It’s official! The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks will go toe-to-toe in the NBA Finals. Boston is back on the world’s biggest stage for the second time in three years. They enter the series as the more experienced team at this level. They’re also (arguably) the more talented team and will likely be the clear favorites to raise their first banner since 2008.
As with any playoff series, we will all have some questions heading into Game 1. Matchups are always fluid. Head coach Joe Mazzulla has shown a willingness to be experimental throughout games and the lifespan of a series. If I had to hazard a guess, I would expect the opening matchups to be something like:
- Doncic – Brown
- Irving – Holiday
- Jones Jr. – White
- Washington – Tatum
- Gafford – Porzingis
My thinking is that Jaylen Brown will want the task of guarding Luka Doncic to begin the series. He’s been vocal about guarding the opposing team’s best player and has proven himself to be an elite on-ball defender. Brown has the athleticism, size and physical strength to hang with Doncic over screens or in space. Brown also has enough body control to try to keep pace with Doncic when he decels around the rim or off drives.
Having Jayson Tatum on P.J. Washington allows him to switch when needed or rotate over as a helper — if the Celtics decide to stick with that system in light of Dallas’ threat from the corners.
I have Kristaps Porzingis starting on Daniel Gafford, but I have some questions there…
Will Porzingis start or come off the bench?
Porzingis has missed over a month of basketball. Judging by the available reporting and his own comments, we’re likely to see him back in the rotation for the NBA Finals. However, there’s a chance he will need to work himself back into game shape. As such, it will be interesting to see whether Porzingis assumes a bench role to begin the series or whether he’s thrust back into the starting unit but has his minutes closely monitored.
If Porzingis starts, I would expect him to continue in his drop coverage, with his primary matchup being Gafford. The Celtics will likely try to keep Porzingis out of any up-to-touch coverage to begin the series until they’re confident his body can handle the additional movement and physicality.
Will the Celtics look to hunt Kyrie on mismatches?
Mazzulla has had the Celtics hunting mismatches throughout the postseason. A big part of their dominance has been the ability to lean into their size, skill and ball-handling to exploit weaker defenders. Tyler Herro was the target in the Miami Heat series. Tyrese Haliburton was the target in the NBA Finals. And the Celtics, through some mismatch looks at Darius Garland in the conference semis.
Kyrie makes sense as the mismatch target in the NBA Finals. His size makes him susceptible, especially if being forced to guard Tatum, Brown or Porzingis.
Can the Celtics finish the mission?
We have to ask this question, right? Boston is back in the NBA Finals. They’re not the inexperienced team coming into this matchup; that would be Dallas. The Celtics have the talent and the experience. They also come into this series as heavy favorites. I’m hopeful that they will be lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of this series to cap an awesome postseason run. Still, the question has to be asked. Even if we all believe we know the answer.
CelticsBlog graciously allowed this article to be cross-posted from my “Celtics Chronicle” newsletter.
