June 7, 2024 • 21 mins
Sarah and NBA senior writer John Schuhmann react to the Celtics dominating performance in Game 1. They discuss the incredible comeback for Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics stifling defense, Kyrie Irving's struggles and look ahead to the adjustments needed in Game 2. Plus, the latest on the Lakers coaching search and the JJ Redick and Dan Hurley updates
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcoming into NBA Pulsy production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Custock, NBA analysts for the Yes Network, and
today is Friday, June seventh. From our extraordinary core group
of NBA journalists, We're joined now by NBA dot Com
senior writer John Schumann Shoe. It began. You were there
in TD Garden at Boston, and the Celtics were excellent
(00:27):
much of what we saw throughout the course of this
regular season, this postseason dominant from the beginning. They come
away with a one oh seven eighty nine win against
the Dallas Mavericks in Game one, but the headline was
Chris paps Porzingis. There was a lot of questions about
what he would look out he would look like. He
was out thirty eight days with that calf injury that
(00:50):
he had entered early in the postseason and came back
and was spectacular. Joe Missoula and coaching staff did decide
to bring him off the bench, but in the first
seven minutes that he played, eleven points three blocks entirely
changed the complexion of the game and the Celtics just
rolled really on both ends of the floor. There was
a point in the second quarter, they were up by
(01:12):
twenty nine points. The closest that Dallas was able to
cut it to when the third quarter was eight, but
then the Celtics went on a fourteen to oho run.
So it was all Boston all the time. And this
was a big reason why they had been the prohibitive
favorites through much of the year because of the Porzingis dynamic,
(01:33):
because of the way they had so much balance on
the floor. We saw that both by the numbers but
also by the eye test. So I want to start
with Porzingis Shoe you were there, I don't know if
you were actually in the bowl for this walk off
walking out of the tunnel that we continued to see
and to hear the crowd, the enthusiasm, and Porzingis paid
(01:57):
that off.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So when you were.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Looking it, I don't only the start of the game,
but the totality of the expected now impact on the
floor with Porzingis in this Boston lineup. What were your takeaways?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, I think, first of all, like he was feeling it,
Like there was a couple of I had a couple
of sort of wow moments where you sort of look
at the guy sitting next to you being like, holy cow,
look at you know, at reacting to you know, some
of the shots he was making, the plays he was making,
especially defensively as well. You know, he he he was
(02:35):
feeling it, like I thought, he got switches and he
got post position. I think he got Doncic in the
low post and drew a foul fairly early. But otherwise
he was posting guys up, you know, at the nail
or at the elbow and shooting seventeen footers over guys
that were in his shirt. So it wasn't I was thinking, well,
(02:57):
this is probably not sustainable, but know, but that's what
he does. You know, like he's gonna make a lot
of those, and you know, I sort of wrote it down.
He had these sort of face up jumpers over Jaden Hardy,
over Josh Green, over Derek Jones Junior. That was one
where it like it seemed like his legs got taken
out from under him, but he still sort of shot
(03:19):
the ball and then over Josh Green again and those
and he was being physical with those guys like that.
You saw. There's a couple of one, I think Hardy
and Green on one of those where they reacted because
they felt like they got hit with an elbow, So,
I mean it was incredible. And then like you know,
he I thought there one time there was a high
(03:40):
I guess second field goal of the game. He was
in the high post against Derek Lively and Lively was
really pressuring him, like you know, he was in his shirt,
and he he drove right past him for a dunk.
And then late second quarter there was a play where
Derek White and j Tatum rode A ran a pick
(04:01):
and roll on the side of the floor, sort of
swung it to Porzingis and he just let it fly.
Like you could tell like he was confident, and he
basically said as much. You know, he was just in
the flow and really feeling it. You know, the way
he just sort of let it fly when he caught
the ball on that one play just let me know, like, yeah,
this dude's just gonna shoot when he touches the ball,
(04:22):
and there's not much Dallas can do to stop it
because even if they're in his shirt, he can shoot
over the top.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, you saw that, and you saw just the versatility
not only that he brings but to the entirety of
the lineup. You mentioned the ways in which he was
scoring inside, outside. He was eight to thirteen from the field,
two to four from the three point line. He finishes
with twenty points and three blocks. But there was six
Celtics in double figures. Seven players hit multiple three point shots.
(04:53):
It's what Boston has done throughout the entirety of the season.
Is knocked down threes thirty eight percent on forty two attempts.
