thelesterlee
I’ve seen 1 game out of a 7 games series and I’m ready to make wild assumptions and overreactions based on the smallest sample size possible. Game 1 of the NBA Finals went to the Boston Celtics. It was a blowout from the beginning. Boston made every single jump shot they took while Dallas played as if their rim was 12 feet high.
Here are my 4 overreactions from Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals:
1. Kyrie can’t play in Boston
Going into Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, debates were had regarding Luka and Kyrie’s place in history. Were they the greatest backcourt in NBA history or maybe the second-greatest ever? Surely, no one would dare to say they were any worse than the second best.
Then Kyrie Irving scored 12 points, playing as if his heart was beating out of his chest like a cartoon wolf seeing a leggy broad.
Luka scored his 30.
But Kyrie—who was instrumental in Dallas’s victories over the Clippers in the first round and the T-Wolves in the Conference Finals—was 6-for-19 (0-for-5 from 3), had more turnovers than assists and played as if before the game, he was in the locker room with Joe Rogan telling him all he needs to do is survive on a basketball court for 40 minutes to win the $50,000 Fear Factor prize.
Perhaps Kyrie is still carrying a ton of Boston baggage. I truly believe he thought he would play in Boston, just like his father, and be this important figure in the city and team’s history but drowned under the responsibility of being ‘the guy’ before leaving for Brooklyn with his enabler, Durant, and the two used their time on the Nets to be catty, rebellious teenagers.
I’m not ready to say the moment is too big for the guy who beat the Golden State Warriors with LeBron, 2-on-15. But my man cannot play these big games in Boston.
2. Kristaps Porzingis is the Finals MVP
Call an ambulance, but not for Porzingis.
Kristaps missed most of the playoffs with a calf injury, jogged back onto the court for Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, and, I may have to check the box score, did not miss a single shot in his return against his former squad.
Okay, he shot 8-for-13 (he must’ve missed those shots when I stopped watching after the third quarter) but Porzingis both offensively AND defensively, NUKED the game. The Celtics plugged in their Gameshark and typed the Kristaps Porzingis cheat code.
20 points in 21 minutes. 3 blocks like Victor Wembanyama’s defensive highlights were playing on the TV during his physical therapy sessions—Porzingis blacked out. Speaking of which, watching Kristaps hit momentum-altering 3s, wearing a Celtics jersey, in front of the whitest crowd in the NBA feels extremely hate crime-y. We’re witnessing Jim Crow-era ball.
3. Luka Doncic isn’t ready yet
Luka Doncic is one the best basketball players in the world when he’s locked in on both sides of the floor. He’s big and strong enough to play some decent on-ball defense but he sure loves quitting.
It’s the NBA Finals.
You flew into training camp, warmed up in the preseason, marched through 82 regular season games, battled in three straight rounds of playoff basketball and YOU’RE NOT GOING TO ROTATE IN THE NBA FINALS?! Luka will get beat off the dribble and watch the rest of the defensive possession standing still as the ball gets whipped around the perimeter to wide-open shooters he should be rotating to contest.
Luka Doncic isn’t ready to be champion. The Celtics are playing with a cinderblock tied to the gas. Luka and the Mavs are playing like they’ve been driving on E for 30 miles and the next gas station isn’t for another 10 miles so they’re trying not to step on the pedal too hard.
Doncic had 30 points and dope, cool, fire, but 1 assist, with the number of possessions he has the ball in his hands, is absurd.
I’m going to repeat this: it’s the NBA Finals.
4. Jayson Tatum isn’t special
I go back and forth between feeling as though Tatum is unfairly underrated and believing Tatum is a front-running bum and after Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, I’m all in on Tatum being a bum.
Jayson Tatum finished the game with the quietest 16 points in Finals history.
He is a Rorschach test in which some see the ultimate winner who sacrifices stats and MVP trophies for deep playoff runs but is absolutely capable of dominating the sport like Jokic or Giannis does whose talent shouldn’t be diminished because he plays for a competent front office—while some see him as fortunate to be drafted into one of the few well-run organizations, who would not be able to succeed if he were, say, drafted to Dallas instead of Luka and was asked to carry Dorian Finney-Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr to the Conference Finals like Luka did in 2022.
All I know is no other star player in the NBA can disappear for quarters at a time. Tatum isn’t special and that’s okay.
Thanks for reading. Go ahead and sign up for the D, the daily Deadseriousness newsletter sent directly to your inbox every AM.
What are your 2024 NBA Finals overreactions? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let me know if you think Tatum is HIM because I need a laugh.
