Boston's scheme breaks the Mavs offense | NBA Finals Game 1 analysis 

Masterful defensive gameplan and execution by boston. Credit to the coaching staff and the players

The beauty of matchups. Denver is probably the only team which can hang and beat this Celtics but they got beat by their only match-up issue in the league in the Wolves who then got beast by their match-up issue team in Dallas.

That play by brown was just a little glimpse into how smart the guy is. Worth every dollar

WHO THE FUCK IS TINGUS PINGUS AND WHY IS HE BEATING MY GOAT!!?

Boston has 5 of the 7 best players. Tatum had 16 points and they still win by 20. Imagine Luka having 16 points...

I love how Al knows teams want him as their match up, and he comes thru with a block on Luka… that’s a different type of tone setting

Thinking Basketball just uploaded 🎉🎉

Thank you Ben for posting this, now Mavericks have a chance to figure out how to get over this slump

Best, least bias analysis I’ve seen on RU-vid. Subscribed, can’t wait to tune in after each finals game

Superb breakdown of a defensive masterclass by Boston. I haven't seen this good team defense in the finals since the Spurs ten years ago. Brilliant coaching and you also can see each of their top six players being intentional and disciplined in the execution of every play. And the video showed Porzingis' huge impact on both ends of the court. Look at the entire series played by Porzingis starting at the 4:09 mark. For a big man to move that effectively in support defense is amazing. This may be one of your best film breakdowns.

It’s been clear through the playoffs that Kidd will make adjustments to fix some of this, but I still think there’s too much of a talent gap here for the Mavs to win. So many polls have the Mavs winning and I truly don’t understand why, unless people are just picking who they hope will win. Yes, Luka and Kyrie are great players and create a ton of good shots. But Boston has the best guard defenders in the NBA and a rotation of them so Brown and Tatum won’t get burned out. The Celtics would have been weaker against a team like the Wolves or Nuggets since they don’t have as much vertical on defense to stop Jokic and AG or Towns and Gobert. But they have the perfect lineup to slow Kyrie and Luka, and since ALL of the Mavs offense runs through those guys, there isn’t enough playmaking on the roster to cope. Meanwhile, Kyrie and Luka aren’t going to stop Tatum and Brown, and the Celtics still have Jrue, White, and Tingus behind them. Luka and Kyrie are good enough to carry the Mavs to a couple wins with monster performances, but I just don’t see that happening more than twice. Boston in 6.

I have faith that Jason Kidd will adjust. Unless I'm seeing something that isn't there, he's been brilliant with adjusting to defensive strategies this postseason

Finally Dallas met a team that doesn't allow them to crowd the paint and leave ppl in the corners. It really felt like they had a bit of luck with how badly OKC was shooting and how well Luka was shooting againts the Wolves. But that was probably also because Wolves didn't attack Luka that much so he was saving a lot of energy on defense.

It’s kind of crazy how many times one team/guy can look so great just to get instantly figured out in the next game/series this year. The adjustments have been the highlights for me so far in these playoffs, mostly for the west but still. Kudos to the coaches and players honestly. Now let’s see if the Mavs have a plan B because that Celtics defense seems perfectly tuned to contain them.

I'm going to miss Horford. He has been an essential piece that glued everything together. From the IT days, to the Kyrie exleriment, and waiting on JT and JB to mature, Al has been amazing. Even if he left to Philly for a while. I hope he sticks around for another season or two. But I think if the Celtics win it all this year, Horford might call it quits.

Tatum on Gafford is a really smart move. As usual, a very insightful analysis 👌

it might help if dallas moved a little off ball with how tight boston was defending. they are just spotting up while two guys move like 28 other teams do.

Regardless of how this series ends, Luka has got to understand that he needs a plan B. He is fantastic as an on ball scorer and creator, but even that approach has its limitations. Now he needs to develop an off ball game, perhaps like a 96 Jordan, screening, moving and posting up in advantageous positions. Not only will it give him more options, it will likely prolong his career.

Perhaps Tatum's ideal role would be becoming a more offensively-orientated version of Draymond Green. The C's are at their best when they use his defensive versatility and solid playmaking skills.

I was waiting for your video , u and some of Kobe's old videos tought me some basketball and helped understand it better , thank you for your work sir 🙏🏾🙏🏾

One thing I do not understand: the role players had so much open 3s, what they made in previous games against other teams. This time they didn't hit, but if the would hit it would be a complete other game.

