Post Game - Celtics vs. Dallas Mavericks - Sunday, June 09, 2024 - Game 2 NBA Finals (W 2-0)

Sloppy ugly mucky game that was hard to enjoy. Both teams played hard, the great news is we won and are up 2-0. Styles make fights, we just have too many good pieces and don’t have to be near our best and we can still beat this team. Mavs had such a good opportunity and couldn’t make enough plays, our defensive effort never waned and always kept us in the game and in the lead with terrible offensive execution and way too many 3’s. That beautiful majestic left handed drive that got lead to 7 with about a minute left by JB was there all day down the stretch and instead we kept bricking 3 after 3. Luckily White and Holiday had hit 2 3’s in a row to give us a 12 point lead.

That 12 point lead went down to 5 with terrible execution and missed clean looks by Tatum. I know he had some good passes and defense and rebounding, he also was no match for Luka, who scored on him at will. With so much more talent on his team, the game and scoring should be coming easier, he can’t even finish point blank lay ups and open looks!! I’ve don’t need you to be great, but 6-22, 1-7 speaks for itself. Jaylen has way better efficiency and needs to put up more shots. Thank God and Brad for Holiday and DWhite and Zinger, who I am praying is okay, after limping after that collision.

Thank you Kyrie for doing nothing as our defense is too good. Kyrie was as bad or worse than Tatum. Our defense also wore out Luka, who had 23 points at halftime and faded with only 3 points in the 4th quarter. The way our defense was controlling this game, I don’t know how we made the game so close. Mavs kept hanging around, we should have put them away way earlier.

One final thing on Shaq, so he completely flip flopped saying now just do whatever it takes to pull out the next 2 games that’s all that matters; went completely away from the superstars have to carry you at this stage. Then he was even more pathetic mumbling some incoherent advice to Jaylen, that no one knew what he was mumbling about. Looked like a SNL skit as the other pundits all had no idea what the f0@k Shaq was talking about either and when they asked Jaylen did you get that? He laughed and said no idea, making the blowhard mumble again about all his past glory. Needed Barkley there to put him in his place….

JT almost gets a triple double while beng double-teamed and completely embracing team play...and still we are dumping on him? Come on man. Give the guy some credit.

Yes, Brad is our MVP. Joe deserves much credit for having JB and JT driving to the basket and dishing off for 19 assists. 19! Great game plan.
Every one of our players deserves attaboys - except Sam.

worcester wrote:JT almost gets a triple double while beng double-teamed and completely embracing team play...and still we are dumping on him? Come on man. Give the guy some credit.

Yes, Brad is our MVP. Joe deserves much credit for having JB and JT driving to the basket and dishing off for 19 assists. 19! Great game plan.
Every one of our players deserves attaboys - except Sam.

I did give him credit for the assists, he still has enough open looks or one on one exchanges that he bricks. He has completely wilted as a scorer unfortunately.

I will have to say that Shaq is beginning to display clown-like tendencies.  In all that mumble-jumble, he was trying to say that it doesn't matter who is top dog, blah, blah, blah.  Sure, Shaq.

You go on to say, "It doesn't matter to us back in the day.  I'd get my 40 and Kobe would get his 39 . . ."  Not 40 and [some number greater than 40]?  You had to come out on top?  Even now?

It mattered to you then and, apparently, it still matters to you now.  So instead of any intelligent prepared questions after a hard-fought W, we get to hear some lame monologue about something that Kidd said to ruffle Celtics players feathers, which the media took and ran with it, because, "Everything runs on Drama".

Did I mention we got a W?  

A weird transition has happened for me due to the way the Boston-Indy series played out.  I no longer fear close games going down to the wire, and now I just watch a game's ending crunch-time minutes to see:

Which one of our players is gonna take the ball away from them in a Smarty-Smart fashion?  
Which one of our players is gonna grab that rebound in traffic and close out a stop?
Which one of our players is gonna hit the shot that cues up the Fat Lady?
Which one of our players is gonna make that play that leads to THE PLAY?

