June 7, 2024 • 27 mins
We’re sounding off on the Boston Celtics dismantling the Dallas Mavericks during Game 1 of the NBA Finals to take a 1-0 series lead. We’re diving in on the ridiculous performance that Kristaps Porzingis put forth during the first quarter, on Jaylen Brown having yet another take-over game while making life difficult on Luka Doncic, on the Celtics proving their critics wrong, and on how Boston can be even better during Game 2 against the Dallas Mavericks.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
the run this season and heading into next seasons. We
appreciate you subscribing, We appreciate you listening. And with that,
here's the latest episode of sound Off with the Boston Celtics.
On the Boston Celtics looking in the face of their
(00:40):
critics and laughing at them as they dominated their way
to a Game one victory over the Dallas Mavericks in
Game one of the NBA Finals. Those critics have been
saying for the past nine or ten days that the
Boston Celtics had not been tested enough. Those critics had
been saying that the Boston Celtics had not played close
(01:03):
enough games. Those critics had been saying that the Celtics
were not going to be able to match the level
of intensity that were needed for the NBA Finals. Those
critics said that the Dallas Mavericks had the better players
and the better team. Well, as I said, the Boston
Celtics looked in the face of all of those critics
(01:26):
during Game one and they laughed because they dominated from
start to finish. They led by as many as twenty
nine points during the first half, and they led by
double digits for basically this entire game. For a very
brief moment, Dallas cut the game down to eight, but
as Boston has done all.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Season long, it answered the call.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It did not let things snowball, and it wound up
pulling away yet again for a twenty point advantage end
route to a one oh seven to eighty nine victory.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Now, listen, this game got all.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Started up when the big man, Christas porzing Gets checked
back into the game.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It was his first action, as we.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
All know, since April twenty ninth, I believe, was the
date Game four against the Miami Heat. That is when
Christas Porzingis went down with that CAF strain, and we
hadn't seen him on the court for the Boston Celtics
ever since. We've been waiting and waiting, and he's been
waiting and waiting to get back on the floor and
(02:27):
help this team get to exactly where it has wanted
to go all season long. Well, he said it yesterday
at Finals media day, I'm coming back tomorrow. Well, in
Game one, he did come back, and he did something
that I, as someone who has covered the NBA for
(02:48):
sixteen seasons, have never seen. I who have been watching
the NBA four basically my entire life, I have never
seen anything Christasporzingis just did during Game one of the Finals.
As I said, he had not played since April twenty ninth,
(03:09):
yet he checks in to Game one of the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So let me put this into perspective. Going from ramping.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Up your on court stamina and abilities during practice against coaches,
even against your own teammates, going from that to Game
one of the NBA Finals, those two ends of the
spectrum that is basically as far apart as you could
(03:44):
possibly get when it comes to intensity, effort levels that
are needed and execution.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So he went from A to Z in a day.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
We're talking about practic to sing against his teammates and coaches,
to then stepping on the floor to night for Game
one of the NBA Finals. As we saw Joe Missoula
which now seems like a brilliant decision. Decided to bring
Christas Porzingis off the bench, and Porzingis checked in early
to midway through the first quarter to a gigantic ovation
(04:21):
from the TD Garden faithful. They had been waiting for
this moment for about five weeks, and clearly that was
the case for Christas Porzingis, because when he checked into
this game, it was like an out of body experience
for this guy, like he could do no wrong during
that first quarter, checks in and scores eleven points on
(04:45):
four of five shooting, has two blocks at the other end,
and this is all in seven minutes of action. Again,
could not do anything wrong. He could have a defender
draped all over him, basically following him. And when I
say basically, I mean actually following him, and it was
like that defender.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Was not there.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was like Porzingis was in the gym by himself,
just draining shots over defenders, making no doubt or three pointers,
incredible blocks at the basket. And we've all all of
us who have followed the NBA for a long time,
we all know about the Willis Reid game with the
New York Knicks back in the seventies. Willis Reid comes
(05:29):
out out of the tunnel after everyone thought he wasn't
going to play, checks into the game. I think he
only played a few minutes, but it got the crowd
jacked up. This was Porzingis's version of the Willis Reid game,
except he played the whole game, and he dominated the
(05:49):
first half. It was incredible. Dallas could do nothing to
stop him. And that is what we've talked about all
season long, that Christasports is the guy who unlocks the
Boston Celtics. That is because he's a seven foot three
guy who can shoot the ball, who can post up
as well as.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Anyone, if not better than anyone in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And that is a cheat code. When you've got players
like Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Drew Holliday, l Horford,
Sam Houser, Peyton Pritchard, all of these skilled players surrounding
that seven foot three big man who can do it all.
He's the cheat code. He was a cheat code tonight.
And so as I said, I've never seen a player
(06:34):
miss five weeks of action and come back into the
most intense scenario you can face as a basketball player.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That is the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Christas Porzingis did that tonight in Game one, and he dominated.
He changed the game when he checked in with what
he provided and the way that he boosted not only
the Celtic but also the nineteen thousand plus fans who
were in the garden cheering for those Celtics. He gave
(07:07):
them a level of energy and belief that they did
not have before he checked into the game. And that's
not saying anything bad about the players or the fans.
