And I know Im not capping when I repeatedly said that he's one of my fav defensive players to watch. Ever since that 2022 series against the Nets where he largely shut down Kd, I've always sold on his defense. But ppl and the media I think never really give him his flowers for that part of his game and only focused on his scoring instead.
@@Kodreanu23can he shoot better, score more? Sure! Does he need to? Not necessarily. Point is he doesn’t deserve getting shat on by narratives online. Because his contribution, presence and playmaking was a huge factor in their offense’s success
What’s more impressive is both Jaylen Brown and Tatum not playing hero ball. Both locked in on defense 🔒 as priority. There scoring comes secondary. Once they both also break through Dallas perimeter defense. Both collapse the defense and able to find the roll man to get them wide open looks. There not having crazy scoring numbers but they have been playing unselfishness basketball and playing for the team not stat paddling or hero ball.
They finally get it. I think losing Smart and adding Jrue gave them the leader to get those guys to stop that, especially Tatum. (also not flopping and getting into it with refs.) Tatum doesn't need to score to win this series. His penetration and kick is killing the Mavs: he had 12 dimes last night! The top point guard stuff.
@@chauvintookaknee4blm268 Listen to yourself. "they can't carry a team". what would they want to do that? a team is an ensemble of people. they know better.
Not really, theres a line between entertainment and learning the game, I like both but entertainment like Inside the NBA is much more fitting for postgame.
Inside the NBA is great because it's cool and fun guys shooting the shit and having a good time. Kendrick perkins and Stephen A Smith yelling while reading off box scores is just garbage
@@RIPJimmyA7X It is interesting. To me, Denver would've beat both Dallas and the Celtics. But lost to the Wolves. To me, the Wolves would've beat the Celtics, and did beat the Nugs, but lost to the Mavs. And Dallas beat the Wolves, but feels likely to have lost to both the Nugs and (probably) the Celtics. The Celtics are the ultimate challenge because of how talented defensively that group is. They've got 2 top 10, 4 top 20, and 5 top 30 defenders on that team. Porzingis, by virtue of being 7'3" is no slouch either.
@@kunalmishra9463 Celtics would smoke the Wolves. Wolves offense is very bed especially in the half court. Imagine their already bad offense vs Celtics defense.
@@kunalmishra9463 rudy gobert would've done HORRIBLY against the 5 out celtics lol what are you saying porzingis would force him out to the perimeter every play just like what's happening to derrick lively and play gobert off the court because he is useless on offense
I love Luka but his defense has been beyond nonexistent. I get it, he’s fatigued from carrying offensively, but he’s literally getting blown by every single time… no resistance at all.
Maybe if he played off the ball some he could save some energy, but the Mavs love iso ball. Looks like the Harden Westbrook Rockets without the Westbrook energy
I will never understand how people believed that Dallas was the favourite. No way to guard Porzingis, you can't leave anyone open to help and two guards that are not good defenders Vs two of the best two way players in the NBA. The only way they win a game is if both Luka and Kyrie go off
Because they have the best player in the series in Luka and a guy that's a proven #2 option explosive high volume scorer in Kyrie, and both of these guys were coming off a hot series where they averaged 30 & 25 points against the best defensive team in the regular season... I had Boston as favorites but i expected a closer series... But i mean, nobody pridicted Kyrie is going to turn into Jordan Poole, and not the solid version in 2022... If Kyrie has an okay game by his standards them might have steal Game 2.
Likewise if anybody but Doncic could hit an open shot, Dallas would be up 2-0. That’s the diff. Luka gets any shot he wants and when he gets doubled or the paint collapses, he sets up shooters and they can’t hit an open look. The roll players are act like they never played before. Boston is giving up open jump shots while Dallas is overplaying the perimeter leaving the entire lane+ wide open for Brown, Tatum and Holiday to drive and kick.
@@chauvintookaknee4blm268 idk bout overplaying, he's doing a good job defending them, JB & JT could easily score 30 a piece each game as they've already proven throughout the playoffs, the celtics just have more guys that can put up 20+ points a game compared to the mavs
@@look4fax63 "Luka gets any shot he wants" LOL thats what we want you to think. You think Luka getting wide open mid ranges because he can get any shot or its because that's what the exact shot the Celtics want him to take? You gotta enroll in MAzzulla University you'd learn a thing or two lmfao
Kind of a new watcher of Basketball.. dude your breakdowns are some of the best i've seen. Detailed and clear. I like how you slow-mo the footage and give real time analysis, helps me understand the terminology too. So many basketball channels are hard to watch or are just not informative. This was awesome.
I think magic was probably a bit more athletic and while he was no lock down guy, he had a bit more size and footspeed to check guys. But regardless he’s the exception if anything. All the other guys are 2 way monsters in their prime with maybe The exception of Steph curry (if you have him in your top 10. I personally have him just outside of it)
@@PeteringYT you would think. he benefited from the congested games since most of the game was executed inside. It was much easier to hide him in that era. Luka cannot hide against Boston like he could vs the other teams he faced and his defense was better vs the other teams because of the personnel they had. The same thing would have happened vs Denver.
Honestly after watching this it makes sense that Tatum doesn't seem to be having great individual performances. Because that's not what he's there for, and the rest of the team doesn't need hero ball. It seems like he's best utilized as someone who uses their ball handling to shatter the defense and uses his playmaking to get the assists. While using some great defense to boot. It may not be the prettiest way to pat your stats, but it seems to be working well
@@howsittastes I mean that's why I was talking about watching the clips and why it doesn't look pretty stat-wise. That's how he's utilized. He missed a lot sure, but even by missing that he was a rebound away from a triple double. He's taking a lot because he's the head of the offense, made to push in the defense, if he's given the space of course he should take the shot or layup, but that also causes amazing looks and assists for his teammates.
Mavs are outclassed and outgunned. Refusing to double Luka and concede easy shots. Everyone saying Tatum been disappointing but his defense is SO much better than it was in 2022. I'll be amazed if the Mavs win more than a game. Assuming Celtics win game 3, Mava win a close game 4 and then the Celtics hoist #18 in Boston. The Celtics have 5 players that can go off for 25-30. Just too much for the Mavs to defend. Everytime Tatum drives into the paint he draws 6 eyes.
winning #18 in The Garden would be a dream, but I also don't want to gamble with losing a win on the road. I'm pretty sure that *if* the Celtics were to sweep, they'd be the first team to sweep both the conference finals and finals
How can you be the best player on the floor while being hunted and an extreme liability on Defense? Media focusing on Tatum's points, while he creates so much offense for his team. Look at how many of Jrue's points come from Tatum breaking the defense down and getting him an easy 2.
His value individually outweighs all the othe players. If you had to pick a player to build around, it's Luka. A good coach finds way to protect a bad defender/all tine offensive player but at the end of the day this is a team game and Boston will expose his weaknesses much better than the last 3 teams. If you were to swap him and Tatum, the Celtics might drop defensively to the 8-10 position, but their offense might go from +8 to +11 yet the Mavs would not improve the same because Tatum, although great, cannot do the same with the Mavs.
What I liked about this video is that in emphasizes the Shot Quality over the actual result. Over the long term, that is what will drive the series and the Celtics had great shot quality for most of the night.
People are blaming wverything on kyrie,but truth is they gassed him an Luka up with the whole best backcourt ever, but at the end of the day the Celtics have a deep rosters of good defenders. which is super important the Mavs depend on those role players threes badly. Celtics have been missing them and still are winning. For mavs to win all the guys that the celtics are giving wide open threes to got to make em.
Tf are you talking about gassing up Luka are you not watching the series, Luka has been the main one showing up with Kyrie not even participating in this finals at all.
Facts we should of won by 15 to 20 points game 2. So many missed 3s but we still win?? Yeah it's over kyrie and luka can drop 40 each and it'll still be a close game
@@nzkilla2479ain't that what happened vs the wolves tho? Ky and Luka dropping 30-40 every night just to barely scrape by a win vs a struggling Wolves squad?
@@narrow3601 and that's possible cause mavs can defend the wolves. By hiding luka on gobert or mcdaniels. Even on conley cause conley dont wanna shoot wide open shots for some reason. Luka can get away with letting ant blowby him cause 2 to 3 wolves players are waiting at the rim. Or the mavs can just double anyone luka guarding and luka can jog back to a non offensive threat. Or luka can just switch to gobert cause everytime gobert touches the ball that is not a lob is a turnover.
