The Chess Match Between The Celtics and Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics are the two top teams in the NBA and have played two fantastic games so far. Today we talk about the chess match between the two and explain how the Cavs were able to pull off a win in their 2nd match.
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Transcript

[@cloudzundersky]

It blows my mind how good the Cavs got as soon as they fired Bickerstaff. Shows you how overlooked coaching is in the NBA.

[@kjboyce1809]

Reminds of of Mark Jackson and Steve Kerr

[@notmyname9625]

To be fair pistons also immediately improved their defense the second they got him. He might not be a championship level head coach but that doesnt mean he cant be a good nba coach. Lotta teams have no chance at a chip anyway and he is good at building strong defenses which is a desirable trait for a rebuild location like detroit. I actually think its a good fit for him. Im willing to bet some amount of kennys success is built on the foundation bickerstaff provided with his knowledge of the defensive side of things. Atkinson is a better coach but that doesnt mean bickerstaff is bad he just wasnt the right fit for cleveland and kenny is really good

[@Leonardo-Lenguaje]

@@cloudzundersky remember they weren’t super healthy either. Give bickerstaff a little credit, but yeah-they got better.

[@MazevG]

??? They were great last year too and were young, ofc they were gonna be better, it has nothing to do with the coach

[@ImTheGibby]

@@kjboyce1809 Steve Kerr used and still uses the Mark Jackson system (or at least a variant of it now). Off ball screens, movement and dribble hand offs to try to take advantages of miscommunications. Kerr just built off of it with the rise of Steph, Klay and Dray and the veterans and role players that fit exceptionally well into that system.

[@Leonardo-Lenguaje]

Dope breakdown. Donovan Mitchell is as tough shot maker man... some of these shots blew my mind while watching the game. Wish the warriors were able to secure him back at the time when he was traded. One of the best guards in the league right now.

[@waff6ix]

FACTS💯I REMEMBER WATCHING HIM VS JAMAL MURRY GO AT IT DURING THE BUBBLE😳🔥🔥TOLD MYSELF I WAS NEVER GONNA SLEEP ON EITHER 1 OF THEM AGAIN💯MURRAY HAVING A RUFF TIME RN BUT SPIDA BEEN GOING CRAZY💪🏾💪🏾

[@rickystackss]

they would’ve had to work with two small guards when they already play small ball which would be really tough. the cavs run two bigs which helps them run two small guards but the warriors like to run draymond at center, they would suffer defensively. they would also probably have to give up at least something like kuminga, pods, and moody along with a few picks. and the warriors hate trading their young players and refuse to do it, especially when it comes to kumings

[@shinobu37]

@@waff6ixMurray is cooked

[@Jaden-m2k]

4 Replies

[@Leonardo-Lenguaje]

@@rickystackss I think back then, they would have traded Kuminga to get him. I don’t think podz was even in the league back then btw. And yeah, the team would need to be structured differently-probably like the Cavs, but I’d say a curry +spida back court is better than spida + garland. I believe back then the warriors were interested but the sticking point probably would be that they would need to trade JP and probably Wiggins and picks to get that to work. It would have been worth it, but hindsight is 20/20.

[@dancingbabybins]

Garland fronted a unreal amount of contact in this game, tuff stuff

[@guillemhidalgogomez6918]

They put a lot of pressure on him, it shows how hard is to be an "undersized" guard in the NBA. It's crazy lol

[@spaceman_spiff2391]

The way you break down the true complexity of the game boggles my mind. I can barely keep up with everything you’re pointing out on these plays but it’s so cool to see!

[@jamessewake8285]

Neither team has been near full power for both matchups, can't wait to see them go at it when they're healthy

[@chrisdowell7296]

You’re the only one I’ve seen mention that the Cavs were not at full strength or anywhere close to it Game 1, nor Game 2 really. No one seemed to care that Cleveland had 4 key rotational pieces out including our 3 best wing defenders. Made it an easy night for Tatum White and Brown. Glad at least some are showing love for Garland stepping up this game against Tatum. Can’t imagine how difficult that is giving up 9 inches and 50 lbs and stopping a dude with that much skill. Also, the Celtics push off more than any team I’ve ever seen and I just wish they’d get called for it every now and then.

