2024 NBA Finals Preview: Celtics vs. Mavericks Showdown
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00:00 The NBA finals is now set six days away game number one of the 2024 NBA finals
00:07 inside TD Garden in Boston between the Celtics and the Mavericks. The Mavs back
00:13 into the NBA finals for the first time in more than a decade when they won
00:17 their only Larry O'Brien trophy in franchise history back in 2011. Second
00:23 NBA Finals appearance for Boston in the last three NBA seasons of course the
00:28 Celtics one of the most decorated franchises in all of professional sports
00:32 in the hunt for banner number 18. They will have home for advantage throughout
00:38 the NBA finals. What will it mean for Boston and Dallas? Let's start with the
00:44 Celtics perspective DRS because as we have shared multiple times from the very
00:48 beginning of this season this was going to be the evaluation piece for Boston.
00:54 This was going to be how we judged a successful Celtic season not getting to
00:59 the playoffs not reaching the second round heck not even winning the Eastern
01:02 Conference crown but getting to the NBA finals with this core and actually
01:07 winning a Larry O'Brien trophy. As you will see all throughout Boston has been
01:13 booked as a favorite to win the NBA championship on opening night a co
01:17 favorite alongside Milwaukee at plus 380 a co-favorite at plus 175 to win the
01:24 Eastern Conference as well and Donnie by the time we got to February and
01:28 Milwaukee trailed behind despite a winning record the dismissal of Adrian
01:32 Griffin the hiring of Doc Rivers the Bucks weren't really on the same peg as
01:37 the Celtics pretty much since the all-star break it's been Boston and
01:40 everybody else in the Eastern Conference and almost the Celtics and everybody
01:45 else in the entirety of the Association. That's what it feels like and also you
01:49 know having coach on the talk about the evolution of the Boston Celtics which
01:52 really wasn't much of an evolution at all we thought they were the best team
01:55 opening up the season and here they are favored to win the NBA finals as they
01:59 should be but sometimes you like to be tested here and that's going to be the
02:03 issue we see the Dallas Mavericks a very good opponent after very good opponent
02:07 after very good opponent here in the Western Conference playoffs we haven't
02:11 seen that here from the Boston Celtics and quite frankly it's not their fault
02:14 sometimes things just go your way you need a lot of breaks and benefits on
02:17 your way to a championship run but we haven't seen that adversity hit them we
02:22 haven't seen a team rise up and test them well Donnie did you see like that
02:25 was 1-1 in a couple of those series yeah I understand that nobody thought after
02:28 those 1-1 series in series number one and series number two that we were
02:32 gonna see a fifth or a sixth game at that point which obviously a fifth game
02:35 but not a sixth or seventh game to get that extended series I want to see how
02:39 it plays out now a couple years ago in New York City running for mayor there
02:42 was a campaign that was called the rent is too damn high we take a look at the
02:46 Boston Celtics at - 220 for the finals that rent is too damn high here I know
02:51 the Celtics are really good but damn it they are overpriced continuously here
02:56 that 220 shouldn't be that high then and as we discussed throughout this week
03:01 Donnie after the Celtics wrapped up the Eastern Conference title that only four
03:05 games against a banged up Indiana team that did not have its all-star in Tyrese
03:09 Halliburton the line started to trick up even to - 230 - 240 and we said listen
03:15 the look-ahead line of the projected NBA Finals matchup before the conference
03:20 finals round between the Celtics and the Mavericks was around this - 220 price
03:25 even if Dallas has to go to five or six in the Western Conference Finals it is
03:30 going to stay around that number and of course that's where we settle - 220 for
03:36 the NBA Championship in favor of the Boston Celtics but again they flip to an
03:42 odds-on favorite by the time we were in the opening round of the NBA playoffs
03:46 and that's with everybody still in action in the Western Conference the
03:51 Nuggets as the favorites OKC as the top seed Minnesota and of course now the
03:56 Dallas Mavericks so let's go to the Mavs who actually entered the NBA postseason
04:01 third best price in the Western Conference DRS to end up winning the
04:06 title of which they did a plus 650 number for Dallas and that's really
04:13 where the Mavericks have been on the ascension a strong closing stretch to
04:17 the end of the regular season they disposed the LA Clippers in round number
04:22 one they got rid of the Oklahoma City Thunder despite the Thunder being the
04:26 top seed in the Western Conference in round two in a gentleman's sweep in the
04:31 Western Conference Finals oh by the way just to keep the historic tally going a
04:35 hundred and fifty six times now we have seen a best of seven playoff series an
04:40 NBA postseason history have a team hold a 3-0 series lead all 156 the team that
