2024 NBA Finals Game 3 Notes

Game 3 of the NBA Finals is in the books, and the Celtics won 106-99.  While most would focus on Luka Doncic’s rough game that ended with him fouling out, Kyrie Irving’s turnaround, and Boston’s near collapse, I thought the game was more defined by average defense that was helped by subpar offense; Boston betrayed their offensive game that they have mastered and Dallas kept passing up decent looks for more difficult ones.

 

 

1^st Quarter

• Interesting that Al Horford didn’t even try for the jump.  Wonder if he’s trying to conserve energy.
• Kyrie drove really hard on the first drive of the game, which isn’t surprising to see after the last couple games.
• I’m surprised that Derrick White is still attempting transition 3’s despite struggling a bit from deep early in the season.
• I don’t actually think Boston has been as bad on defense as people will make them out to be.  Dallas has been great offensively, but the coverage has been average (not great, but average).
• A funny one related to Porzingis’s injury:  my fiancé, Victoria, had the same injury.  She’s had all sorts of injuries to her legs.
• It’s interesting that Daniel Gafford has left Horford wide open.  He can shoot, though he can get streaky when tired.
• “Smart inbounds pass”, according to the broadcast.  It was a risky pass to Irving.  If it didn’t work, they’d be talking about how stupid of a play it was.
• Gafford really is a good shot blocker.  I can’t believe how wrong I was about the trade; I hated it at the time.
• I feel like Boston has gotten some solid looks, even if they aren’t falling.  I wouldn’t change anything based on what they’re doing at this point.
• The foul Luka Doncic wanted on the shot that was called prior to it was absolutely not a shooting foul.  He literally dribbled after the shot.
• Boston’s defense has regressed a bit as the game goes on.  Tatum has been beat on multiple drives.  They’re absolutely coasting at this point, and it’s showing.
• The broadcast keeps talking about how different it’s been without Kristaps Porzingis.  I don’t think it would be a big enough change that they’d be even better than losing by 5, unless he could hit all the 3’s they’ve missed.
• I don’t know why Jaylen Brown has randomly had struggles with free throws at points in the playoffs.  It’s really strange.
• I don’t understand Tatum deciding a contested 3 against Derrick Lively was the right move.  He’s a good shot blocker on the perimeter.
• On the replay of Jaylen Brown’s transition layup, it looks like Irving fouled him.  I didn’t notice that one at first.  Even still, Brown and Tatum have played well the last few possessions offensively, and the defensive intensity has picked up a bit, which has made it a closer game again.
• Even while Irving has played better so far, he’s still missed multiple makeable shots.  He missed the shot against Sam Hauser that I thought he could make.  It’s funny how Hauser is an average defender due to his size, yet he’s always targeted by defenses.
• It drives my crazy how much isolation that the Mavericks play at points.  I get that Doncic and Kyrie are both amazing offensively, but I personally don’t find it appealing to watch.
• Victoria fell asleep when it was a 12-point game; she woke up and was stunned that it is now a 2-point game.
• Dante Exum making an amazing dunk in an NBA Finals game was not something I had on my bingo guard even last year.  He really has had a nice season; I’m really glad for him.
• I honestly don’t think either team’s defense has been that good.  Even while Doncic missed the shot against Horford, the defense wasn’t great against that play; Doncic opted for the step back to attempt the 3, when he could have had an easy midrange shot, that probably would have actually been optimal there.
• That was a heads up play by White and Tatum to make the quick basket at the end of the quarter.
• I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen at this point.  Neither defense has been great and Boston’s shots haven’t been falling consistently, yet it’s a 1-point game.  We’ll see what happens.

