I’m a Mavs fan. Boston has a better team. But the Mav’s players can’t be afraid to take the open shots, even if they miss. We need to be more aggressive at attacking the basket, which is something we haven’t done all year. I realize that’s difficult it you’re not hitting 3s to open up the middle. So to concentrate on what we can control, lower turnovers and hit our free throws. By the way I love your podcast.
And this is why Luka especially choose to take those silly step back 3's early in the shot clock instead of driving into the paint to collapse the D in the 1st half leading to Celtics run. Same for games 1 & 2 were Kyrie was overthinking b/c role players like Kleeber & DJJ refused to shoot. Celtics players sensed that. People don't realize how important the mental part of the game is. This is what separate elite vs best players & good players. Confidence is a big thing. Watch Kawhi even Jimmy when they are on the court. They are fearless & both sides of the ball. This is why Masai traded Demar for Kawhi & kept Kyle Lowry b/c comes playoffs Demar wilted & Kyle regardless of the noise didn't give 1 iota.
Dallas had a great run given how this team was assembled mid season. Luka will learn from this Finals experience and I feel like he’ll be back for many more
West feels too stacked, best teams probably have a 35% chance of even making it out of the west for the next few years. Mavs aren't even the best team, maybe 15%. Going to be tough. Compare that to Boston's like 80% chance to make it to the finals each year as it is now.
@@metalhead2536 what? They were the 5th seed and made it to the finals. Imagine what a full training camp and off-season acquisitions will do for them. Don’t doubt on a prodigy
Jason kidd calling a timeout to stop his own teams 20-2 run just before crunch time is insane. Playing THJ any minute especially 19 minutes is atrocious.
Ppl are being too savage against Luka. I guess that is what happens when you get to the top. Same thing that happened to Taytum when he was awful in the finals
Be curious to see what his actual health is when it all comes out, but the main difference is Tatum had a terrible offensive series in that GSW finals but still put in defensive effort. Good defense is predicated on effort and Luka simply doesn’t put much in regardless of how his offensive game is going
There is a difference when you are missing shots/turning the ball over, than wailing and complaining to the refs all series long. What Luka's doing is embarassing and demoralizing to his team mates to point they might want to leave the Mavs which most good role players do there anyway. He can have a triple double but not getting up quickly and talking to the refs while his team mates are trying to establish defensive plays are moral destroyers
The discourse around this series has been horrible Luka has been the best he’s injured has been for 4 months and nobody else on offense can do anything yet all anyone can talk about it is the Mavs defense when their drating is 106 which Bostons normal offensive rating is 116 the offense for the Mavs is the entire problem
Everyone is injured, he just got exposed on the defensive end this series. Everyone should go at him on every possession going forward. He's not in good enough shape to play both ends all night.
Boston is missing a lot of open shots they miss. Dallas' defense has been completely helpless and it's looking better than it is because Boston is shooting poorly. Luka has been great offensively, but he's been an absolute target all series on the other end. He's a serious defensive liability and it's largely due to a lack of effort. He also wears down later in the game. That isn't his fault - he has a huge offensive load and again is being hunted on defense - but that is a fatal flaw of helocentric offenses like Dallas'.
@@jaredwilkes2324 Every team can't do that as effectively as Boston because they have elite rim protection behind Luka to clean up/mitigate the blow bys. That works against most teams because most teams have a player who either wants to be around the rim on offense anyway, or that is at least a small enough threat from the perimeter that you live with giving them shots. You can't do that with Boston because they don't have anyone in their rotation that you can leave alone, so the rim protection is out by the 3 point line.
How could anyone expect Luka to do more when he’s playing against the best all around team in a decade with gleague performances from his teammates. Ya he wasn’t great in the last game, but he’s the last person I’d blame.
Mavs had an amazing run this year. Nobody expected them to be the Western Conference champions🏆or even be here. While its disappointing that they ran into a bad matchup with Boston in the Finals, it's still an amazing achievement. Luka at 25 years old...he will figure it out
The Celtics got hate for losing when their best players were 24 and 25. I agree that 25 is still young but funny how people say they will never win one. I give Luka props for being in the wcf and finals at 25. Sure he will come through
Legs was soooooo confident in dallas even with all the overwhelming evidence supporting boston to obliterate them. Casual takes. and thats why he lost his money he bet on dallas.
Jaylen and Jason double headed monster.....watch Tatum's shot will improve in off season....Brown is going to become an assist guy and improve his free throws
@@coleb3418Not really. There are a ton of examples of guys who were actually bad shooters, especially from three, dramatically improving their shooting during the second half of their careers.
@nocturne311 sure, but those are generally guys who aren't volume shooters to begin with, or 3 point shooters. Jayson Tatum is both. It is kinda funny to say his shot will improve this offseason.
Every single all time great player had to deal with crushing failure in the playoffs before they became the best version of themselves. Luka definitely deserves all the heat he's getting for his defense and effort in this series. It doesn't take away from the massive improvements he made over this season and through the first 3 rounds of the playoffs, but clearly that improvement wasn't enough to get it done. Luka is going to come back stronger than ever from this and we will see the true best version of him going forward. It stings that we lost, but the future is very bright no matter what all the idiots who will inevitably reply to this comment say.
Dallas’s defense hasn’t been the issue hardly at all. Celtics are averaging 106 PPG in Finals. Dallas is avenging 95! In modern day basketball those are BOTH very low scoring. Defense both ways has been fine overall (though Celtics better for sure) but Mavs offense has let them down. I’m shocked Legs mentioned Mavs defense not offense. They haven’t cracked 100 once! PS Jerry West was an ELITE 2 way player. Ppl don’t realize how amazing of a defender he was too! He would have averaged 3-4 spg had they existed for his entire career. Had all nba defense existed his whole career he would have had 12+ made! He has most finals points ever, most 30+, 40+ point finals games! Averaged 31 6 5 in 55 Finals games. He easily could have had 3-4 titles with better luck and more help from teammates as some of the Finals were very close game 7 losses.