It's just simply put that when Christasporzingis did that, it
was like this team was not going to be denied,
and it wasn't. As I said, Boston went on to
(07:29):
pull ahead by as many as twenty nine points.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Jalen Brown was at the center of it all.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
This guy, in my opinion, is now the leader in
the clubhouse after only one game. There's a long way
to go, but if the Celtics do wind up winning
this championship, he after one game is the leader in
the clubhouse. To b the NBA Finals MVP, Jalen Brown
was great from start to finish, finishes the night with
(07:56):
twenty two points and defensively three assists. Excuse me three steals,
three block shots and also tally two assistant go along
with six rebounds. Really did it all. But what really
stood out to me was a couple of moments. Early
in that first quarter. He ripped a steal from Luka Doncic,
who he defended all night long. And we're gonna talk
(08:16):
about this later on. He was great on Luca. Made
life difficult. Luca's gonna get his Just make life difficult.
That's all you can do. Jalen Brown did that early
in this game, ripped a steal from Luka Doncic takes
it the other way for an uncontested.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Open court slam that not only.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Got the Celtics jacked up, but it got the crowd
jacked up too.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That was one moment.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The second moment was after that twenty nine point lead
got shaved all the way down to eight, and that's
when the old Celtics might have given the game away,
might have let the other team get back into it
and really put some pressure on well. Jaylen Brown, as
I said, put had his fingerprints all over this game.
The moment the Celtics turned this back into their favor
(09:06):
and runaway fashion, Jalen Brown was at the center.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Of it all.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Celtics had a fourteen to oh run after Dallas cut
it to eight, and I believe Jalen Brown scored or
assisted on nine of those points, and then he had
a hockey assist for three more points. So in my opinion,
you can chalk up twelve of those fourteen points that
(09:33):
he either scored or assisted on or made a major
impact on. And during that fourteen oh run, he also
had two blocks at the other end of the court,
one of which was on Kyrie Irving, which you know,
got the crowd all jacked up. So Jalen Brown doing
it at both ends of the court at the most
important stages of the game. Early on, when the Celtics
(09:55):
started to build that momentum, Christas Porzingis obviously was at
the owner of it. But Jalen Brown, with that rip
of Luka Doncic and then that huge dunk at the
other end, really got the crowd jacked up, got his
teammates jacked up, got himself jacked up. And then you
fast forward to that third quarter when the lead was
down to eight, Jalen Brown is the one who changed it,
(10:18):
changed the game and pushed it back into Boston's favor,
so an unbelievable performance from him, and we're gonna talk
more about that later on. So let's dive into some
comments from our fans. We are going to hear from
b P Rich on surprisingly not feeling too confident after
this win?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Why is that? BP Rich? We're gonna find out.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
We're gonna hear from Alan Acosta on what Jalen Brown
demonstrated tonight during this game. We're gonna hear from Nate
Lerfauld on what really made this win special? You gotta
tune in and wait to hear what he had to say.
And then lastly from Calvin Fresh on overall takeaways from
this victory in game one. So with that, let's dive
(10:59):
in our first comment from bp Rich. All Right, first up,
we've got bp Rich with two h's says, not too
confident after this win?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Why?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I don't know, MAVs won't play like this again? Tatum
has to be way better to win this series. Well,
BP Rich, I understand that the MAVs might not play
like this again, but are you noticing that the Celtics
might not play like this again either?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The Celtics in this game.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Had Jason Tatum score only sixteen points on six of
sixteen shooting, so he scored one point per shot attempt
in this game. This is Boston's best player. This is
a top five player in the NBA, in the world.
Sixteen points on sixteen shots. Jason Tatum will not play
like that again either. Peyton Pritchard, one of the best
(12:00):
shooters in the NBA, no questions asked, a forty three
point shooter since the day he walked into the NBA,
finishes this game, oh for seven from the field, oh
for five from three point range.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You think that's going to happen again. No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Overall, the Celtics played pretty well, but they have a
whole other level that they can get to, which is scary.
Thirteen of nineteen from the free throw line not great.
Fourteen turnovers, coughed the ball up a couple times, some
ugly turnovers. They just didn't let a snowball, but that
can be cleaned up. Defensively, I thought the Celtics were great,
(12:45):
holding Dallas to forty one point seven percent shooting from
the field. I don't think that you can assume that
that's going to happen again. Dallas is a great team.
They are in the finals for a reason. I don't
think their offense is going to be that cold all
series long. Well, yes, I understand bp Rich that Dallas
is going to play at a different level, that Dallas
is better than what it showed tonight. But you've also
(13:09):
got to acknowledge on the other side of the coin
that the Celtics, as crazy as it sounds, because they
dominated this game by and led by double figures and
mostly by twenty plus points for the majority of this game,
that they can play at a whole other level. Tatum's
going to be better, Peyton Pritchard is going to be better.
