Will The Role Players or Star Players Swing the NBA Finals? | STEVE HARTMAN & MONSE BOLAÑOS

Will The Role Players or Star Players Swing the NBA Finals? | STEVE HARTMAN & MONSE BOLAÑOS

yeah because it makes perfect sense it’s unbelievable all right so uh by the way it’s an interesting match up when he consider this the Boston Celtics had by far the best record in the NBA regular season this year 64 and 18 number one seed in the east in the postseason they are 12-2 the Dallas Mavericks this year were 50 and 32 they were the five seed in the West in the postseason they are 12 and five so if you just look at the records of these two teams this one does not bode well for the Dallas Mavericks the Celtics have been every bit as dominant in the postseason as they’ve been in the regular season complete domination of the East and yet I’m sitting here looking at someone that is so breaming with confidence that the Dallas Mavericks ultimately are going to be Crown NBA champions so let’s let’s start right there okay for our listeners you you made this bold prediction after the Mavericks uh eliminated your belove clippers in the first round of the playoffs and you saw something obviously CU you could have just said all right well they’re going to lose in the how frustrating for the Clippers to lose to a team that’s not going anywhere instead you want all in on the Mavericks so what did you see then that convinced you that they would ultimately be where they are now so even actually before the season started I was talking to Carrie rhods who’s a big Mavs fan and I told him the Clippers of the Mavs will come out of the West one of them and I so I felt that early on even before the series started I was very disappointed because I like the Mavs so I was disappointed we were going to see them but I was like whoever wins out of these two teams will come out of the West now I after they beat my beloved Clippers I saw a team that won that won as a team without their star being the star that was a big thing obviously donic has now he is the star he was always the star he just didn’t play that well against the Clippers they are playing their best basketball right now the Celtics you’re right dominated All Season out of the East they were always in first place they pretty much Cruis through the playoffs they didn’t have any big issues but the SE the Celtics to me I don’t see them coming out as Champions because if it is a clo let’s say every single game is a close game and it comes down to the final minute and it’s a tie game to me the closers are on the Mavericks if it is one minute left in the game and it’s a tie game the Mavericks will win every game I don’t see the Celtics coming out in a close game the closers are on the Dallas Mavericks this is not supposed to say that Jason Tatum is not good and that he can’t shoot he’s great and so is Jaylen Brown christops porzingis is going to be a big aspect the defense that the Celtics have Derek white all of that they’re all great it’s just right now the Mavs as a team are playing better basketball than the Celtics they are they take care of homec court advantage the Celtics they’re like we’re at home it’s all right we’ll lose it’s okay all right so let’s let’s break this down in terms of the Superstar players for these two teams yes well I you Superstar let’s just say the biggest stars biggest two stars so you got Jason Jaylen Brown going against obviously Luca and Kyrie right now in this moment yeah if you were to choose either one of those pairs to start your team which pair would you pick Luca and Kyrie no questions asked now the argument against that is is that Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum are better two-way players than Luca and Kyrie who are offensively dominant players but they don’t play both ends of the court at the same level that Tatum mbrown do and that is a fact you were right about that I don’t think it’s going to matter for some reason it’s just they it is their moment it is the Mavs moment it’s just like when we’re talking to rashan he log and he was like that Grammy road trip for the Clippers they were the best team in the league for like 25 games great why didn’t why were we not the best team in June or you know like may we it didn’t make sense to be the best team in December January it does not matter the Celtics have been good all season that’s awesome that’s great right now the Mavericks are playing their best basketball they are in a Zone you cannot disrupt Kyrie or Luca I would take them even though you’re right the other two better two-way players sure sure I’ll still take har and Luka I I agree with you on this though and that is I’m a little torn on this whole thing because obviously if you’re going to win a championship your stars have to play well yes but ultimately we’ve seen this timeing again in any sport that the difference in winning a World Series or a Super Bowl or an NBA finals or a Stanley Cup comes down to players that we were not thinking about going into the final round right and you have to get that kind of support now when I look at the Celtics now I’m a little close