I'm a Luka-Kyrie fan, I don't know the stats were but MAVS has 100% chance to win if Luka STOPS WHINNING and just focus his game doing his magic and just having fun....
@@RT-qz5ci Defense was NOT the main issue. Luka's D obviously didn't help but they were plus 9 in his minutes and he was there for that big run. They lost because Kidd kept Hardaway out too long and went -16 in under 20 minutes
@RT-qz5ci How can you say Luka fouling out was a big problem while simultaneously saying him getting cooked was the main issue? Wouldn't it have been good that he didn't play those last 4 then? I agree that fouling out possibly swung the game, but that's because overall his impact was positive. His replacement was you guessed it, Hardaway, which circles back to my original point
What no commentators, even ones as good as you two, never seem to pick up on about Jokic is that not fouling out so he can be there at the end is always his #1 priority-as opposed to trying to block every shot or interrupt every driver that whizzes past him. If you think about it, once he knows he's not going to foul out or be in foul trouble, in crunch time, he becomes a very good defender indeed. No, the last series is not a great example. But what about the four years before that? He blocks plenty of shots, gets a bunch of steals (when he doesn't worry about getting reach-in fouls), and gets really active as a defender when it really counts. For that, he has to suffer the slings and arrows that he's not a good defender. It's more like he lets stuff go much of the game so he can go all-in at the end. That mental toughness is what separates Jokic from Doncic, who is certainly an awesome player ... but not quite mentally in the Jokic zone.
Jokic is somewhere else riding horses or river rafting while Luka is the best player in the Finals. Jokic lost in the 2nd round. Luka clearly the MVP....the Mavs role players have just been ineffective/outplayed in this series and Kyrie only 1 good game out of the 3. You can't beat 5 All Stars with 2....but Luka is still the best... he's fouled out only 3 times his entire career...and at least 1-2 of these calls were questionable (particularly 5th foul). Luka does not have a problem/history with fouling out of big games and I'd take him over Jokic every time. If Jokic were better than Luka he would be in the Finals.
@@adamstewart247 What Luka has a problem with is getting after the refs all game long, while Jokic, even though he gets mauled way worse than Luka, accepts it even if it's unjust and the reward is the championship that Luka doesn't have. Luka also got happy after getting past Ant who was happy after getting past Murray ... while Jokic isn't happy until the full job gets done.
Tbf he's had lots of bad games this playoffs and hasn't really received that much criticism. This is about the poor emotional control more than just missing a few shots or allowing some blow bys.
68% blowbys according to second spectrum. WHAT OTHER PLAYER ON EARTH GETS THAT KIND OF PASS WITH THE MEDIA? Any other superstar they would be evicerating him for that defensive effort.
It’s insane how the experts and pundits picked the Mavs to win this series. It’s like they all threw out the evidence from the first 96 games the Celtics played. They were clearly the best TEAM all season.
Yee big additions but also growth in jb specifically but both in both the jays. They were 1a n 1b n not Batman robin in ‘18 too. I think the idea of wanting a “main” guy like Luka limited the potential of this duo
Tim asked before the series were Boston fans going to come back after the finals since we said we were going to sweep/ gentleman sweep them…..well buddy!
B/c they had to use up.all their energy to get back in the game. I guarantee you if it was closer possession gm going into the 4Q it would be different. I watched every post season games Celtics played this season & the clutch gms they won before vs Pacers were due to Pacers youth showing up. I didn't expect that to happen with Mavs b/c they have 2 cltuch closers in Kyrie & Luka. I was disappointed by Mavs lack of discipline & execution in these 3 games.
The only issue I have with the best player in the NBA discourse is that an offensive gifted and offense first or only in Luka’s case gets all the praise and advantage over a clear 2 way player. I get that the offensive abilities can be the decisive factor in naming the best player or MVP for the league. But, let it come from the top 2 way players list, rather than pick from the best or more gifted offensive players. This is not the NFL!
Boston fan here! I’ve been in the chat for every series. I picked min over den in 7 n said why. I picked mavs over wolves. I also picked okc over mavs and when okc lost i was I. The chat explaining what I had wrong. So na I don’t just pick the Celtics every night. I’m picking other games too. N even still if I pick the cs n they lose im standing on business!! I would never complain if some1 called me out for being wrong. We know you’re not always going to be right but we’re going to hold you accountable for your picks same way I hold myself accountable. Like I said in another comment, it’s just frustrating bc despite overwhelming evidence that this was the best team in the league, the general sentiment from media and fans was distrust for the celtics. There was nothing the cs could’ve done to make yall think cs we’re gonna win it all. Nothing. I don’t even expect the distrust to stop atp. We’re gonna be underdog defending champs smh.
We’re in here for free yall get paid!! Who cares if some fans don’t hold themselves to the same standards you pros do. But let the record reflect! …I’m holding myself to the same standard
Legs you were super wrong abt this one. Like not even close! It’s all good! You’re still prob my favorite analyst. Major love n respect but you were wrong AF! 😂 n it seemed obvious to a lot of us b4 the series. We gotta pop our shit!!!
