code Collins c o l i n shows them that you’re a new customer to get 150 bucks in bonus bets only on DraftKings the crown is yours I’m leaning Celtics in six baby yeah I I one of the things that I find fascinating and I’m actually curious to get your take on this like one of the things that is hard to do in a situation like this after you have a s a successful postseason run is to be realistic about how far you are away and so for instance Lakers fans last year it’s like we made the Western Conference and I’m like okay well like golden state has always struggled against big athletic teams that was a pretty favorable match up for you and then also that Memphis team young johnar driving into Anthony Davis all series was obviously not going to work so it’s like you caught a couple of favorable matchups then you ran into a real Championship level team in Denver and you got your ass kicked so you’re not close right and so when I look at the when I look at the Dallas piece this is what I think about like when the circumstances are favorable like when Luca has obvious mismatches he can pick at the entire series and then on the other end of the floor when they can really load up the strong side and keep their Rim protectors at the rim and hide Luca on the opposite end of the floor they can get stops but where I get concerned is how many times in NBA history have we seen a team led by two stars that are both at least combining for two bad defensive players that go Inn the title it’s exceedingly rare and so one of the things that I wonder I shouldn’t say exceedingly rare I can’t never happened like I would say I I would even say like the the case would be oh what about Jamal Murray and Nicole yic which I understand but the flip side there is like even the two of them were not this type of uh like like yic was a dominant defensive rebounder who could actually do some stuff in pick and roll coverages defensively and Jamal Murray did his job and he’s bigger Jamal Mur they also had an elite Defender right off that in Gordon so they had yeah I mean they they uh accentuated like you know it’s like the Mavericks or like the Warriors they they hid Steph Iguodala clay you you can get away with your star not being an elite Defender but you have to have elements you have to have size joic athleticism Gordon like that that’s not what this Dallas team is it it’s it’s their two stars are Luca is disengaged a lot defensively yeah he was terrible in four of the five games of the series defensively I thought he was bad again tonight they were just bringing him up into the ball screen he would just kind of stand around in no man’s land Dre holiday slip out of it he’d get a layup they’d get him on a there at the end of the at the end of the first half just like game two they just attacked him in switches time and time and time again and scored every single time like it’s a real issue and so I let me just pitch it back to you like this is the version of a Luca donic Le team that wins a title one day is that version of that team constructed around Luca and then a secondary star that is an elite athlete that can impact the game more with his physical tools rather than with his skill because I wonder I wonder if this Dallas team is always going to be the kind of team that can beat certain matchups but will always struggle against teams that can spread them out just simply because that’s just two two way too weak points in their defense do you think that that’s what the the direction they’re going to have to go I think literally a perfect player for Lucas Paul George probably privately doesn’t want the final shot Luca does excellent Defender long willing can give you 30 in non pressure situations could really have nights where luuka can almost take a back seat but in the big moments you know Paul sometimes takes weird shots or bad shots Luca doesn’t like this is one of these things it it’s a better story than a team KY is not the fit a poor defensive player who’s hot and cold and needs the ball that’s not the fit the fit is a longwing Defender who can score 30 but like a Pippen has no problem letting the guy letting the man shoot Paul’s always been a you know Paul can hit the big shot but it’s like he can also back away from it he’s not a selfish player so it’s it’s Paul George is one of those guys he kind of works with everybody I think you know Paul’s gotten a bad rap I mean he he kind of fits everywhere you go back to those Miami Heat series Paul was working with Roy Hibbert a noncore George Hill you know Frank vogle Who Loved bigs not you know got guards they give they give Miami Wade and Bosch and bad and LeBron they gave him troubles those were really good series so I just think it’s one of those it it you know Kyrie Luca the movie poster is better than the movie I think they need a different star and and this is something I was told Years Ago by a GM like 20 years ago he said it’s not about the star having a star in the league there’s a lot of them it’s the right star and then once you get that star the warriors were brilliant here’s Steph’s deficiencies let’s just layer it and protect him it’s like hockey our great score is a finesse player let’s protect him you have to protect you don’t have to protect Tatum you have to augment some offensive you know uh production or zing more scores you don’t have to protect him you have to protect Luca defensively like I I’ve said this he’s a much better Carmelo Anthony he’s much better but disengaged defensively not sure he’s in great shape um you know it it’s kind of he’s the sun everything revolves around it sort of so I’m not anti-ca but I I don’t see him being part of a dynasty I just think he’s a he’s a medeor or he he just don’t see stuff like this in the history of basketball but all stars are not equal like Duncan is exactly what you want your star to be kind of boring does everything well doesn’t have to take the final shot in the end sacrifice salary like Duncan’s never gotten the respect like he literally did everything well except handle the ball and what did they put around him Parker Manu you know ball handlers so I just think Lucas spectacular but is you have to protect him more than anybody wants to acknowledge I guess that’s my take again yeah again it’s about acknowledging that you’re not close and so what I think there’s a bunch of different things that they have to address the first piece is Luca specifically and we talked about this a lot after game three has to get in better shape has to make a commitment to the defensive end like I want to see Luca come in next year and look different physically because this is year after year that this has been an issue and that he’s not made any sort of attempt to address so that’s the first piece of it the second piece of it is we’ve seen this consistently with Dallas they’ve kept trying to build the same team around him because we saw this with Brunson uh with Brunson and Dorian finny Smith and and that team that went to the Western Conference Finals two years ago like they they’ve built a team around two shot creators and then play finishers and like what just like what happened against the Warriors in 2022 eventually they’re like actually we’re just kind of fine with Luca taking these you know tough contested two-point jump shots his his step back three just isn’t reliable enough like once again this entire postseason run he just couldn’t knock it down at a high enough rate like there’s a lot of like games where he has 30 points on 27 shots and you’re like this isn’t actually something that’s causing problems for the for the for the opposing team and so like I look at it too like one of the things I like about doing something like going after a Paul George or more of like a skilled like a a multi-talented forward is it makes for Less redundancy it makes it so that you can like like it makes you a a different type of team to deal with on a possession by possession basis because what happens is when you lean on the Kyrie thing it’s like Kyrie has a rough series suddenly he doesn’t bring anything else to the table and now you look severely limited and so I think I think in general they’ve just got to have kind of like this self-awareness to acknowledge that they’re not close and to make these structural changes but one of the problems Colin is I don’t think they’re going to and I think they’re going to run it right back [Music]

Colin Cowherd & ‘Hoops Tonight’ host Jason Timpf react to the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, discuss what Luka Doncic MUST do to win a championship, and more NBA predictions.

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