The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 105-98 in Game 2 of their 2024 NBA Finals series to take a 2-0 series lead at TD Garden this past Sunday (June 9) night. This puts the Mavs in a position that 36 other teams in the finals have found themselves in: a 0-2 series deficit, something only 5 of those teams have ever come back from.
Can the Mavs win Game 3 at home now that the series shifts to Texas, and increase the odds of becoming the sixth-ever ball club to accomplish such a tough feat? Or is this series inching toward the inevitable hanging of Banner 18 in Boston this summer? What would have to happen for either team to win Game 3, and beyond it, the series?
To get a read on which way this series is more likely to go, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast, Alex Goldberg, Cameron Tabatabaie, and Justin Quinn, linked up with WFAA's Irvin Castellanos to talk all things Celtics - Mavs Game 3.
Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS
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Can the Mavs win Game 3 at home now that the series shifts to Texas, and increase the odds of becoming the sixth-ever ball club to accomplish such a tough feat? Or is this series inching toward the inevitable hanging of Banner 18 in Boston this summer? What would have to happen for either team to win Game 3, and beyond it, the series?
To get a read on which way this series is more likely to go, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast, Alex Goldberg, Cameron Tabatabaie, and Justin Quinn, linked up with WFAA's Irvin Castellanos to talk all things Celtics - Mavs Game 3.
Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS
Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply. Go to https://gametime.co !
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00:00Alrighty, welcome to the Celtics podcast brought to you by prize picks the exclusive Tennessee
00:12basketball partner of the CLNS media network and by game time tickets last minute tickets
00:16lowest price guaranteed. I'm your host Cameron by I'm joined by Alex Gilbert and Dr. Justin
00:21Gwynn. We have seen two games of the NBA finals and we've seen two Celtics wins. The series
00:27is now shifting to Dallas for two road games for Boston, but home games for the Mavericks.
00:33So to talk about that dynamic, we're going to talk to Irvin Castellanos from WFAA.com.
00:36You guys, we have a lot of questions about the Mavs. Irvin, let me just start with this.
00:42Well, first of all, how are you?
00:45Doing good, doing good. Feeling a little bit like that. That Boston cop that went down
00:49that slide super fast. Definitely this series is getting out of control really quickly.
00:56Wow. Okay. We should probably just pack up there because that's the best thing anyone's
01:04going to say. Well, I want to, I want to ask you a question right off the jump, which is
01:09how would you characterize Dallas's home court advantage at least in the regular season?
01:14I'll tell you this. I think that they have a really, really solid fan base. Wow. I was
01:20really blown away with the Boston Celtics home crowd. I think it really did do a number
01:25as much as they don't say that it did. I think it really riled up the young guys. The
01:30Mavs have a 20 year old rookie at center. It's been a long time since someone's been
01:37that young in the finals. Right. And I really do think that it's kind of rocked them. So
01:41I feel that getting back home for them is going to be a really, really good thing for
01:46him, for Daniel Gafford. I really do feel like those guys, maybe with the exception
01:51of Luca, right. I've really kind of been feeling that, that road, that road feeling
01:57a lot. Yeah. Just really quickly, maybe slipping in his own bed will help Luca because he seems,
02:04he seems tired just really quickly on the point of that Boston crowd. You know, I think
02:09this is the best crowd I've seen for the playoffs in a long time in Boston, if I'm being perfectly
02:15blunt. I think this is a crowd that kind of knows the moment that they're in right
02:21now. And the players know that accordingly. Jalen Brown was pretty explicit about like,
02:28we need the crowd to get loud. Like we need it to be an uncomfortable experience. You
02:33saw Al Harford playing with the crowd on like Daniel Gafford's missed free throws. You know,
02:38the Celtics I think are pretty keenly aware of the position that they're in as far as
02:44having home court, having the best record in the NBA, and also just like really trying to play
02:50that to their advantage. I think previous playoff disappointments with this group,
02:55they've started to realize the value of home court and of having a crowd that
03:01you can really toy with if they're ready for it. Yeah. And it's interesting, the Gafford piece,
03:08or the Lively piece, excuse me. I think Tim McMahon had this on the Hoop Collective that
03:13if you're counting the days, Lively is the youngest ever player to play in the finals.
03:18But then you have guys like Kyrie Irving, and I'm not trying to sling mud, this is my honest read,
03:23who are super experienced. And it seems like the lights were too bright in Boston.
03:27We talked about that going into this series that we thought, you know, he sounds good in
03:32interview, but we don't believe him that he's not going to kind of feel his feels in this series.