Yeah I think Luka looks a touch heavier and less fleet of foot than 2022. He needs to go to yoga Pilates circuit dance footwork class. I’ve just made that up but I hope you get the gist. I’m sure he could be significantly better laterally with the right practice. And yeah yelling at the refs and prioritising yelling at the refs when the opposition are in play is a nightmare. He’s only 25. Some guys have little talent but are athletic, Luka has all the talent in the world and the frustration is that you want him to fulfill it. Unfulfilled talent is so devastating for the soul. Luka needs to work on mental conditioning and lightness of movement. One hopes he learns from this year. But it doesn’t matter if he wins or not…. To achieve real greatness and happiness. He needs to try his best. There is a story about Djokovic, after he won his first grand slam he put a square of chocolate in his mouth. After a couple of seconds he spat it out as he wanted to win his second grand slam…
The okc series against dallas should of been a clear sign that boston was more than likely gonna beat the mavericks..... Dallas struggled to beat okc......series damn near almost went 7...... Not only did okc had youth and quickness on the perimeter to play defense but their coach basically sent doubles at kyrie and luka and forced the other role players to beat them in which those role players eventually did beat them ..... however Problem with okc is not only were they inexperience but outside of sga no other player on the team could consistenly hit open threes and make jumpers....... if they were able to, series probably would of went 7 and a possibility that okc win the series Boston on the other hand are vets, play defense and can hit open threes and jumpers......plus boston could defend luka and kyrie straight up without having to send a double like okc did....... Both okc and boston coaches are pretty good The timberwolves series was pathetic...... the coach never made any adjusments until game 3 and this isnt the first time we saw a team that had rudy gobert and was rated top in defense get upset and get smoked in the playoffs... Kat bball IQ is low Rudy Gobert has constantly been exposed in the playoffs year after year..... And there coach did nothing to help his team even though he had the requisite pieces to make that series more competitive
The difference in narrative from espn is disgusting. Tatum and Brown were 24 and 25 when they lost their finals. All these experts were questioning can they win together, are they good enough do these guys need to be broken up? Never heard a single one of them talk about how much losing in the finals is a learning experience and they can get better from this
WHY did Kidd take a time out on 20 to 2 run, Luka's was in the zone and they had them on the ropes, after time out Luka was clearly off and got 2 fouls. Implode
I don’t evaluate takes by result! I go by how solid the thought process was! N the thought process for a mavs over cs prediction was OD flawed! We learned absolutely nothing new in this series! To me this was extremely predictable It was all emotional Celtics hate or Luka love. But despite all the money being on Dallas Vegas still had the lowest odds on Cs in 5. N they were - 210 to win the series. It’s business in Vegas. Extremely telling bc Vegas usually try’s to balance the odds based on where the money is. N still Boston was the heavy favorite. I’ve literally never seen so much public distrust for a great team in my life (I’m 33 btw)
When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Dallas finally is getting EQUAL treatment from the refs and y'all can't stop crying about not getting special treatment
Sadly you never got a game where both teams played well at the same time. Way too much attention is being paid to Luka’s defense when the problem is three and four defenders collapsing in on a player, leaving multiple people open. Whether it’s a long shot and already having rebounders in position or driving past contesting defenders, it gives Boston a huge advantage and takes away any real threat Dallas is able to provide. I put the loss on kidd because he never did anything to get their defense to stop overreacting like that. Gil’s Arena broke it down in five minutes showing exactly what was wrong and how to fix it but game three looked exactly like game one so evidently Dallas wasn’t watching. And some plays they actually showed defenders standing with their arms down watching the play instead of at least taking a position near three-point shooters in case of a long rebound or kick out pass. Instead everyone focuses on Dončić and pretends everything would’ve been OK if he just tried harder.
No! Pathetic coaching by J Kidd cost us two critical close games!!😡 by pathetic timeout to stop our 22-2 comebacks & not sitting Luca down after he got the 4th & 5th fouls!!🤮
Legs! Question: Before the series a lot of ppl picking Boston (including me lol) thought that Bostons shooting esp from the center position would hurt Dallas’ ability to load up n protect the rim. Also many ppl pointed out all the entry points Dallas defense had… My question is - had you heard or considered these factors before picking Dallas? If so why did you think Dallas’ defense would still be good? Also the cs have won more w their defense than offense to this point. So not sure that Dallas’ defense under performing his a valid explanation for your ERRONEOUS pick (Vince Vaughn in wedding crashes voice**) 😂
The “Boston is just the better team” narrative is bullshit. If you look at the entire season it’s true but Boston has not been playing unbeatable basketball for 2 out of the three games. This series is all about coaching. Boston is disciplined and has a gameplan and is intent on executing it. Dallas hasn’t made any worthwhile adjustments and have had no offensive direction in this series. Putting Tatum on lively won Boston this series and Dallas did nothing to counter or exploit it. You had a week to prepare and knew it was coming.
Luka will not win a championship in Dallas sadly. This has the classic somehow make it to the finals even though you’re not a true championship level team, get destroyed, crumble afterwards and never get close again, written all over it. He better really think about signing that supermax.
If the Lakers had the same path as the Celtics this postseason, they are the champions. Celtics are the best team this year. But not sure where all this confidence is coming from. They messed around with the pacers every game, lost to a Cleveland team at home when everyone was healthy, and could’ve easily blown a 21 point second half lead last night if it weren’t for Luka being an idiot. Weakest path for a champion in history. Not close. These playoffs have been terrible for the nba this year as a whole
If you are a Lakers fan, you should look up the path the 87 Lakers had and reconsider your opinion of the weakest path. History won't remember who these Celtics played along the way to this championship, only haters like you will.
Because the Warriors had great coaching last year and they didn’t choke nor beat themselves like the Mavs did..😔 JBrown is a gangster thief with the dirty refs help!!😡
Say what you want but if luka had half decent teammate’s that could hit open shots they’d be up 2-1. Kyrie won a title and he has been atrocious in this series and half the playoffs.
I look at Luka’a physique in his rookie year and I wish he worked on himself to be stronger and less fat so he can deal with the wear and tear of the season and play better defence. He had a great baseline physique as a young player!
You’re kidding? American media’s Luka hatred is unprecedented. Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Shai, Haliburton all lost before getting to the finals. Not one bad thing was said about them. Hobbled Luka gets his team to the finals and the extremely racist US media will spend the entire summer hating on him. It’s a disgrace!
NBA jealous BIG TIME because of all the years back Americans can't get MVP .. so ofc they have a double standard on Luka too .. not that Luka didn't have his share on that too. But 1st of all send THJ over here to Slovenia so he can train with 12 year old boys
Legs said cs showed they can help the other team guard them… how many times tho?? Couldn’t have been that much or mattered that much if they only lost 20 games all szn. And led by at least 20 in over half of their games (including the nba finals) I think that’s the most frustrating part listening to media guys talk abt the Celtics…theyre graded on a totally different scale… they get shitted on for having bad stretches or bad shooting nights like we’ve ever seen a single team that don’t have those moments. ITS NEVER HAPPENED! All teams have lulls, but Boston had the fewest all yr n it still wasn’t enough for any1 to b confident in them.
