Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 155. (Read 914649 times)

In Game 1, I gave 2 words which is TOTAL DOMINATION. Now in Game 2, it's REFEREES SUCK.
Anyway, I didn't watch the 4th quarter because I had some errands to do, but referees when they play in TD Garden has been known for not calling obvious fouls. One example is the infamous Lakers-Celtics game where Tatum was obviously hit Le-GM's hand and didn't call a foul that would give them free throws. Even Beverley got a camera to show it at that time.

Well, the Celtics successfully defended their home court as they won against the Mavericks 105-98. Luka's triple-double isn't enough because Kyrie again only scored 16 points and shot 7/18 from the field which is better compared to Game 1. The game was close at least for the majority of the game (that I've watched). Other Mavericks' players helped with the offense, but I guess it wasn't enough for them to steal a game on the road. What's alarming for me is Tatum's performance in the first 2 games. Averaging 17 PPG in the first 2 games, and shooting only 12/38? You're a superstar of the team, and you're shooting like that? It's good that he has good teammates to cover his poor performance, but it's unacceptable. What if other players had a bad performance? I'm not a Celtics fan, but he's one of their reliable shooters, and he is shooting like that.

Anyway, I agree with what you said that the fans on the TD Garden really are very hostile to the opposing player that they even boo Kyrie whenever he gets the ball which might affect his performance at least. Now the next games will be on Mavs home which for me is way louder than that of Boston. Let's see how the Mavericks will play on their next 2 games.

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Just for context, teams that win the first two games at home in the NBA Finals go on to win the series ~89-90% of the time.

I can't understand the game play of Jason Kidd. He has already failed with that strategy, why continue with it? Why insist on it? The game is 1 against 5. Somebody like Luka or Kyrie penetrates, the Celtics gang up on him while he doesn't have anybody to pass the ball to. All his teammates are outside waiting for nothing. Nobody approaches and gets the ball from him. I'm not sure I understand exactly Jason Kidd's plan but it simply isn't working and there seems to be no change of plan at all.

When you are trying to get back on the game and referee messed it all up by missing one crucial call. Ouch! You cannot even do anything about it.
That's obviously a foul on Jaylen Brown while PJ Washington was trying to dunk the ball. He won't end up in the crowd without any reason. The referees can call it even if it's late as long as he blows his damn whistle.

Boston Celtics won the game but it's not that far. The two best closers of the Mavs did not work pretty well in 2nd half. But we are seeing some lobs now. Gafford was also aggressive inside the paint and scored using a post-up game. That's nice to see.
Against a hostile environment like the TD Garden, I think the Mavs still did well tonight but the defense of the Celtics is suffocating, they must find a way to break that.

12 points lead on the Q4. 78-88

Last 10 minutes on the game and let's see if some miracle will happen for the Dallas Mavericks. Because it seems that this is going to be another win for the Celtics.

Let's see if this is going to be it for the Mavs if they are going to reach and able to cover those points.

Dallas Mavericks are pretty much motivated tonight and they're playing really so well so far, and Luka Doncic is everything but unhealthy is not the best choice of word if you're watching the game or following the stats, you'll see what he's been up to in this game, maybe the questionable tag was to actually have the Celtics defense prepare a little less or go easy on him, because he's scoring from all possible angles right now.

With Luka walking into the game like he’s dying and telling everyone he probably won’t play because of injuries, it seems like Dallas has already given up.

This whole series depends on Luka being healthy.  If he goes down at any point it's a wrap.  I like kyrie too but no way he can carry that team to 4 wins against Boston.  I expect kyrie to have a bounce back game tonight.  Dallas needs both him and Luka to be in top form.  The part I'm interested in watching is how they are going to guard Krista's this game.

We saw in the first game how important the Porzingis factor is. On one side you have Dončić trying to do something on his own, and on the other side you have the Celtics getting points from the whole rotation.
In the finals series, 70% of the teams that won the first game became champions. If the Celtics make it 2-0 tonight, it's very possible that they will end the Finals early, where they are already the favorites.

Game 2 of the final series will be played tonight.
Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks

My favorite again will be the Dallas Mavericks, Kyrie Irving didn't contribute much in the first game but I think he will tonight.

Dallas Mavericks have a problem, Doncic is expected to play in tonight's game despite his chest, knee and ankle injuries, if he does not play in the final series they will definitely lose the cup. I hope they play and win.

I feel like the thing about the team is that we are seeing something that will change a while and Dallas are no joke neither. Sure Boston is amazing, their switch defense is unparalleled and I believe that we are talking about something that will take a lot of talent to handle. Sure Luka has abused PNR before and took his quickness to score, like how he scored over Gobert because he knew he could outpace him.