If KP stays healthy (enough), Mavs are totally screwed...they'll need to fight for even a win (two would really be something). For me, it became clear after Mavs strong run in the 3rd: As great as Doncic and Irving are, even if they're both hitting shots it's like they're playing a game of chess with half the pieces. But that's a big "if" - Porzingis himself intimated pregame that his calf isn't fully healed.

those plays really gives me a goose bump.

You gotta do one on Jrue Holiday defense on Kyrie

Great video! Love your analysis

I said before the series started celtics spacing would be the difference maker. Mavs rely heavily on gafford/lively's help defense in the paint. When you have bigs that can force them out the 3 point line that leaves the paint wide open.

Makes me think of the way the warriors defended jokic : take out the playmaking and force him to score. He will but he won't score 100 pts, your team will

I kinda hating the final schedules. So many days to rest, fatigue is not a factor anymore.

styles makes fights as said in boxing 🥊

Thinking Basketball, i turned on notifications

I think we might have underestimated joe mazzulla, due to the talent of these players

Awesome breakdown! Even though I think C's win the series, Dallas seemed to play fairly passive on offensive, imo. (settling for what the defensive gives early in the possession). I wonder if they win the next game just from increasing their offball movement and passes per possession.

Pre-switch, great terminology

Where are the Spain PnRs and the Staggered sets up top to handle these stupid matchup issues, these are easily countered and Luka can just go into the post and bully everyone but Tatum. Also, very little offball action by the Mavs. Mavs have the tools to handle what the Celtics threw at them, they just ran straight into the obvious here. Celtics made obvious pre-switches, shaded to Luka and abandoned weaker MAvs shooters.

Good game plan...Let's see the counters.

How would you propose a 4 team trade between Atlanta, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Phoenix???

Its because they didnt ice the screen and slide their feet

I want Luka magic. Be nice if kyrie helped but Boston is the center of the flat earth and throws off gravity. Everyone knows that. Tatum is the best All star and the worst superstar

Celtics have a modern roster built to win Championships this decade. They have five out and scoring at all positions in addition to tenacious defence.

So at 1:35 idk know if this works with lively or gafford in ideally it could if but pj washington and derrick jones jr are sitting the corners instead you would have the X5 sitting weak side wing and do a guard to guard screen and the have you x5 cut to the basket( the x5 could also set a off ball screen for kyrie after/while kyrie sets his screen for luka, if they double kyrie with be open at the top of the key. If the doesnt create a open shot at the very least put the defense in rotation

it was like a enhanced OKC defend which is lot better on every position and like jason kidd said " its a game to see who shot more two" may be mavs should shot more two?

So on defense, Boston did to Dallas what Dallas did to Minnesota and what Minnesota did to Denver. TLDR ignore the non shooter

Jesus, great analysis, man.

The Celtics game plan worked to perfection, but I am more curious to see what adjustments the Mavs will do. If the Mavs wins game two, everybody will analyze what they did and it will look pretty obvious, but to come up with the right plan in first place, that’s the real art. Looking forward to see how Kidd and Dončić will respond. This is why they get paid a lot of money. Especially Luka.

That Luka carry at 1:30 was egregious! How that doesn’t get called idk

everybody's tough when they're up - it's just 1 game

nBA today : winner = team that hits 3s. 1:20 shows Mavs like a team in pre-SC era

Jrue and D White absolute menaces in the gaps as usual.

"And it's a rip through foul on Derrick for having arms" 🤣

What a great breakdown! After I saw this, I Saud to myself, IF Boston wins game 2 continuing with this defensive game plan and it holds, it's going to be a sweep. My reasoning is that Boston was woeful at home this year but deadly on the road. With their game being stepped up (if you can imagine that being needed here), they're not losing again. They're currently unbeaten on the road in the playoffs with only 2 losses total (yup, both at home)🧹🧹🧹🧹⛹️⛹️⛹️⛹️

Should be a crime to highlight all the little things that worked against Doncic when noone else showed up

When you're team runs around like spazes and chucks up shit shots, it's no wonder he only got one assist. No one scored 20 points or more except for Luka and his best teammate only dropped 12 points in a finals game, that's inexcusable.

2:58 Luka missed the easy mismatch on the wing with Horford on Kyrie. if they're gonna play their centers like that then punish them for it.

Where are all the Mavs in 5 people? Seems like they disappeared overnight...

This is one of the best basketball channels on YT. Along side JJ Redick, Tim Legler, & Ryen Russillo.

9:31 Luka with the defensive fail. The mavericks defensive conundrum is not good

but if the extra Celtics player stays in the paint for over three seconds shouldn’t they call a defensive 3sec violation?

2:21 isnt that a defensive 3 second?

LETS GO C's!

