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Additional terms and fees apply. Brian, thank you for taking the time to join us. Great to be with you. Excited for the finals to start tomorrow. I know it's been a long time. How have the Dallas Mavericks pretty much taken the time in regards to preparation over the past week and change? Well, the first thing they did was get some rest. They took a couple of days off right after that Western Conference Finals. They had a team dinner Saturday night and then got back at it Sunday and have been practicing, had a practice this morning before their media day, really honing in on what they want to do on both sides of the ball in terms of strategy and the different looks the boss is going to give them. And they're a loose team. They have been loose their entire season since the trade, really. That's kind of the personality of Luca and Kyrie.
And so they're they're having fun and they're excited for the moment. Brian, when you talk about the time that they've had off, we saw Lively go down with the neck injury. Are there any injury concerns on the roster? We know Luca was dealing with the multiple injuries with the legs. We know he's going to play.
But is there anything that we need to look out for? You know that, listen, his knee is going to be something that he's going to have to take a look at in the off season. But I will tell you that a week of rest is going to do wonders for him.
So I'm not really concerned. Looks like Lively is ready to go. Maxi Klebo with that shoulder injury is the only other person that really came in dinged up. And this extra rest is going to get him ready to go as well. So the good news with Porzingis back on the Boston side is, you know, whatever level he's at that hopefully injuries won't play a role here.
Mass analyst Brian Damaris is here with us, the chair sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network. When you see this match up between the Dallas Mavericks and the Celtics, where are you really keying in on? Well, there's issues on both sides of the ball and I'm looking at it from a Mavericks perspective. When Boston has the ball on offense, they like to spread the floor, play that five out, drag the center away from the rim. And the Mavs love to defensively protect the rim, especially with Gafford and Lively.
They kind of built a wall, didn't allow Anthony Edwards to get where he wanted to go. So Porzingis and that pick and pop game is going to want to take those centers out and then, you know, they're going to try to attack the paint and spray the ball around and swing, swing and get those threes up. So the Mavericks are going to have to protect the paint and deny the three point line at the same time. That's why Boston has the number one offense. And then on the other side of the court, uh, you know, defensively, what is Boston going to do? Are they going to put Porzingis on the big men and allow Dallas to play the pick and roll game and those lob threats of Lively and Gafford, uh, you know, are they going to switch things and let Porzingis be on an island out in space with Luca or Kyrie, or are they going to put Porzingis on say a Derrick Jones and try to make the Mavs run their offense in a different way? Well, Brian, you talk about Chris Staps.
We know he's coming off of his own calf injury. There's been so much made about Kyrie going back to Boston and we've got a little bit about Porzingis eventually going down to play in Dallas. What didn't work between Chris Staps and Luca when Chris Staps was there originally?
I think they were both really early in their careers. I think Porzingis has talked about kind of the maturity that both of them have now looking back on it. Um, you know, to be honest with you, the perfect partner for Luca was always going to be a wing player. He likes to play one five pick and roll and that five doesn't have to be a superstar.
It needs to be what Derrick Lively is, which is an athletic rim running center who can also protect the paint inside. And when Porzingis wanted to do more than pick and pop, but post up at that time in his career, he wasn't as an effective post up player. So basically what he was doing was clogging that lane for where Luca wanted to go.
And so that was the problem. Now he's improved that post up game that's really effective and he's shooting even better from deep. So he's just a different player than he was then. Mavs analyst Brian Damaris is here with us. You talk about the maturity level of both players.
You see and have seen Luca from from day one. How has he matured and changed as a player from when he was drafted up until what he is now playing alongside Kyrie houses game change? Really it's the leadership that he's shown. You know, he came into the league at such a young age and his skill level was always there.
Uh, his ability to read defense and see where the weak spots are, pick his spot. But when you're the best player on your team and you're one of the best players in the league, people are going to look to you to lead, uh, lead the team. And whether you do that verbally or by your actions on the court, I think he gives Kyrie a lot of credit for maturing him as a leader. And then you see what he's able to do on the court. You saw it in that game five of Minnesota where he wasn't happy with the way he played in game four, uh, in that loss.