@@damarcofitz5241 Watched this part now. "When you start camp out of shape, you never get in shape." lol Doc Rivers NEVER takes accountability, throws people under the bus and halfway through the season you can get in shape regardless of your summer workouts. Guy is literally terrible person and coach.
Nobody wants to come right out and say it, bottom line Luka is LAZY... constantly hunts for calls on offense and makes no effort whatsoever on defense.
This luka debate is a false one. This is the truth od one game. They arrived to the finals with the same hurt luka and they are not that far from winning. Can luka do better in defense? Yes 💯 but is it the reason they lost the answer is 💯 NO
fLuka defense is garbage and Tim Legler is a First Class hater. You can dislike the Celtics but to go out of your way to excuse this pathetic performance by the Mavs is ridiculous. Keep hating bozo, next step is completing the Sweep and raising that Trophy! 🏆
That's stupid. Luka won in Europe being the best player in his team, proved all draft haters wrong with his game, is the leader of his national team by earning the respect of all his teammates among other things. You don't accomplish this much by being spoiled. I'm a celtics fan btw
lol, Luka ain’t Magic. He’s the round mound of excuses. I’m a Dallas fan, and Luka’s mom, and I’m 12 feet tall btw. All facts, because I typed it in a youtube comment. Also, Luka has 5 dads, they play for Boston.
"Jaylen and Jason have matured so much" No, they're playing 5 out with 3 other all-stars and the best role player in the nba BECAUSE they couldnt get it done without a historically good cast.
I love how when Luka fouls, it's "sure, by the letter of the law... But..." and then when Luka gets gently brushed by a defender and then he flops around like a fish it's "well how dare you foul Luka. It's your fault that he gets 18 free gift FTs" Luka is James Harden with white privilege
You've been fair so far, Legs. I really hope you dont bash Luka here. Boston will spend $300 mil (in luxury tax alone) over a few years to win a couple rimgs because the Jays couldnt get it done. What Luka has done this postseason is remarkable.
What're you talking about. The jays are getting it done. The two of them with help from the rest of the team. That's what championship teams do and any front office pays that tax to win championships. Come on now. Obviously Luka isn't solely to blame and hes excellent offensively, but he does deserve criticism
Tim you and your ilk have lost all credibility, it's beyond embarrassing that you picked against an extraordinary dominant team. You probably thought Kyrie was better than Brown which was so obviously wrong from the start. You and ESPN were told by the books to push Dallas and you did so, you were told by ESPN to hype up Luka to feed into the BITW, narrative. You are everything wrong with NBA media discourse
I’m a Mavs fan. Boston has a better team. But the Mav’s players can’t be afraid to take the open shots, even if they miss. We need to be more aggressive at attacking the basket, which is something we haven’t done all year. I realize that’s difficult it you’re not hitting 3s to open up the middle. So to concentrate on what we can control, lower turnovers and hit our free throws. By the way I love your podcast.
And this is why Luka especially choose to take those silly step back 3's early in the shot clock instead of driving into the paint to collapse the D in the 1st half leading to Celtics run. Same for games 1 & 2 were Kyrie was overthinking b/c role players like Kleeber & DJJ refused to shoot. Celtics players sensed that. People don't realize how important the mental part of the game is. This is what separate elite vs best players & good players. Confidence is a big thing. Watch Kawhi even Jimmy when they are on the court. They are fearless & both sides of the ball. This is why Masai traded Demar for Kawhi & kept Kyle Lowry b/c comes playoffs Demar wilted & Kyle regardless of the noise didn't give 1 iota.
The picks for dallas were based on KP not being there
Dallas had a great run given how this team was assembled mid season. Luka will learn from this Finals experience and I feel like he’ll be back for many more
West feels too stacked, best teams probably have a 35% chance of even making it out of the west for the next few years. Mavs aren't even the best team, maybe 15%. Going to be tough. Compare that to Boston's like 80% chance to make it to the finals each year as it is now.
@@metalhead2536yup so gotta beat the gauntlet out west just to possibly run into Boston again with the experience and confidence of being champions
Do you honestly think a basketball phenom from age 13 not yet 25 will just stop improving??? Stop it!!!
@@metalhead2536 what? They were the 5th seed and made it to the finals. Imagine what a full training camp and off-season acquisitions will do for them. Don’t doubt on a prodigy
@@endless_waltz18 okay cool, so their odds go up to 20% or something with 3 - 4 other teams also with 17.5 - 25%. You're missing the point.
If Luka just played D like Hauser he would be unreal. Just no effort. Love the breakdown fellas. Celtics gonna be tough next 2yrs, got to keep white.
Jason kidd calling a timeout to stop his own teams 20-2 run just before crunch time is insane. Playing THJ any minute especially 19 minutes is atrocious.
I get not liking side-step/step back 3s, but not liking a team that drives the basketball is honestly wild.
Those were awesome answers to my question about rankings! Nice job !
world greatest mystery will be why did THJ play 20 minutes when he hasnt scored a point since may 18
At this point hes been black mailing Jason Kidd 🤣🤣
Ppl are being too savage against Luka. I guess that is what happens when you get to the top. Same thing that happened to Taytum when he was awful in the finals
Lol, true. When Lebron failed and flopped and gave up, the media made up excuses for him for years. Xenophobia is real.
Be curious to see what his actual health is when it all comes out, but the main difference is Tatum had a terrible offensive series in that GSW finals but still put in defensive effort. Good defense is predicated on effort and Luka simply doesn’t put much in regardless of how his offensive game is going
There is a difference when you are missing shots/turning the ball over, than wailing and complaining to the refs all series long. What Luka's doing is embarassing and demoralizing to his team mates to point they might want to leave the Mavs which most good role players do there anyway. He can have a triple double but not getting up quickly and talking to the refs while his team mates are trying to establish defensive plays are moral destroyers
The discourse around this series has been horrible Luka has been the best he’s injured has been for 4 months and nobody else on offense can do anything yet all anyone can talk about it is the Mavs defense when their drating is 106 which Bostons normal offensive rating is 116 the offense for the Mavs is the entire problem
Everyone is injured, he just got exposed on the defensive end this series. Everyone should go at him on every possession going forward. He's not in good enough shape to play both ends all night.