03:37And so far, I think he's feeling his feels. Irving, to what extent do you think that that's
03:41a fair read? And to what extent do you think being back in Dallas might calm his nerves?
03:47I think it's been incredibly obvious that going back to Boston has really bothered Kyrie.
03:53I'll also say that we have to give some props to the two defensive just badasses,
03:59right? Drew Holliday and Derek White have been right there on the perimeter
04:04and really made life hell. Because if we looked at the way that the Mavs beat the
04:09Minnesota Timberwolves, it was really pick your poison with Kyrie and Luka. Who are you going to
04:14double up? And then they were really just going right at it, going into the paint,
04:18throwing lobs up everywhere. I really do feel like the Mavs game plan has really been
04:24staggered because of Holliday and because of White. Kyrie has really been embraced by the
04:31Mavericks fan base over the last year, I would say. It was a little bit of a rocky start just with
04:38the whole missing the playoffs. Is this thing really working? But man, this year was really
04:44a revelation for him. I think that the fact that a lot of the ghosts of the past are coming back,
04:50right? It's really like, wow, this is your time to kind of have to face it on the biggest stage.
04:57And I think that the Mavs fan base is really hoping that coming back home, having that support,
05:02uh, not having to worry about the jeers, you know, it's do or die for the Mavericks. It's
05:07game three. So, uh, it's, it's time for Kyrie to come out or the series is really,
05:13really looking harsh. Justin, just, uh, shelled the emotional, the narrative,
05:18all the stories around Kyrie for Dallas in game three and game four. What do you think
05:23is more important for doubt for Kyrie to find his offensive rhythm or his defensive rhythm?
05:28I mean, it's been great that he has become a plus defender, if not very much so,
05:35but we all know that that's not serious. Well, no, but I'm saying previously. And that's really
05:42the point is it's pretty clear that that's not working for him. Uh, I'm not sure between the,
05:48the size and switching and really everything else is screwing him up. The coverage he's getting,
05:54uh, from his three primary defenders. I don't know if either opportunity really presents a
06:02great option, but because he has made his bread and butter in the league on the offensive side
06:06of the ball. Uh, I think that's really the best option that they have for involving him more
06:14in the game. I really don't see how he can defend better than he has been really the subjects. It
06:20was too hard for him to defend. Like really the only good cover for him out there is Derek white
06:24and not very great of a cover. If we're being honest. Yeah. And to that, to that point really
06:31quickly, you know, I think Kyrie, um, defensively has definitely not been awesome this series,
06:39but he's, he's a player where if the offense is going, it almost kind of doesn't matter
06:47what his defensive abilities, like his defensive stuff is a bonus on top of that.
06:51He really lives and dies by whether he makes shots. And that is very much how he impacts the
06:57game. Um, you know, particularly, I think one of the things that, uh, is tricky with Kyrie is that,
07:03you know, he takes a lot of jump shots and he usually makes most of them. Um, when those jump
07:09shots miss that opens up transition opportunities for Boston, who has been so good on the glass
07:15this series in particular. Um, and it feels like with the Celtics and with Kyrie,
07:22when he makes those shots, he not only makes the shot, uh, which adds, you know, to Dallas's, um,
07:27point total, he also gets a chance to get back and set himself in defense where he's actually
07:33not an awful defender in a set defense situation. Um, particularly if he has the opportunity to get
07:40his feet in front of him to really like, you know, hunker down and defend his position.
07:45He's all right in that setting where Kyrie really struggles defensively is in transition.
07:50If he misses a shot and it carams off the rim and suddenly a big wing like Jason Tatum or
07:56Jalen Brown is coming downhill at Kyrie, that's a disaster for him defensively.
08:01But it's interesting that we're focusing all this attention on Kyrie defensively.
08:06And I'm curious, Irvin, I want to swing this to you first. I think Luca has been abysmal
08:12defensively this series so far. I think he's been by far Dallas's worst defender. And I think
08:18Boston is making really aggressive efforts to target him over and over and over again. I'm
08:25curious, what are you seeing from Luca? Because, you know, offensively, he's been brilliant 30
08:30point triple double carrying the Mavs offense almost single handedly, but he's been an absolute
08:35traffic cone from what I've seen on D and I'm curious, uh, to your perspective on that.
08:41I think his injuries are catching up with him really, really quickly. He had incredible,
08:46uh, defense on the perimeter in earlier series, uh, even up to against Minnesota,
08:52really wrecking havoc on, on their plans. But man, it's, it's happened so quickly. I think
08:58outside of the thoracic contusion that happened is he's had a knee issue the entire playoffs.
