Shearer nails it. What is being dismantled in this series are not just the Mavs and the purported superiority of the Western Conference, but the whole flawed "they have the best player on the court" line of reasoning that is so wrong and pervasive. First, we were instructed it was Brunson and those unstoppable Knicks, then they said...no wait...it's Anthony Edwards...no, no, hold on...it's Luka Doncic.
No, actually it's the dudes the media spent 10 months criticizing as not good enough and vulnerable because they lacked star power. I'm not a fan of Boston, but I am a fan of reality.
Sure, Michael Jordan was the best player on the court in the 90s as was Nikola Jokic last year. However, alongside their excellence was a deep roster of talent necessary to win it all. The Nuggets this year still had the League MVP on the floor but lost key pieces of depth off last year's team and were never the same all year. They didn't "put it together in the Playoffs" as so many pundits wrongly predicted. It turns out that the roster matters a ton.
Our obsession with star culture, endless ESPN highlight loops and social media clicks has taken up permanent residence in the NBA. Yet, basketball remains at its core a team game with offensive and defensive components. Boston is simply a much better team with too much balance and too many weapons on offense along with a differential commitment to defense that suffocates their opponents. When the only "adjustment" the pundits are telling me Jason Kidd needs is for Dallas to play better... you know it's over.
Yet, the whole Luka Doncic "is the best player on the floor" narrative is still being foisted on the public as tonic for all the wounds of reality...despite the Mavs not having reached a pedestrian 100 points in either game so far. I'm not a Luka critic at all, but I'm not sure his performance matters to the outcome when Dallas has so few real weapons on offense to spread the attention of the defense from Kyrie and him.
Some championship series have a precipitous quality about them. Fairly early on one team can realize that the other team is simply much better and the goal changes. It changes from winning the Trophy to "let's not get swept guys." That happened to Minnesota against Dallas, and you can feel it coming here too.
As fans and the media continue to describe some convoluted once in a lifetime path to a Game 7 where the underdog can theoretically still win it ("they still gotta win one on the road") the lights go out very quickly. I sense darkness is on the rise and closing in on Dallas here. Soon Mark Cuban and others will be busy this off season building a much better roster around their best player on the floor. You know, players like Jalen Brunson and Kristaps Porzingas.
The Celtic’s will win but I think we’re going to see a comeback from the Mavericks that means it’s not going to be a straight win. So excited to see how this pans out.
If the Mavs can't win when the Celtics shoot 10-39 from 3 and Tatum misses multiple layups then, yeah, this series is over, because the Celtics defense isn't going to falter.
Shearer nails it. What is being dismantled in this series are not just the Mavs and the purported superiority of the Western Conference, but the whole flawed "they have the best player on the court" line of reasoning that is so wrong and pervasive. First, we were instructed it was Brunson and those unstoppable Knicks, then they said...no wait...it's Anthony Edwards...no, no, hold on...it's Luka Doncic.
No, actually it's the dudes the media spent 10 months criticizing as not good enough and vulnerable because they lacked star power. I'm not a fan of Boston, but I am a fan of reality.
Sure, Michael Jordan was the best player on the court in the 90s as was Nikola Jokic last year. However, alongside their excellence was a deep roster of talent necessary to win it all. The Nuggets this year still had the League MVP on the floor but lost key pieces of depth off last year's team and were never the same all year. They didn't "put it together in the Playoffs" as so many pundits wrongly predicted. It turns out that the roster matters a ton.
Our obsession with star culture, endless ESPN highlight loops and social media clicks has taken up permanent residence in the NBA. Yet, basketball remains at its core a team game with offensive and defensive components. Boston is simply a much better team with too much balance and too many weapons on offense along with a differential commitment to defense that suffocates their opponents. When the only "adjustment" the pundits are telling me Jason Kidd needs is for Dallas to play better... you know it's over.
Yet, the whole Luka Doncic "is the best player on the floor" narrative is still being foisted on the public as tonic for all the wounds of reality...despite the Mavs not having reached a pedestrian 100 points in either game so far. I'm not a Luka critic at all, but I'm not sure his performance matters to the outcome when Dallas has so few real weapons on offense to spread the attention of the defense from Kyrie and him.
Some championship series have a precipitous quality about them. Fairly early on one team can realize that the other team is simply much better and the goal changes. It changes from winning the Trophy to "let's not get swept guys." That happened to Minnesota against Dallas, and you can feel it coming here too.
As fans and the media continue to describe some convoluted once in a lifetime path to a Game 7 where the underdog can theoretically still win it ("they still gotta win one on the road") the lights go out very quickly. I sense darkness is on the rise and closing in on Dallas here. Soon Mark Cuban and others will be busy this off season building a much better roster around their best player on the floor. You know, players like Jalen Brunson and Kristaps Porzingas.
Not only will the Celtics take this series, but also the next couple of championships? Now that’s a prediction.
Have to say, I think Quinn Everts and Tom Ziller are both right on with their takes.
The Celtic’s will win but I think we’re going to see a comeback from the Mavericks that means it’s not going to be a straight win. So excited to see how this pans out.
If the Mavs can't win when the Celtics shoot 10-39 from 3 and Tatum misses multiple layups then, yeah, this series is over, because the Celtics defense isn't going to falter.
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