Celtics battle Luka, Mavs in NBA Finals: Tatum says ‘this go-around is different” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

Celtics battle Luka, Mavs in NBA Finals: Tatum says ‘this go-around is different” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

good [Music] morning good morning Wayne and good morning Kean and good morning Paul Pierce so Paul you were not with us on Friday when we first discussed this NBA Finals matchup so it is now your turn you are on the hot seat could you please tell us exactly how many games your Celtics will win the finals in and why I got the Celtics in six skip uh I thought maybe you’d go four no no I I got respect for Dallas and you know Luca and Kyrie you know they’re pretty good they’re they’re actually pretty good they’re pretty good yeah you know but I just think the reason that the Celtics will win the NBA Finals when you look at the heartaches that they’ve been through I mean they they’ve been through the pain they’ve been through the struggle they have the experience I think they understand the moment a little more than Dallas being that this group has been there as a core you know holiday has won a championship so that’s awesome to have him in the locker room Brown and Tatum have been to the finals they understand the moment and they understand that it’s now or never because you you can’t guarantee yourself getting back to it they’re they you can hear it in their interviews they’re like we’re fortunate to be back here here you know I played in one two finals you never know what’s going to happen injuries anything can happen but what the reason why is because Dallas as great as they are the role players are great I just think we’re the deeper team I think Dallas’s two superstars have to play great every single night for them to win on the flip side there’s times when Jason Tatum hasn’t played well there’s times Brown hasn’t played well they still know to win when you got guys like Drew holiday Derek white who could be good enough to win Finals MVP I can’t say that on the other side for Dallas it’s going to be Luca if they win it’s G to be Kyrie it’s going to be one of the two there’s been times Derek white has been our best player in the series there’s been times Drew holiday has been the best player on the floor so when I look at top to bottom I just feel like the Celtics are a little bit deeper and that Dallas doesn’t have a lot of room for mistakes you know because if Dallas isn’t at their best I’m not sure they can beat Boston if Luca is not at his best along with Kyrie it’ll be a long night for him so especially with porzingis hopefully he’s healthy with the versatility that versatility that Boston presents on defense that Dallas has not had to see throughout the playoffs a team that could switch one through five and be a effective on Luca and Kyrie now I’m not saying they’re going to stop them but I think just scheming against these two we have the versatility to do it and in the end the experience that we had in that Indiana series now you say we didn’t play anybody skip can y’all say we didn’t play anybody we we dealt with injuries in every single round I get it but we’ve been in situations versus Indiana especially to where we’ve been down and we fig out a way to win close games so they’ve shown me all they check all the boxes I say a championship team needs to have they showed me grit they showed me toughness they showed me that they can come back in a close situation and these are things that you you you you look at when you get into a championship series and so in saying that I’m close to saying Celtics is five I’m going say Celtics and six go no we say six go with your heart no no no Celtics and six go with your instinct I mean you know when you saying Celtics in six yeah six is a a fair number I want to see them obviously play Thursday night and depending on how they play it can move to seven or five just depends on what what comes about it skip but when you talk about the depth I’m only talking six7 deep they they just feel like match up match up huh huh who’s your seventh I want Boston Bost you you you you got it’s going to give you running around he’s going to give you with his little 11 minutes he going to give you some hustle he’s going to give you some TJ McConnell type Hustle but when you factor in porzingis plus Al Harford plus T and plus Brown and plus true holiday I mean it’s just we we sure porzingis is going to be accounts by the reports he’s looking good now to play in game one yeah that’s so even if even if he didn’t play in game one skip even if he didn’t play in game one he’ll be back at some point in this series so when you look at it as I’ve all since this has come up I’ve canel out Luca and I’ve canel out Kyrie with Tatum and and brown just ccel that out now you start talking about okay what other ex- factors in Derek white who matches up with that as an X Factor for the Dallas Mavericks or who who matches up as an factor for Drew holiday or who matches up from an X-Factor standpoint if porzingis plays in Al Harford so when you start looking at you say well they can they can stick the little young kid Derek Lively in there he’s got too much explosiveness for Al Harford type well yeah he’s more athletic than Al but Al smarter than him so Al knows how to play the game a little bit different than a young guy who’s a who’s a rim protector a l guy on the pick about 69ine maybe yeah but it’s not like you’re going Lively isolation situation exactly he’s a l threat a threat and a pick and roll threat in their system so much like Paul’s saying if if you got to have both Fuca and Kyrie play extremely well for them to beat the Celtics now here’s what I would say the Celtics can be beat at home we we it’s well documented they’ve struggled at home throughout the playoffs over the last