But on the flip side of things, Dallas not only
struggled from three, but struggled offensively. And give credit for
as much as we want to talk about Boston, what
they can do offensively, how many weapons they have, the
balance they have defensively they can come at you, Dallas
(05:17):
shot just twenty six percent from the three point line,
seven to twenty seven, and they struggled in particular just
their game plan and their strategy, And Sue, I'm curious
what you saw and what you thought of that. Playing
Luca Danchet straight up, it made it really tough for him,
and I think there was so many times throughout the
course of that Minnesota series it was okay, when is
(05:38):
Minnesota gonna double Donchets, When are they gonna blitz him? Well,
Boston has the players to play him one on one.
They have multiple guys and they can put on them
teammates and we saw big games throughout the course of
this postseason, but the teammates, the complimentary players were forced
to take contested, tough shots. Kyrie Irving, no question, was
(05:59):
off off last night, twelve points. He was six and
nineteen from the field. He took five threes, did not
make any of them. But just the overall effect of
how the Celtics played defensively, you could feel that just
nine assists for the Mavericks, what did you see on
that end of the floor from this Celtics team.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I mean we should always remember that this is
not only a great offensive team, but a great defensive team.
You know, they were so dominant in the regular season
because and they won Game one in a blowout, because
they're great on absolutely terrific on both ends of the floor.
Dallas had eighty nine points on ninety four possessions. That
(06:42):
was their second worst offensive performance in sixty nine total
games in which Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving both played.
The only exception was a New Year's Day game in Utah,
which looking back, Utah played a lot of zone. So
that's all I'll say about that. But yeah, I think
I think that like my number one sort of point
(07:05):
of or what I wanted to focus on early, you know,
early in this series was can Boston defend Dallas like
Boston wants to defend, which is, you know, one on
one or two on two, right and pick and roll
and not have to help off of shooters. And and
will you know, will Dallas forced them, you know, Will
(07:25):
Doncic and Irving sort of forced them to change that
up right and bring two to the ball. There was
a couple of instances where they brought to the ball.
They definitely helped on drives, right, Like if Doncic was
one not playing one on one and was able to
get into the paint, there was help there, right, Like.
It wasn't like they just sort of, you know, let
him walk the layoups, although they did do that a
(07:46):
few times, and uh, you know, they they doubled. You know,
there's a couple of times he got Peyton Pritchard in
the post and they doubled there, right, Like they weren't
going to let that sort of uh go with that
a double team. But yeah, I think for the most part,
they were able to sort of defend the way they
(08:06):
have defended all season and not have to really adjust.
And that's that's huge. I don't think that that that
that doesn't necessarily mean that that adjustment isn't coming at
some point in this series. And he scored, you know,
pretty well, but like you said, one assist, that's you know,
that's huge. Dallas had one corner three pointer and that
(08:30):
was the last basket of the game, with like about
a minute left. Obviously in garbage time. It was a
transition corner three. It wasn't even a half court corner three.
You know. Dallas coming into this game led the playoffs
with four point six corner threes per game, and now
in three total games against the Celtics this season, they
(08:51):
have five total corner three pointers. And like I said,
that one last night was in a garbage time Celtics
do not give up corner threes, like because because of
what we said, they'd like to defend one on one
and two on two and stay at home on shooters.
And if they're gonna help, they're gonna help from you know,
from above the break, right. I think there was one
(09:12):
play where Porzingis was in drop coverage against Doncic and
PJ Washington just to miss the wide open three from
the top of the arc. There was something they had
some good looks, I thought, but they did. They did,
so they can absolutely play better, shoot better. One of
those Irving miss threes, I you know, specifically, remember Porzingis
(09:35):
was in drop coverage again or Irving had just a
wide open pull up look and missed it. So they
can absolutely play better, but they haven't there in this game.
At least they did not force Boston to really adjust
and really sort of come out of their comfort zone defensively,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, and I think there was a balance. Give all
the credit and a ton of credit to Boston's defense
and how they played it in making a challenging They've
got an excellent collective defense but also individual defenders. But
I do think there was a lot of shots at
Dallas left on the table that you hope in future
games will start to go down, and we have seen
(10:15):
go down. You know, we can't overreact to just one
game in any series, in particular a Boston team that
was the top seed that's playing at home. They took
care of business and did what they were supposed to do.
But shoot, you are smart. I always think you are smart.
