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Sports NBA Thread: 2023-2024 Season
- Thread starter awyp
- Start date
Kyrie getting a ring after all that's happened since 2018 would be poetic. Revenge on Boston as a city, Durant as a leader, Harden as a teammate. All he needed was to be 1b to another MVP
Luka's a menace lmao he's really embracing the villain role and I'm here for it.
Bye bye Minnesota! That was quick…
Trade KAT and find an upgrade for Conley.
That contract is so hard to trade though dudes about to be making like 60m a year
Also Mavs went from worst defense post trade to best defense in the playoffs going to the Finals. Credit Kidd's improvisional adjustment over the months and even Luka's growth about refs help. Dunno how I feel on Dallas/Boston but Porzingis's first game back being in the Finals makes it soooooo weird.
I was cooking with Mavs in 6. Prayers up for Derrick Lively though.
fortunately we got the best possible news on him already tests on neck came up ok and no concussion he's out for g4 to rest up and heal as much as possible before finals should we close out. Kleber returns tonight with perfect timing will help offset the loss a bit.
Just wanted to put out there that the Celtics are definitely not a superteam, and the best player Tatum honestly doesn't really rank among the 'behemoth stars' like Luka, Giannis, or Jokic.
Tatum is more on his own parallel thing, where his defense, assists, and playmaking are massively empowering his team, while not having that immediate nor obvious 'wow' factor.
And so my point is that the Celtics are more about: per game each starter sacrificing or stepping back, to have the others go hot.
Like compared to other teams, the Jays don't rank high for the 1+2, but the 345 are doing more on both ends of the floor compared to other 345s.
Take this into account with a relatively poorer bench compared to the other semi-finalist teams --> part of my main point is that KP is really a huge factor in Boston's success and putting the team at a whole other level compared to last year's
(although the potential for #6 Horford to go off is also a great factor worth mentioning too)
Tatum is more on his own parallel thing, where his defense, assists, and playmaking are massively empowering his team, while not having that immediate nor obvious 'wow' factor.
And so my point is that the Celtics are more about: per game each starter sacrificing or stepping back, to have the others go hot.
Like compared to other teams, the Jays don't rank high for the 1+2, but the 345 are doing more on both ends of the floor compared to other 345s.
Take this into account with a relatively poorer bench compared to the other semi-finalist teams --> part of my main point is that KP is really a huge factor in Boston's success and putting the team at a whole other level compared to last year's
(although the potential for #6 Horford to go off is also a great factor worth mentioning too)
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to be fair tatum is a great player but he's not close to those 3 either he's top 10 but more like 9 or 10 and a full tier below also yes the celtics are a superteam
I have to disagree, I see like the Clippers as a superteam, that had like outside-ish factors weigh them down.
I don't think the Celtics are comparable to the Clippers.
Holiday, Horford, and especially White really need 1+2 (the Jays) to be doing their things, for them to be on the 'scarier' side offensively... they don't have that strong independent factor that many stars/semi-stars such as Harden and Kawhi have. (also the Celtics are more '3 pt % of the night' reliant ofc)
Also like honestly, Holiday, Horford, and KP have to deal with their age or frailty (KP) more so compared to their positions in other teams.
At this point in their careers:
Tatum > Kawhi
Jaylen > PG
Jrue > Harden
Derrick White > Russ
Porzingis/Horford > whatever bigs the Clips have
Umm how are the Celtics not a super team but the Clippers are? Not to mention the Clips are notorious for their age and frailty….
I think neither are super teams. It's just semantics.
tito, this how to be a troll post cus literally no one career wise is better than clippers guys, and at this point of their career (current day) id agree with everything except kawhi and pg being worse than jaylen and jayson
Those comparisons are so dumb. They create expectations that the players can only meet by being among the absolute greatest of all time. Let the man be his own player.But ant the next MJ they said
Agreed and ant will get better from this
It went from mj's son to luka's son real quick 
To be fair mvp is a regular season award. Playoff play is different and I don't seriously think anyone thought Luka wasn't the 2nd best in the playoffs
So I've formulated a couple of thoughts about the finals matchup.
I think anyone who casually reads these NBA thread posts knows I'm a Mavs fan, I've honestly doubted the mavs in the last matchup with the twolves, so I can say I was pleasantly surprised. The TWolves matchup I thought was going to be tough because I thought Luka was more injured than he actually was compared to the OKC series + I thought KAT would be averaging 20/10 which he didn't. The OKC matchup was a toss-up because I thought Mavs has the better team + chemistry but Luka had been averaging 40% from the field up to this point so I really thought Luka couldn't pull through since he wasn't a hundred percent. Clippers I knew were going to get smoked because its more of a revenge thing from being knocked by the Clips twice in the first round in prior years + this is the best team Luka has had around him since being in the league.