couple years can they drop one to Dallas at home yeah they can and that may be one of the two in G that pushes it to game six it could be one of the two but I don’t think that they going to wind up losing two games at home and and getting swept and all that sort of stuff no I don’t think that at all and I just like the fact that there they’ve been in these situations meaning the the championship the final they’ve been there they kind of you go through heartache and pain this is not the Buffalo Bills so to speak they could wind up being the Buffalo Bills if they get there again and just keep losing you can start to look at that that way but they’ve been there they lost they know that pain they watch the confetti against Golden State drop on the floor and they wasn’t a part of that celebration they’ve been to the championship in the Eastern Conference multiple times so Andrew holidays won a championship I know Kyrie on the other hand has won but those guys have been in Lost Kyrie’s the only guy that’s been and lost when you start looking at the players for the Dallas Mavericks but I I certainly got the Celtics in six skip okay it is my turn I’m going to start with the Celtics are deeper I heard this on Friday I I can’t even fathom how either of you could make a point that the Celtics are deeper because I’m looking at Dallas’s bench Derek Lively comes off the bench yeah and Josh Green comes off the bench and every time I see Jaden Hardy play I say he’s starting to remind me of Vinnie the microwave Johnson cuz he comes in and just lights it up and he is fearless and he just comes in making shots and making sh one or two shots don’t don’t put microwave in there microwave you about 15 and Maxi CA has been there and done all that and he’s back and he seems like he’s healthy has CL done been where okay but but he he’s been there for a long time he last game he made a bunch of big three-point shots for them in his time no okay and Dante exom comes in and just plays basketball at a high hard level and there’s this kid named Tim Hardaway Jr and I don’t know what’s happened to him but he is definitely mic he can’t see the floor he hasn’t seen the floor for a while but I just have a sneaking suspicion he’s going to see it against you guys cuz he is a big game big play shooter the last two guys if you put them in the game they either up 20 or down 20 okay I and and you guys got Hower and Pritchard and maybe porzingis pushing Horford off solid they’ve been solid we got two flamethrowers coming off the bench that you got you got to respect going to throw flames in this series I don’t flamethrowers I don’t come on now but even if skip even if they didn’t go as deep and let’s say they stayed at six that six is strong let’s just say they stayed at six that six is stronger than your no it’s not yeah it is how could it not be because for most of this series the two best players not the one best the two best players on this floor will be Luca and Kyrie the two best I’m not I’m not I’m not willing to say that I told you on Friday I’m not willing to just say that you pris in a moment I get Luca what he’s done is nothing short of incredible but what did you tell me about Luca when you got to see him up close in person absolutely Boston no absolutely absolutely Luca is everything as advertised okay you know he arguably the best player in the league but we know Kyrie has had his es and flows in this playoffs now don’t act like we we we forget them games where he shot three or four times and only average six points in the first half of like five straight games if he do if he do that same thing versus Boston it’s going to be a short series okay I just watched Kyrie Irving in the Conference Finals averaged 27 points on 38% three-point shooting and for the whole playoffs he’s 42% three-point shooting all right now now tell me what you got for Jason Tatum and brown I just saw Jason Tatum and brown both average 30 for the Conference Finals where Brown shooting 50% plus from the field and around 40 from three was Jimmy Butler there I don’t remember no Jimmy Butler was over you’re talking about just the Conference Finals just the Conference Final was halberton there for the last two Ian it matter okay I don’t remember all right no so I’ve got a strength against your weakness because Luca is unbelievably good on the road and I know you know this because he is nothing but the coldest blooded killer I’ve ever seen jordanes in him if we want to go jordanes let’s go Luca on the road because agree he loves to shut down and shut up Road crowds and you you should caution your Boston fans you better lay off L this is what you got to take into account this series Skip and key listen Luca didn’t have the guard he didn’t guard Anthony Edwards he’s gonna have to guard one of Tatum Brown for zingis white Drew holiday yeah now in the last series versus Minnesota you called him on he was guard Rudy gobear sometime they was like we don’t even have to we don’t even have to double when they switch Rudy goar and Donis Rudy go go one onone with him he can’t do that with porz or Al Harford okay we we’ll let you know we’ll put LCA on McDaniels because all he going to do is stand in that corner over there so Luka can just kind of rest okay we’ll put Luka on on James Jones Jo Jun cuz he all he going to do is stand in that corner and watch the Luca Kyrie show okay so I mean I mean I mean James Jones no he not James Jones he had to guard McDaniels Alexander uh uh who else uh I’m saying Luca on the other end he didn’t have to guard Edwards is what I’m saying he had to guard he guard uh all these other guys that just stood in the corner J McDow Nas re you know these guys that just stood in the corner put no pressure on them he’s going to have to guard Jaylen Brown he’s going to have to guard one of these guys to where he’s