GAME 3 NBA FINALS: Boston Celtics (2-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (0-2)

[BigDirk41]

I'm done ranting..lol. It's been a damn great season. I think we're all disappointed that the Mavs couldn't make a series of it. I'll enjoy whatever is left of the season and I really look forward to next season. Boston is clearly better. At least we didn't lose to some scrub team.

[Chicagojk]

If I go back and read my posts, I will probably be disappointed in some of my Luka comments. One of the reasons why I don't like posting during the game. A lot of emotion.

I don't think he was the Luka we expect in the biggest moments though. I am sure the injury is part of it. I also think he is getting worn down. I would like to see how they can help fix that moving forward.

[Chicagojk]

Not the reason we lost, but sneaky kill shots in games two and three are prayer banked threes.

[dirkfansince1998]

I have a feeling he will get that under control this off-season if he's truly going to be an all time great like we all believe. Getting swept or 4-1 in the finals and all the criticism that is going to come his way should light a fire under him. If he would treat his body like MJ, Kobe or LeBron, he'll be unstoppable. Being pudgy is hard on his body.

Not sure. Most likely won't get any off time. Qualifing tournament for the Olympics starts in early july. If they qualify he will play another tournament in late july/early august.
More games and less off time for his ankle and knee.

[BigDirk41]

Not sure. Most likely won't get any off time. Qualifing tournament for the Olympics starts in early july. If they qualify he will play another tournament in late july/early august.
More games and less off time for his ankle and knee.

I didn't even consider that. He really needs to take the off-season to recover and drop 20 lbs of fat. This will be a problem again next season if not.

[Chicagojk]

I thought we really blended Luka ball and faster pace this year. That should continue with our current roster. Most of our younger guys play better when the pace is fast. Most are good in the slow offense and wait in the corner. Again, I thought there was some nice improvements this year and you want the ball in Luka's hands. I just think the roster is better suited for a faster pace team.

[Chicagojk]

I didn't even consider that. He really needs to take the off-season to recover and drop 20 lbs of fat. This will be a problem again next season if not.

It is just so weird.   I feel like he came into the season in great shape.   It just feels like he puts in on gradually during the year.    He is always going to be big and strong.  I am not sure it is diet.  Does he not get enough sleep.  He games a lot and has a new born.   I don't know.  You would hope the light comes on at some point.    It needs to be his decision.   I believe Dirk, probably at a later age as Luka is now, stopped drinking during the season.   Lebron takes it to the next level.   Maybe it helps 1 percent.   But when every inch counts, it could matter.   

If there is room for improvement, it won't come until Luka does it himself.

[GATA]

Luka's incessant complaining makes it easy for the refs to make calls against him. its a vicious cycle. more complaining leads to fewer calls, and so on. but it does not take away from the fact that refs have been terrible in this game.

Tatum complains as much or more than Luka

[Chicagojk]

Looking at this roster, it just feels like there is not really room for both Green and Jones. Both still have room for improvement. We hope Omax makes it tough to keep him off the court. Stilll, Green and Jones would probably work much better if they were paired with a different type of player. You would want that player to be above average on defense but maybe more of a offensive player. It is a tricky match though. I am really not sure who I would pick. I think it is obvious the team wants more from Green and he really hasn't proven it yet. Jones was a better player this year.

[Chicagojk]

Just killer. Man, how he has fallen.

https://x.com/statmuse/status/1801087086683931124

He shouldn't be in the game. But seeing how he was shows you how little confidence Kidd had with everyone else. Hardy just isn't ready yet. I would have gone with Exum. Kidd has a lot built up with Hardaway though. Old habits die hard and was probably just hoping he would have a strong 4-5 minute stretch. That Hardaway is long gone though.

[Chicagojk]

I am really glad Lively had a strong performance. Probably helped not chasing around KP. After a tough two games, he again proved he doesn't lose confidence and is a quick learner.

There is so much he needs to improve, but his future is so bright. No doubt in my mind that it will be rare when he doesn't close games. He may still come off the bench, but eventually it is going to be impossible not to start him.

[Chicagojk]

Brad Stevens is on a heater right now. Two second round picks for Tillman at the deadline. He wasn't used much but was huge filling in for KP. Solid, veteran player who does a lot of winning things.

Heck, supposedly Stevens was trying to sign DJJ and had targeted Omax in the draft. He is not missing right now.

[GATA]

We want Tillman playing as many minutes as possible. Fluke

[dirkfansince1998]

Brad Stevens is on a heater right now.  Two second round picks for Tillman at the deadline.  He wasn't used much but was huge filling in for KP.  Solid, veteran player who does a lot of winning things. 

Heck, supposedly Stevens was trying to sign DJJ and had targeted Omax in the draft.    He is not missing right now.

Agree with all of this. But the solid veteran was in the same draft class as Josh Green. Only 25 years old.

[Chicagojk]

Agree with all of this. But the solid veteran was in the same draft class as Josh Green. Only 25 years old.

Ha.  Touché.  I was a huge Tillman fan in that draft.

Although I also bought into the Ringer hype on Tyrell Terry too and thought that was a good pick

[SwisherPrice]

Sit Luka for game 4. Treat it like a preseason game just for fun...troll the NBA

[KillerLeft]

Well, that was a kick to the nuts.

Boston is a much, much better team. I’m sure we all realize that by now.

I’m still really disappointed that Kidd didn’t have more to challenge them in this series. One of the reasons the Mavericks have made it this far is that Luka is starting to figure out that he needs to share the ball for the team to do well. The ball was moving more and more with each passing series, but all Boston had to do was switch everything (dirkfansince98 tried to warn us) and they are suddenly right back to “my turn, your turn” basketball, where no one besides Luka or Kyrie ever touches the ball or has a chance to get into any sort of rhythm. There is blame to be laid at the feet of the role players, sure, because they are not aggressive enough. But, we need to understand how difficult it is to be aggressive when you literally don’t touch the ball for minutes at a time.