However, with Boston, he can't and everyone switches and that's the issue, we should probably consider that as the most important part of this series. Maybe they will do fine, or maybe they will do terrible, we really don't know how it will end. Dallas will eventually figure out how to attack on offense, I think their defense against Boston is fine, but they need to figure out a way to attack on offense.

The problem is, the Thunder and especially the Clippers and not even close to the level of the Celtics. Boston has elite defense paired with thunderous offense. They can only beat themselves in my opinion.
Sure they showed some weakness in 1 game of each series but now they will be focussed because they know what an important game this one is. You want to take all the momentum to Dallas and not give them any hope.

Against all the teams in the east you would never have gotten the feeling the might lose the series. Even if they would have lost game 1 and 2, there would be no doubt they would still win.

Anyway, Boston will win game 2, just seeing this as a realist. Hoping for Dallas to somehow get this one but I don't have a lot of hope.

Game 2 will be offensive if both teams are making their shots, so betting on the over IMO is a good decision.
Luka will continue his good shooting but Irving will not struggle like in game one. what I've noticed is that, when both Irving and Luka are shooting well, it will have a good effect on their teammates, so everyone will be more confident and they'll make their usual shots.

I can see the sentiment here, just because Dallas loss in game 1, people think they are a bad team, but if it was Dallas who won, they might think Celtics  will still win the series.


Clearly, and I'll follow the trend, so Dallas in game 2.

$10 gone for me. $5 on the Over total score, gone too. I thought it would be a high-scoring game because both teams are offensive teams. My mistake, I didn't expect the Celtics to play hard defense and blow out the game.

But this will be a good fuel for the Mavericks team. They now know their opponent is really strong so I bet they will be pushing their limits and use that loss to be more competitive in Game 2.

Later, Game 2 of the Finals.
I think I am still betting for the Mavericks despite their bad loss in game 1. Adjustments will happen and Coach Kidd is good at that. Their last two series are the living proof of that.
Do remember guys, they also lost against the Clippers in Game 1 and also lost against the Thunder in Game 1.

That's definitely true, we overreact after the game one as if we haven't seen an unpredictable series in the past. Just remember the Nuggets vs Timberwolves series, that was the most unpredictable series as Nuggets loss two home games but they come back by winning two road games to even the series. Here, it's the celtics home court, so it's not so hard to believe that they will dominate, just like if Dallas will also dominate the Celtics on their home court. Let's see the game 2 first, I'm sure Dallas are not gonna loss that big if they'll loss again.

If they made it to the finals I would've been rooting and betting for the Nuggets by now instead of Boston. I can accept that Denver lost to Minnesota but I cannot simply believe Dallas just completely dominated the series and nearly shut the Wolves at 4-0.

Damn, I lost my series bet because I thought the young OKC can pull it up against a more experienced Dallas team. I favored Denver over Boston because of the championship experience and the core players are already playing together for years. But I always thought before that only Denver is capable of beating Boston this time. Earlier I expect Boston to win by 4-1 or 4-2 but I guess 4-0 is very possible.

For this instance, that can also be the case. As you have said, it's true that there were games before that they've got the first game and dominated half of the series but still ended up losing. There's no need to be careful with this, we're just fans and bettors here. But I guess you're giving a warning about those bettors that are putting everything at stake with this finals. If that is so, yeah they have to be careful with everything or else they're gonna lose in an unexpected manner. Anyway, what's not to expect on this series? everything is still unpredictable.

I thought it would be closer as well. The Mavericks showed a little strength to start the 3rd quarter but that was quickly crushed. They just don’t match up well against the Celtics due to the length of the Celtics and the lack of athletic ability of the Mavericks. The Timberwolves on the other hand would have smoked the Celtics.

Damn that was a tough game for the Mavs to open up the championship.  I had a few bucks on them, despite feeling that the Celtics probably had the upper hand in game 1, especially being that they were at home, which always has a nice advantage.  I personally feel like this series is going to go the distance, and likely to end up at either 6 or 7 games, or at leas that is what I am hoping for.  Really looking forward to the game tomorrow.

Yeah it's definitely not a lock.  Anytime the other team is putting Luka on the floor anything can happen.  The key for Dallas is guarding Krista's porzingas.  Let's see if Jason kidd can come back with the defensive adjustments.  A lot will be found out about this series in game 2.  Anyone e can win one in a blowout it's a game of adjustments.  Can't wait to watch.

Celtics do look like they got the game lock, but that doesn't mean every game will be like that. We have seen many series where one team had one game where they dominated, but they lost the series and this could be something like that, we should be quite careful about it if you ask me.

I believe that the best thing to do right now would be just making sure that we are not really dealing with anything that's getting crazier, it's obvious that we are going to just assume that things will not be all that simple, so the best way to go with this would be just be careful. If you keep betting on Boston, and if they win then things are great, but if you do that and Dallas makes a come back in the series and win then that will hurt you.