Shaq & Kenny React to Celtics Blowing Out Mavs in Game 1 of the Finals | NBA GameTime

Shaq & Kenny React to Celtics Blowing Out Mavs in Game 1 of the Finals | NBA GameTime

it was close for a little bit and then it wasn’t Kenny for for very much longer and basically what we’ve seen from the Celtics all season long they’ve been the best team on the floor since the opening tip of the opening night well yes they well they’ve been great tonight they were extremely great in terms of this you know we talked about it in the pregame you know Jason Tatum and and brown are the best two players Allstar all NBA performers but they don’t have to be that every night Christos ringis came in 38 games haven’t I mean 38 days haven’t been here and was their best player so the most unique thing that we were talking about earlier I said there’s not a fifth best player at times porzingis can be the fifth best player there is not one in the NBA like this guy so you know uh when I say fifth best player on the floor white can play better in a particular night so can Drew holiday and sometimes Al hawford so this guy is an all NBA Allstar and an Allstar on the verge on the cusp every year he’s like he could be one of those guys on the cusp he was a unicorn in New York but more importantly I thought just as much as his scoring Grant and sha was his defensive presence which is super underrated he protects the rim you didn’t see all of those lob dunks n that you saw in the last series because of his Rim protection I think none in fact no lob dunks tonight for Dallas and porzingis came in at 717 Sha of the first quart quarter from that point on Boston out scored the Mavericks 51-31 before halftime I’m happy for brenis uh you know having the opportunity to play at this level six times that’s the type of game you want you know he’s he’s had a lot of time off I said before the game he’s either going to be great or going to be tired I’m happy for him he played well this place was very loud I was sitting on the floor it was going crazy Kenny makes a great Point defensive presence shot the ball well didn’t do anything in the second half but he didn’t have to I think you know his president you know him returning you know keeping the crowd in the game they played excellent Ball but the fact that Dallas you know came back and cut it to eight which you know still tells me that they believe Boston put him away tonight uh took care of homec court advantage game two is going to be very crucial hopefully proing can come like that and play like game two but listen game one is always the fill out game I’ve seen a lot of guys have left great game ones and then they kind to disappear uh Tatum and brown didn’t have to do anything tonight the plays was going crazy poor zingas carried them but I disagree with you Kenny I still need my Superstars to play at a high level I’m not going to rely on the others to bring me the championship I need the others but I’m not going to rely on the others to carry the L see I don’t think porzingis is another I think he’s a he’s a former Allstar I I think he what would be the next stage if you’re if you’re not the Superstar you’re not the other you’re what is that you are I think you could be a star and not a he is a star he is a star he is part of the big three but he he he’s been gone the way he played night if if he can give me two or three more games like that yes but you know they use him very well he played at a high level I’m happy for him but we agree a lot we disagree lot I need my Superstar to play well when y’all beat us AEM still average 30 and you had 73s not AEM had 15 and you had 7 AEM still had 30 and you had 7 so I still my Superstars to have dominant dominant performances well well 18 of his 20 in the first half and Grant maybe as important as anything that happened here tonight as he came through it apparently unscathed and healthy when he went for the chase down block on I think that was Josh Green I think there a lot of folks thinking here oh don’t do that you’re hitting shots don’t don’t test it that way and he comes out the other side just fine yeah he did and and really when you have a lower leg injury you’ve been out for 30 plus days there’s a lot of uncertainty as Shaq talked about we didn’t know what version of porzingis we get his offense was incredible but defensively the rim protection guarding the the paint he had three blocks in the first half including that incredible one right there but just really threw them off at the rim causing turnovers his presence defensively was just as impressive as his presence on the offensive end and I just love look I agree with both of you I I think first of all your stars particularly on the road you know at home your Superstars don’t have to necessarily bring it your complimentary players can play great porzingis was that guy the awareness that he was hot and continuing to feed him shows this team and how success but on the road you know Tatum and and brown are going to have to be big and I know we’re getting ahead of ourselves gamees three and four but at some point they’re going to have to have big moments if Boston is going to win this Ser no you’re the only one getting help yourself and and and you know what I love about porzingis today he sees the moment yes from the day he from from the time he walked in the look on his face like he gave me the inclination of man I’m at the finals I’m about to go to work I haven’t played in 30 days as soon as I get it I’m going do this I’m going do this he sees the moment a lot of guys just enjoy the moment but the ones that that know and realize doesn’t matter if you have a good team it’s not it’s not for sure that you’re going to be here every year he definitely is the moment in the first half we talked a lot about three-point shooting before this game one Boston brought it they had 11 in the first half finished the night with uh what 16 of 42 that would be 38% eight that is 38% good math they’re 80 in the postseason with at least 15 threes now 61 and9 on the season did a great job creating their own open threes Grant and a really good job limiting Dallas who unofficially about to go back through the box score I think they only took two Corner threes tonight and missed both well their ability to defend the three-point line was incredible in Dallas I think how they defended Luca particularly in the pick and roll they didn’t get into rotations and helping on the diver we talked about porzingis in those situations he’s able to either switch out and guard Luca or do a better job of a drop coverage if you will guarding Luca but then also preventing that law play to Gafford or Lively which they it on in the previous Series so defensively you don’t get the other guys guarding PJ Washington and Derrik Jones Jr in rotation now potentially open to knock down threes and you know what they guarded Luca they made him earn every shot that he took and obviously Kyrie Irving made him really work on the offensive end and you know he didn’t have the efficient night Kyrie uh as we’ve seen him have and Luca you know he had to make some tough shots but defensively just impressive collectively and you got six guys out there that are Elite on the defensive end who commit to playing they’re long they’re athletic porzingis gives them that more length Drew holiday Derek white I mean all these guys can defend so uh impressive the offense was was really good in the first quarter and decent the rest of away for Boston but I thought the defense was Supreme yeah there to me Kenny there are four things