It was fascinating how many times the Mavs were like 'our best option is to attack Tatum directly' - Tatum's got the best iso defense numbers of any player left in the playoffs. But, like, it's also correct? Tatum might be the safest option for the Mavs bc he's so good in help, that just trying to play at him takes that away. The Boston defense is crazy.
@@tmathew03 I mean, no one actually SAID it - but both Luka and Kyrie repeatedly looked for that match-up, and tried to iso on Tatum. That's all I meant.
Adding an unselfish defensive monster like Jrue Holiday, and a stretch five and shotblocker like Porzingis to their two lead guys and Derrick White was just sick. Honestly one of the best team completions ever.
I really love the word “”HUNTED”” being a new terminology for trash defense. Damn, it’s like watching a horror movie knowing no matter where that player is hiding in the court the offense will hunt you down, BRILLIANT!!..❤🎉
@@splashnskillz37 PP, Marcus Smart, and Timelord was with them their whole careers. Celtics just has 3 left this season since both Smart and Timelord were shipped out. Smart would have stayed too if Brogdon didn't fail his physical which cancelled the trade.
Brad Stevens was always a very defense focused guy and I guess he got tired of always having a small point guard who was exploitable on defense like Isaiah and Kemba and said fuck it, I'll move up to the front office and just make the kind of roster I always wanted lol
OMG it's seriously terrible, it's not wonder he has not moved up in his career. After seeing this, the attitude he gives off when he makes shots is even more hilarious.
Celtics is just playing smart basketball. No question why they have the best season record of 64-18 and best home record 37-4. They are exposing the Mavs defense.
@@razatiger22 I was going to say the same. I think the biggest difference in this series is that the Mavs have 2 players who can score and the Celtics have 6 who can easily put up double digits if not 25+ if needed. A lot easier for the Celtics to play defense knowing 51 of the 106 ppg of the Mavs offense comes from 2 sources.
Exactly. The Celtic players are all so versatile offensively that they run their plays not based on their players but based on the defenders. Whoever Lively is guarding sits behind the 3pt line being a threat, removing rim protection. Whoever Luka's guarding, sets a pick and pop. If Lively doesn't guard KP, he posts up.
@@lenzoltan he only leads in steals because he gambles every possession. so of course he's going to have more steals because he's always going for them, but on the opposite side of the coin, it's also so easy to just blow right by him because he doesn't actually guard lol
As a dude still trying to learn the game, what I get from this video is the Celtics are super aware every possession and always trying to out-smart the other guys. The way they can separate and even bunch the other dudes together when needed is just high IQ ball.
This Celtics team was somehow underrated coming into the NBA finals. Let there be no mistake with a healthy Porzingus this team is an all time one. It possesses arguably the best defensive and most versatile backcourt in the history of the game that both come up with huge plays consistently, can go for 25+ randomly; but equally know their role and can play brilliantly off ball. Then Tatum and Brown give you two elite two way wings: equally not resorting to hero ball, but elite scorers and good playmakers in their own right, coupled with a mismatch nightmare 7’3 freak that can shoot 3s and moves well, and can also go for 20+. Off the bench a veteran Horford who gives strong leadership, and defence when it matters and a good clip from 3. Pritchard and Hauser are obvious step downs but are respectable heads up players that’ll give you hard defence and great shooting. Whilst they’ve had an easy run, the snappiness of their decision making and clinical offence with weapons on all sides really is incredible to watch. It’s probably the best team in NBA history to not have a top 3 player in the league on it.
I’ve always been a fan of the idea that the playoffs become as much about weaknesses as strengths. If you have to hide a star on one end of the floor it’s tough to win a title. I was thrilled when Stevens ended Danny Ainge’s small highly paid scoring guard era.
It's the dumb casuals that just look at the scoring column and ignore everything else. The reason everyone else on the Celtics has been scoring is BECAUSE so much attention is on Tatum every time he gets the ball. Lucky for Celtics fans, Tatum has learned how to be an exceptional playmaker, and just keeps killing teams with his passing. I'm really proud that he hasn't tried to take over a game, he plays within the system and trusts it, and the results speak for themselves. The same thing happened to Bird in the 1981 Finals, they constantly double teamed him and he just kept passing to Maxwell, who won the MVP. All that matters is the wins, individual statistics are empty in comparison.
DAMN. I did not realize Luka was getting hunted on defense like that all game. Dude needs to step it up on the defensive end or this is about to be a very short series
Lol it's all been that since time immemorial, the dude can't play and will never play defense. And worst is no one not even Jason Kidd will tell him to play defense or that crybaby whiner dude will immediately request a trade lol 😂😅😅😅
You don't want Luka to play D, he have no legs to keep up with both scoring and defense. Mavs can pre-switch or go over screens, but still they have 2 holes (both Luka and Kyrie). That's is the crucial mistake if you check only who can score. There is no point of a pure scorer, both teams can have one player that scores 30+, so they counter each other out. Who is the one that can defend matters more.
What becomes very evident is that while doncic is the best offensive player in the series he is also by far the worst of the starters and costs his team dearly on defense. I would venture to say doncic gives up as many points as he scores
Aloha. Thank you this was the best analysis I’ve seen in a while, I haven’t really watched the NBA to be honest, but this I am a Celtic fan and this Celtic team is unbelievable. But everybody other than this video is giving them no credit it doesn’t seem like it, but this is a hell of a team. And I emphasize team TEAM.it’s gonna be fun watching the Celtics over the next 34 years if they keep these boys together. These men can play ball they play team sports. This reminds me of the 86 Boston Celtics team team team.
bro the celtics are like the picture perfect team of perfect basketball, idk if its just me but the way that every player can score, defend and play their role as a team to slowly pick apart every weakness you have and they pounce on it. it just seems like literal perfect basketball imo
Joe Mazzulla is underrated as a head coach. He has schemed so well against the Mavs, especially on defense. He is so far the MVP of the series and outcoaching Kidd.
Man, Doncic is such a statue on defense. If people cared about other aspects of the game besides scoring, Tatum would be regarded much higher. He's become an elite defender, and doesn't get enough credit for it. Tatum's overall game has improved so much, he's a great playmaker, finds the open man for easy buckets consistently, and averages close to 10 boards a game. He's much more of a complete player than SGA, or Anthony Edwards, or even Luka.
@@THE_HORSEYY its about overall impact and Curry's impact is goat-tier despite not being the best defender. his offense is just that great. remove Curry in those Warriors teams during their dynasty and they barely make the playoffs, probably not even. Remove Tatum here and the Celtics still cakewalk to the finals
@@devvv4616 Tatum is their playmaker lmao. They absolutely need him. He lead the Celtics in PPG/AST/REB many times. He has been guarding the 5's in every round so far. The Celtics 3 barrage works because Tatum drives and dishes it out. Horford's 3s are mainly from Tatum.
I truly dislike how people completely ignore how much of a liability Luka is on defence, his fan boys completely ignored it, the Mavs are literally defending four against five every time, he is 6’7 there shouldn’t be any excuses.
God giveth and God taketh away. Luka has world class shooting touch and court awareness. But he's not fast, and definitely lacks lateral agility. Against guys like Tatum and Brown, that's like a deer holding up an "Eat Me!!" sign in the forest as lions and tigers roam by.
@@Ironfangzu kind of tired of these excuses he’s not fast or athletic who’s fault is that, his weight and lifestyle isn’t a problem when he’s winning only when he loses keep your argument consistent, if you have a racial bias then just say that if it was any other player we would be crucifying him, why does Luka always get given that get out of jail free card.
@@Ironfangzu we call him a great but it’s not fair to compare him to other greats that take care of their bodies in the off-season get the fuck out of here.
@@Ironfangzu we call him a great but it’s unfair to compare him to other greats that work on their physiques in the off season get the F**ck out of here.
He has that explosive first step, a ton of cross dribble and spin moves, is strong enough to force his way through collapsing defenses, and he has super long arms so he can reach the basket and turn what would be a short shot from most into an actual layup. It doesn't hurt that he has absolutely crazy touch, so wherever he ends up relative to the basket, he has the skill and touch to get the ball into the bucket. Dunks, finger rolls, reverse flips, Tatum has the entire arsenal. He can get by a lot of guys, and Luka, not exactly the fastest guy in the league, is a liability any time he has to guard Tatum.
