Disagree. They’re a team that’s playing better but their personnel hasn’t changed much since the 3/1 beatdown. Now, Gafford and Jones are starting. Does that constitute “far different” in your mind? Has their offense changed?
Pretty weird time to be dissin that team, no? It was easy schedule, it was “luck” winning close games, etc etc. Been hearing it all playoffs yet here they are. If I’m Dallas I don’t like this matchup either for all the reasons mentioned but I’m sure not looking at the results of a regular season game to take them lightly the way their been playing since March or February or whenever
Who is “dissin” them? We all recognize this is a good team and a formidable opponent that can certainly beat the Celtics. Luka and Kyrie are playing great. But narratives can change quickly when you face a team that can exploit your weaknesses better than your prior opponents. They’ve earned their spot but they’re underdogs for a reason. And that reason is that the Celtics have objectively been the best team in the league all year and they’ve done little to dissuade that notion in the playoffs.
They went to 6 vs LAC basically without Kawhi. Sure anything can happen if Luka is consistently making 30 footers but BOS is a poor matchup for them.
I’m having trouble objectively looking at this series today. The Celtics carry the majority of blowout equity and a 4-0 result wouldn’t surprise me just as being down. 2-1 wouldn’t. This has always been the team for me to fear as they are so well connected defensively and have two guys that can take over games offensively. Kidd’s schemes have been so overlooked but like you and others have said will be challenged here.
Yeah, there is plenty of nightmare fuel with this Mavs team. I got them at +4000 because I’ll take Luka/Kyrie +4000 all day. My biggest fears are KP health, Luka/Kyrie doing to us what they did to Minny, and foul trouble (either due to superstar calls or legitimate ones). Their role players are all locked in right now.
There's a thread for that!
Celtics need to dictate tempo and not make this a slow walk it up type of game that plays right into Doncic and the Mavs strength. We have to get into the frontcourt while Dallas is still retreating, get their feet moving with our dribble probing and kick outs early in the shot clock. The more possessions that run the clock under :10 the better chance Dallas has in that particular game. If we can dictate this tempo than 4-0 is on the table with blowout wins in play. Both Luka and Kyrie are front runners….we have to get them out of close 4Q games when they can take over in the halfcourts that will be contested in the final :10 of the shot clock.
DAL is a lot like DEN - they ran the same play against MIN and dared them to stop it. Luka would put Gorbert or Townes in the PnR. With Gorbert, he'd either drop, which means Luka could get the defender on his back; hedge, which means that they'd just run it again; or blitz, which means that Lively was open in the middle of the floor. In every case, MIN's defense was off-kilter and they'd have one or more people running around trying to figure to whom they were supposed to rotate. And they rarely got back into position.
Wait, you have Mavs +4000 to win the series? You're getting paid 40:1? That's incredible, where do I get some of that action? The Celtics are favorites, probably deserve to be heavy favorites, but that's crazy value.
Ha, sorry wasn’t clear. Got this a few months ago when they hadn’t quite put it together but clearly had potential. Got Minnesota at +6500 as well last fall. I like to look for undervalued futures.
Ah, yes if you saw what HRB saw as of February / March, then that was (obviously, now) a great value play at the time. Nice work. Wonder if you want to lay some of that action off now, based on assessing the Finals. What price are they giving you to get out of it?
DK doesn’t seem to be giving a cash out option but my Celtics futures are actually more valuable (sitting on combos with Texas Rangers, Chiefs, UConn hoops, etc.) so I actually need to do more Mavericks betting to make the payouts more resulr neutral.
Ant seems like he has a lot of growing up to do. How on earth does a 22 y/o athlete run out of gas for three straight games? Elite athleticism, garbage conditioning? I just don’t get it.