Thank you, Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla for making, baking and presenting this totally fun team to watch.

That is true Cow, but passing is part of scoring, and he has been magnificent at that. Yes, his shooting has sucked. I expect it will improve and we will ...

Not gonna say it. Wouldn't be prudent...Don't wanna jinx....

Poor Jason Kidd.  He finally gets a game in which neither J (not the one he thinks is the best player on our team, and has been playing like it, nor the one the league office thinks is the best) nor Tingus Pingus had great scoring games and he still loses to our 5th option, Jrue Holiday.

Imagine how much easier this will be if/when Jayson starts playing well.  He was 6-22 last night and is shooting 39% for this series.  He was 2-10 at the half.  I know they're cheating on him, not wanting him to iso on them, but he has missed a ton of bunnies this series.  I swear, for the J with the allegedly "cooler" head he sure does let his mind mess himself up in games.   To be fair, he's recognized he's being keyed off of and is making passes out of those doubles.  12 assists and 2 turnovers is the way to make them pay for leaving his teammates to double him.  He was one rebound away from a triple double.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 9 hours ago
Jayson Tatum on the Celtics closing in on the title: “Why would I let my ego or need to score all the points get in the way of that?”

As long as we win, Jayson, as long as we win.


Jaylen had a more efficient scoring night (as usual!) but not from 3.  The Js were a combined 2-12 from 3.  Brown had 7 assists but also 6 of our 10 turnovers.    He had 3 steals  


Derrick with 18, including 4-10 from 3.  He also had 2 blocks.  I don't know who got that block at the rim at the end, him or Jaylen, but it was magnificent.  He also got called for a foul on another block at the rim that looked pretty good to me on replay.

But the game has to go to Jrue, obviously.  A guard going 11-14, 11 rebounds, 4 offensive and zero turnovers is pretty damn impressive.  He also played his usual lock down defense.


Brian Robb
@BrianTRobb
Here's the shot chart from the Celtics new 6-foot-4 center Jrue Holiday in Game 2.




"They brought me here to win." Jrue Holiday says he came to Boston to experience another championship run.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Jaylen Brown on Jrue Holiday: "He’s brought championship pedigree to our team, so nothing that Jrue says we question."






Sam is still cold, going 0-5, but Payton with that buzzerbeating 3 was HUGE.  

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Jaylen Brown said he heard Payton Pritchard checked himself into the game for his third-quarter buzzer beater.

And then, after he hit that 3, he started doing his thing about yelling at our bench "THAT'S WHAT I DO!!!".  You keep right on doing it, Payton.


Porzingis with another injury scare.  We need to wait to see just how bad it is.  He says "I'll die out there" but it's not about him living or dying, it's about whether he can play effectively.  Nobody's doubting his heart or intentions.


t




.




Luka played 42 minutes last night and played 38 in Game 1.  If this goes 6 or 7 he's going to be exhausted.  We're at the very end of a very long season.  He played a career high 2624 minutes this year.  His play in both games has been beyond reproach but even the best machines break down from overwork.  Lukah and da Jokah are the two most fun players to watch in the league, in my opinion.  Their BBIQs are off the charts.  It's rarely a good thing to compare anybody to Bird, and Celtic fans shy away from it in particular, but their BBIQs are the closest to Larry Legend's that I've seen since he retired.  He had an unstoppable first half with 23 points on 9-14 shooting, 3-6 from 3.  His 2nd half was...not as good.  9 points on 3-7, 1-3 from 3.  I don't know how much of that was defense and how much was his legs going a bit but no Luka, no chance for the Dallas Mavericks.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 9 hours ago
TEAM A 78% W-L +11.3 scoring margin Offense: 1st Defense: 2nd Scoring Margin: 1st Net Rating: 1st TEAM B 88% W-L +10.4 scoring margin Offense: 2nd Defense: 3rd Scoring Margin: 1st Net Rating: 1st Team A: Celtics in the regular season Team B: Celtics in the playoffs


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
10 hours ago
Kyrie: "Look at their record, I don't know how many total games they have lost since the postseason started. But I don't think it's more than six or seven." Celtics now 14-2.