You look smart to me. But right now, after that
first game, your prediction of Celtics in five is looking
(10:41):
very very savvy. As we turn the page to Game
two that will take place on Sunday at eight pm
on ABC, what are your expects when you talked about
the fact that Celtics didn't have to come out of
what they were doing too much. And Dallas is we
know in the Jason Kidd era and for many occasions
they are accustomed to losing and dropping game one. I
(11:04):
think the outlier was the Minnesota game one that they
had won. What do you anticipate in this game too,
whether through adjustments and what the ultimate outcome may be.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, I'm curious to see, you know, if Dallas can
or if dont just can just make different decisions with
the ball. Perhaps, I don't know. I think it was interesting.
I don't know if you noticed this that, like the
Celtic sort of gave him his right hand quite a bit,
you know, they let him drive right quite a bit,
(11:38):
and a couple times there was no help there and
so he got a couple of layups. Like I mentioned,
I'm curious about that and maybe if they sort of
maybe if they might switch that up in game two,
just to throw something, give him a different look and
force him in a different direction. But I think obviously
the maps can make better shots, make make more shots.
I think I don't think Dallas has to adjust much defensively.
(12:03):
Like like I said, I think a lot of those
shots that Porzingis hit were tough. You know, they could
be They could certainly be better defensively, But I think
it's more about you know, making open shots, figuring out
what shots are they're gonna get, and you know, being
a little bit more aggressive. I think offensively, Irving will
(12:25):
get going. I think Dallas has got to try to
get if they can get a few more stops, they
can get him in transition a little bit. Boston won
the transition game in game one, which is huge against Dallas.
You know, it's it's a great question, you know, like
I'd be curious to see if they if Dallas tries
to continue to pick on Horford quite a bit. You know,
(12:47):
he was he just switched you know, the Dontic pick
and roll and Doncic shot won one for eight against him.
So I'll be sort of curious to see if Dallas
is a little bit more purposeful as far as who
they're trying to pick on defense and who they're trying
to attack in Boston's defense.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, and you said it. I think the assist number
to me jumps out one. When you're not shooting the
ball well and you're missing some open shots, that can
tend to happen. But the fact that a Dallas team
has only nine assists and it looked that way the
ball stuck. I know Boston was trying to bait them
into a lot more one on one, but they did
an excellent job of that. And I think you'll see
(13:28):
potentially more creative movements or just ways in which you
can move the basketball, move the offense, move the defense.
I think Kyrie Irving will be a different looking player,
potentially in his aggressiveness or just his efficiency, but overall,
but I think what you did see, even in that
third quarter, even when Dallas was making their run, Boston
(13:50):
can just keep coming at you. They can come at
you in waves, they can come at you from different positions,
and as you had mentioned off the top, it's both
ends of the floor. So I think Dallas has got
their work cut out for them in how they're going
to slow down this team, but also just finding ways
to score. And I think the transition game last thing
you said in terms of fast, big breakpoints, and a
(14:11):
lot of that comes from getting stops so you're not
taking the ball out of the net. But that's where
Dallas has been so good through this postseason. They were
playing a little bit faster, they were able to get
some runouts, they were able to get advanced passes. The
lob that had been so good, you know, between Luca
and the Bigs, Kyrie and the big you didn't see
that that didn't exist in game one. So can you
try and move them around and move the defense around
(14:32):
in ways that you can get back to that bread
and butter that was so helpful for you. It's gonna
be interesting. But yeah, playing at home game two, I
don't know if I would go with Boston dropping a
second one here after how they had played. But I
am hoping that Dallas is able to extend the series
some because I know it's one game, but this has
(14:54):
been a very very interesting matchup. I just think that
that Luca, between Luca and between Kyrie, in some ways
they'll find a way, so we will see. But in
the meantime, she we're gonna take a break because we
also not only had started the NBA Finals, but got
some more NBA news the other day. We're gonna get
to don't go anywhere. Welcome back to NBA, Paul Sarahkustak,
(15:23):
winged by the great John Schumann Shoe News News News.
