NBA Finals 2024: Mavericks vs Celtics Game Analysis

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00:00All right, welcome back to Newswire. The wait is over. Tonight's game one of the NBA Finals,

00:07Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics. Boston, from start to finish, has been the top of

00:12the East, let's just be honest. They've been the best team in the East, maybe in basketball,

00:16and the surprise is that the Mavericks have gotten here. And in fact, there are a lot

00:20of other teams favored ahead of them, not to mention Denver, maybe Minnesota, a lot

00:25of people like the Los Angeles Clippers, but as we bring in Gilbert McGregor, indeed it

00:28is Dallas making their appearance, a team that probably historically, Gilbert, when

00:33you look at it, really doesn't get enough credit, because through the years, the last

00:3620 years, it's like every five, six years or so, here they are again, they're popping

00:40up. A lot of that was with Dirk, and I get that different team, different run in terms

00:45of that, but I guess the Mark Cuban run remains the same. He's been here throughout.

00:50Honestly, that's true. When you think about the Mavericks and the fact that it's pretty

00:54poetic, 20 years apart, 1998, they draft a generational prospect and Dirk Davisky,

00:5920 years later, 2018, they take Luka Doncic or they acquire either each of those guys

01:04on draft, right? And that's resulted in finals appearances and a championship in 2011. And

01:09now they're hoping another championship in 2024. So it's pretty impressive what the Mavericks

01:13have done and what Luka Doncic has done in six short years in his career. He looks like

01:16a 12-year vet out there for sure.

01:18Yeah. And I think the Mavericks season is really on the line, not just with Luka, but

01:23Kyrie Irving. It just really feels that way. And I guess probably you could say that about

01:27any team when the stars don't play well, they lose. And when they do, they win, but Boston

01:30is without a doubt, a deeper team. And I think that's why Gilbert, they've opened up as the

01:35heavy favorite to win the NBA finals. And by the way, pretty heavy favorite tonight

01:39to win game one, six and a half point favorites with a total of 215. I think it's fair to

01:45say in our coach young, who's on our show. I don't know if you feel the same way, Gilbert

01:49is that I don't know when it's going to happen, but there's going to be a game in the NBA

01:54finals where Boston is just not going to play well and lose. I just, I don't think they're

01:56going to sleep. There's going to be a game. I think that this will happen. Is it tonight?

02:02You know what? I don't know if it's tonight. The Celtics have had pretty much really good

02:06successes. The way that we're talking about, it doesn't seem like it's a team that's only

02:09lost twice these playoffs, but the only times they've lost have been in game two in the

02:13first and second round. Now there were a few games that they probably should have lost

02:17in the Eastern conference finals, but their talent got them over the hump and they haven't

02:21lost a game one yet. I think the atmosphere is going to be incredible at TD Garden tonight.

02:26I don't think it'll be too much for the Mavericks. I just think that it's going to lift this

02:30Celtics team past the Mavericks team, who's actually only won one game one. They've been

02:35a lower seed and in every series throughout the playoffs as a 5c in the Western Conference.

02:40So they've had to steal one on the road, but they have been able to do it in game one except

02:44in that Timberwolves series. I think the Timberwolves were a little shocked a little tired after

02:47the emotions of that game seven. They played in the Celtics nine day rest since sweeping

02:52the Eastern Conference finals. I think that they will be ready to go and they'll take

02:55care of business tonight. All right, six and a half point favorites. Gilbert says take

02:58the Celtics tonight. Now, as far as the finals MVP is concerned, it seems like what I'm seeing

03:03on social media, Gilbert is a lot of steam toward taking Jalen Brown, who is seven to

03:09one. And if that's the case, my gosh, that's some serious money coming back on the eve

03:14of the end or we're here on the NBA finals. Now, Jason Tatum is a favorite and Luca obviously

03:18Dallas wins. Luca is probably going to win it. Kyrie's 18 to one boy, you'd be really

03:24reaching with Porzingis 33 to one. So as they say, how many horses are in this race? Gilbert

