Celtics smack Mavericks in Game 1 as Kristaps Porzingis returns: 7 takeaways
The Celtics took a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals behind the return of their star big.
The Celtics started the 2024 NBA Finals with a bang on Thursday, claiming Game 1 with a 107-89 victory over the Mavericks to take a 1-0 lead.
Here are the takeaways.
1. Kristaps Porzingis returned after missing both the conference semis and the conference finals, and his first-half performance may go down as a deeply memorable moment in Boston sports history.
After checking in to a big ovation, Porzingis drew a foul on his first shot attempt and made both free throws.
That seemed to give him a rhythm. He buried two jumpers from the nail. He got into the paint and threw down a massive two-handed slam. He buried a deep 3-pointer, and then another. The Celtics led by 21 at the end of the first half, and Porzingis had 18 points (and was +15). In 20 total minutes, he finished with 20 points (8-for-13 from the field), six rebounds, and three blocks.
“What helped me is just even from the walk out before the game and then getting on the court, getting that kind of support was unreal,” Porzingis said. “The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and that definitely helped. Obviously it wasn’t ideal that I was out for such a long time, but I did everything I could to prepare mentally for this moment coming back and it paid off and we got the job done tonight and had a good game and happy about the result.”
The Mavericks were very intentional about bringing Porzingis’ defensive assignment out to set the pick-and-roll screens for Luka Doncic, which yielded some good results for Doncic — Porzingis will struggle to guard his former teammate any time the Mavericks can generate that switch (and the Celtics pretty steadfastly refused to send doubles at Doncic for much of the game until sending a couple selective ones in the first half).
But Porzingis was still highly impactful on the defensive end.
As elite as Doncic is at step-back jumpers, carrying the Mavericks past the 3-point-happy Celtics with those shots is a heavy load, especially since Porzingis can make everything so difficult around the basket for everyone else.
So to recap: Porzingis protected the paint, made his deep 3-pointers, punished switches against smaller players, and dragged the Mavericks’ bigs away from the basket.
The Mavericks might have a big Porzingis problem.
2. Jaylen Brown, meanwhile, picked up where he left off in the conference finals, in which he won series MVP. He finished with 22 points and six rebounds which sounds unremarkable, but his impact was hard to overstate.
Off the opening tip, Brown hit the floor and salvaged the first possession for the Celtics. He guarded Luka Doncic and played excellent 1-on-1 defense against the Mavericks star. He made numerous hustle plays, blocked three shots, and picked off three steals. When the Mavericks cut into the lead in the third quarter (more on this in a minute), Brown was the driving force (pun somewhat intended) as they pushed the lead back up.
“What you saw tonight is kind of the challenge he took for himself coming into the year,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Not wanting to be defined by one thing. Wanting to make plays. Wanted to be a well-rounded player and get better and better. So his spacing, his ball movement, his defense on ball and off ball.”
What did it mean to him?
“It means nothing,” Brown said. “You just get ready for the next one.”
Thursday was just Game 1, but Brown’s opening remarks were very loud.
“I think when you look at JB, he’s somebody that has really worked on his craft year after year to just become a better player,” Jayson Tatum said. “I think you can tell by the way that the game has slowed down for him and the way he’s making reads on the offensive end. That doesn’t happen just overnight. It’s a process. And I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the work that he puts in and watching film and things like that. So it’s special to see when guys put in the work and it translates to on the court.”
3. Brown, incidentally, also threw down one of the best dunks of the postseason so far.
4. Luka Doncic recorded just one assist. As a team, the Mavericks finished with nine (the Celtics, meanwhile, recorded nine blocked shots, which is not a disparity you will see very often).
The Celtics cut off Doncic’s outlets by playing him the same way they’ve played Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo over the years: Trust a defender to guard him 1-on-1, don’t send any help, and make him try to beat you single-handedly. The Mavericks’ offense cratered as a result.
“I think we really got good shots. We just didn’t make them,” Doncic said.
But that doesn’t really line up with the eye test. Porzingis made shots in the paint much tougher, and he will likely play more minutes going forward. Al Horford did not look overmatched when he got switched onto Doncic, and even Sam Hauser played a couple of solid possessions against the Mavericks star.
“Even our white guys guard,” Jrue Holiday quipped, finally saying out loud what Joe Mazzulla has hinted at on several occasions this year.
Kyrie Irving shot 6-for-19 from the field, which probably won’t hold. Doncic might have to look for his shot a little more if the Celtics keep cutting off his passing options. But once again, the Mavericks are going to run up against a problematic math equation if the Celtics keep making their 3-pointers.
5. To that end, the Celtics generated a ton of good looks and shot 16-for-42 (38.1 percent) from behind the arc. That’s not bad, but they have had much more impressive games from deep in the postseason.
The best 3-pointers the Celtics get are always a direct result of their drives. This series probably won’t last very long if the Mavericks can’t figure out a better way to contain the drives, and Jason Kidd can give Erik Spoelstra a call if he wants to hear how a zone works against these 3-point shooters.
6. The Mavericks cut the lead to eight in the third quarter, which felt disastrous for the Celtics after the halcyon 3-point barrage in the first half. But Mazzulla called a timeout, and the Celtics responded with an 11-0 run fueled in no small part by Brown’s defense and a renewed commitment to getting into the paint by Brown and Tatum.
“We just said, ‘Just breathe. The game is starting now. Just breathe,’” Brown said. “‘[…] If you got a shot that’s open, take it with confidence, no turnovers, take care of the basketball and just play our game. We got to get some stops. They made some big shots. Just navigate the run.’ That was it.”
By the time the third-quarter dust settled, the Mavericks managed to knock just one point off their halftime deficit, and the Celtics cruised the rest of the way.
7. The Mavericks’ bigs looked overmatched by the Celtics’ offense. Dereck Lively picked up five quick fouls in 18 minutes (and probably could have been whistled for several more), during which he was -15. The Celtics’ wings got by him with relative ease. Daniel Gafford was similarly flat-footed. P.J. Washington was unremarkable.
In the conference semis, the Mavericks’ bigs faced a fellow rookie. In the conference finals, they faced Rudy Gobert and an ice-cold Karl-Anthony Towns. This Celtics team – with bigs who are as comfortable 30 feet from the hoop as they are around the rim – is something completely new and much more dangerous.
8. Jayson Tatum might generate some discourse by finishing just 6-for-16 from the floor, but the Mavericks threw their defense at stopping him, which predictably made things easier for everyone else.
The toughest thing about facing the Celtics is that their stars are just as happy spreading the wealth around as they are scoring 45 points.
Will the Mavericks try to make Tatum beat them at some point, the way the Celtics appear to be challenging Doncic? That would be quite a commitment – he’s certainly capable, and it would be difficult with Brown, Porzingis, White, and Holiday milling around as well, but something clearly has to change.
9. Sam Hauser went 2-for-2 from 3-point range after his brutal performance in the conference finals. A solid Finals performance from Hauser might be a backbreaker.
10. Game 2 in Boston tips off at 8 p.m. on Sunday.
“Every game has its own story,” Brown said. “We just got to stay ready, stay composed, and take it one game at a time.”
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