Dissecting the layers of the Celtics vs. Mavericks 2024 NBA Finals 🏀 | SC with SVP YouTube Exclusive

Dissecting the layers of the Celtics vs. Mavericks 2024 NBA Finals 🏀 | SC with SVP YouTube Exclusive

pleasure to welcome Brian wior in to discuss the finals I’m going to fight the urge Brian to turn this into like a podcast but I’m interested in your thoughts on so many different layers of this finals and I just want to start with this I believe the Boston Celtics have demonstrably proven in ways large and small that they’re the best team in the NBA this season I understand why Dallas has some folks kind of squinting to ask themselves are they really is Boston really that now what’s your sense of the obstacle that the Dallas Mavericks now represent to an 18th Banner for the Celtics yeah I wish I would be better television if I just said no I completely disagree with you but I actually agree I think not only were the Celtics dominant for six months of the regular season I think for the most part they’ve been dominant in the playoffs I know they’ve had a bad night or two but you know it wasn’t a free pass for them and they pretty much handled their business all the way through I am actually pretty stunned by the you know the update that I saw this afternoon from ESPN bet that 89% of the money that’s come in has been on the Mavericks I guess that’s partially because it’s been a decade plus since there’s been an opportunity to bet on a Western Conference team as an underdog and there’s only been three Western Conference teams that have been underdogs over the last 25 years um you know two of them the LeBron heat teams so I I I guess that’s why they’re looking at they’re you know they’re getting plus money on Dallas but um I think there’s been a comp there’s generally those betters seem to be overlooking just how awesome the Celtics were throughout this entire regular season where they won 64 games and historically were dominant statistically says they were historically dominant and by the way their statistical dominance has carried over to the postseason now you can say that they were fortunate that they played teams that injured players but for the most part they blasted those teams you know they can’t control who they play they control who they who they how they handle those games and also they are a good matchup for uh against Dallas what they do is going to give the Mavericks problems they deploy five awesome offensive players for most of the time and Dallas is going to have a harder time hiding their weaker Defender so in my view Boston is a appropriately favored uh in this series it is going to I think be a good series but Boston is the better team with home court advantage with rest and I just checked their injury report is clean there’s nobody on it even with porz he’s not even on the injury report I’m going to get to porzingis in a minute and and I I I’m always hesitant to be in the business of asking you why other people think something but I just wonder if your sense Wendy is this we tend to just get bored but I don’t think we typically do this with great teams where we just kind of go well what else is there to talk about this the Boston Celtics and I get that this is a league that traffics in drama and then you had the Lakers and the Warriors that were on the back end there’s there were plenty of compelling storylines it’s just interesting to me how Boston was like well yeah what else is there to talk about let’s talk about Boston man if their Stars play to their ceilings I don’t want to say it’s a route but do they win this series correct well I I highly respect that Dallas has won three Series without having homec court and that there’s seven and two on the road in the postseason I don’t care what year you pick out you do that that’s an incredible run so you have to respect that also the Kyrie Luca onew punch has just been so impressive Ag and so because you have two players like that who can you know they go into the fourth quarter of a close game and they have complete confidence in both of them and they’re going to hit you with a double barrel and that’s hard to manage and so because of that I think they are an incredibly uh uh worthy and Incredibly difficult opponent for Boston to have but looking empirically at this you go down the list Boston really should be ahead in most categories um except for best player in the series and that is where Jason Tatum and Jaylen brown but Jason Tatum especially has a golden moment here where he can really shove back on it and I think it’s interesting that he basically today admitted that he is expected to do that that he does feel the pressure of being in that spot that when you play for the Celtics you are expected to do something special to raise your name up into that uh into that rafter with all those banners so I actually think I was actually pretty impressed with the way he handled that today so I’m anxious to see how he handles that challenge but the the having the best player a lot of times in the finals can be a Difference Maker and that’s one thing where Dallas has to be respected here well I listen I in making all these points about Boston in no way would am I dismissive of Dallas because this Wonder Twin superpower Kyrie Luca Duo I mean Luca has clearly become something more than he’s been and he was already a superstar what must Boston do to medicate mitigate his ability to potentially put his fingerprint on the Larry O’Brien and win his first title so one of the biggest stats I can say that I’ve studied walking into this series is that Luca when he passes the ball the Mavericks are shooting 57% on hisob when he creates assist opportunity 57% now a big reason for that is that they are absolutely destroying teams with the lob and lob is a pretty especially if it’s uncontested lob is a pretty high percentage shot uh but like the stat again this stat is is again jaw-dropping um he has eight lobs this playoffs from over 25 ft so passes he’s thrown from Beyond the three-point line all the way back to 62 feet I think that have led to led to uh to dunks the most lobs other than the Mavericks are the Nuggets who had nine as a team luuka has almost that same amount from 25 plus feet and so the thing that Boston has to do is they’ve got to get that 57% number down um and there’s a couple of different ways that you do that one you don’t double team him as much because what happened in this series against Minnesota he was crushing Minnesota through double teams at him and he was picking them apart and Boston doesn’t double team that’s not how they became a top five defense