Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum’s struggles evident in latest King of the Hill | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum’s struggles evident in latest King of the Hill | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

just like a disgusting caterpillar morphs into a beautiful Monarch so too does a who’s hot and who’s not list morph into a rich tapestry of performance precedent in expectations it’s a special the finals haven’t started until someone wins a road game edition of King of the Hill indeed it is Kevin Wilds thank you for the wonderful introduction the hill gets shorter and shorter why well because you don’t have 15 people to fill out a hill anymore you just don’t I mean the Celtics are playing really seven but they might as well just be playing six and so we just and the Mavs barely have anyone playing well other than Lucas so we don’t have a full 15 person Hill so first we must show you who slid off the hill rookie Derek Lively has had a rough NBA finals which is unfortunate maybe he has a big moment it’s also typically you don’t really rely on rookies not named Magic Johnson in the NBA Finals I know Tyler hero had a couple nice finals moments as a rookie but it’s usually not a great strategy Derrik Jones Jr slides off the hill and Maxi kba I’m not certain his shoulders all the way back I got to tell you I I was happy came back they’re all Mavs that have slid off the hill yeah because the pton Pritchard and Sam Hower never were on the hill so they couldn’t slide off it so all Mavs had slid off the hill row four of the Hill Jason Tatum and Kyrie Irving so one thing that has been said on this show and and others that I disagreed with but I didn’t have the data to back it up until today was well at least Tatum’s playing solid defense that’s not what my eyes told me and it’s also not what the numbers tell you 15 of 25 are the MAV shooting when Tatum is the primary Defender which is kind of remarkable considering they’re shooting poorly in every other facet of the series so I think Tatum’s struggling offensively and defensively in this series even though he’s obviously going all out and trying to be a good teammate Kyrie we’ve talked about it the shooting numbers are just not there 0 for eight from three and Brew Keat on it yesterday him he did seem to get a little riled up by the Boston crowd in a way like the kind of evolved mature Kyrie I thought was not going to maybe it was momentary laps we’ll see if it’s more about Drew holiday in the Celtics defense or more about the crowd when we get to game three tomorrow Daniel gafford’s one of the few Mavs that I think has actually played maybe a little better than expected or at least as good as expected so he stays on the hill and Al Horford hasn’t done much however he did get the C the crowd had tried to quiet down on a Kyrie sucks chant and Horford told him no keep it going playing old Wy veteran playing mind games so there he is all right third row Derek White’s been excellent this was a brad Stevens first significant move when he moved up to the front office was acquiring Derek white from San Antonio I’m sure he couldn’t help wimy at all then again if they had Derek white maybe they wouldn’t have gotten wimy I don’t know um but he’s been excellent on both sides of the ball PJ Washington Brew I think has been the second best man which is a problem I mean it’s good for PJ but it’s a problem in general and then Chris staps had played well enough to be there now again if he doesn’t play he of course will drop but I thought he was excellent in game one I thought he was good in game two until the injury and so Chris’s play deserves to move up the hill even though the injury status now makes that a question mark second row pretty obvious Drew holiday and Jaylen Brown Drew holiday we sneakily really struggled offensively in every playoffs with the uh with the Bucks and he he obviously had amazing defensive moments most notably this the strip of Devin Booker that led to the iconic yanis dunk to to win game five and he was good for them but one of the reasons they thought they needed to move off of him was because he wasn’t reliable offensively in the playoffs this year it’s been very different lower usage more efficient and I think you pointed out zero turnovers up to this point in the postseason and Jaylen Brown I think has probably been the best player on the Celtics thus far this series doing a little bit of everything came out with that real attitude in game one that I think helped him then was consistent steady in game in game one he had the attitude in game two consistent study and then of course a top the hill Luca donic despite Kevin Wild’s protestations that I think he needs to you know cut up the food for his teammates put it in their mouth like a baby bird a whole thing tell me you got three Ms fell off the hill well okay well he can’t make the shots for them he has been the best player in this series despite having an ankle and knee and now a chest injury as well he played game two all hopped up on drugs we find out he’s going to have to play game three as well he stays at top fill however Brew because the Mavs are down 02 I didn’t think it was fair to have those that second row vacant the way it was last time so he stays there that is King of the Hill all right not not a bad Hill you didn’t have much to work with but one quickly I’m going move Tatum ahead of white I do think Tatum’s been their third best player I I can’t just scoff at the 10 rebounds a game which leads them in rebounding rebounding is a huge part of the game eight and a half assist and I think look you know these numbers defensibly sometimes can you don’t like they what I’m just saying the all right but my main thing and I said earlier I was going to take a blowtorch to the hill I am moving who I think has been the finals MVP thus far ahead of Luca onto the top of the hill and that would be Drew holiday that’s fair all right because look this is a time of year I’m not that concerned about the individual dominance I it is about winning all right it is about winning period okay and Drew holiday is not only giving you 19 points a game which is about seven more than he did in the regular season wow how you like to be the Celtics and wake up oh Drew’s going to give us seven more points than