@@Ironfangzu his spin move is so effective. i actually think he doesn't have the greatest touch that's why he misses layups, but his ability to get to the rim is so elite
Casuals be like. "Luka is hard carrying, look at triple double". I watch the game, he dribble for like 15 to 20 seconds every possession and no one else touch the ball, luka cant get direct blowbys so nobody on boston needs to rotate and then he shoots a contested jumper which credit to luka he makes. Gets hunted and gets blown by easily which collapses dallas defense resulting in wide wide wide open looks. 51% on like 5 TOs a game. While allowing 30-50 dribble penetrations a game isnt carrying. My god these casuals only look at the box score.
Luka is dribbling so much because Boston is cutting off everyone else and forcing Luka to strictly be a scorer. This is exactly what Golden State did to Jokic a couple years back. They’re cutting off the Lively/Gafford screens that have made them so lethal in the playoffs, they’re cutting off the corner 3’s, Kyrie isn’t getting any separation on his defender, and you can’t trust other Dallas guards to consistently beat their man off the dribble to cause Boston to rotate. Luka has been ball dominant every possession this entire season, but the difference is that the Celtics have the personnel to perfectly counter him offensively and defensively. Luka has been decent on defense during this playoff run. However, in previous series, you could afford to have someone help off a bad shooter to help him, which unfortunately for Dallas, Boston doesn’t really have.
I’m quite sure u only watched these two games like most of these mf’s in the comments then come on here speaking on shit like yall actually know what yall talking about lol
@@yoshiplaysmc2163 and that's another reason why despite how great of an onball offensive player he is hes still flawed as an offensive player. He can only play one way on offense. And that's by having the ball in his hands. Kidd sometimes have offball plays for him but it's pretty much useless cause of how slow he navigates offball and he still pauses even when he had the defender trailing allowing for the defender to catchup. And it's not just personnel. Clippers had a depleted roster and an overrayed offensive players in harden and PG. A slow footed big in zubac and had no elite onball defender except for maybe mann. But clippers were smart enough to just deliberately attack luka. And they got 2 wins off of that and possibly could have won the series if they had one more player contribute on offense and russ not shootinf 10% and pg being pandemic pg. Okc and the wolves despite having way better personnel than the clippers had a very poor gameplan and put up less of a fight.
Boston has been incredibly aggressive on offense. Sure they take alot of threes but they always seem to be driving to the paint and making cuts and extra passes. Love it.
For me, Boston is the platonic ideal of basketball in that all players are so good at both offence and defence that you can't take advantage of any of them of defence but any weaknesses in your defence they can exploit. I love non-'super-star'/heliocentric basketball!
Yeah Jrue was getting open looks I could make, meanwhile Luka fights for his life out there with step back shots. Celtics are just way too complete of a team.
That’s the point 😂 He said the Celtics are a better “team” not that anyone player is better than luka or anything ‘cause at the end of the day it’s the team that wins 😉
Luka's tough shots are a product of iso ball. Maybe they should try ball movement and have Luka play a little off the ball. Let Kyrie create a little and maybe Luka will get some easy buckets. Also, pick up the tempo. Playing that slow allows the Celtics to easily set up their defense.
coach kidd should have tried mixing things us, playing the zone in non kp minute, trying a box and 2, playing a 3 guard line up, with pj, maxi and lively. i remember in the nets sweep how seth curry went off, an extra shot creator and pnr player on the court apart from the usual top 2 eases up in offense.
The thing with the Celtics too that I have observed since the Pacers series is that while they do live and die by the 3, and if the 3s are not falling, they take their defense into a higher level as if their defense is not already great. It's as if the more they miss their shots, the better D they play. They equalize their misses. This is what I think makes them great.
2024 playoff series are a reminder of the greatness of MJ and Kobe 1. guys like Luka are often compared to Lebron, Kobe, MJ for his unstoppable offence, but finals so far, is a reminder that guys like Luka cant play DEFENCE if you score 30 but guys on the other side can score 30 on you, then you are not really helping to win being able to play offence and defense, the 2 way no weakness game of MJ Kobe Lebron, really sets them apart 2 people were hyped about Ant Man too, till we all realized that he is not YET on that level in high level game play, the defense is often THAT good, and your team just dont get easy shots now if Ant Man doesnt take the bad shot, then Gobert will HAVE TO to do it, and he has a worse chance to score now we should realize that guys like MJ and Kobe "bad shots" are actually good for the team, coz if they dont take these bad shots, team mates will have to do that someone has to do it, better be MJ or Kobe, or Ant Man, rather than Rudy Gobert
The big issue is lively and gafford who were huge in the other games cant match up here. Everyone on boston can shoot so the mavs shot blockers arent negated
lol what are u blind? he was hurt the entire playoffs and that includes the wolves series. he had multiple times where he went away from the court to get treatment
Im sorry Luka is too bad defensively for how good everyone says he is. Hes directly responsible for like 80% of the Celtics points every night whether from turnovers or just getting absolutely dusted on every drive. Its like he doesnt even contest the drive he just gambles for a steal every time while the guy runs past him. How does anyone like this guy?
@@ryanmabutas1849 his defense? 😂 is this the part where you give me some lame advanced stat to try and convince me Luka isn’t that bad of a defender as I’m watching every single player on the Celtics put him on skates on every single play? Or are you going to bring up steals the most useless stat ever because he gets all of his steals gambling for the ball while the guy drives right by him as he’s getting cooked?
@@Toucansam46Luka was hyped on defense bc he legitimately had a great defensive series against the clippers and solid ones against Minnesota and OKC. He deadass looked like a different player he was genuinely locking PG harden and kawhi up they shot like a combined 25 or so percent or something surprisingly low like that when guarded by him. Unfortunately he's not naturally a good defender so it's coming back to bite him in the ass especially as his body's also starting to get a bit worse.
@@malachistewart2947 PG Harden Kawhi are just past their athletic primes. They don't have Tatum or Brown's first step at this point in their career. Luka can handle banging with big wings/guards, it's the first step he can't hang with
I think this would be a great Kleber series if he wasn't hurt enough to affect his shooting. Seems like the mavs play better when they go small in this series
Celtics fan here, I’m watching this video with one of my buddies who’s also a Celtics fan and the stat that Boston is shooting above 80% at the rim elicited a chuckle from him and he said “yeah it would be 100% if JT would stop with all the jelly fam bullshit” 😂😂😂
Bottom line is, Boston has way more options and avenues of attack because they have much better players. The Mavs don't have a single player who is strong offensively and defensively. Luka and Kyrie can score but their defense is mediocre or even weak. Some of their other guys can defend at the rim, but are not great defenders in open space, and they certainly can't create their own shots. The Celts have 5-7 guys who can score from everywhere, drive and dish, or hit open 3's. Plus, they are all strong defenders and have been all year. You can't just ask a Mavs guard to begin defending like White or Holiday. They don't have that ability.
Tatum had a great game, his shots were just not falling. He didn't force anything, played within the flow of the game and fed teammates with better looks. Took shots when open and was outstanding on defense.
I’m really worried about the Mavs chances here. A whole bunch of things went wrong for the Celtics and it still never felt like they were in trouble. They have to take game 3, otherwise they can pack it up.
The Mavs started strong, Luka was on fire, and the Celts couldn't hit a 3 to save their life. Win for Mavs right? But as the game went on, you could clearly see the Celtics asserting themselves, with drives from Tatum and Brown, with shots from White and Holiday, and with suffocating team defense that just took away every Mav except Luka. It was easy to see that the Mavs were trying to hold on, but failing. Boston is too strong, has too many good and great players. Mavs won't pack it up yet. But once they lose Game 3, they might as well.
Boston is a Live and Die by the 3PT AREA TEAM. But most of the people forget that they are also are 100% Defensive team when they are complete. So no matter whether off shooting or daylight shooting by the Starting 5. All of them can defend and utilize turnover into points. - And it wasnt only the Boston who have offnight shooting, the whole Dallas was 23% on shooting 3pt. Way worst than Boston.
@@blainerex yep and that's why they won the game🤷🤷 it's the Finals bruh every offense counts. And still 2 games off night shooting by Dallas 👨🦯👨🦯👨🦯👨🦯
Lukka's lack of defensive capability was abused by Boston. That's why they prioritizing the mismatch against Lukka guarding the ball handling. The reason maybe because Lukka don't want to drain himself in defense so he can use his energy during offense. But still it's not a good reason not to defend or atleast contest. He just standing basically when defending.