to Drew holiday H he’s great I interviewed him when he came out of high school before he had his one and done at UCLA it’s hard to believe 14 years in the NBA but one thing I know about Drew holiday at this point of his career as defense I never thought that Drew holiday was that kind of a player he’s gotten better and better Derek white obviously he’s been one of the Premier defensive players in this league for S years white should have been the well I when Jaylen Brown was awarded the conference MVP yeah I thought it should have been Derek white I know that it was more for that game he had just had that 40 piece yes but throughout the playoffs Derek white this is this is where it’s at think about this when the Celtics lost the finals of the Golden State Warriors couple years ago and obviously all the hoopla was around Steph and clay and Draymond the difference in that series was Andrew Wiggins Andrew Wiggins showed up y big in those NBA Finals so that’s I’m going to take again the big four Brown Tatum Luca and out of the mix okay and now I got to step back okay PJ Washington PJ Washington Derek Jun yeah Lively Derrik Lively yeah the rookie I mean there there are a lot of different players on both these teams that could be the difference in what I believe is a very even matchup I don’t think that there’s any way I mean I’m not I’m never going to say defense is overrated but when you have great offensive players when when you’re when you’re Luca donic every team every night is trying to figure out a way to neutralize you that’s been true for five straight years of being First Team all NBA so that’s nothing new when it comes to the postseason so he uses that the people try different looks and everything else to try to slow him down but if he’s in the zone like he is now it doesn’t matter what you throw at him nothing you watch him in this series against the t- wills think about the t-s I thought it was interesting Anthony Edwards talked about this after the embarrassing blowout loss in game five at home is that we were never the same team in this series that we had been against Denver or in our opening round and they just could not come up with an answer and I’m watching Luca play right now and he is in such a Zone everything is very deliberate I mean he he doesn’t move fast anyway but it’s it’s like well it’s like there’s intention intention behind everything he does everything it’s like jic last year yes uhhuh who got better and better as the playoffs went on to totally dominate that postseason run and I’m seeing that exactly right now with dones so yeah defense is part of the equation and evaluating a a player’s overall talent but understand this if a great offensive player is in the zone no defense is going to stop him none yeah and and Luca let’s be real he’s not the only one in the zone Kyrie has been making shots with the hand in his face by seven Footers all playoffs he is also in his own little Zone whether you want to say it’s all a business decision and he hasn’t really changed and it’s all fake it doesn’t matter he is delivering for the Mavericks and I’m I agree I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout I think they’re all going to be close games and if they’re close games the Mavs have the closers they do and and Kyrie did it in the biggest game of his career game seven on the road against the Golden State Warriors it wasn’t LeBron that hit the gamewinner it was Kyrie Irving and last week didn’t we talk about just like experience in general between Minnesota and the Mavs when you have Kyrie like you just said that crazy shot in that uh finals then we talk about Luca and how he’s been a professional since he was 16 years old the spotlight is not too big for him he’s not afraid of it Jason kid also a winning coach all of that while Minnesota seemed to have beat the defending Champions and we’re kind of like we did it guys like good job instead of like staying focused and I feel like the Mavs have the focus the storyline of Kyrie going back to Boston that has to be fueling him I I just think it’s the the the momentum is on the MAV side well if the Celtics don’t win the championship this is six of the last eight years they made it at least to the Eastern Conference Finals only once had they actually been to the finals before this year in that run and you look at a guy like Jason Tatum First Team all NBA the last three years what happened last year game seven Eastern Conference Finals he gets hurt the beginning of the game right away first play remember how Miami was up 3-0 suddenly it looked like the Celtics are going to be the first team ever to win four straight after losing the first three they’re at home game seven and it just didn’t happen which as a guy growing up as a Celtic hater wasn’t the worst thing for me

STEVE HARTMAN & MONSE BOLAÑOS preview the NBA finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics. Monse thinks that it will be close and the closers are going to be the difference makers, but Steve thinks the reserves are what the winning team will need.

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