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Kristaps Porzingis is not the same player he was in Dallas. In his first season with the Boston Celtics, he has punished teams for switching smaller players onto him and anchored the league’s second-best defense. Years after being cast as Luka Doncic’s co-star — when he joined the Mavericks in 2019, then coach Rick Carlisle said, “This is kind of a Dirk-and-Nash type of situation, only these guys are taller” — he is now part of a fearsome fivesome. Porzingis is capable of scoring 30-plus points on any given night, but averaged 20 and can change games without tons of touches.
Dallas is not the same team it was when Porzingis was there, either. Kyrie Irving is now Doncic’s co-star, and the roster is full of low-usage role players who have passed every test in these playoffs. After making two trades in February and settling on a starting lineup in March, the Mavericks have become an elite defensive team in their own right. They have athletic wings who tie lineups together, shooters who feast on open looks and a two-headed monster in the middle. Centers Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford protect the rim, catch lobs and are having the time of their lives.
What the Mavs don’t have anymore, though, is a 7-foot-2 dude with deep range and a quick trigger. Porzingis is the kind of matchup problem that Dallas might not be able to solve, and, in the NBA Finals, he has a chance to show his former team what it is missing. Coming off a calf injury, he could be the key to the series.
‘If I were the player that I am right now…’
One of the reasons that Boston had the most efficient regular-season offense in NBA history is that it spaces the floor as well as any team ever has. When bigs guard Porzingis, he drags them away from the basket, and because the Celtics have shooters and playmakers all over the court, there isn’t a natural hiding spot elsewhere. This forces opposing coaches to ask themselves questions, like, “Should we try putting Gafford on Jrue Holiday?”
Porzingis has always been a sharpshooter on the perimeter. After leaving…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-with-kristaps-porzingis-now-healthy-can-celtics-big-man-show-mavericks-what-theyre-missing/
Author : James Herbert
Publish date : 2024-06-04 18:03:19
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