[@stefanostsitsipas5201]

Babe wake up, new Daniel Li video just dropped

[@UNK-l5k]

Stop the delusion you dont have a babe 😂

[@kneecage3236]

Shut up!

[@waff6ix]

SAW THE NOTI LAST NIGHT, BUT I WAS TOO TIRED😭😭😭HAD TO WATCH IT THIS MORNING

[@jlui21]

@@UNK-l5k -- "That'll do pig. That'll do."

[@jonathancortes9005]

Lame

[@jake47853]

Tatum missing the layup reminded me of one of your previous videos of him struggling to fight through contact near the rim

[@JesusisKingfrrrrr]

I mean he’s been doing much better at it this year if you’ve been watching all the games

[@ImTheGibby]

Tatum is one of those guys you HATE having the ball with a mismatch... unless he's taking a driving layup against a little bit of help defense. One thing he can't do is make layups consistently. But when he remembers he's 6'9" and dunks the ball he's a-okay

[@CeeSkywalkin]

@@ImTheGibbyit’s crazy cuz he somehow still shoots 70% at the rim, which is better than most stars.. the fact that he “can’t consistently finish layups” but still up there % wise with kd and a few other bigs is wild

[@ronidoka1581]

@@CeeSkywalkin can you explain how he has the reputation of being inconsistent with layups then if he's shooting 70 percent near the rim?

[@alaeus2310]

In his defense he is playing against Mobley and Allen, composing one of the most defensively oriented frontcourt in the NBA.

[@JoeCupoff]

Great breakdown. Tatum collapses around the rim cause he either foul hunts or no call from refs. Either way, that killed Boston's Play style especially with the two starters out

[@38slimee]

Kiss the ring pussy

[@jjking8577]

Crazy level coaching and adjustments.

[@denniswilkerson5536]

First game Cavs missed 6 players on their Roster and Garland shot a 3-24 stinker. And the Cavs still only lost by 3.

[@alexkozhemyakin1835]

Amazing video! Such a pleasure to watch and listen

[@kennethxu1789]

It was a great game! But if both teams are at full power, jaylen brown and derrick white will put a lot more pressure on both sides of the ball. Shout out to mitchell for the clutch shot making, garland for holding up on defense, mobley for continuing to be great offensively. They look like a real threat, and even with their starters back the celtics will have a bit of trouble.

[@anton5orn]

really good analysis, a pleasure to watch

[@pleasehelp1390]

daniel li banger

[@antoniojohnson23252]

Another important point to note about the Garland on Tatum matchups were the threes. The Celtics toss up an unholy amount of them, and by switching Tatum onto Garland, it’s like baiting him into taking as many good look twos as he could, which tbf a lot went in, but Tatum actually missed more than he made on Garland, going 7/16. It gave the Cavs a chance to keep up and eventually overtake Boston because Boston’s Tatum on Garland possessions were often ending in no points or two points, not three.

[@IMakeItLOOkCOOL]

I think another thing in the calculation to leave Darius alone on Tatum (to a certain point) was Kenny and the Cavs willing to trade Boston mid-range 2s for 3s. It was something I noticed pretty much all 4th quarter but especially down the stretch and even in the clips you show, a lot of Tatum's offense is coming in the 10-18ft range whereas Mitchell was hunting 3s late (and even Okoro took that wing 3 you clipped). Obviously the Celtics took more 3s than the Cavs did that night because, well, they're the Celtics, but still an interesting shot selection thing that I wanna see play out and evolve as these teams play each other more. Wonder if the Cavs can produce similar process defensively against Boston with Jaylen and Derrick.

