Mavericks vs. Celtics in the NBA Finals, Nick and Brou give their picks | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Ms Celtics starts next Thursday Celtics favored by Hefty 6 and 1/2 here outside of one hiccup in the last round Brew Your predictions almost Flawless Nick is getting mad he's been hot all the way dating back all the way to the Rangers what the guy's been hot I pick Boston to sweep through the East they did I mean what are we talking about just want to show you the tale of the tapate Brew before you make your prediction on these two teams uh this is since the trade deadline where Dallas kind remade their squad what you see highlighted as top two uh in the NBA so who do you have in the finals now I was saying that I was leaning strongly toward Dallas right all week when it looked like they had that Series in hand against Minnesota and now after seeing last night it's an easy choice for me there you go Dallas there you go like I think they have the best player in the series buy a lot a good amount I mean Tatum I'm going to respect Tatum but LCA is the best player in the series numerically it's by a few points um I I do think defining points but that's fine defining points by points oh you're right but that's not all he does right but that's not all he does he's but go ahead sorry BR I'll give you this Wilds I think that their perimeter Defenders are great in Boston Drew holiday and Derek white two all League Defenders you can put on Kyrie and then you got or or one of them might be on Luke at times and Tatum and brown are good Defenders and they're bigger but I just don't think Luca when he's in his Zone I don't care what you do defensively I think he's gonna be hot the interesting thing to me is what does Kyrie do now we saw when Kyrie played in Brooklyn the close sweep right they did a great job against this Boston team now they had Marcus Smart eem Oka was the coach I think that team was a little tougher defensively a little more physical but they they were able to handle Kyrie and he did have Kevin Durant there so you can't say it was just they could focus on Kyrie but I think that's what I'm really looking to see now Boston also wi they can go to Five out but I think Dallas can answer that you Lively can cover porzingis he's athletic enough to get out there with porzingis and then with PJ Washington and and uh Derek Jones Jr like they can go five out with you if you want and still be good defensively so I I I like I think Kyrie and and Luca are just too clutch and we know tatm has had his struggles in the clutch oh here we go even though the team has been good in the clutch Tatum's had his struggles I'm going with with h Dallas I'm picking six I thought about five yeah I'm on the record Dallas and five and five yeah five could be right do you want to go Wilds uh no go ahead okay so so obviously I'm going with Dallas because fortunately I'm the one person on this show that we haven't had to do this like hey now that your guy's been eliminated who do you have you picked the lers I did not pick the Lakers win the championship Brew I never want who had more title pie it was it after Denver Boston it was the is not your pickle not was Brew Brew brew I'm not I'm not trying to brew I think I've been very gentle with the T toes down about yesterday and this and the force of a show that we were forced to do the last two days about well could this go7 all this that is totally you that is totally Wild's doing but the so the Mavs are winning and this is where I feel like the Eastern Conference and the injuries did the Celtics a disservice like I don't think that they are ready for this difficulty jump that they're about to deal with and that's not their F the Celtics come into these finals one of seven teams in NBA history under the current playoff format in an 82 Game season to never face a 50- win team and those sub 50- win teams they played were all injured right meanwhile the Mavs come into these finals we can show you having played one of the hardest paths by how many wins the other team has in NBA history they every team they played won at least 50 games if they win the championship by a win percentage metric we can show you the next one it will be the third hardest Championship as again purely as far as what the team's record was and all of that and aside from Kawai for half of round one the teams they're playing there's no massive injury that that affected things and then Wilds you showed a graphic at the front end which I think is better than the season long stats because the Mavs remade their team but I'm going to show one that I think is even more relevant which is how these teams have done with their starting fives that they will have for the finals and the answer is the Mavs with this starting five have been a on a 67 win pace and that includes going through the gauntlet of the playoffs the net rating which the Celtic side which is historic is almost neck and neck the Celtics offense is a bit better the Mavs defense is a bit better so this starts at the trade debt start this it is every game this year when you had the five guys who are now their current STS that's a good sample right so the for the Mavs yes it's post trade deadline but it does not include games where like Lucas sat out or Kyrie sat out and for the Celtics it doesn't include games where Chris STS missed or any of their guys missed okay Chris STS missed a lot of Chris hasn't played since April I understand but they I I get that but the Celtics also had the same starting five all year so that's that's also good possibility that that was against a weaker or tougher schedule for the match well it has to be because almost all of these these games or all of the playoff games for the Mavs have been under this circumstance because they've had the same five starters for all five playoff games cuz Lively is not a starter Gafford is and so