we’re used to Great oh and he’s also giving you nine and a half rebounds four assists and he is the key figure in that defense that has Kyrie Irving bottled up all right you cannot over underestimate that and Luca’s playing well no doubt I don’t think he’s been good defensively I he’s playing but we both think he’s not playing great his numbers are great but you know what else his one of the reasons they’ve been so successful in these playoffs this year is because his historically High usage rate has dropped in the first three rounds it was down to 31 which was an alltime low for him this series back up to 36 almost 37 so I think they got the usage rate is too much Luca all the time and I get it the other guys aren’t stepping up but still Drew holiday wild if you going to be the finals MVP how can you not be at the top of the hill so right now we’re a long way from finals MVP I do agree Drew would be the finals I agree with your bottom line but you gave Drew’s numbers it of course is less points rebounds and assists than LCA it is also under a far easier offensive uh burden than Luca and he should pass the ballmore okay but Luca so here’s the problem with that Luca’s leading them an assist Luca is some’s okay but this you know you can be you can high usage rate you’re leading assist as well he took less shots in game two than Jason Tatum Jason Tatum talked about how he was not forcing the issue intentionally because he was struggling and he took more shots than Luca this was not a Luca take 35 shots game yes the usage is a tick up in my opinion because Kyrie is down cuz he’s struggling so much he’s not stealing possessions from Gafford and PJ Washington there they were Kyrie possessions but Kyrie is so unsettled right now he’s dribing the ball off his foot a couple times a game so it’s not like I just I I I think there is fair criticisms of me for being so confident in the Mavs there’s there’s Fair uh praise going to Boston I think that acting as if Luca could have done something differently other than just score 45 no no no and that’s that is I was actually going to say that other than the turnovers I don’t think I don’t have an issue with that he’s playing offensively at all how about this can I pause it one yeah try harder make it a more of a priority to get the other guys shots in the first quarter and then maybe backload your your shots where I think it was the reverse but I get it if he’s hot he’s hot and he gets out to a big lead but if those guys are struggling can he do anything to get him going so if I just may reply quickly Kyrie was four or five in the first quarter of this I’m not talking Kyrie I’m talking D those other guys they’re none of them can create their own shot they built a team no but they they don’t have the physical ability to do it they are they are either lob catchers or catch and shoot threes and so the Celtics do deserve credit for shutting the water off on that by gu by single coverag and putting single coverage but they don’t have a guy just give the ball and let him go create other than guy I’m not saying Luca’s been bad you’re just saying just saying the finals MVP right now to should be I I don’t agree I understand go ahead here’s the why the Celtics are going to win we don’t know who the MVP is is it drew is it Jaylen Brown Tatum is uh Vegas is picked to be MVP or quiet MVP it’s kind of like when there in when I was growing up there was an Intercontinental Championship belt I never knew it just wasn’t the real belt but it’s still like Bel kind of like J so that’s what I’m giving to Derek white here’s Derek White this postseason bro he leads the team in three pointers made and blocks now I think his his block I don’t know how it’s going to be remembered the game two block did that save the game or was that a foul that wasn’t called if you think it saved the game then he had then he literally saved the game if you thought it was just a foul which it kind of was but it wasn’t called then you kind of view him a little bit differently uh and I know you’re thinking you can’t be really the MVP it is on the board that he wins the real MVP it’s on the board it’s on the board so here’s a cool graphic from Josh of finals MVPs who before they were even all stars and there’s some uh great guys there obviously and several like defensive Geniuses even like I say Kawai won for defense and chy and Chanty is again it’s like well it’s a whole team who do you want to give it to chony wins it so Derek white InterContinental MVP for me wow okay yeah listen I think that’s uh I I think that’s actually a really good take the I I think Derek White had has been he plays within himself as well as any player in the league and the things that he tries to do hit open threes play great defense he is your buddy Bill Simmons said he’s the best shot blocking guard since Jordan that felt a touch strong he has he averaged more blocks in the regular season than Giannis and bam yeah he listen he he seems like he gets a block every game I was about to say I think Wade’s the best shot blocking guard since Jordan but regardless it it’s a he is playing excellent and I do do think this is going to be a weird Finals MVP year if the Celtics win if the Mavs win it’s super easy we know it’s going to be Luca if the Celtics win you know cuz it’s not it’s totally on the board that Drew holiday has a four-point game the Celtics could win and Drew holiday has a four-point game so that throws things to skill okay Bob Myers is giving it to the front office I the front office gu’s giving it the front office not the ter one of bruise guys I think’s giving it to Tim Hardway Jr we’ll see if that how that one works out PR Super Bowl B next look for more of Tim Hardway Jr oh yeah they need to put him in there thanks for watching subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1

Nick Wright alongside Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes releases the latest edition of King of the Hill, ranking the best players in the 2024 NBA Finals featuring the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics.

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Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum’s struggles evident in latest King of the Hill | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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