[@mattjones6323]

3 for 21 is crazy work

[@zombiesman200]

Can’t forget the Celtics beat the Cavs when they were missing strus, okoro, wade, and levert and it was only by 3 with a stinker from garland. Health and consistency could catapult the Cavs over the Celtics

[@UncleJrueForTue]

In that game Boston was missing Porzingis. In this game the Celtics were missing White and Brown and the Cavs only won by 4.

[@sanche215]

Dafuq? Video dropping at 4 am? Guess i aint sleeping then 😅😅

[@tom2sprat]

It's 8pm bruh?

[@aitlin]

I guess the video was taken out right after the release, because his comment really is 5h ago ​@@tom2sprat

[@pascal2934]

⁠@@tom2sprattime zones exist bro😅

[@Joeman_Joeman]

Keep the vids going 🔥

[@AlexKr.]

great video !

[@Fordalo]

This was great

[@VelhaGuardaTricolor]

8:12 Mitchell should have snatched that ball. As soon as #11 turns his back to him. Which is when he enters the paint.

[@hiphoplord8134]

refs could have also called the travel

[@rufiooo7]

It’s crazy that Celtics are this good with Tatum not having an elite inside offense 😅 had to nerf him somehow I guess

[@jovlee7175]

5 pm in singapore

[@brianjantambispaghubasan6921]

This will be a great match-up if they're all healthy, IMO Cleveland is the only team that can match Boston rn.

[@Jaguar-fe7eh]

This game was awesome to watch. I am biased as a Cavs fan, but I will say that it seems like the Celtics get away with a lot of push-offs. Maybe i'm tripping but Pritchard and Tatum just abuse push-offs to create open looks and it's frustrating as hell to see. Either way I'm hoping there's plenty more good games between these two in the future, it's gonna be fun

[@quitpocketwatchingme]

Cavs didn’t gave max strus or Dean wade either

[@cmdscrd236]

why does tatum always look like he's carrying the ball when he's posting up (he doesnt have his hand under the ball but the ball seems to stay in his hand for so long idk if it's just me)

[@50Nobody50]

carrying is perfectly legal, just ask Luka

[@Mikewalk27]

He also demonstratively pushes off on his step backs as well

[@marcomeviane3219]

@@Mikewalk27 What i was saying

[@ryukh8101]

No glaze but I love your videos @Daniel li it make be a better basketball player

[@TobiTobiTobi1]

Jayson "carry the rock" Tatum

[@mettataurr]

best content

[@VelhaGuardaTricolor]

9:11 Wouldn't be wise if Porzingis were to simply block #35 I have no idea why defenses are so passive on the pick and roll. Go there and make your own defensive screen which turns out to be simply a BLOCK to prevent the ROLL. Even more so when the action is taking place in the LOGO, the guy want to step back and try his luck with the deep 3... having his original defender still on the picture... let him.

[@hiphoplord8134]

If Porzingis screens Okoro there then you've just created a rather large screen for Pritchard to fight around, Mitchell would blow by it and either take a 3 at the arc or drive and kick. That's too easy

[@VelhaGuardaTricolor]

@@hiphoplord8134 From that far out, if Porzingis blocked Okoro hard, Pritchard would have a ton of time and freedom to go under the screen. If Mitchell want to try his luck from the LOGO, let him.

[@DanTheMan103]

@@VelhaGuardaTricolorthe goal is to force the ball out of Mitchell’s hands, not give him the chance to make a play himself, force someone else to beat you

[@VelhaGuardaTricolor]

@@DanTheMan103 The way they did it, someone else did beat them easily. With a clear drive to the hoop. If it is to concede a layup, let Mitchell do it. TWO points are two points.

[@DanTheMan103]

@@VelhaGuardaTricolorthat’s fair, if I had to gage their thought process it was probably to make Mitchell dish it, we just made our shots

[@deboss8998]

Anytime I watch the celtics I always think how good KD would be on this team in place of Tatum. They get Tatum so many advantages and good looks.

[@Dbales34]

Horford at his advanced age is a more mobile defender than kristaps?