09:03You, you'll see him start bleeding pretty much like minutes into the game, right?
09:08No matter what the treatment is. And I agree with you guys. I think his defense is right there. I
09:12think it's one of those things where he's going to be hobbling to the end of the finish line,
09:16right? We saw him wrapped up like a mummy, uh, in the last game. And because he is the Mavs
09:22best player without him, there's just no shot, but unfortunately it's really taking a toll on
09:27the defense. So they're going to need to have their perimeter defensive, like, uh, players
09:32like Derrick Jones, Jr. PJ Washington really step up to really help that out. Um, but yeah,
09:38that that's been an issue. And then on the other side of that, just to kind of back up what you
09:44guys were mentioning about Kyrie, Kyrie is yet to make a single three point shot in this series.
09:49Um, that was something that was really falling for him in the last few games. He scored 36 in
09:54the last, uh, in the, in the clincher against the Timberwolves. It's just has not been there.
09:59And, um, I think everyone's just going to be looking to see what we see at home.
10:04If we have some of Kyrie's issues kind of clean up because, uh, Luca needs help.
10:10Yeah, let's do this. We kind of, uh, just played pinball with a bunch of different topics.
10:16Um, just like off that initial question of home court advantage. So, uh, what I want everyone to
10:23do is I want you to think of an under the radar thing that you've seen in the first two games that
10:28you're curious about if it will last in game three, you don't need to like blow anyone's mind
10:33here. So I'll model. So no one feels like they're on the spot. Um, I think that Boston's bench has
10:39been really good. Obviously, Sam Houser, you'd like to see him hit shots. Um, but the energy
10:47that he's giving is really good. And previous rounds, his defense was dinky. And I feel like
10:51he's held his own. And then I don't need to wax poetic about Pritchard coming in and hitting a
10:58road three like that. It's interesting when you're writing about a game, you don't always like
11:03see what's happening, uh, play by play. So I didn't realize that drew had committed a foul
11:09and Pritchard had basically checked himself in. I didn't really like really noticed the clock.
11:12So it was only hours later. Did I realize how cool that play was? Um, but I think by and large,
11:18Boston's bench has been better and steadier than, uh, Dallas to say nothing of the fact that
11:24Porzingis is coming off the bench. I mean, that's probably the lead, but that's something
11:29that I'm curious about because I going into the series, I don't think I was so sure that that was
11:33going to be the case. And not just because it's home court home cooking, but just because I don't
11:38know how sustainable that trend is. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dallas in these next
11:44few games has a better showing from their bench, but I don't know. So anyways, that's the name of
11:49the game. What's a under the radar story that you're curious about urban? You're the guest. So
11:54you can say me first, or you could say, I don't know yet. Um, I think for me, I I'm trying to see
12:00if anyone else's three point shot is going to get hot in the last game. I think only PJ Washington
12:07was the outside of, I think Dante XM had a shot that went in from deep. I think Luca had a couple
12:14that went in, but relatively the rest of the maps, the Mavs offense has kind of been stagnant
12:19on that. So, um, I'm, I'm, I'm assuming that that's really, we're going to be the bread and
12:24butter for us. Uh, their offense this year, post trade deadline was really centered around
12:30lobs to Gafford and lively, and then, um, three point shooting, um, when that's not available.