Adrian Wojinarowski always seems to drop those bombs and doing
so when I thought we were just gonna be waking
up and talking about Game one of the Finals, and
he had brought out the news that the Los Angeles
Lakers are targeting Danny Hurley Yukon's Danny Hurley, coming off
(15:46):
of back to back national championships, to be the next
Lakers head coach. He is flying to Los Angeles today
to hear what the Lakers are going to offer in
a supposed lead, blockbuster monster offer that will help get
him out to the West Coast. What are your thoughts,
I guess from both sides from your daughter, attends Yukon.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Text when she when she heard this news, that's that's
that tells you. That tells you that she's particularly upset.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Exactly from the Yukon side of things, the Danny Hurley
side of things, and the Lakers side of things. What
are what are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
You know, I I was surprised, I guess initially surprised
from the the Danny Hurley side of it, right, Like,
you know, he's obviously in a great situation where he's
the head coach of the best team in the country,
has won two championships. But you know, you look at
the difference between college coaching and NBA coaching, And I've
(16:53):
spoken to a couple of former college coaches about this,
and you know, going from college to the end and
just allows him to be a basketball coach. Right He
doesn't have to worry about recruiting. He doesn't have to
about worry about recruiting his own players every year, you know,
and making sure that you want to stay and not
and not leave after a year or two or whatever
(17:15):
it is. He doesn't worry. You have to worry about
the financial aspect of it, which is obviously big in
college sports right now. And he can just be a
basketball coach. And I think he's he comes from a
coaching family, right, Like I watched Danny Hurley play in
high school, you know, with for his father and alongside
(17:38):
his brother, and that's you know, that's in his blood, right,
Like the coaching aspect of it, and I think coming
and obviously the NBA is the highest level of basketball,
and players want to play at the highest level, and
I think a lot of coaches want to coach at
the highest level. From the Lakers perspective, Uh, it's interesting, right,
(18:01):
it's certainly a curveball, But I think you know, what
better what beletter plays to go than a guy who
has you know, won championships and obviously has a system
and a program and and as you know, from what
I've heard, communicates really well with players. These are younger players,
(18:24):
these are not you know, uh guys in their thirties.
But still I think he's a very good communicator, and
his players trust him. He trusts his players to you know,
do what they do. I think he's going to obviously
have to have a you know, let go of the
reins a little bit going from college to the NBA.
(18:44):
But I'm very intrigued by it. You know, he's got
a great resume and is you know, we've seen some
guys come from college to the pros and not do well.
We've we've seen some succeed you know, Billy Donovan has
carved out a long career in the NBA after winning
a couple of championships in college too.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
The Danny Hurley piece of this and just what his
decision would be to go there, I think that makes
a ton of sense to me, and I would love
it for him. And also on the Lakers side of things,
I think this could be a excellent They've had so
much change and so much turnover in that head coaching
position for so many years and so many iterations. I
(19:28):
think it could be a good opportunity for them to
find someone that would provide continuity, consistency. I do think
it's been interesting given how much it has been reported,
widely reported that JJ Reddick was the was the lock
in that that was close to being done once the
finals will be done. But yeah, I'll be interested to
(19:48):
see just kind of how this plays out. But you
could see, you could see for both sides, and you
could see why why it all would make sense. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I would say that the Lakers, though, have to allow
him to have you know, they they have to change
a little bit in regards to how they look at
their coaches, right. I mean Frank Vogel was a great coach,
brought them a championship, gave had them number one in
defense the year after winning a championship, which I always
say is like a great accomplishment, like there was no
sort of you know, to come back and be number
(20:18):
one defensive team in the league after you win a
championship is impressive. And I think Darvin Ham probably wasn't
given as much of a shot as he could have, right,
Like he was kind of thrown under the bus at
the end there. So I think the Lake not only
it's a good sign that they're looking for somebody who
can be there for a long time, but they have
(20:38):
to allow that as well, like they can't be rash
and quick with their decision makings if you know, things
aren't perfect, you know after one year or two.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, the hugely important point. We also have to allow
you to get going. Shoot, you got a big you
got a big pickup game coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yes, it's the big media run, Finals, media run. We
have one today set up by my friend Jay King,
the great j King of the Athletic So yeah, we're
all set to go.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
What I look forward to is the stats, your breakdown,
your analysis. We may need a separate, a little bonus
pod on for I'm sure how things go.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I'm just trying to keep my assistant turnover ratio over one.