Boston is missing a lot of open shots they miss. Dallas' defense has been completely helpless and it's looking better than it is because Boston is shooting poorly.
Luka has been great offensively, but he's been an absolute target all series on the other end. He's a serious defensive liability and it's largely due to a lack of effort.
He also wears down later in the game. That isn't his fault - he has a huge offensive load and again is being hunted on defense - but that is a fatal flaw of helocentric offenses like Dallas'.
@@jaredwilkes2324 Every team can't do that as effectively as Boston because they have elite rim protection behind Luka to clean up/mitigate the blow bys. That works against most teams because most teams have a player who either wants to be around the rim on offense anyway, or that is at least a small enough threat from the perimeter that you live with giving them shots. You can't do that with Boston because they don't have anyone in their rotation that you can leave alone, so the rim protection is out by the 3 point line.
How could anyone expect Luka to do more when he’s playing against the best all around team in a decade with gleague performances from his teammates. Ya he wasn’t great in the last game, but he’s the last person I’d blame.
Because that's the standard all the very best players are held to whether we like it or not.
Thanks legs for giving my Dallas mavericks some shine Celtics that good but we got to believe Mavs in 7 😎 let it ride 🦝💙
Mavs had an amazing run this year. Nobody expected them to be the Western Conference champions🏆or even be here. While its disappointing that they ran into a bad matchup with Boston in the Finals, it's still an amazing achievement. Luka at 25 years old...he will figure it out
The Celtics got hate for losing when their best players were 24 and 25. I agree that 25 is still young but funny how people say they will never win one. I give Luka props for being in the wcf and finals at 25. Sure he will come through
Legs was soooooo confident in dallas even with all the overwhelming evidence supporting boston to obliterate them. Casual takes. and thats why he lost his money he bet on dallas.
Jaylen and Jason double headed monster.....watch Tatum's shot will improve in off season....Brown is going to become an assist guy and improve his free throws
saying a 7 year veterans shot will improve is nasty work
@@coleb3418Not really. There are a ton of examples of guys who were actually bad shooters, especially from three, dramatically improving their shooting during the second half of their careers.
@nocturne311 sure, but those are generally guys who aren't volume shooters to begin with, or 3 point shooters. Jayson Tatum is both. It is kinda funny to say his shot will improve this offseason.
@@shawna4309he's been a good shooter in the NBA though, that's the difference. It's not like he's been a terrible shooter his whole career.
Every single all time great player had to deal with crushing failure in the playoffs before they became the best version of themselves. Luka definitely deserves all the heat he's getting for his defense and effort in this series. It doesn't take away from the massive improvements he made over this season and through the first 3 rounds of the playoffs, but clearly that improvement wasn't enough to get it done. Luka is going to come back stronger than ever from this and we will see the true best version of him going forward. It stings that we lost, but the future is very bright no matter what all the idiots who will inevitably reply to this comment say.
😂😂😂😂 ur some kind of stupid
Dallas’s defense hasn’t been the issue hardly at all. Celtics are averaging 106 PPG in Finals. Dallas is avenging 95! In modern day basketball those are BOTH very low scoring. Defense both ways has been fine overall (though Celtics better for sure) but Mavs offense has let them down. I’m shocked Legs mentioned Mavs defense not offense. They haven’t cracked 100 once!
PS Jerry West was an ELITE 2 way player. Ppl don’t realize how amazing of a defender he was too! He would have averaged 3-4 spg had they existed for his entire career. Had all nba defense existed his whole career he would have had 12+ made!
He has most finals points ever, most 30+, 40+ point finals games!
Averaged 31 6 5 in 55 Finals games. He easily could have had 3-4 titles with better luck and more help from teammates as some of the Finals were very close game 7 losses.
I'm a Luka-Kyrie fan, I don't know the stats were but MAVS has 100% chance to win if Luka STOPS WHINNING and just focus his game doing his magic and just having fun....
The timeout on a 20 - 2 was extremely questionable and likely a negative. The THJ minutes cost them the game
Luka got torched all day lol. That was the main issue
@@RT-qz5ci Defense was NOT the main issue. Luka's D obviously didn't help but they were plus 9 in his minutes and he was there for that big run. They lost because Kidd kept Hardaway out too long and went -16 in under 20 minutes
@@donsnow8039 luka fouling out was a way bigger problem though. He could have won the game at the end. He missed 4 minutes.
@RT-qz5ci How can you say Luka fouling out was a big problem while simultaneously saying him getting cooked was the main issue? Wouldn't it have been good that he didn't play those last 4 then? I agree that fouling out possibly swung the game, but that's because overall his impact was positive. His replacement was you guessed it, Hardaway, which circles back to my original point
@@donsnow8039 they are the same issue. He fouled out bc he was getting blown by all game and was trying to stop Jaylen finally. He got too aggressive
Luka is the only reason Dallas is even in the Finals. Kyrie didn't even show up until game 3.
What no commentators, even ones as good as you two, never seem to pick up on about Jokic is that not fouling out so he can be there at the end is always his #1 priority-as opposed to trying to block every shot or interrupt every driver that whizzes past him. If you think about it, once he knows he's not going to foul out or be in foul trouble, in crunch time, he becomes a very good defender indeed. No, the last series is not a great example. But what about the four years before that? He blocks plenty of shots, gets a bunch of steals (when he doesn't worry about getting reach-in fouls), and gets really active as a defender when it really counts. For that, he has to suffer the slings and arrows that he's not a good defender. It's more like he lets stuff go much of the game so he can go all-in at the end. That mental toughness is what separates Jokic from Doncic, who is certainly an awesome player ... but not quite mentally in the Jokic zone.