03:29is it one? Is it two? Is it three? Is it four? Do you like any of these in particular? You

03:34know, I think there's a lot of value with Jalen Brown. We kind of had this conversation

03:37at the start of the Eastern Conference finals and I don't know if they'll give it to him

03:42two series in a row. But I think that we've kind of learned as a precedent as well, because

03:46he will be tasked with making life difficult for Luca Donchic at times and making life

03:50difficult for Kyrie Irving at times. So if you couple that with a couple of big performances,

03:55big moments and big shots, that could be enough for him to put together a case to win finals

04:00MVP. He's also a guy who I expect to kind of come out of the gate strong. He did it

04:04in the conference finals against the Pacers. I've had that big shot to force overtime and

04:09he doesn't really seem phased by the moment in time where other guys maybe are a little

04:13more tentative. So if Jalen Brown gets out to a hot start this series, I can see those

04:17odds start to shift a little bit. So there's some value right now. All right. Well, I mean,

04:22you had the your Boston winning, I think spot on in terms of the games. I believe you had

04:26Dallas to when they faced off against Minnesota here in the end. So I guess I would ask you

04:30this as we close the book on this game in this series in particular, because you can

04:35change your opinion Gilbert, but everyone will remember this conversation. Let's just

04:38be honest, who wins the NBA finals? And how many games do they win it in? I'm taking the

04:45Boston Celtics to win this series and six games. And I think that's because the Celtics

04:50have a few things going for them. The Mavericks have the best player in the series. There's

04:54no questioning that Luka Doncic is the best player in the series. But top to bottom, the

04:58Celtics are a more talented team, and they are a better team. The sum of all the parts

05:02works together much better. The big thing is the return of Kristaps Borzingas and how

05:07well will he be able to play after missing each of the last two series with that calf

05:11injury, but he unlocks so much for this Celtics team. He makes life difficult for those big

05:15men in Dallas who played so well throughout the playoffs. So if Kristaps Borzingas is

05:20back healthy playing at an efficient level that relieves a lot of pressure on Jason Tatum

05:25and Jalen Brown, not to mention they have a guy in Drew Holliday who's been here before

05:28he's won in the NBA finals before and he can be a calming force for some of these guys

05:33on that Boston team who may still have some memories from how things went two years ago

05:37and kind of can avoid things going that same way they did against the Warriors in 2022.

05:41All right, game one tonight of the NBA finals. Now, before you go, Gilbert, it's very rare

05:47in this media cycle with rumors in the NBA to have a coach come out of nowhere to such

05:52a high profile position to essentially take over the head coaching gig. Gilbert, that

05:57is what is happening this morning. Dan Hurley? I mean, this was not a name that was brought

06:02up to be coaching anywhere, let alone the Lakers. We had heard along potentially be

06:06J.J. Reddick. Rumors usually come out before the facts. No, no rumors, just facts here.

06:12Just very quickly. Lakers pivoting here. I'm I really want to know how this went down,

06:17don't you? I'm really surprised. You know, I wake up this morning thinking all I'm thinking

06:21about is NBA finals prep and I see this news on my phone that Dan Hurley could be making

06:25the league. He's a great coach. He's probably established himself as the best coach in college

06:29basketball. He made the leap from high school to Rhode Island to UConn and lead them to

06:33back-to-back titles. I can see it. It's going to be a tall task to do it. As you mentioned,

06:37a high-profile job with the Lakers expectations of what a title will be placed on a right

06:41away, but I could see it happening. It's going to be interesting to see is a no-nonsense

06:44coach and that doesn't necessarily always fly in the pros. But if anybody can do it,

06:48I think Dan Hurley could. All right, go. We're very surprising, by the way, on game one of

06:52the finals that we would get a piece of news like this. Usually they don't do that. It's

06:55usually reserved for an off day. But anyway, thanks for coming on the show, Gilbert. Enjoy

06:59the finals. We'll catch up again next week. Looking forward to it.

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