The Boston Celtics jumped out to 29 point lead during the second quarter led by the return of KP, Kristaps Porzingis who utilized his size advantage to knock down contested jumpers over smaller defenders and protected the rim with a vengeance leading team with 3 blocks on the defensive end. The Luka and Kyrie show accounted for 42 of Dallas‘ 89 points on 18 for 45 shooting, just not enough to will the Mavericks to a victory over the Celtics.
Boston’s Big 6 (Tatum, Brown, White, Holiday, Porzingis and Horford) accounted for 95 out of Celtics’ 107 points on the evening led by Jaylen Brown with 22 and Porzingis with 20. Defensively Boston was able to handle Dallas’ offensive scheme without doubling on the ball which led to a lot of challenged shots on the offensive end for Dallas.
Dallas on the other hand doubled and rotated off the ball which left the Celtics with numerous wide open 3’s. Dallas big men, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II were non-factors after helping lead the Mavericks to a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
Dallas is going to need to make adjustments on both ends of the court to compete with the Celtics in game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals coming up Sunday evening in Boston. Nine out of seventeen experts from www.espn.com picked Dallas to win the NBA Finals over Boston after their surprise upset over the Wolves in the Western Conference Finals.
The 2024 Boston Celtics are arguably one of the greatest Celtics teams of all-time but have received very little respect from the media after coasting through the Eastern Conference Finals against some banged up teams coming from Miami, Cleveland and Indiana.
The Celtics have earned some respect and the extra motivation coming from the media will only help fuel the Celtics throughout the 2024 NBA Finals.
Game 1 Final Score Celtics 107 Mavericks 89
Series Boston 1-0