Mitch Cumsteen

I’ve never liked the Celtics but that’s a very likable team. No douchebags or jackasses, they play the right way and they seem to genuinely seem to play for each other. It’s difficult to dislike guys like Horford, White, Holiday and even Brown and Tatum. They get everybody back next year too. They are going to run into some cap stuff year after next, but even so, Tatum and Brown are still very young. They are going to be in the mix for a good while.

Just imagine how bad Boston would have blown out the mavs in this series if Luka wasn’t top 7 in defensive rating among guards.

First off, defensive statistics are mostly bullshit, even the advanced stats. They just are. But beyond that, steals are not a good defensive metric AT ALL. You can get high steal numbers because you are taking unnecessary risks. You can get high steal numbers NOT guarding your man and playing the passing lanes. You can get high steal numbers while being a net negative to your team defense. I can't believe I'm even having to explain this. It's embarrassing. If you're looking for a reason that the defensive numbers look better with him on than off, you probably don't have to look much further than his insane offensive efficiency. It's a helluva lot easier playing defense when the offense is taking the ball out of bounds after a made basket and you can set up in the half court vs. getting a live ball rebound.

He turned down 2 years $48 million from the warriors last year. I don’t know if he’s going to get that kind of money elsewhere. I mean he did shoot 39% from three this season. But that 0 for 10 stink bomb in the play in vs Sac and that disaster against the lakers in the playoffs last year are still on everyone’s mind. I think he’s in for a reality check when he tests the market this summer.

Solid effort from Boston tonight. Like it’s Tuesday night game in January against the Wiz.

Exactly. He played the most minutes of his career this season and shot it exceptionally well from 3 on higher volume. And I did qualify it with "appreciably". He's clearly a better player now than as a rookie, but you would expect a player as young as he was coming into the league to have more of an upward trajectory. It just shows what a savant and prodigy he is. It's like the guy had zero learning curve coming into the NBA at 19 years old. That just doesn't happen.

The Kobe/Jordan comparisons aren't fair. He's still so young. By the same token, he's been a professional since he was 16 and I don't know that he's gotten appreciably better over the last couple of seasons. I don't think he's going to take the next step until he cuts his ref bullshit out, gets in great shape, and starts giving more effort on defense. I don't think any of those criticisms are unfair and the idea that he can still easily improve on those things should be scary for the rest of the league. He's that great offensively. Kevin Durant played for Brooklyn two years ago. In the bigger picture, I don't know how much stock to put into this year's playoffs vis a vis the hierarchy in west. The west is extremely deep with good teams, but nobody is great. Just about anybody could beat anybody else, depending on health and matchups. Minnesota was a bad matchup for Denver. Dallas was a bad matchup for Minnesota. Boston is certainly a bad matchup for Dallas. Who knows what happens if a game or two goes the other way during the regular season and the seedings get shuffled. Are we having a different conversation? Where do the Mavs rank in the west next year? Are they one of the best 3-4 teams, or did they just catch lightning in a bottle? They were certainly a different team post trade deadline. Lively was an amazing pick. They don't have much cap space or draft capital, but they aren't completely hamstrung like Phoenix or the Clips.

Some of the Luka criticism is definitely hot take du jour and magnified by the finals spotlight, but there is a definitely a good portion of validity to it. The foul baiting and excessive whining while not getting back on defense is abhorrent. There is a clear lack of effort on defense in many cases. I don't see how that any of that is debatable. Some of it may be defensible. Much of it is not. And just because he's in better shape, doesn't mean he's in good shape. Round is a shape, too, as the saying goes.

Look, I hear you about the rosters. Certainly Boston is much deeper and much better and more well rounded and it's not really close. But there's a bigger philosophical discussion to be had about the style that Luka plays that doesn't necessarily empower or elevate his teammates. You can't just look at it in a vacuum and say that Brown or Tatum are not as good as he is. They are just different and play in a different system. To paraphrase Luka's spirit animal James Harden, "I'm not a system player. I am the system." Meanwhile, everybody else sits around and waits for something to happen. Sure they get open looks and lobs because of him, and got damn he is a pick and roll savant, but that's really the only kind of actions that Dallas runs. And Boston choked that shit out by switching everything and daring Luka to beat them one on one. You want to go ask Derek Lively or PJ Washington to go create their own shot for the first time all season in Game 3 of the finals? Doesn't seem optimal to me. Even Kyrie, for all his basketball brilliance, doesn't play off Luka as much as they take turns running the show - which consists of setting a couple of picks to hunt the matchup you want, and then making some cool shit up and/or taking a bad step back three. Sure, you can look at the ends justifying the means, "Hey, this cat dragged this ragtag outfit of flawed role players to finals!" But then, he took them to the WCF in 2002. Is it fool's gold or are they just that close to getting over the hump? I really don't know. But I do that his team would have a better chance of winning if he stopped foul baiting and bitching to the refs instead of getting his ass back on defense.