Can’t be the best player in the league while playing no defense. Literally he became a liability plus the other Dallas players struggled defensively. Scrabbling defense with no consistent offensive output.
Luka is not super fast laterally. But here, it's the knee-ankle injury slowing him down more. On offense you don't need the same set of lateral movements, and sliding your feet. He's been injured the entire POs, but until now they could hide him having at least one non-3 shooting option on Clips/T-wolves, and gambling with Chet against OKC. He'll have to gamble less, and play smarter in game 3 - grit his teeth. But the Mavs should gamble with KP or Horford on 3, feed their bigs on switches directly under the rim - Gaff on Tatum, and D-live on Brown, and PJ & DJJ make more cuts than 3s. Boston just blessed with injured opponents in this run.
Why Mavs can't get good shots- Luka's teammates can't buy a bucket Why Celtics can only get good shots- They attack Luka 99% of the time and rest of Mavs have to help
This does feel like a redundant video lol. Yeah this is going to be a short series but I'm sure you could find something more interesting to talk about.
Porzingis really is the key. Looking at this series, you can see why. The Pacers were only close coz they didn't need to guard him up top. Take him out here, and the Mavs lives are so much easier
He played good defense against Minnesota, but yeah, it was highly circumstantial because Minnesota was an average offense with Gobert who you can completely ignore, which allows Luka to 'cheat' on his assigment with success more often. Edwards was off and KAT couldn't hit anything from deep so there was no reason to guard him much as well... Once you put Luka against a team with 5 competent shooters and 4 ball-handlers he's toast.
JT hasn't been an elite scorer yet this series, he hasn't even scored 20 points. His defense is good, but his shooting really hasn't been great. If the Celtics relied on Tatum, like the Mavs do Luka.. this series would literally be the opposite of what it is now. JT has a team around him and he is not being selfish, which is good and is working. You could argue Brown, Holiday, Porzingus, and White have all played better than JT this series.
This really highlights Tatum's contributions outside of scoring. He's getting shit for not scoring 30 a game but he's been feeding everybody
if tatum scores 4o and they lose, they will still blame him
And I know Im not capping when I repeatedly said that he's one of my fav defensive players to watch. Ever since that 2022 series against the Nets where he largely shut down Kd, I've always sold on his defense. But ppl and the media I think never really give him his flowers for that part of his game and only focused on his scoring instead.
He isn't scoring 30, but he has FG attempts like he should be scoring 25 per game, so it is offensive underachievement
@@Kodreanu23can he shoot better, score more? Sure!
Does he need to? Not necessarily. Point is he doesn’t deserve getting shat on by narratives online. Because his contribution, presence and playmaking was a huge factor in their offense’s success
@@DancyHercules3 if he didn't shoot that much you would be right. This way, I'd say he is underperforming. And even he knows it.
What’s more impressive is both Jaylen Brown and Tatum not playing hero ball. Both locked in on defense 🔒 as priority. There scoring comes secondary. Once they both also break through Dallas perimeter defense. Both collapse the defense and able to find the roll man to get them wide open looks. There not having crazy scoring numbers but they have been playing unselfishness basketball and playing for the team not stat paddling or hero ball.
They can't play hero ball. They suck. They can't carry a team
Tatum had been stat padding every fourth quarter
@@chauvintookaknee4blm268 this ring is gonna have you pissed
They finally get it. I think losing Smart and adding Jrue gave them the leader to get those guys to stop that, especially Tatum. (also not flopping and getting into it with refs.) Tatum doesn't need to score to win this series. His penetration and kick is killing the Mavs: he had 12 dimes last night! The top point guard stuff.
@@chauvintookaknee4blm268 Listen to yourself. "they can't carry a team". what would they want to do that? a team is an ensemble of people. they know better.
This is what 75 % post game commentary should be.
Don't like Big Perk?
Not really, theres a line between entertainment and learning the game, I like both but entertainment like Inside the NBA is much more fitting for postgame.
Whats the remaining 25% should be?
@@leonardo3399 chuck telling shaq hes a baby or kenny to get water for hakeem
Inside the NBA is great because it's cool and fun guys shooting the shit and having a good time. Kendrick perkins and Stephen A Smith yelling while reading off box scores is just garbage
Dallas is just feeling how Minnesota felt. Boston while being the most complete team in the league, is especially effective against Dallas
Same thing with Denver against Minnesota, Minny was basically built to beat Denver. It's been a matchup battle these entire playoffs
@@RIPJimmyA7X It is interesting. To me, Denver would've beat both Dallas and the Celtics. But lost to the Wolves. To me, the Wolves would've beat the Celtics, and did beat the Nugs, but lost to the Mavs. And Dallas beat the Wolves, but feels likely to have lost to both the Nugs and (probably) the Celtics. The Celtics are the ultimate challenge because of how talented defensively that group is. They've got 2 top 10, 4 top 20, and 5 top 30 defenders on that team. Porzingis, by virtue of being 7'3" is no slouch either.
@@kunalmishra9463 Celtics would smoke the Wolves. Wolves offense is very bed especially in the half court. Imagine their already bad offense vs Celtics defense.
@@kunalmishra9463 rudy gobert would've done HORRIBLY against the 5 out celtics lol what are you saying porzingis would force him out to the perimeter every play just like what's happening to derrick lively and play gobert off the court because he is useless on offense
@@kunalmishra9463I think the Celtics would’ve beat the wolves. The nuggets were the only team that could beat the Celtics this season imo.
Sees comments: "Great breakdown". Sees time the video was posted: "59 sec ago"... 😂
Like 6 comments saying the same thing within 30 seconds of an upload 😅
All top comments are “like farmers”
That’s why it’s always so generic. “Thinking basketball always provides good content” smh
@@Valdivia1115 its true, dont even need to get 2 minutes in to know it'll be great.
@@Valdivia1115 what does it achieve, they want people to click on their profiles and watch their videos or something? or just a weird ego thing
they just know the creator and want to support the content.. It's 2024 folks is this your first time on yt for real?
Gotta give props to Pritchard and Hauser, Mavs tried hunting them but they always surprise with good D
pause
Bro I'll be so glad when this pause Era is over. You can't say anything without that lame response.
@@miniskrrrt2455niqqa if u gay, just say so..🙄
@@goatstatusj5112lame
Like Jrue said, “even our white guys play defense”.
I watch these with my mom before school thanks for making them
that's so wholesome :)
I do the same before work, also with your mom :)
😂😂😂@@turdferguson9452
@@turdferguson9452why man why
@@turdferguson9452Cmon man don’t ruin a wholesome moment
I love Luka but his defense has been beyond nonexistent. I get it, he’s fatigued from carrying offensively, but he’s literally getting blown by every single time… no resistance at all.
He is like an electrical post. No movement whatsoever
Maybe if he played off the ball some he could save some energy, but the Mavs love iso ball. Looks like the Harden Westbrook Rockets without the Westbrook energy
Which makes it even more insane why Hardy isnt getting a shot the kidd has done nothing but shoot a great clip throughout the playoffs.
The revolutionary idea of not switching a screen
that causes even worse problems its not that simple
Lol blow by every second possession 😂
@@peewee0224And these Celtics have not encountered these problems lol
@@tim.noonanExactly what I'm thinking. Brown has ignored every screen so far and stayed with Luka if he could.
@@tim.noonan the Celtics switch everything tf are you talking about?
Jrue's defense through screens is absolutely incredible. He's definitely been the x-factor for the celtics defense all playoffs long
Giannis feeling dumb right now thinking Dame is better than Jrue
He’s the reason why they don’t have to switch and double.
If defensive value is a function of aggression, control, IQ, physicality and intuition, Jrue Holiday is probably as good as it gets.
Derrick White is right there with him. His hustle plays for rebounds and blocks are surgical.
@@tehflyingknee1Right, this team is built to mathematical perfection only the gods of chaos can change the outcome of this series.
Jrue is the FMVP so far, his play has been mindblowing
I will never understand how people believed that Dallas was the favourite. No way to guard Porzingis, you can't leave anyone open to help and two guards that are not good defenders Vs two of the best two way players in the NBA. The only way they win a game is if both Luka and Kyrie go off
Because they have the best player in the series in Luka and a guy that's a proven #2 option explosive high volume scorer in Kyrie, and both of these guys were coming off a hot series where they averaged 30 & 25 points against the best defensive team in the regular season...
I had Boston as favorites but i expected a closer series... But i mean, nobody pridicted Kyrie is going to turn into Jordan Poole, and not the solid version in 2022... If Kyrie has an okay game by his standards them might have steal Game 2.