I think the free throws can get better, they can
(13:31):
take care of the ball a little bit better. There
are areas where they can be much better. So as
much as Dallas might improve, I got news for you,
the Boston Celtics might improve as well. All right, Next up,
a consistent contributor here to sound off, Allen Acosta says
(13:52):
Jalen Brown demonstrated to all naysayers why he is a
legit All NBA player and should be on the All
Defensive Team. Exceptional performance, Jalen Brown said to me on
media Day when we sat at a desk at our
live stream on Media Day, and he said his individual
(14:13):
goal heading into this season was to make an All
Defensive team. And I watched him for all eighty two
games this season, and that man played at a level
defensively that he very well could have been chosen to
an All Defensive team. He wasn't, as we all know,
but that doesn't take away from how impactful he is
(14:34):
at that end. He has done it all season long.
Many nights he has been the guy who was matched
up with the premier scorer on the other side of
the ball. You might think it's Drew Holliday and Derek White,
and yes, that happened at times, but oftentimes Jalen was
the guy taking that assignment while the rest of the
(14:57):
team could play off the ball and cause half.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Well. Tonight, Jalen Brown from Possession number one, was.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
The guy matched up with the arguably best player in
the world, an annual MVP candidate in Luka Doncic, in
otherworldly basketball player in every sense of the word. He
matched up with him since the very start, and boy,
oh boy, did he do a pretty good job. He
(15:27):
made life difficult on Luka Doncic and listen Luka Doncic
is so great, and I mean that great that even
though you make life difficult on him, he still puts
up some crazy numbers. Tonight, finishes this game with a
game high thirty points on twelve of twenty six shooting.
(15:48):
That's a pretty good night, and that's actually a better
shooting percentage than Luka Doncic has averaged.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Throughout this postseason.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Still, though Brown made life difficult on him, very rarely
did Luka Doncic get easy looks at the basket. Many
times he tried to pass to his teammates because his
shot wasn't of a high enough quality. That's because of
Jalen Brown for the most part. Obviously, some of the
other players on the team played a role in that
(16:20):
got switched on to him at times. You gotta have
teammates playing team defense as well to slow down a
guy like that. But Jalen Brown was so great defensively
during this game it just reminded us all including Allen Acosta,
that he very well could have been and should have
been chosen as an All Defensive player this season. That
(16:42):
being said, he absolutely should have been on the All
NBA team. There's no question in my mind, and Jalen
Brown clearly took offense to it. He said, everyone who
doesn't believe in me can kiss my ass. He said
that in the most recent episode of All In on
the Celtics X channels.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Go and watch it. It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
But Jalen Brown said, anyone who's not on my side
can kiss my ass. And right now he is proving
all those people wrong. He dominated at moments in the
most critical moments of the Eastern Conference Finals, which pushed
him to winning the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP Trophy,
(17:22):
and now he continues to put his fingerprints all over
the most important parts of games, this time being in
Game one of the NBA Finals. He is on a
torrid stretch right now. Defensively making a significant impact as
I said, three steals in three blocks tonight, and offensively
(17:44):
just continues to sizzle. This guy entered this game, I believe,
shooting like fifty five percent from the field this season.
Tonight shoots seven of twelve. Again, he has been awesome,
awesome throughout this run. He's proven everyone wrong who doubted him.
Still got a little bit to go to try to
(18:05):
get this championship, but man, he is off to a
great start in this series, and anyone who doubted him
and talked down on him heading into this series, something
tells me they're not sleeping tonight because they're having second
thoughts about those comments. All right, Next up, we've got
Nate Lerfald saying, I feel like it's even better that
(18:28):
Dallas made a run that they they the Celtics withstood
and pulled back away from, rather than just pulling away
the whole time. So essentially, what Nate is saying here
is that he actually would prefer that the Celtics twenty
nine point lead got down to eight and then Boston
had to pull away again, as opposed to just leading
by twenty five or thirty for the entire game. Nate,
(18:50):
I love this angle that you're taking right here, and
let's elaborate on this a little bit. What the Celtics
showcase tonight is what many of those critics that we
spoke about at the start of this show did not
believe the Celtics had inside them, and that's that when
the going gets tough, they have the ability to turn
(19:12):
the tide back.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
In their favor.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Well, those people haven't been watching the Celtics all season.
