The Biggest mismatch in the 2024 NBA Finals

     


    Writing to you today on Wednesday June 10th 1 day after game 2 of the NBA Finals where Boston leads the series 2-0 taking both games in TD garden and are headed to Dallas to potentially sweep the Dallas Mavericks and take the Larry O'Brien Trophy as 2024 NBA Champions. 

    Biggest takeaways following game 2 of the NBA Finals are... the Celtics ability to get scoring contributions from all of their players. A very balanced scoring threat coming from Porzingis in a big way through game 1. Along with Holiday in game 2 with the game of his life giving the Celtics 26 points last night. The Celtics scoring is coming from all of their players there are 6 different players on the depth chart that can drop 20 points. If the team plays to  the open man it can become almost impossible to defend. 

    The second point is the Dallas Mavericks play the exact opposite style on offense. Jason Kidd's plan for the Mavs offense is for Luka Doncic to score 50 points to keep them in the fight. Kyrie Irving has been neutralized to this point in the series. Giving the Mavs 12 points in game 1 and 16 points in game 2. The defense from the Celtics backcourt is incredibly difficult for Irving to handle. These are two of the greatest defenders in the league with strength size and poise. White and Holiday together with their length and speed is the perfect counter to Kyrie Irving. Forcing him to take the most difficult shots and he can't get anything to fall right now 2 games into the NBA Finals.

    The biggest takeaway 2 games in to the NBA Finals... Joe Mazzulla coaching circles around Jason Kidd right now... Mazzulla has thrown multiple defensive looks at Luka Doncic along with attacking him on defense. When an offensive juggernaut like the Boston Celtics who have 6 different scoring options not to mention bench players such as Pritchard and Hauser.. there is no hiding Luka Doncic. The Celtics have been obsessed with hunting matchups on offense for the last 5 years, With the amount of offensive  talent they have on the board right now there is no hiding Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving on defense right now. This leads to abuse of those two players on the defensive end. Jason Kidd has not found and answer yet for Kristaps Porzingis. He has not found an answer yet for the defensive tandem of Holiday and White. The only thing Jason Kidd could do which in pure desperation attempted to create a narrative through the media on Jaylen Brown being the best player on the Celtics over Jayson Tatum. A desperate attempt to play into the Celtics lockeroom to have Jayson Tatum forget Mazzulla's message of team basketball and high jack the offense to secure the Finals MVP for himself. This move by Kidd came off as him throwing in the towel. That he cant figure out for him self how his team can compete with the Celtics. That his only chance is to have the Celtics implode on drive for individual achievements. 

    Jayson Tatum did not have the best shooting night in game 2, he has been in a shooting slump all playoffs honestly. But Jayson Tatum racking up the 12 assists last night showed he was not going to play into Coach Kidd's hands. If he was he legit would have just launched all night to shoot himself out of the slump not caring about game 2 just to get himself good for game 3 in Dallas. JT threw some dimes in this game to hit his open team mates and close out the Mavs in game 2 showing he has the team first and has one concern on his mind. Winning the championship for Boston. The Most underrated part of all of this is Mazzulla's defense. he has taken Irving out of the game. All the supporting cast behind Doncic are heavily guarded they can't throw a brick into the ocean. Mazzulla is letting Doncic get his points and then attacking him on defense. With Doncic's lack of conditioning and his body injuries he runs himself out of gas late in games when its all on him. Luka will begin to make mistakes and the Celtics will capitalize with their defensive and transition scheme. 

    The Celtics are poised to end this series in 4 games, Mazzulla has Kidd backed up against a wall... Wednesday night well find out if Kidd can find an answer or if this series is over.

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