All that being said Celtics I don't think will be their hardest matchup, I thought T-Wolves had very little deficiency, essentially can guard in all 5 positions and you have Naz Red who's a fire cracker offensively. Celtics have a pretty solid starting 5, with a good bench. But theirs one glaring issue which is Tatum is their leading rebounder, Al Horford is old and Kristaps his entire career has been a shitty rebounder. I get it their the best rebounding team but it's a lot of their guards but that's not even my point. Kristaps will constantly get out-hustled in the rebounding stats by Gafford and Lively. I think that the Celtics have worse defenders at the guard / forward position compared to the T-Wolves, you don't have much guys to throw at Luka like T-Wolves did (Edwards, A-Walker, Slow-mo, and McDaniels), at least at this high of a defending level, no offense to Celtics fan, Jrue Holiday or Ant at this point of their career (this year) I'm going with Ant defensively. D White is better defensively than Alexander-Walker, Slow-Mo and Jaylen Brown is a toss up. McDaniels > Tatum. So I think Luka will 100% have a better series than last. Kyrie is one of the only players in the NBA that gives me Mamba mentality, I think Kyrie hates Boston and will play his ass off at Boston + knowing his old teammates weaknesses / schemes. The big X-Factor as a mentioned a bit earlier is the center position, Kleber could eventually matchup with Porzingis if he starts firing it from 3 and Lively + Gafford can't do anything. But if he doesn't the Mavs centers will be a bit overwhelming with constant lob threat pressure.
I think anything can happen this Finals, I think either team can win, but I'm just a bit more confident in the Mavs this time around compared to last round tbh. I feel like whoever has better bench numbers will win the series.
I put money on Celtics so if my team doesn't win I still win
I think anyone who casually reads these NBA thread posts knows I'm a Mavs fan, I've honestly doubted the mavs in the last matchup with the twolves, so I can say I was pleasantly surprised. The TWolves matchup I thought was going to be tough because I thought Luka was more injured than he actually was compared to the OKC series + I thought KAT would be averaging 20/10 which he didn't. The OKC matchup was a toss-up because I thought Mavs has the better team + chemistry but Luka had been averaging 40% from the field up to this point so I really thought Luka couldn't pull through since he wasn't a hundred percent. Clippers I knew were going to get smoked because its more of a revenge thing from being knocked by the Clips twice in the first round in prior years + this is the best team Luka has had around him since being in the league.
All that being said Celtics I don't think will be their hardest matchup, I thought T-Wolves had very little deficiency, essentially can guard in all 5 positions and you have Naz Red who's a fire cracker offensively. Celtics have a pretty solid starting 5, with a good bench. But theirs one glaring issue which is Tatum is their leading rebounder, Al Horford is old and Kristaps his entire career has been a shitty rebounder. I get it their the best rebounding team but it's a lot of their guards but that's not even my point. Kristaps will constantly get out-hustled in the rebounding stats by Gafford and Lively. I think that the Celtics have worse defenders at the guard / forward position compared to the T-Wolves, you don't have much guys to throw at Luka like T-Wolves did (Edwards, A-Walker, Slow-mo, and McDaniels), at least at this high of a defending level, no offense to Celtics fan, Jrue Holiday or Ant at this point of their career (this year) I'm going with Ant defensively. D White is better defensively than Alexander-Walker, Slow-Mo and Jaylen Brown is a toss up. McDaniels > Tatum. So I think Luka will 100% have a better series than last. Kyrie is one of the only players in the NBA that gives me Mamba mentality, I think Kyrie hates Boston and will play his ass off at Boston + knowing his old teammates weaknesses / schemes. The big X-Factor as a mentioned a bit earlier is the center position, Kleber could eventually matchup with Porzingis if he starts firing it from 3 and Lively + Gafford can't do anything. But if he doesn't the Mavs centers will be a bit overwhelming with constant lob threat pressure.
I think anything can happen this Finals, I think either team can win, but I'm just a bit more confident in the Mavs this time around compared to last round tbh. I feel like whoever has better bench numbers will win the series.
I put money on Celtics so if my team doesn't win I still win
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(1) Boston Celtics versus (5) Dallas Mavericks
"Everybody wants to win until it's really time to win. And then you have to nut up and do a lot of shit you don't want to do." Joe Muzulla
"This is their Super Bowl, this is a normal game for us." - Kyrie Irving on Minnesota
This series will be an excellent showcase of superstar talent versus depth. Dallas has two excellent shot-creators, play-finishers, and defenders. Boston has two versatile forwards, guards, and a center who can shoot and protect the rim in Porzingis. Boston is the better overall team, but Dallas has the best player. This type of finals matchup is the hardest to think about; especially when we add in the fact that Porzingis’ conditioning is a complete unknown.
