On the first night ever at the Finals, the Celtics’ Latvian directs game 1 between Boston and Dallas.
NBA Finals al Boston Garden. A natural combination like the last stage of the Tour under the Eiffel Tower or a Champions League party on the streets of Madrid. The Celtics, also these Celtics, they’ve been here before and know what it’s like. The Mavs less, much less. And the first quarter can be explained Also Like this. The other part of the explanation lies within the 218 cm and 110 kg of a former player from the series, who has been out of action since the series against Miami in the 1st Round and who goes by the name of Kristaps Porzingis. His entry onto the pitch after 5 minutes changes everything on the table. Offensively he is a machine at attacking the defense’s change on P&Rs which involve him as a blocker, scoring repeated shots from the mid range, shooting at a height which is unacceptable for his direct marker (often Irving or in any case a winger), but it is defensively that changes all scenarios: apparently his drop should be more porous than the switch proposed in the minutes on the pitch with Horford, but the kilometric length of his arms prevents Doncic and Iriving from both creating comfortable shots, whether to provide alley-oops for the Gafford or Lively on duty, not surprisingly held to 4 points overall in the first 2 quarters. Add to that 3 blocks in the first quarter alone and Boston ends the first 12 minutes with a +17 lead.
We wouldn’t dream of thinking this would be enough against Luka and Kyrie, but Boston’s defense was exceptional in every aspect: defense on the Point of Attack, rim protection, aids and positioning of the other 4 players once the two Dallas stars tried to create. Mazzulla’s strategy was to let Doncic and Irving see as many bodies as possiblebetting on the percentages from the arc of Derrick Jones Jr., PJ Washington and company: the bet was won by a landslide in game 1. The supporting cast of Dallas shot 3/10 from 3 points and what best exemplifies the extent of what did Boston in their own half is the fact of having held Doncic to just one assist in the match, when Luka was averaging almost 9 in this Post-Season.
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During the rest of the series, Dallas will absolutely have to resort more to the counterattack and increase the pace of the match: allowing the Celtics defense to set up would make everything more difficult, allowing Porzingis and Horford to protect the rim with relative ease. It is no coincidence that the best moment for the Mavs was the first half of the third quarter, where the Mavs managed to close the gap to -8 (from -23 at the end of the first half), creating a few more shots in transition and benefiting of a little one slump to the Celtics’ shot. Usually the impact of the Finals spares no one, but absolutely no one: Doncic himself struggled a lot in the first half (it still means scoring 17, but with 14 shots and 3 turnovers), but since it is a phenomenon of historic proportions it he immediately got back on track in the second half. Different story for role players in Dallas: historically that type of player performs better at home than away, let alone in the first game of his career in an NBA final, when especially until February he was on teams devoted to tanking (Gafford and PJ Washington) or even college (Lively).
The Celtics’ defensive performance was impressive, in which Hauser and Pritchard also provided an effective contribution. Offensively, the ability to create an advantage with Brown and Tatum and then expand it with continuous ball circulation was constant throughout the entire match: in the only moment of shooting difficulty (3Q) this was never abandoned by the Celtics , a symptom of great mental tranquility and clarity for a group that in past experiences had relied on the quality of its individuals in difficult moments. They started with a plan and continued with it no matter what.
After a long period of inactivity, the return match is often above average. Game 2 will tell us if this also applies to a Porzingis in a state of grace. Dallas undoubtedly has a lot of work to do on adjustments, especially offensive ones, to make their attack more capable of putting the green-and-white defense in difficulty, especially by distributing the points more. A 107-89 defeat would make you think the series is already written, but obviously that’s not the case. The road is very long for both and, ironically, the pressure on Boston in game 2 will be even stronger. Tatum will have to take a step forward (6 turnovers are given to clean up) and we are ready to bet on a different game from Irving, tonight too bad to be true.
2024-06-07 07:55:27
#Boston #CelticsDallas #Mavericks #impact #Porzingis
