[NBA] Unofficial Discussion Thread

[bisdak40]

As for KP, he will stretch the defense of both Gafford and Lively, and that will leave the paint open for other players as well. KP can shoot threes which is a threat for both of them, and if the Mavericks will put a smaller one to him, he will just blow by him or make perimeter shots. He wasn't called "the Unicorn" a few years ago for no reason. He's capable to step up when needed. It's only the injuries that hinders him from becoming an all-star unfortunately.

But we might also look back at the Wolves vs Mavs series where the Mavs did a decent job of containing Towns which for me is better than KP (some of you might disagree) and this will be the first time that the Unicorn plays in a post-season game, i mean the experience factor might take on some of his gameness hehe.

Getting excited for tomorrow's game.

[yahoo62278]

Game 1 is in the books and Boston came out and does what Boston has done all season long. They opened a can of whoop ass on Dallas. Porzingas was back tonight for Boston and came back hot. Boston took a 29 point lead at 1 point which was dwindled down to 8 late in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, that's as close as it got. Dallas cooled off and Boston couldn't be stopped.

[LogitechMouse]

Game 1 is in the books and Boston came out and does what Boston has done all season long. They opened a can of whoop ass on Dallas. Porzingas was back tonight for Boston and came back hot. Boston took a 29 point lead at 1 point which was dwindled down to 8 late in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, that's as close as it got. Dallas cooled off and Boston couldn't be stopped.

It's an easy win for the Celtics.
The arsenal of the Celtics which is their three-point shooting is what they used to win on this one. Of course, the defense as well helped them win against the Mavericks.

Many already said that Porzingis will be the X-factor on this series because of how good he is compared to the other bigs of the Mavs, and we saw it in Game 1. 20 points in his debut NBA Finals game with 3 blocks all in 1st quarter. I expect more performances like this for him. As for the Mavs, maybe they know they can't stop Luka because he scored big time on this one, but him alone can't carry the team obviously, so they focused more on Irving defensively, and he only got 12 points on 6/19 shooting. 6 players of the Celtics are in double-digits as well.

We know that the playoff is a chess match, so I expect adjustments for both teams in Game 2.

[yahoo62278]

Game 1 is in the books and Boston came out and does what Boston has done all season long. They opened a can of whoop ass on Dallas. Porzingas was back tonight for Boston and came back hot. Boston took a 29 point lead at 1 point which was dwindled down to 8 late in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, that's as close as it got. Dallas cooled off and Boston couldn't be stopped.

It's an easy win for the Celtics.
The arsenal of the Celtics which is their three-point shooting is what they used to win on this one. Of course, the defense as well helped them win against the Mavericks.

Many already said that Porzingis will be the X-factor on this series because of how good he is compared to the other bigs of the Mavs, and we saw it in Game 1. 20 points in his debut NBA Finals game with 3 blocks all in 1st quarter. I expect more performances like this for him. As for the Mavs, maybe they know they can't stop Luka because he scored big time on this one, but him alone can't carry the team obviously, so they focused more on Irving defensively, and he only got 12 points on 6/19 shooting. 6 players of the Celtics are in double-digits as well.

We know that the playoff is a chess match, so I expect adjustments for both teams in Game 2.

I'm rooting for Dallas to steal game 2 and make this series a little more interesting. Boston controlled this game from the start pretty much.

[bisdak40]

We know that the playoff is a chess match, so I expect adjustments for both teams in Game 2.

I hope that the Mavs could solve that switch involving Porzingis as he was left with a smaller defender and it was easy for him to score several times. Now i know why the bookies has put the Celtics as the favorites to win the Finals, all the fans of the Mavs are hoping that the Luka magic will explode in game 2.

[Zed0X]

I didn't watch the game and only looking at the numbers, what happened to Kyrie? Was he injured or was he suffering prior to the game? 6 out of 19 for him is unbelievable because he's one of the best ball handlers to ever play the game and I find it hard to believe anyone could guard him 1 v 1.

[bisdak40]

I didn't watch the game and only looking at the numbers, what happened to Kyrie? Was he injured or was he suffering prior to the game? 6 out of 19 for him is unbelievable because he's one of the best ball handlers to ever play the game and I find it hard to believe anyone could guard him 1 v 1.

No, he wasn't injured. Just good defense on him by the Celtics but i expect him to bounce back strong in game 2 as this is his promise that he will beat his former team.

[Baofeng]

I didn't watch the game and only looking at the numbers, what happened to Kyrie? Was he injured or was he suffering prior to the game? 6 out of 19 for him is unbelievable because he's one of the best ball handlers to ever play the game and I find it hard to believe anyone could guard him 1 v 1.

Just another bad night for Kyrie, reminds us on his series against the Clippers wherein he had a bad or off night and seems can't get over and score. But here the defense that the Celtics has put in him was really good, as they were able to close him down.

It's not 1 vs 1, but he was double team, same with what they done on Luka, White will come to double team at the blind side and so they steal the ball from Luka although Luka had his usual scoring, but the assists and the lob pass was not there.

And as I previously said, KP will be the big difference with his outside shooting and so he did with a big 20 points contribution.

[Zed0X]

~
It's not 1 vs 1, but he was double team, same with what they done on Luka, White will come to double team at the blind side and so they steal the ball from Luka although Luka had his usual scoring, but the assists and the lob pass was not there.

That's a good strategy. Great job to the coach because cutting the ball supply coming from their play makers to keep their role players less involved and cold (out of rhythm) throughout the game is tough to do.

Maybe we'll see less dribbles and quick passing for the Mavs in the next game.

[Baofeng]

~
It's not 1 vs 1, but he was double team, same with what they done on Luka, White will come to double team at the blind side and so they steal the ball from Luka although Luka had his usual scoring, but the assists and the lob pass was not there.