the so for what and you mentioned who's guarding Kyrie I think that is super noteworthy and I think Kyrie is in for it this series to a degree because Drew is great and Derek white is very good I I saw some people speculating on is Drew going to guard Luca I think that would be a mistake for Boston I just don't think he's big enough I think he's a great defender I just don't think he's physically big enough I think it's going to have to be Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum taking turns and there is a huge cost to that there is a huge cost on the offensive end which could be why they go with Drew nobody stopping him so will Tatum and brown so okay so maybe then maybe they will but I just you understand what I mean like if you if Jason Tatum or jayen brown have to guard l fou trouble and you also risk an offensive drop so I I I like the Mavs I said after I think game three that I like the Mavs and five and I still like the Mavs and five okay with all that being said the last matchup that they played the Celtics beat the Mavs by 28 points and I believe every that was the remade Mavs so they have a little bit experience and again the Celtics have been blasting teams throughout the regular season and throughout the playoffs and they did it to the Mavs so here's why I don't like five I obviously I'm picking the Celtics and Brew you were worried about this and I'm a little bit worried to be totally honest on how many that the Celtics just live and die from the three right so that they shoot the most three they make the second most and everybody hits they they make 30 shoot 39% jayen shoots 35 Chris THS and Tatum shoot 37 Pritchard 38 uh Derek White's 40 Horford's 42 he's got hot in the playoffs and Dre shooting 43 all of a sudden so do you think that this is almost like a style mix fight like you know what it's just bombs away and you know the Celtics going to get hot you know they're going to get hot one game you know they're going to get cold one game and it's really those middle gam which why you're saying five is not going I think five is unreasonable because there's going to there's definitely going or two like what do you want to do they made you know 24 threes right no it's fair look Dallas I think like I said Can guard on the perimeter you know but look if they're going to they're going to have a game where they shoot terribly or poorly and they'll probably get beat that game but they will be hot for several of the games I I I always felt I said it when the Western Conference Finals was going on I felt they matched up better with Dallas than they do with Minnesota but do you still feel that way after watching Minnesota roll over at like we didn't we'll talk about it more later Minnesota's like effort level yesterday and all of that made me think we maybe put slightly momentarily overrated them for beating Denver but I guess we'll see don't you think they they thought they they peaked they're like we beat the Champs yes but then but that doesn't mean that after winning a game four and Anthony Edwards promising michah Parsons were going to be back that you're going to come out not ready to play at home in a game five but on the three on the three-point stuff just quickly I game one of the Western Conference Finals the Mavs got outscored on the three-point line by 36 points and won the game it was so they already had the I think it was one of five playoff games NBA history right it is I but you think that's like a that's a proof of concept or just an aberration I think it's I think it is an aberration historically but my point is they have shown you that even if we get cooked behind the line a week ago we won a game against the hottest team in the league at that or not the hottest you understand and so I just I think that if the teams are relatively evenly matched with since the Mavs made those moves all the numbers say they are and one team in my opinion has a historically great player and the other team has a really good sixth seventh best player in the league type of guy I'm going to go with the team I well I think you could I think the teams are fairly evenly match but I think you could argue Boston has as great as Kyrie is if you taking both sides of the Court into account Boston has a second and third best player the you don't what do you think two through no what do you Boston doesn't have a ton of depth the I mean I if if I were rating it Wilds I would I think the if Bruce saying is correct it would go like this Luca Tatum Brown Kyrie and then a lot of green jerseys coming up no three go ahead three three green jerseys coming up go ahead there I mean Drew porzingis white and now I'm going to go with three Mavs in I'm not putting Al above what we're getting from these guys and the and the Celtics don't have a don't have a deep bench they have a great starting five but the M but the this Timberwolves team since they've been the I'm sorry this Mavs team has the number one defense and Luca's playing it seems to be getting better as the playoffs go on and they are winning 82% of their games a 67 win Pace with this starting five this is who they've got that's a dangerous team that is a day the Celtics 64 games how many games you got Celtics and six thanks for watching subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1

Channel: First Things First

Views: 452,178

Keywords: NBA, Basketball, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, fs1, fox sports, fox sports 1, sports, sports talk, sports news, nba, basketball, the association, eastern conference, western conference, sports show, sports debate, nba news, nba talk, basketball talk, basketball news, 2024, playoffs, nba playoffs, 2024 playoffs, mavs, mavericks, celtics, nba finals, finals, mavs vs celtics, celtics vs mavs, jaylen, tatum

Id: tl6g5rpgyB0

Length: 11min 37sec (697 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024