Greeny ADAMANT if Luka Doncic doesn’t ‘play great’ the Mavs WON’T WIN the NBA Finals 😯 | Get Up

On Get Up, Brian Windhorst, Monica McNutt and Alan Hahn join Mike Greenberg to preview the NBA Finals Game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks and debate who has more on the line: Jayson Tatum or Luka Doncic?

0:00 Joe Mazzulla or Jason Kidd?
5:00 More on the line: Jayson Tatum or Luka Doncic?
6:30 NBA Finals Game 1 preview
8:30 Luka Doncic in the postseason
9:45 Superstars carrying the load

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as we are one day and counting to the finals let’s play who you got Monica which Robin and again I always say Robin is a superhero that is not an insult which Robin do you trust more in this series Kyrie or Jaylen Brown tough I’m going to go Jaylen Brown though coming off with the hardware in the Eastern Conference Finals he’s playing great confident basketball he obviously hit a huge shot to help the Celtics take one of those games versus the Pacers in the clutch I just like the momentum and the juice he’s got right now Allan we know coaching will decide one of these games along the way which coach do you trust more Missoula or Jay kid well Joe missoula’s come a long way since last year which was a lot but I’m going with Jason kid because he has proven already as a head coach especially in these playoffs he’s great at adjustments great out of timeouts and I’m talking about not even in-game adjustments game to game adjustments as well he has been a fantastic Coach and he’s going to win one of these games just with his coaching I’m I’m with that and then wi man it’s a complicated question because it has so many layers to it but who would you think has more on the line here Luca or Tatum well look Tatum’s only 26 so let’s keep that in perspective but he’s been to five Conference Finals and this is his second NBA Finals time to win fair enough there’s a lot of layers to that question I’m going to dive into a bunch of them but first you need to hear our buddy Stephen A Smith very vocal about what Jason Tatum has to do in this series what can’t happen with Jason Tatum is that a Boston loses and B he’s the biggest reason why that would be disastrous he can’t emulate his performance from the NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors that is unacceptable Jaylen Brown was a better player than Jason Tatum was in that finals that can’t happen again so there’s so many different ways as we set this thing up and this is a Ser look let’s face it this has all the makings I know we’re waiting a long time between the games and it can be frustrating but once this thing gets rolling there are about as many storylines as you could possibly have so we were talking uh this morning on our pre-show because there’s so many ways to try and get at the question who has more at stake who has more at stake and I think You’ stumbled upon a pretty good way of answering that question why do you say it is Jason Tatum it is Tatum and also the Celtics the Celtics have an opportunity here we don’t normally see and what I mean by that is they’re an Eastern Conference team that’s favored do you know and I this this stopped me this week There’s only been three Eastern Conference teams favored going into the finals in the last 20 years it’s been 11 years since an Eastern Conference team has been favored going into the finals look all Lebron Lebron team what a so here you have the Celtics with a great team with a healthy roster with homecourt Advantage with rest with the experience Edge come on you got to win it this is your opportunity I don’t care about Legacy I don’t care about anything they’re on the 18th the at Augusto with a one shot lead they need to to make four and get this done cuz they may never get another opportunity this good I I I love that analogy a because any analogy that involves golf is good by me but B I think you’re right we’ve been saying or some of us on the show been saying if not now when if not now when for them but then as you look at it a little differently Allan you had a little different take on why there may be more urgency on the other side yeah absolutely because it’s they not on the if you’re Luca donich you’re not even on the green here when you have to look at what is in the west waiting for you opportunities Luca does not want to be Dan Marino early in your career you get there and never get back even though you could be one of the best if not the best player in the game in the west it’s a lot harder than it is in the East I can see the Celtics coming back but you got Nicole yic let’s not forget about of course the reigning MVP he’s still around he’s still in his prime and they want to make a comeback to win another championship how about Anthony Edwards you know he’s on his way as well that he wants to be back that he’s going to be somebody you got to face and then of course there’s the future of the NBA in San Antonio and that’s Victor wanyama so you have him as well there’s a lot at stake and oh by the way LeBron James and Steph Curry are still alive in playing basketball they’re in the west as well it’s a lot harder in the west to get to the finals arguably than if the Celtics would say we can get back next year because next year guess what they’re still going to be the best team in the East I agree with that they’re both very good takes and they’re fascinating ways of trying to frame it how do you see it mcnut well in terms of the odds yesterday we talked about it the Mavericks were what what 25 to one to even get here before the season before the season begin so I mean the Mavs odds not being favored like here they are right so that’s the first thing I think of but then two it makes me think in terms of the Celtics as much as we’re talking about christop porzingis and his ability to pick and pop his ability to stretch the floor him being a potential xfactor you look at a guy like Drew holiday that has tremendous experience that was a 17- n guy in that series when the bus beat the Phoenix Suns and how important is he going to be to help this team close not just offensive L but defensively in terms of how do you slow down the power of Luca and Kyrie so I know we didn’t draw this one up this way preseason y’all but I don’t like this is going to be a fantastic series I I’d make a statement and you guys tell me if you agree I Monica I’ll start with you I’ll make a statement that I can see a way the Celtics win this series if Tatum isn’t the best player I do not see a way the Mavs win this series if Luca isn’t the best player if Luca isn’t absolutely brilliant and I