HOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP WAS WON MAVS VS. CELTICS
HOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP WAS WON
MAVS VS. CELTICS
By Muntradamus
BEAST DOME NATION.
HOW THE WEST WAS ONE (2/9/24)
Here we are. The Grand Stage. The script is perfect, with Porzingis and Kyrie playing their own version of Freaky Friday.
Luka is playing unguardable basketball. Mix that in with the fact that Andrew Nembhard just looked like Luka against the Celtics, and now they have to go up against the real thing?! Celtics D is toast with jam AND JELLY, with a side of bacon. Kyrie is playing the best basketball of his career, and he has reached a very humble mindset where you know he is just going to make the right plays to win, and the numbers will come by themselves. If McConnell can score 20+ as the off-guard when Haliburton was down, just imagine what Kyrie can do.
Jaylen and Jayson are playing alright this postseason. Sure the numbers look good, but it really does not seem like they did it against good defenses. Key defenders were missing for all teams which created easy mismatches and broken down defenses; Jimmy Butler in Round 1, Jarrett Allen in Round 2, even Haliburton as a defender in Round 3 as the Pacers were just way too small with him not in there. The Celtics have been playing teams that were missing key pieces in their defenses, which led to easy buckets. The Mavericks are not missing any piece in their defense, and their team defense is playing top notch. The centers are not going to let Jaylen and Jayson get jelly layups, Gafford is the Wizard of Blocks. Lively is very Lively and will make Al Horford look his age.
Porzingis coming back is a story in itself, but after seeing Gafford and Lively just survive Gobert/Kat/Naz, Porzingis and Horford will be childsplay. You can also expect Porzingis to play a very minimal role compared to what he did in the regular season. Are the Celtics really going to break the chemistry they built in the playoffs to feature Porzingis? If they do, the Celtics offense will become off-balanced very quickly with all players feeling that the moment where they have the ball, is their moment to shine. No structure, just pick up basketball.
The Mavericks are a Championship Caliber team. They know what they are doing every possession on offense, and their team defense is immaculate. The Celtics are coming off of a playoff run going up against regular season rosters with key players missing in nearly every game. Celtics should have been down 3-1 against the Pacers, but the Pacers could not close out any game.
Mavericks will get what they want and they will not leads slip away, they will build on them, and bury the Celtics into the ground every chance they have.