Long clearly because Boston, let me remind you, won sixty
four games during the regular season and they've gone thirteen
and two so far during the playoffs. That's seventy seven
and twenty. Do you think a team goes seventy seven
(19:37):
and twenty without having the mental and physical ability to
turn the tide back in their favor when the going
gets tough. It makes no sense to have that take
And the Celtics proved it again tonight and them being
able to do this when the lights were shining brightest
(19:57):
and I.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Know Joe Mizzoula doesn't like that.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
He said, the bull in the arena are the same
as they were at the start of the season. But
this is the NBA Finals, this is the brightest stage
in the world of basketball, and in front of everyone
around the world who is watching tonight, the Celtics proved
it that they don't let things snowball.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
They have what it takes inside them to stop a.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Run where they're not playing well and turn the tide
back in their favor. So showing that they've got that
inside of them and facing a little bit of adversity
and then pulling back away, that's more evidence for them
up here, and here and everywhere else as they move
through the remainder of this series. Every game that a
(20:47):
team plays is experienced that they gain. Now do we
know that the Celtics are going to have to possibly
rely on what they learned tonight that they can punch
back and pull back away. I don't know if that's
gonna happen, but if it does, they now have the
evidence that they can do it in this series against
this team.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So I'm with you here, Nate.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
This was a better way to win this game than
just cruising away for a twenty five or thirty point win.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This one felt good. It was comfortable for the majority
of the night.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Got a little iffy there for a couple minutes in
the early to middle portion of the third quarter, but
Boston slammed the door shut, pulled back away, and showed
everyone who was watching, including myself and Nate here, that
they've got what it takes to turn the tide back
in their favor when the going gets tough.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Our last comment of the night coming in here from
Calvin Fresh saying, Jalen on Luca was great. We touched
on that defense looked fantastic. KP was the X factor,
couple nervous turnovers. But this team can play better. But
so Candella, all right, we've touched on a bunch of
this so far, so let's just go one by one here.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Jal on Luca was great.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
We just talked about that defense, making like life difficult
on one of the best players in the world. That's
all you can do. If he makes the shot, he
makes the shot, if he misses, even better. But the
Celtics learn this against Steph Curry back in the twenty
twenty two NBA Finals. Some players are just so great
that you can play perfect defense and it doesn't matter.
(22:28):
And that happened at times tonight with Jalen Brown or
other Celtics matched up with Luka Doncic. But I thought,
and Calvin thought here that Jalen did a pretty darn
good job with some great defense on Luca. The defense
as a hole for the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Over the last week and a half, people have been
asking me, what do you need to see out of
the Celtics in Game one.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
What I have told everyone.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Is that I needed to see the Celtics come out
with an extreme level of effort on defense, the type
of effort that we saw down the stretch of games three, three,
and four. In Game one against the Indiana Pacers in
the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Celtics had to lock
down and get stops against Indiana in order to come
back and grab those wins, that was the defense. That
(23:14):
was the defensive effort that we needed to see in
Game one. And what do we see exactly? That we
saw it from start to finish. Boston was excellent on defense.
Did not give up any easy looks. I mean, obviously
a couple of lamps are gonna happen throughout the course
of a game. But holding Dallas to forty one point
(23:36):
seven percent shooting and get this, a total of nine assists.
I'm pretty sure Luka Doncic averaged that amount, if not more,
during the regular season. Let's look it up right now.
How many assists did Luka Doncic average per game during
the regular season? Nine point eight? Okay, so Luka Doncic
(23:59):
averaged more assist per game this season then the entire
MAVs team total during Game one.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Nine. It's incredible. That's Boston's defense.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Obviously it has something to do with Dallas not shooting
the ball well, and missing some open shots.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's part of it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But Boston's defense was impactful tonight, starting with Jalen Brown
on the perimeter against Luka Doncic, starting with Derek White
and Drew Holliday on the perimeter against Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
A couple of crazy stats here.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Boston tallied as many blocks in this game nine as
Dallas did assists. Who That doesn't happen very often. One
team blocks as many shots as the other team dishes
out assists. Don't know if I've ever seen it happen before.
Another crazy stat here is that you know you love
the assist to turnover ratio. That's a well referenced statistic
(24:55):
in the NBA. Well, Dallas's one's him very good. Nine
assists to eleven turnovers, so the team committed two more
turnovers than at tally to assists. That is a negative
assist to turnover ratio. No team wants to see that.
So Boston's defense as a whole excellent all the way around.
Great team defense, great individual defense, and that is what
(25:19):
locked up the Dallas Mavericks and held them to eighty
nine points in game one. KP the X factor. We
talked about that at the start. He came in had
an out of body experience during that first quarter. Changed
the game for Boston, changed the.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Game for the crowd. Blew the roof off during that
first quarter.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It was one of the most insane things I've ever
seen in the NBA or the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
The Celtics did have a couple of nervous turnovers, as
Calvin says here, but that's gonna happen. As I said,
that's one area where the Celtics can tighten up. Try
to keep that turnover number at twelve or lower, and
I think the Celtics are extremely difficult to beat if
they do that. Twelve or lower is a really good
number to keep in mind as we move forward in
this series. And then finishing out this comment, Calvin Fresh says,
(26:04):
but this team can play better. Boston can play better,
also Dallas can as well. I expect both of these
teams are going to play at a higher level throughout
the remainder of this series. This was not the best
version of either of this team, either of these teams,
and I expect that we are going to see the
best version of both of these teams as we move
forward in this series. Game one went Boston's way. It
(26:27):
went Boston's way in emphatic runaway fashion, a one oh
seven to eighty nine win. Christas porzingis back in the lineup, dominates,
Jalen Brown has some of the most key plays at
the entire night to make sure Boston answers the call.
And then the Celtics as a team when the going
got tough, as I said that twenty nine point lead
down to eight, they pull back away, bump it back
(26:49):
up to twenty plus, and the Celtics cruised to the wins.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So they have a one to zero lead in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
They are three victories away from their eighteenth NBA Chamampionship.