This is why all the best players nowadays cant be compared to MJ. MJ cant be stopped like this.

Dallas needs 4 shooters on the court and run pick and pop with whoever has the big man guarding them

good job Boston!!!!!!

8:23 kyrie is a liability in P&R. Tatum is abusing him. Hr keeps getting pinned in. If they pass to KP, U have a triangle between d white kp and JT. KY needs to get JTs hands off him and get under him on the switch or front him. He can not get sealed like this. This is worse than getting face cut

Tatum and brown to me are another form of pippen and Jordan but the roles and public perception are kinda flipped

Great defense, and Luca doesn’t have the teammates he needs-amazing washignton is starting on an NBA finals team. When your center can hit threes like celts, and your 2 cnat like washignton i the nba why would game even be competative. I can see a 4 game sweep easily here. Celts re deep, experienced focused well coached great team defense , Mac’s a one man team .

Sure, Boston has the better Roster. But, these coaching decisions are elite.

Shame on Derrick White for having arms

Luka/Mavericks do good - crickets for the most part Luka/Mavericks do bad - video incoming from Thinking Basketball Like clockwork.

I’m on the fence…. Part of me says Celtics are clearly better…. Part of me says western conference is MUCH better. I feel like it would be more fun to watch the nuggets vs Celtics. Perhaps the ‘western conference is harder’ narrative is flawed? Luka is amazing of course, I am just scratching my head, Dallas is the western conference champ? Wow. If the Celtics continue to dominate this way I am going to have to rethink some things!

You don't see 7'3 Porzingis playing 1-on-1 defense outside the 3-point line against Luka Doncic in the manner Minnesota T-Wolves head coach foolishly had Rudy Gobert guarding Luka Doncic.

Luka needs to learn how to play off the ball. The Mavs’ offense is too predictable because of how much He dominates the ball.

This channel is so elite at the macro perspective. When I watch, though, I’m often sort of fascinated by the micro details that aren’t of importance to him. For example, on some clips he’ll use to demonstrate the overarching concept a team used to scheme well for a specific opponent strategy, sometimes many clips, I’ll notice so many tiny moves or openings that could have been used to turn a play highlighted as a lock to possession, into a blown coverage. I think perhaps the best way to say it is this: it REALLY comes down to shot making and decision making and thinking at an advanced level at the end of the day. While the schemes are SO important! And they DO change outcomes every night! I think it’s also true that no matter what a team schemes and takes away, it’s ALWAYs something you can find to take advantage of. Well, I guess that is IF you are just that good. Like as I’m thinking about this, prime LeBron came to mind. The more you remove ANY weakness from your game, the more it starts to become impossible to SCHEME you into losses. I think you can still find a way to be beat, but it gets to a point where whatever you throw at a player, they have a deadly counter, and it just becomes a game of pure physical competitive resilience. I’m not sure if most of us ever give LeBron the credit he deserves for how well he thinks the game in concepts and schemes and on an individual play by play level. There’s just something so calculated about Prime Bron, it really seemed when he locked in that he didn’t waste any opportunities. I felt like Luka wasted a lot of opportunities this game.

Gaffordvand Lively should get more playing time.

You cannot play jones jr this series. Porzingis is a terrible offensive/defensive matchup for him. Kleber should get some of those minutes for those roll 3s. Or some other big man that can shoot, rebound, and defend prozingis at least a little.

Thank you for the nuances here, because when other Mavs fans were yelling "WHY ARE THEY PLAYING THIS BAD?!?" last night, my only answer was "because Boston is freakishly good and are imposing their will on both sides of the ball."

People were disrespecting the Celtics, it's so crazy.

Very excited to watch the 🐐

The Mavs ran no offense and didn't even try in the first half. In the second half they did better by always using KP or Horford's man in pick n roll. Boston plays 5 man defense ready to rotate and help everywhere. Boston is fast af on defense.

7:18 tingus pingus glutes forces a turnover

Thank you for better pronouncing Kleber. It's pronounced how it's written and it means "glue".

People got too soaked into how the Mavericks destroyed the Timberwolves, but forgot how the Celtics have the best starting lineup this year, by far.