Likewise if anybody but Doncic could hit an open shot, Dallas would be up 2-0. That’s the diff. Luka gets any shot he wants and when he gets doubled or the paint collapses, he sets up shooters and they can’t hit an open look. The roll players are act like they never played before.
Boston is giving up open jump shots while Dallas is overplaying the perimeter leaving the entire lane+ wide open for Brown, Tatum and Holiday to drive and kick.
@@look4fax63 yep stupid Kidd overplaying Tatum Brown handles
@@chauvintookaknee4blm268 idk bout overplaying, he's doing a good job defending them, JB & JT could easily score 30 a piece each game as they've already proven throughout the playoffs, the celtics just have more guys that can put up 20+ points a game compared to the mavs
@@look4fax63 "Luka gets any shot he wants" LOL thats what we want you to think. You think Luka getting wide open mid ranges because he can get any shot or its because that's what the exact shot the Celtics want him to take? You gotta enroll in MAzzulla University you'd learn a thing or two lmfao
Kind of a new watcher of Basketball.. dude your breakdowns are some of the best i've seen. Detailed and clear. I like how you slow-mo the footage and give real time analysis, helps me understand the terminology too. So many basketball channels are hard to watch or are just not informative. This was awesome.
Welcome to North Korea!
That’s why the top players of all time are all 2 way players. You can’t have your best player be hunted on defense by the opposing team
Magic Johnson was similar to Luka except Magic was running a 120 offense in response.
@@sskmanentsa5326 Magic wasn't a good defender but being 6'9 helped slow people down. His team was good defensively so they could help him too.
@@sskmanentsa5326Magic played much better defense than Luka
I think magic was probably a bit more athletic and while he was no lock down guy, he had a bit more size and footspeed to check guys. But regardless he’s the exception if anything. All the other guys are 2 way monsters in their prime with maybe The exception of Steph curry (if you have him in your top 10. I personally have him just outside of it)
@@PeteringYT you would think. he benefited from the congested games since most of the game was executed inside. It was much easier to hide him in that era. Luka cannot hide against Boston like he could vs the other teams he faced and his defense was better vs the other teams because of the personnel they had. The same thing would have happened vs Denver.
Watching Jrue getting over those screens effortlessly is so sexy.
😳
No diddy but I agree
What
@@THE_HORSEYY🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wth 💀😭
Love how it’s the full team effort
7:42 bro threw that shite straight at Tatums head😂
Tatum didn’t even have time to react lol
😆😆😆
lol right, the famous I got lucky over the head after getting stuck in no man’s land😂😂😂
Honestly after watching this it makes sense that Tatum doesn't seem to be having great individual performances. Because that's not what he's there for, and the rest of the team doesn't need hero ball. It seems like he's best utilized as someone who uses their ball handling to shatter the defense and uses his playmaking to get the assists. While using some great defense to boot.
It may not be the prettiest way to pat your stats, but it seems to be working well
@@howsittastes I mean that's why I was talking about watching the clips and why it doesn't look pretty stat-wise. That's how he's utilized. He missed a lot sure, but even by missing that he was a rebound away from a triple double.
He's taking a lot because he's the head of the offense, made to push in the defense, if he's given the space of course he should take the shot or layup, but that also causes amazing looks and assists for his teammates.
Mavs are outclassed and outgunned. Refusing to double Luka and concede easy shots. Everyone saying Tatum been disappointing but his defense is SO much better than it was in 2022. I'll be amazed if the Mavs win more than a game. Assuming Celtics win game 3, Mava win a close game 4 and then the Celtics hoist #18 in Boston. The Celtics have 5 players that can go off for 25-30. Just too much for the Mavs to defend. Everytime Tatum drives into the paint he draws 6 eyes.
winning #18 in The Garden would be a dream, but I also don't want to gamble with losing a win on the road. I'm pretty sure that *if* the Celtics were to sweep, they'd be the first team to sweep both the conference finals and finals
You can’t outclass the Mavs, best team to play for in the league
@@tmathew03 tell me that shit after they're staring down a 0-3 deficit
Mavs in 6
How can you be the best player on the floor while being hunted and an extreme liability on Defense? Media focusing on Tatum's points, while he creates so much offense for his team. Look at how many of Jrue's points come from Tatum breaking the defense down and getting him an easy 2.
He's injured
@@GatterSzneven while healthy luka isnt a great defender he’s average at best
His value individually outweighs all the othe players. If you had to pick a player to build around, it's Luka. A good coach finds way to protect a bad defender/all tine offensive player but at the end of the day this is a team game and Boston will expose his weaknesses much better than the last 3 teams.
If you were to swap him and Tatum, the Celtics might drop defensively to the 8-10 position, but their offense might go from +8 to +11 yet the Mavs would not improve the same because Tatum, although great, cannot do the same with the Mavs.
@@sskmanentsa5326You didn't watch the video. They have more than 1 bad defender
Where is your best player now? Let's not pretend tataums ass isn't carried by 4 all stars.
What I liked about this video is that in emphasizes the Shot Quality over the actual result. Over the long term, that is what will drive the series and the Celtics had great shot quality for most of the night.
People are blaming wverything on kyrie,but truth is they gassed him an Luka up with the whole best backcourt ever, but at the end of the day the Celtics have a deep rosters of good defenders. which is super important the Mavs depend on those role players threes badly. Celtics have been missing them and still are winning. For mavs to win all the guys that the celtics are giving wide open threes to got to make em.
Well celtics have 5 all star caliber players whilst mavs have 2 all stars and a rookie center so not much to compare.
does kyrie not deserve blame lol? he's supposed to be luka's second star and put up 12 points in game 1 and 16 points in game 2
It's a team game. Boston is outplaying the Mavs as a whole.
Tf are you talking about gassing up Luka are you not watching the series, Luka has been the main one showing up with Kyrie not even participating in this finals at all.
@@anonymouswarlord102Mavs have one all star 😂 kyrie is bench tier.
Crazy how good Holiday's no ball movement and defense is.
Crazy part is. Boston is shooting 25% from three while 80 to 90% of those are wide open.
Tatum also missing a shit ton of layups.
Facts we should of won by 15 to 20 points game 2. So many missed 3s but we still win?? Yeah it's over kyrie and luka can drop 40 each and it'll still be a close game
@@nzkilla2479ain't that what happened vs the wolves tho? Ky and Luka dropping 30-40 every night just to barely scrape by a win vs a struggling Wolves squad?
People actually believe game 2 was close, but forgot all those wide open 3s
@@narrow3601 and that's possible cause mavs can defend the wolves. By hiding luka on gobert or mcdaniels. Even on conley cause conley dont wanna shoot wide open shots for some reason.
Luka can get away with letting ant blowby him cause 2 to 3 wolves players are waiting at the rim. Or the mavs can just double anyone luka guarding and luka can jog back to a non offensive threat. Or luka can just switch to gobert cause everytime gobert touches the ball that is not a lob is a turnover.
@@glovs4188 true
Derrick White was also a menace on defense in this series!!
Underrated teammate
It was fascinating how many times the Mavs were like 'our best option is to attack Tatum directly' - Tatum's got the best iso defense numbers of any player left in the playoffs. But, like, it's also correct? Tatum might be the safest option for the Mavs bc he's so good in help, that just trying to play at him takes that away. The Boston defense is crazy.
What? Who even said that lol
@@tmathew03 I mean, no one actually SAID it - but both Luka and Kyrie repeatedly looked for that match-up, and tried to iso on Tatum. That's all I meant.
What they are hoping for is to wear them down like Ant, which isn’t happening because these guys are vets.
@@CoreyGolphenee I do not think that's it, myself.
Adding an unselfish defensive monster like Jrue Holiday, and a stretch five and shotblocker like Porzingis to their two lead guys and Derrick White was just sick. Honestly one of the best team completions ever.
I really love the word “”HUNTED”” being a new terminology for trash defense.
Damn, it’s like watching a horror movie knowing no matter where that player is hiding in the court the offense will hunt you down, BRILLIANT!!..❤🎉
Because you have to have a good team to win a ring, not just a couple of all-stars.
Good team with 4 All-Star level players above the 2nd apron 😒
@@splashnskillz37 It helps when you draft your core. Ask GSW.