I don't want to jinx us, but, in NBA Finals history teams that begin 2-0 have gone on to win 86% (31-5) of the time.

We are now on a 9 game playoff win streak and heading to Dallas with a 6 game road winning streak.

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 8 hours ago
LONGEST PLAYOFF WIN STREAKS (Boston Celtics history) 9 - 2024 7 - 1986 6 - Six times If the Celtics win Game 3 in Dallas Wednesday, they'll become the 10th team in NBA history to win 10 consecutive playoff games.


14 DOWN, JUST 2 MORE TO GO.


Bob


.

worcester wrote:JT almost gets a triple double while beng double-teamed and completely embracing team play...and still we are dumping on him? Come on man. Give the guy some credit.

Yes, Brad is our MVP. Joe deserves much credit for having JB and JT driving to the basket and dishing off for 19 assists. 19! Great game plan.
Every one of our players deserves attaboys - except Sam.

You do you, I'll do me . . .

Attaboy, Sam!!

You couldn't hit your 3-point shots (like most of the rest of our team), but you contributed in other ways.  Fritos, moving the ball, team defense, positive plus/minus.  Providing 10 minutes of play while some of our top players can catch a breather on the bench and not give away any of the lead during your time on the floor?

Whatever it takes!!

I love Jrue saying 'Even our white players play defense."

He may be referring to our bench being the white team versus the green team starters. In either case, i love how Jrue acknowledges everybody else. Always.

Ok gyso. I will go with that. Sam was a plus for his 10 minutes, made his 2 fritos, and gave a starter a rest. Attaboy Sam. I'm just disappointed at his shooting, but since I gave JT a pass on that, I'll give Sam one too. Attaboy, Sam.

gyso wrote:I will have to say that Shaq is beginning to display clown-like tendencies.  In all that mumble-jumble, he was trying to say that it doesn't matter who is top dog, blah, blah, blah.  Sure, Shaq.

You go on to say, "It doesn't matter to us back in the day.  I'd get my 40 and Kobe would get his 39 . . ."  Not 40 and [some number greater than 40]?  You had to come out on top?  Even now?

It mattered to you then and, apparently, it still matters to you now.  So instead of any intelligent prepared questions after a hard-fought W, we get to hear some lame monologue about something that Kidd said to ruffle Celtics players feathers, which the media took and ran with it, because, "Everything runs on Drama".

Did I mention we got a W?  

A weird transition has happened for me due to the way the Boston-Indy series played out.  I no longer fear close games going down to the wire, and now I just watch a game's ending crunch-time minutes to see:

Which one of our players is gonna take the ball away from them in a Smarty-Smart fashion?  
Which one of our players is gonna grab that rebound in traffic and close out a stop?
Which one of our players is gonna hit the shot that cues up the Fat Lady?
Which one of our players is gonna make that play that leads to THE PLAY?

Thank you, Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla for making, baking and presenting this totally fun team to watch.

Flip flopper, it’s official. So pathetic living in the past, like Al Bundy

Cow,

Bundy is a fictional character and read from a script.  He was supposed to look pathetic.  

Shaq does zero prep for the show (like Barkley, so it has been reported) and it doesn't help his cause.  I agree that he is living in the past and still thinks that a team with the two all-NBA players can beat a well-constructed team.  

He's beginning to remind me of Dudder.  

A win in the finals to put us up 2-0 is nothing to sneeze at. We certainly didn't play our A game, and still won. This is a huge win!!!

To state the negatives:

JT's shooting was horrible. He even passed up a couple of open threes, and that is concerning.

Sam shot 0-5 and missed some great looks. He has to knock a few of those down.

As a team our three point shooting was subpar at best, even though we had a lot of good looks.

The Zinger is tweaked again. Hopefully, its a minor thing and he can play the rest of the series. Let's face it, this guy is as fragile as glass.

The positives:

Yes, JT's shooting is off, but he still almost had a triple double. He made some beautiful passes and grabbed some big time rebounds. I still think he's gonna find his stroke and is sitting on a big game.