 

2^nd Quarter

• I’m surprised that Tim Hardaway Jr. fell out of the rotation.  He’s not an amazing defender, but he can shoot well at points.
• Jaylen Brown, maybe don’t try a behind the back dribble.
• I have no idea how Payton Pritchard didn’t foul Doncic on that.  He stopped much more suddenly that I was expecting and was just shy of being in his space.
• I have no idea how Derrick Jones Jr. and Doncic both missed Brown driving to the rim.  Nice play by Brown though.
• White finally hit a 3.  He’s h ad an atrocious game, but some players just need the first one.  One of my friends growing up could literally go 0-8 from 3, but once he hit his first 3, he would be automatic.
• I’m stunned that Lively missed the alley-oop dunk.  I think everyone might need a break at this point; it’s been a long season.
• I’m surprised that Doncic is only 5-12.  It feels like he’s been shooting much better.
• Dallas has had struggles against Boston in isolation at points all series.  It’s weird that they keep trying to do it.  An attempt on Xavier Tillman by Doncic was the latest that didn’t work.
• Ironically a foul was call right after the broadcasters said the refs have been letting them play.
• Tatum has scored almost as much halfway through the first half as he did in each of the first two games.  While the shots he’s making aren’t easy, he does appear to be taking better looks.
• I don’t get why Tatum often resorts to a step back 3 when he has a mismatch.  It feels like he’s bailing the defense out by taking a difficult shot.
• While he’s been better defensively since he isn’t atrocious, Doncic hasn’t been good defensively on several possessions.  He has largely just spaced out and allowed looks because he forgot he needed to close out or missed what direction his guy is going.
• I remember there being a lot of speculation that the role players would play better at home.  They’ve all been pretty bad; I think with 1:30 left in the half, Kyrie and Luka have scored all but 11 points.
• That was a really good cut by Lively and a smart pass by Washington.  Washington isn’t the best passer, so I don’t blame Boston for expecting him to go up with it.
• I thought Lively was out of bounds on the inbound play…
• With 32 seconds left, I don’t know why Dallas was trying for a 2-for-1 at first.  Good job to realize this was not the right decision.
• I know a lot of people would say to hold onto the ball to take the final shot, but I think P.J. Washington made an amazing decision by driving after the rebound.  Boston was not in the right position to defend, and he ended up getting to the line.
• This has felt like a chaotic game.  I genuinely don’t feel like the defense has been elite, but people will say it’s been great defense because the offenses have taken more difficult shots than they needed to.

 

3^rd Quarter

• I really like the two man game between Jrue Holiday and White.  They are both such smart players who know how to play with most players.
• Gafford getting the offensive rebound is what you have to be nervous about when Tatum is on him.  Ultimately, it isn’t something that happens enough to make it a big deal, but something to be nervous about.
• Derrick Jones passing on the shot to Kyrie is one the broadcast praised since Kyrie scored, but it is worth monitoring the fact that Jones play
• Doncic might have had one of his worst defensive possessions of the series on the last play before Dallas called a timeout.  He made a lazy effort to go for a steal on a pass that he wasn’t going to get and then didn’t adjust back to Brown.  From there, he stood there and watched the play.  When Tatum moved along the arc to get above the break (which was a nice motion by him), Doncic could have helped onto him, but he just stood there outside of moving about 3 steps on the possession.  I get that he does a lot offensively, but he can’t be a total liability defensively.
• I don’t think there is enough attention to how much Brown has improved as a cutter offensively.  While it’s natural for basketball IQ to improve, his off-ball ability has skyrocketed.
• Who was Lively guarding when Brown got the wide open 3?  Was he guarding Brown?  Or was it Horford?  He didn’t appear to make an effort to get back until Brown took the shot.
• The refs have really missed a bunch of plays that I thought was clear contact, especially on the shots at the rim.
• That was a nasty reverse by Doncic.  I’m not entirely sure how he got that off.
• Tillman has done a nice job defending Doncic on switches.  That said, Doncic has consistently driven to the paint against him; while Doncic is banking on Tillman being out of position, he’s gotten nice position, so it’s not a massive mismatch in the paint.
• While Hauser’s specialty is hitting 3’s, he can do other things as well; that rebound was an important play.
• That was a smart switch by Brown to jump on Irving when he had a clear driving lane.  He was looking to shoot, and while he ended up passing, it felt like it was more of desperation.
• For those wondering why Tillman’s 3 warranted a massive 3, he hasn’t shot incredibly well for them after being acquired.  He’s been so valuable this game; even though he fell out of the rotation, he is a talented player who has always been underrated.
• Even though Irving just made the contested shot, he had an easier look that he passed up.  I don’t get why he and Doncic have appeared to favor difficult shots during this game.
• I’m surprised Washington hadn’t made any 3’s.  He’s had a couple nice plays prior to that, but he had been quiet.  That said, I figured he scored.
• That dunk by Brown was nasty.  That said, I think Dallas has allowed them to drive pretty easily.  Doncic watched the switch and didn’t bother doing anything.  He’s been horrible defensively since I wrote that he wasn’t as bad on that end (sorry, Dallas fans).
• Boston had an amazing quarter; they appeared to play better defensively, but their shots were actually falling.  Now that it’s a 15-point lead, Boston can pull this away pretty easily if they just come out with the same level of intensity.