12:37And when the defenses are doubling up on Kyrie and Luca. Yeah. What is it? One? I think they
12:42only have one law in the, in the series maybe. I mean, yeah, Luca and Kyrie look really
12:48uncomfortable, but Boston's defense is a big factor. I think they're, um, okay, Justin,
12:53what's something that you, uh, either noticed and, or I think is under the radar, I guess it could be
12:59table stakes. I don't know under the radar so much, but the leadership role that Jalen Brown
13:05has been taking on in this series particular, and recently throughout the playoffs as well,
13:10it has been something that the Celtics have largely been missing since smartest left the team
13:16and, uh, they're listening to him and he is comfortable in the role and it is exactly what
13:21Boston needs in this moment. It will be curious to see how that does or does not change on unfriendly
13:27territory with people yelling at you instead of with you. And I guess we're gonna find out in a
13:32couple of days. Really quickly to that point, I'll just really quickly on Justin's point,
13:38then I'll jump to my own. Um, but it does need to be said that Boston has not lost a road game
13:44in the playoffs up to this point that has not happened. No matter what you can say about the
13:48Celtics, they have not lost a road game. So I will be very interested to see if Dallas can
13:54bring the kind of energy that would get them off their rocker because it feels like Boston has been
13:59extremely calm on the road in high pressure situations. Um, from my point, speaking of
14:06Dallas, I think the big thing for me is the coverage on Jason Tatum. Um, Jason kid has
14:11very clearly attempted to craft a defense that is pushing Tatum into taking really low percentage
14:17shots, uh, completely crowding and cutting off the paint, trying very hard to make sure that Tatum
14:23doesn't get in a scoring flow. He's responded by passing brilliantly. You know, I think he got 11
14:30assists last night, his career high and 12 assists, even so, um, he's, he's been a terrific
14:36passer and rebounder. But the one thing that people have been saying about Tatum is the scoring
14:40has not really been there, at least up to his usual standards. I guess I'm curious how long Jason
14:45kid can get away with this before he has to shift things. Because right now, if you look at the way
14:52that they're playing him, as soon as Tatum goes into the lane, there's at least two bodies,
14:56sometimes three on him. Um, they're trying to disrupt his dribble on the catch. They're trying
15:01to send two at him, at least at some point during the possession, basically every time
15:08will Jason kid deviate from that strategy at all. Now that it's become clear that Tatum is
15:14willing to kick the ball. Tatum is willing to move it to shooters or to drew holiday in the
15:18junker spot. He is, he is more than comfortable using the threat of the drive and the collapsing
15:24of the defense to try and get open shooters looks. And even though the Celtics shot so poorly from
15:30three last night, he was able to find drew holiday on those cuts. He was able to find Derek white on
15:35kickouts. How much can Jason kid afford to stick with this coverage while Tatum just continues
15:43to relentlessly attack the rim with the goal of getting other guys, uh, the ball and getting
15:49Dallas defense in rotation. Will they change the coverage and start to like not over help as
15:55aggressively? And will that allow Tatum to get his own offense going? I want to ask you about kid and
16:04kind of adjustments we've seen him make in previous rounds, this post-season, but Alex,
16:09I'm surprised, but I kind of want to push back at you. I felt like yes, Tatum had 12 assists and
16:16his career highs 13. And that was in the finals in 2022. I mean, he, we talked about this, he's
16:20doing the LeBron thing. He is using being the center of the universe to his advantage. It did
16:26seem like kids comments got to him a little bit. There were a number of like Kobe fadeaways that
16:33were so unnecessary. And that last play of the, uh, of the game where white ends up shooting a
16:39three Tatum tried to dunk over, I think it was PJ Washington. And it was like, it was such a bad
16:46decision. Like it was the kind of bad decision that the Celtics didn't get the offensive rebound,
16:51or I don't know what you would call the loose ball there. Uh, you would be burying Tatum because that
16:55was like bonehead hero ball madness. Um, I mean, Jason kid calling Jalen Brown, the best player
17:02and then double teaming Jason Tatum is shenanigans. I do think a little bit, it got to Tatum, but Alex,
17:08yeah, I mean, totally point taken Tatum understanding how to drive and kick driving kick
17:13is just defeating the Mavericks wholeheartedly. There are just still a few too many. I watched
17:19two hours of Kobe Bryant highlights on YouTube last night plays that, um, maybe Tatum was earned.
17:25I think that's fair, but I mean, he also drove 18 times last night, like, you know, and I think some
17:33of those decisions were not, you know, like Tatum Tatum is not a perfect basketball player. He's
17:37going to take questionable shots. Sometimes I would argue that almost every elite basketball
17:43player in the world is going to take head scratching shots. And that is somewhat by design.
17:47They don't get to that status unless they're willing to take shots that are potentially dicey
17:53unless they're like a supercomputer, like Nicola, you'll get, you can just get wherever he wants all
17:57the time. Um, but I do think that it has to be said that like by and large with a guy like
18:06by and large with a couple of glaring exceptions, and you are right to point those out.
18:11This is some of the best decision-making I've ever seen from Jason Tatum, like in this series,
18:16particularly using the drive. I'm he's been so relentless going to the basket and you can see
18:24that it's starting to wear on this Dallas defense. So I am curious to see if kid has any coverage
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19:24I have a little bit of curiosity for you guys and I want to have Irvin answer this first.
19:30You credited Irvin earlier, the Celtics backcourt for Luca's situation and Kyrie's situation
19:39in this series so far, but in particular, there have been a lot of, shall we say, not 100%
19:46effort plays, some uncharacteristically bad decision making from Luca in terms of throwing
19:53passes at people who are not there or, you know, when it works, it's great, but he's had some
19:59pretty, I mean, he's had, he's been stripped by the likes of Sam Hauser and Peyton Pritchard who,
20:05well, definitely better defenders than I think most of the NBA fandom gives him credit for.