The next opportunity for them to grab a win will
arrive Sunday night, right here again at TD Guard and
that game is at eight o'clock on ABC.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And after that game, as we always do.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We will be right here for yet another episode of
Sound Off. I appreciate you all for participating and taking
part in this tonight, for watching and listening on all
of our channels, and I.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Can't wait to see you on Sunday. Have a good
night everywhere,
We just launched a brand new dedicated feed for sound
Off with the Boston Celtics. I know most of you
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(00:20):
the run this season and heading into next seasons. We
appreciate you subscribing, We appreciate you listening. And with that,
here's the latest episode of sound Off with the Boston Celtics.
On the Boston Celtics looking in the face of their
(00:40):
critics and laughing at them as they dominated their way
to a Game one victory over the Dallas Mavericks in
Game one of the NBA Finals. Those critics have been
saying for the past nine or ten days that the
Boston Celtics had not been tested enough. Those critics had
been saying that the Boston Celtics had not played close
(01:03):
enough games. Those critics had been saying that the Celtics
were not going to be able to match the level
of intensity that were needed for the NBA Finals. Those
critics said that the Dallas Mavericks had the better players
and the better team. Well, as I said, the Boston
Celtics looked in the face of all of those critics
(01:26):
during Game one and they laughed because they dominated from
start to finish. They led by as many as twenty
nine points during the first half, and they led by
double digits for basically this entire game. For a very
brief moment, Dallas cut the game down to eight, but
as Boston has done all.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Season long, it answered the call.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It did not let things snowball, and it wound up
pulling away yet again for a twenty point advantage end
route to a one oh seven to eighty nine victory.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Now, listen, this game got all.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Started up when the big man, Christas porzing Gets checked
back into the game.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It was his first action, as we.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
All know, since April twenty ninth, I believe, was the
date Game four against the Miami Heat. That is when
Christas Porzingis went down with that CAF strain, and we
hadn't seen him on the court for the Boston Celtics
ever since. We've been waiting and waiting, and he's been
waiting and waiting to get back on the floor and
(02:27):
help this team get to exactly where it has wanted
to go all season long. Well, he said it yesterday
at Finals media day, I'm coming back tomorrow. Well, in
Game one, he did come back, and he did something
that I, as someone who has covered the NBA for
(02:48):
sixteen seasons, have never seen. I who have been watching
the NBA four basically my entire life, I have never
seen anything Christasporzingis just did during Game one of the Finals.
As I said, he had not played since April twenty ninth,
(03:09):
yet he checks in to Game one of the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So let me put this into perspective. Going from ramping.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Up your on court stamina and abilities during practice against coaches,
even against your own teammates, going from that to Game
one of the NBA Finals, those two ends of the
spectrum that is basically as far apart as you could
(03:44):
possibly get when it comes to intensity, effort levels that
are needed and execution.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So he went from A to Z in a day.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
We're talking about practic to sing against his teammates and coaches,
to then stepping on the floor to night for Game
one of the NBA Finals. As we saw Joe Missoula
which now seems like a brilliant decision. Decided to bring
Christas Porzingis off the bench, and Porzingis checked in early
to midway through the first quarter to a gigantic ovation
(04:21):
from the TD Garden faithful. They had been waiting for
this moment for about five weeks, and clearly that was
the case for Christas Porzingis, because when he checked into
this game, it was like an out of body experience
for this guy, like he could do no wrong during
that first quarter, checks in and scores eleven points on
(04:45):
four of five shooting, has two blocks at the other end,
and this is all in seven minutes of action. Again,
could not do anything wrong. He could have a defender
draped all over him, basically following him. And when I
say basically, I mean actually following him, and it was
like that defender.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Was not there.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was like Porzingis was in the gym by himself,
just draining shots over defenders, making no doubt or three pointers,
incredible blocks at the basket. And we've all all of
us who have followed the NBA for a long time,
we all know about the Willis Reid game with the
New York Knicks back in the seventies. Willis Reid comes
(05:29):
out out of the tunnel after everyone thought he wasn't
going to play, checks into the game. I think he
only played a few minutes, but it got the crowd
jacked up. This was Porzingis's version of the Willis Reid game,
except he played the whole game, and he dominated the
(05:49):
first half. It was incredible. Dallas could do nothing to
stop him. And that is what we've talked about all
season long, that Christasports is the guy who unlocks the
Boston Celtics. That is because he's a seven foot three
guy who can shoot the ball, who can post up
as well as.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Anyone, if not better than anyone in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And that is a cheat code. When you've got players
like Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Drew Holliday, l Horford,
Sam Houser, Peyton Pritchard, all of these skilled players surrounding
that seven foot three big man who can do it all.
He's the cheat code. He was a cheat code tonight.
And so as I said, I've never seen a player
(06:34):
miss five weeks of action and come back into the
most intense scenario you can face as a basketball player.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That is the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Christas Porzingis did that tonight in Game one, and he dominated.
He changed the game when he checked in with what
he provided and the way that he boosted not only
the Celtic but also the nineteen thousand plus fans who
were in the garden cheering for those Celtics. He gave
(07:07):
them a level of energy and belief that they did
not have before he checked into the game. And that's
not saying anything bad about the players or the fans.