That'll be If I can do that, I'll I'll be
absolutely happy.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Just keep you healthy. That's all I want to come
out in one piece for all of you, Shoe. As always,
we appreciate you, We appreciate your time. We'll continue to
read and watch all your stuff on NBA dot com
and b A t V. And until next time, get
set Game two Sunday night, APM on ABC. Thanks Sir, NBA,
Paul Swiss. Sarahu Stack is a production of the NBA
(21:46):
and iHeart Radio. Please rate, review, and subscribe on the
iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcoming into NBA Pulsy production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Custock, NBA analysts for the Yes Network, and
today is Friday, June seventh. From our extraordinary core group
of NBA journalists, We're joined now by NBA dot Com
senior writer John Schumann Shoe. It began. You were there
in TD Garden at Boston, and the Celtics were excellent
(00:27):
much of what we saw throughout the course of this
regular season, this postseason dominant from the beginning. They come
away with a one oh seven eighty nine win against
the Dallas Mavericks in Game one, but the headline was
Chris paps Porzingis. There was a lot of questions about
what he would look out he would look like. He
was out thirty eight days with that calf injury that
(00:50):
he had entered early in the postseason and came back
and was spectacular. Joe Missoula and coaching staff did decide
to bring him off the bench, but in the first
seven minutes that he played, eleven points three blocks entirely
changed the complexion of the game and the Celtics just
rolled really on both ends of the floor. There was
a point in the second quarter, they were up by
(01:12):
twenty nine points. The closest that Dallas was able to
cut it to when the third quarter was eight, but
then the Celtics went on a fourteen to oho run.
So it was all Boston all the time. And this
was a big reason why they had been the prohibitive
favorites through much of the year because of the Porzingis dynamic,
(01:33):
because of the way they had so much balance on
the floor. We saw that both by the numbers but
also by the eye test. So I want to start
with Porzingis Shoe you were there, I don't know if
you were actually in the bowl for this walk off
walking out of the tunnel that we continued to see
and to hear the crowd, the enthusiasm, and Porzingis paid
(01:57):
that off.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So when you were.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Looking it, I don't only the start of the game,
but the totality of the expected now impact on the
floor with Porzingis in this Boston lineup. What were your takeaways?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, I think, first of all, like he was feeling it,
Like there was a couple of I had a couple
of sort of wow moments where you sort of look
at the guy sitting next to you being like, holy cow,
look at you know, at reacting to you know, some
of the shots he was making, the plays he was making,
especially defensively as well. You know, he he he was
(02:35):
feeling it, like I thought, he got switches and he
got post position. I think he got Doncic in the
low post and drew a foul fairly early. But otherwise
he was posting guys up, you know, at the nail
or at the elbow and shooting seventeen footers over guys
that were in his shirt. So it wasn't I was thinking, well,
(02:57):
this is probably not sustainable, but know, but that's what
he does. You know, like he's gonna make a lot
of those, and you know, I sort of wrote it down.
He had these sort of face up jumpers over Jaden Hardy,
over Josh Green, over Derek Jones Junior. That was one
where it like it seemed like his legs got taken
out from under him, but he still sort of shot
(03:19):
the ball and then over Josh Green again and those
and he was being physical with those guys like that.
You saw. There's a couple of one, I think Hardy
and Green on one of those where they reacted because
they felt like they got hit with an elbow, So,
I mean it was incredible. And then like you know,
he I thought there one time there was a high
(03:40):
I guess second field goal of the game. He was
in the high post against Derek Lively and Lively was
really pressuring him, like you know, he was in his shirt,
and he he drove right past him for a dunk.
And then late second quarter there was a play where
Derek White and j Tatum rode A ran a pick
(04:01):
and roll on the side of the floor, sort of
swung it to Porzingis and he just let it fly.
Like you could tell like he was confident, and he
basically said as much. You know, he was just in
the flow and really feeling it. You know, the way
he just sort of let it fly when he caught
the ball on that one play just let me know, like, yeah,
this dude's just gonna shoot when he touches the ball,
(04:22):
and there's not much Dallas can do to stop it
because even if they're in his shirt, he can shoot
over the top.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, you saw that, and you saw just the versatility
not only that he brings but to the entirety of
the lineup. You mentioned the ways in which he was
scoring inside, outside. He was eight to thirteen from the field,
two to four from the three point line. He finishes
with twenty points and three blocks. But there was six
Celtics in double figures. Seven players hit multiple three point shots.
(04:53):
It's what Boston has done throughout the entirety of the season.
Is knocked down threes thirty eight percent on forty two attempts.