20:10These are also not the type of players you would expect to be being impactful on defense
20:15against Luca. So in your eyes, like how much of this is Luca's health? How much of this is the
20:22bright lights? How much of this is the Celtics number two rated regular season defense? Like
20:27what's going on with Luca that even when they try to flow everything through him like in game two,
20:32he still doesn't really take over the way that we would have expected him to?
20:37I think it's a combination of all of that, right? And I also think that the effort on defense is
20:41really taking a toll for him. It's very obvious Dallas can't contain the point of attack right
20:46now. They're getting devastated on that. And I think going along with all the issues that he's
20:53had injury wise, he's also been leading the Mavs in minutes played the entire postseason. To be
20:59doing that on a hobbled up body, it's definitely taking a toll. We saw the way that Anthony Edwards
21:04performed in his last series where he was just gassed. And we kind of, I was kind of like taken
21:08aback, like how is that not Luca, right? But maybe I spoke too soon. I really do feel the fact that
21:16Jason Tatum is like you guys mentioned is pushing it out. I think Drew Holiday has done an amazing
21:21job to kind of be that person to be ready to throw that to the dunker as well. I think that the Celtics
21:29are taking what the Mavs are giving them and they're kind of feasting on it. So I'm very curious
21:34to your question earlier is like, how do they, how does Jason Kidd respond? I think Jason Kidd's
21:39gotten a lot of, let's say local feedback on the fact that he's, he's not very much a, he doesn't
21:48change his decisions very quickly, right? He's very hardheaded in that. And a lot of people were
21:54saying the Mavs were kind of in this position in spite of Jason Kidd, but he had, he has the room
22:00of his locker, the players believe in him, right? And that's really most of the battle. The issue
22:05now is I feel like when the lights are bright for Kim, it's, it's really being obvious that he's
22:10kind of getting out coached at this point. Yeah. I guess he kind of answered that question. What I
22:17was going to ask before is what were some of the adjustments that he saw or that rather that he
22:22made earlier in the post-season that he could employ like kind of Alex, I feel like you were
22:26dancing around this question, like what other moves does Kidd even have to play?
22:30Irvin, I'm wondering if you know, based on what you've seen this post-season, I'm not even kidding.
22:35Well, I feel like they tried to play the Jaden Hardy card. And I think that Kidd always tries
22:41to bring Tim Hardaway back. I feel like with the limited minutes that Hardaway's shown,
22:44I feel like he's kind of unplayable at this point. It's really streaky shooting from him.
22:49He's not giving any, anything else on the defensive side. So I, I really don't see anything
22:55else on the bench for the Mavs that, that Kidd can kind of push out. It's really that, you know,
23:00do or die with Doncic at this point. And if we can get him in a healthy enough to kind of be the
23:06point of attack and be passable on defense. I do feel that Washington and Derek Jones will play
23:13better. I think their defense has been really underrated, especially Washington. Derek Jones
23:20the same. But I, it's, I feel like we're in the NBA finals for a reason, right? The Celtics have
23:26an amazing offense. You have a deep lineup where everyone can make a three, the ball moves around,
23:32you have multiple playmakers. It's, it's just one of those situations where I honestly,
23:37it just looks like a matchup nightmare for the Mavericks, any way you look at it.
23:42I do wonder if there's going to come a point where Jason Kidd
23:47if there's going to come a point where Jason Kidd considers going with someone else instead of Derek
23:52Jones in the starting lineup. I would be surprised if that is a player who like, like, I'd be pretty
23:59surprised if that's Derek Lively, just given that the foul trouble has been a real issue for him.
24:04And it seems like whenever he's pulled out on the perimeter, that's danger zone for Dallas.
24:09I do kind of wonder if we could see a Dante Exum, you know, sliding into that starting spot just to
24:16get a little bit more pace and space going for Dallas. You know, Dante Exum obviously has had
24:22his minutes kind of yanked around a little bit here in the postseason. It's been kind of volatile
24:26from series to series, but it does seem like Derek Jones shooting percentage is really emerging as a
24:34big problem for Dallas from an offensive standpoint. And I almost wonder if Dallas's move,
24:40rather than necessarily trying to like slow down the Celtics offense, is to add a little more juice
24:48on the offensive end and, you know, maybe add Exum as a kind of tertiary attacking ball handler who
24:53could spot out and hit three. Now, obviously, Dallas would be quite small if they did that.
24:59And that is an issue that Boston could certainly lean into and exploit. But I do feel like Dallas
25:04is going to need to play faster if they're going to pull this off.
25:08More PJ and Kleber, I think, would be a way that they could do that without getting quite as small.
