We are 2 games through the NBA Finals and the Boston Celtics have definitively been the better team. After a 17 point win in game 1, Boston found a way to win game 2 105-98 even though they were just 10/39 from 3, 25.6%, and Jayson Tatum was just 27.3% from the field and made 1 three pointer. Even a Luka Doncic 32 point, 11 rebound and 11 assist game was not enough for Dallas as they fell behind 2-0 in the series. What has Boston done, how can Dallas adjust and is it already over?
You can’t talk about this series and not acknowledge what the Celtics have done. They have been the best team all season, a combined record of 78-20 between the regular season and playoffs, Boston has dominated the competition all season and it has carried over to the Finals. The offseason acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis have changed so much for the Celtics. Their spacing is better, their defense is better, their on ball creation is better and they just have more guys who can beat you one on one. Holiday’s 26 game 2 points and Porzingis’ 20 game 1 points are a huge reason why the Celtics lead this series two games to none. A lot of people questioned if Boston could find ways to win if they didn’t hit their 3 pointers as well, that was also answered last night as the 3’s were not dropping and they found a way to win. Jaylen Brown has been excellent in these Finals as well, averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists through 2 games and being the primary defender on Luka Doncic. Having to play both ways at a high level for 40+ minutes per game is not easy and he has done an excellent job. If the Finals ended last night, Brown would be my vote for MVP. Jayson Tatum has also received a lot of slack because he is not shooting the ball well but he has also played well. Finding a way to impact winning while shooting 31.6% from the field and 28.6% from 3 can be tricky but Tatum has done just that. In game 2, Tatum had 12 assists and was spraying the ball all over the court, finding Jrue Holiday on a lot of his baskets. Tatum has also embraced the challenge of guarding Dallas’ center so that Boston can switch the Doncic pick and roll and has done a very good job at that in this series as well. Tatum and Brown might not be scoring the way we expect them to, but they have done a great job at playing on both sides of the court and leading the Celtics to wins despite that.
The Celtics drive and kick game has crushed the Mavericks in this series as well. No matter who has been guarding at the point of attack, or POA, Dallas has not been able to keep Boston’s best 4 creators in front of them. This has a lot to do with the fact that the Celtics have 4 guys in their starting lineup who can dribble, pass and shoot, which a lot of teams do not have. Tatum, Brown, Holiday and Derrick White have been dusting whoever has been guarding them, getting into the paint and kicking the ball back out for 3 point looks. The Celtics did not even make the open 3’s they generated last night and they still found ways to score. One guy they have been relentlessly hunting is Luka. Doncic has not been able to keep any of those 4 guys in front of him and it has cost the Mavericks big time.
Another Dallas problem is that they have been ice cold from 3 over the 2 games to start the series and a lot of that is due to the Celtics design. According to Cleaning the Glass over the first 2 games, excluding garbage time, Dallas is just 1/7 from the corner. Before the Finals, 13% of Dallas' shots had come from the corner, which was second in the playoffs behind the Pelicans. In the Finals, just 4% of their shots have come from the corner. Most of Derrick Jones Jr. and P.J. Washington’s 3s have been from the corner, Jones is shooting 45% from the corner and 26% from above the break and Washington is shooting 39% from the corner and 29% from above the break. The Celtics have done an awesome job of not giving up corner looks all season as just 8.1% of Boston’s opponents shots in the regular season were corner 3’s and that number has dropped to 6.6% in the playoffs. All season the Celtics have made sure to prevent corner 3 attempts and with that being such a huge part of how Dallas operates, it has clearly become even more of an emphasis for Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
The series is far from over but the Celtics can probably taste banner 18. Dallas has to generate more corner 3’s, this is a team that has relied on corner 3’s so heavily this season and simply have not been able to take enough of those looks in these Finals. The POA defense is something that I am not sure can be fixed. The Celtics drive and kick game has crushed the Mavericks because they have better athletes and they have 5 elite shooters on the court at all times, Dallas has had no answer for Boston’s offensive attack and it has shown. Kristaps Porzingis did leave game 2 with an injury so that is something to keep an eye on but both he and Mazzulla seemed confident that KP would be able to play in game 3.
The Celtics have won the first 2 games of the NBA Finals and the Mavericks have their backs against the wall. The Mavs are going home for games 3 and 4 so that will help them but Boston is 6-0 on the road in the playoffs. Beating this Celtics team 4 times out of 7 is hard enough, beating them 4 out of 5 has not been done all season, the Mavericks have a very tall task ahead of them starting Wednesday if they want to win the Finals.
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