Are the Celtics actually in trouble? | NBA Finals Game 4 analysis

What did the Mavs do to blowout Boston in Game 4? And should the Celtics be worried heading into Game 5? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores Dallas’s defensive scheme, how it protected their weak points, disrupted Boston’s offense, and more.

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L play up play up play up L [Applause] inted the get out the Dallas Mavericks are still alive after building on their game three defensive adjustment and now the question is whether Boston is actually in trouble after one of the biggest finals losses in NBA history the Mavs have struggled against Boston’s penetration at the point of attack throughout much of this series but in game four Dallas’s point of attack defense was much better right out of the gate with Daniel Gafford switching on to Jason Tatum then staying in front of multiple moves from him and he does a great job contesting at the end of the drive Tatum went after him in the third Gafford again took away the penetration and then blocked Tatum step back three which is ridiculously impressive and late in the first Kyrie Irving is switched on the Tatum Jason goes to work and beats him with the spin but this drive goes nowhere and then it’s nearly a turnover on the pass and after a Rugby scrum we end up with a jump ball but this is all about Josh Green helping off the corner lunging at Tatum so he protects the ball but that allows Kyrie to swipe it with his inside hand so Tatum can hit Jaylen Brown on this cut and that’s a great example of a teammate helping the on ball Defender remember point of attack defense isn’t just about the man guarding the ball Maxi clayber jumps out onto Tatum here and it looks like he just stays with the shot pretty well but it’s actually a team effort because Kyrie influences Tatum by sitting right in his driving line so he pulls the drive back and settles for the top three instead sometimes teammates help prevent an overt breakdown Luca is caught off guard when Drew holiday slips this screen but PJ Washington helps and then recovers back to his man then he funnels the ball to donic only to peel off at the last second and it’s another Miss and this looks like Drew passes on a layup but it’s because he expects PJ to fully rotate so would be wide open but instead Washington fakes that help which gets Drew to pass and then he can recover without giving up any real Advantage Boston shot 51% on its drives in the first three games but just 32% in game four and even when they chiseled all the way to the rim they were often forced to their weaker hand this time it’s green who switches out to Brown he does really well to force him left but jayen gets pretty deep before Derek Jones Jr saves the day and Al Horford is inside Jones on this roll so he’s trying to seal him off but Jones fights through and makes the great block as we discussed in game three Dallas had their centers stay low near the basket roaming off the corner Shooters in a kind of oneman Zone and we saw that again in game four with Derek Lively running back to the paint so he’s not only lead leaving Boston’s Center but he’s roaming way off the corner shooter and this helps green at the point of attack because holiday isn’t thinking about a drive with Lively goalkeeping in front of the hoop Drew pitches it to Tatum instead of a shooter green does a nice job containing him before Kyrie switches out to him before Irving gets a little too aggressive and fouls this time Lively’s in his oneman Zone the Mavs help in the driving Gap again then Tatum makes the early pass this time which leads to a breakdown but Lively’s just waiting there and even after a nice pass he recovers to psych out Xavier Tilman here’s a great example of Lively’s goalkeeping he’s up on Horford to start The Possession realizes There’s an opportunity to switch a teammate to Horford so he can roam closer to the rim and now because of that he’s in a position to come over and help save a Kyrie break break down they swing it but Tatum again misses an open shooter and it ends up in a shock clock violation this Onan Zone was super effective in this game because Al Horford only took one three and Tilman isn’t even thinking about shooting from above the break so if Lively needs to recover out to Tatum he has time to get there Boston spacing is all jacked up now so when Lively contains the drive luk has another player helping behind him to deter a layup and that’s huge because holiday actually has a step here but has to pick it up early so donich can contest from the side the entire idea of having the center roam around in front of the basket is to help players like Luca when there’s a Blow by on the outside because Lively standing in front of the rim is a very different proposition than a wing or guard standing in front of the rim meaning when holiday drives here instead of a shot at the basket it’s at least a kick out to a shooter Dallas actually flooded the paint even more in game four with brown getting a step on donic only two players are defending the rim because gafford’s playing goalie and Washington’s pulled way over off the corner Brown does make the pass but this time Tatum doesn’t take the open three and when they reverse verse it Luca hustles to close out on Derek white so in addition to roaming the centers the other Mavs really wanted to shrink the court and help in the paint this game this time Irving is a bit flat-footed Tatum blows right by him but Jones Jr flies over to meet him early and just save that layup and on this play Lively’s roaming over to track the ball Luca wants to avoid being put in the pick and roll so Lively has to sprint out instead and that just triggers green to roam way over off the corner so when Tatum gets by donic he sees traffic then Washington hustles on the close out to take away the shot Green’s back in perfect position to help on that drive and finally Luca pounces to contest at The Rim Dallas’s activity and defensive effort was way better in this game Gafford falls down behind the play immediately gets up and Sprints down the floor which was huge because it saved an easy layup and we saw this play earlier where you don’t want two Defenders closing to a shooter but look at that effort from Dante exim and green sprinting across the floor to Tatum and ultimately force that turnover here’s more great effort in transition where Lively is forced to pick up Tatum so green needs to help off the corner and he Sprints to the charge Circle to destroy that drive after he blew by Lively and Dallas was so invested in protecting the rim that even in transition kba sits right at the edge of the paint to deter a brown drive and concedes a clean three from a sharpshooter instead and Maxi gave Dallas way more defensive size in their double big lineup so if Lively wasn’t the one to deter a shooter the 610 Cleo could sit in the lane instead here’s a nice example of the double bigs with Gafford recovering out to Horford they pull him out into the pick and roll but Dallas still has a big man in this low position so he can throw off holiday shot and this one was even better where they again try to pull the shot blocker into the pick and roll and away from the basket Horford sets a Gortat screen to Spring Tatum but Max’s there to destroy another layup cra’s length is also helpful compared to smaller players like Tim Hardaway Junior and Jaden Hardy who were basically shelv this game and replaced by these bigger Longer defensive lineups and a key part of this success was kba containing the ball extremely well against Boston’s wings and guards on this one brown looks to attack Luca donic actually pokes it away and eats up a ton of the shock clock then Maxi slides with holiday pretty well and it’s another interior Miss and even Luca’s on ball defense was a little stronger this game especially in his isolation matchups against Drew although I’m not sure if holiday just had fumblitis or if some of Don’s physical bumps caught him off guard but he had a ton of turnovers attacking Luca on drives like these in addition to the one time Don used the old soccer kick defense to dispossess Holiday that that’s what they call it in the old football and then turn that defense into offense on the other end by backing down Drew and spinning home for two the Celtics certainly had their share of self-inflicted wounds with some sloppy play throughout the night in addition to the questionable decision- making we’ve seen where they fail to hit wideopen Shooters as Dallas sagged more and more into the lane they were held to their lowest offensive rating of the Joe Missoula era which was a fitting breakthrough for the Mavs defense that went from 27th in the league in the first half of the Year all the way to third after the PJ Washington trade went adjusting for opponent quality so there are some clear areas for Boston to clean up and counter punch with in game five but for the first time in the 2024 finals Dallas was really able to play the game on its terms and extend the series back to Boston for at least one more game to support this channel check out patreon.com thinking basketball we have a Discord Community extra content and stats that we use to research these videos and the thinking basketball podcast thanks as always for watching this one all the way through and of course I hope you’re having a great day