But on the flip side of things, Dallas not only
struggled from three, but struggled offensively. And give credit for
as much as we want to talk about Boston, what
they can do offensively, how many weapons they have, the
balance they have defensively they can come at you, Dallas
(05:17):
shot just twenty six percent from the three point line,
seven to twenty seven, and they struggled in particular just
their game plan and their strategy, And Sue, I'm curious
what you saw and what you thought of that. Playing
Luca Danchet straight up, it made it really tough for him,
and I think there was so many times throughout the
course of that Minnesota series it was okay, when is
(05:38):
Minnesota gonna double Donchets, When are they gonna blitz him? Well,
Boston has the players to play him one on one.
They have multiple guys and they can put on them
teammates and we saw big games throughout the course of
this postseason, but the teammates, the complimentary players were forced
to take contested, tough shots. Kyrie Irving, no question, was
(05:59):
off off last night, twelve points. He was six and
nineteen from the field. He took five threes, did not
make any of them. But just the overall effect of
how the Celtics played defensively, you could feel that just
nine assists for the Mavericks, what did you see on
that end of the floor from this Celtics team.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I mean we should always remember that this is
not only a great offensive team, but a great defensive team.
You know, they were so dominant in the regular season
because and they won Game one in a blowout, because
they're great on absolutely terrific on both ends of the floor.
Dallas had eighty nine points on ninety four possessions. That
(06:42):
was their second worst offensive performance in sixty nine total
games in which Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving both played.
The only exception was a New Year's Day game in Utah,
which looking back, Utah played a lot of zone. So
that's all I'll say about that. But yeah, I think
I think that like my number one sort of point
(07:05):
of or what I wanted to focus on early, you know,
early in this series was can Boston defend Dallas like
Boston wants to defend, which is, you know, one on
one or two on two, right and pick and roll
and not have to help off of shooters. And and
will you know, will Dallas forced them, you know, Will
(07:25):
Doncic and Irving sort of forced them to change that
up right and bring two to the ball. There was
a couple of instances where they brought to the ball.
They definitely helped on drives, right, Like if Doncic was
one not playing one on one and was able to
get into the paint, there was help there, right, Like.
It wasn't like they just sort of, you know, let
him walk the layoups, although they did do that a
(07:46):
few times, and uh, you know, they they doubled. You know,
there's a couple of times he got Peyton Pritchard in
the post and they doubled there, right, Like they weren't
going to let that sort of uh go with that
a double team. But yeah, I think for the most part,
they were able to sort of defend the way they
(08:06):
have defended all season and not have to really adjust.
And that's that's huge. I don't think that that that
that doesn't necessarily mean that that adjustment isn't coming at
some point in this series. And he scored, you know,
pretty well, but like you said, one assist, that's you know,
that's huge. Dallas had one corner three pointer and that
(08:30):
was the last basket of the game, with like about
a minute left. Obviously in garbage time. It was a
transition corner three. It wasn't even a half court corner three.
You know. Dallas coming into this game led the playoffs
with four point six corner threes per game, and now
in three total games against the Celtics this season, they
(08:51):
have five total corner three pointers. And like I said,
that one last night was in a garbage time Celtics
do not give up corner threes, like because because of
what we said, they'd like to defend one on one
and two on two and stay at home on shooters.
And if they're gonna help, they're gonna help from you know,
from above the break, right. I think there was one
(09:12):
play where Porzingis was in drop coverage against Doncic and
PJ Washington just to miss the wide open three from
the top of the arc. There was something they had
some good looks, I thought, but they did. They did,
so they can absolutely play better, shoot better. One of
those Irving miss threes, I you know, specifically, remember Porzingis
(09:35):
was in drop coverage again or Irving had just a
wide open pull up look and missed it. So they
can absolutely play better, but they haven't there in this game.
At least they did not force Boston to really adjust
and really sort of come out of their comfort zone defensively,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, and I think there was a balance. Give all
the credit and a ton of credit to Boston's defense
and how they played it in making a challenging They've
got an excellent collective defense but also individual defenders. But
I do think there was a lot of shots at
Dallas left on the table that you hope in future
games will start to go down, and we have seen
(10:15):
go down. You know, we can't overreact to just one
game in any series, in particular a Boston team that
was the top seed that's playing at home. They took
care of business and did what they were supposed to do.
But shoot, you are smart. I always think you are smart.