04:46 was up 3-0 ended up winning the series absolutely and we were talking about
04:51 that and we don't have to clip that clip of you saying like there's no way they
04:54 can come back because quite frankly nobody's ever done it so it's an easy
04:57 stance to take Ben you won that stance went up to send that to any freezing
05:01 cold takes and also after they lost game number four we're talking about the
05:05 Dallas Mavericks I don't think anybody was panicked like yeah we're still gonna
05:08 get a seven game series we were hoping for that for content purposes and
05:11 betting purposes and have a lot of fun to see that competition on the court but
05:14 you were talking in waves of okay it's hard to win four games in a row Dallas
05:18 couldn't do that now we're just expecting the Timberwolves to win four
05:21 games in a row against a team that just beat them three straight games we knew
05:24 that was a little bit far-fetched at this point but also when you're moving
05:27 forward and what we expect from the Dallas Mavericks here's what sometimes
05:30 tough to lay out yes we know Luke is very good and Kyrie are very good but in
05:35 order to probably beat the Boston Celtics which they're gonna have a
05:38 chance to do that the price points are - 600 - 700 in the series right but you
05:43 are gonna have to have those Hall of Fame performances by those two guys
05:45 because when you are going to match up these two squads against each other
05:49 there's two superstars already on the Boston Celtics there's two superstars
05:53 already on the Dallas Mavericks but if we're looking at those B and C pieces
05:57 the Boston Celtics have many more of those than the Dallas Mavericks do so
06:02 which is very enjoyable because if you are the underdog you need epic
06:06 performances to win a series or even a few games in that series so Luka
06:10 Dantic he understands the task moving forward it can't be 17 points 9 rebounds
06:16 and 6 assists we got to get what we saw last night out of those two superstars
06:20 if they think they want to win the series that's what's going to be fun to
06:23 watch you play out how high these superstars can actually take their games
06:26 in the biggest moments and of course the two superstars for Dallas last year did
06:32 not gel they did not reach the postseason this year they entered with
06:36 the seventh best price to win the Western Conference crown but when they
06:39 are playing at the level they displayed in the Western Conference finals both
06:44 together on the floor at the same time it is hard to overlook Luka Dantic and
06:49 Kyrie Irving by the way Kyrie's return to Boston is going to be a narrative in
06:54 this series of course he spent two seasons as a member of the Celtics
06:59 organization in Beantown from 2017 to 2019 let's just call a spade a spade
07:05 Celtics don't like the man very much are we going to see some sage as we try to
07:10 make the good aura bring back inside TD Garden before game number one on
07:15 Thursday who knows but it's going to be rather ruthless I would expect for Kyrie
07:21 Irving but not the only reunion DRS Kristaps Porzingis spent two and a half
07:25 seasons with the Dallas Mavericks good buddies with Luka Dantic they reunite
07:30 here on opposite sides in the NBA Finals and we haven't seen KP since that
07:35 opening series against Miami and by the way you were taking a look at Kyrie
07:39 Irving - you know one of the more interesting players over the past 15
07:43 years that we've watched and learned from but at the same time he's in a yeah
07:47 he's in a much different headspace right now to be honest you see is every
07:50 single time that microphone gets in front of him he's happy he's enjoying it
07:54 even saying nice things about Boston and basically tell him the Boston fans I
07:57 wasn't mature enough when I played in Boston I'm much more mature now it'll be
08:01 fun for the competition to go back there I actually wish it was a little bit
08:04 different I wish Kyrie Irving was taking the microphone and basically telling him
08:07 Kobe Bryant style I can't wait to go back and beat down Boston on our way to
08:11 a championship here it's a little bit too nice right here I need this rivalry
08:15 to get fired up between Kyrie and the fan base immediately when game number
08:20 one starts on Thursday night and just to make this point again the Dallas
08:25 Mavericks were only three games above 500 as we got close to the end of
08:30 February or at least the beginning of February my mistake February 3rd Dallas
08:35 124 of their final 33 games down the home stretch and from the all-star
08:40 break on the Mavericks really turned things on Dallas has been playing good
08:45 basketball not just in the Western Conference postseason or the Western
08:49 Conference finals but really all throughout again Boston has yet to be
08:54 tested the Celtics have only played 14 games here in the NBA postseason they
09:00 have won 12 of the 14 but they are just 7 and 7 against the spread and Boston
09:05 has only covered once that was game number two against Indiana in their last
09:10 six playoff games not exactly easy for the guys in Beantown now into the NBA