That's a good strategy. Great job to the coach because cutting the ball supply coming from their play makers to keep their role players less involved and cold (out of rhythm) throughout the game is tough to do.

Maybe we'll see less dribbles and quick passing for the Mavs in the next game.

The Mavs was really caught by surprised by the great defense they put on Luka. Imagine there are no lob pass from him or even had more assists in a game. Kyrie had another bad night and then the Celtics with KP, shooting from the outside.

Most likely it will be the same for Celtics, trying to clamp down on Luka with double teaming and trying to get the ball away from him. It was really very effective and so they will still continue to employ that kind of strategy.

[LogitechMouse]

~
It's not 1 vs 1, but he was double team, same with what they done on Luka, White will come to double team at the blind side and so they steal the ball from Luka although Luka had his usual scoring, but the assists and the lob pass was not there.

That's a good strategy. Great job to the coach because cutting the ball supply coming from their play makers to keep their role players less involved and cold (out of rhythm) throughout the game is tough to do.

Maybe we'll see less dribbles and quick passing for the Mavs in the next game.

The Mavs was really caught by surprised by the great defense they put on Luka. Imagine there are no lob pass from him or even had more assists in a game. Kyrie had another bad night and then the Celtics with KP, shooting from the outside.

Most likely it will be the same for Celtics, trying to clamp down on Luka with double teaming and trying to get the ball away from him. It was really very effective and so they will still continue to employ that kind of strategy.

Having only 9 assists for the whole team isn't something that we are seeing from the Mavericks that often. I mean we've seen Doncic having some triple-doubles in some playoff games, and having only 9 for the whole team is something rare, but that only shows how good the Celtics are in terms of defense.

This is also one of the reason aside from the 3-pt shooting why the Celtics won by a huge margin. 23 assists from the Celtics compared to 9 from the Mavericks? I hope that the Mavericks will make some adjustments in terms of passing the ball because it seems like they are having some problems on it. Anyway, I expect the Celtics to guard Luka and it's not only Holiday that will defend him, but all of their 5 starters.

[Baofeng]

~
It's not 1 vs 1, but he was double team, same with what they done on Luka, White will come to double team at the blind side and so they steal the ball from Luka although Luka had his usual scoring, but the assists and the lob pass was not there.

That's a good strategy. Great job to the coach because cutting the ball supply coming from their play makers to keep their role players less involved and cold (out of rhythm) throughout the game is tough to do.

Maybe we'll see less dribbles and quick passing for the Mavs in the next game.

The Mavs was really caught by surprised by the great defense they put on Luka. Imagine there are no lob pass from him or even had more assists in a game. Kyrie had another bad night and then the Celtics with KP, shooting from the outside.

Most likely it will be the same for Celtics, trying to clamp down on Luka with double teaming and trying to get the ball away from him. It was really very effective and so they will still continue to employ that kind of strategy.

Having only 9 assists for the whole team isn't something that we are seeing from the Mavericks that often. I mean we've seen Doncic having some triple-doubles in some playoff games, and having only 9 for the whole team is something rare, but that only shows how good the Celtics are in terms of defense.

This is also one of the reason aside from the 3-pt shooting why the Celtics won by a huge margin. 23 assists from the Celtics compared to 9 from the Mavericks? I hope that the Mavericks will make some adjustments in terms of passing the ball because it seems like they are having some problems on it. Anyway, I expect the Celtics to guard Luka and it's not only Holiday that will defend him, but all of their 5 starters.

Yes, Boston really limited the Mavs play, disrupted it many times that's why they don't have a good numbers in assists which is very uncanny for a player like Luka who almost average triple double.

So that will be one are that Jason Kidd will have to look at in the next game. And how to guard KP, because he was really enjoying the matchup against Lively, but the rookie can't guard him straight up and KP is good laterally, he can drive as well and dunk over the ball, or hit the outside shot. So there's a lot of adjustment that the Mavs really had to do in order to win game 2.

[bisdak40]

So that will be one are that Jason Kidd will have to look at in the next game. And how to guard KP, because he was really enjoying the matchup against Lively, but the rookie can't guard him straight up and KP is good laterally, he can drive as well and dunk over the ball, or hit the outside shot. So there's a lot of adjustment that the Mavs really had to do in order to win game 2.

Talking about KP, he was having a block party in game 1 so I think the Mavs will adjust on that but definitely, KP will have an impact on the Mavs scoring, and betting on Dallas under 100 points is the way to go this game 2.

[yahoo62278]

So that will be one are that Jason Kidd will have to look at in the next game. And how to guard KP, because he was really enjoying the matchup against Lively, but the rookie can't guard him straight up and KP is good laterally, he can drive as well and dunk over the ball, or hit the outside shot. So there's a lot of adjustment that the Mavs really had to do in order to win game 2.

Talking about KP, he was having a block party in game 1 so I think the Mavs will adjust on that but definitely, KP will have an impact on the Mavs scoring, and betting on Dallas under 100 points is the way to go this game 2.

I think Kyrie has a good game tonight and Dallas takes game 2 soring 107-115 points or so. Ypu have to believe that Dallas will make adjustments and Boston will not shoot as well from 3 as they did in game 1.

If Dallas can steal a game, this series will go 7 IMO. Both teams know what's on the line and both teams have playmakers. I know Boston has more shooters, but Luka is considered the best in the NBA and Kyrie can take a game over sometimes.

[Zed0X]

Less than three hours left before game 2! The numbers haven't really moved that much. I was hoping to bank on Dallas +10.5 but I find the odds to be low @1.50 I was expecting it to be around @1.7 and up because of the result of game 1.