Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 18. (Read 885757 times)

The Mavs usually steal the show in their away games in the playoffs this year but this time their luck ran off and they already lost the opportunity to put pressure to the Celtics rather they are the ones are pressured now because they need to win this upcoming game at home to make it more convincing that they gonna have some chance to win a championship this season but until then, they need to get something working on their offense because it's currently not working against the Celtics in their last 2 games.

I reckon, mostly of the blame goes to Kidd as he's the tactician of how his boys are going to play. Well, wrong calls, plays and decision making should be corrected on the 3rd game.

They really are capable and let's see if the situation will change when they play on their home court. Many are counting on how the Dallas will close a game and hopes are still there.

By game 3, many fans are hoping for that.

That definitely right, and Luka was the only one still do the heavy lifting. Actually, for Dallas to win game 3, Kyrie needs to turn himself to the Kyrie we saw on previous round. 7-18 a better shooting compared to the game 1 but the points made is not enough to help Luka.

The bigs this series are not so effective also, just this game, Lively only score 2 points. Another point is the 3 point shooting, they are below 30%, so how can they win if one of their main weapon is not working.

We'll never know if he's up for something that he believes that's going to work. But looking at how tough the defense of Celtics, they should be credited for that. But I'm sure that Kidd has realized a lot of things and this is no joke to retain this kind of approach on an NBA finals if it failed him and the team for two important games already. We don't want to see this go on a sweep as I want the Dallas to win it but Celtics is just showing that they are the owner of their own court and Dallas can't do sh!t against them for which what they've done against the Timberwolves.

He has to use each and everyone of them even in the bench, I know that it's kind of hard to trust with the benchwarmers but it's not like that. He has to do some rebalancing of it but if he'd do that on 3, I think that it's too late for him to realize and he'd get use to the strategy that he's done for these two games. He has sure realized this after the game a while ago and he needs to strategize and make use of everyone not just for Kyrie and Luka and other big men of the team.

People need to move on miss call on PJ Washington since even if they call it a foul nothing well change. Dallas has been dominated so much by Celtics and leave them no chance to win. Mavs really got a problem with Celtics roster since they are struggling to have proper match up. For sure Kidd already know that there's nothing they can do anymore since its like Celtics is having a good party and again they are dominating on game 2.

The problem with Mavs is if Kyrie continue to struggle then their total team performance will get affected. So hopefully we could able to see a explosive Kyrie on game 3 since if again they lose to Celtics then I think the game is already over and we could able to agree that Celtics is the champ for this season and Mavs most likely have high chance to get sweep on finals this season.

Luka nearly did it and made it a a 5-point game. Derrick White's block on P.J. Washington should've been a foul and that would've made it a 3-point lead by Boston with 50 seconds to go.

I don't know if Jason Kidd made the right call by just giving up the game. I would've preferred to at least made an intentional foul and then a quick 3 as my last resort.

Anyways, Dallas showed in this game that they're capable of making the game close. We'll see how they fare when they're at home playing. But for me, I can smell a 4-0 if Kyrie continues to get shut down.

Yeah, but we should give credit to the defense of the Celtics in the last five minutes of the game, they stole a ball and then hit back to back threes with Holiday and White. But still the Mavs call a time out and they became to work and close the gap again. But the defense on PJ Washington, yeah it could be a foul but the referee didn't call it, just the breaks of the game. And Luka was not able to hold the ball like in the Wolves series, they really closing it on him, but yeah, the Mavs improved, we have seen some lob passes, but was not enough.

However, we are going to move back to AA arena, for sure the Mavs will want to stay in this finals series, and I'm seeing them getting back at the Celtics to make it 2-1. There's no way they want to be in a 0-3 deficit as it might be over for them.

Yup, it's not Kyrie and Luka  against the Boston but it should be Mavs against Boston, 5 vs 5 so it will be a balance game for  both teams, Luka and Kyrie can deal with their role but without the help of the entire squad then Bosotn will continue to dominate them, game 3 will be a big challenge for Dallas as you need to control the bleeding, if Boston manage to snatch a game against them at home, it might be a series for Boston, but still early for that, Kidd and the rest of the Mavs still have time to figure it out and make that big adjustments to win game at home, they need to work as a team and not to give all the offense attack to either Luka or Kyrie.

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.