Stephen A. says ‘DESPERATION’ for Mavs will help Kyrie ‘ANSWER THE CALL’ in Game 3 😳 | First Take

Stephen A. says ‘DESPERATION’ for Mavs will help Kyrie ‘ANSWER THE CALL’ in Game 3 😳 | First Take

doic three-pointer over porzingis puns it in Luca donic with 23 now in the first half special play from LCA doic they’re down by three nice pass holiday layup is good a brilliant game from Drew holiday oh pitcher at the buzzer white has to hoist up a three-pointer and it’s good holiday at three Washington Drive blocked by white oh what a block from Derek white a smothering defense here in the fourth quarter in the Celtics going to take a two nothing lead in the [Applause] finals all right Jason Tatum and Kyrie Irving have both struggled in the finals thus far their counterparts have not both are shooting below 36% from the field and are combined four of 22 from three point in the finals all right we got to break this down really break this down Stephen I I’ll start with you who do you feel like is more likely to break out in game three is it Tatum or Kyrie I’m going to say Kyrie um and only because of desperation the reality is is that if Kyrie doesn’t step up and remind the world what about his greatness and about the fact that he is a champion um and he’s one of the greatest talents to ever played this game if he doesn’t show up and play like it the Boston Celtics are gonna I’m sorry the Dallas Mavericks are GNA get swept um they are on the verge of a sweep I don’t believe that’s going to happen I still see this being a series because the reason I picked the maps to win this series is because I thought that porzingis is Health would be compromised that did not appear to be the case in game one Shannon and Wendy it clearly is the case entering game three after he went out in the fourth quarter of game two I think that changes things the combination of that combined with the fact that you’re going to Dallas um if did Dallas cannot lose this game um not just because of History not just because of an 03 deficit never being overcome not just because of that but there’s no chance in hell that they should lose this game if porzingis his health is compromised if you’re really really trying to win a championship either they gonna meal it in or they gonna show up and it starts with Kyrie Irving because Luca donic my God chest contusion soreness in the leg still goes out there has a triple double carrying the team on his back he is a superstar there is levels to this and Luca donic is showing that he is on other he is on another level compared to most Kyrie has had us believing that for quite some time he departed from Cleveland wanting us to believe that he was in Boston wed us to believe that he went to Brooklyn wanting us to believe that now he’s in Dallas he has an opportunity if Kyrie Irving played average in game two Shannon you said it if he just scored 20 to 22 points they could have won this game Kyrie Irving has to show up and I think he has the talent and the heart to answer the call I think he will Tatum doesn’t have to he may but he doesn’t have to cuz he has more help Luca donic desperately needs Kyrie Irving I think Kyrie Irving answers the call I agree with you I’m taking Kyrie Irving because if you look at the playoffs Jason Tatum hadn’t shot the ball particularly well all playoff long but he has done other things to help his team win uh as far as uh rebounding the basketball assisting the basketball but Kyrie has to because I think it was uh he and and Luca scored 35 or more points in the close out game if I’m not mistaken that’s the first time that’s happened since Shaq and Kobe so in order for them to win Kyrie has to come along with Luca see and and Stephen A you touched on it Jason Tatum don’t particularly have to go get your 30 35 points because he has JB because he has holiday he has a Derek white we don’t know the status of Pingas but he has other options that could go get points and can assist them in winning without krie being the krie that we saw against uh uh Minnesota the Carrie that we saw against KC the uh Dallas doesn’t have a chance of winning this game I’m going to trust Kyrie at home to snap out of this because he shot the ball really well throughout the playoffs Jason Tatum has been pretty much under 50% the majority of these playoff series so and he doesn’t need to he doesn’t have to in order for them to win so I got Kyrie snapping out of his slump and not JT I think it’s Tatum I actually dispute the concept that Tatum isn’t playing well I think he is I don’t think he’s is playing great but I think he’s doing a lot for his team he is rebounding the ball terrifically and he always rebounds the ball well in the post season you know this is a stat that nobody knew and I didn’t know before this week do you know he’s averaged over 10 rebounds a game in six straight playoff series guess some many’s averaging in this series he’s averaging 10 and the reason he’s that’s important is because he’s guarding defensive Center the way the Celtics scheme they put him on the defensive Center which allows Horford and uh porzingis to be more freelanc which is huge for the Celtics defense secondly you know what Jason kid said the other day about how Jaylen Brown was the Celtics best player you know actions over words because you know who he’s how they’re defending they’re