X-factors: The biggest x-factor to me for both teams are Porzingis and Washington.
If Porzingis is healthy and knocking down threes, Boston has a significant offensive advantage that will win them the series. Boston’s offense is unlike any Dallas has come across. I would imagine it’s a combination of LA Clippers and Oklahoma City’s: excellent perimeter drivers and shooters, and two forwards who can target Luka/Kyrie on offense to wear them out. Dallas could afford to pack the paint and load up on one side when they were up against players like Zubac/Westbrook, Giddey, Gobert/Anderson. There was always one shooter to roam off. Lively and Gafford were always near the basket and fared well against those frontlines. The difference with Boston is that they force you to space out with Porzingis, and all Boston must do is drive and shoot in open space. Porzingis’ success is enough to force Dallas to change into a perimeter-focused defense rather than packing the paint or loading up one side. They may try to play a center off Holiday or Horford for a stretch, but can you bank on them missing compared to the other players for a 7-game series? Outside of Porzingis’ unknown condition, it’s hard to bet against that defensively.
This is where PJ Washington comes in. He will likely be guarded by Porzingis. Other than White, Porzingis is the only other starter Luka would want to attack, so it’s better to have him on Washington/Jones so when Luka screens and is blitzed, it’s a PJ Washington above the break three (significantly worse than his corner threes) or a Derrick Jones three. Washington could get hot again, but don’t forget Boston is one of the best 3-point defensive teams. Washington needs to score and establish himself as the third best player and scorer especially if Boston gets contribution from Porzingis or any surprise role player.
Kleber will likely get more minutes this series out of Gafford. If he can have a big series, it’ll make the frontline matchup that much more interesting. However, in a five-out versus five-out match-up, I favor Boston only because that has been their identity all year. Boston is vulnerable through their bigs, so if Porzingis is in foul trouble or just ineffective to some capacity, that opens the door for Dallas.
The stars: How do Luka/Kyrie compared to Tatum/Brown?
Luka should be comfortable. Brown is the only guy who may be able to have a chance of bothering Luka, so he’s likely to hunt for White/Holiday/Horford/Porzingis or even Tatum to drag him out to the perimeter and limit their size in the paint. He’s Boston’s biggest disadvantage the way I see it. Kyrie on the other hand will have a tougher time if Holiday’s on him, but he is playing against Boston in the finals. Both Luka and Kyrie will be forced to work on defense more than they ever have in the playoffs, and that will certainly take a toll more on those two than Tatum and Brown who don’t have the same pressure offensively.
For Tatum and Brown, whoever Jones isn’t guarding should be comfortable. Washington/Jones ain’t a bad duo to guard those guys, but in space? That remains to be seen. The chances of Washington and Jones doing what Draymond and Wiggins essentially did might be a lot to ask, but it’s certainly necessary for Dallas to win the series.
3-point shooting: Three-point shooting has decided the grand majority of wins this playoff, and Boston is the better team by volume and percentage. Dallas doesn’t have as many talented shooters, so if it’s a shootout, Boston will win. How Kleber/Washington/Lively hold up in a spaced-out environment with long rebounds will determine Dallas’ effectiveness in clamping down on Boston’s shooters. That isn’t the only problem when discussing this though Dallas is not particularly ranked too highly in that area. If Boston clamps down on Dallas’ shooters (and they are a better perimeter defensive team), Dallas will be forced to try to beat them through 2’s. You can do that against a below average offense in Minnesota, but not against a team with 8 guys nearly shooting near 40%.
My pick is Boston, and it’s not that I don’t see this series as close. I just have more questions for Dallas than I do Boston. Boston must have very little go through for them just to have consistent offense. Dallas is the team I expect who will have to adjust more in comparison. The 3-point shooting combined with Porzingis’ pick-and-pop ability will test Dallas in space, and I don’t think their personnel on the perimeter is fit to stop hot perimeter shooting of Boston.
Boston wins if: Porzingis is healthy and spacing the floor. Luka/Kyrie are fatigued after finally working on defense. Dallas’ role players can’t keep up with the hot shooting Boston. Boston manages to find a great defensive combination of keeping Brown on Luka as long as possible and loading up against him off of Washington/Jones.
Dallas wins if: Porzingis is a bust and can’t stay on the floor due to Luka targeting. Luka picks on Boston’s defenders like shooting fish in a barrel. Kyrie is comfortable against most Boston defenders including Holiday. Washington and Jones make shots. Lively and Kleber are excellent in space and manage to be the superior frontline.
Boston in six.
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