It's just simply put that when Christasporzingis did that, it
was like this team was not going to be denied,
and it wasn't. As I said, Boston went on to
(07:29):
pull ahead by as many as twenty nine points.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Jalen Brown was at the center of it all.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
This guy, in my opinion, is now the leader in
the clubhouse after only one game. There's a long way
to go, but if the Celtics do wind up winning
this championship, he after one game is the leader in
the clubhouse. To b the NBA Finals MVP, Jalen Brown
was great from start to finish, finishes the night with
(07:56):
twenty two points and defensively three assists. Excuse me three steals,
three block shots and also tally two assistant go along
with six rebounds. Really did it all. But what really
stood out to me was a couple of moments. Early
in that first quarter. He ripped a steal from Luka Doncic,
who he defended all night long. And we're gonna talk
(08:16):
about this later on. He was great on Luca. Made
life difficult. Luca's gonna get his Just make life difficult.
That's all you can do. Jalen Brown did that early
in this game, ripped a steal from Luka Doncic takes
it the other way for an uncontested.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Open court slam that not only.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Got the Celtics jacked up, but it got the crowd
jacked up too.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That was one moment.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The second moment was after that twenty nine point lead
got shaved all the way down to eight, and that's
when the old Celtics might have given the game away,
might have let the other team get back into it
and really put some pressure on well. Jaylen Brown, as
I said, put had his fingerprints all over this game.
The moment the Celtics turned this back into their favor
(09:06):
and runaway fashion, Jalen Brown was at the center.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Of it all.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Celtics had a fourteen to oh run after Dallas cut
it to eight, and I believe Jalen Brown scored or
assisted on nine of those points, and then he had
a hockey assist for three more points. So in my opinion,
you can chalk up twelve of those fourteen points that
(09:33):
he either scored or assisted on or made a major
impact on. And during that fourteen oh run, he also
had two blocks at the other end of the court,
one of which was on Kyrie Irving, which you know,
got the crowd all jacked up. So Jalen Brown doing
it at both ends of the court at the most
important stages of the game. Early on, when the Celtics
(09:55):
started to build that momentum, Christas Porzingis obviously was at
the owner of it. But Jalen Brown, with that rip
of Luka Doncic and then that huge dunk at the
other end, really got the crowd jacked up, got his
teammates jacked up, got himself jacked up. And then you
fast forward to that third quarter when the lead was
down to eight, Jalen Brown is the one who changed it,
(10:18):
changed the game and pushed it back into Boston's favor,
so an unbelievable performance from him, and we're gonna talk
more about that later on. So let's dive into some
comments from our fans. We are going to hear from
b P Rich on surprisingly not feeling too confident after
this win?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Why is that? BP Rich? We're gonna find out.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
We're gonna hear from Alan Acosta on what Jalen Brown
demonstrated tonight during this game. We're gonna hear from Nate
Lerfauld on what really made this win special? You gotta
tune in and wait to hear what he had to say.
And then lastly from Calvin Fresh on overall takeaways from
this victory in game one. So with that, let's dive
(10:59):
in our first comment from bp Rich. All Right, first up,
we've got bp Rich with two h's says, not too
confident after this win?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Why?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I don't know, MAVs won't play like this again? Tatum
has to be way better to win this series. Well,
BP Rich, I understand that the MAVs might not play
like this again, but are you noticing that the Celtics
might not play like this again either?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The Celtics in this game.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Had Jason Tatum score only sixteen points on six of
sixteen shooting, so he scored one point per shot attempt
in this game. This is Boston's best player. This is
a top five player in the NBA, in the world.
Sixteen points on sixteen shots. Jason Tatum will not play
like that again either. Peyton Pritchard, one of the best
(12:00):
shooters in the NBA, no questions asked, a forty three
point shooter since the day he walked into the NBA,
finishes this game, oh for seven from the field, oh
for five from three point range.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You think that's going to happen again. No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Overall, the Celtics played pretty well, but they have a
whole other level that they can get to, which is scary.
Thirteen of nineteen from the free throw line not great.
Fourteen turnovers, coughed the ball up a couple times, some
ugly turnovers. They just didn't let a snowball, but that
can be cleaned up. Defensively, I thought the Celtics were great,
(12:45):
holding Dallas to forty one point seven percent shooting from
the field. I don't think that you can assume that
that's going to happen again. Dallas is a great team.
They are in the finals for a reason. I don't
think their offense is going to be that cold all
series long. Well, yes, I understand bp Rich that Dallas
is going to play at a different level, that Dallas
is better than what it showed tonight. But you've also
(13:09):
got to acknowledge on the other side of the coin
that the Celtics, as crazy as it sounds, because they
dominated this game by and led by double figures and
mostly by twenty plus points for the majority of this game,
that they can play at a whole other level. Tatum's
going to be better, Peyton Pritchard is going to be better.
I think the free throws can get better, they can
(13:31):
take care of the ball a little bit better. There
are areas where they can be much better. So as
much as Dallas might improve, I got news for you,
the Boston Celtics might improve as well. All right, Next up,
a consistent contributor here to sound off, Allen Acosta says
(13:52):
Jalen Brown demonstrated to all naysayers why he is a
legit All NBA player and should be on the All
Defensive Team. Exceptional performance, Jalen Brown said to me on
media Day when we sat at a desk at our
live stream on Media Day, and he said his individual
(14:13):
goal heading into this season was to make an All
Defensive team. And I watched him for all eighty two
games this season, and that man played at a level
defensively that he very well could have been chosen to
an All Defensive team. He wasn't, as we all know,
but that doesn't take away from how impactful he is
(14:34):
at that end. He has done it all season long.