top three defense whatever they finished they don’t double team that’s not something they do and I don’t think they would do it well so they have to defend Luca in a way that doesn’t require a double team and secondly they got to cut down on those lobs you know you’re not going to eliminate them totally but you can’t give free uncontested dunks off those lobs so getting that 57% number down because you know Luca is going to be awesome the guy averaged 35 points in the regular season average 35 points okay so you’ve got to get that supporting number down if you’re Boston and Joe moula would probably say we’re gonna just score outscore him because Joe often would see an advantage offensively and if Lucas ating all that will attack Luca but Luca’s defense has been a lot better it is not just successful anymore to think that you’re going to get back on him by by going at him defensively so they have got to make some of those scheme differences that can get that number down legs actually did one of his famous touch screens on Luca’s defense and when I told Luca that his eyes got big it was actually kind of a sweet moment like hard hard to impress a guy that’s this kind of talent but I think he was glad to hear that his defense got hard you look at a smile about about anything within impress he he was in a pretty good mood after one of his performances when he stopped by it now you you mentioned the lob and one way you could defend it is with the length of a guy like porzingis when he met with the media earlier in the week he was pretty Cory about what percentage and how much is he going to go I just what I want to know your expectation about what kind of availability you think he might have yeah I think the minute amount will be what something we’re going to watch tomorrow night how much he can give but just having porzingis on the court is so important uh for the Celtics for a couple of reasons number one he shoots long three-pointers and I know that sounds strange to say but he makes and he makes and takes a lot of three-pointers from above the break top of the key to the to the top sides of the Wings and that means to defend that you got to come 20 to 25 feet out from the basket the Mavericks Thrive with those two bigs Daniel Gafford uh and uh and Derek Lively protecting that Rim they gave the all kinds of problems to the to the to the Wolves by by blocking those shots porzingis is a threat to hit long threes he shoots from the top of the key and if you don’t come out there to defend him he gets a free shot I don’t care how you defend the pick and roll that’s one thing that just him out there even if he’s not effective just him being out there makes a difference the second thing is as you said he is 7 foot three he will probably not he he will probably float defensively in such a way that he will be able to be a help Defender they don’t want him in the pick and roll and I’m not going to excel talking X andos like legler does but I do know that one of the things that he can do is be in position to float defensively to come in and deal with those lobs and for the last week as the as the Celtics have been preparing here I promise you they’ve been working on ways to mitigate those lobs and seven being 7 foot three is a good place to start he doesn’t have to block seven shots but he has to be out there to to be a deterrent and if he’s just a deterrent and a threat then he will move the ball forward for the Celtics as he puts potentially plays back into Rhythm I’ve done a terrible job not turning this into the podcast but I wanted to ask you all the things I was interested in I’m going to close with this my guy Stanford Steve was was excited about the idea of something something new here and Dallas and Luca are that but something old as well is on that Dallas team and it’s what they lean into the experience of Kyrie I just am interested in sort of his career Arc where he now is the fact that Boston’s in the way I mean as a writer there’s a lot that’s pretty that’s pretty juicy right there what’s most interesting to you about all of it well so Kyrie is so highly regarded by his peers because of how skilled and he is his his sort of resume is a little choppy he has a couple of all NBA teams um he’s had you know a bunch of all-star teams but his performances you know they’ve been a little bit uneven if he is able to win and be a major factor in another playoff series or another other final Series where he is on the the the underdog and he is able to be a part of that rising up and winning like you know I realize that the Celtics aren’t the the 2016 Warriors but they are up there amongst the most statistically dominant teams of the last 30 or 40 years Kyrie’s resumee takes another leap exactly and and and and the way he’s playing right now I’m not taking anything off the table and so uh this is a it’s been a remarkable Arc for him because in between playing with LeBron and playing with Luca he played with all these stars in their Prime MVPs and it was like flat uh but he can still do it here he can book in 2016 with 2024 and frankly put that forward and say this is what I’ve done yeah go what you what can you say and and and and the honesty is you know that that period in between is problematic but that would be a pretty powerful statement well I guess if we’re to put the cliffs notes under this I think we both believe Boston wins but it sounds like we both feel like there’s incredible uh compelling content that’s going to be wrapped up in the NBA Finals is that a fair assessment yes but I would really be interested if Dallas who’s so good on the road can take one of these two maybe even game one to to to to bring back some of those Celtic Dem other way Celtics are undefeated on the road in the postseason it’s not like they’ve struggled but it would be fascinating if it’s 1-1 or even even 10 Mavericks uh over the next few days agreed but both teams have been awesome in the last three minutes when games are coin flips both teams have been awesome on the roads this is what you want strength on strength for the NBA Finals it gets going Thursday night Brian wior blast as always to talk with you my friend thanks Scott [Music]

Dissecting the layers of the Celtics vs. Mavericks 2024 NBA Finals 🏀 | SC with SVP YouTube Exclusive

In a YouTube exclusive, Scott Van Pelt and Brian Windhorst preview the NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.

0:00 Mavericks standing in the Celtics’ way
4:40 Slowing down Luka Doncic
7:34 Kristaps Porzingis injury status
9:37 The Kyrie Irving narrative

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