[@buzzerbeater3350]

CP3 is known for his defense. Could you do one on how CP3 guards taller players?

[@NiteOwlVibes]

NJone of those strats will work with JB and DWhite on the court.

[@Lyk35]

How is Jason tatam not carrying on his post ups

[@rufiooo7]

He is, but it doesn’t really matter. Missed calls here and there anyways, calling them would make the game an objectively worse product

[@derfdessert773]

I'm more concerned about the elbow shoves him and pritchard do every time they post up

[@Lyk35]

@@rufiooo7 objectively worse product how? He’s carrying on a point guard that’s a terrible product

[@dereksimmons5877]

Celtics lost this one because KP is still a step or two slow

[@chukwuemekaenemmuo1385]

why would they put darius garland on jalen brown and Jayson Tatum instead of derek white or jrue

[@EST.1999Ohio]

To bait them into thinking they can take advantage of the size mismatch and having them taking contested 2’s instead of 3’s. It was actually genius to do it at the end of the 2nd game. Tatum was even missing layups and Garland was playing good defense

[@slightexag]

Garland is a negative player against the full Celtics. He's a mismatch against everyone when on defense and he's not good enough on offense to overcome the White/Holiday defense. C's will concede Mitchell clutch scoring to stop Garland as the secondary scorer. Size and rebounding is what hurts the Celtics; Garland being benched would be more effective against the C starters.

[@vism2812]

garland is an awesome offensive player who’s good enough to orchestrate the all time great offence the cavs have rn at just 24. he’s a brilliant level 3 scorer with a top 3 handle and elite quickness and touch. he’s a top 10 playmaker in the league. he’s played good against the celtics before and will find a way to do it more consistently in the future

[@slightexag]

@ he was awful in their first matchup. if i'm the celtics, i feel good against them because of the garland mismatch and how good the perimeter defense is with white, holiday, and brown together. no matter how good he is regularly, he is not a good matchup against the healthy celtics. in a playoff series, he'd look like finals kyrie or trae young out there. 1 good game, 1 decent game, 2-3 bad games

[@vism2812]

@ we saw him in a playoff series against white/holiday/brown. 1 good game, 1 bad game, 3 decent ones. 16 and 6 assists. and he was at his lowest physically lost season. jaw surgery put him on a liquid diet that caused him to lose almost 20 pounds. he was below 180 for the first time since high school. now he’s in a better place physically and playing the best ball of his career. he’s a young, improving player who always has better stats post all star break. odds are garland outperforms last years series if they see the celtics again. he’ll be a better player on both ends going into the postseason if he’s as healthy as he was in 2022 and 2023. last year was an anomaly for him, a perfect storm of injuries and expectations chaining into something out of control. dont let every stinker like the 3/21 celtics game trick you into believing he’s inconsistent. this is a highly efficient killer who is getting better very quickly. him/donovan/evan mobley arent finished products. past struggles dont necessarily point to future ones when it comes to the cavs. their stars are performing at elite level now, but they’re all still developing towards their peak. garland and mobley especially are still 3-4 years away from their true primes. assume they’ll perform better than they did last time. thats been the trend with this team the last 3 years

[@slightexag]

@@vism2812 damn man, you're really a fan. that's kind of how i feel about derrick white except i do think he's reached his peak as a player. i'd take white over garland any day. i hope we get the cavs/celtics matchup in the conference finals and everyone's healthy so we can see it in 7 games

[@vism2812]