@@PeteringYT They only got 2 drafted of their core, 3 were acquired from trades, unlike GSW
@@splashnskillz37 PP, Marcus Smart, and Timelord was with them their whole careers. Celtics just has 3 left this season since both Smart and Timelord were shipped out. Smart would have stayed too if Brogdon didn't fail his physical which cancelled the trade.
@@PeteringYT Hauser is also a Boston product, he went undrafted in 2021 and started in the G league
It's practically a requirement to be all defensive team to play for the Celtics lol
Correct
funny but true
Brad Stevens was always a very defense focused guy and I guess he got tired of always having a small point guard who was exploitable on defense like Isaiah and Kemba and said fuck it, I'll move up to the front office and just make the kind of roster I always wanted lol
@@BorisinvasionDidn’t he have Marcus Smart?
@@Borisinvasion facts brad Steven's was a good coach
seeing Luka get picked on all game is hilarious
He is blown by everytime 😂
@@ArczAngelI just posted - genuinely asking: is he usually this bad???
@@wephilips6651 consider it's his maximum effort because it's a Finals game. Usually he does less
@@beaverbreweryminsk5392 lol
OMG it's seriously terrible, it's not wonder he has not moved up in his career. After seeing this, the attitude he gives off when he makes shots is even more hilarious.
Celtics is just playing smart basketball. No question why they have the best season record of 64-18 and best home record 37-4. They are exposing the Mavs defense.
More so they are exposing the Mavs offense with their insane defense.
@@razatiger22 I was going to say the same. I think the biggest difference in this series is that the Mavs have 2 players who can score and the Celtics have 6 who can easily put up double digits if not 25+ if needed. A lot easier for the Celtics to play defense knowing 51 of the 106 ppg of the Mavs offense comes from 2 sources.
Exactly. The Celtic players are all so versatile offensively that they run their plays not based on their players but based on the defenders. Whoever Lively is guarding sits behind the 3pt line being a threat, removing rim protection. Whoever Luka's guarding, sets a pick and pop. If Lively doesn't guard KP, he posts up.
Every point luka scores, he gives back LOL
He and jokic are the Santa Claus of the nba, free GIFTS😂😂😂😂😂
he score 30 and gave up 35
He didn't give up more than 23 but generated 55. He is leading the playoffs and the series in steals.
Its open season
@@lenzoltan he only leads in steals because he gambles every possession. so of course he's going to have more steals because he's always going for them, but on the opposite side of the coin, it's also so easy to just blow right by him because he doesn't actually guard lol
9:52 The iconic Luka cry for the referee
As a dude still trying to learn the game, what I get from this video is the Celtics are super aware every possession and always trying to out-smart the other guys. The way they can separate and even bunch the other dudes together when needed is just high IQ ball.
This Celtics team was somehow underrated coming into the NBA finals. Let there be no mistake with a healthy Porzingus this team is an all time one. It possesses arguably the best defensive and most versatile backcourt in the history of the game that both come up with huge plays consistently, can go for 25+ randomly; but equally know their role and can play brilliantly off ball. Then Tatum and Brown give you two elite two way wings: equally not resorting to hero ball, but elite scorers and good playmakers in their own right, coupled with a mismatch nightmare 7’3 freak that can shoot 3s and moves well, and can also go for 20+. Off the bench a veteran Horford who gives strong leadership, and defence when it matters and a good clip from 3. Pritchard and Hauser are obvious step downs but are respectable heads up players that’ll give you hard defence and great shooting. Whilst they’ve had an easy run, the snappiness of their decision making and clinical offence with weapons on all sides really is incredible to watch. It’s probably the best team in NBA history to not have a top 3 player in the league on it.
I’ve always been a fan of the idea that the playoffs become as much about weaknesses as strengths. If you have to hide a star on one end of the floor it’s tough to win a title. I was thrilled when Stevens ended Danny Ainge’s small highly paid scoring guard era.
I've heard several podcasts claiming Tatum had a *terrible* game. Nice to come to Thinking Basketball and verify that he actuallyt didn't.
It's the dumb casuals that just look at the scoring column and ignore everything else. The reason everyone else on the Celtics has been scoring is BECAUSE so much attention is on Tatum every time he gets the ball. Lucky for Celtics fans, Tatum has learned how to be an exceptional playmaker, and just keeps killing teams with his passing. I'm really proud that he hasn't tried to take over a game, he plays within the system and trusts it, and the results speak for themselves. The same thing happened to Bird in the 1981 Finals, they constantly double teamed him and he just kept passing to Maxwell, who won the MVP. All that matters is the wins, individual statistics are empty in comparison.
One re bound from a triple double in game two. I will take that every game.
It wasn't good though. But I agree that talking heads tend to overreact. I think when the series is over, his averages will look good
DAMN. I did not realize Luka was getting hunted on defense like that all game. Dude needs to step it up on the defensive end or this is about to be a very short series
Lol it's all been that since time immemorial, the dude can't play and will never play defense. And worst is no one not even Jason Kidd will tell him to play defense or that crybaby whiner dude will immediately request a trade lol 😂😅😅😅
You don't want Luka to play D, he have no legs to keep up with both scoring and defense. Mavs can pre-switch or go over screens, but still they have 2 holes (both Luka and Kyrie). That's is the crucial mistake if you check only who can score. There is no point of a pure scorer, both teams can have one player that scores 30+, so they counter each other out. Who is the one that can defend matters more.
It's always been like that, you just won't hear it because he has so many stans who constantly downplay the weaknesses of his game.
didn't realized ? He's been exposed on defense trough out the season, even westbrick can exposed him in regular season
just found this channel. DAMN. incredible break down of how the teams are developing their plays.
What becomes very evident is that while doncic is the best offensive player in the series he is also by far the worst of the starters and costs his team dearly on defense. I would venture to say doncic gives up as many points as he scores
Simple answer Luka can't guard a mannequin
😬😄
That’s the way Tatum should be playing as a super star, beat your defense and drag more defense to you. Opens up everyone in the team
Great breakdown per usual 💯 💎
Excellent analysis. Thanks.
Aloha. Thank you this was the best analysis I’ve seen in a while, I haven’t really watched the NBA to be honest, but this I am a Celtic fan and this Celtic team is unbelievable. But everybody other than this video is giving them no credit it doesn’t seem like it, but this is a hell of a team. And I emphasize team TEAM.it’s gonna be fun watching the Celtics over the next 34 years if they keep these boys together. These men can play ball they play team sports. This reminds me of the 86 Boston Celtics team team team.
love the flavor of this post game analysis, no glaze and sugar, just facts and spice.
bro the celtics are like the picture perfect team of perfect basketball, idk if its just me but the way that every player can score, defend and play their role as a team to slowly pick apart every weakness you have and they pounce on it. it just seems like literal perfect basketball imo
The thing with boston is they are for sure the best two way team in the league. Literally every guy on the court is actually trying 100% on defense.
luka gettin smoked over and over lol
Joe Mazzulla is underrated as a head coach. He has schemed so well against the Mavs, especially on defense. He is so far the MVP of the series and outcoaching Kidd.
This is his first season with his own staff too.
Man, Doncic is such a statue on defense. If people cared about other aspects of the game besides scoring, Tatum would be regarded much higher. He's become an elite defender, and doesn't get enough credit for it. Tatum's overall game has improved so much, he's a great playmaker, finds the open man for easy buckets consistently, and averages close to 10 boards a game. He's much more of a complete player than SGA, or Anthony Edwards, or even Luka.
Fuck outta here Luka clears him he mediocre
Foh with that, brown ,white, tingus have been better defenders and their best defender is definitely holiday.
Casual fans and media only look at offense to claim who the best is and they put curry in the goat debate
@@THE_HORSEYY its about overall impact and Curry's impact is goat-tier despite not being the best defender. his offense is just that great. remove Curry in those Warriors teams during their dynasty and they barely make the playoffs, probably not even. Remove Tatum here and the Celtics still cakewalk to the finals
@@devvv4616 Tatum is their playmaker lmao. They absolutely need him. He lead the Celtics in PPG/AST/REB many times. He has been guarding the 5's in every round so far. The Celtics 3 barrage works because Tatum drives and dishes it out. Horford's 3s are mainly from Tatum.