 

4^th Quarter

• Luka ending up with an offensive foul is a horrible way to start the quarter.  That said, I don’t blame him for not liking the call; I thought Brown had an arm linked before the charge.
• On the play where Brown got the open 3, did Kyrie go to the Luka Doncic school of defense?  Geez, that was horrible.
• Dallas’s defense has totally fallen apart.  This is what I meant when I mentioned Boston coming out with the same level of intensity; they’ve exploited all of Dallas’s struggles.
• I’m stunned that Dallas has only attempted 2 3’s this half.  I thought for sure that they had attempted more, but I can’t even think of any attempts this half off the top of my head.
• I wrote that last one and then Washington hit a 3.  There’s one that comes to mind.  Also worth noting that Washington didn’t have the easiest attempt there.
• It’s funny how the broadcast said that Pritchard’s foul on Lively was a smart play.  I don’t think it was intentional; Pritchard appeared annoyed that he had done that.
• It’s wild that Doncic has as many fouls as assists.  I’m not surprised since he’s largely played isolation, and there have been barely any points by the supporting cast, but that is insane.
• The Josh Green 3 is a massive shot since he’s been resistant to shoot at points throughout the series.  That also capped a 10-0 run that frankly brought them back in the game.
• I’m surprised the foul on Brown was called.  It was a foul, but they often haven’t called fouls of that nature for most of the game.
• That basket by Brown was not easy.  At that point, there wasn’t a lot that Luka could have done defensively either.
• A big part of Dallas’s run is the fact that they are not playing their brand of basketball.  They struggle when they don’t move the ball, yet continue to fall back into this bad habit.  I don’t get why Boston doesn’t just want to finish the game out and prefers to goof around.
• I honestly feel like the foul that Dallas called was godsent for Boston.  I was shocked when they called it; I wondered who was called for the foul.
• I actually don’t love the call that Luke fouled out on.  I personally thought it was an offensive foul due to Brown’s arm pushing slightly, but it was a close call.  I didn’t expect it would be overturned.
• Boston got lucky that Brown was there for the putback.  I thought it was again not the best offensive possession by Boston.
• Leave it to Jrue Holiday and Derrick White to figure out that what they needed was to revert back to their drive-and-kick game.  That was an amazing pass by Holiday.  The defense totally collapsed on him, so it was the right play for sure.
• I don’t know how Tatum made that dunk.  I thought he was going to turn the ball over.
• Tatum, maybe don’t resort to attempting a contested step back when you’re in a cold stretch.
• Brown somehow has this knack for making the most difficult shots.  It’s insane how he’s able to do that.
• I thought Horford’s defense was pretty good on Irving on that one.  Irving continues to take such difficult shots that could be made easier; the fact that he’s shot so well today is a real testament to how well he has been playing.
• I’m surprised they didn’t call White for the foul.  The arm was clearly grabbed; maybe the ref also took some lessons from Doncic’s attention on defense.
• Boston ended up holding off the comeback, which I didn’t think they would do.  I honestly think that Dallas would have won had Luke not been fouled out, but that’s still a part of the game.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Dallas wins the next game, but I’d be stunned if this series lasts 6 games.

What did you think of this game?  Let me know in the comments!