Celtics Dominating Victory Over Mavericks 107-89

The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first game of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. The score was 107-89. Kristaps Porzingis played a big part in the Celtics’ win, scoring 20 points while coming off the bench. Even though the Mavericks lost, Luka Doncic did well, scoring 30 points for his team.

The NBA Finals kicked off with both teams scoring a lot of points early on. Kyrie Irving made four quick points for Dallas, and Al Horford scored twice for Boston. After a timeout called by the Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis entered the game from the bench. Derrick White made two three-point shots in a row, giving Boston a nice lead. For a few minutes, neither team scored, but the Celtics stayed ahead, leading 24-18.

Then, Porzingis scored with a dunk and a jumper, extending Boston’s lead to 10 points, which made Dallas call a timeout. Jaden Hardy scored for Dallas, but Boston quickly responded with three more three-pointers, widening their lead. At the end of the first quarter, Boston was up 37-20.

In the second period, Kyrie Irving’s left-handed floater ended a 23-5 scoring run by the Celtics. They continued to push against Dallas, driving and passing effectively while the Mavericks struggled to score. Porzingis remained hot, hitting difficult shots to extend Boston’s lead to 21 points. After a timeout, Dallas coach Jason Kidd opted for a smaller lineup.

But it didn’t slow down the Celtics, who capitalized on turnovers, pushing their lead to 29 points. Although the Mavericks managed some baskets to cut the deficit, the Celtics maintained a solid 63-42 lead at halftime.

In the beginning of the second half, Dallas quickly reduced the Celtics lead to 18 points. However, they went several possessions without scoring, including some mistakes from Irving that puzzled observers. Irving finally scored a great layup, but Washington scored in transition for Dallas, cutting Boston’s lead to 16 and prompting a Celtics timeout. Dallas continued to chip away at the lead, causing Boston to miss shots. The Mavericks managed to narrow the gap to just eight points after Doncic made his second three-pointer of the quarter.

Following another timeout by Boston, the Mavericks made consecutive traveling violations, giving up an offensive rebound to Celtics that led to a Porzingis dunk. Lively from Dallas committed his fourth and fifth fouls, widening the gap to 16 points once more. Two more three-pointers from the Celtics increased their lead, leaving Dallas trailing 86-66 at the end of the third quarter.

In the last quarter, Dallas had about half of the quarter to try to make a comeback before they decided to accept defeat. The Mavericks fell behind by 25 points halfway through the period, prompting coach Kidd to take out Doncic and Irving from the game. Both teams then put in their bench players, and eventually, the Celtics secured a 107-89 victory.

The Role of Assists in the Outcome of Basketball Games

While the Mavericks did not known for having a lot of assists. The fact that they ended up with more turnovers than assists should be a major concern. Boston’s strategy of switching defensive assignments expected in this series.

However, with Luka Doncic driving and passing the ball, it’s crucial for the Dallas players to convert those opportunities into points. This problem did not limited to just one or two players—it affected the entire team. During the broadcast, we caught a glimpse of Coach Kidd addressing the team, emphasizing the need to reduce one-on-one plays.

Critical Need for Improved Performance from Kyrie Irving

In the game, Irving was always trying hard to score points and create opportunities, but he didn’t do very well. He only got 12 points, and he missed a lot of shots, making only 6 out of 19. What’s worse, he didn’t make any of the five three-point shots he attempted. He also made some mistakes that gave the ball to the other team.

This was especially frustrating because when the Mavericks reduced the Celtics’ lead to eight points in the third quarter. Those missed shots and turnovers became even more important. It’s normal for players to miss shots sometimes. But it was especially disappointing to see Irving miss shots that he should have been able to make easily.

Dereck Lively II Shows Rookie Traits on Court

Lively has been a key player for the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs, but in this game, he didn’t play as well as usual. It’s the first time he’s seemed out of sync since the middle of the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He only played for 18 minutes because he kept getting called for fouls, and some of them were because he was being a bit too aggressive.

I think he’ll do better in the rest of this series because he’s shown a lot of improvement in each game of the playoffs so far. But on Thursday night, he looked like a typical rookie, still learning and growing in the game.

Retro Kristaps Porzingis Takes Center Stage

We’ve been following Porzingis for a while now. He was doing really well in the 2019-20 season until he got injured in the NBA Bubble. After that, he didn’t play as well in Dallas, especially in terms of his lower body strength. It’s surprising to see how much better he looks now in this game compared to how he was struggling earlier in 2022.

It’s great for basketball that he’s healthy again, but for Mavericks fans, it’s frustrating to see a former player playing so well against their team on a big stage. How well Porzingis plays will be really important in this series, and if Dallas can’t figure out how to stop him, they might not last long in the playoffs.