Jrue is just a tremendous player. He's so smart, knows when to cut to the basket. His defense is amazing. Everyone is killing Kyrie for his performance, but its no coincidence that Jrue is his primary defender.

JB continues to come up huge. Guess he can't finish with his left hand? Take a look at the game sealing basket, beautiful left hand finish. This guy is on a mission.

How many huge plays does D White make? Big threes, huge blocks, big steals, runs the offense. Great player.

The play of the game was PP's three at the end of the third quarter. Turned a Dallas rally back to a nine point game. Us Celtics fans couldn't have been surprised, he's probably done that 5 or 6 times this year.

We are wearing Luka down. He has to work his tail off to get buckets, but then on the other end we are targeting him and blowing right by him. I think he's getting worn out. Great strategy by CJ and the coaches and great execution by the players.

Now its onto Dallas. Got to put the hammer down. It won't be easy. They will be fired up, and we need the Zinger. However, I think we will find a way to win.

Ok, take out your list.

We can cross out a couple of things

The Mavs HAD a 5 game road winning streak.

The Mavs have won every game 2 in all 3 series and therefore they will...

The Mavs have not lost 2 games in a row during the playoffs.

The Celtics cannot win if they do not make a lot of three point shots.

Mavs LD and KI > JT and JB

Jason Kidd is the more experienced coach and should have an edge on CJ

The Celtics are struggling to win at home.

The 1976 championship series didn’t go seven games. The Celtics did go up 2-0 but the Suns won the next two games in Phoenix. The Celtics came home and won game five, the greatest game ever played, and closed out the Suns on their home court in game six.
In the 1985 finals against the Lakers the teams split the first two games, and the Lakers won the series in six games.

After the Celtics settle down and caught up with the Mavs in the first QTR, I knew that they were going to win the game.  As a matter of fact I knew a game 2 win was coming before the tipoff.

We have so many players on this team that can be the point of the spear that leads the team to victory.

Jrue Holiday has submitted a brilliant masterpiece for consideration.  I do not know if we have witnessed a more perfect game.  His defense, on the little bugaboo and anyone else who was unlucky enough to make a turn down the wrong street, should be the standard for what excellent defense is.  His dominance on the court at both ends was exhilarating.  Jrue relentlessly attacked the paint,  knocked down big shot after big shot and took 4 of his game high 11 rebounds off of the offensive glass.  this was a mistake free exhibition characterized by zero turnovers, 3 assists, a steal and a block.  I swear I saw him in the stands selling popcorn.  

As the talking heads (led by Stephen A, Shag and Tim Legler (really Tim?  really?) try to untangle themselves from their disrespect and lack of appreciation for a team that smoked their way to a 64-18 regular season record and have yet to skip a beat,  excuses will be abundant.

Just wait.  The Celtics HAVE NOT played their best basketball yet.

So far this season we are 64-18 and 14-2.

Looks like we play best against the better teams. Let's sweep and end the year 80-20.

JT has been struggling shooting the ball and as Celtics17 pointed out, he is passing up open looks.

He is long overdo for a huge offensive night.  It's coming.

This team is still not clicking on all cylinders on offense.  

D White is due for a  25 point outing.  JT has a +30 game yet to play and Sam Hauser has a 4-5 from deep shooting game that wants to get out.  PP has more 3's in his lunch pail.

As the Celtics prepare to play on the road, just remember that the Celtics embrace the opportunity to beat teams that imagine home will save their bacon.

gyso wrote:Cow,

Bundy is a fictional character and read from a script.  He was supposed to look pathetic.  

Shaq does zero prep for the show (like Barkley, so it has been reported) and it doesn't help his cause.  I agree that he is living in the past and still thinks that a team with the two all-NBA players can beat a well-constructed team.  

He's beginning to remind me of Dudder.  

Dudder! A blast from the past!!

Heckuva list you got there dboss. Glad we've scratched off most of those items.

This quote goes right along with Kyrie saying the Earth is flat: Kyrie: "Look at their record, I don't know how many total games they have lost since the postseason started. But I don't think it's more than six or seven."