This is what separates LeBron from Luka. he will never be hunted like this
Search 2011 lebron finals performance
@@ryanaragon2214what does that have anything to do with Luka being hunted. LeBron also has 4 rings and is a top 2 player of all time. good try tho
@@ryanaragon2214 That was Lebron disappearing on offense not defense lol
@@jacobchambers7201 luka will pass lebron just wait
@@sloughcloud7547 that's why jason terry avg 18ppg in that series, nice try
I truly dislike how people completely ignore how much of a liability Luka is on defence, his fan boys completely ignored it,
the Mavs are literally defending four against five every time, he is 6’7 there shouldn’t be any excuses.
God giveth and God taketh away. Luka has world class shooting touch and court awareness. But he's not fast, and definitely lacks lateral agility. Against guys like Tatum and Brown, that's like a deer holding up an "Eat Me!!" sign in the forest as lions and tigers roam by.
@@Ironfangzu kind of tired of these excuses he’s not fast or athletic who’s fault is that, his weight and lifestyle isn’t a problem when he’s winning only when he loses keep your argument consistent, if you have a racial bias then just say that if it was any other player we would be crucifying him, why does Luka always get given that get out of jail free card.
@@Ironfangzu he’s 25 not 45
@@Ironfangzu we call him a great but it’s not fair to compare him to other greats that take care of their bodies in the off-season get the fuck out of here.
@@Ironfangzu we call him a great but it’s unfair to compare him to other greats that work on their physiques in the off season get the F**ck out of here.
JT first step is devastating
He has that explosive first step, a ton of cross dribble and spin moves, is strong enough to force his way through collapsing defenses, and he has super long arms so he can reach the basket and turn what would be a short shot from most into an actual layup. It doesn't hurt that he has absolutely crazy touch, so wherever he ends up relative to the basket, he has the skill and touch to get the ball into the bucket. Dunks, finger rolls, reverse flips, Tatum has the entire arsenal. He can get by a lot of guys, and Luka, not exactly the fastest guy in the league, is a liability any time he has to guard Tatum.
so are his bricks
@@Sotanath86q12 assists don't even matter if he missed heaps
@@Ironfangzu his spin move is so effective. i actually think he doesn't have the greatest touch that's why he misses layups, but his ability to get to the rim is so elite
@@devvv4616 that’s my biggest problem with Tatum he definitely doesn’t have the greatest touch around the rim but he gets there so easy.
Casuals be like. "Luka is hard carrying, look at triple double".
I watch the game, he dribble for like 15 to 20 seconds every possession and no one else touch the ball, luka cant get direct blowbys so nobody on boston needs to rotate and then he shoots a contested jumper which credit to luka he makes. Gets hunted and gets blown by easily which collapses dallas defense resulting in wide wide wide open looks.
51% on like 5 TOs a game. While allowing 30-50 dribble penetrations a game isnt carrying. My god these casuals only look at the box score.
Luka is dribbling so much because Boston is cutting off everyone else and forcing Luka to strictly be a scorer. This is exactly what Golden State did to Jokic a couple years back. They’re cutting off the Lively/Gafford screens that have made them so lethal in the playoffs, they’re cutting off the corner 3’s, Kyrie isn’t getting any separation on his defender, and you can’t trust other Dallas guards to consistently beat their man off the dribble to cause Boston to rotate.
Luka has been ball dominant every possession this entire season, but the difference is that the Celtics have the personnel to perfectly counter him offensively and defensively. Luka has been decent on defense during this playoff run. However, in previous series, you could afford to have someone help off a bad shooter to help him, which unfortunately for Dallas, Boston doesn’t really have.
I’m quite sure u only watched these two games like most of these mf’s in the comments then come on here speaking on shit like yall actually know what yall talking about lol
@@ILLWill1027Like you, hahaha luka cant defend, cry about it
@@jamalchurro5480 shit i didn’t say he could lol he gives effort though. Ain’t to many elite defenders in the league
@@yoshiplaysmc2163 and that's another reason why despite how great of an onball offensive player he is hes still flawed as an offensive player.
He can only play one way on offense. And that's by having the ball in his hands. Kidd sometimes have offball plays for him but it's pretty much useless cause of how slow he navigates offball and he still pauses even when he had the defender trailing allowing for the defender to catchup.
And it's not just personnel. Clippers had a depleted roster and an overrayed offensive players in harden and PG. A slow footed big in zubac and had no elite onball defender except for maybe mann. But clippers were smart enough to just deliberately attack luka. And they got 2 wins off of that and possibly could have won the series if they had one more player contribute on offense and russ not shootinf 10% and pg being pandemic pg.
Okc and the wolves despite having way better personnel than the clippers had a very poor gameplan and put up less of a fight.
Boston has been incredibly aggressive on offense. Sure they take alot of threes but they always seem to be driving to the paint and making cuts and extra passes. Love it.
Luka is a cone! 😂😂
They said he was the best player in the world somehow I guess cause he’s popular and can shoot😂😂
@@THE_HORSEYY who's they ? last time i checked the elected MVP this season was Jokic
For me, Boston is the platonic ideal of basketball in that all players are so good at both offence and defence that you can't take advantage of any of them of defence but any weaknesses in your defence they can exploit. I love non-'super-star'/heliocentric basketball!
great breakdown 💯
Its been 1 min how do u know😂
@@thopjeteam2112 bot
Boy ure azz didn’t watch more than 1 minute… FOH with the “great breakdown” comment
just unbelievable work, thank you
Yeah Jrue was getting open looks I could make, meanwhile Luka fights for his life out there with step back shots. Celtics are just way too complete of a team.
That’s the point 😂
He said the Celtics are a better “team” not that anyone player is better than luka or anything ‘cause at the end of the day it’s the team that wins 😉
U not making it bro
@@THE_HORSEYY Maybe one of those layups😭
Luka's tough shots are a product of iso ball. Maybe they should try ball movement and have Luka play a little off the ball. Let Kyrie create a little and maybe Luka will get some easy buckets. Also, pick up the tempo. Playing that slow allows the Celtics to easily set up their defense.
I’ve got a feeling that Jaylen Brown is gonna go down as one of those under appreciated hidden gems in NBA history
coach kidd should have tried mixing things us, playing the zone in non kp minute, trying a box and 2, playing a 3 guard line up, with pj, maxi and lively. i remember in the nets sweep how seth curry went off, an extra shot creator and pnr player on the court apart from the usual top 2 eases up in offense.
Kidd has his work cut out for him, all the Celtics top 6 can shoot, rebound, defend, pass, they need Kyrie and Luka to both avg 30/10
The thing with the Celtics too that I have observed since the Pacers series is that while they do live and die by the 3, and if the 3s are not falling, they take their defense into a higher level as if their defense is not already great. It's as if the more they miss their shots, the better D they play. They equalize their misses. This is what I think makes them great.
2024 playoff series are a reminder of the greatness of MJ and Kobe
1. guys like Luka are often compared to Lebron, Kobe, MJ for his unstoppable offence, but finals so far, is a reminder that guys like Luka cant play DEFENCE
if you score 30 but guys on the other side can score 30 on you, then you are not really helping to win
being able to play offence and defense, the 2 way no weakness game of MJ Kobe Lebron, really sets them apart
2 people were hyped about Ant Man too, till we all realized that he is not YET on that level
in high level game play, the defense is often THAT good, and your team just dont get easy shots
now if Ant Man doesnt take the bad shot, then Gobert will HAVE TO to do it, and he has a worse chance to score
now we should realize that guys like MJ and Kobe "bad shots" are actually good for the team, coz if they dont take these bad shots, team mates will have to do that
someone has to do it, better be MJ or Kobe, or Ant Man, rather than Rudy Gobert
The big issue is lively and gafford who were huge in the other games cant match up here. Everyone on boston can shoot so the mavs shot blockers arent negated
Why the knee soar now but when he was playing ant nem it wasn’t 😂😂😂
his injuries seem to get worse after missed shots, bad defensive possessions, or anything like that. hes a good actor
@@ilovekaiyko I noticed that too 🤣🤣💯
plasubile deniability that shit only hurts on bad games
lol what are u blind? he was hurt the entire playoffs and that includes the wolves series. he had multiple times where he went away from the court to get treatment
@@Florian-yk8vgbig whoop. its the playoffs, everyone is hurt, sit out if ur gonna complain
This is the best analysis of a game I have ever heard. Are you a coach?