Trading 8 to move up three spots in this flat draft wound be monumentally stupid.

Wow. Luka gone.

Oh boy.

Boston finally started hitting their threes. It’s the only thing that has kept these games remotely close. Those shots have been wide open. Figured it would happen eventually.

Dallas only up one after that start. Not a great sign. They got killed when Luka went to the bench.

No disrespect the the Rocket fans, but @Wulaw Horn would have a much better case for 1986 if Sampson doesn't hit that shot and it's the rubber match between the Lakers and Celtics from the previous two finals. Sorry, but that would have been much, much bigger. But in that same vein of overvaluing your own team in these types of discussions.... I could make an argument for 2014. It was the last of the Duncan-era Spurs rings, winning the title playing the beautiful game and avenging the prior year's loss to Miami in the finals. Lebron was at his absolute peak with the Heatles. Durant won MVP and OKC won 59 games. The Splash Brothers Warriors were just hitting their runway, one year away from their first title. Lebron, KD and Steph really defined the NBA for nearly the next 10 years. The west was ridiculous that year -- you had Lob City Clippers and the Harden/Dwight Howard Rockets. Portland with upstart Lillard and Aldridge, and the Grit and Grind Grizzlies. And it was probably Dirk's last great year before he started tailing off.

It's probably inarguable that he had the greatest basketball career in history, all things considered. Never saw him play and by all rights he was an all time great, but what an absolutely legendary front office man. Put together the Showtime Lakers, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, the grit and grind Grizzlies, and the Splash Brothers Warriors. And after all that, he probably gets remembered as a psycho from a TV show that took way too many artistic liberties.

There are at least what, 30 players more deserving than Brink to be on that team? I’m so appalled.

All fair. Clingan did shoot it better from the line in the last half of the season and his form looks okay to me. I don't think his outside shooting is a lost cause. And sure, emulating Boston seems like a fine idea, but they have had to defend zero bigs in the playoffs that offer any sort offensive threat. They were lucky to dodge Embiid and Giannis. You aren't going to have that luxury in the west.

I've been saying since day 1 that we need to lean hard into this narrative. These inbreds need to be reminded endlessly that they invited a vampire into their home. The conference system is destined to crumble into an EPL like system. I hope like hell we get full credit for its demise. Lamborghinis for everyone!

I'm obviously an outsider, but I would be all over Clingan if I were Houston. Not only is Sengun's range evolving, there's even the better than zero possibility that Clingan grows into a stretch 5 or at the very least becomes respectable from 15-20 feet out. He doesn't have terrible touch and actually shot really well at the combine, if you believe in such things. I look around the west and who are the contenders over the next 5-10 years? Jokic is still only 28 years old with a game not predicated on athleticism that should age very well. Minnesota plays two seven footers, at least until they have to salary dump one of them. OKC has Holmgren and is almost assuredly adding another big sooner rather than later. Dallas has an interior presence now with Lively and Gafford. Wembanyama is lurking in San Antonio. Sengun is at a size disadvantage and is a defensive liability to all of them. Unless you believe in Steven Adams knee that he hasn't been able to play on in two years or want to invest in a Mason Plumlee-level journeyman, this team has a gaping need for an interior defender and rim protector. It's not news. They chased the hell out Brook Lopez last summer. Clingan seems like a no brainer to me.

I don't really follow this shit, but is a 41 year old Diana Taurasi really better than Clark is right now? Taurasi is averaging 17.0, 4.4 and 3.9. Clark is averaging 16.8, 5.3, and 6.3, and doing it while being hounded from the second she leaves the locker room.

I guess you can stop masturbating to your Bill Russell poster then, huh?

Not only that, but Boston was 10/38 from 3 last night and still rolled. They missed one wide open look from three after another. Granted, Dallas was 6/26 including a putrid 2/15 by people not named Luka, but that was far from a vintage performance last night by the C's. Also, Tatum has shot the ball poorly in the first two games. He's 12/38 for the series and 4/14 from three. It just shows you how well balanced and talented Boston is. Granted, he's been impactful in other ways, but Boston has the luxury of their best player being average and winning while Dallas needs Luka to be world class to even stay competitive. The Dallas role players are going to have to be special at home for this series to become competitive. Somewhere, on some other message board, a couple of weeks ago there was a Nuggets fan saying this exact thing about Edwards, Townes and Gobert during their series against the Mavericks. Seriously?