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Coming into the championship round, the 2024 NBA Finals felt like it could be a coin flip.
And maybe things will still play out that way, but it sure didn’t look like a toss-up on Thursday.
The Boston Celtics, buoyed by Kristaps Porziņģis’ return from a calf strain that had sidelined him since the opening round, sprinted their way to a largely stress-free 107-89 thrashing of the Dallas Mavericks. Six different Celtics scored in double-figures—compared to just four Mavericks—including Porziņģis, who piled up 20 points (plus six rebounds and three blocks) in his 21 minutes of work.
As ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith observed in an NSFW take, the Mavericks could be in major trouble if Porziņģis keeps playing at this level.
Porziņģis’ play was the top talking point after Game 1.
And with great reason. Playing for the first time in more than five weeks, he didn’t show even a hint of rust, shooting a scorching-hot 8-of-13 overall and splashing two of his four long-range looks.
This was seriously superhuman stuff.
“He’s a matchup nightmare,” Derrick White told reporters. “Even when you play good defense, he doesn’t really see you. It’s been unreal just watching him all year. Then defensively, he uses his size well, just impacts the games in so many different ways. He changes us, and he makes us a better team.”
This game wasn’t all about Porziņģis, though.
Boston flexed its star power and depth. It also buried Dallas beneath an avalanche of threes, outscoring the Mavericks 48-21 from long range.
This is a tried-and-true format for this team’s success.
Kevin O’Connor @KevinOConnorNBA
35-4…
When the Celtics take at least 50% of their shots from 3, they are now 35-4 on the season (including 6-0 in the playoffs). That’s a 74-win pace.
In Game 1 against the Mavericks, 42 of Boston’s 82 total shots were 3s. Made 16 of them. Dallas made only 7/27. pic.twitter.com/WDLbg3ZJmk
Seven different Celtics splashed multiple triples. All five starters dished multiple assists, as did Payton Pritchard off the bench.
That’s why Boston rolled to a win while its best player, Jayson Tatum, was…how shall we put this…at a level less than his best. He defended, made plays and snagged 11 rebounds, but he also misfired on 10 of his 16 shots and finished with more turnovers (six) than assists (five).
That the Celtics still sprinted to an 18-point win could be awful news for the Mavericks.
“Tatum doesn’t have to play well for the Celtics to beat the Mavericks,” Andscape’s Marc J. Spears observed. “… The Celtics have too many other offensive options…, especially if Porziņģis stays healthy. But what will happen in this series when Tatum turns it on?”
Dallas isn’t powerless, obviously.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, for one, expects a much better showing from the Mavericks in Game 2.
Dallas has plenty to clean up, though.
The supporting cast has to be better. The shooters couldn’t shoot; Mavericks not named Luka Dončić managed all of three perimeter makes. The bigs didn’t make their presence felt. The lob passes and corner kicks that powered this team to this point never materialized as the Celtics seldom sent extra help at the stars and therefore kept those openings from ever…well, opening.
So, the burden sat almost entirely on the Mavericks’ stars, and they frankly didn’t shine bright enough.
Kyrie Irving was, by his standards at least, dreadful. His 19 field-goal attempts yielded only a dozen points. He kept his turnovers down (three), but his assist count was even lower (two). All in all, he racked up a game-worst minus-19 plus/minus.
CelticsUnite @CelticsUnite18
Kyrie Irving is now 0-11 against the Celtics since the series where he stomped on lucky the logo.
The curse continues… pic.twitter.com/Ve69OKCcYU
Dončić did what he could to carry this club with 30 points and 10 rebounds, but he also went a forgettable 12-of-26 from the field (and a worse 4-of-12 from outside) and had a single assist against four turnovers.
His defensive effort also left plenty to be desired.
Eric Shapiro @eric_shap
Luka is going to have to play *much* better defensively on the perimeter if Dallas is going to win this series.
He gave up too many blow by’s that directly led to baskets or put the Mavericks in rotation: pic.twitter.com/d3C6DJFAVD
The talking points coming out of Game 1 were plenty.
The way they were addressed will go a long way toward determining how the rest of this series plays out.
