Luka-Mavs meet Jayson Tatum-Celtics in NBA Finals, Kyrie’s growth, Lakers HC search | THE HERD

Luka-Mavs meet Jayson Tatum-Celtics in NBA Finals, Kyrie’s growth, Lakers HC search | THE HERD

Rachel Nichols on the show it’s great to see her covering the league since ’93 well you’ve been in a lot of these series and you’ve watched a lot the I think we can say without hesitation the West is deeper and thicker and better than the East and I think it’s fascinating that Dallas beat the old Clippers and the young Thunder and the tall powerful tea wolves and here come the three ball shooting Celtics it is um it’s a little like March Madness where you’re like this team is better than a month ago oh yeah I mean they’ve just gotten better it’s really since I mean it’s a crazy date but March 7th was the day that Jason kid both changed the starting lineup and had a real heart to heart with his players lots of feelings came out Jason told me he said that we they didn’t like it but we had a little bit of a therapy session over why we got to play better defense and since March 7th they had been the number one defense in the league before March 7th they were 23rd wow so the difference has been huge and the confidence they’ve gained with every round has been huge and there’s no question they had a much harder road to these NBA Finals than the Celtics did but they haven’t played a team on that road as good as the Celtics yeah or as deep offensively so um you know Boston is I I said this they’re the perfect 2024 pro team they’re rich they’re collaborative they get along they listen to their coach M um the skill level’s insane six guys could give you 25 in a Finals game including Al Horford you’d be fine um and they’re not a re they don’t have a lot of dogs I think a basketball a lot of these guy they don’t kind of feel like an old Pistons an old Celtics they don’t quite have I don’t think a lot of teams do what’s fascinating with Dallas is Luca is that guy and I think Stars it just rubs off mhm and I think Dallas plays with a chip do you sense it do you hear that oh absolutely first of all Luka was number two on my MVP ballot I still think that I I think that he will be the best most talented player in this series not saying he’s going to have the best numbers of anyone but in terms of who would you take if you had 10 guys on the floor which one would be your number one draft pick Luca donic would be your number one draft pick he is just more of a fireball offensive talent and he’s been playing very good defense yeah so I think he’s still going to get his numbers I think he’s still going to do well in this series I don’t think anyone’s going to stop him but I do think they’re going to pick him up full court a lot they’re going to be looking to Tire him out so that even if he still shoots on the offensive end that he’s not quite a stringent on defense because he’s just going to be a little bit more exhausted yeah and the way that the Celtics can throw three all defensive player quality I know only two of them actually made the team this year but you could certainly argue Jaylen Brown could have been on one of those all defense teams um at them they are better individual Defenders than Luca has seen through the these playoffs so it’ll be an interesting matchup that way and then of course what Dallas has done on defense is pack the paint right and Derrick Lively we’re all just amazed by this kid incredible can’t do that with Boston they’ve both taken and made not just taken but made the most threes in the League this year so porzingis is a very good player he does have an injury history but I felt throughout the Eastern playoffs that Boston felt like why play him yeah that’s what it feels like or is it a we can’t play him I think it’s a little bit of both right I mean I don’t think they rushed him back I think they couldn’t play him at the beginning I think if in the Eastern Conference Finals that was a different matchup if they really felt they got to like a game you know six or seven there were reports he was ready to come back by game you know four or five but by the time they got to game four they didn’t need him so I think that they were overly cautious as they should have been because you don’t need him to win that Series so why put him out there and risk it uh and he is expected to play in the finals and I think he’ll make a very big difference I mean Brad Stevens won EX I of the Year this year for a very good reason he got Drew holiday and Chris ABS porzingis already added the nucleus of this team that was so strong already and that’s why sort of one through five at least with those top five starters they have a stronger complete starting five than Dallas has even though Dallas will have the best player on the floor so it’s uh bummer for Mark cubin who’s who got a title out of it thank God Mark got a title if he’d have sold it now I mean I think he’s still a minority owner is what I saw flash across the screen trust me if the Mavericks win Mark Cuban’s getting a ring and he’s a lot more visible you know I met the new ownership Mark actually introduced me to the new ownership in Dallas and they’re lovely but they’re not the same I he is out there he is out front they are not interested in that they like owning