Im sorry Luka is too bad defensively for how good everyone says he is. Hes directly responsible for like 80% of the Celtics points every night whether from turnovers or just getting absolutely dusted on every drive. Its like he doesnt even contest the drive he just gambles for a steal every time while the guy runs past him. How does anyone like this guy?
we wouldn’t have made it this far without his defense
@@ryanmabutas1849 his defense? 😂 is this the part where you give me some lame advanced stat to try and convince me Luka isn’t that bad of a defender as I’m watching every single player on the Celtics put him on skates on every single play? Or are you going to bring up steals the most useless stat ever because he gets all of his steals gambling for the ball while the guy drives right by him as he’s getting cooked?
@@Toucansam46Luka was hyped on defense bc he legitimately had a great defensive series against the clippers and solid ones against Minnesota and OKC. He deadass looked like a different player he was genuinely locking PG harden and kawhi up they shot like a combined 25 or so percent or something surprisingly low like that when guarded by him. Unfortunately he's not naturally a good defender so it's coming back to bite him in the ass especially as his body's also starting to get a bit worse.
@@malachistewart2947He didn't lock up PG nor Harden. Kawhi he did and that was a unhealthy Kawhi that was clearly still dealing with his knee
@@malachistewart2947 PG Harden Kawhi are just past their athletic primes. They don't have Tatum or Brown's first step at this point in their career. Luka can handle banging with big wings/guards, it's the first step he can't hang with
Jrue Holiday & Jaylen Brown UNSTOPPABLE on OFFENSE in game 2 🔥🔥🔥
I think this would be a great Kleber series if he wasn't hurt enough to affect his shooting. Seems like the mavs play better when they go small in this series
Celtics fan here, I’m watching this video with one of my buddies who’s also a Celtics fan and the stat that Boston is shooting above 80% at the rim elicited a chuckle from him and he said “yeah it would be 100% if JT would stop with all the jelly fam bullshit” 😂😂😂
Bottom line is, Boston has way more options and avenues of attack because they have much better players. The Mavs don't have a single player who is strong offensively and defensively. Luka and Kyrie can score but their defense is mediocre or even weak. Some of their other guys can defend at the rim, but are not great defenders in open space, and they certainly can't create their own shots. The Celts have 5-7 guys who can score from everywhere, drive and dish, or hit open 3's. Plus, they are all strong defenders and have been all year. You can't just ask a Mavs guard to begin defending like White or Holiday. They don't have that ability.
Tatum had a great game, his shots were just not falling. He didn't force anything, played within the flow of the game and fed teammates with better looks. Took shots when open and was outstanding on defense.
I’m really worried about the Mavs chances here. A whole bunch of things went wrong for the Celtics and it still never felt like they were in trouble. They have to take game 3, otherwise they can pack it up.
The Mavs started strong, Luka was on fire, and the Celts couldn't hit a 3 to save their life. Win for Mavs right? But as the game went on, you could clearly see the Celtics asserting themselves, with drives from Tatum and Brown, with shots from White and Holiday, and with suffocating team defense that just took away every Mav except Luka. It was easy to see that the Mavs were trying to hold on, but failing. Boston is too strong, has too many good and great players. Mavs won't pack it up yet. But once they lose Game 3, they might as well.
Boston is a Live and Die by the 3PT AREA TEAM. But most of the people forget that they are also are 100% Defensive team when they are complete. So no matter whether off shooting or daylight shooting by the Starting 5. All of them can defend and utilize turnover into points.
- And it wasnt only the Boston who have offnight shooting, the whole Dallas was 23% on shooting 3pt. Way worst than Boston.
@jazedagohoy6664 they shot 2% better brother 😂
If you guys think I'm the only person who saw Luka taking flat shots in the second half then you're crazy. The Celtics know he lacks stamina.
@@blainerex yep and that's why they won the game🤷🤷 it's the Finals bruh every offense counts. And still 2 games off night shooting by Dallas 👨🦯👨🦯👨🦯👨🦯
Lukka's lack of defensive capability was abused by Boston. That's why they prioritizing the mismatch against Lukka guarding the ball handling. The reason maybe because Lukka don't want to drain himself in defense so he can use his energy during offense. But still it's not a good reason not to defend or atleast contest. He just standing basically when defending.
Should the Mavs go to an all-offense team with Hardy, Hardaway, and Kleber if DJJ and PJ are nullified defensively?
exactly
The Celtics would score 130
Yes, they should stop focusing on defense and play on offense
Stop doing pnr
Yeah Celtics blowing them out
Boston been doing this all season long. 🤘🏽🔥🤘🏽🔥🤘🏽🔥
Better analysis than Nick, Perk and Shaq
Celtics shot worse than dallas and still won comfortably.
great breakdown 100
Great analysis... Celts are great with both ends; offense and defense..
Basically Luka can't play defense
And no coach or any of the staff have the balls to say that to him in his face
great breakdown
Can’t be the best player in the league while playing no defense. Literally he became a liability plus the other Dallas players struggled defensively. Scrabbling defense with no consistent offensive output.
Luka is not super fast laterally. But here, it's the knee-ankle injury slowing him down more. On offense you don't need the same set of lateral movements, and sliding your feet. He's been injured the entire POs, but until now they could hide him having at least one non-3 shooting option on Clips/T-wolves, and gambling with Chet against OKC. He'll have to gamble less, and play smarter in game 3 - grit his teeth. But the Mavs should gamble with KP or Horford on 3, feed their bigs on switches directly under the rim - Gaff on Tatum, and D-live on Brown, and PJ & DJJ make more cuts than 3s. Boston just blessed with injured opponents in this run.
yes
People are calling this guy the best in the world. It’s embarrassing!
I cannot tell who will be the FMVP if Boston wins. Tatum, Porzingis, Holiday, and even Brown, all of these guys have played so well so far.
White too
Why Mavs can't get good shots- Luka's teammates can't buy a bucket
Why Celtics can only get good shots- They attack Luka 99% of the time and rest of Mavs have to help
This does feel like a redundant video lol. Yeah this is going to be a short series but I'm sure you could find something more interesting to talk about.
Before the series Boston had 5 of the 7 best players and now they got 6 of the 7 best players because Kyrie has gone missing. It's Luka v Boston
Not with that horrible defence that Luka plays.
The Mavs play 4vs5 with him on defense though. But I'm sure casuals like you don't give a fuck about the other part of the court.
Great video, way better than that awful coaching kid, actually provided a good breakdown instead of acting like a child for engagement
Different type of breakdown video. Easily for entertainment purposes.
@@1234jokerboy 👍
Stars of the nba disregard defense so much, it’s nice to see two super stars that don’t
Porzingis really is the key. Looking at this series, you can see why. The Pacers were only close coz they didn't need to guard him up top. Take him out here, and the Mavs lives are so much easier
It's the matchup. Some teams just don't matchup to other teams. Minnesota vs Celtics might have been a closer game.
The people that think Luka plays good defense have to be the most delusional of all
He played good defense against Minnesota, but yeah, it was highly circumstantial because Minnesota was an average offense with Gobert who you can completely ignore, which allows Luka to 'cheat' on his assigment with success more often. Edwards was off and KAT couldn't hit anything from deep so there was no reason to guard him much as well...
Once you put Luka against a team with 5 competent shooters and 4 ball-handlers he's toast.
Luka plays decent defense but what do you expect? He's been carrying this team and he's not even a 100%.
@@MentalStillnessBecause he is fat. The man is out of shape.
@@MentalStillnessHe plays terrible defense and no one was saying he was injured until he starts losing. How hilarious 😂
jt really living up to kobe's teaching. be an elite score and elite defender guarding the opposing team best player
JT hasn't been an elite scorer yet this series, he hasn't even scored 20 points. His defense is good, but his shooting really hasn't been great. If the Celtics relied on Tatum, like the Mavs do Luka.. this series would literally be the opposite of what it is now. JT has a team around him and he is not being selfish, which is good and is working. You could argue Brown, Holiday, Porzingus, and White have all played better than JT this series.
Luka isn’t even trying on defense lol
He doesn’t have the stamina to play defense consistently
@@olafharoldsonnii4713 he better build it up in the off season because he’s not getting this chip.
@@sfwisdom6673Its because he is fat.
@@sfwisdom6673they should trade for gobert
Defense is an effort thing too.
This is great analysis
Moral of the story:
As great as Luka is as an offensive player, he is also the greatest defensive liability for the Mavs.
That’s a lie lol
@@ILLWill1027 man's non existent on defense.
@@ILLWill1027 he a cone, he a bum on defense, he doo-doo.
@@SHAIVONTEDAGOD suuurrrreeee😂
@@ILLWill1027 You think Kyrie is their best offensive player? I would have to agree with you.