don’t see them winning any game that doesn’t play great I can see the Celtics finding ways to win games that Tatum doesn’t play great it’s a different level or a different way of framing the pressure but in general do you agree with that I do agree with that and I think frankly that’s why we didn’t discuss Jason Tatum a ton this year when we’re talking about what was he fifth in MVP odds or if he got he was first team all all NBA but I think he did finish fifth in MVP right Jaylen Brunson finished the spot ahead of him uh he finished fifth in MVP anded first in all NBA right right so I think part of the reason and this is where you have to appreciate basketball and an organization reinforcing Their Stars the Celtics have the ability to share responsibility offensively and defensively in a way that the Mavericks just do not and so I agree with you I don’t think that Tatum’s Legacy should be defined whether or not he’s finals MVP of course it would be a win for him personally but I don’t think that that’s going to be important because there’s a very real world to me that Jaylen Brown could go off or we just talked about Drew holiday if he has an outstanding defensive performance and is steady offensively we will all be like wow look who managed to slow down Luca that’s going to be huge and that’s the difference in this series this is a superstar versus a team a super team I I I think that’s what the Celtics are not in the super team way we all remember which is of course the Miami teams and how the previous Boston championship team but I’m talking about as the Celtics has that fiveman unit the best fiveman unit in the league so Tatum could doesn’t have to be all world for them to win Luca though does remember he comes into this thing leading the playoffs in every major category statistically that’s important to point out he is the system right he he is not in the system he is the system he also has the highest usage rate of a player since alen Iverson in the NBA Finals they go through him everything is about what Luca can do Kyrie and the beauty of him is that he can tag in and then provide some cover while Luca is getting some rest or just taking a step back but the Mavs cannot survive if LCA donic is not the best player on the floor what do you think of that Wendy yeah the margin for air for the Celtics in the series is wider they have more different Pathways that they can go down to Victory than the Mavericks do but I will say this the Mavericks have not had homec court in any Series in this in this playoffs they’ve won them all Luca seven two on the road been great on the road Luca has consistently delivered against every defense against every scheme he has shown that he can deliver under the clutch here and so that’s one of the reasons why I’ve packed for three weeks okay that’s that’s just the truth of it that’s right today is day one of the windy Odyssey that will take him all across this country over the course of the next uh it could be as many as 3 weeks we’ll see how long it winds up going that is sort of an interesting uh other point that you’re making there about the the the the role that Luca plays in all of this and the path that they took how many times have we had the conversation Celtics haven’t been touched haven’t been pushed they played three teams none of them were as good as the worst team that the Mavericks have played and they had injuries all along the way the Mavericks beat 350 win teams on the way to get here we’ve been wondering all along will that matter will that matter well now we’re going to find out you think it matters uh I think it matters a little bit because I think you need the opportunity to plow through adversity but if we look at that Indiana series we had two crazy finishes there so in a small sample size in terms of being test in the clutch the Celtics were able to respond excuse me I also do think that the sus are absolutely going to raise their level I don’t think they’re going to come in with their foot off the gas versus this map team I want to show one other thing here can we put the full screen up on Tatum someone sent this out this morning and it’s a great job and everything on it is accurate but it is a perfect example of how sometimes context is everything so Jason Tatum is not yet 27 years old he has won 64 playoff games that’s the third most of any player at his age in history and the three names above him you see Kobe Bryant Tony Parker Magic Johnson they each had won three titles by this time now I it is everything on your screen is accurate that doesn’t mean it tells the story because the three names not on your screen are Shaquille O’Neal Tim Duncan and Kareem Abdul Jabar every single one of these guys and of course the great great great Kobe Bryant wound up being the most important player on the later Laker championship teams but every single one of those guys those teams were led by other superstars they didn’t have to carry the load themselves Tatum is has been asked basically to be the guy in Boston from the minute they drafted him absolutely and they made the the Conference Finals his rookie season they have had good teams and I will I will say if this Celtics team is impressive in these in these finals which they may very well be that you might be you might compare this Celtics team to those teams that won those championships because if you look at what they’ve accomplished this year and you look at their numbers historically this is a historically great team Tatum is the best player all first team all NBA on a potentially keyword potentially historically great team that’s why they are favored that is why they need to win it here’s the problem it isn’t a problem the numbers all suggest that hembo and I are cooking up something on that for tomorrow’s show the numbers would suggest that this is one of the greatest teams ever the problem is I think people are so down on the Eastern Conference there’s always the yeah but and the yeah but is yeah but look who they had to play yeah but look at the path they had yeah but look how much better the West is than the East are the yeah buts fair to the Celtics yes but I also think right here go let’s keep the cycle going uh I understand that conversation however uh this team has been great right like if you want to just look at the their postseason run to the finals they absolutely earned that one seed without question in the East so if anybody should happen to run into the teams that are missing some of their key players they’ve earned that and so I think we have been lulled to sleep a little bit about how good this team can be [Music]