defending with double teams on Tatum they’re not double teaming Jaylen Brown their defense says that Tatum is the best player and you know how he’s reacting to those double teams he’s making plays Drew holiday was absolutely awesome in game two he had 26 points he came in afterwards he goes you know what I wasn’t even that great I was just trying to stay open for Tatum and you go look at the numbers holiday made nine baskets in the paint that was huge on a night when the Celtics couldn’t get those uh those outside shots going how’ he get those baskets how about six of the assists came off of Tatum because he was getting double teamed he was very patient in getting him the ball Tatum is making plays all over the place now granted he can’t make a shot and Shannon you’re right he has not shot the Bell ball well throughout the postseason and for a guy who’s on First Team all NBA to be you know shooting 30% in the finals through two games ain’t good I’m not going to defend that but the S the way things are set up it’s going to be a lot easier for Tatum to do this in Kyrie because the defensive Mountain that Kyrie is being asked to climb right now where they’re cutting off the corner threes and cutting off the lobs and using you know all defensive team defenders in front of him at every moment I just it’s not so much a commentary on Kyrie and Tatum as it is I think the lay of the favors Tatum let me say this to y’all both of y’all um you know Tatum when people asked the question Shannon and I were talking about this yesterday Wendy um who’s the best player and Shannon was talking about how it’s hard for him not to say Jaylen Brown anymore because we can’t just summarily dismiss that it’s closer than people think and I get where he’s coming from but the point that I brought up was the fact that Jason Tatum is your number one option and he’s the number one focus of opposing defense defenses and that is not something that Jaylen Brown has had to play against so let’s see Jaylen Brown be the number one option over the course of an 82 Game season and let’s see him average 27 a game and what have you and all of this other stuff but that’s not to but that’s not to take anything away from the greatness that we’ve seen from Jaylen Brown so we got to give it what where it’s due but what we also have to notice is that when you have and Shannon is right about this when you have the a postseason to prepare for somebody a best of seven look look at Jason Tatum and how he shoots look at where he shoots the ball from I had a Hall of Fame explained this to me yesterday in terms of where he’s shooting the ball from guess what if I’m watching film on you I know if you go right you go into the hole because you ain’t GNA pull up because of how you shoot because you shoot damn near from the left side of your face and so guess what if you going right I know you gonna lay the ball up or you GNA pass it if you gonna go left is when you gonna pull up and step back and shoot a Jay if I know how to game plan against you I’m able to limit you the reason why that’s relevant fellas is because we see him in the postseason on too many occasions Wendy not that he’s awful because he’s playing exceptional defense he’s getting others involved he’s playing selflessly he’s still playing like you know we know what Jason Tatum’s capable of but at the end I got to look at you and what the expectation is and all you doing what we’re accustom and seeing you do and that’s not what he’s doing go ahead Shannon because because here’s the thing weep for all great players Kobe got double team KD Lebron Michael all the great players get double team we’re asking him to be the face of the NBA and now we’re saying he’s struggling because he got double team Steph Curry name a great player that didn’t get double team and most of the guys that got double team didn’t have a sid kick like JB to tag alongside him so I I I can’t use that oh he’s getting double team that’s why he’s struggling shooting some of the shots he’s shooting he shot some threes the other day windy the ball hit the backboard on the opposite side that wasn’t because of no double team he’s struggling shooting the basketball but to his credit he’s found a way to help his team win by doing something other than scoring which is rebounding and facilitating so I like the fact that he’s not soaking say well I can’t make a shot I’m not going to do other things it’s not hard to get R and I shouldn’t say it’s not hard but he’s playing Daniel Gaff on the on the on the defensive end so when the ball goes up Daniel Gaff is around the basket so he better get those rebounds because if he can’t keep Daniel Gafford off the glass they don’t have a chance of winning because Maverick is going to get Second Chance points and Gaff is going to dunk him into the uh in the rim but give it to his credit I will concede this he’s found other ways to help his team win other than scoring the basketball but this playoffs he hadn’t shot the ball well at all [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Brian Windhorst join Molly Qerim to discuss who is more likely to break out in Game 3: Jayson Tatum or Kyrie Irving.

0:00 Tatum or Kyrie
3:00 Shannon’s take on Game 3 star
6:00 Windy on Tatum and Irving
8:00 Expectations for Jayson Tatum

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