On the other end, Boston has put on a passing clinic through three games. The ball is jumping from side to side, and ALL of their players have a chance to get into rhythm. I mean, they have Xavier Tillman hitting big shots from the corner. The Mavs finally did what I was hoping to see through the whole series tonight… They had Luka back off of the guy he was defending and dare him to shoot without making any passes, and for what it’s worth, I thought those were some of the better defensive possessions of the night, but Boston’s coach is a good one, so they figured it out and adjusted.

I really hope that both Luka and Jason Kidd are learning from this experience, because the way I feel right now it’s tough to imagine Kidd ever being on a championship level with his offensive design, and it’s even tougher to imagine Luka making it through four rounds of playoffs without a team making him play defense the way Boston has in this series. I’m sure I will feel differently in a couple of weeks, and this was a tremendous season, but right now, it’s just so disappointing to see them go out with such a whimper. The Luka hate from the national media is about to reach warp nine, and it’s going to be insufferable.

I am usually not a guy to second-guess rotation choices, because the coach knows 1000% more about the players and situations than we do. However, tonight was just ridiculous. I was OK with the first Hardaway stretch, because Hardy has been really bad in this series, and Exum has been pretty bad for the last few series. But, that Hardaway stretch did not go well at all, and the Exum stretch DID. So, when Luka fouled out, it was INSANE to go to Hardaway there, in my opinion, because the one possible positive to come out of that crisis was that Boston no longer had Luka to pull up in the pick and roll, which has been their entire offensive game plan for the whole series. I guess coach Kidd felt bad for them, because he gave them Hardaway on a silver platter. His 1-on-1 defense was obviously better than Luka’s, but not “must win in the finals” worthy, and considering Kyrie was going to take all of the shots, anyway, I believe any sane person would have played DJJ there. We saw what happens when Boston has to go against the Mavericks’ GOOD defenders, as PJ Washington shut Tatum down two or three times in a row down the stretch. And if you don’t wanna go with Jones, fine, but I thought Exum actually had a pretty damn good stretch earlier in the game. Why not him, at least? Just a completely boneheaded decision by Kidd there, in my humble opinion.

If I squint really hard, I can find some silver linings here, in that Dereck Lively and PJ Washington, both likely to be Mavericks for quite a while, seem to be acclimating to this level of play as the series goes on. This is really good experience for those two young, cornerstone Mavericks. Also, Daniel Gafford has played his part reasonably well, especially given how completely out of place he is in a series against this style of team.

I might need to watch this one again to figure out why Jason Kidd saw fit to completely bench DJJ down the stretch. I really hope it wasn’t just shooting, because we have known he was not a shooter since before they signed him, and he has answered the bell all postseason. To my mind, he has earned some benefit of the doubt, and to be honest, if his shooting is going to get him benched in the fourth quarter of a must win game in the finals, the Mavericks should NOT move heaven and earth to re-sign him.

Josh Green is going to kill me. Sometimes he will do two or three things during a 5-minute stretch that make me feel like he’d be an All-Star with enough minutes, and then there are 10-minute stretches wherein he literally will not look at the rim. That might be OK if he was actually the type of defender this board claims he is, but the more I watch him the less impressed I am with his defense. He’s got the energy for it, and that can come across as intensity to the viewer, but for whatever reason the opposing players look at him like a snack. Hate me if you want, but I am just about ready for him to go.

Anyway… Sigh.

[ThisIStheYear]

I didn't even consider that. He really needs to take the off-season to recover and drop 20 lbs of fat. This will be a problem again next season if not.

He’s is going to take an off-season. It will just be at the beginning of next season either deliberately or due to injury.

[MaxiThreeba]

Luka is going to have all the external fuel he could ever want from that performance and how the media will use it…probably until he wins a chip.

I wish he could/would take a summer off to really get healthy and work on his body but that 100% isn’t happening this summer, if ever.

He deserves some of the criticism that is coming his way but not to the level it will be at. It just seems the only step left for him to take is to become a TB12/LBJ type of health psycho…that and figuring out how to consistently control his issues with officiating.

Nico has a job to finish, and it’s going to be a challenge. He has been hitting the right notes the last 12 months for sure. The DJJ situation is a tricky one. He’s a great piece but I really feel like he’s a TPMLE level guy and hope the market bears that out.

Nico also has a THJ, Green, Maxi situation to navigate. Been a great season but there’s work left to be done.

[ThisIStheYear]

Just killer.  Man, how he has fallen. 

https://x.com/statmuse/status/1801087086683931124

He shouldn't be in the game.  But seeing how he was shows you how little confidence Kidd had with everyone else.  Hardy just isn't ready yet.  I would have gone with Exum.  Kidd has a lot built up with Hardaway though.  Old habits die hard and was probably just hoping he would have a strong 4-5 minute stretch.  That Hardaway is long gone though.

It really shows that Kidd is a stubborn MFer and awards minutes not based on what’s good for the team but based on salary and career achievement. THJ hasn’t made a shot in a month and was particularly atrocious in the 2nd quarter of this very game. No decent coach would have had him out there in that situation. It must occur to Kidd that THJ is doing this on purpose because of a grievance against the Mavs. Just listen to his dad.  Most incredibly, Kidd’s absurd rotation tonight (yes, he played the entire team and still hasn’t figured out the rotation!) wasn’t even his worst coaching move. He actually called a time out on a 20-0 run with his team in transition. Never seen anything that egregious before in NBA coaching except for some other stuff Kidd did early in his career. I’m really regretting that extension right now. I hope the Mavs don’t feel obliged to keep him just because he’s owed money.