3 underrated things to watch for in the 2024 NBA Finals

2) How Dallas defends the three.

The Celtics have been the best three-point shooting team all season, with seven players shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. Spacing the court and hitting timely threes are the staples of their offense.

Throughout Dallas’s entire playoff run, Kidd has been able to play the percentages and leave certain players open, packing the paint and essentially playing five-on-four on the defensive end. He did this in the first round with Russell Westbrook, in the semi-finals with Josh Giddey, and most recently with Kyle Anderson in the conference finals.

It’ll be challenging to pick on non-shooters in this series, as the Celtics don’t have one in their rotation. Dallas’s bigs will have to leave the rim and get out to stretch fives in Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, which can leave the paint open for drives for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Kidd must decide if this defensive scheme can withstand a barrage of threes from this Celtics team that can run opponents out of the gym.