Many nights he has been the guy who was matched
up with the premier scorer on the other side of
the ball. You might think it's Drew Holliday and Derek White,
and yes, that happened at times, but oftentimes Jalen was
the guy taking that assignment while the rest of the
(14:57):
team could play off the ball and cause half.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Well. Tonight, Jalen Brown from Possession number one, was.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
The guy matched up with the arguably best player in
the world, an annual MVP candidate in Luka Doncic, in
otherworldly basketball player in every sense of the word. He
matched up with him since the very start, and boy,
oh boy, did he do a pretty good job. He
(15:27):
made life difficult on Luka Doncic and listen Luka Doncic
is so great, and I mean that great that even
though you make life difficult on him, he still puts
up some crazy numbers. Tonight, finishes this game with a
game high thirty points on twelve of twenty six shooting.
(15:48):
That's a pretty good night, and that's actually a better
shooting percentage than Luka Doncic has averaged.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Throughout this postseason.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Still, though Brown made life difficult on him, very rarely
did Luka Doncic get easy looks at the basket. Many
times he tried to pass to his teammates because his
shot wasn't of a high enough quality. That's because of
Jalen Brown for the most part. Obviously, some of the
other players on the team played a role in that
(16:20):
got switched on to him at times. You gotta have
teammates playing team defense as well to slow down a
guy like that. But Jalen Brown was so great defensively
during this game it just reminded us all including Allen Acosta,
that he very well could have been and should have
been chosen as an All Defensive player this season. That
(16:42):
being said, he absolutely should have been on the All
NBA team. There's no question in my mind, and Jalen
Brown clearly took offense to it. He said, everyone who
doesn't believe in me can kiss my ass. He said
that in the most recent episode of All In on
the Celtics X channels.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Go and watch it. It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
But Jalen Brown said, anyone who's not on my side
can kiss my ass. And right now he is proving
all those people wrong. He dominated at moments in the
most critical moments of the Eastern Conference Finals, which pushed
him to winning the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP Trophy,
(17:22):
and now he continues to put his fingerprints all over
the most important parts of games, this time being in
Game one of the NBA Finals. He is on a
torrid stretch right now. Defensively making a significant impact as
I said, three steals in three blocks tonight, and offensively
(17:44):
just continues to sizzle. This guy entered this game, I believe,
shooting like fifty five percent from the field this season.
Tonight shoots seven of twelve. Again, he has been awesome,
awesome throughout this run. He's proven everyone wrong who doubted him.
Still got a little bit to go to try to
(18:05):
get this championship, but man, he is off to a
great start in this series, and anyone who doubted him
and talked down on him heading into this series, something
tells me they're not sleeping tonight because they're having second
thoughts about those comments. All right, Next up, we've got
Nate Lerfald saying, I feel like it's even better that
(18:28):
Dallas made a run that they they the Celtics withstood
and pulled back away from, rather than just pulling away
the whole time. So essentially, what Nate is saying here
is that he actually would prefer that the Celtics twenty
nine point lead got down to eight and then Boston
had to pull away again, as opposed to just leading
by twenty five or thirty for the entire game. Nate,
(18:50):
I love this angle that you're taking right here, and
let's elaborate on this a little bit. What the Celtics
showcase tonight is what many of those critics that we
spoke about at the start of this show did not
believe the Celtics had inside them, and that's that when
the going gets tough, they have the ability to turn
(19:12):
the tide back.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
In their favor.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Well, those people haven't been watching the Celtics all season.
Long clearly because Boston, let me remind you, won sixty
four games during the regular season and they've gone thirteen
and two so far during the playoffs. That's seventy seven
and twenty. Do you think a team goes seventy seven
(19:37):
and twenty without having the mental and physical ability to
turn the tide back in their favor when the going
gets tough. It makes no sense to have that take
And the Celtics proved it again tonight and them being
able to do this when the lights were shining brightest
(19:57):
and I.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Know Joe Mizzoula doesn't like that.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
He said, the bull in the arena are the same
as they were at the start of the season. But
this is the NBA Finals, this is the brightest stage
in the world of basketball, and in front of everyone
around the world who is watching tonight, the Celtics proved
it that they don't let things snowball.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
They have what it takes inside them to stop a.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Run where they're not playing well and turn the tide
back in their favor. So showing that they've got that
inside of them and facing a little bit of adversity
and then pulling back away, that's more evidence for them
up here, and here and everywhere else as they move
through the remainder of this series. Every game that a
(20:47):
team plays is experienced that they gain. Now do we
know that the Celtics are going to have to possibly
rely on what they learned tonight that they can punch
back and pull back away. I don't know if that's
gonna happen, but if it does, they now have the
evidence that they can do it in this series against
this team.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So I'm with you here, Nate.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
This was a better way to win this game than
just cruising away for a twenty five or thirty point win.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This one felt good. It was comfortable for the majority
of the night.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Got a little iffy there for a couple minutes in
the early to middle portion of the third quarter, but
Boston slammed the door shut, pulled back away, and showed
everyone who was watching, including myself and Nate here, that
they've got what it takes to turn the tide back
in their favor when the going gets tough.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Our last comment of the night coming in here from
Calvin Fresh saying, Jalen on Luca was great. We touched
on that defense looked fantastic. KP was the X factor,
couple nervous turnovers. But this team can play better. But
so Candella, all right, we've touched on a bunch of
this so far, so let's just go one by one here.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Jal on Luca was great.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
We just talked about that defense, making like life difficult
on one of the best players in the world. That's
all you can do. If he makes the shot, he
makes the shot, if he misses, even better. But the
Celtics learn this against Steph Curry back in the twenty
twenty two NBA Finals. Some players are just so great
that you can play perfect defense and it doesn't matter.