You look smart to me. But right now, after that
first game, your prediction of Celtics in five is looking
(10:41):
very very savvy. As we turn the page to Game
two that will take place on Sunday at eight pm
on ABC, what are your expects when you talked about
the fact that Celtics didn't have to come out of
what they were doing too much. And Dallas is we
know in the Jason Kidd era and for many occasions
they are accustomed to losing and dropping game one. I
(11:04):
think the outlier was the Minnesota game one that they
had won. What do you anticipate in this game too,
whether through adjustments and what the ultimate outcome may be.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, I'm curious to see, you know, if Dallas can
or if dont just can just make different decisions with
the ball. Perhaps, I don't know. I think it was interesting.
I don't know if you noticed this that, like the
Celtic sort of gave him his right hand quite a bit,
you know, they let him drive right quite a bit,
(11:38):
and a couple times there was no help there and
so he got a couple of layups. Like I mentioned,
I'm curious about that and maybe if they sort of
maybe if they might switch that up in game two,
just to throw something, give him a different look and
force him in a different direction. But I think obviously
the maps can make better shots, make make more shots.
I think I don't think Dallas has to adjust much defensively.
(12:03):
Like like I said, I think a lot of those
shots that Porzingis hit were tough. You know, they could
be They could certainly be better defensively, But I think
it's more about you know, making open shots, figuring out
what shots are they're gonna get, and you know, being
a little bit more aggressive. I think offensively, Irving will
(12:25):
get going. I think Dallas has got to try to
get if they can get a few more stops, they
can get him in transition a little bit. Boston won
the transition game in game one, which is huge against Dallas.
You know, it's it's a great question, you know, like
I'd be curious to see if they if Dallas tries
to continue to pick on Horford quite a bit. You know,
(12:47):
he was he just switched you know, the Dontic pick
and roll and Doncic shot won one for eight against him.
So I'll be sort of curious to see if Dallas
is a little bit more purposeful as far as who
they're trying to pick on defense and who they're trying
to attack in Boston's defense.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, and you said it. I think the assist number
to me jumps out one. When you're not shooting the
ball well and you're missing some open shots, that can
tend to happen. But the fact that a Dallas team
has only nine assists and it looked that way the
ball stuck. I know Boston was trying to bait them
into a lot more one on one, but they did
an excellent job of that. And I think you'll see
(13:28):
potentially more creative movements or just ways in which you
can move the basketball, move the offense, move the defense.
I think Kyrie Irving will be a different looking player,
potentially in his aggressiveness or just his efficiency, but overall,
but I think what you did see, even in that
third quarter, even when Dallas was making their run, Boston
(13:50):
can just keep coming at you. They can come at
you in waves, they can come at you from different positions,
and as you had mentioned off the top, it's both
ends of the floor. So I think Dallas has got
their work cut out for them in how they're going
to slow down this team, but also just finding ways
to score. And I think the transition game last thing
you said in terms of fast, big breakpoints, and a
(14:11):
lot of that comes from getting stops so you're not
taking the ball out of the net. But that's where
Dallas has been so good through this postseason. They were
playing a little bit faster, they were able to get
some runouts, they were able to get advanced passes. The
lob that had been so good, you know, between Luca
and the Bigs, Kyrie and the big you didn't see
that that didn't exist in game one. So can you
try and move them around and move the defense around
(14:32):
in ways that you can get back to that bread
and butter that was so helpful for you. It's gonna
be interesting. But yeah, playing at home game two, I
don't know if I would go with Boston dropping a
second one here after how they had played. But I
am hoping that Dallas is able to extend the series
some because I know it's one game, but this has
(14:54):
been a very very interesting matchup. I just think that
that Luca, between Luca and between Kyrie, in some ways
they'll find a way, so we will see. But in
the meantime, she we're gonna take a break because we
also not only had started the NBA Finals, but got
some more NBA news the other day. We're gonna get
to don't go anywhere. Welcome back to NBA, Paul Sarahkustak,
(15:23):
winged by the great John Schumann Shoe News News News.