And when he says it's on me, I need to bring more energy and effort. You just know one of those special Luca games is coming and he wanted to set the tone as he said it. And by scoring 10 points in the first two minutes and 33 seconds, he did.
So that's another level where he could just now take it to another gear and no matter what the defense throws at it, he's going to have an answer for it. Brian, you talk about leadership. We know Jason Kidd is the head coach. Uh, he was on that last Mavericks team that won in 2011. He's one of the greatest basketball players, one of the greatest point guards ever. What is his leadership style? You don't hear as much about Jason like in his time in, in, in Brooklyn and Milwaukee. He's kinda under the radar.
What is this style like? I think there's three things. Number one is he has the, the relationship with Kyrie and Luca and that that's, you have to have a relationship with your superstars. You look around the league and why these coaches are getting let go.
A lot of times that you just need to establish that the stars have to respect you and what you've done and you have to have the respect for them and be able to connect with them. He has that relationship. Two of these calm and steady, you know, he hasn't had a technical foul all season. He wants to set the example of, we can get through this. We know if we play our game, we're not just canned, but we'll win. And thirdly, X's and O's, he just knows the game so well from playing the game at such a high level.
It's high basketball IQ is off the charts. And as a point guard, he gives Kyrie and Luca the keys of here, here's how I would do it. Here's what I see. And let me help you navigate this.
Brian Damaris is here with us on the JR Support Brief Show. You see the Mavs, you cover them. The Mavs win this series if they do what? If they can hit their threes and try to keep Boston from hitting as many threes as they can. When Boston has made 19 threes this year, they're 27 and 0. They take more threes than anybody. They make more threes than anybody. They hit them at a higher percentage than anybody else. We've got to be able to rotate out and get to those shooters while also protecting the paint. They got to get out and pace. The Celtics were number one in transition defenses here in the regular season. They were eighth out of all 20 teams that made the playoffs or playing so far in the playoffs. Haven't been as effective.
So get out and get some easy buckets against a team that has such a stout defense. Mavs analyst Brian Damaris is here with us as we start to wrap things up. This has been an interesting year, not just because we're the Dallas Mavericks have ended up in the NBA Finals. There's been a transition in ownership. Has any of that been visible in any aspect of the organization? Is there a new painting on the wall?
Is it just a matter of signing some signatures? I mean, we saw the trophy presentation. Besides that, has anything appeared different?
I think they're probably looking at their head on the business side, but I don't really know much about that in terms of basketball. You know, Nico Harrison just got his extension. You saw Jason get his extension. It's all things go on that end.
I think as the summer hits, you'll see, you know, more resources probably available to them to do what they want to do in terms of, you know, facilities and things of that nature. But Patrick Demond has been nothing but helpful. He's been at every single playoff game, home and road, bringing his family along.
And Mark's still around, too. He'll be there tomorrow night and pretty amazing to see what the Dallas Mavericks have done this season. Brian, I appreciate the time.
Where can people follow you and all of your work? Yeah, I'm at B. Damaris on Twitter and all the socials, and I will be on the radio call tomorrow. I'm sure Sirius XM will have it on there. And you have a podcast Take That With You, which is on the Mavericks YouTube page. Brian, enjoy the game. Enjoy the finals.
It should be a fun watch. Thank you for the time. I know you're real busy.
Appreciate you. Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can waste another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can conquer it. I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. Any road.
The steeper the better. Because my all-new Santa Fe is available with H-Trek all-wheel drive so I can hit the trail without a worry in the world. Heck, with three rows and best-in-class rear cargo space, I can pack the whole family in with all our gear.
We've got available dual wireless charging for our phones so we'll never lose touch with civilization, and we won't lose touch with the primordial power of Mother Earth. So which is it? Waste the weekend or do something a little more epic? And conquer it in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.
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