the team it’s going to tie into some other larger plans that both they and Mark have but they are not interested in being on the sideline and being you know on TV and being the guy or anything like that and Mark still is and God love him he he certainly deserves to be he is sweat a lot with this team you know right along with the players no I’ve said for years Dallas is an underrated NBA brand I I no state tax uh right in the middle of the country no five hour flights but that’s Mark not the not taxes but I remember before he bought the team guys didn’t want to be there it just felt like cowboy Town yeah it was a losing proposition awful for years and yeah the team wasn’t good and the facilities weren’t good and the first thing he did was come in and completely change the players locker room and it is the prototype for what we now see as a player locker room but none of them were like this wood paneling the big comfy chairs putting like a game system I remember people criticizing and going it’s going to be soft too comfortable you know what it was a recruiting tactic and it worked yeah it changed the perception um so it’s interesting um the last two I spent a little more time in Boston recently um um and so the last two times I’ve been in Logan Airport mhm in Boston I’ve had Celtic fans literally come up and you can it’s palpable you can feel the pressure yes you know you’ve got the Patriots dynasty the Red Sox the Bruins it’s a Winner’s town and Boston wins a lot but not a lot of trophies and people are like we’re good right like I think we’re pretty good and I’m like yeah you’re excellent but I do think um it’s it’s it’s almost it’s very difficult when you dominate the East were they 12 and two in the playoffs or something all season I mean it’s literally the most offensively efficient team in history it feels like you know you go you’re a boxer you get into a fight and and Dallas has got a tyon quality where they oh yeah they’ll knock you out first round yeah and I just I don’t know what you I mean you can practice hard but has has Boston been tested the even I mean they were 500 against the top Western teams so I feel like I know what Boston is but I’m I kind of feel like I want to watch the first two games of this series do you expect them like I think Dallas is going to come out and be like we’ve been in battles for six weeks yeah yeah but look Dallas will have to play better than it has played the entire playoffs they will have to be go up a level to really compete with the Celtics in these in this series I agree with the oddsmakers I think the Celtics have an edge but I also think it could be a long series and that if they get into a long series and it’s game six or game seven PR that pressure you talk about is so important and what I’ve been so impressed with is that Luca from the moment he walked into the league has never bowed to pressure I mean he is just a killer yeah and Kyrie has so much peace and confidence right now it is so fascinating as someone who’s covered him his entire career talk to him often it is so fascinating to watch the stage that he is at now he is going to walk in that Arena completely calm with everybody yelling and screaming remember one fan threw a water bottle at him you know during his Brooklyn tenure I I think honestly it’s not going to affect him and it’s only going to fire Luca up yeah no I think so I could I could Kyrie knows that roster absolutely he knows those guys and it’s interesting he he talked a little bit about it last night I’ve talked to him about this you know he really when he got to Boston his grandfather died pretty early in his Boston tenure he was very close with his grandfather and it really affected him he’s used the word dark place he said it sent me into a dark place and I wasn’t really able to handle then all the other emotions and things going on with the team and he said that look I didn’t handle things as well as I should have with the younger players remember there’s a lot of locker room friction yeah and he said I didn’t have an outlet I didn’t have a way for that to come out and I think you know all of us in life if you just keep burying things and you keep it inside it’s going to come out in the wrong way and that is part of what happened in Boston and he has completely changed the way he processes off the court things he’s talked about he said I unpack them in a healthy way now um and and the change is so palpable in how he has matured and he’s the first one to talk about that and Jason kid of course has had a big hand in just how comfortable he’s made it for Kye and Dallas to be his best self yeah if I was Boston uh game one feels essential so if you’re I I I’ve always said the easiest two ways to win the championship are you’re part of a dynasty and you just have better players or you’re pretty close but you’re an underdog with no pressure and yeah Dallas is like hot pretty darn close sure no pressure and if Luca lost you’d be like he’s 25 it’s his first Finals he’ll get back but if you go into game four and it’s it’s 21 Dallas and Tatum just comes off a stinker what does the finals mean for Tatum look it is a big deal because this team is as stacked as it’s ever been in the 2js Tatum Brown era right they are they they’ve been