(22:28):
And that happened at times tonight with Jalen Brown or
other Celtics matched up with Luka Doncic. But I thought,
and Calvin thought here that Jalen did a pretty darn
good job with some great defense on Luca. The defense
as a hole for the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Over the last week and a half, people have been
asking me, what do you need to see out of
the Celtics in Game one.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
What I have told everyone.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Is that I needed to see the Celtics come out
with an extreme level of effort on defense, the type
of effort that we saw down the stretch of games three, three,
and four. In Game one against the Indiana Pacers in
the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Celtics had to lock
down and get stops against Indiana in order to come
back and grab those wins, that was the defense. That
(23:14):
was the defensive effort that we needed to see in
Game one. And what do we see exactly? That we
saw it from start to finish. Boston was excellent on defense.
Did not give up any easy looks. I mean, obviously
a couple of lamps are gonna happen throughout the course
of a game. But holding Dallas to forty one point
(23:36):
seven percent shooting and get this, a total of nine assists.
I'm pretty sure Luka Doncic averaged that amount, if not more,
during the regular season. Let's look it up right now.
How many assists did Luka Doncic average per game during
the regular season? Nine point eight? Okay, so Luka Doncic
(23:59):
averaged more assist per game this season then the entire
MAVs team total during Game one.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Nine. It's incredible. That's Boston's defense.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Obviously it has something to do with Dallas not shooting
the ball well, and missing some open shots.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's part of it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
But Boston's defense was impactful tonight, starting with Jalen Brown
on the perimeter against Luka Doncic, starting with Derek White
and Drew Holliday on the perimeter against Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
A couple of crazy stats here.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Boston tallied as many blocks in this game nine as
Dallas did assists. Who That doesn't happen very often. One
team blocks as many shots as the other team dishes
out assists. Don't know if I've ever seen it happen before.
Another crazy stat here is that you know you love
the assist to turnover ratio. That's a well referenced statistic
(24:55):
in the NBA. Well, Dallas's one's him very good. Nine
assists to eleven turnovers, so the team committed two more
turnovers than at tally to assists. That is a negative
assist to turnover ratio. No team wants to see that.
So Boston's defense as a whole excellent all the way around.
Great team defense, great individual defense, and that is what
(25:19):
locked up the Dallas Mavericks and held them to eighty
nine points in game one. KP the X factor. We
talked about that at the start. He came in had
an out of body experience during that first quarter. Changed
the game for Boston, changed the.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Game for the crowd. Blew the roof off during that
first quarter.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It was one of the most insane things I've ever
seen in the NBA or the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
The Celtics did have a couple of nervous turnovers, as
Calvin says here, but that's gonna happen. As I said,
that's one area where the Celtics can tighten up. Try
to keep that turnover number at twelve or lower, and
I think the Celtics are extremely difficult to beat if
they do that. Twelve or lower is a really good
number to keep in mind as we move forward in
this series. And then finishing out this comment, Calvin Fresh says,
(26:04):
but this team can play better. Boston can play better,
also Dallas can as well. I expect both of these
teams are going to play at a higher level throughout
the remainder of this series. This was not the best
version of either of this team, either of these teams,
and I expect that we are going to see the
best version of both of these teams as we move
forward in this series. Game one went Boston's way. It
(26:27):
went Boston's way in emphatic runaway fashion, a one oh
seven to eighty nine win. Christas porzingis back in the lineup, dominates,
Jalen Brown has some of the most key plays at
the entire night to make sure Boston answers the call.
And then the Celtics as a team when the going
got tough, as I said that twenty nine point lead
down to eight, they pull back away, bump it back
(26:49):
up to twenty plus, and the Celtics cruised to the wins.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So they have a one to zero lead in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
They are three victories away from their eighteenth NBA Chamampionship.
The next opportunity for them to grab a win will
arrive Sunday night, right here again at TD Guard and
that game is at eight o'clock on ABC.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And after that game, as we always do.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We will be right here for yet another episode of
Sound Off. I appreciate you all for participating and taking
part in this tonight, for watching and listening on all
of our channels, and I.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Can't wait to see you on Sunday. Have a good
night everywhere,
Host
Marc D'Amico
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