25:12But there's also built in things like we saw how it didn't look like Kleber liked shooting last
25:18night. That is an issue. He's just not healthy at all. He hasn't looked the same since he came
25:26back from that shoulder issue. And it was really bad timing because he had really caught his
25:32confidence. He had kind of been very unconfident the entire year. And he was really playing well
25:37until that issue kind of came up. I honestly feel like every single Celtics player I've seen is just
25:42blown by the Mavericks perimeter defense. And with that spacing, it's kind of eating lively up right
25:49now. So I agree. It's really what are we going to do with our two, you know, 20-year-old and
25:5625-year-old centers that are just at the rim, just kind of taking it from all angles?
26:01Yeah. J.J. Reddick, I thought, made a really good point about the blow-bys and the cumulative
26:07effect of blow-bys over the course of a game and a series where the more that that
26:15happens, the more that you see guys just get completely beat off the dribble, the harder
26:21it is to really hype up a Derek Lively or a Daniel Gafford, you know, to really play
26:28that level of aggressive rim defense. Because it's like, if Luka and Kyrie can't cover their
26:34man at all, and Lively and Gafford just have to come over in rotation constantly and risk, you
26:41know, absorbing a ton of fouls or getting dunked on or getting, you know, put in these kind of
26:47awkward angles where they can't really cut off, you know, these big physical driving players for
26:52Boston, that has a really demoralizing effect on the defense. And I think you started to see that,
26:59particularly during the Boston third quarter run last night, where it's like, just over and over
27:07again, you're seeing Kyrie and Luka get dusted on the perimeter, and it starts to wear on you.
27:13So, quickly, I want to, I recently learned that, so ultimate last, penultimate second to last,
27:22anti-penultimate third to last. So our anti-penultimate thing to talk about is Christophe
27:28Porzingis. And Justin and I are, you might hear my keyboard in your ears, because we're going to
27:34give a health update. But the problem is, we don't know much right now. So it's six o'clock on the
27:39east coast on Monday, and Porzingis said he was going to get imaging done on either his existing
27:47soleus strain that he seemed to exacerbate, or perhaps another injury, it looked like his ankle
27:52was wrapped a little bit. But Justin, the reason that I don't think we have too much to discuss is
27:58A, by the time people hear this, there might be an update. And B, more likely, I suspect it's one of
28:04those things that doesn't show up in imaging. And so there won't be an update until Wednesday
28:08afternoon pregame. So we're going to... I do want to talk more about if he's unavailable,
28:15what, if anything changes. We have no way to know, really, probably until
28:21very shortly before tip, if anything. So let me ask you this, Urban.
28:26We'll go generous for the Celtics and then nuclear for the Celtics. Generous, he plays,
28:32but he's obviously banged up. Does Dallas need to attack him more?
28:36Absolutely. And they've been getting torched against Eric Lively with Porzingis. So I would
28:42probably look for them to really attack the rim and throw some lobs up to Lively and get his
28:47confidence back up. If Porzingis is in any, even if he does play, right, you got to see where he's
28:53at. He also said he's going to die on the court. So I think we're going to see him in game three,
28:59no matter what. Yeah, I was, people are making fun of me at TD Garden, because I keep bringing
29:05this up, but I have the same injury. And when it, when you have an episode, it hurts a lot in the
29:10Achilles, even though the injuries not in the Achilles. And so when you see Porzingis, like,
29:15dragging his leg, it's just because it feels like your Achilles is made out of wood,
29:19but actually the nature of injuries elsewhere in your leg. But let's take the nuclear option here,
29:25say Porzingis misses game three entirely. How big of a boost is that for Ervin? Ervin,
29:32is that for Dallas? I think that they probably remind themselves that Porzingis missed the entire
29:40playoffs from the opening round going forward. I think that kid will use it as a rallying point,
29:45but this team is deep enough where I feel like Porzingis being gone just puts the onus on your
29:51other superstars to kind of take over. I think there's a, there's definitely a chance for the
29:57Dallas centers to exploit there, but in the all, in the end result, I just don't see how that
30:07really affects them more than their own problems with Kyrie's bad shooting and with Luca's injuries.
30:14Justin, what do you think? I think that there's going to be some opportunity
30:19to force Boston to, the nuclear option, to lean on Horford in a way that by the end of the game
30:26will make them a lot more exploitable, but I'm not sure for the same reasons that Ervin just noted,
30:30that it's going to ultimately be enough. It really depends on how the Celtics approach the game
30:35as much as all the other problems that we've seen the Mavs had trouble with.
