Will the Mavericks find secondary scoring around Luka vs Boston in the Finals?

It's Kyrie Irving time.

Dub Nation HQ, I’ve been hit by a sudden burst of equal parts disgust and excitement for the NBA Finals.

I must admit, the Golden State Warriors ascension from bottom-feeders to the highest class organization of all American sports between 2013-2022 made me a bit of a snob. Perhaps my Gold Blooded King moniker has become the reality; I laugh at the feeble attempts of other teams and other styles of basketball matched against the unyielding power of the Splash Bros and how they changed the game forever.

But the Splash Bros and Co. are at home right now (or on a yacht in the Mediterranean learning yoga, IDK they’re rich!). And while they rest and think about how they were so unceremoniously dispatched from the playoff picture by the Sacramento Kings, the rest of the basketball world has their eyes squarely on the two respective conference champions ready to play in the NBA Finals: the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks.

Hey, this Luka Doncic guy is pretty insane, amirite? He just averaged 32.3 PPG, 9.6 REB, and 8.2 AST on 47% shooting (43% from beyond the arc!!) in the Western Conference Finals against a pretty solid Timberwolves defense.

Will Kyrie and the Mavs find consistent non-Luka offense against Boston?

Are you with me in believing Boston seems literally designed to completely asphyxiate a team led by two iso-ball hoopers? I know Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will deservedly get a ton of shine for being perennial All-Stars who can score the heck outta the ball and play some inspired, physical defense. They’re athletic, rangy, competitive and can disrupt any scorers rhythm.

But let’s not forget about the two defensively minded guards Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. Particularly, Holiday’s defense is so ridiculous, he had Kevin Durant proclaiming him as the best defender in the league.

Earlier this year, the subscription-based sports website The Athletic published the results of a players survey. It polled 108 players and kept them anonymous so they could respond to questions “honestly, and without fear of upsetting teammates, opposing players, league officials, and event fans.”

One of the questions that players was who the best defender in the league is, and not surprisingly, Jrue Holiday was the choice with 28.7% of the total votes. The next player on the list was OKC Thunder’s Lu Dort who only had 11.4%. 2023 DPOY winner Jaren Jackson Jr. only had 4% while the previous season’s winner Marcus Smart only had 8.9% of the votes.

According to the Athletic, one of the players surveyed said this: “He’s literally a guy you avoid. Every offense looks to get the ball away from where he is, both guarding the ball and away from the ball. His hands are unbelievable. It’s always been Jrue Holiday for me.”

DNHQ has a video with 28k views on our thriving YouTube channel where I compiled clips of Holiday trying to guard Stephen Curry. Twenty-eight thousand views just to see Holiday give his best effort to solve Curry aka the greatest point guard alive!!! There are cobra vs mongoose videos that don’t get this much attention.

Are you’re asking me if this hunter will be a problem for Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, two supreme dribble-gods who often eat up lots of shot clock time contorting the defense into knots? MAYBEEEE.

By the way Kyrie scored 42 points on 43 shots against Boston’s defense over the two contests they played. Click here to see clips of Irving’s individual shots against the Boston defense that produced this shot chart from the 138-110 Celtics’ domination on March 1st.

And click here to see Irving’s shot clips in the 119-110 Boston victory on January 22nd, with accompanying shot chart:

I’m very interested in what Kyrie and co. can conjure up to take the pressure of Luka. Thoughts?