@ lol ive watched him grow a lot throughout his career so there’s definitely a strong bias, but garland is a special player. i know on paper its just 3 more points and 2 more assists than derrick white, but he’s playing 4 less minutes than him. and its how he gets his points and assists. his handle and quickness are insane. he gets to the rim at will and will rain floaters and lobs all day if defences dont adjust, and they do. they gameplan extra hard to take away garlands penetration it opens up so much for the cavs. he drives into the paint is consistently generating a lob for the bigs, a three for his teammates or a floater for himself. the thing that opens up this game is he’s an unreal shooter off the catch, off motion and off the dribble. give him space and he’ll shoot from anywhere inside halfcourt. career high 42% rn despite taking 8 threes per game, with most of them being off dribble. bottom line, he has all the tools steph has been killing teams with for a decade now. not as efficient or prolific, but close enough that defences respect him. a lot. thats why you get games like that 3/21 against the celtics whenever he’s the slightest bit off. and he’s at the point where he is manipulating that respect into so many advantages that the cavs have a top 3 offence. one that falls to just league average with him off the court. derrick white is the pinnacle of the nba role player. punishing defences for keying on tatum/brown at the level he does is not, even jrue holiday cant do it. but i cant help but feel like if it was him next to mitchell instead garland, the cavs arent 21-4. he wont create as many advantages and as a result the offensive process will get harder. and defences will key in on donovan and itll be like utah all over again where the offence craters because its all squarely on mitchells shoulders to create over 48 minutes

[@kilge1072]

I haven’t watched a lot of Celtics, but Does anyone also hate that green court?

[@bryceerickson6096]

Wish the celtics had the whole starting lineup to see the real chess match

[@user-zs9lu6dz3l]

What this guy means by "huge talent advantage" is "I have a surface-level understanding of basketball and most of what I know is from the ESPN hype machine."

[@jomo4097]

Did this title change or am I bugging?😂

[@obukohwoogheneakpobo3011]

2:05 pause ??😂

[@genocidehero9687]

Cringe

[@raymondqiu8202]

Every small thing is pause for y'all. Get your head out the gutter

[@naythansylverent5606]

​@@raymondqiu8202 thank you

[@InChatWeTrust]

Garland shouldn’t have been on JT for that long.

[@chiboz3483]

Well he did a good job especially late

[@nine9_abyss]

Am I the only one disgusted with matchup hunting?

[@PresVlogs]

Garland was just dissappointing last year, and now got his game back. Though we still need to see how Max Strus might affect this team once he's back. The C's are just living by the three and shot horrible this game, D.White is a key piece and Jrue has been pretty brutal offensively this year but the unleashing of Pritchard pretty much covers this issue. Still in a 7 game series, Cleveland will be the biggest threat for the Celtics as they can punish them on the boards and inside the paint. Every game will come down to the Celtics' shooting percentage when it comes to this matchup.

[@Thicc4080]

Daniel try not to breakdown Celtics losses

[@38slimee]

His hatred for Tatum is weird

[@rufiooo7]

@@38slimeewhat part of what he said wasn’t correct? 😂

[@38slimee]

@@rufiooo7 didn’t watch icl i just know he hates Tatum

[@shadowgrandmaster]

This finally confirms and proves that Tatum is indeed a terrible finisher at the rim. He simply sux. He needs to improve or the Celtics are never going to repeat.

[@jthereader]

Celtics my home team, mitchell and luka are my 1a 1b favorite current players

[@charlie_541]

understand Mitchell but ewwww to Luka

[@38slimee]

Ur werid

[@jojoprocess2820]

​@@charlie_541horrendous take

[@38slimee]

U only post Celtics Ls😂

[@user-of7jx8fn8q]

Celtics beating Cavs in 5, 6 at most

[@jeffforty5663]

First

[@Forthreee]

Obsolete video because porzingis is in minutes restriction lol

[@38slimee]

Horrible video

[@SolitudeAwaits]

That's why Luka have and will always be the better player than Tatum. He's an average finisher with a decent ball handling that always struggle against legit defenders. Jayson Tatum wouldn't even get passed 2nd round of the playoffs with Maxi Kleber & Dwight Powell at the front court for years. He will be in contest with Josh Green throwing bricks.

[@jsintral]

Luka is literally horrible on defense. I use to put Luka over Tatum because he makes other around him better. But his defense is so lazy and messes up the entire the defense. Tatum is lazy too but at least he’s a good on both sides and also has decent play making. Plus Tatum wins a lottttt. Yes he’s on a good team but he’s literally leading the team in like everything