Any idea how Ktron is doing? I sure miss him.

worcester wrote:Heckuva list you got there dboss. Glad we've scratched off most of those items.

This quote goes right along with Kyrie saying the Earth is flat: Kyrie: "Look at their record, I don't know how many total games they have lost since the postseason started. But I don't think it's more than six or seven."

Any idea how Ktron is doing? I sure miss him.

Worcester

Kyrie should be restricted to only answering a question with a Yes or a No!

I spoke with ktron just before game 1 of the finals. He is doing great and is greatly enjoying this remarkable Celtics run. He lives in the Dallas area so he gets an extra measure of enjoyment watching the fake Mavericks get beat by our beloved Celtics!

Thanks dboss. Glad to hear that about Ktron.

Saw the game again and what stood out was the defense on Kyrie by our 2 guys Jrue and DWhite. Both our guys were so into his grill, airspace whatever you want to call it, much tighter than the defense I saw displayed by Anthony Edwards in the last series. Jaylen also had him for one series and Kyrie couldn’t escape him either as JB knocked the ball away. Our defense was intense and engaged, also caused some major turnovers on Luka too, who plays at his own pace and is super skilled and strong. Tatum was trying to drive in the 4th and finish or go the line. I will give them credit, their frontline repeatedly took the ball away and stopped Tatum cold. Gafford a very gifted defender and PJ Washington and Derrick Jones above average defenders. Even Luka defended well for a slow of foot defender and defended alot better last night, than during the regular season against us. Make no mistake this is a tough team we are facing and there is a reason they got thru the West to reach the Finals.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Saw the game again and what stood out was the defense on Kyrie by our 2 guys Jrue and DWhite. Both our guys were so into his grill, airspace whatever you want to call it, much tighter than the defense I saw displayed by Anthony Edwards in the last series. Jaylen also had him for one series and Kyrie couldn’t escape him either as JB knocked the ball away. Our defense was intense and engaged, also caused some major turnovers on Luka too, who plays at his own pace and is super skilled and strong. Tatum was trying to drive in the 4th and finish or go the line. I will give them credit, their frontline repeatedly took the ball away and stopped Tatum cold. Gafford a very gifted defender and PJ Washington and Derrick Jones above average defenders. Even Luka defended well for a slow of foot defender and defended alot better last night, than during the regular season against us. Make no mistake this is a tough team we are facing and there is a reason they got thru the West to reach the Finals.

Cow,

One reason they made it through the West is that no other team can put multiple elite defenders on both of their superstars.  They never see a mediocre defender vs the Celtics.   That's why what Luka is doing is so impressive.   Even when he gets his mismatch with Pritchard he still has it tough because even Payton is in his grill.


Bob


.

True dat, Bob.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Saw the game again and what stood out was the defense on Kyrie by our 2 guys Jrue and DWhite. Both our guys were so into his grill, airspace whatever you want to call it, much tighter than the defense I saw displayed by Anthony Edwards in the last series. Jaylen also had him for one series and Kyrie couldn’t escape him either as JB knocked the ball away. Our defense was intense and engaged, also caused some major turnovers on Luka too, who plays at his own pace and is super skilled and strong. Tatum was trying to drive in the 4th and finish or go the line. I will give them credit, their frontline repeatedly took the ball away and stopped Tatum cold. Gafford a very gifted defender and PJ Washington and Derrick Jones above average defenders. Even Luka defended well for a slow of foot defender and defended alot better last night, than during the regular season against us. Make no mistake this is a tough team we are facing and there is a reason they got thru the West to reach the Finals.

Cow,

One reason they made it through the West is that no other team can put multiple elite defenders on both of their superstars.  They never see a mediocre defender vs the Celtics.   That's why what Luka is doing is so impressive.   Even when he gets his mismatch with Pritchard he still has it tough because even Payton is in his grill.


Bob


.

They also had just enough defense to get thru the West. Looking at the game again, their defense is legit and ofcourse Luka is pretty good.