going to have to move and play some defense yeah y’all want to switch everything put him on Jaden Brown that’s that’ll be man listen he gonna have to play defense for the first time in the playoffs and that’s going to mean something you know what I’m saying he’s not going to be able to roam and hide on defense he going to have to work so all these coming down and having energy for offense it’s a factor skip he just got a week off and nobody nobody alive right now basketball needed a week off more than Luca donic and he’s got it and you’re going to get it right between the eyes in the first two home because in these seven Road wins that the Dallas Mavericks have had in the playoffs he shot 43% from three and in the five straight road wins Dallas has on the road five straight road wins he shot 48% from three in those five games y you are in for it at home where you have had a really difficult time as Kean brought up defending home court because you are now 17 and 14 over the last three years home how about this year who has a better home record this year Dallas or Boston well definitely Boston does because Dallas is struggling has shown me that they have struggled at home so if the Celtics find a way to win G wanted no it a no if listen you said if okay if Celtics win game one and when the Celtics win game one and two this series is over yeah when they it’s over if that were to happen if they and when they win game one and two which well is that what you’re saying is that your prediction yeah this series is over okay well then you should go f in five right I mean I got respect I mean I’m G see what game one look like then I’mma change then I’ll tell you yeah that’s what I want to see I want to see let me see what the match up look like let me see if por is out there porzingis the cheat Co is out there and then we’ll go from there cuz I was leaning toward five but just out of respect of the future Hall of Famers porzingis I mean uh Luca Dage and Kyrie Irving I think they can mustard up too muster up yeah I muster up too all right so I’m going to go Dallas in seven because I don’t think you can beat Luca in a game seven in your house I just don’t think you can because he would love that would I think Luka would rather win on the road he’s a better player on the road Dallas will win one of the first two games and then it’ll just Teeter along back and forth back and forth all the way to a game seven that you’re going to lose at home do you think so yes sir I got it I got it I feel good about this you have a dinner on this sure we do okay yeah and and my favorite bottle of wine cus throw some c in there you can do whatever you want problem thatan I’m I’m from what I’m hearing from him he’s jumped on the duck boo yeah I’m not jumping on I’m I’m rooting for players I’m not rooting for the team I don’t give a damn really if Boston wins or not I want to see I want to see Tatum get the I want to see Tatum get the monkey off his back jayen Brown get the monkey off they back you’re actually rooting against players such as Luca no I’m rooting for I’m rooting for uh Tatum and brown especially Tatum because of all the the vitri all the the the the negative things that’s been said about him over the last couple weeks dating all the way back to two years ago when he lost to Golden State he has a second opportunity now so I’m rooting for him Paul not for the Celtics just so that you know I mean from what everybody talking about it’s a it’s not a monkey on his back it’s a gorilla I mean but it’s all right we gonna take that gorilla right off our back and and you can come on the duck boo with us you and Skip can join us on the I would dare I have no reason to be in Boston there’s nothing there’s nothing there for me zero Sor get you we’ll get you some clam chowder and we’ll get you on that duck boo okay Legal Seafood that’s what you want to that’s where we gonna go that’s where we gonna go listen do look how could you guys say how could you say listen like no skip but skip like Dallas has no room for error they don’t have no room for error we’ve been saying you know Tatum’s been great he hasn’t been all that great in the playoffs has haven’t haven’t you said this haven’t we been hearing this that would be that’s but they lost that’s a lie I’m saying that’s that’s been the narrative the dude really can play and he’s been balling he’s beening playoff yes he lost the Golden State that was a hiccup saying this year just this year the narrative has he hasn’t really played great but when I look up 30 and 12 Brown’s been the best player 30 you know but that’s what I’m trying to tell you that they don’t have to be great to win like they’re so good that them two only one of them has to be great I feel like and they can win games whereas on the other side with Dallas I think they both have to be great and all their wins they both were great okay now if Kyrie goes off and and sometimes his game looks Moody like he decides I’m just going to play defense and pass the first half as we saw in those first few games in the last series and the series before where he only took four or five shots and was only before he got to Minnesota before game one he was giving you six points in the first half and but that wasn’t because he wasn’t shooting I mean it wasn’t because it was because he wasn’t shooting you know and and that’s like Moody Kyrie because we know when Kyrie comes out and be aggressive but he’s capable of doing so which Kyrie is going to show up Moody Kyrie who says I have to start off get my teammates involved play defense because if that Kyrie shows up that only gave you six points in the first half a game it’s going to be a very short series how about Kye who showed up in the second quarter of the close scored 15 after luk who scored 20 in the first quarter that’ll work if you get game one