Well said. A week ago Luka fans were claiming he was better than Joker. We can all see now why he’s not better. Not yet at least
Jokic is somewhere else riding horses or river rafting while Luka is the best player in the Finals. Jokic lost in the 2nd round. Luka clearly the MVP....the Mavs role players have just been ineffective/outplayed in this series and Kyrie only 1 good game out of the 3. You can't beat 5 All Stars with 2....but
Luka is still the best... he's fouled out only 3 times his entire career...and at least 1-2 of these calls were questionable (particularly 5th foul). Luka does not have a problem/history with fouling out of big games and I'd take him over Jokic every time. If Jokic were better than Luka he would be in the Finals.
Jokic has given and would have give the Celtics fits had Denver advanced.
@@adamstewart247Lol. Luka will be back in Slovenia soon enough.
@@adamstewart247 What Luka has a problem with is getting after the refs all game long, while Jokic, even though he gets mauled way worse than Luka, accepts it even if it's unjust and the reward is the championship that Luka doesn't have. Luka also got happy after getting past Ant who was happy after getting past Murray ... while Jokic isn't happy until the full job gets done.
We were down 21 in the 4th and made it a 3pt game with a few minutes left. How is that a lack of faith, lol
Dude has a bad game and the media gets a hard on 🤡
Tbf he's had lots of bad games this playoffs and hasn't really received that much criticism. This is about the poor emotional control more than just missing a few shots or allowing some blow bys.
68% blowbys according to second spectrum.
WHAT OTHER PLAYER ON EARTH GETS THAT KIND OF PASS WITH THE MEDIA?
Any other superstar they would be evicerating him for that defensive effort.
It’s insane how the experts and pundits picked the Mavs to win this series. It’s like they all threw out the evidence from the first 96 games the Celtics played. They were clearly the best TEAM all season.
It just shows how much of a joke NBA media is for the most part and contributes to the toxic social media click culture
Think they’re just in bed with sports gambling now and needed to even out the money and not get schlacked by Boston being an easy pick
Every player except Luka has been playing worse this series
Yeah because they didn't realize what michael finley did to lukas confidence as a man! but smart people know!
did the experts and pundits really pick the mavs,,?
Celtics were clearly the best team this season, congrats to them! That being said, this was such a disappointing Finals…
Refs cost the Mavs the game last game and looks like Luka was still pissed about that this game
Yee big additions but also growth in jb specifically but both in both the jays.
They were 1a n 1b n not Batman robin in ‘18 too. I think the idea of wanting a “main” guy like Luka limited the potential of this duo
Tim asked before the series were Boston fans going to come back after the finals since we said we were going to sweep/ gentleman sweep them…..well buddy!
"Tragic Johnson"
"Pandemic P"
Luka is going to that name calling trajectory 😢
😂😂😂 Luka brought all star game level defense to the finals🤝😂😂😂 #GalvestonBound
It seems like once Dallas caught up and got within two, it's like every lay up was missed. That little gap stayed there for a few minutes
B/c they had to use up.all their energy to get back in the game. I guarantee you if it was closer possession gm going into the 4Q it would be different. I watched every post season games Celtics played this season & the clutch gms they won before vs Pacers were due to Pacers youth showing up. I didn't expect that to happen with Mavs b/c they have 2 cltuch closers in Kyrie & Luka. I was disappointed by Mavs lack of discipline & execution in these 3 games.
Yee the book on Luka isn’t written yet but to me it was clear he wasn’t a passable team defender before this series started
Luka is a magician the way he disappears on defense
The only issue I have with the best player in the NBA discourse is that an offensive gifted and offense first or only in Luka’s case gets all the praise and advantage over a clear 2 way player. I get that the offensive abilities can be the decisive factor in naming the best player or MVP for the league. But, let it come from the top 2 way players list, rather than pick from the best or more gifted offensive players. This is not the NFL!
As a neutral fan who just wanted a good series I’m incredibly disappointed with everyone in the Dallas organisation
Boston fan here! I’ve been in the chat for every series. I picked min over den in 7 n said why. I picked mavs over wolves. I also picked okc over mavs and when okc lost i was I. The chat explaining what I had wrong. So na I don’t just pick the Celtics every night. I’m picking other games too. N even still if I pick the cs n they lose im standing on business!! I would never complain if some1 called me out for being wrong.
We know you’re not always going to be right but we’re going to hold you accountable for your picks same way I hold myself accountable.
Like I said in another comment, it’s just frustrating bc despite overwhelming evidence that this was the best team in the league, the general sentiment from media and fans was distrust for the celtics. There was nothing the cs could’ve done to make yall think cs we’re gonna win it all. Nothing. I don’t even expect the distrust to stop atp. We’re gonna be underdog defending champs smh.
We’re in here for free yall get paid!! Who cares if some fans don’t hold themselves to the same standards you pros do. But let the record reflect! …I’m holding myself to the same standard
Legs you were super wrong abt this one. Like not even close! It’s all good! You’re still prob my favorite analyst. Major love n respect but you were wrong AF! 😂 n it seemed obvious to a lot of us b4 the series. We gotta pop our shit!!!
I got every series correct except Cavs magic n okc mavs ftr
Porzingus never played every night. He played 66 games in Washington. He should come off the bench next year!!!
RIP DALLAS.
Luka needs Joker.
u think "happy boi"?
Yeah I think Luka looks a touch heavier and less fleet of foot than 2022. He needs to go to yoga Pilates circuit dance footwork class. I’ve just made that up but I hope you get the gist. I’m sure he could be significantly better laterally with the right practice. And yeah yelling at the refs and prioritising yelling at the refs when the opposition are in play is a nightmare. He’s only 25. Some guys have little talent but are athletic, Luka has all the talent in the world and the frustration is that you want him to fulfill it. Unfulfilled talent is so devastating for the soul. Luka needs to work on mental conditioning and lightness of movement. One hopes he learns from this year. But it doesn’t matter if he wins or not…. To achieve real greatness and happiness. He needs to try his best. There is a story about Djokovic, after he won his first grand slam he put a square of chocolate in his mouth. After a couple of seconds he spat it out as he wanted to win his second grand slam…
Why is Leglars camera bouncing???