30:40I'm going to say something that could be really dicey in the event that Kristaps Porzingis misses
30:47time, which I think is a possibility. It kind of feels like it could be a Luke Cornett series.
30:55I don't, well, first of all, I don't think that's dicey. I think that's awesome.
30:58Second of all, I don't, I don't think Porzingis is going to miss any time.
31:01I don't think so either, but I do think if he does miss time, listen, man, Luke Cornett's a big boy
31:07and Derek Lively is also a big boy. And if you're trying to counter size, sometimes you just got to
31:13get the tall guys out there. And yes, that does mean there's a possibility that it's like,
31:17oh, Kyrie Irving has Luke Cornett on a switch. But I do think this could be an interesting series
31:24for him to see maybe like seven or eight minutes. If Porzingis is not able to go,
31:30if Porzingis is able to go, sorry, Luke, hope you enjoy clapping and waving your towel.
31:36I mean, look, if Dallas is going to shoot like 55% from the free throw line,
31:39they put me out there. I can foul people. All right. It's so weird to see a Dallas team being
31:45such a bad free throw shooting team and the three point shooting team just historically,
31:50but it is an upside down season. Yeah. The free throw thing. That's,
31:55I mean, Joe Mazzola loves the margins and that's one of the inexcusable margins. I don't have it
32:00in front of me. They were like five for 11 from the free throw line and Boston was 19 to 20 last
32:04night or something. Pretty preposterous for a game that was seven point swing. Okay. Let's do
32:12this just because I think that the state of NBA discourse is so hyper serious and it's fun.
32:19Basketball is fun. So I just want everyone to share one thing that they think is fun,
32:24either that they've seen or that they're looking at. I'll model how fun we're talking about.
32:30Luka Doncic has the best footwork in basketball. It's so wonderful. The way that he, I know this
32:37isn't true in the fourth quarter cause he's too tired, but in the first three quarters,
32:41the way that he, wait, what were the free throw numbers, Justin? He said I was way off.
32:47Okay. So the free throw numbers for Dallas were 16 of 24 and Boston was 19 of 20.
32:54Okay. Not way off. I got 19 for 20, right? Okay. Anyways, Luka's footwork is extraordinary. I just,
33:04he's like the second coming of Paul Pierce or Kyle Anderson, if you will, of just like the way
33:08that he moves at a speed that seems to betray what you're expecting when you watch professional
33:12sports. And yet suddenly he has like seven feet of space and he just, or the, I don't know,
33:19Urban, maybe this is not true, but I feel like he shoots off of one foot even more now. Is that a
33:23knee injury thing or is that just, he's ballsy? I think he's channeling his inner Derek, right?
33:28He's like doing that as little funky step one, one legged fadeaways. But yeah, it may be an
33:33injury thing. My fun on, honestly, in all, for real, it was really cool to see Chris Stapps come
33:41back as a, as a, as a Maverick, as someone that's covered him whenever he was here, it was everything
33:48that we thought that that potential would be. And I know that his game has shifted a lot in the last
33:53few years, but seeing him kind of command the rim was just extremely cool. It's what we thought,
33:59you know, that next generation, Steve Nash, Dirk Navitsky pairing was going to be
34:02when it was him and Luca. And it was really, really cool to see just from an outsider's
34:06perspective. How do you think the reception will be in Dallas? Honestly, I, whenever all that news
34:13was coming out, I was like, I think that Dallas fans would boo Chandler Parsons before they would
34:17boo Chris Stapps Porzingis. But I think with that game one performance, and you know, rightfully so
34:28he's earned himself some of those boos that are coming because you're just whooping our team's
34:32ass. But I don't think it comes from a place of malice. You're supposed to boo the other team.
34:39Yeah, Chris Stapps has also quietly been playing like way better against the teams that traded him
34:45this year than he has against other teams. It has to be revenge tour. For me, the fun thing that I
34:53am looking for that I have been looking for a lot this season is drew holiday getting downhill into
34:58people's chests. That huge shoulders are gigantic. And he just I just love watching
35:05drew holiday at six, five, get the ball and like you think, you know, super cerebral,
35:10classic point guard, he's looking to set somebody up, he's looking to, you know,
35:14get a good shot, like pull a three, whatever. And then he just goes downhill and like,
35:19rocks whoever is in front of him for an and one. It's so cool to watch. And I really appreciate
35:24that there are times in the game where drew holidays decision making process is like,
35:29oh, I'm just gonna play like a running back for this possession and just drive straight into you.
35:34It's so much fun to watch.