He is no longer the tingus he is porzilla

6:00 I'm crying efjejfjef "and that's a rip-through foul on White for... having arms"

I think Dallas needs to rethink the dunker spots behind the backboard. I think that's a viable strategy with 7 footers, but not 7'4" Porzingis. The dunker has to try to slide their dunk under the backboard but somehow over Porzingis, and if Porzingis only has to reach 9 ft high to block a dunk attempt, that means Porzingis can cheat out like 8 feet. If instead of the dunker spot, the dunker made sure they never step behind the backboard, sure it messes with spacing and makes for a slimmer passing lane, but at least Porzingis now has to defend REAL vertical spacing. I'm not saying that anyone's going to dunk over Porzingis regularly neither btw... but in addition to the backboard playing defense, it's also helping Porzingis with the whistle. If you set up in front of the backboard for a dunk instead of behind it, Porzingis is still going to meet you at the rim much of the time, but 1- you have a chance at getting by over or through his hand, and 2- you have a chance of the refs blowing the whistle. I'm not delusional though. The fact is... with Porzingis' arrival in good health, the Mavs' plans of dominating the paint are pretty well over. At best, the paint is now just a war zone. The Mavs need to start thinking of their offensive pressure in the paint as a spacing measure, not a viable scoring strategy. By all means, take the dunks when they're there, but understand that the dunks are not going to be there until the Mavs make some 3's and punish the drop-coverage. Speaking of... Kleber played 18:40 and he took ZERO SHOTS (just 1 layup). That is spacing POISON. He was -15 (worst per minute of anyone on the court). The Celtics were DARING Kleber to shoot the 3 and he won't oblige. If his shoulder isn't confident enough to shoot when he's alone at the 3, he can't be on the floor. He is ruining the spacing for everyone else.

"A rip-through foul from White for having arms." lol

Tatum had one of his best games as a player IMO and most people probably won't even realize it. The amount of shots/open looks he creates for his teammates all night was insane. The unselfish play from him is a key reason why the team shined on offense. All night long he gave the ball up for better shots/drives and never once demanded the ball simply so he could boost his numbers up with everyone else's. That's the definition of maturity, leadership, and above all winning basketball.

Boston having people able to shoot in any of the 5 positions is KEY to the spacing they can apply. You move your bigs to protect, then you gotta face the guards infiltrating inside, easy and simple.

This is the best channel for nba analysis. You say things we dont notice or other channels talk about.

get the popcorn people, new thinking basketball just dropped

Everything on point but what made it look like a masterpiece was Mavs shooting poorly. If mavs would have made even half of the Open shots, Cs wouldn't have that freedom to keep a player hovering over the paint all the time. Mavs got to shoot high percentage from 3.. absolutely no other way abt it.

Wish pj was shooting like this against the thunder 😑, but fr tho pj shooting will be needed if the mavs going to win

Thinking Basketball, awesome video bro

I really don't see how Mavs wins this series. Boston may have the best starting 5 from a balance pov we have ever seen. Everyone is a 2 way player, everyone's a shooting threat, everyone's got size. It's absolutely masterful how they built that team.

0:01 by having 4 very very good (elite even) on ball defenders, from 1-4 all on the court at the same time. Celts are what the the Twolves thought they were.

Feels bad for Jones.... multiple highlights with his orange shoes and getting blocked...

boston are just such a balanced team honestly, they have so many different options, but i do believe that the sheer talent and skill dallas possess should have a much bigger impact in game 2 once they adapt as a team to boston, i expect a competitive game

what were the mavs doing differently during their third quarter run that helped them massively cut into the deficit, and then what changed again after the timeout? would like to hear your input on the various runs and adjustments within the game in future videos

One thing that kept pissing me off all game was how easily Dallas was willing to switch bigs off of Tingus Pingus, leaving him on an island against Jaden Hardy or Josh Green, both of whom are almost a foot shorter, and way weaker. They switched on weak screens and dribble handoffs. It was really stupid to do. But I feel like Kidd will come into game 2 with adjustments that'll change the whole series

For these type of videos, I'd like to see your thoughts on what adjustments the losing team might make

People think its an anomaly and mavs always lose game 1 and come back strong… but this shows they didn’t learn from the in season beat down, match ups are key to winning… also playoff brown is now activated and upgraded to finals brown, they also have the super 6th man in porzingis!! Line up versatility is key to boston winning so many games in the playoffs, and the strategy and schemes from their coaching staff also vastly improved this season, case in point the pre switch when luka hunts for bigs, and tatum guarding the bigs are legit strategy. I think boston line up versatility might be a big factor for this version or line up of dallas. Honestly if they continue to let boston play like this and if boston gonna be aggressive to attack the paint (as they have the luxury of 5 out) and keep defense on them and lively in foul trouble this is gonna be a short short series, Boston abuse them in their last game in the season for what 28? Game 1 in the finals for 18, people who saying boston can’t replicate this ain’t watching them play this season. Cause this is who they are this season they different and that is why they’re historic this season including the playoffs ❤