Bostons defense keeps them in the game when their offensive execution wanes. Their defense stabilizes what they do
The okc series against dallas should of been a clear sign that boston was more than likely gonna beat the mavericks.....
Dallas struggled to beat okc......series damn near almost went 7......
Not only did okc had youth and quickness on the perimeter to play defense but their coach basically sent doubles at kyrie and luka and forced the other role players to beat them in which those role players eventually did beat them ..... however
Problem with okc is not only were they inexperience but outside of sga no other player on the team could consistenly hit open threes and make jumpers....... if they were able to, series probably would of went 7 and a possibility that okc win the series
Boston on the other hand are vets, play defense and can hit open threes and jumpers......plus boston could defend luka and kyrie straight up without having to send a double like okc did.......
Both okc and boston coaches are pretty good
The timberwolves series was pathetic...... the coach never made any adjusments until game 3 and this isnt the first time we saw a team that had rudy gobert and was rated top in defense get upset and get smoked in the playoffs...
Kat bball IQ is low
Rudy Gobert has constantly been exposed in the playoffs year after year.....
And there coach did nothing to help his team even though he had the requisite pieces to make that series more competitive
Kidd should call TO, when Luka started manic throwing threes..., not when his guys are all in.
The difference in narrative from espn is disgusting. Tatum and Brown were 24 and 25 when they lost their finals. All these experts were questioning can they win together, are they good enough do these guys need to be broken up? Never heard a single one of them talk about how much losing in the finals is a learning experience and they can get better from this
WHY did Kidd take a time out on 20 to 2 run, Luka's was in the zone and they had them on the ropes, after time out Luka was clearly off and got 2 fouls. Implode
You try scoring 10 straight and getting 9 stops on an nba court. See how tired you are
to be fair, he called it after 2 consecutive misses from both teams
I don’t evaluate takes by result! I go by how solid the thought process was! N the thought process for a mavs over cs prediction was OD flawed! We learned absolutely nothing new in this series! To me this was extremely predictable
It was all emotional Celtics hate or Luka love. But despite all the money being on Dallas Vegas still had the lowest odds on Cs in 5. N they were - 210 to win the series. It’s business in Vegas. Extremely telling bc Vegas usually try’s to balance the odds based on where the money is. N still Boston was the heavy favorite.
I’ve literally never seen so much public distrust for a great team in my life (I’m 33 btw)
Mavs in 7
Legs, just admit that you were wrong.
Your preseries analysis was wrong, and that's OK.
Live and Learn.
They're so embarrassing, at least they will stfu coming up with ways that the mavericks can win
Haha talk to his supervisor 😆 this ain’t fortune telling this is sports analysis and with basketball the ball doesn’t always bounce
@@Just11Hanyone with eyes knew the celtics were better than dallas
He literally said “I was wrong.” Was he defensive around that and humble bragging around that? Sure😅, but he def said “I was wrong”
@@LowBrowProgrammingthat’s a fact plus anyone with ears should welcome another perspective 😆 we don’t have to agree
See you in game 7
Lame finals 🥱 Boston hurry up and sweep them. I wanted to see competition but now I’ll just settle for Celtics domination
Referees cost the game!
When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Dallas finally is getting EQUAL treatment from the refs and y'all can't stop crying about not getting special treatment
Haha so soft😢
Sadly you never got a game where both teams played well at the same time. Way too much attention is being paid to Luka’s defense when the problem is three and four defenders collapsing in on a player, leaving multiple people open. Whether it’s a long shot and already having rebounders in position or driving past contesting defenders, it gives Boston a huge advantage and takes away any real threat Dallas is able to provide.
I put the loss on kidd because he never did anything to get their defense to stop overreacting like that. Gil’s Arena broke it down in five minutes showing exactly what was wrong and how to fix it but game three looked exactly like game one so evidently Dallas wasn’t watching.
And some plays they actually showed defenders standing with their arms down watching the play instead of at least taking a position near three-point shooters in case of a long rebound or kick out pass. Instead everyone focuses on Dončić and pretends everything would’ve been OK if he just tried harder.
Luka needs to grow up. Period
Still the best player in the league at 25.
No! Pathetic coaching by J Kidd cost us two critical close games!!😡 by pathetic timeout to stop our 22-2 comebacks & not sitting Luca down after he got the 4th & 5th fouls!!🤮
Legs! Question:
Before the series a lot of ppl picking Boston (including me lol) thought that Bostons shooting esp from the center position would hurt Dallas’ ability to load up n protect the rim. Also many ppl pointed out all the entry points Dallas defense had…
My question is - had you heard or considered these factors before picking Dallas? If so why did you think Dallas’ defense would still be good?
Also the cs have won more w their defense than offense to this point. So not sure that Dallas’ defense under performing his a valid explanation for your ERRONEOUS pick (Vince Vaughn in wedding crashes voice**) 😂
Nothing in this series is Luka's fault. He's playing with BUMS.
He knew he couldn't win so he spent his time complaining to the refs
Adam needs to learn to type blinde 😂😂
The “Boston is just the better team” narrative is bullshit. If you look at the entire season it’s true but Boston has not been playing unbeatable basketball for 2 out of the three games. This series is all about coaching. Boston is disciplined and has a gameplan and is intent on executing it. Dallas hasn’t made any worthwhile adjustments and have had no offensive direction in this series. Putting Tatum on lively won Boston this series and Dallas did nothing to counter or exploit it. You had a week to prepare and knew it was coming.
Boston is the better team.
Bostons success is built off lukas defense.
Boston deserve their ring but their style of basketball is so boring to watch - same with Mavs really
Luka will not win a championship in Dallas sadly. This has the classic somehow make it to the finals even though you’re not a true championship level team, get destroyed, crumble afterwards and never get close again, written all over it. He better really think about signing that supermax.