35:37Super envious. I bet the bucks. I wonder how quickly they regretted moving on from him for
35:42Damien Lillard. That might be a story for the offseason here at Celtics lab.
35:48All right, Dr. Ben, what about you?
35:49Does it have to be finals related?
35:53Oh, no. Yeah, we waited. You waited long enough. Go.
35:56Okay. Watching the Los Angeles Lakers twist in the wind while they try to steal a little bit
36:01of the Celtics glory on the way to an 18th banner, and having it be the UConn Huskies
36:06head coach who tells them to go pound sand. Nothing could be better and more fun for me
36:11to watch at the end of the regular season and the NBA finals and all that good stuff. So yeah,
36:17I'm pretty happy to have woken up today and found out that my favorite NCAA team
36:23does not need a new head coach.
36:25Yeah. What concert was he at where he was just like, really Joel.
36:33He's not leaving the East Coast. Come on.
36:35Yeah, no, I mean, he might take the next job if that ever comes.
36:39But I don't think that's happening anytime soon.
36:41Oh, come on. Danny Hurley should not take the Brooklyn Nets job.
36:45You're not wrong, but I mean, they need to have New Jersey wrist like he did.
36:50Let's pause the action and talk about our friends over at gametime.co.
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38:02That's where Irvin Castellanos writes and talks about the Mavs,
38:06which he's been doing here. So Irvin, let's close with this. And sorry, it's a bummer.
38:11Teams that are up 2-0 in the NBA finals have gone on to win 31 out of 36 times.
38:18So Irvin, how do you think this series ends?
38:21Yeah. So I know the finals percentage on that, but I do take solace in the fact that Donchich
38:29came back from down 2-0 on the Suns, right? Kyrie's done it too. I think if the Mavs have
38:36a chance, it probably goes the distance. It goes 7. I think that's what we're hoping for at this
38:42point. And they're hoping to have a bit better free throw percentage shooting from Donchich,
38:47but it's really going to live and die with the guy that probably should have
38:51been a little higher than third on MVP regular season voting for sure.
38:57Alex and Justin, the Celtics are 8-0 all-time with a 2-0 series lead in the finals, and 42-1
39:03all-time with a 2-0 series lead. So Alex, Justin, when do the Celtics wrap this up?
39:09I think we are due for at least one more game of pure brilliance from Luka Donchich.
39:15I imagine that that is going to be the next game, but it's going to take a whole lot out of him to
39:22beat this team, whether they're on the road or at home. I said at the beginning of the series,
39:27I was feeling Celtics in 5. I have not seen anything to change that.
39:32Justin?
39:34I think it's going to be Celtics in 5. I don't think it's going to be the next game. I think
39:40it's going to be the game after that, but I have dropped my expectations. I was the Celtics doomer,
39:48if you can call predicting the Celtics to win a doomer on several prior podcasts. I have been
39:55converted. I think it's going to be Celtics in 5. I would have liked to have seen another home
40:00game be the closeout. I think it's going to be, but we'll find out.
40:06Well, Irving, I have plane tickets to game 6, so maybe I'll see you down there. I actually think
40:17that we're about to get a sweep. We haven't seen the Celtics line up from 3, and I'm sorry,
40:21we haven't seen the Kyrie Irving meltdown. That's coming.
40:24Or the Jason Tatum game.
40:28Sorry, if the Kyrie Irving meltdown hasn't come yet, oh boy.
40:33I think the scary thing for Dallas fans is the Celtics haven't had one of their better
40:41shooting days yet, and they're still up. I think that's definitely on the minds of everyone.
40:48That lineup is too deep, and if there's a Jason Tatum explosion, it's looking bad.
40:55Yeah, I'm rooting for Dallas to get a win. You want the home team to get at least one win
40:59in a big stakes playoff series, but keep the broom handy just in case. Irving Castellanos
41:06from WFAA. Yeah, they'll be selling some on, well, it's possible, right? Everyone's an
41:13entrepreneur. There'll be some for sale probably on the plaza. Maybe just like the little hand
41:17brooms, not like the whole one. All right, game 3 is Wednesday night, and I believe game 4 is
41:24Friday, but it occurs to me I'm not 100% sure, so good luck with that. Thank you for listening
41:29to this podcast. Like and subscribe. Go check out Irving's work. Go check out Justin's work. Go
41:34check out Divine Sweater. They do the music at the top of this podcast, and if you're still
41:38listening and you're listening on Tuesday, that's Alex's birthday, so go wish him a happy birthday.
41:44He just turned 22. We're very proud of him. Yeah, that's definitely my real age. All right,
41:49thanks, everyone. Irving, talk soon. Adios, y'all.