NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 6, 2024

Jason Kidd

Dallas Mavericks

Game 1: Postgame

Boston Celtics 107, Dallas Mavericks 89

Q. Only nine assists for you guys, one for Luka obviously, pretty alarmingly low totals. With the way the Celtics play defensively, how can you guys get the ball moving and create better opportunities?

JASON KIDD: I thought give the Celtics credit. They did a great job defending, making it tough on us. We had some good looks that didn't go down. We've got to move the ball. The ball just stuck too much. And we'll be better in Game 2.

Q. Luka said that they were guarding a lot of one-on-one action. Just with Kyrie and just the way he struggled offensively, did you like the looks he was getting or how were they playing him?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, I thought he had great looks that just didn't go down. He had some great looks at three. He had some great looks in the paint. That's just part of basketball. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes they don't.

Tonight, they just didn't go down for Ky or most of the team, and hopefully we get those same shots in Game 2 and we can be better.

Q. The game started to turn a little bit when Porzingis came in. What was he doing to be so effective?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, KP was great, he knocked down shots. He changed shots. He blocked shots. He gave them a spark when he came off the bench.

We've just got to make it a little bit tougher on the offensive end. We've got to make him do something different. He got great looks and knocked them down.

Q. You guys did make that run there early in the third quarter, cut the lead down to eight and seemed to develop some momentum. What of that is replicable and what can you take away from that stretch to recreate that in Game 2 and go beyond?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, we did cut it to eight and got the rebound and unfortunately came up with a travel. A lot of good things in that third and fourth that we can build on. That's what we talked about after the game and that's what we have to do.

We came out and won the third. Had a great opportunity to cut into that lead. Unfortunately, they go on a run. Once we cut it to eight, but then you know we won the fourth. So there are two positive things that we can take from these four quarters.

We've got to be better in the first. They took advantage of that. They knocked down threes. But the big thing is, we have to be better as a team offensively and defensively.

Q. Not to only focus on the travel, but the youth on the roster, how do you feel like the guys who had not been at this stage, how do you feel like they handled the moment?

JASON KIDD: They did great. They did great. And they will get better as the series goes on.

Q. When teams have spread the court or tried to spread the court on you guys during the playoffs, your bigs have still been very effective. Tonight, their numbers weren't great. Why was it different tonight? Obviously, the Celtics were making a lot of three-pointers, you were having to chase people around the perimeter.

JASON KIDD: Yeah, I think this is the best team in the NBA and they are good for a reason. They play their style of basketball at a high rate. They generated 27 threes there in the first half, and made I think 11 of them.

So we have to be better. We can't give them seven made threes in the first quarter. That would have outscored us with only scoring 20.

So we have to be better. Give them credit. They were good tonight. But again, we've got to be better. Nerves or not being in this situation, we can't use that as an excuse. It's just basketball, and we've got to be better at the game of basketball on Sunday.

Q. They opened up a huge lead in the first quarter and a half. Did you kind of have to see how your team would handle that, and seeing how a bunch of the guys are in their first Finals?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, I thought the group handled it well. At halftime, we talked about what we had to do, and I thought we did that coming out in the third. Again, cutting that lead, getting it to eight with the ball. Unfortunately, we traveled.

And then from that point on, they took control of the game.

But I thought the group responded. I thought we were better in the second half, and hopefully we can build on that third and fourth quarter going into Game 2.

Q. You may have been asked about going down, losing Game 1, you guys have done that twice already, even this postseason run. The next day, what do you try to make that about for the team? What is the purpose of conveying both emotion and confidence and also strategy throughout the course of kind of going into the next day?

JASON KIDD: I think it's just about the positives. What can we do to build on the positives. We'll talk about that tomorrow. Understanding the small things, the physicality. We have to be better at that.

But just looking at the positives. Looking at the things that we can control, and then we'll build from there.

Q. You mentioned a moment ago that it's just basketball and getting back to that. Luka was asked about the run where you guys cut it to eight and they said they were having fun and they have to do more of that. Not to get into your secrets of coaching, but how do you coach more fun for the guys?

JASON KIDD: We talked about it at halftime. I thought we weren't having fun there in the first half and we talked about having fun, to work the game, to continue to keep playing. There's a lot of time. A lot of people will talk about one game but we are talking about a series.

So the bigger picture is to continue to keep working in the series and I thought the guys did a really good job there in the third quarter. We get the miss. We get the rebound. The momentum is going our way. Unfortunately, we traveled.

So we just have to be better. We know that. Boston is a really good team, and so we've got to be better on Sunday.