Luka defense = 0
If the Lakers had the same path as the Celtics this postseason, they are the champions. Celtics are the best team this year. But not sure where all this confidence is coming from. They messed around with the pacers every game, lost to a Cleveland team at home when everyone was healthy, and could’ve easily blown a 21 point second half lead last night if it weren’t for Luka being an idiot. Weakest path for a champion in history. Not close. These playoffs have been terrible for the nba this year as a whole
If you are a Lakers fan, you should look up the path the 87 Lakers had and reconsider your opinion of the weakest path. History won't remember who these Celtics played along the way to this championship, only haters like you will.
Lakers?! Shush it
Salty
Dallas does not play team Ball...based on two one one one stars.....
Because the Warriors had great coaching last year and they didn’t choke nor beat themselves like the Mavs did..😔 JBrown is a gangster thief with the dirty refs help!!😡
Say what you want but if luka had half decent teammate’s that could hit open shots they’d be up 2-1. Kyrie won a title and he has been atrocious in this series and half the playoffs.
I look at Luka’a physique in his rookie year and I wish he worked on himself to be stronger and less fat so he can deal with the wear and tear of the season and play better defence. He had a great baseline physique as a young player!
You’re kidding? American media’s Luka hatred is unprecedented. Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Shai, Haliburton all lost before getting to the finals. Not one bad thing was said about them. Hobbled Luka gets his team to the finals and the extremely racist US media will spend the entire summer hating on him. It’s a disgrace!
That’s because those other guys aren’t gigantic crybabies who can’t play defense because they’re too fat and slow.
What? Brown falling is irrelevant, if LUKA didn't fall down like a wuss, refs probably wouldn't have called the last one
The bubble get real lakers winning it is a joke in my book lakers have 16 championships I don't count the stupid bubble
NBA jealous BIG TIME because of all the years back Americans can't get MVP .. so ofc they have a double standard on Luka too .. not that Luka didn't have his share on that too. But 1st of all send THJ over here to Slovenia so he can train with 12 year old boys
Legs said cs showed they can help the other team guard them… how many times tho?? Couldn’t have been that much or mattered that much if they only lost 20 games all szn. And led by at least 20 in over half of their games (including the nba finals)
I think that’s the most frustrating part listening to media guys talk abt the Celtics…theyre graded on a totally different scale… they get shitted on for having bad stretches or bad shooting nights like we’ve ever seen a single team that don’t have those moments. ITS NEVER HAPPENED! All teams have lulls, but Boston had the fewest all yr n it still wasn’t enough for any1 to b confident in them.
Doc Rivers wasn't even there in training camp.
He must be relying on players/coaches that were? Doc Rivers a weirdo
On the Bill Simmons pod Doc said Dame told him that he was out of shape.
@@damarcofitz5241 Watched this part now. "When you start camp out of shape, you never get in shape." lol Doc Rivers NEVER takes accountability, throws people under the bus and halfway through the season you can get in shape regardless of your summer workouts. Guy is literally terrible person and coach.
It’s just funny, because most of the people wanting to halt the Luka convo, for sure didn’t have that same mentality for Tatum.
Mavericks weren't winning that game
Nobody wants to come right out and say it, bottom line Luka is LAZY... constantly hunts for calls on offense and makes no effort whatsoever on defense.
Extremely dissapointing. No guarantee the mavs make it back
This luka debate is a false one. This is the truth od one game. They arrived to the finals with the same hurt luka and they are not that far from winning. Can luka do better in defense? Yes 💯 but is it the reason they lost the answer is 💯 NO
Boring series! I can think of 5 previous champs who would beat the socks off Boston!
fLuka defense is garbage and Tim Legler is a First Class hater. You can dislike the Celtics but to go out of your way to excuse this pathetic performance by the Mavs is ridiculous. Keep hating bozo, next step is completing the Sweep and raising that Trophy! 🏆
Luka expects everything to be handed to him, he broke in the third and played dumb af when he realized this one wouldn’t be.
That's stupid. Luka won in Europe being the best player in his team, proved all draft haters wrong with his game, is the leader of his national team by earning the respect of all his teammates among other things. You don't accomplish this much by being spoiled. I'm a celtics fan btw
lol, Luka ain’t Magic. He’s the round mound of excuses. I’m a Dallas fan, and Luka’s mom, and I’m 12 feet tall btw. All facts, because I typed it in a youtube comment. Also, Luka has 5 dads, they play for Boston.
"Jaylen and Jason have matured so much"
No, they're playing 5 out with 3 other all-stars and the best role player in the nba BECAUSE they couldnt get it done without a historically good cast.
Lol you must be a Luka fan 😂
Don’t you ever stop crying 😊
Both can be true my boy
🍀🍀🍀 1 mo!
I love how when Luka fouls, it's "sure, by the letter of the law... But..." and then when Luka gets gently brushed by a defender and then he flops around like a fish it's "well how dare you foul Luka. It's your fault that he gets 18 free gift FTs"
Luka is James Harden with white privilege
You've been fair so far, Legs. I really hope you dont bash Luka here. Boston will spend $300 mil (in luxury tax alone) over a few years to win a couple rimgs because the Jays couldnt get it done. What Luka has done this postseason is remarkable.
What're you talking about. The jays are getting it done. The two of them with help from the rest of the team. That's what championship teams do and any front office pays that tax to win championships. Come on now. Obviously Luka isn't solely to blame and hes excellent offensively, but he does deserve criticism
An incredibly stupid comment
Oh yea he's a Luka fan alright 💀💀💀
🤣🤣 the mental gymnastics here is Olympic level
You failed. Unsubscribed. Take care, clowns.
Tim you and your ilk have lost all credibility, it's beyond embarrassing that you picked against an extraordinary dominant team. You probably thought Kyrie was better than Brown which was so obviously wrong from the start. You and ESPN were told by the books to push Dallas and you did so, you were told by ESPN to hype up Luka to feed into the BITW, narrative. You are everything wrong with NBA media discourse
And here come all the Luka fangirls with a million excuses! 🤡
Mavs in 7