Adrian Wojinarowski always seems to drop those bombs and doing
so when I thought we were just gonna be waking
up and talking about Game one of the Finals, and
he had brought out the news that the Los Angeles
Lakers are targeting Danny Hurley Yukon's Danny Hurley, coming off
(15:46):
of back to back national championships, to be the next
Lakers head coach. He is flying to Los Angeles today
to hear what the Lakers are going to offer in
a supposed lead, blockbuster monster offer that will help get
him out to the West Coast. What are your thoughts,
I guess from both sides from your daughter, attends Yukon.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Text when she when she heard this news, that's that's
that tells you. That tells you that she's particularly upset.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Exactly from the Yukon side of things, the Danny Hurley
side of things, and the Lakers side of things. What
are what are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
You know, I I was surprised, I guess initially surprised
from the the Danny Hurley side of it, right, Like,
you know, he's obviously in a great situation where he's
the head coach of the best team in the country,
has won two championships. But you know, you look at
the difference between college coaching and NBA coaching, And I've
(16:53):
spoken to a couple of former college coaches about this,
and you know, going from college to the end and
just allows him to be a basketball coach. Right He
doesn't have to worry about recruiting. He doesn't have to
about worry about recruiting his own players every year, you know,
and making sure that you want to stay and not
and not leave after a year or two or whatever
(17:15):
it is. He doesn't worry. You have to worry about
the financial aspect of it, which is obviously big in
college sports right now. And he can just be a
basketball coach. And I think he's he comes from a
coaching family, right, Like I watched Danny Hurley play in
high school, you know, with for his father and alongside
(17:38):
his brother, and that's you know, that's in his blood, right,
Like the coaching aspect of it, and I think coming
and obviously the NBA is the highest level of basketball,
and players want to play at the highest level, and
I think a lot of coaches want to coach at
the highest level. From the Lakers perspective, Uh, it's interesting, right,
(18:01):
it's certainly a curveball, But I think you know, what
better what beletter plays to go than a guy who
has you know, won championships and obviously has a system
and a program and and as you know, from what
I've heard, communicates really well with players. These are younger players,
(18:24):
these are not you know, uh guys in their thirties.
But still I think he's a very good communicator, and
his players trust him. He trusts his players to you know,
do what they do. I think he's going to obviously
have to have a you know, let go of the
reins a little bit going from college to the NBA.
(18:44):
But I'm very intrigued by it. You know, he's got
a great resume and is you know, we've seen some
guys come from college to the pros and not do well.
We've we've seen some succeed you know, Billy Donovan has
carved out a long career in the NBA after winning
a couple of championships in college too.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
The Danny Hurley piece of this and just what his
decision would be to go there, I think that makes
a ton of sense to me, and I would love
it for him. And also on the Lakers side of things,
I think this could be a excellent They've had so
much change and so much turnover in that head coaching
position for so many years and so many iterations. I
(19:28):
think it could be a good opportunity for them to
find someone that would provide continuity, consistency. I do think
it's been interesting given how much it has been reported,
widely reported that JJ Reddick was the was the lock
in that that was close to being done once the
finals will be done. But yeah, I'll be interested to
(19:48):
see just kind of how this plays out. But you
could see, you could see for both sides, and you
could see why why it all would make sense. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I would say that the Lakers, though, have to allow
him to have you know, they they have to change
a little bit in regards to how they look at
their coaches, right. I mean Frank Vogel was a great coach,
brought them a championship, gave had them number one in
defense the year after winning a championship, which I always
say is like a great accomplishment, like there was no
sort of you know, to come back and be number
(20:18):
one defensive team in the league after you win a
championship is impressive. And I think Darvin Ham probably wasn't
given as much of a shot as he could have, right,
Like he was kind of thrown under the bus at
the end there. So I think the Lake not only
it's a good sign that they're looking for somebody who
can be there for a long time, but they have
(20:38):
to allow that as well, like they can't be rash
and quick with their decision makings if you know, things
aren't perfect, you know after one year or two.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, the hugely important point. We also have to allow
you to get going. Shoot, you got a big you
got a big pickup game coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yes, it's the big media run, Finals, media run. We
have one today set up by my friend Jay King,
the great j King of the Athletic So yeah, we're
all set to go.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
What I look forward to is the stats, your breakdown,
your analysis. We may need a separate, a little bonus
pod on for I'm sure how things go.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I'm just trying to keep my assistant turnover ratio over one.
That'll be If I can do that, I'll I'll be
absolutely happy.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Just keep you healthy. That's all I want to come
out in one piece for all of you, Shoe. As always,
we appreciate you, We appreciate your time. We'll continue to
read and watch all your stuff on NBA dot com
and b A t V. And until next time, get
set Game two Sunday night, APM on ABC. Thanks Sir, NBA,
Paul Swiss. Sarahu Stack is a production of the NBA
(21:46):
and iHeart Radio. Please rate, review, and subscribe on the
iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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