you have have to do against Dallas defensively if you’re going to win games to some extent limit Luca limit Kyrie limit those lob dunks that they’ve been getting here in the postseason and late in the regular season and the three-point opportunities from the shooters around Luka and Kyrie they checked off three of those four boxes tonight with donic scoring 30 the only one that you could argue they didn’t because they’re more talented they they’re more talented than anyone I know they the people say they East is weak the Boston Celtics are not weak so and this is not a disrespect because meaning there are great players on the Dallas Mavericks MH but they’re they’re four five six guy would have a lot of trouble getting minutes on the Boston Celtics no disrespect to Minnesota who they just beat they’re four five and six man on Minnesota would have difficulty getting minutes on the Boston Celtics any other team yeah but the Boston Celtics they would not play over Alford poras white and Oru holiday no way you would not play over those guys I don’t care what guys you name that are your four five six men in around the league you would not play over those guys so they have more Talent which allows them to cover better and they they can they can be relentless because when you get when you say okay I’m going give Luca a rest I’m going to give Kyrie a rest they’re like oh no we’re bringing in white we’re keeping white in we’re keeping Drew holiday we’re keeping offer they just can re be relentless and keeping it coming and then you have guys like Pritchard who could come in today and and how and they come in and play decent then it’s over it was interesting you know they switched a lot on Luca sha they didn’t double him very often really until the fourth quarter they threw Derrik white at him a couple different times but for the most part were content to single guard him play him as tough as possible and not let everybody else get involved offensively yeah the only time they gave local problems is when Luka called for the pick and roll and brought other Defenders over but other that they play great defense they kind of sagged in the lane a little bit they wanted Dallas to shoot Dallas didn’t shoot well they shot 26% but know they’re definitely going to make some adjustments Boston did what they did porzingis had a great game this is a great start of the NBA Finals but you know Grant Kenny and I know this this game is over uh Dallas is saying okay we know what we got to do Boston is saying hey three more we got to win game two so we’ll see what the adjustments are but you know again in times like this I need my Superstars to play well Kyrie came back home 6 for 19 let’s not going to get it done Luca 12 for 26 that’s good Tatum m brown didn’t have to play well cuz the others carried them tonight but you know Grant makes a good point at you know some point especially on the road I’m going to need those guys to have a do dominant performance because the pressur is on them especially now I’m I’m I’m happy for them I do not have a dog in this fight I just want to see some great basketball even though you are wearing green I had this is money green brother not Boston green this is money green that’s very selfic green this is champion Green company that I just acquired K oh congratulations on your acquisition of CH yeah so you know this is Champion but I have the opportunity to sit next to our Jason Tay father he’s one of us I must say I’m not going to talk about our conversation but justtin Tatum yeah just he’s a a basketball a fish andado I covered him in he loves yeah and he loves how we you know critique his son reminds me of my father you know and Jason was looking at him and he was giving them tips and it took me back to me and S especially in the fin I was like damn AEM just hit me with a fail I look at my dad hey let’s talk about Kyrie iring a little bit you mentioned him I know you know have to I know what that means I know exactly Every curse word I know what that means all you know I know what this means and that means yeah I assume you could hear it through the broadcast but every time Kyrie Irving touched the ball tonight here at TD Garden he was booed mercilessly as expected by the Celtics crowd also wasn’t very effective branches six of 19 from the field the six0 hit were mostly difficult shots over longer Defenders yeah but they have more the cheer about than bu about so I know they have lots to cheer about too like they have more to cheer about than worry about Kyrie at this but because he really wasn’t was ineffective uh for the most part of the ineffective with Kyrie Irving expectations are how to be infected he he was ineffective in that regard well he didn’t dominate the game at any point where but they did cut it to eight and and if I’m Jason kid and he’s he’s a that’s the clip I’m showing sure I’m only I’m pulling that out and I’m going what do we do to get it to eight you know defensive intensity picked up early and we’re going to show those highlights because you know in the finals you don’t want any doubt I I just me I I I don’t I never would watch me miss a shot in the finals I would have turning it over show me everything positive so I could have that and bring it into the next game and In fairness to Dallas they got blown out in game one in the first round at the Clippers they bounced back in one game two second round at Oklahoma City they lost in in kind of embarrassing fashion uh at OKC bounce back in one game twoo so this team is resilient this team has shown in the postseason that they can make adjustments you talked earlier about Luca he had a good night not a great night a good night 30 points 26 shot attempts but you know Boston played him a certain way we’re talking about that in the back they were forcing him to his right they weren’t letting him go left where he’s so good at that step back he had a couple of them during the course of the game but they played him a certain way and and you guys know as well as anyone you’ve won championships the the the postseason it’s about adjustments uh you know it’s a long series a lot will can and will happen so I do expect Dallas to you know get to the film make those adjustments and be prepared for what for what Boston has done but they’re going to look I mean you got to get stops defensively and you got to be more efficient on the off I mean it’s pretty cut and dry when I came to Detroit and they we were in practice and guard you they said don’t let Grant go right you were good enough to still do it and good you just the first two places just went by me right so the difference is they have the talent to actually go through with the game plan like like I I couldn’t guard you going right it matter it didn’t matter but Luka but Luca and kyre can play better yes the defense was really good they made them work for everything but you know what we’ve seen them play better I think great players will make adjustments they’re competitive they have heart they have pride uh they set the tone on the road yeah sorry to cut you off the whole team needs to play by that shoot 26% from three they going to get swept I agree agree everybody has P PJ Tim Hardway Jr like the whole team has to play better the way the game is played today they’re going to have to shoot better from three especially against this Boston team

Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Grant Hill break down Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics on NBA TV GameTime.

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