versus Minnesota Kyrie or game seven Kyrie then there’s a chance yeah I really can’t judge I really can’t judge the Mavs based on a closeout game against the Celtics though skip let’s be fair against the Timberwood no against the Celtics I can’t I can’t judge what the Mavs did in a close out game against the Wolves up against the Celtics I can’t look at that and say well Kyrie did this okay the the Wolves basically as we talked about on Friday they packed it in when luk went for 20 they kind of just it they they was happy to win the one on the road I don’t know that I could count on that because even if even if Kyrie cooks and Luca Cooks Tatum and brown gonna cook they gonna start off to a fast start they not going they’re not going to try to stick they tow in the water to figure it out like Ant-Man did and then when it’s too late try to use the energy to come back from behind I just don’t see that happening if they cancel those two out by their play how do you match up the other three that’s the problem don’t tell me Derek Lively is getting ready to all of a sudden go for 20 you and I understand he’s 15 to 15 or whatever that number is on lobs putbacks I mean it’s not like he’s facing people up and going one-onone yeah I mean so so which front line is stronger right now seriously which which front line is stronger more physical more overwhelming more imposing it’s Dallas’s by far ever since this trade they have taken off definitely more imposing you cting is out or in well you can have him because you guys scored in in the NBA shots at the basket you scored you were 26 in the NBA because you don’t have a lot of phys they didn’t need to cuz they was knocking down threes well and by the way that’s a good point you really realiz that you guys in the regular season shot 240 more threes than any other team okay 240 and you do live and die by it and you’re going to die by it a couple times series porzingis opens up this offense because he takes advantage of the mismatch and he’s the best low post player percentage wise in the NBA he makes you pay on those switches and so when you say imposing I have to go Celtics because a lot of Dallas’s bigs rely on what Luca and Kyrie give them if they get into the pick and roll and there’s a lob there or a bounce pass there that’s how they score it’s not like they coming down there getting the ball in the post drop stepping and going up dunking on somebody I don’t know Daniel Gafford looked like a man to me in that Series against that big bad three eded monster of Minnesota a couple lobs good it was a all he did was make every shot that he took so did okay at the elbow knocking stuff down and turn so you love it that your team lives and dies from the three-point I don’t love it I don’t you know but when you get porzingis back a guy who’s a threat in the post I think it does give us an opportunity to take advantage of mismatch get to the line a little bit more uh I think when the threes aren’t falling we have to find other ways such as get to the free throw line and attack the rim you were low in free throw attempts this yeah we low because because we not attacking like you’re right I mean we live and die by it but Golden State show you that a three-point team can win the championship Golden State showed you that a three-point team can be a dynasty boy Dallas’s two nuclear weapons look like they’re a little more explosive than your nuclear weapons I mean how by how much more by how much more enough to win game seven no no it’s not going to get there I can tell I hear your voice you got a little bit of fear your I got an extra seat on the duck boat for you skip cuz I ain’t getting on it so you have I’m not getting on the D I got a couple red red cigars really okay I think there’s going to be a parade in Dallas it’s been Dallas’s year I know they didn’t get to the Stanley Cup but still it’s been Dallas’s year it’s been Dallas year and what I want two things SK I’m not a y’all I I just you you are a y’all you me not Y what does Dallas won they won the Major League Baseball oh they haven’t won basketball yet they just won MLB W Major League Baseball yeah MLB they won that this year Well in a 12 month calendar 12 month calendar the last time they had a full season 12 month calendar Dallas the Dallas what no it’s not the Dallas Texas Rangers oh the Texas Rangers are they in Dallas no they in Arlington oh in Arlington they represent they represent Dallas you know it and I know it or maybe you don’t know it oh in Arlington that don’t sound like Dallas to me Arlington is actually halfway in between Dall you know what’s so funny the Cowboys ain’t in either they not in Arlington or Dallas they Frisco well that’s they play their games though they play their games in Arlington yes yeah that’s not Dallas wow that’s wild they practice in Frisco and play in Arlington oh that’s wild yeah we got to start changing some of these names now yeah and there’s this city called Nashville and it’s it’s the home of Vanderbilt University it’s actually a pretty big it’s pretty big city how did they come up with that name Paul hadn’t discovered it yet but it’s on the map thanks for watching Undisputed fans do you want more highlights from the show May make sure to click that subscribe button for all the exclusive content from Undisputed

Skip Bayless, Paul Pierce and Keyshawn Johnson look ahead to the 2024 NBA Finals featuring the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. The Undisputed cast predicts their NBA Finals winner, talk Kyrie Irving, Luka Dončić, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

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Celtics battle Luka, Mavs in NBA Finals: Tatum says ‘this go-around is different” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

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