given as much talent as they possibly can and if they come out of this still not getting it done you really have to take a look at this team and and how to make them better and it will probably involve moving some pieces around but I still think Jason taten will be regarded as one of the better players in the league and I think he’s going to have a great summer with Team USA and that’s going to matter and affect people’s perception of him and Boston’s not getting rid of either one of those guys they just signed them both to huge Max contracts they’ve got you know 300 million in money tied up in them and all this stuff they will still be there in Boston and it will just be a matter of moving those pieces around every year he doesn’t win though every year that team doesn’t win it is more pressure and there are more people saying hey you got to the Eastern Conference Finals six out of eight years why couldn’t you get it done there’s people saying hey you look tense at the end of big games you know even though the overall clutch numbers are good yeah you know in the hottest brightest Spotlight sometime that pressure does seem to get to them all right finally JJ Reck is on a broadcast the Lakers haven’t named a coach it feels like it’s him kind of right yeah I mean look if they give JJ the job which is certainly what all signs point to at this point and what I’ve heard and what multiple reporters have heard uh they’re not going to announce it until after the finals out of respect for him out of respect for the broadcast partner ESPN they’re just not going to do that so the longer this goes on without an announcement of someone else uh the more likely it is that this is what they’re waiting for and this is who they’re waiting for now by the way Warrior is interested in Darin ham I’m happy for him it looks like he’ll get in their rotation I think I told JM I don’t I’m supposed to I’m in the opinion business and the prediction business I want to watch game one I I it does feel old school you got the old school sort of Dallas chip on the shoulder Alpha Luca I said this if if if wouldn’t surprise me the minute the finals are over he’s got a smoke and a Belgian beer and he’s having a time of his life oh did you see the clip of Michael Finley taking away Luca’s beer post game I was just like what what happened and look the Mavericks Finley first of all he’s a great guy he is the VP of basketball operations there now the Mavs have been on Luca for years to improve his diet tail you know take back a little bit of the drinking during the season you know as as Luca once said how do you recover from an injury he’s like I have my recovery beer remember he said that so so it’s it’s been a sort of big picture issue but let the man have his victory beer after that win and they’ve got six days until the finals again love Michael Finley but I was like just let him have the beer man people need their carbs after need yes he needs to replenish the carbs and the energy for sure look I think you’re totally right because the series could go one of two ways it’s a fight I got to see the first round I don’t know what it going to look like either the Celtics who have this historically offensively efficient and just this great defensive stack team are going to run over a Mavericks team that has been beaten up and battled and has gone through a really long run here with having to fight their way through everything and Linda Linda Luca is dealing with injuries right and and there’s there’s an element of that that could happen where the Celtics just overpower them there’s equal chance though that this becomes a real dog fight and the longer it goes the better the Maverick’s chances are of winning yeah if if I was Boston and I thought about a game plan my takeaway would be make Luca work on the defensive end yeah we’re just going to move maybe not Steph Curry level keep keep Luca moving they’re going to pressure him they’re just going that the strategy is Tire him out because you’re not going to best him he’s no one’s stopping him but you can influence the way he plays and we saw with Kyrie in the Oklahoma City series there are ways to shut him down too so I I just think that it’s going to either go really in the Celtics favor or it’s going to be a real dog fight and the longer that goes the more that give the Mavericks the advantage great to seeing you Rachel good to see you too hi everybody it’s me Uncle Colin subscribe here to get the latest from the herd including exclusive behind the SC videos and more wherever you may be however you may be watching thanks again for making us part of your day

Rachel Nichols joins Colin Cowherd to break down the Dallas Mavericks’ Game 5 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. She then discusses how Luka Dončić and company match up against Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics. She also predicts who wins the NBA Finals, then dives into Kyrie Irving’s growth since his Celtics’ days. Nichols also taps into the latest Los Angeles Lakers’ head coaching search updates.

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Luka-Mavs meet Jayson Tatum-Celtics in NBA Finals, Kyrie’s growth, Lakers HC search | THE HERD

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